A/N: A very short drabble inspired by tumblr-user notfaer. Feedback is genuinely appreciated. Observe the angst warning. ~Leigh
"I wish to go –to the Castle Beyond the Goblin City." Her voice was shaky and weak, her heavy, labored breaths muting her once vibrant voice. But though her words were brittle, her will was not. And so, with the last embers of power remaining to her [and to him], she took herself away to the land that had always been her home, laid dormant as an escape in her dreams.
But it's been there, waiting for her, wishing for her to remember.
Oh Sarah, if only you'd remember.
She appeared in the garden, her wish having taken her precisely where she needed to be, precisely where he was.
Falling,
falling,
she fell down in a puddle of fabric, her nightdress loose about her thin frame.
Icy eyes snapped up and a gasp sounded loudly in the cool night air. For once, pride fell away, shed as easily as any cape. The King –no, no Jareth rose from his seat upon the grass and ran to her. She was reaching for him, crying softly, but with a smile upon her face. All this time, all this time away and he still felt as he did all those years ago and he was drawn to her as his necessary other half.
He fell to his knees beside her, cradling her small form in his arms as though she were made of glass, like to shatter at any moment.
"Sarah, Sarah, no!" It was a broken whisper, brushing against her temple. He called her name, as though she'd know, as though she'd recognize, as though–
"I remember. I remember you, Jareth," she cooed, a hand rising until he pressed his cheek to it, turning his head to kiss her palm. "I remember –everything."
He wept then, knowing what must come next. Knowing ,as he had from the moment her memory had started to fail, how their story must end. "What –what do you remember? Tell me, Sarah. Tell me like one of the stories you love." His voice trembled but he fought it. No, he had to be strong. She deserved it.
She laughed, a soft, fluttering sound. "I remember this, this place. The twisting walls, the orange sky, the castle. I remember an adventure, about a young girl who defied a King, who ran a labyrinth and won a child, –but lost her heart in the process. Or maybe she lost it after that. –I never did figure that part out." She looked up at him with unseeing eyes, the green as beautiful as it had been so long ago.
He looked down at her and despite his efforts, a hoarse cry left his lips. Tears dripped from his cheeks and were smeared into her hair as he clutched her close. And then he kissed her, kissed her for every year they'd been apart, for every dream never realized, for every memory that she'd lost.
And he kissed her for him.
Because, long ago, a King had locked his heart away in a labyrinth, kept it in the center where no one could reach. And then a Champion came and conquered. She left with a little boy as her prize.
but what no one knew
was she'd left with far more than that.
She'd taken the King's heart
and he had fallen in love with the girl.
"Jareth? Will you –sing me to sleep? I'm so tired."
"Sarah, please–!"
"Please…?"
Taking a deep breath, he forced himself to choke back his grief. Gloves disappeared and he stroked her cheek tenderly, soft, sweet words crooned so delicately by her ear. He didn't want this. He didn't want to let her go, to help her leave. But he sang anyway. The lyrics growing softer and more pained as her lids slowly closed.
"–And I'll be there for you
as the world falls down."
A final breath
–and she was gone.
Jareth buried his face in her neck, his shoulders shaking with sorrow. And as his cry of agony howled into the wind, the sky above split, the clouds parted. Dust swirled in the wind and the stars moved.