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Dolly · Joined: 23 Apr 2007 Posts: 3 Location: Hippy World

King of Thieves

Ever since he was little, Jareth had wanted to be a thief. Not just any thief, mind, but the King of Thieves. All the books he had read portrayed the position as a romantic and heroic thing. But, as Jareth would soon find out, that was not the case.

On his fifteenth birthday, Jareth ran away from the family home and entered the slums. Finding the local gang of thieves, he assisted them in their escapades and made friends with them. At the end of the day, they would go to the Inn, make merry and sleep comfortably. That is, until the sinkhole appeared. Jareth and the gang were unfortunate enough to be in the slums when it opened up, and then when the barrier was erected. They were far too sinful to get back into the town. The thieves panicked, screaming and crying. Jareth was the only one who kept calm.
“Shut up, you babies! We can survive here. We just do what we’ve been doing in the past, except this time it’ll be a little more dangerous. Or are you all too cowardly to stay?”
The other thieves calmed down, agreed that they could survive, and promptly made Jareth their boss. So, Jareth got what he’d always wanted: to be King of Thieves. But it sure wasn’t as cool as he’d thought it would be.

A couple of years after the sinkhole appeared, Jareth found a girl with pink hair near the barrier. She’d collapsed on the ground and was crying.
“Hey, kid! What’re you bawling like that for?”
The girl looked up at him. Her eyes were red and puffy. She just stared at him.
“What, never seen King of the Thieves before?” She didn’t answer, but instead continued to stare at him, her eyes getting wider. “Hey, what’s wrong with you? You mute or somethin’?” She shook her head.
“N-no…”
Jareth crouched down next to her. “You have a name, kid?”
She nodded. “Yeah, it’s… Umm… Lexy.”
Jareth cocked an eyebrow. “Sure it is. What were you cryin’ for, ‘Lexy’?” He asked her.
“I can’t get back out…”
Jareth laughed. “You’ve been naughty, then, haven’t you? Cheer up! You can join my gang. It might be a bit dangerous, but we’re tough. We can handle it. What do you say?”
Lexy stared at him for a while, then sniffed. “I guess.”
Jareth grinned and sprung up. “Alright! I’ll show you our base.”
He ran off, and Lexy got up and followed him. After that, Lexy became one of the most slippery-fingered thieves. Jareth had the sneaking suspicion that she was actually Princess Alexandra, the daughter of King Humphrey and Queen Penelope who had recently disappeared, but he let it pass. After all, having a princess working for him could be to his advantage someday.

A year or two after Jareth recruited ‘Lexy’, he met another pink-haired girl. This one, however, was not crying. Quite the opposite, in fact.
“What do you mean, I can’t get back through?! Let me out, you fat little dwarf, or I’ll punch your big nose right into your face, making you more of a pig than an elephant!” Jareth laughed.
“Hey, don’t blame it on the guard. He’s not the one keeping you in here. The barrier is.”
The girl stared at him, one hand holding the guard by his collar, the other drawn back in a fist. “Who are you?”
Jareth gave her a cocky grin. “I’m the King of Thieves!”
The girl blinked, and raised an eyebrow. “And? Should I care?”
Jareth laughed again. “You know, you’re nothin’ like the last girl who got stuck here. Hey, why don’t you come with me, back to the base? You look like you’d be a good thief.”
The girl snorted, let go of the guard, who cowered in a corner, and walked up to him. “Maybe. But only so I can work out how to get out of here.”
Jareth smiled. “Well, you can always help at the hospital. Be a goody-goody. But our line of work is much more interesting.”
The girl smiled mockingly and crossed her arms. “I’m sure it is.”
Jareth held out a hand. “My name’s Jareth.”
The girl shook his hand. “Mine’s Cassandra. I suppose you can call me Cassie.”
He grinned at her. “Well, follow me, and I’ll show you the base.”
He released her hand, and walked off. And after Cassie came, nothing was quite the same.

A week after Cassie joined the gang, Lexy disappeared. Some of the gang members saw her go out the barrier. Soon after, Cassie managed to get out as well, but she soon reappeared. She went down into the sinkhole, and remerged with the head of a dragon. As soon as she stepped off the ladder, the sinkhole promptly shrunk and disappeared, with a small ‘pop’, and the cause of the sinkhole was finally known: a giant, evil dragon, the head of which was in Cassie’s hands. The barrier was taken down, the slums were being rebuilt, and there was much celebration and honouring of the saviour of the town. However, no-one actually knew who had killed the dragon, except Jareth, and he wasn’t about to tell anyone. Nevertheless, the people still celebrated the unknown saviour’s courage and strength. Then, at the Spring Festival, the winner of the Flower Queen contest was revealed to be the dragon’s killer, and the long-lost daughter of Queen Penelope and King Humphrey. However, she was not Alexandra. Alexandra had appeared a little while before the sinkhole disappeared. It was revealed that when Queen Penelope had given birth, twenty or so years ago, it had been a girl. Queen Penelope was foolish, and felt that the King would be disappointed that it had not been a boy. So, she had paid someone to take away the girl, and find a boy. She had presented the boy to King Humphrey, and no-one but she knew that Crown Prince Kirelan was adopted. And so, the Princess Cassandra had grown up in an orphanage, not knowing her true heritage. There was some confusion as to who would become ruler, because there was no doubt that Prince Kirelan was part of the royal family. But the Prince revealed that he had never really wished to become King anyway. So, it was agreed that when King Humphrey and Queen Penelope either retired or died, Princess Cassandra would become Queen. She was happy with this – but only if she could still go into town like a normal person.

