Without You

"Sarah." Looking up when she heard her name, Sarah put her book aside as she saw Hoggle in her mirror. She rarely got to see him anymore, and when she had seen him recently he had looked tired, though he would not say why.

"Hoggle," she said with a smile. It was not returned though, and her smile melted into a worried frown. "What's wrong?"

"I need you to come here," Hoggle said, looking grave.

"Here?" She bit her lip.

"To the Labyrinth, to the castle, just one last time," Hoggle said, reaching out a hand to her.

"Hoggle," she said hesitantly. She didn't want to go there again, not after she had fought so hard to leave, but Hoggle was her friend; surely he wouldn't endanger her, would he?

"Please, Sarah," Hoggle said, his eyes speaking volumes of urgency. He needed her to do this for him.

Without another word she reached into the glass and took his hand, letting him pull her from her room into the Labyrinth. She was standing with Hoggle in a room in the castle, still holding his hand and suddenly feeling the need for it to be there. Something was wrong. Everything was so quiet, there seemed to be no one else there. Where was everyone, everything? Surely she should be able to hear something… Everything was wrong.

Pulling her along Hoggle led her through a small corridor to another room. This room was dark, the windows covered by heavy drapes and only a few candles for light. Against one wall was a bed draped in black, with one loan figure encased in its sheets.

As Hoggle took her to the bed her stomach felt heavy and her heart sped up as though in effort to push its way up through her throat. She didn't need to ask Hoggle to know that someone here was dying. And soon, most likely.

She looked at the figure lying there as Hoggle pushed her forwards. Though she knew it was the Goblin King, he did not seem to have the same energy. His face was pallid, his hair limply framing his face and with great effort, he opened his eyes to look at her.

"Sarah," he breathed, his mouth curving into a weak smile, perhaps the first genuine one she had ever seen him wear. "I, I am so glad you came."

Although the king had scared her, intimidated her and had inspired feelings of dislike mixed with grudging awe before, she found now that there was almost pity for this dying creature before her.

"What's wrong with you?" she asked, keeping a certain distance but close enough to peer at him.

He coughed a little, and she noticed a sheen to his face that spoke of illness. "Surely you can tell," he said. "I am dying."

"Oh," she said. What did he expect from her? She barely knew him, and what she did know hardly inspired warm feelings in her. It was sad that he was dying, but what was she supposed to say?

He coughed again, harsher this time, and smiled self-deprecatingly. "I thought perhaps I may get a bigger response than that, but no matter."

"Well, why are you dying? Isn't there anything anyone can do?" She asked. The fact that she had said 'anyone' rather than 'I' went unnoticed, or possibly ignored. There were bigger things to worry about.

"No," he answered weakly. "There is nothing that can be done now. It is far too late. I will die this night; it's just a matter of time." His breath came out in wheezing gasps, and he said faintly, "Tick tock."

Sarah glanced around, as if searching for the answer to her next question. "Well, why am I here?"

The king smiled his fading smile, and said, "There is something I wanted to tell you. Something I wanted you to know, before I go."

The quiet was not so quiet anymore. There was a rumbling though the very air, the stones of the castle were vibrating around her. Sarah looked around her worriedly, and she noticed Hoggle was gone. Had he left to give them a chance to talk?

"Sarah," Jareth called to her softly, drawing her attention from the ominous rumbling back to him. She gave him her full attention. After all, if he was dying then he deserved at least that. "Sarah…" His voice was weak now. "I love you."

She blinked at him. "What?" She didn't understand, how could he possibly love her? If he loved her then why hadn't he said anything, why had he waited until now?

"I love you. I always have, from the first moment I saw you," he said, his eyes closed now.

There was a great ripping sound from outside, and the shaking in the stones grew larger, leaving no time to consider his words.

"What's happening?" She shouted over the noise.

"I told you, I'm dying," he said. She could only just hear his voice, speaking as softly as he dared. "As I die, so does this world and everything in it."

"But," Sarah stammered. "But, what about my friends? Hoggle and Sir Didymus, Ludo…" They couldn't just die, that wouldn't be fair, to have them ripped from her just because the man before her couldn't go on.

"And still you care more for them than for me…" he said, more to himself than to her. His eyes had been closed for a while now; he hadn't the strength to open them. "This world and its inhabitants cannot exist without me. The world is crumbling, falling down…"

Sarah had tears in her eyes. There must be something she could do, something to save this world, the friends she had made… "Why? Why are you dying?"

"Because you do not love me," he answered slowly, unable to speak as well anymore.

"That's it? The only reason why this place is disappearing, why you're dying and taking my friends with you is because I don't love you?" She was getting angry now as hot tears edged their way down her cheeks. "That's stupid, that's just so stupid, it's just…"

"Unfair?" he filled in softly.

"Yes!" she said, her voice somewhere between a sob and a shout.

"That is just the way it is…" He was getting fainter, and Sarah could hear great stones around her colliding as they fell, the world crashing down around her ears.

"What if I said I love you? Would that stop all this?" She said, grasping, desperate.

He laughed softly, the laugh turning into a cough. He swallowed painfully before he answered. "Even if you did love me, which I know you do not, I already told you; it is too late. This world will crumble, and I shall disappear into nothing, no matter what you say or do. It will be as though we were never here."

She knelt by his bed, grasping at his hands. She could see they were disappearing, could barely feel them in her own hands. "And that's it? You'll just disappear and there's nothing that can be done?" The castle was coming apart around them, its existence being torn apart.

"Nothing at all."

"What was the point of bringing me here then?" She asked, tasting her tears, demanding him to look at her.

With difficulty he managed to open his eyes and he fixed her with a look. "I had to tell you before I went, otherwise, all this," he glanced around at the world collapsing, "all this is just meaningless." The walls around them fell, leaving the floor to fall away from the bed which was fading fast, as was the king in it.

"Jareth…" she said, her tears making it hard to see him.

"You'll go home now," he said, putting some strength back into his voice as they floated there. It sounded like he was holding back tears, but she couldn't tell anymore. He could barely be seen, and Sarah knew that with that last act of sending her away, he would be gone. She wished that she could return his feelings, do that one last thing for him before he died. She wished that she could grant him that one happiness before he left this world. She wished a lot of things.

Just the outline of his face remained with his eyes, staring at her. His voice would speak the last words he would ever say, before he sent her home and thus ending his life. She almost didn't want to hear it, but knew that if she didn't listen she would regret it, and it would make her friends' deaths less somehow.

Jareth, king of the goblins, took one last wheezy breath, and spoke four final words to her before he disappeared.

"Without you, I'm nothing."

Nothing at all.

This is another one of those fics that has been lying around on my computer waiting for me to do something with it. I gave it a once over, added some things, changed a few things and then thought, hey, why not?

Anyone waiting for an update on Married Life will just have to wait a bit longer. I promise I'm making up for that atrocious last chapter, but it's going to take me a while, especially now all my assignments are due in...

I believe it was written to Placebo and David Bowie's Without You, hence the title.

As always, let me know what you think, even if what you think is that I should give up now and become a stripper (really no; I haven't got the body. Should we be worried that that's the only reason I have to offer against doing that?)