Chapter 17
She'd finally stopped screaming around seven in the morning, evetually she was able to speak again. "So I have to go to a ball with you?" She asked as she sat up in the bed, he was still sitting beside her.
"It's custom for our people to throw a ball for a visiting dignitary."Jareth nodded. "And as soon as it is over, that bitch is out."
She shivered, looked at him with humor in her eyes. "I'd almost forgotten how cruel you could sound. I'll go with you, it's the least I can do for keeping me from going insane."
"Your not even a little mad at me?" His eyes narrowed, tried to understand.
She laughed, it hurt but it also felt undeniably good. "Why would I be mad? Because you didn't throw Melony out on her ass? I understand all of that, besides, she'd just come back anyway."
"Your probably right." He shrugged, " I can promise you though, she won't get away with this. I'll make her pay, just as soon as I can figure out how."
"I already have an idea for that." She grinned. " All that gave me a lot of time to think."
"And that's what you thought about, how to make her pay." He laughed a little, she would always amaze him.
"That, and other things." Her smile faded, her eyes traveled to the window. " I was sitting there for a while. Thank you, by the way, for making Hoggle read to me. He needed that."
"I know." He sighed, "He wouldn't have wanted to sit there and wait for someone else to find the answer."
"He wouldn't have understood, I was interested in your choice of books though." She looked back up at him, her eyes filled with curiousity. "Why Beauty and the Beast?"
"Because it's one of those books that just kind of stick with you." He answered simply. "I'm sure you have a book like that."
"Sure." She laughed, "I use it for the beginning of my mythology class, to show my students about the lessons mythology can teach us." She pulled out the red leather book. " I keep it with me at all times."
"What is it?" He took it from her hands, flipped the book over to read the title, Labyrinth. "You've got to be kidding me." His smile widened, he opened it. Tucked inside the pages were scraps of paper with sketches on them. One was of Hoggle, he was just standing there, kind of annoyed. Another was of Ludo with a wide grin. He noted the white out on the page. "You've erased something from the book."
She leaned forward, talked in a conspirator's whisper. "I didn't want them to know the words. Trust me, I've been there. They would be studying when their younger sibling would start to cry. Then, thinking it was all a joke, they'd do the same thing I did."
"And are you sorry you did?" He closed the book, handed it back to her.
"I used to be." She tucked it back under her pillow with the rest of her lesson plans. They would all have to go back into her pocket when she left. "Then I realized that I would have never met Hoggle, or Ludo, or Sir Didymus, or you. That's something I would never trade away."
She stretched, yawned. "Now, if you don't mind, I would like to get some sleep in before I have to face our friends again."
"Of course." He stood up as she slid under the covers. " You never did tell me how she should pay."
"I'll tell you, when we're both a little more awake. You look like you could use a little sleep too." She nodded.
"If I make it that far, I'll rest in my tower." He rubbed at his now tired eyes.
"That's not nesicary." She looked straight at him, nothing but fatigue showed. "I trust you, and we're both too tired to go anywhere." He still looked confused, she patted the other side of the large bed. "Besides, I really don't want to be left alone with Melony still wandering around."
"You make perfect sense." He tried to calm his heart and failed. It wasn't as if she was offering because she loved him, he reminded himself, they were good friends and she didn't want to be alone. He layed above the covers, Sarah was already asleep.
He reached out to touch her arm gently, the soft touch caused her to stirr. Without waking, she curled into him, he wrapped his arms around her. He kissed her hair as a small smile spread on her dreaming lips. Then he too, succombed to sleep
Chapter 18
She watched herself in the mirror, twirled in the dress she wore. It flowed out from her waist like a waterfall, the color of a crystal blue sky. The silk cut down her back, revealing skin she'd never left bare before. The material sparkled, attracted the eye to the way it clung to her. True, it was so different from the dress she'd worn last time, and yet, she was different too. Everything was different, and everyone.
Around her neck hung a single emerald Jareth had deemed necisarry. She wasn't going to argue, it did look fantastic with the outfit. Carefully, she did up half of her hair in an elegant bun, curled the rest so that it hung lightly at her shouders.
Three days ago she'd promised to go with him, she'd woken up to the smell of him. It was nice, to know that he was there for her, but it was also incredibly scary. "What am I doing?" She asked herself as she put her makeup on lightly.
He was pulling on his jacket, more nervous than he'd ever been. Tonight was going to decide everything, it almost had to. There was barely any time left, his power was beginning to fade. Trying not to think of such horrible things, he pulled his hair away from the collar of the jacket, examined the color. Dark gold was never something he'd tried, but it looked alright.
His leggings were black, his leather boots white. There were gold sparkles in his hair, his eyes were underlined with the same glitter. It wasn't something he could control, that was an adaptation of his kind. Cautiously he double checked his appearance, when he could find nothing wrong he walked down to inspect the ballroom.
Nobody had used the ballroom in decades, he hadn't even set foot inside. When he walked in, he was suprised by the amount of warm light filtered in. Most of it was from the candles that hung on the chandelier, but some was natural. Ludo was already there, wearing a black tie around his neck that he was sure Sarah had to have tied. And Hoggle stood there in his little tuxedo, looked shockingly clean.
Now Sir Didymus was no where to be seen, until Ludo moved over a little. He looked just how Jareth imagined he might. His formal attire was wrinkled from riding Ambrosius and that hat was still on his head. Across the room stood a lone figure, Melony. Nobody wanted to talk to her, all had thier own reasons for hatred. Some of them even shared a reason.
