Wayward 2/?


He slept fitfully. His dreams were as vivid as his memories, and they gave 
him no peace.
	When he had come back form Earth, his father had been 
understandably upset with him. But he was also forgiving. Jareth was young, 
and youth made one do irrational things. So he had gone to Earth, that was 
fine. He'd found a girl there? That was fine too. But now it was time to 
give up the foolishness and concentrate on his future. It was time he took 
a hand in ruling the kingdom, so when the day of his succession to the 
throne came, he would be prepared to take it over confidently. 
	Give up the foolishness? His love for Eleanor was not foolishness! 
She was expecting his child. He was going to marry her and raise a family. 
Was that foolishness?

His father leaned back in his throne, convulsing with laughter. "Marry her? 
No prince of the Underground is going to marry a common Earth-girl!" His 
eyes sparkled merrily. He hadn't had such wonderful entertainment in a 
long time. 

"I love her!"

"You're stupid. The child probably isn't yours. I bet she plays whore to 
the whole village!" He relished the shocked look on his son's face. 

"No!" He lashed out in anger and punched his father with all his strength. 

The King was stunned. "Ungrateful wretch!" He roared. "After all I've done 
for you? This is how you repay me. I'm beginning to regret the day I saved 
you. Don't look so shocked. Did you really think you were a son of mine? My 
flesh and blood?" He laughed cruelly. "You're dumber than I ever imagined! 
I rescued you from a squalid little hovel on Earth. Your mother was dead. 
Your brute father had killed her and left the house, left you sobbing and 
clinging to her blood-soaked skirts. I should have left you there!" He 
slapped his 'son' hard across the face. "You owe me your life." 

"You lie!" Tears filled his eyes. he tasted blood. It wasn't true. His 
mother had died when he was twelve, giving birth to a baby boy who had also 
not survived. 

"Your 'mother'." The King scoffed. "She was a nursemaid who wished her 
charge away. She didn't solve the Labyrinth of course, but she was pretty 
enough. And she knew how to raise children. The idea of a family...amused 
me. I thought, maybe this is what I'm missing. Maybe this will give me some 
degree of happiness. I wiped her memory. She though you were her son; she 
thought she was a queen. And you were so young, I think the trauma you 
faced in that squalid hole erased your memory of it. " The King sat back on 
the throne and regarded Jareth with a calm eye. "Then she died." He 
shrugged. 

Jareth was destroyed. In a matter of minutes, his world had been turned 
upside down. He sank to the floor. "It's all a lie. You're making it 
up.....it's not true." He felt like a child again. How could it be? How 
could his whole life have been one grand illusion? "Why?" His mind shut 
down. Only that one word repeated itself, echoing hollowly. "Why?"

"Why do I do anything?" The King asked darkly. "Because I could. Because 
it entertained me."

"You're lying to me. You're doing this to punish me, but it's all lies. 
LIES!"

The King chuckled. "If that's what you want to believe. But it *is* true. 
I suppose you want proof." He smiled.

Jareth  nodded. 

"Well then, how would you like those memories back? The mind is a wonderful 
machine, you know. It does a very good job of hiding away those things we 
don't want to face. It buries the darkness....but it can't erase it."

Jareth's brain filled with searing pain. He clutched at his head with his 
hands and fell prostrate on the floor. "No please......"

The King smiled coldly. "Remember, my son. Remember."