A/N Disclaimer: Don't own the story or the characters. Now that's out of the way...I think this is the weakest story I have written but I wanted to post it anyways. This is my very first attempt at fanfic I ever did even though I'm not posting it first. I haven't looked at this story for quite some time (almost a year this has been sitting on my computer collecting dust, too busy with other stories). Anyway...without any further ado...ENJOY!
The party raged around her but she felt as if someone was missing. Someone that she finally realized she needed along with her other friends. Maybe she needed him more than all of them put together.
The one who was missing was so much more than a friend but he had done so much to her that contradicted his statements of love.
"How can I feel these things for someone who put me through hell? Did he really mean what he said? Does he really love me?"
How had she been so blind? He really had done it all for her and now she felt hollow without him even though she was surrounded by her new found friends.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw the owl take flight from the branch he had been watching her from.
The owl had seen enough and he could not take the sight of her anymore. He thought to himself, "It all went so wrong." The pain of seeing her again even for a moment was excruciating. He wanted so much to go to her side and take her in his arms. Yet he hesitated because he knew she did not want him.
With that thought in is mind he took off with one powerful downbeat of his wings and took to the sky as the wind current lifted him higher and higher.
"Goodbye," he mournfully whispered into the night.
She rushed to the window as it registered that this owl was so much more than he appeared. By the time she reached the window the owl was air born and flying over the roof and out of sight. She could feel a sinking sensation in her stomach, it seemed as if she could no longer breathe. In pain she cried out into the night, "JARETH!"
Her voice echoed through the silence of the night. She did not notice the party behind her had stopped when her pain ripped through all of them as she cried out.
The owl's wing beat faltered.
"Sarah…" he said as his heart was once again stabbed with pain.
Why is she playing these games with me? he thought with an anger that would have stopped anyone in their tracks. He felt the urge to go back but fought it even though he thought about how much pain that voice had carried when it had cried out his name.
My name on her lips…she actually said my name…
The owl turned around to face the house and headed towards the voice that had cried out to him.
Tears came unbidden to her eyes and she could not turn around to face her friends. She could feel them looking at her and she felt even more guilty for feeling they were not enough. She wanted the man who had started and ended everything.
She had been so blind.
She composed herself and turned around. She saw all the expectant faces looking back, curiosity burning in their eyes. It was Hoggle who broke the silence.
He settled quietly on the windowsill behind her. He felt his heart skip a beat at the sight of her. His anger melted away in that instant and it took all his strength not to show himself to her immediately.
He wanted to hear what she was going to say but she would say it with no knowledge of his presence.
"You finally see don't you?" Hoggle said.
Sarah was taken back by the question. They waited for her answer. What did she finally see? It finally came over her like a wave on the beach.
"I do," she said in a voice of incredulousness.
Hoggle smiled sadly and shook his head.
"Why did it take so long? We all knew how he loved you…he just didn't know how to show it and you kept disregarding him."
She was shocked by his words and her face clearly showed it.
"But…but he was the villain! The one to be overcome! He took my brother and made me traverse a labyrinth riddled with untold dangers! Even you were afraid of him and then wanted to help me defeat him!"
Hoggle looked down at the floor embarrassed. When he answered he looked Sarah in the eye, "I was a coward. He has power over all those around him…except you. I wanted to help you defeat him because I was…I wanted to prove myself to you."
The owl chuckled to himself.
He had been correct in assuming the dwarf's feelings for Sarah. Sarah saw him only as a friend. He knew first hand how the dwarf felt at being rejected time and time again.
He would not pity the dwarf though because he was jealous of this small creature since Sarah would rather be with the dwarf than him.
The anger welled up inside him again as Sarah threw her arms around the tiny man. Jealousy took over and he thought in rage How dare she hug him? She should hug me!
More than ever he wanted to show himself and pry that dwarf away from Sarah and take his place.
He stayed where he was.
"Oh Hoggle…"
She dropped to her knees and hugged him to her. She cried on his shoulder as he comforted her until she could cry no longer. The rest looked on with sympathy, they made no move to tell Sarah the owl was once again watching.
The owl was so close to leaving again.
Those tears should be cried on my shoulder! She should be looking to me for comfort not some dwarf who can hardly get his arms completely around her! Why did I bother coming back? She obviously doesn't need me…she did this just to make me see how much she doesn't need me!
