Author's Note: I'm in a Labyrinth mood...

A Moment of Weakness

In a moment of weakness, Sarah reflects on just what it was she left behind.

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Sarah stared out at the city as she sipped on a martini thinking, just for a moment, that this was the life that she had always dreamed of having. She was content.

Or was she?

A bitter smile twisted her stained lips. That was what she let the world believe. She let them believe that she had everything she wanted. The only one who knew different was Tobi. He saw her for who she was until he disappeared two years ago.

She couldn't fault him, of course. He had nothing here for him anymore—Karen and her father had passed away in a car accident three years prior when Tobi was seventeen—and she couldn't exactly stop him. He was an adult, after all.

But that didn't mean his abrupt disappearance was a welcome one—not like it had been…

Stop, she told herself. Don't think about it.

It was in the past, after all.

She just wished that it wasn't.

Sixteen years was a long time, after all. Jareth had probably forgotten all about her by now.

Yes, she thought. Sixteen years was a long time… a long time to dream, to wander—to wonder just what it was she left behind.

She was older now, more experienced, and she could say without a doubt that she regretted leaving him.

Sarah bit her lip—could she wish him here again?

"Goblin King, Goblin King, wherever you may be, come and take me away from this awful place." She said softly, repeating the prayer she'd spoken hundreds of times when she was nothing more than a child.

Nothing happened. She laughed bitterly. She hadn't expected it to anyways.

Her eyes swept over the darkening sky, seeking out the constellations that were visible this time of year. After a moment, she sighed again before speaking to the stars the way she would speak to Jareth. "I was foolish, Jareth. I know that now. I-If I had the chance, I'd take it all back." She clenched her fists. "I'd renounce my words because you do have power over me—just… just not the kind that I thought."

She turned away from the stars, sweeping into her flat and closing the French double doors as she retreated from the balcony—but as she did so, she missed the white barn-owl that circled overhead.

"I was foolish, Jareth." He heard her whisper and something clenched in his heart. "I know that now. I-If I had the chance…" she hesitated. "I'd take it all back." She looked up at the stars longingly, "I'd renounce my words because you do have power over me—just…"

"Just?" He whispered, as though he could prompt her to continue from the vast space between them.

"…just not the kind that I thought." She finished, somewhat lamely in his opinion but then humans could never translate their feelings into words (or even actions, as the Fae preferred) very well.

But he understood her well enough. Jareth closed his eyes, calling on magic he hadn't used in a long time and slipping past the barrier between his Labyrinth and her world in the same motion it took to shift his form. He swooped down low, preening his wings back to keep from crash-landing on her balcony only a moment too late. She'd already retreated for the night.

Jareth didn't leave, though. Instead, he watched.

He watched as she pulled the covers back from her too-large bed—how easy it would be to fill that empty space beside her, if she'd allow such an advance—and undid her robe and hung it on one of the rods that made up her bed-frame. She sighed softly, the action jarring her shoulders, before slipping into the plush bed. Her breathing slowed and she was asleep within moments of laying down but he waited for a while longer just to be sure.

He leapt from the guard-rail, landing in a crouch and allowing his magic to undo the lock. The doors pulled back silently, the sound subdued by a simple flick of his wrist, and the girl—no, the woman, his woman, shivered from the sudden gust of air.

Jareth stood over her, a gloved hand tracing over her cheek. She looked different but he could still see traces of his Sarah within—like the way her lashes fanned out or the curl in her hair. He was sure that, if she had opened her eyes, he would see flecks of gold and green in her eyes.

Sarah sighed in her sleep, leaning into his hand as though she knew he was there. Jareth's mouth twisted oddly, as though he wasn't sure if he wanted to laugh or cry.

He would forever hate himself for this moment of weakness but…

Jareth leaned down and pressed a kiss against her lips, chaste and sweet, before he brushed her hair to the side. "I have caused you so much pain, Sarah. That was never my intention… but do not worry. You won't have to live with your guilt for much longer." She stirred and he resisted the urge to smile bitterly.

It was time to say goodbye, he thought.

He stepped back and let his magic stir around him, brushing over her skin like an embrace. She reacted as he knew she would—her eyes snapped open and she sat bolt-upright.

He didn't, however, expect her to throw herself at him in a desperate embrace. She clung to him desperately, not saying anything but not keeping silent either. Silent sobs wracked her body and he found himself shushing and stroking her hair.

"Don't leave." She said, not letting go. "Don't leave me… and I won't leave you. I'll… I'll be yours." She vowed, her words causing him to come up short.

He had been ready to leave her, to give her back what was rightfully hers—her freedom—and she...

Foolish girl, he thought darkly. Did she know what she was promising?

"You have no idea what you're promising." He hissed, anger painting her words.

Sarah pulled away, pain painting her eyes. "I didn't know what I was throwing away before, either. Whatever the price—if it means I can be with you, if it means that I can be whole…" She met his eyes head on. "It's worth it."

"Is it, Sarah?" Jareth challenged. "Are you truly willing to let me rule you? To submit to my every whim?" If she said no, it would be the end. He would wipe her memories of that night. If she said yes…

She took a shuddering breath. "Yes."

He smiled, the arrogant tilt of his lips reminiscent of his former glory. "Foolish girl…" He said, reaching out with a gloved hand that she took willingly enough with no sense of self-preservation. He pulled her close, embracing her again. "Do you truly think… that you can escape me again?"

"I'm yours." She said in reply.

"And I am yours." Jareth whispered.

A chilling wind swept through the open doors and the two of them disappeared into the night.

Fin.

Thanks for reading~!