First had come the denial. A whole month of denial.
She couldn't have bested me. It's some kind of trick! She and Hogwart are playing some sort of trick on me! She'll be back! I know Toby is with his family, but she will come back, I know it!
Then he had become depressed for an entire year after she had bested him. The entire goblin kingdom had been flooded from all the rain that Jareth caused, completely by accident. Why hasn't she returned to me yet? Was I not generous enough? Was I too harsh with her? Does she not return my feelings? WHY DOES SHE HATE ME?!
On the anniversary of her run, his depression faded and turned into rage. The poor, innocent furniture turned to kindling in mere moments once the Goblin King got ahold of it. Lightning-fueled storms and raging fires singed the land for six months before he turned to scheming.
Maybe I can trick her into returning. Another dream peach would do the trick! I'd have her eating from the palm of my gloved hand! We would be together for always! But then Jareth realized that she would never truly love him if she were intoxicated, and she wouldn't love him if it were forced upon her. After three years of grieving, Jareth resolved to accept that Sarah had declined his proposal, bested his labyrinth, and hadn't had the common courtesy to call him.
But he wasn't bitter, nor was he giving up on her. Jareth decided that he would search for his beloved. However, his usual methods failed him. When he first tried to conjure a crystal, one that was enchanted with a locater spell, the sphere turned translucent and popped like a bubble.
"That's peculiar. Usually that works when I'm trying to find someone. Even when the person I'm looking for is dead, the crystal at least shows me the image of their grave. What put her out of my reach?" The monarch paced across the throne room once, twice, thrice, before finally making a choice.
"If I can't find her with a locater spell, then I'll find her, without magic." Every day after his decision, Jareth would wake up early and take on the appearance of a businessman. His long blond hair became shorter and tapered off just above his shoulders. The markings on his eyes became less defined, and he traded his capes and poet shirts for slacks and ties.
By day, Jareth searched for Sarah, and by night, he ran the Labyrinth. Jareth searched in every major city in the U.S. When he had picked through every city with a fine-tooth comb, he went to small cities and towns, hoping to find some sort of clue to Sarah. He had never realized how common a name Sarah Williams is. He had run into at least 2,000 Sarah Williams' in the Northeast alone, and not one of them had been his Sarah. When he couldn't find her in the states, he continued searching in the United Kingdom and Japan, knowing that she had always wanted to be in the theatre. Jareth went through all that work, and still no sign of Sarah.
Ten years after Sarah ran the labyrinth, Jareth sat down in a café in New York, one that had become his favorite over the past decade, and contemplated his life choices.
Maybe this is a lost cause. Perhaps my beloved simply doesn't want to be found. But can I really just give up after all this time and work of searching for her? Of course not! Sarah didn't give up when she was trying to save Toby, and I won't give up on finding her.
Deciding to continue his search, Jareth took a swig from the coffee mug that was gripped so tightly in his hands, that it was on the verge of cracking. Setting down the mug and taking a deep breath, he noticed something-or rather someone- from the corner of his eye, just outside the café. When he saw what was just on the other side of a few inches of glass, he nearly went into cardiac arrest. For there, walking down the street, a blue beach bag on her shoulder, dark brown hair, pinned back and down, checking her watch, was Sarah Williams. His Sarah Williams. His beloved. His queen-to-be.
Slamming a five-r on the table, the goblin kind dashed out the heavy wooden door and onto the unforgiving pavement, nearly smacking into Sarah.
"Sarah! It IS you! I've finally found you after all this time! Ten years of searching and waiting, and now here you are, right in front of me!"
The twenty-five year old brunette woman looked extremely puzzled for a moment or two. Then, as her cheeks turned a rosy pink, Sarah smiled sadly,
"I'm so sorry… do I know you?"