He felt so many emotions fighting for his attention that he thought they would completely consume him if he let them. Before he could leave the big beast approached Sarah and the owl knew what was coming.
Ludo came up and gently tapped Sarah on the shoulder. She looked at him through red eyes. He wiped away a stray tear.
"Sawah…" he said in his low, rumbling voice. As he said it he pointed at the owl.
Sarah's breath caught in her throat.
He came back she thought.
The owl stared at her and saw the effect he had on her. She looked as if she might start crying again from the sight of him. In that one look he felt all the jealousy and anger melt away and turn back into the love he had always felt for her since the moment he had first seen her.
He knew he would not be able to leave.
Didymus said, "We shall leave you my lady. Call when you need us again…if you should…", he looked daggers at the owl and the owl ignored him completely. His eyes were only for Sarah but he was still debating whether he should stay or go. He didn't think he could take any more rejection from this girl no matter what he might feel for her. He had given her enough of him already and his wounds were still fresh from those cruel words she had said to him when he had poured out his soul.
He knew it would not do any good because by that time she thought everything he did was to stall her. What he had said at the end, it had been true, every word. He was not one to lie.
She had not believed him and she had cast him aside. His anger at that thought was once again a tangible thing. How dare this mortal think she can just use me, cast me aside and call me again as if I am some sort of mongrel pup? Why did I even come back? She does not need me and she will only hurt me again. How much of her rejection can I take in one day?
Sarah nodded at Didymus and they slowly dissolved. Hoggle was still there, making sure she was okay and for his own selfish reasons. I may not be the one she loves but at least I know how to show or hide my feelings he thought bitterly.
He knew how Jareth felt about this girl and he still felt the guilt weighing on him for what he had done to Sarah. He knew the peach had been enchanted but he had no idea what had transpired after she had bitten into it and he had fled. Had Jareth done something to her? Even the thought of Jareth hurting her made him feel an anger that clouded his cowardice and he felt he could easily take on Jareth whether he was a Fae King or not.
He had to admit to himself though that he knew no harm would ever befall her because Jareth's feelings for her would not allow him to harm the girl in anyway, but he still felt weary of leaving them alone. No one knew what went on inside Jareth's head and no one really wanted to find out.
Sarah slightly nodded her head at Hoggle and he too dissolved.
She looked towards the owl again and was torn between staying put and rushing to him.
She stayed kneeling on the floor.
She was still not sure this man loved her as much as he had said. How could he? He had done so much to hurt her and then at the end of it all he said he did it because he loved her. Maybe he had been hurt too many times to remember how to love someone properly.
Then again it could have been exactly what it looked like, an attempt to stall her and keep her brother forever. The chance that was the true reason for those words had been the main reason she had finished the words as they were in the book. She could not trust him after all he had done. How could she? He had tricked her before….hadn't he?
The more she thought about it the more she realized there was never one thing he had said falsely, he had just been playing the game that she had started by asking her brother be taken.
He had given her adventure, the perfect fairytale and he had even offered himself as the prince at the end of the story. He very own dark prince, but she only now just realized all this and she knew it was too late to fix this and make it right.
Oh God what have I done, she thought morosely.
The owl didn't move. He looked like a statue.
He was not going to make the first move.
The anger he still felt from the moment before was slowly fading the longer he looked at the conflict going on behind her eyes. He tried to hold onto that anger so he could keep a level head and his distance.
If he was to go near her now his resolve would falter and it would only be a matter of moments before he held her in his arms.
He was not as unfeeling as he let his subjects think, it was just easier to bury everything away. This girl had brought everything hidden back to the surface and it had nearly consumed him.
How could he make her see his words had been true and the feeling of loneliness would never go away unless she filled the void?
Sarah felt tears rolling down her face, tears she thought she no longer had. She had told this man not an hour ago that she was as strong as him, yet here she was breaking down in his presence.
Why does he all of a sudden have this power over me? She wondered about it until she realized she loved him as he loved her. How did I not see it before?
She mentally smacked herself for being so blind. A voice in her head said There was something more important than your dreams at the time. Remember he held Toby and you had to get him back at all costs.
Yes even at the cost of my own dream and happiness.
She had no idea whether he still felt the love he had professed to her in the labyrinth. How could he? If she had been in his place she would have been angry and heart broken.
