Not a Queen (Jareth x M! Reader)

Chapter 4

You stand up and hold the book tighter. "If it crashed you to the ground, it's bound to your soul isn't it? You're worried I'm going to kill you accidentally or something."

"That's a natural thing to worry about." Jareth said also standing up. "And please just hand it over you're being a complete ass-"

The ground underneath you rumbled and a big tube sticks up, swallowing you. You scream and Jareth reaches out. 

Jareth sighs "Tube worms. What a nuisance. Now I have to go and find him." Jareth sighs and looks to his castle. The wind starts picking up. 

"I have to get it back soon..." Jareth said starting to worry. 

He had no idea what goes on in that head of yours. 

~*~

You've stopped screaming at this point, just breathing very rapidly hoping that you don't get a metal burn and fall into some body of water. 

Your knee bang against a brick wall. 

"Ah (SHIT/BEYONCE/FUCK/RAT'S TAIL)" You yell falling over and holding your knee and squeezing your eyes tightly. 

After your eyes stopped watering, you looked around and saw where you were. An empty room with a piano with broken keys. 

(Well, you've always been musically coordinated/you couldn't play for shit/What was this horrorscape? What happens if you get it wrong?)

You walked up to it and lifted the top of the piano. Inside was a ladder. There was a small piece of paper stuck on the inside of the piano that pictured an explosion because a stick figure pressed one of the keys. 

"Very helpful placing." You comment before moving around the piano and using the stool to boost yourself up and then start climbing down. 

You didn't know what you should do now. You should have given him the book when you had the chance, and now you were stuck in a weird place. 

The one week where you choose to be confident and bold and chase what you want in life, is the week where you should have been your typical self. 

Well, you also didn't plan to be chased by a magical entity librarian because you didn't return it by its mysterious due date, unbeknownst to you. 

~*~

Jareth stares at the crystal ball. 

You were running your fingers along the cracks of the wall and muttering something about the material. 

"He's a dork." Jareth said, using slang he had picked up from one of the runners. 

You had stopped at every little thing, getting distracted from whatever your goal was. 

A thought occurred to him.

Didn't you want this Jareth? You wanted someone to appreciate your life's work, to savor every little thing.

Jareth didn't think he would find it in you of all people. 

But aren't you glad he's here? You can feel the cracked walls starting to heal. You can hear the winds get lighter.

Jareth rolls his eyes. He's not falling for another human. 

You can't help but love them Jareth. Why bother pretending like you aren't sucking up every last bit of his attention. You want him to hold the book over you as long as he can. 

Jareth swatted the thoughts away and continued trying to find where you were. Although it was no easy task. Many runners run the same way, but you were dropped in a random part of the maze. 

Something no one has achieved. 

So, his memory of that place was a little foggy, so it would take more effort to find you. He needed the book after all. It was important to the Labyrinth's survival. 

And his, essentially. 

But you weren't that bad of a runner. You were just curious. He couldn't fault you for that. Stubbornness, yes, curious? No. 

~*~

The ladder finally reaches down to a black room. You look around.

"Even this hole has a lot of glitter-"

"AAAAAAAAA" You hear a scream.

A little...you don't know   w h a t   to call him, was staring at you in fear. 

"You can't just go around scaring people!" The thing scolded you. "I apologize I didn't know anyone was in here."

The thing stopped and stared at you. 

"Where did you even come from?" The thing asked. 

"Jareth brought me here."

The thing's eyebrows shot up. "But you're not a girl!" "Astute observation." You replied dryly. 

"I'm Hoggle." Hoggle said before turning around and walking away. You blinked and walked after him. 

Hoggle started to walk faster. 

You still caught up with him easily. 

"Stop following me! I don't like talking to runners." Hoggle called out behind him. "I'm not a runner! I just got stuck in this place, I'm trying to find Jareth."

Hoggle pauses, making you almost trip over him. 

"You're trying to find him?" Hoggle laughs and slaps at his knees. "You're really bad at directions!"

"This tube worm dropped me here."

Hoggle laughed even harder.

"You let a tube worm swallow you up?"

You waited for him to stop laughing. "I'm sorry. I never heard that before. I can help you get to the castle...but you better not be tricking me."

"I swear." You say. 

He looks at your hands for any crossing and then nods. 

"Remember runner, things are not always what they seem."

And then he knocked on a wall, and it opened.