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crowndanced · 6 years

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EXCAVATED FROM THE LIBRARY OF THE GOBLIN KING.

( DO NOT REBLOG. )

Summary: A small party hosted by Prince Jareth’s father in celebration of finding his long lost sister, to show the relationship between the two fae children. VERY pre-Labyrinth movie canon. Mostly from Magic’s POV, third person. Unformatted.

Today was the day.

The little Goblin Princess has been awakened, all her royal classes cut short, only to find that, after lunch, she was whisked away back to her room, stuffed into a frilly purple and white dress, placed into uncomfortable low heeled shoes, her hair being yanked into a tightly braided bun, and having makeup applied to her face.

And she hated every second of it.

She stood now, in the hallway outside the room of the party, with her father, mother, and brother. It was the first party she had ever attended, even with her father hosting them regularly. She had no idea what would be different about going to a fae party rather than a goblin one. Goblins were often rowdy and fun, which she liked, and she already had in the image in her young brain of a fae creature being haughty and gastly. She shuddered, messing with the lace cuffs on her sleeve.

“Jareica,” her gaze came from the sleeve to her mother, who was know kneeling in front of her, “something troubles you. What is it?”

Jareica could hardly focus on her mother’s face being so close to her own- the swan fae was known for her beauty and lovely voice, even in far away kingdoms. “I-I just,” she stammered, “I dunno. I’m not sure I’m cut out for this, mom.”

“You’ll be fine,” Lillyith assured her daughter, rubbing her head, “I’m sure all the other princes and princesses will be nice. And besides, you look adorable in your dress!”

Her daughter made a face.

“You don’t like it?” Her mother asked, and she nodded vigorously.

“I don’t like it at all! It’s so weird to have something covering your feet, and plus it’s really easy for someone to look up it, and-”

“You’ll be fine, Jareica,” her mother interrupted her rant, starting to stand, “when you’re queen, you’ll have to get used to it.”

The princess sighed as her mother made her way back to her father, watching them link arms. Her mother would never understand; she loved dresses and womanly things in general. Despite having inherited a lot from her mother, the princess thought they were strikingly different. She sighed.

“Jareica?”

The next person she looked up at was her older brother, who had appeared suddenly by her side. “Yea?”

“You needn’t worry,” he grinned, “when I’m king, I’ll let you wear whatever you like to a party like this.”

Her eyes gleamed as she replied, “Really?”, to which he nodded.

“Indeed.”

“Children,” the booming voice of their father, King Jored, captured their attention, and the young goblin royalty turned to looked at him, “it is time.”

Jareth and Jareica hurried over, Jareth beside their father and Jareica beside their mother, as the door opened into the ballroom.

“Jare, quick, your mask!” Her brother whispered, and she slipped on the black feathered crow mask. Her father had told her that they always host masquerade parties- no exceptions. He never gave a reason as to why, but it only confused the little Princess more as her eyes met thousands of eyes of other creatures.

Leaving the side of his wife and son, King Jored stepped forward, starting to address the attentive crowd.

“My fellow people of the Fabled Kingdoms…”

Jareica didn’t pay attention to her father’s speech; she had heard him rehearse it enough before the party. Instead, her mismatched gaze wandered about the ballroom, which she had never seen decorated until now. Everything was draped in white, complete with glitter, floating candles, and full of people wearing different outfits and masks. A sea of strangers, and she and her family stood at the very edge of it.

She suddenly grew rather nervous.

Her mother had assured her that they would be nice to her, as she was a princess, but even so, she couldn’t help but worry. They would only be nice to her out of respect for her father, who often terrified the peoples of different kingdoms with his loud voice and often cold facial expressions (she also figured his beard played a role in their fight). But he was a gentle man; the only time she had seen him truly angry is when someone was close to besting his mirrored maze around their castle.

“... and I would like to introduce you all to my daughter, the lost princess, Jareica.”

She stiffened as her father’s gloved hand outstretched to her.

With a gentle nudge from her mother and a wink from Jareth, she stiffly walked forward to take her father’s hand, who in turn lead her closer to the edge of the staircase they stood atop of. There was polite applause, and even a few cheers.

The lost princess. She hated that name. She hated being put up in front of these fae creatures like this. She hated this dress, she hated this makeup, she hated everything about this-

But she would pull through it. Or, try to, anyway.

An awkward grin came onto her face as her father whispered, “Smile, my dear.” Jored brought down their hands, and giving hers a small squeeze in reassurance, finished, “Let the party officially commence.”