She had hurt him and she had no idea if he could forgive her. At least he had come back when she called.
He stared in shock. Where was the strong woman who had destroyed his dreams of a life with her? The one who had given up her own dreams just to get her baby brother back from him?
This was not her. That woman would never cry…would she?
She was hurting just like he was and it made him want to hold her to him but he was still too stubborn to admit it and he stayed put on the cold window sill.
She looked to the owl. He still had not moved. She wondered if he had come back just to see how much she had fallen without him. Maybe he came back to gloat about how much he had affected her and that he felt absolutely nothing. This could have been all one big power trip for him.
Is this what you wanted to see! she felt like screaming at him, Exactly how much power you really do have over me!
Instead she heard herself whispering the words, "I'm so sorry," before she even registered the thought of being sorry in her mind.
The wind suddenly blew through the window and she thought she heard wings open in order to use the wind to take him away. There was a familiar smell in the air, one she could not place. It smelled faintly of autumn when the leaves crunch under feet and give off their smell.
More tears joined the ones already running down her cheeks and the cool wind felt like a caressing hand. She closed her eyes and pretended it was his hand against her face wiping the tears away and making it all better.
The owl felt himself completely give in to all the emotions of love he felt or had felt for this woman when she had whispered the words I'm sorry. How does she have such power over me? I am wrapped around her finger, but I would have it no other way.
How could he stay away from her in this condition? He had opened the door to her heart just as she had opened his. A door that could never be closed again, a wound that would never heal unless they could forgive each other for their failings.
The wind blew through the open window behind him. He opened his wings and began to transform into his human form as Sarah closed her eyes.
She looked so beautiful with her eyes closed, as she seemed to soak up the night around her. The moon's light fell on her closed eyes and he could not think of anything more beautiful.
With his transformation complete he slowly walked to where she was kneeling and lowered himself into the same position right next to her, making not a sound. He quietly took off his leather gloves, he wanted to feel her skin and tears against his hands without fabric coming between them.
He cupped her face in his hands and caressed her wet face ever so gently.
The wind died down but she still felt something caressing her face.
She slowly opened her eyes and her heart skipped a beat. Her fantasy had become reality, he was no longer in his owl form and he was before her in all his glory, his hands gently cupping her face. His mismatched eyes bored into hers like he was looking for something, his hair was slightly moving in the breeze and he appeared to be glowing as the moon lit up his form.
He must have found what he had been searching for because he looked close to tears. She had never seen him so fragile before, had not thought him capable of the emotion he was now showing.
Sarah threw herself into him, throwing her arms around him and almost knocking him over in the process. He chuckled deep in his throat and she realized she had never heard him laugh before.
He wrapped his arms around her and placed his cheek on her head.
"Jareth," she whispered, "I'm so sorry…"
"Shhh….I know….so am I."
He started rocking her as she once again began to cry. He held her until the sobs subsided once again. He felt his own tears brimming over his eyes, he was so relieved that she loved him, he had never held her before.
He held her face in his hands once again and looked at her, he had never seen anything so beautiful in his entire life. He wanted her and yet there was something telling him to be careful, he had been hurt far too many times before.
She saw the hesitation in his eyes and on an impulse she felt herself move towards him.
Their lips touched. Tentatively at first but their courage and trust in each other grew with each passing second. Eventually the kiss became passionate their hunger for each other was evident.
Sarah once again wondered how she had not seen all this before and Jareth wondered how she had gotten past his defenses.
They once again wrapped their arms around each other, pressing their bodies close together.
Too soon Jareth broke the kiss and Sarah found herself breathing heavily.
"We should not…"
"Not what?" she interrupted in a harsh tone that she immediately regretted.
His eyes lit up with mirth and it traveled down to his mouth that now was in the shape of a smile. There she is, he thought to himself, I knew she was there somewhere.
The smile dropped from his face as he became serious again.
"I still feel like you'll leave me…" he said the pain in his voice saying so much more than the actual words. Sarah felt a stab of pain at his words.
She looked at him, "I won't."
"But you did even after you made it to the middle and I offered you the world."
Sarah once again felt like a naive child as the full weight of what he said sank in.
She now saw that the labyrinth was so much more than just a maze to a goblin city. The labyrinth was Jareth, he had somehow become a labyrinth and she had found his heart behind all the defenses he had put around it.
