A/N: I don't own the characters and all that good stuff. Blah...I'm feeling Sadist today...
"Give me the child." Her voice is defiant; nothing I say is going to change her mind.
"Sarah, beware. I have been generous up until now, but I can be cruel," I say as I step towards her, my voice taking on a hint of anger.
"Generous?" She exclaims, "What have you done that's generous?"
"Everything! Everything you wanted I have done. You asked the child be taken, and I took him." I'm pleading with her, but her glare is hard, and her heart harder. "You cowered before me, I was frightening. I have reordered time. I have turned the world upside down. And I have done it all for you." My voice shakes the room. "I am exhausted from living up to your expectations of me. Isn't that generous?"
Her eyes soften slightly.
"Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered I have fought my way here, to the castle beyond the goblin city, for my will is as strong as yours…and my…"
I cut her off.
"Stop! Wait! Look, Sarah. Look what I'm offering you. Your dreams…" Her expression hardens again.
"Kingdom is great."
She's getting close to the end…there is nothing I can do.
"Just let me rule you and you can have everything that you want," I plead. "Please?"
"Jareth… I..." Tears form in her eyes. "I can't."
"My kingdom is great…damn… I can never remember that line." She continues.
"Just fear me, love me, and I shall be your slave." I step towards her. She brings her face close to mine, coming within an inch of contact. She is almost mine.
"You have no power over me." She whispers.
I have lost.
"Goodbye Jareth," She says softly to her window pane.
"Never goodbye Sarah."
But I have lost.
Goodbye Jareth…I love you.
And she is lost.
Either way… we did not win.