Jareth lounged in his throne with his eyes closed as he tried to ignore the brutal pain of rejection. He'd never thought in his wildest dreams that she would truly refuse.
He had been beaten fair and square.
The goblins had run off, terrified when he'd shown up in the throne room, screaming like some heartbroken lunatic. He didn't even dare think her name, for fear that he'd break down completely.
"Jareth."
He was ripped from the underground in the span of a second, and his heart constricted at the sight before him.
There she was, lying on her bed, sleeping as if she hadn't just ripped out his heart. Her beautiful dark hair spread around her like a halo, bringing contrast to the pale color of her skin.
He turned his back on her and placed his palms on her vanity, closing his eyes tightly as tears burned at his eyes. He needed to leave. Needed to get away from her if he had any chance of surviving the brutal pain in his chest. Since she had beaten him, he was under her power. If she called, he had no choice but to answer, and until she dismissed him, he couldn't leave.
"Sarah…." His voice broke and the tears finally broke free.
He was shaking from the sheer pain of being forced to face her so soon. He took a deep, shaky breath before he barked the word out more forcefully.
"Sarah!"
He watched through the mirror as the girl shot up from her bed and stared at him with wide-fearful eyes.
Her reaction only fueled the pain he felt.
He had only given her what she asked for… He didn't want to be her villain… He'd just been trying to live up to her expectations.
"What are you doing here?" she asked as she stared at his shaking back.
"You called my name in your sleep, Sarah. You beat me, so any time you call, I'm forced to answer, and I can't leave unless you dismiss me," Jareth said softly as he gripped the vanity.
"You aren't here to take Toby?"
Her hatred was like a knife to his soul. He bit his lip to keep from wailing in frustration.
"I only took him the first time because you asked me to…" he whispered softly.
Sarah stared at the Goblin King in complete confusion. He was visibly shaking and he looked completely miserable through the reflection in the mirror.
"Please… Just dismiss me, Sarah…. It hurts too much to be here," he admitted softly.
She frowned. "Um… You're dismissed?" She blinked and he was gone, the only sign that he had been there was the glitter that covered her carpet.
Sarah slammed her bedroom door and threw herself onto her bed as she cried. Her first boyfriend had broken up with her. His reason being that she wouldn't have sex with him. I bet Jareth wouldn't have tossed me over such a thing. She sat up in her bed and hugged her pillow, shocked at her own thoughts. She was seventeen now. It had been almost two years since she had thought about the evil Goblin King.
The image of him standing in her room trembling and miserable popped into her mind's eye.
No. Not evil.
It wasn't really his fault that she had cast him as the villain. She let herself fall over onto her bed as she went back to crying.
Jareth was smirking to himself as he lounged in his throne. Another wisher had failed to beat him. He stood and was about to head to his chambers when he heard it.
"Jareth."
He was shocked to find himself in Sarah's room. He had thought after so many years the girl had forgotten him. When he realized the girl was sleeping he sighed. Of course she wasn't really calling you, you're the villain to her story, remember?
Jareth walked over with the intent of shaking her awake, but when he got closer, he realized that she had been crying.
Crying?
He blinked in shock. Through all the hardships he'd put her through in his labyrinth, he had never seen her cry. Not once. He reached to wipe the tear away and his hand stopped on an invisible barrier, and inch away from her.
He swallowed hard at the reminder of losing her. And I thought I was finally over it… He thought ruefully. He straightened up since he couldn't actually touch her. "Sarah," he called softly.
She blinked herself awake and her beautiful green eyes locked with his.
His mouth went dry at the bright unguarded smile that spread across her face. He'd seen her smile like that at his subjects, but he'd never been the source of her smile.
"Hello, Jareth." Even with her red, puffy eyes she looked beautiful smiling at him like that.
"Did you need something…" he wondered as he tried to wrap his head around why this girl who thought he was a villain was smiling at him as if he were her prince.
She sat up and he realized that she had developed quite a bit since he had last seen her. "No, actually, you crossed my mind earlier and I must have said your name in my sleep again. I hope you weren't busy."