"I found your heart…" she meekly said.
The pain in his eyes said it all. "I hoped you would make it to the middle…I could not help trying to deter you since it was part of the game we had started. But it was like I was watching myself doing it…one part saying stop the other saying throw everything at her she must not succeed. But I think my hope helped you along somehow below all the worry that you may actually make it."
She looked into his eyes, his beautiful eyes that held such pain, a pain that she had helped put there.
What have I done? she thought, I let him down so much and yet still he came back and now stays.
"Jareth…" she whispered lovingly, hoping to ease his pain. "I'm so sorry I didn't see this all before. I was naïve…I love you so much."
Once again their lips met. This time Sarah broke it, gasping for air, Jareth smiled at her again and she melted into him.
They sat on Sarah's bedroom floor with Sarah in-between his legs, her back pressed up against his torso. His arms were wrapped around her waist and his head once again rested against hers. She leaned into him as much as possible, with her head resting against his shoulder and her hand in his.
She gave a sigh of contentment as she sat with the arms of the man she loved enclosing her which tightened ever so slightly.
"I will never let you go again no matter what you say," he breathed into her ear.
She trembled as his breath moved her hair and tickled her throat. She felt his lips brush against her neck and a tremor of desire rushed through her whole body.
She knew what he said was the truth, he would fight for her love and she knew she would be defenseless.
"I won't make that mistake again," she whispered, "It took me too long to realize it was you I was missing. When I did… I felt so lost without you."
"Mmmm…I know how you felt. I was so upset I promised myself I would never come to you here…yet I found myself looking through your window and I saw how happy you were without me… or seemed to be. I left in anger and then your cry for me…I could not stay away."
Sarah had nothing to say to that, she let it hang in the room like a cloud. She broke the silence by saying, "I don't think we can live apart. We are connected too deeply now." She said it quietly as if she said it louder he may disagree with her and leave right now despite what he had just said.
"Mmmm…I don't think so either." She was relieved that he felt they could not live apart either.
"What do we do?"
"We make it work…you have to teach me how to show my feelings the right way…I won't make that mistake again."
She could feel his pain. He really had meant to make her fall in love with him and she had, he had just caught her attention the wrong way. She snuggled into him even more and he responded by tightening his hold on her even more.
"I will never hurt you again Jareth. We both have a lot to learn."
He loved it when she said his name. It sounded right to him and he trembled every time she said it.
"It's late," he said his voice full of fatigue both mental and physical.
She sighed. She knew where this was going and she didn't like it.
"I can feel you getting ready to argue. Please don't."
She sighed resignedly, "Fine, I'll go to bed. What about you?"
He looked around her room. His gaze rested upon the chair in front of her boutique.
"I'll sleep in the chair."
She smiled at him as she got up from her comfortable position. She walked over to her bed and got in.
He was right behind her and he helped her into bed, pulling the blankets over her. He kissed her on the head and ran his hand over her cheek.
"Sweet dreams," he said.
"Yes, I believe they will be," she said as fatigue overtook her.
The last thing she remembered seeing before her eyes closed was Jareth pulling over the chair from her boutique and placing it by her bedside. She fell asleep looking into his eyes that were filled with love and happiness.
Her dreams all revolved around him, but they were not pleasant as she would have liked them to be. He was there one minute, falling the next as he had the last time she saw him in the labyrinth.
She had seen his reflection in that crystal when he offered it to her, something she had not noticed the first time, she had been preoccupied by reciting the lines and getting her brother before time ran out. In that crystal was a collection of both of Sarah and Jareth's dreams. But she had popped it like a bubble. Were those dreams now realities? Could they ever be?
He had looked so betrayed when she had said he had no power over her. He had desperately wished her feelings for him were mutual. They were now but not then.
The dream now took a different spin. Once again she was in the room of un-seeming endlessness. She was falling and he was there in front of her, just like the last time.
However, this time she did not feel rage at seeing him in front of her. Rather she saw the love that this man had been trying to show her and failed miserably at showing.
This time she did not say the words that would make him leave her, this time she said nothing as he stared at her expectantly.
"I ask for so little. Just let me rule you and you can have everything you want. Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave," he said in a pleading voice. He once again offered her the crystal, she saw a moving picture within. She saw glimpses of a couple holding hands that looked like her and Jareth, a wedding with smiling faces, a baby, an older version of both Jareth and her. They looked happy through all of it.