As the clamour started back up again from the music and the people in attendance, Jareica let out the breath she had been holding. Jareth, gotta find Jareth…

Though her parents would’ve preferred her to try and hold this out on her own, she wanted some sort of resort to go to, and that happened to be her older brother. He had been the one to find her, after all, and he seemed to understand her more than their parents did (as most little girls often think).

She found his hand as he walked after their parents, and clasped it tightly. Behind his feathered owl mask, his brown-blue eyes lit up questionably, but then turned kind as he saw it was only his little sister.

“Nervous?” he asked, and she gave a silent ‘yes’. “It’s alright; I’m a bit nervous too.”

“Haven’t you been to some of father’s parties?” asked she.

“Well, I mean…” he cleared his throat, “actually, I haven’t. I’d always wanted to, though.”

“Why didn’t they let you attend?”

“Oh, they were going to,” he shrugged, “I just wasn’t sure when. They never told me.”

“Oh…”

After a brief silence, Jareth finally said, “You want to get some food?”

“...Alright,” said his sister.

“One thing, though,” he bent over, face now in front of hers, “let me see a smile.” She gave the same awkward smile as before, and he laughed. “No, you silly crow. A real smile,” his grin turned wicked, “or I’ll put you in the Bog of Eternal Stench.”

Sensing her brother’s jest, she giggled and beamed a real smile, full of pristine white teeth. Jareth seemed satisfied with this, for his grin returned to normal. “Like this?”

“Exactly. Let’s go get some dinner.” He rose then, and lead her by the hand through the crowd.

As they passed by adult faes and fae children their age, Jareica couldn’t help but hear their whispers.

“-Too dependent on her brother, that one…”

“What’s going to happen when she becomes Queen?”

“Lost princess, hmph. More like a publicity stunt-”

“Hush! We all heard the news about their lost daughter-”

“-Might be an imposter, someone picked up off the street-”

“-Might even be human…”

Jareth must’ve heard them too, for he hurried by the gossiping fae as quickly as his little high heeled feet could carry them. As they approached the table full of food, his black gloved hands rested on her shoulders, “Never you mind them, Jare. They’re just… how do humans put it… Jackasses?”

She tilted her head. “What’s a jackass?”

“I have no idea,” he admitted, “I heard a runner use the term once. I assume it’s a bad thing.”

“I’ll take your word for it.” She giggled, and he laughed with her. “Oh, wow, look at all the food…!”

And so the Goblin Prince and Princess spent the next fifteen minutes helping themselves to all the food and drink they could eat (save for the peach flavoured wine, which their mother caught Jareth attempting to drink, earning him a scolding). Magic could put hanging out with her brother at a fae party up there with attending a goblin one.

Next came the dancing. As expected, the children danced with their parents, and although it was rumored that the Goblin royalty were rather good dancers, Jareica found herself struggling to keep up with her father’s broad ballroom dance steps, and her mother’s gracefulness and posture. It was only when she danced with Jareth, who spun her around more times than necessary, that she felt she was getting better at it. By the end of the dance with her brother, she found that she had way more glitter on her than needed, probably from his outfit (he had an obsession with the stuff that she could never quite understand).

The next thing on her agenda (or at least, her family’s agenda), was her father leading her around and introducing her to the royal families of the other Fable Kingdoms, as they were called. Dryads, nymphs, wizards and witches, all different manners of fae creature…. However, the princes or princesses of each kingdom seemed to look at her with disdain, hidden behind their fake smiles and different masks. The only ones who seemed genuine about their feelings towards Jareica was the prince of the ice elves, called Jaqoni, and princess of the autumn fairies, called Talishiana. Even their parents had been nice to her.

After slipping away from their father, she soon found her way back to her brother, who had finished a conversation with the prince of the forest elves.

“Jareth, I think…” a breath, “I think I want to go back home now. I’m done.”

“You’re done?” He questioned, cocking an eyebrow, “Did you tell father and mother?”

“I can’t tell them now!” she interjected, hands gripping at that annoying skirt, “They’re busy talking with some weird guy that I didn’t pay attention who he was!”

Jareth’s eyebrow remained raised for a minute at the end of that sentence, then fell back down. A single gloved hand reached for her own, and she took it quickly. “Alright. I’ll go tell them that we’re retiring for the night.”

“Thanks, Jareth.”

A single snort, and the blonde head of her brother turned towards the source.

