It weighs too much this time
My hands are broken
She'll disappear again
Before we've spoken
The night we took that year
In Black Leaf Falls
All of the trees were bare
Next to the dance hall-Sea Wolf

Thoughts were coming together so much easier. I was whole again, but Jareth watched me as though he intended to pull me back apart. And, I was so sleepy. Once more, memories encroached upon the dusty corners of my consciousness.

Alexander.

Oh, if Jareth could be likened to a crescent moon haunting a sky full of stars, then Alexander was a solar eclipse. Whereas one played tricks with shadows, speaking in riddles—the other was blunt. Alexander was dark, and he didn't hide it, Jareth was still very much a mystery to me.

It was that semblance of honesty, that openly dark mien that dropped my walls and roped me in. I'd known that he was something like Jareth, they had that same "chills in the dark" effect on me. But, Jareth was my own personal poltergeist, Alexander wasn't after me at all, he wanted my Sisters.

Am I babbling? Sometimes I do that, there's too much junk in my head. Really, it's all junk.

The Sisters were a group of white witches that lived down the street from me. I met Sister Ann-Claire one late autumn evening at the grocery store. She sensed magic. Apparently, I either had my own special way with the elements before running Jareth's labyrinth, or I picked it up there. I don't know, no one knows, I just have a little magic of my own. It is only a trifle, but the Sisters welcomed me, they showed me some tricks, and now I've destroyed them.

Not me personally, but Alexander. I led him right to them. He used me to get to the Sisters, and now I had to get them back.

That's how I broke my soul. I was trying to find them, but I just didn't have that level of skill, of control. I was playing games that I didn't know the rules to once again, and Jareth had caught me red-handed, un-souled, and now I owed him. I wasn't sure how I was going to fix the mess. But, I wasn't going to plunge into a long narrative that he already knew the gist of.

I pulled my weary self from the floor and moved to the bed, collapsing belly down on the comforter. I'd never felt so sick in my life.

"You are still such a child." He growled from the corner.

"Forgive me, Ole Ancient One, for not satisfying your every whim. I am not at your beck and call you know." I knew that I sounded petulant. I know that you are thinking me a drama-queen who didn't learn anything all those years ago, but you're wrong. I was just really tired, and no one ever expects him to grow-up, to change, so I think that I can be forgiven the occasional tantrum.

Prowling like some sullen wolf, Jareth circled around the bed, once again in my line of view.

"You're going to feel like hell for a few days." He mentioned cheerfully, having switched moods once more.

I harrumphed, and came to my hands and knees in an attempt to crawl to the center of the bed—my sanctuary. Everything was dancing, my stomach felt like it was churning mortar. Goosebumps rippled up my arms and down my back. I just wanted to shrink into nothing, to not exist.

My eyes had shut themselves against the pain, but something urged them open. Suddenly, he was on the bed, his nose near my nose. I stopped breathing.

"You're not to touch me." I whispered, pain lacing my words, turning my command into a plea.

His head set itself to an angle, quickly, preternaturally. Those languid eyes focused on my face, he was seeing things I could not. I didn't like it.

Rocking back on my knees, I tried to distance myself from him, but he followed me, keeping his eyes level with mine, he didn't speak. That's what bothered me the most. Jareth loved to hear himself speak, he was rarely quiet. At that moment, he seemed more animal than human…or whatever it was that he is.

I felt ridiculous, fleeing from him across my own bed, but I did anyway, backing myself against the headboard in a defensive position that was animalistic in its own way. He was still there, in my face. I tried to calm down, but I could smell my own fear and weariness. I knew he could too.

"What are you doing?" I finally spat out.

"I'm not touching you." His sneer was sinister.

"I didn't ask what you weren't doing." I wanted to look away from his penetrating gaze, but I knew that I shouldn't, there was no telling what he'd do if I looked away.

"Right. I'm trying to decide whether or not to give you this bit back?" That gloved hand I knew so well hovered between our noses, displaying a green piece of my soul. It was no longer flat and jagged, but round and light, it danced about his hand like one of his crystals.

"Jareth." My words crashed like waves on a desolate shore. "What did you do?"

"This piece caught my eye, I thought I'd keep it." He smiled and shrugged.

Desperately I searched around myself, dinging around in the rafters of my mind, seeking out hidden places in my soul, tallying up hobbies, favorite books and coffee houses, even songs. I couldn't figure out what part of me he held in his hands. I didn't know what was missing. That was scary.

"You'll give yourself wrinkles if you continue to worry like that."

"This isn't funny, and it's not a game. What do you have?"

"My fee, dear girl, for fixing your little problem. You can rest easy, I'll take care of this, you don't need it anyway. I'm not entirely certain that it belonged to you at all."

I knew then what he held, what he hoped to keep from me. I sent my senses out like the Sisters had taught me, but nothing happened, I didn't feel anything, and I should have felt Jareth. His power should have drown me.

"My magic! You took my magic!" I moved as if to grab it from him. The plan was not well thought out, my magic disappeared and I found myself barreling into the Goblin King.

I was afraid for a moment that my sudden ambush would send us both toppling over, but he was steady, even while perched upon my bed as he was. I hit a solid mass that quickly seized my shoulders, halting my assault.

"I do need that!" I forgot about being sick and tired.

"Oh, do you want to try to kill yourself again? There are far less painful and tedious ways, darling." He tsked.

"You don't understand." I set my hands upon his chest and thought about whether or not I was willing to seduce him into giving it back. I wasn't even sure if he wanted that from me exactly, but I was a desperate woman.

Before I could fully decide what I had to do, he was on the other side of the room, surveying me with his tilted stare once more. A wicked smile curved his lips as if he knew what I'd been considering.

"No, Sarah." He shook his head, laughter dancing in those haphazard eyes.

I knew he'd be gone in an instant, but I leapt from the bed and flung myself across the room. By the time I reached the balcony where he'd stood silhouetted in the twilight, Jareth was gone. The scent of magic and leather was the only thing left of him.

I collapsed where I stood, too miserable to do anything else. It was beginning to rain, but I didn't care. I slumped against the cold iron railing and sobbed until I fell asleep.