"Did you expect it to be like this? It is only a dream," Jareth said with a smile on his face.
She looked into his eyes and saw nothing but love and the burning need for her. His words hid a menace she did not fully understand.
Her hand extended and he put the crystal in her hand. It was much heavier than she had thought it would be.
When her hand touched it, the crystal turned from translucent to the darkest black. It began to grow warm, then scalding hot and she dropped it.
In slow motion, it fell to the brick beneath her feet and shattered into a million pieces. She jumped back to avoid the shards but there was nothing there.
She looked up at Jareth and he was smiling at her.
"Was that so hard?"
She was confused and then she felt as if she was falling and when she looked there was nothing below her but an empty void and she was plummeting through it.
She jumped out of sleep before she could hit the bottom. She remembered falling, falling away from Jareth. She looked to where she remembered he had been when she fell asleep. He wasn't there.
It was a dream. It had all been a dream. He was no more real than any of the others had been. She felt foolish for thinking it was real, it was her imagination running away with her as it always did.
She looked around her room. There was no sign of a party, just her room set up in the way it always was, neat and tidy.
Her vanity still had all the pictures taped to the mirror and the statue that graced the tabletop was still there. She could have sworn she put those things away. Then she remembered that it had all been a dream, none of it had actually happened.
She felt hollow at that thought and she didn't fully know why. She knew the answer was in the dream she had just had. She looked back into it, the part when she had won the challenge interested her most.
What had Jareth meant? Did he mean it literally or was it just another stall tactic so she would lose? Why had he done all those things?
The answer was there when she had returned home in the dream. He loved her, had done everything she wanted even though she really didn't fully understand what she wanted. He seemed to know though, she had wanted an adventure and all that an adventure entailed. He had even willingly played the villain, and the one who wanted her.
She had liked that part the most, when she realized she loved Jareth. Was that what it was? Love? She had never felt love for anyone other than her family. All she knew was that she felt hollow, like something was missing. A something that been introduced into her life and then ripped out again.
Was that hole the place Jareth had been? He had filled the emptiness with in her and now that she knew it was all just a dream the hole was there again.
Was this her subconscious telling her she needed more in her life? That was selfish, she had a family who loved her unconditionally, at least where her father was concerned. She hadn't heard from her mother in years, not since she had become officially divorced and had moved to England.
Sarah followed her acting career closely in the beginning and then began to lose interest in the mother that was so far away from her. She still kept up with what plays her mother performed in and she knew that like her father, her mother had remarried. There was a picture of the two of them in one of their many roles together.
She looked at it now where it hung on her mirror and the likeness between Jeremy and Jareth was uncanny. It was also proof that her subconscious was telling her she was missing something. She was missing a mother's love, the love that should have been Sarah's instead went to Jeremy and her mind wanted her to fill that void with anything that might love her back. So her mind had created something for her to love, at least in her dreams.
Jareth paced back and forth in his large bedchamber.
Why had he gone back to see her one last time?
He had almost ruined everything and now Sarah had to think all of it was a dream, that he was a dream.
She would convince herself that he and everything else in the Labyrinth, the Labyrinth on a whole, was all a dream.
He had too much bottled up energy and he didn't know how to expel it. He wanted to go to Sarah, to hold her in his arms again and drink in her smell, her very essence. But he knew he could never do that. She didn't belong in his world, she was better off thinking that he was a dream.
That's all he was any way, a dream made reality. He had a body and consciousness only because a girl had used her extensive imagination and made him real. He existed because of Sarah and her imagining so hard that the Labyrinth existed. She had complete control over his realm and himself and he could not allow that.
When she had ultimately called on him to take her brother he knew she would go by the words of the book, all of the words.
He only needed a sentence.
When she had said, "For my will is as strong as yours, and my kingdom as great," she had made him her equal. They were one and the same after she said those words. What he had not anticipated was her slight change to the story which he should have seen coming since she was always putting her own spin on things.
She had made him love her with her words from the story she had told Toby. Once his power equaled hers, the power over him in all respects was lifted and yet still he loved her.
He knew he was the created and she was his creator but he did not love her that way, they were equals now and he loved her for who she was.