Jareth stood in the square and busked. So far he had made about thirty gold. He usually made less than one hundred gold in one week of busking, so when someone dropped a little pouch overflowing with gold in front of him, he looked up.
“Well, if it isn’t the King of Thieves! How’s business?” It was Cassie. For a princess, she was dressed pretty ordinarily.
“Cassie? Strange, I thought you’d be learning how to be Queen. How can you live there? It must be so stuffy…”
There were two men with her wearing guard uniforms, and they were staring at Jareth. And, from the looks of it, they were angry. No, they were worse. They were livid.
“What’s wrong with your friends? They look a bit hot.”
Their faces were as red as tomatoes. Cassie laughed. “They’re angry because you’re not bowing down to me and calling me ‘Your Highness’. I told you before, Jareth is a friend, and he doesn’t have to. No-one does. Now clear off! You’re starting to annoy me.”
The guards started to protest, but at a look from Cassie that read ‘go away or I’ll fire you’, they quieted and went away.
Jareth laughed. “Do you think it’s wise to be collaborating with thieves, kid?” He asked her.
Cassie smiled. “I don’t care. You’re my friend, and that’s that. And don’t call me kid. We’re roughly the same age. So, I hear you’re not happy with the job you have?”
Jareth snorted. “Performing and getting one hundred gold a week, if I’m lucky? I love it.” He said sarcastically. Then he sighed. “Well, at least it’s enough for me to rent a room at the Inn. And sometimes I manage to save up enough to take a fighting class at the College. It’s a living. It sucks, but it’s a living.”
Cassie smiled at him. “Well, how about you work for me?”
Jareth blinked at her. “What?”
She laughed. “You can work for me and be my Royal Bodyguard. It will be a good job, since I intend to go travelling soon. And it will pay well too.”
Jareth stared at her, and then pretended to consider it. “Well, I’ll probably be leaving a lot of broken hearts behind… Very well then. Consider the great King of Thieves your Royal Bodyguard!” Jareth mock-bowed flamboyantly, and Cassie laughed.
“Come one then. I’ll have to introduce you to Mother and Father, then to Alex and Kirelan.” She took Jareth’s arm, and led him to her carriage.
He gave a low whistle. “This’ll be better than I thought… Hey, I have a question. You know Lexy?”
Cassie nodded slowly. “Yeah…”
“She’s Princess Alexandra, isn’t she?”
Cassie nodded. “Yeah.”
“Oh, good. I hate to be wrong.”
Cassie laughed again.

Needless to say, Queen Penelope and King Humphrey were not exactly happy with the idea of their children going travelling with a former thief as their only protection, but they let it pass, since they knew Cassie could handle herself.
However, one year later, when the four returned and revealed that Cassandra and Jareth had managed to get married to each other six months into the journey, they were outraged. But they eventually accepted it. Then Alexandra married the doctor at the Hospital and Kirelan married the librarian, Lisa, and the King and Queen nearly died of shock. But, again, they let it pass. And so, they all lived…

Happily Ever After

Sani · Joined: 24 Jul 2007 Posts: 20 Location: Sweden

I think this story was funny, special the finish where every on marriage, that’s a good idea, well good story, I like it, and good!

Sani.

Dolly · Joined: 23 Apr 2007 Posts: 3 Location: Hippy World

Thank you!

Lucretia · Joined: 10 Dec 2007 Posts: 3

Ooh... I love it! Funny, too!

I just love the pairing wth Jareth... heehee... Too bad they didn't get an ending together... Oh well...
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~*~Vani de Blab~*~
a.k.a
~*~Lucretia Astra Le Torneau~*~
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Dolly · Joined: 23 Apr 2007 Posts: 3 Location: Hippy World

Yeah, when I read there was gonna be a Jareth ending in the Deluxe version I was hoping it was gonna be a pairing with the main character. Alas, twas not to be.

It took me ages to figure out what the new ending was, and then I realized I'd already found it anyway... Rolling Eyes

hikari_rekka · Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 9:17 pm Post subject:

Really good fic, y'know. Though I'm confused what you mean by 'you already found it'..
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