Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or the storyline presented in the movie. Not mine. Okay, now that that's covered, on to the story!
Only You
It was possibly the worst day of Sarah's life. Outside her window snow drifted lazily, creating a cozy haven for her to curl up in and lose herself. And she would have done just that, had she not been missing one thing… her journal.
She was rather frustrated, she realized. She had written everything in it, and now it was lost to her. In this journal she had expanded her tale, adding on to it to ease the tedium of reality. In her version, after she had left the Labyrinth she had been blessed with visions of her friends almost nightly, and the Goblins sought her out. She would see them in random places, like the coffee shop. The poor little things would reek havoc on the mortal world, invisible to all but her.
In her musings she had created another time and place, another Sarah altogether. One that was charming, and poised, and amazingly beautiful. One fit to be a queen. Maybe that was why Sarah worried so much about the journal's location. She blushed just thinking about her final chapter, her latest foray into literature.
She had just written her first little romance, the first adult scene.
She had written it after her last audition, with the blood still singing in her veins. Her character was supposed to be pleading with a lover to return to her, and so Sarah had done what she could to imagine it. Before she could halt her foolish mind, it had conjured up his image. Jareth. And she found herself oddly moved; strangely compelled. It had been the best performance of her life.
On that delicious high she had found her journal, and begun the entry that even now painted her cheeks scarlet in recollection.
_Sarah's Journal_
…And before them, in a pillar of silver smoke, appeared the Goblin King, the very man they had been battling this entire journey. Sarah, in her outrage, felt none of the fear she should have. Instead she approached him with a grim purpose.
Ludo picked up Ambrosias and Sir Didymus, cradling them both protectively. Hoggle lay sleeping in a hollowed-out log, weary after their most recent brush with death, and the Goblin King's minions. They were lucky to have escaped alive.
"You have returned me to this place, and sent your servants after us." Behind her, Ambrosias barked, and Sir Didymus did his best to silence the beast. It was only a backdrop for the scene unfolding. "They have failed, as you can see. We are alive still."
"Indeed, and so you are…" He smirked, those full lips tilting on one side. Her heart tilted as well, and she fought the urge to stare. "That alone should tell you that I did not wish you dead. All I have done, I have done for you. I move the stars for no one. And yet…" He gestured to the clearing around them, the fog-bathed mossy floor, and then her very companions. "I have created this. All for you, my Precious Sarah."
The tree branches, mere wisps in the fog-laced dark, swayed, their echoes eerie in the sudden silence. When Sarah turned away, looking for her companions, she was stricken another blow. "What have you done with them? Tell me, Jareth!"
"Only you, Sarah, would think to command me… I have sent them away. Back to their homes in the Labyrinth. They are safe and well, and will remain so. On one condition." He moved forward, a black shadow in the grey night. The only colors she could see in the mixed twilight were his eyes, one amber, one blue. And both were fixated upon her.
"What do you want, Jareth? Why have you brought me here?" Her voice was strong, her fair chin tilted up in pride rather than the youthful arrogance he would have recognized before. Her actions amused and baffled him. Ah, his Sarah…
"You. Only you, Precious One…"
The words stunned Jareth, his hands frozen in place, unwilling and perhaps unable to continue. As much as he wished to read what Sarah had written, he didn't know if he was strong enough. She was talented, his little mortal. Her words were evocative, and the images sprung up before him without his consent.
He tossed his gloves aside, looking around his personal chambers. The emerald bed-hangings reminded him of her expressive eyes, the dark wooden armoire and bed frame, and the table and the bookshelf… they were all the rich, deep color of her hair.
If he closed his eyes he cold see her still, as a child, and then as a young, moody teenager. Her failing powers had reached to him, greedily, begging him to keep the shell in his domain, their final gasping breaths going un-heeded. The Goblin King had made his Sarah a vow, and she had managed- despite the odds- to beat his Labyrinth and retrieve her Toby.
The Fae King would never admit to cowardice. He was the master of all within his magical realm, creator and destroyer, the beginning and end. He was certainly not afraid to read the words Sarah had written. Cautious, maybe, but never afraid.
He stared at it a long time, his eyes a deep and thoughtful blue. He didn't know when they had shifted, nor did he care. His eyes reflected his power, amber when he was angry, his powers reaching out to take energy from his world to do his will. They were blue when his magic stemmed from within, from his own powers as the Goblin King. One was as likely as the other, the two halves making up the whole of him.
With final certainty Jareth tucked the journal under a large, thick white pillow, encased in emerald silk. It was for another day, he thought resolutely. He could only read so much, after all, in one night. It was not running, no, not at all. It was a strategic retreat.
His bare chest rubbed against his silken sheets, and Jareth smiled slowly. She thought of him, his beloved. She made him the villain, yes, but he was also the one she dreamed of, the man in her thoughts. She just needed a little… inspiration to think of him in the right terms.
He would speak with some of his subjects on the morrow and see what he could manage.
His hand brushed the gilded cover gently, almost lovingly. As he wished to touch Sarah. A world away Sarah brushed her fingers over the cover of her own book, it's leather supple, its pages dog-eared. And she fell asleep with it clutched to her chest, it's title presented to the room.
'The Labyrinth'.