She knew none of this and she never would because Jareth would never see her again. The only place she might remember him was in dreams. He had a kingdom to run and he could not afford to think about Sarah now. There were things he had to do.
And yet he could not bring himself to move from the spot he stood in. He saw himself in the mirror. The image looked so tired. His eyes were blood shot, he had dark circles under his eyes and his clothes were wrinkled. He made a disgusted face at the reflection and grabbed the nearest thing he could and flung it at the mirror. It smashed into a million pieces at his feet.
It felt good to break the mirror, he felt like he was in control when he destroyed things. He looked around at his pristine room and let the anger and disappointment fill him as he began to destroy everything that he could get his hands on.
Sometime Later:
Sarah looked out the window into the growing light of day, it was going to be sunny but the autumn air was crisp and cool. It would be a beautiful day.
After the dream of a dream about the Labyrinth and Jareth she had become committed to Toby, the loving sister he deserved. She doted on him more than his own mother did. Karen was surprised at the complete turn around at first, had questioned her motives, but she had soon put it down as her finally excepting that she had a sibling.
Sarah had even started being more civil to her stepmother even though she refused to call her anything but Karen. She did not love her but liked her and tolerated her as much as one could expect from her. They no longer fought and her father was glad at her change in point of view where her stepmother and stepbrother were concerned.
She had finished high school and had gotten into the college of her choice, UConn, even though she had no idea what she wanted to do for a living and went in as a general studies student. She loved college and the freedom it granted her since it was far away enough that she needed to have a dorm, but not too far away that her father and Karen and Toby couldn't visit occasionally.
She felt content with her life for the first time in a long time.
She had made friends with her roommate Ally rather quickly. She had at first thought Ally to be a self-absorbed person but that had quickly changed when Sarah introduced herself. Ally only seemed absorbed in her self because she was a solitary creature who did not fit in well with the social stratifications that still gripped many of the college students.
They had found a common interest, fairytales and fantasy. They had both grown up believing in worlds far away where the princess always got her fairytale ending with the prince who loved her unconditionally. They knew that this did not translate into real life but that was the fun of it, it was not possible.
Sarah told Ally many stories that had been slightly changed, Sarah had changed her name to Jessica. Ally would listen and let herself be drawn into a world of hedge mazes, friendly beasts and dwarves, a quest for a stolen child and the Goblin King who was the villain that needed to be defeated for the happy ending to become reality. She never told her about Jareth staying though and professing their love for one another.
It was still Ally's favorite story and she never grew tired of hearing it.
At the end of Sarah's telling the first time she had heard it she was confused.
"This girl Jessica…it sure did take a long time for her to figure out the King loved her if she even did at all which I'm not quite sure she did. She must have but why could she not get the child back and be with the king?"
Sarah could feel her cheeks getting red, Ally had seen through Jareth so quickly where it had taken her longer, far longer. She responded as if she believed what she said even though the words were lies, "Ally, the king was evil. She over came the obstacle like all the others and won her brother back. There was no love in the king. He was uncaring…he only cared about winning."
"Sounds like they have a lot in common then. But come on Sar…he only took the baby because that was what Jessica wished him to do…it seems he did everything she wanted….he gave her the adventure of a lifetime and even threw himself in for the fairytale ending."
Once again she lied, "Ally, he was no prince charming. They do not throw their princesses to the wolves."
"But he didn't and if she had been in real danger I bet he would have come to her rescue. And who knows maybe he's the kind of man who doesn't like a weak princess like in all the other stories. All those princesses are self absorbed and hell bent on getting the prince. I mean they try not to show that's all they want …but that is all they want, the prince and to live happily ever after with that prince.
There is no such thing as the perfect man…we all have flaws and that's why those stories are fairy tales. They are based on life but they make it seem so easy. Life is not easy and sometimes it is confusing. People don't always show their true selves for fear of being hurt…they bury themselves away. That sounds like what this king did and this Jessica did not see that at all because she was too hell bent on getting the child and she ignored everything else."
Sarah's face had visibly paled the more Ally had said and it did not escape Ally's notice.
"Sar…are you ok…you look like you saw a ghost…
Did I upset you…I'm sorry. I'm the kind of person that likes to find the hidden meaning to a story…and imagine different outcomes based on what I saw…like with this story…if Jessica had seen the Goblin King not at face value but at the hidden meaning they could be with each other and living their own happy ending like all the other princesses."
