As The World Falls Down

Chapter 3

When you made it to the great, intimidating gate that you assumed was the entrance to the Goblin City, you saw that Sarah had a hand on it and was breathing heavily.

"I win!" she cheered. "I got here first. I won." Her sheep dog that had been quiet the whole walk was now bounding excitedly around the gate, letting out bursts of barks.

"I didn't realize it was a race," you said, ambling up to her. You hadn't broken a sweat at all and you breathed as if you had played a quick game of hopscotch, which Sarah rolled her eyes at. Thank goodness for fairy stamina.

You looked at the gate for a long moment, examining the intricacies of the armored goblin painstakingly carved into the entrance. You were fairly tall (average in fae standards) but the height of it had you craning your neck to examine it all. You shuffled back to take in the extremity of not only the gate but the wall that stretched eternally in each direction, protecting the city within that, upon a closer listen, sounded a lot more chaotic than you had anticipated.

On a whim, you turned to face the forest you had just emerged from, only to find a sprawling field with rows and rows of yellowing crops that stretched as far as you could see. You let out a sharp gasp and looked back and forth, feeling the same panicked jolt as you had when you had shown up in the forest.

"Where did...?" you trailed off, stepping back and pressing your spine up against the gate itself. You knew you were getting used to the constant change in your surroundings, and something like this shouldn't have come as such a shock, but it startled you and you were suddenly a little scared. Sarah stretched a comforting hand to your shoulder, and the warmth of it was so unlike anything you had felt, and you immediately felt yourself relax. It was easy to forget she was a human, and the blood that ran through her and propelled her was eons different from what composed your species, and much warmer.

"You're going to have to get used to that," Sarah said, and you let out an irritated breath. "But I get it, trust me. I learned about all this when I was 16, and for the most part I was alone. You don't have to be, I'll help you, I promise." You turned to look at her, and there was such genuine concern in the clear green of her irises that you couldn't help but smile down at her. Maybe you wouldn't completely wipe her mind after all. Maybe you could learn to be friends. But, of course, you had no time to further consider before the gates began to part at an increasing speed, and you felt yourself falling backwards into the limits of the Goblin City. In that split second, you not only saw Sarah's eyes widening as she hustled to try and grab you, but also had the time to think "Wow, the first ten seconds I'm in this place and I'm making my grand entrance like a clumsy idiot."

"Woah, there, let's not get down on ourselves so quickly."

You felt yourself being caught from behind by lithe, silken clad arms that had you on your feet as fast as you had fallen. You were facing Sarah now, and she looked past you at whoever had caught you, a small smile on her lips and her eyes wide. You turned to follow her gaze and found yourself face to face with, sure enough, a fairy. Same as you. But also not at all.

First of all, he was beautiful. Really beautiful. You had lived with the fae all your life, you were one for goodness sake, so you knew how enchanting they could be from looks alone. How a single glance from a particularly handsome fairy could make you feel suddenly dizzy and confused as you found yourself moving towards them. He was different, though, and you knew it from the butterflies exploding in your stomach, fluttering up your throat and clouding any coherent thought you had ever had.

He didn't enchant you, he made you nervous.

His eyes differed in color, one blue and one a pale green, and his pupils seemed to expand and contract independently of each other. His height brought you back to your reaction to the walls of the city; you found yourself looking up at him as Sarah did to you. His hair was pale and feathery and drifted down to frame the abrupt angles of his face. He was dressed in a style not all that different to you, donning a shining sapphire coat over a plain, white linen shirt that was tucked into a pair of very form fitting leather pants. You struggled to keep your gaze above his waistline, and you cringed internally because you knew how red your cheeks must've looked. He looked you up and down once, then twice, and you felt the blush climbing across your face up into your hairline when he grinned at you.

"Jareth, how convenient for you to be standing there at just the right time," Sarah said sarcastically and he looked to her with a loving gaze, never dropping his smile.

"Sarah, always a joy to have you within my walls," he said, a strange accent hanging off his words. "And yet, I never seem to find myself inside yours. Pity."

"Very funny. I've brought a guest, show some dignity, won't you?" she shot back and he regarded her with a look of false hurt, clutching a dramatic hand over his heart.

"When have I ever been truly dignified, hm?" He flashed teeth in his smile, revealing unusually pointed canines, before turning his attention back to you. "It seems you've made the acquaintance of my Sarah. It's a pleasure to meet another of my kind so far from home. Your name?"

"You know it's not wise to give your name to a fairy," you replied, feeling a random burst of bravery. "Haven't you heard the stories?"

"Mm, what if I promised to take good care of it?" he responded easily, catching onto the banter.

"Promise?" The flirting was natural, it was practically programmed into the fae.

"Cross my heart," he promised, practically purring the words as he traced a lazy cross over his left breast. You could hear Sarah let out a retching sound over your shoulder as you held your hand out, remembering the greeting she had taught you.

"I'm Y/N," you greeted him as he caught your cool hand in his, shaking gently. "I already know your name, so we're even."

"Maybe so," he murmured, letting his hand fall from yours. "Y/N, please, come inside. You must be starving."

Without getting any kind of response, he started walking at a rapid pace into the streets of the city, and Sarah strolled ahead of you at a much slower pace, gesturing with a nod of her head to follow.

"Before you ask, yes, he is always like this," she said quietly as you trailed Jareth.

"It's comforting," you responded in the same hushed tone, still a little dazed. "He's a lot like the other male fairies I know. Very brash, very flirty."

"Oh, trust me, I know," Sarah scoffed.

"I was going to ask about that...are you two-?"

"NO, God, no," Sarah immediately burst out, looking disgusted. "I've known Jareth since I was 16. Sure, he's tried, but he knows I'll never let anything like that happen. I have a boyfriend back home, matter of fact."

"Where are you from exactly, if not here? And how do you get here?"

"Now look at who's asking all the questions," Sarah teased. "But if I tell you, you have to tell me your story, too. It's what friends do."
"Okay, fine, I promise," you agreed halfheartedly.

"Well, actually, I ended up here when I was 16 because Jareth kidnapped my baby brother, Toby, who I mentioned earlier."

"What?" you exclaimed, and she shushed you through a bout laughter.

"It was my fault, I promise! I wished him away and Jareth actually went through with it. I had to get through the labyrinth and all of Jareth's tricks to get him back, but I actually ended up making a lot of friends here so I decided to come visit. After a few visits, I worked things out with Jareth and now we're friends. And if I want to come here, I call for him, and he takes me from my house and brings me here. I'm allowed passage into the labyrinth and the city, as well as the castle itself, but I never stay the night. Sometimes I stay for dinner, but that's about it."

"Wow," you breathed, processing all of that information. You looked at the woman walking to your left and knew you wouldn't have guessed she had been through all of that just by looking at her. She carried herself as if she was unassuming, nothing to look twice at, when she was something of a hero walking in a fantasy land that bent to her will. You suddenly felt silly for thinking that your circumstances of ending up here were unusual. It was like Sarah had been in a movie or something, and you were just some poor sucker who had gotten bored and made a really stupid mistake.