Sarah sighed as she looked back at the pile of homework she had left to do for finals. She had a fight with her parents today, and has been alienating herself from her friends, because of a disagreement awhile a go. She hadn't much time to write or reading anything for herself. Her world was falling apart.
After another minute of staring blankly at the page, she glanced at the clock nearly buried under mountains of paper that covered her desk. She nearly gasped when she saw the time was after midnight. She quickly got up and went to her dresser to grab pajamas, then hurried off to the bathroom. Never noticing the white owl perched on the tree right outside her window.
Jareth sat outside Sarah's window for the first time in a long time. It had been two years since she had run the labyrinth, and she was now seventeen. He came now because he had made a decision.
He had spent the evening and night watching Sarah, noting how exhausted yet wound up she was, and remembering a conversation he had with his sister, Minerva, shortly after Sarah bested the labyrinth.
Minerva walked up behind Jareth, who was lost in thought and staring out a window. She put her hand on his shoulder and rested her chin on said hand.
"She was too young. She didn't understand what you were offering her," Minerva whispered, shattering the upsettingly tense silence. Jareth tensed, releasing a choked breath.
She inhaled shakily. "You can try again in a few years, if you wish." Minerva whispered trying to keep her tears from spilling over.
"I would," he finally said, "if I didn't believe I would have the same results." The words and the stony tone he used caused Minerva tear's to pour down her face with a choked sob. He reached back and put his hand on her cheek, "Shh, don't cry for me." Her weeping stabbed him in the heart, knowing it was his broken heart that shattered her sarcastic demeanor.
The young woman took in a trembling breath, trying to calm herself. For all the emotional turmoil Sarah caused, neither of them could hate her for it.
His reminiscing was cut short when Sarah walked back in her room, and turned off her lights. He watched her stumble her way to her bed, and bury herself under warm blankets, and fall asleep a few minutes later.
He changed his form quickly, making sure to stay hidden in the tree, and conjured up a crystal. He deftly sent the crystal to her sleeping figure, and then he changed into an owl and flew off into the night.
Sarah awoke the next morning, thinking about her dream. It was odd for her to dream about the labyrinth, especially Jareth. They were once more dancing in the ballroom, but there was no sense of urgency, nor the feeling of forgetting something. It frightened her, thinking she was back there still trying to save Toby. Though when she woke, she knew it was just a dream.
But what frightened her most were Jareth's departing words before he left, and her own reaction to the words. Somewhere, something deep inside her screamed and cried in protest.
This is my final good bye, precious thing.