Notes: Sorry for taking a while with the update. A lot happened this week.

Thank you for the favs and follows. Feel free to review.

Also, a special thank you to lovely LovelyAmberLight for sending me that wonderful message and for giving me the inspiration I needed to write this chapter and getting it right. It took me several times to write this chapter before I felt like it was right. So again, thank you! :)


Chapter IV: Heroine's Breakdown

The stench that wafted up Sarah's nose from the Bog made her want to vomit, as if the sheer act of doing so would expel the smell that was working into her system like a toxic gas. It seemed impossible and yet the stench seemed worse than when she had been a teenager. The smell was thicker than before, infecting her.

She fell to her knees, her eyes going to the Bog, that appeared to be bubbling, the fumes continuing to hit her. She reached a hand to try and cover her nose, knowing it was already too late. The stench had hit her nostrils and it would take such a long time to escape, if she could.

She felt weaker than before. But then again, she was not the same. She was not the same foolish young woman who had entered the labyrinth to correct a horrible mistake. No. This time she had been forced here and for what? So that Jareth could play his games and have his way with her, all under the pretense of them being husband and wife?

She dug her free hand into the ground. Everything was hitting her. She could defy him, but he had already won. He would not let her leave. Even if he did, what would she lose in return? This was not the same as last time where she had defeated him through her will and words. There was no child that had been stolen from her. Titania and Faye were his as much as they were hers. He was using the children as chains to tie her down, knowing that she would do anything to keep them safe. But what was worse was that he acted in a role, making her an unknowing actor in his family play in the Aboveground for an entire decade.

Tears slid down Sarah's cheeks. The horrid stench was not a factor in her crying. It was everything that had happened, everything that Jareth had done to her and how he had given her no escape.

"Sarah?" Someone spoke her name, their voice nasally as if they had pinched their nose hard as a way of dealing with the foul stench.

Her name was repeated several times before the broken heroine, now unwilling Goblin Queen, looked up. Before her, she saw someone that she had thought she would never see again, not since Jareth had stolen her life from her.

"Hoggle!" She practically sobbed the dwarf's name. A friend. Someone she had desperately needed.


"Do you Sarah Linda Williams take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband? To remain by his side through sickness and in health, through good times and bad, for as long as you both shall live? Forever?" She was asked.

Sarah's hands were in Jareth's. She was done up in her wedding gown, her thick, brown hair placed back and off her shoulders. She knew that she was lucky. By twenty five, she was marrying the love of her life and the only one she wanted to spend forever with.

It's only forever. Not long at all.

A chill ran through her that she did not understand. Perhaps it was bridal nerves. She swallowed and gazed at Jareth, who stood there patiently, waiting for her answer.

"I do." Sarah answered, the words that would seal her fate.

She felt Jareth's grasp on her hands tighten a little. No doubt he was nervous too. While there was never a question in their minds about them getting married, there was just something nerve wracking about saying words and vows in front of a bunch of people, even if they were family and friends.

"Do you Jareth G. King take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife? To remain by her side through sickness and in health, through good times and bad, for as long as you both shall live? Forever?" The question moved on to Jareth.

The groom smiled at the bride. It was genuine smile, Sarah knew that. But it made her heart pound for reasons she could not explain.

"I do." He replied.

There was a brief pause for a dramatic effect before came the words that they had both wanted to hear for so long.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

Jareth did kiss her, passionately, and Sarah gave into his kiss, the chill that had run through her earlier forgotten.


"Here." A thick and scratchy handkerchief was held out in front of the Goblin Queen. Sarah reached for it, blowing her nose into it and wiping herself up from her tears. She knew she still looked like a mess. She was a mess. So much of one that Hoggle had to exert much strength to help her get up from where she had fallen on the bank by the Bog of Eternal Stench to the edge of it, where the smell was much sweeter.

"Thank you." She was so appreciative of his kindness. It was hard to tell if it was her emotions or if she had been truly glad to see him again. "I can wash it somehow."

"No need to bother. Doesn't help much anyway." Hoggle waved off her offer.

"Help much? Help with what?" There was so much that had changed. Hoggle still looked the same, but she knew that things were different. She was sure that she was different than when she had last called upon him in the mirror before Jareth had come and taken everything from her.

"Don't expect you to know since you didn't need us or nothing for a while, but Jareth came back to me to put into his practice his promise. You kissed me so here I am, the Prince of the Land of Stench."

"All because I kissed you?" Jealously was another dark mark Sarah would have to put against him, not that it would do her much good. "I'm sorry, Hoggle. A lot has happened. A lot out of my control, but I can make things right." At least for him. Why should the dwarf have to suffer when he had done nothing wrong?

"Ain't like you can unless you're the queen or something." Hoggle said. As if Sarah could free him from the stench filled prison Jareth had locked him in.

The dwarf looked over at her, believing that she would laugh at the ridiculousness of his request. Instead, Sarah looked down and hugged her knees close to her.

"You? No! It can't…What?" He stuttered trying to find the right words.

"Ten years." It was hard for her to say it. "He took everything from me, Hoggle! Maybe I was wrong all those years ago. My will is not as strong as his. He has power over me. And I have no idea what to do."

"Returning home might be a good start. The girls do miss their mother." Sarah's blood turned to ice at the cruel voice. Before them stood Jareth, menacing in his brown leathers.