"It's ok…I tend to take things for granted…"
She finally understood the statement and mentally smacked herself for taking everything at face value. Nothing was as it seemed in that place anyway, so there was the very real posibility that it had all happened. Maybe Jareth only wanted her to think it was all a dream. But why would he want that if he loved her?
But Ally had a point, he did seem like the kind to hide his emotions. She had seen traces of the love he felt for her the more she thought about it, most of the quick snatches were at the ball when he had held her close. He had eyes only for her, eyes that burned with yearning and longing and behind it all the quick out bursts of love that he had quickly hidden away. And then in her room after, when he had come back, was that really what he thought or was he playing with her even then?
Why had he done that? Was he afraid of his own feelings?
She had never heard anything so ridiculous and then she thought of what Ally had said. Sometimes it was safer to hide away feelings that left you exposed, you couldn't get hurt as easily when they were hidden from everyone.
And of course, the last time she had seen him she had told him he had no power over her. He had been almost bleeding his love and she had only thought it an attempt to stall her so he could keep her brother. What if it had nothing to do with Toby?
Toby could have just been a means to an end, a way to get her into the Labyrinth and he had inadvertently fallen in love with her. Maybe it had been her fault, she had been the one to wish away Toby after all, perhaps even Jareth had not thought falling in love with her was a possibility. After all he had been taking children for years now, his story was old as time itself.
But what no one knew was the king of the goblins had fallen in love with the girl and he had given her certain powers.
The phrase came back to her after all these years, a sentence that had not been in the book as she remembered. It was something she had almost forgotten. She had made him love her, but he was too powerful to be subjugated to the whim of a young girl, wasn't he? But if he was in love with her then why had he done all those things to her? Because you wanted an adventure and he gave it to you.
She felt so confused and conflicted. But worst of all was the feeling of loss, the loss of something that she now believed to be more then a dream.
It was too late now to think about such things, that had been almost five years ago now, her twentieth birthday was less than a month away. He had probably moved on with his life after all this time…hadn't he?
What if he hadn't and was still pining for her, all alone in that stone tower, a prisoner in his own castle.
She felt sick to her stomach when she thought of him all alone in that place surrounded by nothing but goblins who could not possibly be enough for him.
She wanted him back but had no idea how to accomplish that in anyway.
She had called him before, but that had been to take Toby away, maybe she could call him without having to wish someone away.
Turning away from the bright new day outside she looked over at Ally who was still sleeping under her warm blankets. It was Saturday and she would not be getting up any time soon but Sarah wanted to be alone when she tried calling him.
She grabbed her jacket off the back of the chair she had thrown it on last night and almost ran out of the building. She went deep into the woods behind her dorm before finding a small opening in the dense trees, this is where I will try to call him.
She mentally prepared herself and reached out with her mind as she thought about a man with mismatched eyes.
He felt something tug at the edge of his mind as he kneeled on the floor amongst the ruins of his once magnificent room, his face tear stained. He ignored the tug at first, but whatever it was would not give up until it had what it wanted.
The mental voice that accompanied the tug sounded familiar, but still he ignored it until whoever it was screamed his name.
The pain from the volume of the call almost made him faint. With his anger growing again at the disturbance he closed his eyes and let his magic trace the tug and take him where it would.
When he materialized he made himself presentable. No matter how he felt he was still the Goblin King and he had a reputation to uphold. He buried everything away and allowed whoever had called to see him. He was now wearing a leather vest of the blackest night with a blood red shirt underneath that opened into a V and showed his sculpted chest where his amulet hung.
He had on midnight black pants that hugged his form and left nothing to the imagination. His boots were velvet black and ended just below his knee. He also had his tattered black cape on to complete the look.
He slowly looked up to see who had called him and what he saw he could not believe.
He was resisting her and she couldn't blame him. She called him over and over on the point of being annoying, or at least she thought it was. Then she had screamed his name and knew he could not ignore that. Through the link she could feel anger, pure and white hot and knew he was on his way.
Not a few seconds later he had materialized in front of her. He was not looking up but he soon did with a settled look of distant interest. His eyes were red and bloodshot, rimmed with dark circles and she gasped at the sight of how terrible he looked.
