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She appeared in his dreams, as she sometimes did. Proud. Triumphant. Innocent.
He had been dreaming of a great storm breaking over the Labyrinth. Wind howled through the Goblin City and beat at the castle beyond, whipping strands of pale hair into his face and back again. From the balcony he could watch the blustery, implacable approach. The surety of rain was like the surety of Sarah. Some things would not be stopped.
"You didn't learn anything from it."
He heard her quiet step behind him, just far enough inside the balcony to be safe from the fierce wind.
"No, you're right. I didn't learn anything at all." Her voice was calm, almost emotionless. Not cold, simply...uncaring.
Knuckles whitened on the balcony rail. "I tried so hard..."
"You were too easy on me," she interjected. "You made it too simple."
"You were supposed to look beyond."
"Beyond what? Why would I have looked beyond what was right in front of me?"
"You were supposed to choose ME!" He cursed the voice that betrayed his anger as he cursed the irrational emotion itself.
She paused. "It was never about you. The only thing it was about was Toby. It was right to save him. It was wrong not to." Was she patronizing him? No, merely stating her truth.
The rain came. Torrents drenched his clothes instantly, though his hair refused to be tamed. He could tell without looking that she had moved closer, that the rain now plastered her hair over her shoulders like a dark, silky shawl.
Calm returned, and with it a wave of fatigue. "Life is never so black and white."
"Neither are fairy tales, we know that." She hesitated. "But a child knows no better." A hand touched his shoulder gently. He felt the tension in his body ease, but dared make no move.
He sighed. "Why did you have to be such an innocent?"
A whisper. A voice so low, warm breath against his ear. "You could have broken me."
She was so close. Through the cold water, he could feel the heat of her body inches away. He could still turn, take her in his arms...he could still... "I would rather lose you."
A sharp intake of breath. The hand on his shoulder fell away. "And so you have."
Silence He didn't turn, didn't need to. He knew she was gone. Fingers that ached from clutching the stone slowly slipped from the railing as he bowed his head in defeat.
Every night the same dream. She came to him, subconsciously looking for something she wasn't even aware of missing in the waking world. Every night, silently willing him to show her what she was lacking. Begging for the part of life she didn't know existed.
Every night he denied her. He had the power to do nothing else.
Jareth straightened. "I offered to give you your dreams, Sarah," he told the stormy sky. Thunder rumbled across the night, a slash of jagged lightning momentarily lighting his grim face. "Not take them away."
He spun smartly on one heel, marching across the slick pavement and back to the shadows, where his own dreams waited. Where everything was possible and nothing was what it seemed.