"...I always loved you."
Her delicate voice still echoed in his mind, her words not registering until that moment, when he'd stopped time. Another millisecond and he knew she'd be dead.
Currently, she sat frozen on the couch with the pistol to her head, her eyes squinted shut. The bullet hung in mid air, centimeters from entering her temple.
Jareth took the moment to look her over, wondering how things had gotten this far. After removing the bullet and gun, casting it across the room as if it had burned him, he strode over to the pile of mail in front of the door looking for some clue as to what happened to bring this strong willed girl to such ruin.
Finding nothing of significance to him, his eyes scanned the room, landing on a pile of documents left sitting on the kitchen counter. He discarded the mail to its prior resting place and picked it up instead, reading the first line: 'The last Will and Testament of one, Robert Williams.' Behind it, another that read something similar. 'The last Will and Testament of one, Karen Williams.' Behind that were three death certificates and Jareth swallowed hard as he came to the third. The large name, printed in black, bold letters, read 'Toby Williams.'
The very last document in the pile turned out to be a police report, detailing the circumstances of their death and Jareth cringed. Sarah's entire family had been killed.
According to the dates listed on the papers, it had happened three months ago. Three months and it didn't look as if she'd left the house since.
Jareth paled significantly thinking about her motives in summoning him. It seemed she knew he'd be angry with her, was counting on it, in fact, to bring her the last motivation she needed to pull the trigger. She loved him, she'd said. Moments ago, that line would have brought him a world of relief and joy. Now, following the immediate actions of those words, it seemed a hallow realization. In an effort to end her life, she wished to depart that single fact to him first. It was a not a cry for help as so many suicidal tendencies were. She did not call him here in a last ditch effort to save herself. She called him here because she knew he would lash out at her and since she loved him, the pain his words brought would be enough to end everything.
He'd played right into the palm of her hand, too.
Beneath the mounting concern and confusion regarding this lost champion, Jareth's mind spun to comprehend that she loved him. Loved him enough that his anger and rejection was all she needed to snap the last tether in her will to live. A will that was as strong as his own. He tried to place himself in her position to understand better.
The only family he had remaining alive was a set of twins living high in the mountains in solitude. His parents had been buried for hundreds of years. It was difficult imagining himself on the verge of suicide if his siblings were to pass on, though he would not be without grief or mourning.
But if he were to loose all the creatures in his kingdom at once, the beings he was used to residing with every day and night for a millenia, he supposed that might do the trick.
Humans were so different from the creatures of his realm, after all. He knew Sarah's family was a close knit bunch. They had each other, that was all and they did their best to make the most of it.
Sarah had spent her whole life with these people. She was raised in this house.
Loosing her parents was one thing, being that they were adults and had lived a full life, he imagined Sarah would be able to survive had it only been them involved. But her younger brother, Toby, was only five years old. He had not lived a full life, by any standards, and Jareth imagined this to be the hardest thing for Sarah to take.
He was not without mourning for the boy, himself. Toby was supposed to be his heir, should he fail to sire one for his own line. When Sarah had run the Labyrinth, Jareth had spent a great deal of time with the then-toddler boy.
A glint of light on the kitchen table drew his attention and Jareth stared down at a metal picture frame turned upside down, hiding the face from his view. As he picked it up and stared at the images present, he felt a wave of heartache wash over him and he fought to ignore the lump in his throat.
It was a family picture with Sarah, her father and mother all crowded around Toby, who looked to be about three years old. They looked so happy together, smiling and laughing around the young, jubilant boy.
He imagined Sarah flipping the picture this way to avoid the pain of seeing her deceased family and sighed.
He'd had enough. He'd be damned if he was going to leave her here like this to rot. There was nothing here for her anymore, anyways. He could offer her a new life, a new family.
Mind made up, he slipped the picture into his coat pocket and gathered the fragile girl against his chest before disappearing with a pop.
Glitter settled slowly in the spot where he left while the sounds of outside traffic and rain suddenly resumed.
Many months later, a social worker would file for a search warrant of the William's home, fearing for the girl she had not heard from in several months. Her school had not heard back from her since the funeral and her neighbors had not seen her leave the house.
The police would break down the door to her home to find it completely empty with her car still in the driveway.
A missing person's report would be filed and subsequently closed when no information regarding her whereabouts could be found.
Sarah Williams would be presumed dead nine months later while the money from their house, insurance policy, social security and pension would be filed into a charity, as per the Last Will and Testament of Sarah Williams left on the kitchen counter in a pile of death certificates and police reports.
She was never seen or heard from in the Aboveground again.