So this whole story started out with a single line from the movie.
"I think I'll name him Jareth. He has my eyes."
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Sarah found a music box in an old thrift store, the kind of store that has all sorts of magic clotted into the cobwebs in the corners. The faded, ornamented lid used to be painted bright colors, but they had faded to shades of sepia and dust.
She opened the chipped ceramic lid and a little dancer stood up and danced for her, to a simple song. The notes were old and the little tin keys rusty, but she could still heard the melody. It was a sweet tune. For some reason, something very deep inside her echoed back the tune.
Her heart was remembering something that she herself had long forgotten.
It made her eyes sting with tears for some reason she didn't know. She shut the lid hastily and dashed to the cash register to buy it. She didn't know what possessed her to, but she knew that this was something important to her, and that she couldn't part with it.
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She kicked the door shut with her foot, her arms full of grocery bags and the little brown paper bag the held her music box. The clock chimed twice, telling her what time it was. She looked at the clock longingly. She had always liked that clock. She didn't know why. She just did.
"Toby!" she called, setting the grocery bags on the kitchen table and sorting them out.
A little five year old child tottered down the stairs towards her. He had a pudgy face, and shining blue eyes that made Sarah heartsick sometimes, for no reason.
"Sarah!" he called out in his high, clear child's voice. "Sarah, you're home!"
She smiled down at him. His eyes were especially frightening today. They shined with happiness that made her hurt. She reached for the little brown bag on the table and handed it to him. "I got you something special today, sweetie."
He clapped his hands together and took the bag. Peering inside it, he made a big O with his mouth and his eyes brightened painfully with delight. His fat little hands delicately took out the music box, and when he opened it, he squealed with delight. "It's your song, Sarah! It plays your song!"
Sarah's smile flickered for a moment, and it could not escape Toby's perceptive eyes. "What do you mean, my song?" she asked, trying to repair her smile.
Toby sighed. "You don't remember anymore." he looked sad for a moment, then regained some of his joy by glancing at the little music box again, and rushed off to his room, yelling thanks again.
She shook her head. He said things like that sometimes. She just didn't know what he meant.
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Jareth watched her through his crystals, catching glimpses of her growing beauty through fragments of his looking glass. She had grown so lovely, it made his heart ache that he could only watch her through the small lens of love that he held.
She found his music box, though. That must count for something. And the boy was helping her. Maybe she would remember him soon.
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It was late. Sarah should have been in bed, but she was having one of her moods. She had the late night news on just for the background noise, and a good book was nestled in her lap. She wished she could sleep, but she was restless. She was halfway through her book and she hadn't read a single sentence of it. This was driving her crazy.
She put her book down and sighed. Her head rested on the back of the couch and she stared at the ceiling, trying to find shapes and pictures in the plaster. She vaguely remembered being able to find dragons and flowers in the ceiling when she was young, but now all she saw was the chipping plaster. A sigh escaped her lips, and her head flopped to the side.
Toby's music box stared at her from the end table. He must have left it out when he went to bed. She reached across the couch and grabbed it, setting it on her lap.
Something was missing. She felt it deep inside of her. There was a vital part of her that was gone.
Slowly, she lifted the lid of the music box, and the little dancer rose to life, spinning to the twinkling little song. She closed her eyes, and for a moment, she let the music take her away.
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Jareth saw his opportunity. Finally, she had let her guard down.
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The song was floating over her head, working it's way through her, and she started to relax. Then, softly, slowly, she heard a sweet voice singing the lyrics to the song that she couldn't remember.
"As such a sad love, Deep in your eyes, a kind of pale jewel, Open and closed within your eyes"I'll place the sky within your eyes."
A smiled danced on Sarah's lips, her eyes still closed. She remembered the lyrics now. The sweet, sweet lyrics that he would sing to her with his soft voice and his sharp eyes that held love and tenderness for her and her alone.
"I will be there for you, as the world falls down…"
"Falling…" Sarah sang softly, smiling, with her eyes still closed.
"Falling in love with you."
The music box ran out of spring, and the music died into quiet.
She opened her eyes slowly, and saw Jareth sitting next to her, his head resting on the couch next to her, staring at the plaster. She smiled at him, and he kept his eyes trained on the ceiling. "What can you see, Sarah?" he asked in his lilting, soothing voice.
She looked confused. "What?"
The plaster still held the Goblin King's attention. "I think that that particular piece next to the water stain looks remarkably like the bog of eternal stench."
She laughed lightly. "That bit over there looks like Ludo standing on his head."
Jareth tilted his head slightly. "So it does. Excellent eye, Sarah dear."
Sarah smiled. She loved when he called her dear.
They both stared at the ceiling for a long time after that, silent, and enjoying each others company. Sarah barely noticed when her hand slid gently into his, and closed around his gloved fingers.
she felt, somewhere deep inside her, that everything would be okay, now that he was with her, sitting next to her. Everything would be perfect.
Jareth leaned over her, her eyes still closed, and gently laid a kiss on her lips. Sarah slowly returned it, then opened her eyes to look up at her King.
"I hope you don't mind, Sarah dear, but I quite like it here. I don't think I'll be leaving for a while."
Sarah wrapped her arms around his waist, and rested her head on his chest. "Good." she said, smiling.