A group of princes were huddled around a table behind them, all snickering at the Goblin Royalty.

“She doesn’t know who the King of the Winter Mountains is!” the leader, a light skinned fae-child whispered, to which more laughter ensued, “Honestly, it’s like she was found yesterday.”

“Hey! I was found two weeks ago!” She stamped her foot, and Jareth put his arm out, a gesture telling her to be silent. She obeyed.

“Aw, alright, two weeks,” the kid continued, “whatever; it makes no difference. It means you’re just stupid. Everyone who’s anyone knows who he is.”

“That’s enough, Lerand.” Jareth spoke, “Go get the tree moss out of your brain and then come and talk to us.”

After a chorus of ‘ooos’ from Lerand’s group, he spoke again, “Shut it, glitter tights! What’re you gonna do, throw me in that Bog of yours?”

“I would have,” Jareth said, “had you been a human and not prince of the pixies.”

Lerand let out a titter, and now Jareica could see the small, transparent, shimmering wings on his back. “I keep telling you, glitter boy, it’s ‘Prince of the Mischievous Ones,’ not ‘pixies’!”

“That’s what humans classify you as, though,” Jareth continued. His sister could see his ever growing smirk, knowing he wasn’t going to end this nicely. “And if you say a single word to either me or my sister again, I’ll…” his grin was at full capacity now, “I’ll tell your mother.”

Lerand’s posture stiffened. “You wouldn’t dare-”

“Ah, not a word, remember? And yes, I would dare, thank you for asking. I trust we are at an agreement then?”

The Pixie Prince glared at Jareth, and the Goblin Prince’s grin became more cheerful than wicked. “Wonderful! I shall see you at the next party, Prince of the Pixies.” And he lead his sister away from the group of now laughing fae children, and Lerand yelling at them to be quiet. Jareica herself stifled a giggle upon remembering her brother’s display.

“Thanks, Jareth,” she said, beaming up at him.

He smiled down at her as well, “No problem, Jareica. Lerand needs to know his place anyways.”

“Is threatening to tell his mom the worse thing you can do?”

“Indeed. The Pixie Queen has been known to deal out such silly and embarrassing punishments for her subjects, as well as her son, and since Lerand is a prideful fae… well,” she paused for her laughter, “I’m sure you can imagine.”

“I can indeed. I just pictured him with one of our chickens on his head!”

“... That’s not a bad idea, actually…”

Finally, they found their parents and told them they would be retiring from the party for the night. Although King Jored had wanted them both to stay a little while longer for political reasons, he excused them to their chambers for their sake (and also because his daughter was giving him what the humans called ‘the puppy dog pout’, which he was not immune to). On their way out, Jareth made a quick stop to a pale lanky woman with light green hair and the same wings as Lerand, and whispered something to her. The woman nodded, and then took off, and the last thing Jareica saw before the doors shut was the woman dragging Lerand by his wing tips- a soft spot for their kind, she remembered reading- out a side door of the ballroom. She grinned wickedly.

“Serves him right for bad mouthing me,” her posture straightened and she strutted up to her brother, who linked arms with her.

“You know what this calls for?” He grinned.

“What?” she asked, eyes lighting up.

“I’d say… a song.” And the next thing she knew, he was spinning her around, singing at the top of his lungs.

“No one can blame you

For walking away.

Too much rejection.

No love injection.

Down in the underground

You'll find someone true.

Down in the underground;

A land serene;

A crystal moon.

Ah…”

It was a ballad at this point, she realised as she twirled, one that he sung sometimes to himself.

“It's only..” he paused, then his face lit up as he recalled the words, “It's only forever.

It's not long at all.

Lost and lonely.

That's underground.

Underground…”

Then she was flying, dancing with her brother at a quicker tempo, and she laughed and leapt around with him, glitter from his costume flying around.

“Daddy, daddy, get me out of here. Heard about a place today. Nothing never hurts again. Daddy, daddy, get me out of here. I'm, I'm underground. Sister, sister, please take me down. I'm, I'm underground. Daddy, daddy, get me out!”

And so, the castle echoed with the song Jareth sung and his sister’s laughter, accompanied by the goblins forming a chorus from it, as the blissfully unaware fae continued to hold their party behind closed doors.

#drabble tag tba.#○ *:･ﾟ✧ | sister sister take me down. ( rel. magic. )#○ *:･ﾟ✧ | im crying about david bowie again. ( ooc. )

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