He stood there blinking at the girl who had stolen his heart once, and just when he thought he'd gotten it back, it turned out that a few years had changed her opinion of him considerably. "Actually, I just finished being busy… Why were you crying?" He glanced behind him and grabbed her computer chair to sit backwards with his arms resting on the backrest.
Sarah snorted and rubbed one of her eyes. "Eh, boy troubles, I'm sure you don't want to hear about it."
Jareth raised an eyebrow at her admission. His Sarah, had boy troubles? He wrinkled his nose at the thought. "And what, pray tell, made you think of me amongst that?" He was completely delighted as a blush lit up her cheeks.
"Well…. My first boyfriend dumped me because I wouldn't have sex with him…"
"Smart girl," Jareth interrupted.
Sarah rolled her eyes at him. "And somewhere between sobbing and cursing, I thought about the fact that in the old days, people actually waited until marriage, and those thoughts led to medieval nobility, and you happen to be the only King I know, even if it's only the King of Goblins."
He smiled at the fact that he was still in her thoughts as he settled his chin on his palm and rocked the computer chair. "I must say, it's refreshing to have a conversation where you aren't glaring at me," he admitted softly while trying to calm his racing heart.
"I've had a couple years to grow up." She pointed out. "Looking back, the things that happened when I was in the Labyrinth weren't that scary. Humans do worse things to each other."
Jareth looked up with a growl as he felt the pull of a wisher. "I'm afraid I must ask you to dismiss me, dear Sarah. My duties require my attention."
Sarah blushed again and he quickly committed it to memory just in case it took a few more years before she called him again. Now that she'd grown up, he could see that he might actually have a chance to redeem himself with a little patience.
For her, he'd wait as long as he had to.
"You're dismissed."
He grinned at her before going back to his kingdom. He hummed to himself as he went to take care of the newest wisher, feeling better than he had since she'd beaten him.
Sarah sighed as she struggled with her bag full of books. She hated walking to her apartment after her evening class. It was always dark and creepy. She'd walked the same way for the last two weeks, but she still felt paranoid about it. She thought she heard something and huffed in annoyance at her own imagination.
Someone grabbed her arm and slammed her against the wall.
Spots danced across her vision when her head smacked against the brick.
The guy used a knife to cut her clothes while her head was spinning. The cold air on her skin brought her back to reality as the guy started groping her with his dirty hands.
Shit, who the hell is going to help me out here! The answer hit her like a ton of bricks.
"Jareth!"
The guy was jerked away from her, and Sarah dropped to curl up into fetal position on the ground. Her vision was fading as the face of a worried Goblin King appeared in her vision.
"Sarah, Sarah! I demand that you stay awake!"
She scoffed as her eyes fluttered again.
"Dammit woman, give me permission to touch you! Now," he snarled.
"You can…"
As her eyes fluttered closed again Jareth scooped her up. It wasn't word for word permission, but he would take what he could get.
Her head was bleeding badly as he carried her into his bed chamber. "Healer!" He called, loud enough to get the attention of half his kingdom.
The spritely woman breezed into the room. "Oh, a human. This will be easier than your usual scrapes," the sprite muttered.
Jareth crossed his arms and glared at the little sprite as she healed his Sarah.
"There you are, good as new."
"Thank you, now get out," he barked.
The little sprite rushed from the room and he grabbed one of his poet shirts before returning to the woman on his bed. He removed the scraps of cloth that used to be her clothes and easily put her into his shirt. He pulled the blankets down and tucked her in. Seeing her in his bed awoke fantasies and dreams that he had thought were long buried.
He just hoped she wouldn't react negatively when she realized where she was. He was about to leave when he changed his mind. He might never have permission to touch her again, and he intended to take advantage of it while he could.
He removed everything but his breaches and crawled into the bed beside her. Wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her against him, holding the girl that had haunted his dreams ever since he had seen her quoting lines about him in the park.