Then she saw the realization dawn on him of who she was. His look was one of shock and beneath his indifference she could see the tiny flare of hope that he quickly smothered.
He said nothing but quickly composed his face, hiding his shock and letting the cold look she knew so well take its place.
"You were not just a dream then..."
He whispered, "No," but then his voice became like ice as he said , "So who do you want to wish away now? Maybe you can go through the Labyrinth again and win." He was trying to keep her away, he could not let her get close, he had a kingdom to run and he had been doing a fine job of it on his own. Love would only complicate things.
The open hostility that was now lacing his voice was worse than if he had smacked her.
"All I wanted was to talk to you…but I guess that was a mistake," she made her voice just as hard as his.
"What makes you think I would want to talk to you though? The world does not revolve around the wishes of Sarah Williams."
"I seem to remember a time when you would have given me all I wanted and more."
He sneered at her, "Well the offer is no longer on the table, that's what happens I'm afraid. Life is cruel is it not my precious?"
She could not tell if this was really what he meant or he if he was hiding behind anger and fear of his own feelings. Is that why he made me think he was no more then a dream? He's afraid of his won feelings and that they might hurt him?
She stood watching and waiting to see what he would do. She so wanted to cradle his head in her arms, she knew that look, the look of a deep hurt. His heart had been wounded, by her.
He stood there glaring at her, the anger raging in his eyes, but she could see it was faltering the more he stood there looking at her. That's it Jareth let it out, don't let it poison you, she thought to herself.
She could feel tears pricking her eyes as she watched him struggle with himself.
The conflict within that she could not see was tearing him apart. He could not stay here much longer or he would come undone in front of this girl proving he was not as strong as he once had thought.
Why does she do nothing but stare? She must have a reason for calling me.
In a tired voice that sounded defeated he asked, "What do you want from me Sarah?"
"The truth."
"I have been nothing but truthful."
She looked at him and saw he was not lying about that.
"Jareth…do you still love me?"
He looked at her in shock. How could she even ask something like that? Did she not see the conflict within his eyes?
No, I hide myself too well. She really did think I was lying when I said those things.
"Yes…I will always love you…" he seemed to deflate as he said it, he looked so tired and broken. Sarah wondered how he was even able to stand.
She hesitated for the slightest of moments and then slowly closed the distance between them.
She reached up and held his face between her hands, he relaxed into her comforting hands. Tears were welling behind his eyes but he held them back. He looked into her eyes as she looked into his mismatched eyes.
Her head slowly came closer to his, her lips brushed ever so slightly against his, he shuddered at the contact as she whispered into his mouth, "I love you too."
His world finally came crashing down around him and the weight of it dragged him to the ground. She felt his face slide from her hands as he toppled to the forest floor completely drained. It had been agony staying away from her, he didn't even know why he had bothered trying.
He was on his knees, breathing heavily in-between sobs, she had never seen him so exposed and it slightly scared her. She knelt down next to him and once again cradled his head in her hands.
He was trying to catch his breath, as if he had just run twenty miles to be with her here. His body heaved with the effort.
She turned his head to look into his eyes, eyes that held everything, all the emotions that had been hidden from the world. She saw them all now reflected back up to her through his eyes.
"Oh Jareth," she sighed, "Why did you push me away, make me think you were a dream." Her heart broke at that look, she wanted to comfort him but didn't know how.
She drew his head to her, holding it against her as a mother does a child when they are crying uncontrollably. He collapsed into that embrace totally, there was no holding back any more.
She held him as he grabbed onto her like she was an anchor in a see of uncertainty.
"I thought I could live with out you..."
"Don't I get a say? If you had asked me I would have said I couldn't live with out you."
"You seemed to do fine without me."
"You made me think you were a dream!" she yelled.
He cringed at that and silently nodded his head, "Something I regret..." he hugged her to him, "Something I will not do again."
A/N I know I might get some people who won't like the fact I made Jareth break down but you have your opinions and I have mine and I rather like the idea of him breaking down since everyone has at one point or another in their lives. Before posting this I looked it over and tried to make it flow as smoothly as possible. This was originally two stories but I decided to put them together since neither one was going anywhere special. I hope it worked *crosses fingers* . I hoped you enjoyed it anyway and sorry for it being so long but I really didn't want to make it separate chapters because I'm lazy like that. =]