A.N: This is a small little ficlet. Read and enjoy.
She'd taken that terrifying leap of faith. Her brother, the one she'd gone through this entire mess for, was worth it. She'd been scared beyond anything she'd ever felt before, but there was something inside of her, her heart or maybe her brash naivety, the part of her that proclaimed that through it all, she'd been okay and she'd stay that way, that forced her to jump. Before the magic had caught her and slowed what could have been a plummet that would warrant extreme pain at the bottom of the fall, she'd felt like an idiot, but only for a tiny second.
As if she was a feather, she'd floated gently down, the room around her breaking silently, the pieces suspended weightlessly in space. It was strange, all the times through the Labyrinth that she'd fallen and she had not one scrape for it. Into the Oubliette, Helping hands had lowered her, if not gently, more steadily into the black hole. If they had not been there, it was possible that she'd have acquired a few broken bones at least. The fall, more a lazy sinking, after her episode with the drugged peach, had laid her gently, almost lovingly it seemed, in the junkyard. Now, once again she had slowed till the ground had steadied itself under her feet.
For a tiny moment, she was lost in her own racing heartbeat, but then it was even more like a thunderous drumbeat in her ears as from the shadows her opponent, even then she couldn't think of him as a true enemy, appeared. He stepped closer and she had to force herself not to shrink back. She had fought through his maze, survived his challenges, and knew that she was stronger than she had been before. She would no longer show him that she was afraid, even if she still felt it. She steeled her resolve.
"Give me the child," she said. It was as if she hadn't said that. There was no way that such a strong command had come from her mouth, not a single tremor to her voice. She didn't know if the figure swathed in white that stood in front of her was taken aback or not, but she was. Still, the fact that she sounded so sure served to make her feel more confident.
"Sarah, beware. I have been generous up until now, but I can be cruel," the Goblin King warned. A lance of incredulity shocked through her.
"Generous!" she scoffed. "What have you done that's generous?" The girl had to catch her breath as the look of anger crossed his face.
"Everything! Everything that you wanted I have done. You asked that the child be taken. I took him. You cowered before me. I was frightening. I have realtered time." He was pacing around her now, like an agitated wildcat. "I have turned the world upside-down, and I have done it all for you!" Sarah stood in silence, holding her breath as the echo of his words faded, taken aback by his tone. She was shocked then as resignation settled on his features, a slightly pleading note entering his voice. "I am exhausted from living up to your expectations of me… Isn't that generous…?" The next part of the story came to her unbidden, the words falling dispassionately from her lips to hover on the air like the bricks that had once been under her feet.
"Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City." She stepped forward, empowered when he stepped back. "For my will is as strong as yours, and my king-" she began.
"Stop! Wait!" Jareth interrupted, cutting her off. "Look Sarah. Look what I am offering you!" His voice softened even as his wrist twisted, a crystal forming on his fingertips. "Your dreams…"
"And my kingdom as great," Sarah continued, brushing aside his words. Every step she took closer to the Goblin King was ground she gained as he retreated from her.
"I ask for so little. Just let me rule you and you can have everything that you want."
"Damn," the female cursed, "I can never remember that line." Whatever force that had held her tongue, manipulating it so that the words that had come from her before, had left her stumbling over that crucial part. The line… the one she could never remember… what was it? Why, though she could recall every other word, could she not recollect that tiny phrase, the one bunch of words that spelled the end of this ordeal? In her distraction, Jareth let out his final plea.
"Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave," he whispered.
"My kingdom as great… My kingdom as great…" she murmured to herself, wracking her brain. She barely heard his request, sure that it would make no difference. Suddenly, it was there. She knew and the implications floored her. Her eyes came up to his face, realization and disbelief in her gaze. He had done everything that she had wanted, from taking her brother to playing the storybook villain. The very beginning of it all came to her mind, when she was telling Toby the story.
… no one knew that the king of the goblins had fallen in love with the girl…Had he only don't those things that he had because she had asked him to? …I'll be there for you as the world falls down… Was it because he loved her? …love me… and I will be your slave… All throughout the Labyrinth she'd been buffeted with challenges, but none were too much for her to handle. She'd been given numerous occasions to back out. Somewhere along the way, it had become about Toby, but at the very start, it was because she wanted to, she realized. She had wanted the adventure, wanted to be the heroine in her own fairy tale, wanted to feel as if the world was against her to feed her own self-appreciating view of the world.
"You have no power over me…" she breathed. The king tossed the crystal into the air. When the words left her mouth, she knew it was too late. She had come too far and she wasn't going to give up now, at the very end of the story. The clock began its ominous toll, but all she saw was Jareth. His face fell and there was so much pain in his eyes. He seemed to shrink in on himself, as if his heart had collapsed. He stepped back off the edge of the floating platform that they were on. Sarah's eyes were on the crystal. As it touched her outstretched fingertips it disappeared. When she blinked, she was back in her own home, the ringing of the clock still resounding in her ears as it struck midnight. There was an owl flapping around the foyer but it soon found its way out.
Sarah played her part, checking on Toby, being the loving sister. He would never know what she'd just sacrificed for him. She established the connection to her friends in the Goblin Kingdom, celebrated as she was supposed to. She had beaten the evil Goblin King at his own game, she should be happy. At the end of the night though, as she covered herself in her own bed, she had only one thought.
…it's not fair… And she knew what her basis of comparison was. Losing her dreams and a shot at love all in one go was definitely not fair.
A.N: I don't know what came over me as I wrote this and I hope that it isn't too apparent that I got really lazy at the end of this. Don't be afraid to review.