Sarah woke up feeling warm and comfortable. She tried to change position, but someone's arm was wrapped around her. Arm? Sarah shot up with a scream, looking around frantically. Her eyes landed on Jareth, his head resting on his palm as he laid on his side smirking at her. How does he manage to look so god damned sexy even when he just wakes up?
"Jareth?"
"Yes love?" he asked with a smirk.
"How the fuck did I get here?" She ground out as she looked around at the ornate room that she could only assume was his.
"You were attacked, I brought you here so that the healer could take care of your injuries," he said without missing a beat.
She finally remembered the events of the night before and cringed. "Right, and you just thought, 'Now that she's unconscious, I'm going to take advantage of her inability to tell me to shove off and sleep with her.'"
Jareth locked eyes with her, looking serious. "Yeah, pretty much."
Her jaw dropped. She really hadn't expected him to admit it.
He sighed and laid his head on his arm without taking his eyes off her. "Don't look at me like that, Sarah. You may have rejected me, but I still love you. I very much doubt I'll ever get another chance to hold you, so yes I saw the opportunity and took it."
She blinked at him in shock. "Whoa, time out. Still love me? What!" She stood up to pace as he watched her. "Where was I for this conversation and supposed rejection?"
He swallowed past the lump that formed at the memory. "Do you remember nothing of our final confrontation?"
"I thought I did, but somewhere in there I must have missed the part about being in love with me," she said as she continued to pace. Trying to remember what exactly he'd said.
He raised an eyebrow at that. "But what no one knew, was that the King of the goblins had fallen in love with the girl," he said quietly.
It was her turn to raise an eyebrow at him. "That was a line from a book to me Jareth. I was fifteen for goodness sake. I didn't connect those sorts of dots. From my memory of it all, you never actually said anything about loving me."
"I have moved the stars, I have reordered time, I have turned the world upside down, and I have done it all for you. I ask for so little, just fear me, love me, do as I say, and I will be your slave," he repeated it for her even as his heart twisted painfully at the reminder.
"You know. When I was fifteen I had no idea what that even meant. Right now, standing in front of you, it sounds like some ridiculous line from a romance novel. I was fifteen Jareth, I wasn't even interested in men at the time. You were expecting a child to understand something that was out of their grasp," she said softly as she stopped in front of his window.
"Yes, I already kick myself for missing my chance with you quite regularly Sarah," he growled.
Sarah spun around and pressed her back to the window as the angry Fae prowled right up to her. He reached up as if he intended to grab her chin and froze an inch away from her face. She watched with wide eyes as all the fight seemed to go out of him.
He closed his eyes and she watched as the scary goblin king seemed to melt away into that miserable man who had stood in her room after being defeated. "You called me, remember. You've always called me. You think I didn't know how old you were? I knew you were too young when you wished your brother away, but it was the only chance I had to prove myself. To be honest it still hurts like hell to know I failed. I'm not human, Sarah. I only get one possible mate. There is only one soul in the universe that is meant to compliment mine, and I screwed up my one goddamned chance…"
Sarah didn't know what to think. Her villain had just become something completely different.
He laughed without any humor as he glared at the floor. "I can't even touch you now without your permission. So don't act like I've done something horrible by using to only chance I've ever had to actually hold you the way I so desperately want to." Admitting it all to her made his heart ache. He placed a hand on either side of her on the window sill, far enough to avoid touching her, as he tried to avoid dropping to his knees and sobbing the way he had when she'd first sent him back.
"Jareth."
He forced his attention to her and realized she was leaning forward as if she intended to kiss him. He quickly stepped away from her and closed his eyes again as hurt flooded his chest. "Sarah, don't you dare kiss me if you don't mean it… I barely survived the first time you rejected me. I think the only thing that kept me alive was the lack of physical contact…"
Sarah frowned at him for a moment. Now that she knew what was going on, she had no reason not to give in to him. She thought he was sexy, strong, and when he wasn't trying to play the villain he seemed like a good guy. Before he could run again, she jumped up and wrapped her arms around his neck as she kissed him.
Jareth's entire world boiled down to one point. Sarah. He wrapped his arms around her and gave in to the desperation he'd been feeling for years. She was finally his.