Title: 'Wasting Time'
Fandom: Labyrinth
Author: but_can_i_be_trusted
Rating: G
Challenge: #39: Dolly Parton Song Titles ('Run That By Me One More Time'/'Is It Real'/'I'm Wasting Your Time and You're Wasting Mine'/'We'd Have To Be Crazy'/'Working on a Dream'/'A Gamble Either Way'/'Speakin' of the Devil'/'I've Been This Way too Long'/'Fighting Kind'/'Unlikely Angel'/'Halos and Horns'/'Tomorrow is Forever')
Warnings: None
Spoilers: None
Notes: Crossposted to whatif_au and genprompt_bingo

Summary: Smirking, Jareth leaned close, staring into her eyes.


"An angel has come!"

The alarmed cry filled the entirety of his dominions. When the word reached Jareth, he could scarcely believe his ears. An angel, diving down so far as to reach his level? It was unlikely. Those with halos tended to shun the company of those who bore horns.

"It's impossible," he told himself scornfully. "No angel would dream of showing their face in my territory.

Nevertheless, there she was. Standing in his throne room. Looking so pure as to practically be an insult. And every bit as real as real could be.

He stared at her, amazed at the sheer nerve. "Speak of the D--"

"Don't finish that sentence," the angel gently warned.

"So," Jareth murmured, lounging in his throne, and casting a contemptuous look at her, "what brings you down here? Slumming, perhaps? One of your kind would have to be mad to come to a place like this."

She smiled politely. "It's nice to meet you, too."

He waved a careless hand. "Never mind the pleasantries. I asked you a question, angel."

"'Angel' is just a distinction," she responded. "I answer to 'Sarah'."

"Which answers a question that no one asked you, and fails to answer the question that was asked. Why. Are you. Here?"

"I've come here to help you."

Jareth stared again, his shock at the angel's--Sarah's--gall steadily increasing. "Suppose you tell me that again, angel? You say you've come here to help me?"

Sarah nodded. "If I'm able to. I don't think you enjoy your existence here, as a demon. I'd like to help you to improve yourself."

"Don't enjoy it?" Smirking, Jareth leaned close, staring into her eyes. "You naïve little dreamer," he murmured. "The power I possess, existing as I do, is far beyond your capacity to imagine. And, even if you were right about me supposedly being miserable down here, I've been here for too long, carried this power, for much too long a time to be willing to change anything. Such nerve, for an angelic being. Such pridefulness you're displaying. If I chose to, I could snap my fingers," he added, lifting a hand, "and imprison you down here for an eternity. Today, tomorrow, the next day, and clear to forever, you'd be my captive. You're not the kind who could fight your way free, if I decided. Or," he went on, "if I saw fit, I could invade your regions, and try to tempt any one of your own kind to join me here. I'd be taking as much of a gamble in that, as you're taking here."

"Then what's stopping you from taking either action," the angel asked.

Jareth smirked, leaning back comfortably. "The fact that I have no interest in it. Go back to where you come from. You've wasted precious time, both yours and mine. Don't waste more of it, or I might be forced to change my mind."