A/N: Hi guys, I really really need a beta. Just for spelling and grammar mainly, and someone who can get back to me quickly when I send them a chapter (say, around two days) send me a message if you're interested.
***
"He was very old, Sarah. Ancient for a dog." Her father murmured consolingly.
"I know." Sarah replied numbly, stroking the fur of her beloved pet, Merlin remained unmoving in his basket, his snout tucked in his paws as if he would awaken at any moment. A tear dripped off her chin and landed on the sheepdog's fur.
Unable to bear it Sarah ran, out of the house, across the street and beyond, to the park she had spent so long in as a child, she didn't stop running until she collapsed breathlessly sobbing under a tree. As if to suit her mood the darkened sky rumbled and it began to rain heavily, the tree afforded her little protection from the downpour and she was soon soaked.
Sarah remembered back to another rainy day, the day she had wished her brother away, she stood up and stared up at the angry sky. "Hoggle!" she screamed at the top her lungs over the thunderous rain, "Ludo!" "Didymus!" but they didn't answer her calls; they hadn't spoken to her for three years. She could still remember Hoggle's tense face the last time she had ever seen him "It's not that the others don't want to see you Sarah," he had told her gently, "it's just that things have changed, the Underground has changed." When she had pressed him he had closed up, refusing to say anything more and then he too had stopped coming to her when she called.
Shivering and dripping wet Sarah retreated to the shelter of the tree again, at twenty-one years of age she had lost the final link to her childhood and she had never felt so lost. "I wish the goblins would come take me away...right now." She said softly, the world seemed to stand still for a moment and her heart skipped a beat in her chest. Nothing happened, no one came to get her. Sarah dropped her face into her hands. Was the world so unbearable that she would truly wish herself away to Him?
She dangled between the two worlds in indecision, living in the adult world was slowly strangling her, more and more she retreated to the labyrinth in her mind, choosing fairy tales over reality, because reality was harsh, reality gave her little comfort. A cold bleakness hit her, she had never felt truly alive in her own world but to return to the Underground would be a loss of her freedom. Why had Jareth not come when she wished herself away? Surely the Goblin King would come to laud over his victory and take her back to the Labyrinth.
And yet there was no sign of an owl, goblin, or Goblin King. She remained cold and alone.
***
When she arrived back, night had fallen. Sarah walked wearily over to Merlin's basket and finding it empty, she felt a fresh wave of tears prick the corners of her eyes. She headed in a dreamlike state to the back garden, catching sight of a small mound of freshly turned earth, the crooked letters on the plank read 'Merlin' vertically, obviously Toby's handiwork. She touched the letters, the paint was dry, she must have been gone for hours.
A warm blanket dropped around her shoulders and she blinked up at her father "Come on, you're wet through, I've run a bath for you." Sarah numbly let her father shepherd her inside the house and up the stairs into the bathroom. She remained in the steadily cooling water until her hands and feet wrinkled, when she got out she wrapped a towel around her body and walked into her darkened bedroom, shivering for the first time she quickly dressed in her pyjamas and wrapped the duvet tightly around her shoulders, burying her face into the forgiving comfort of her pillow.
***
Sarah stirred fitfully, her black hair sticking damply to her fevered brow, a gentle hand pressed her wrist whilst observing a pocket watch in the other hand. "Jareth?" She asked faintly.
The figure loomed closer and she saw the kind face of an old man, his hazel eyes warm, someone she couldn't quite place. "It's Dr. Gray, Sarah." The man prompted gently "Will you sit up and drink a little for me? Your temperature is very high."
With his help she sat up and took small sips of a glass of water, the liquid felt like refreshing ice down her throat. She closed her eyes and slumped back down on the pillows retreating into her dreams again.