She'd gone with the black, revealing more skin than he would have liked. She was dressed like a slut, he laughed inwardly, if only she knew how foolish it was to try something so low.
The music started and goblins were dancing in a formal waltz. Sarah was stil nowhere to be seen.
She was furious for herself, she could already hear the music starting. If only she'd started getting ready earlier. Her heels clicked as she bolted down the hallway. After almost falling several times, and getting very lost, she found herself by the door ten minutes later. After quickly fixing her hair, she took a deep breath and stepped in. Decisions had been made and no one was going to change her mind now.
Chapter 19
She brushed past the goblins easily, saw him as he watched the dance. He was facing away from her, so she could suprise him. Ludo beat her to it.
"Sarah." He called out from beside Jareth. Jareth turned at her name, looked straight at her. Yes, things were different now, niether one was playing any games. Still, reactions were similar. His eyes were sincere and deep, causing her to get lost in them. The way he looked made her feel so important, like she was the only reason he was here.
He had no idea what he was looking at, an angel maybe, an angel in blue. But certainly this wasn't the same woman he'd startled when he knocked on her door. Fearing she was nothing but an illusion, he stepped forward, reached out to offer her his hand.
She smile as she closed the distance and took his hand. He kissed the top of it gently as the heat flooded to her cheeks. When he asked her for a dance she knew she'd always answer the same as she did now. " Yes." She gulped.
As they joined the others on the dance floor they only had eyes for eachother. "So," He let his eyes travel to the other dancing couples for a moment. "Have you decided when your going to go home?"
"Tomorrow." She nodded, feeling her throat close up. "I have to."
"I understand." His heart yearned to tell her the mistake she was making, but that would only scare her.
"And I want you to come with me." She continued, " If you don't I'll have no way of coming back."
"Ok, now I don't understand." He met her eyes, saw the laughter in them. Did she honestly think this was a joke?
"I don't know how to explain what I'm trying to say." She gazed into those eyes, and she couldn't believe she didn't know from the beginning. "I guess there is one way to explain it." She leaned in and touched her lips to his gently, his hands held her there as thier lips met again. The kiss was soft, everything she'd imagined it would be. It was sweet and yet there was a shock, like they'd been waiting their entire lives for this.
"I'm in love with you, Jareth." She looked down as they continued dancing. "And I need you to tell me I'm not being foolish."
"Destiny is foolish." He smiled. " I've known how I felt about you for six years. See, when my kind meets their true love and they look in thier eyes without letting anything get in the way for the first time, thier heart starts to beat. That way, because we never fall in love with anyone of our own kind, we can grow old with the person we most care about."
"Your rambling." Her eyes widened in suprise, "Your nervous."
" No, I'm happy. You made my heart beat, Sarah, that should tell you everything you ever need to know. But what made you change your mind?"
She was blushing more now, her cheeks were bright red. " When I woke up in your arms, it was a real eye opener. I realized I don't want to wake up any other way. I want to be with you, Jareth, only you."
Someone called thier names, they stopped dancing and found thier way over to Hoggle. When he sent Jareth a look, she laughed and leaned down to kiss his cheek. "You boys are a bunch of sneaks." She accused them as Jareth wrapped his arm around her waist, holding her close to him.
"For the record," He whispered into her ear, " I'm not letting go of you at all tonight."
"You might have to." Her eyes traveled to Ludo, who was dancing a little more obnoxiously. "Because, I do have to dance with that big guy over there. Promise you won't turn him into something if I do?"
" I'll try." He laughed as she pecked him on the cheek and left to dance with Ludo. He watched as she began to teach him the steps of the waltz, that beast was a clutz.
"What's with her?" Hoggle pretended to still be annoyed, as always.
"She just realized she can't go home if she's already there." Jareth looked down at the little dwarf. They stayed silent until Sarah came back to them, Ludo was following close behind, smacking everybody with his tail.
"You boys are awfully quiet." She rolled her eyes as Sir Didymus climbed up on Ludo again.
"Well," Jareth grinned, "I don't know what Hoggle was thinking, but I was formulating the perfect way to ask you my question."
Her eyes narrowed, "What question?"
"What would you say if I asked you to be my bride?" He pretended to not already know the answer.
"Did you listen to anything I said?" She rolled her eyes again. " I want to be with you, only you."
"That's all I needed to hear." He hooked his arm around her and brought her to him so that he could kiss her again.
Chapter 20
Her hair blew with the wind that came through his window, she turned to look at him. She'd let her hair down, hiding the curls under the top layer. He stood there, watching her. It was a marvelous thing to know that someone loved you no matter how horrible your past was. It was around three in the morning and they still couldn't sleep so they decided, now was the time.
There was an expected knock on the door. Sarah came over and took his hand as he willed the door open. Melony walked in, angry as ever, those black eyes were focused on Sarah.
"I wil not be summoned like some servant," She demanded, "Expesially this early in the morning."
"The ball is over," Jareth's eyes were like ice, " Now it is time for you to leave, but we've decided to give you a going away present."
"What is it?" Melony was suspicious.
"A all-expenses-payed vacation to the bog of eternal stench." He caught the guard's eye and gestured for him to come forward and take the prisoner. "Oh, and Melony, I wouldn't try to use your power if I were you." As Melony was dragged away, Sarah took a good look at her.
"What'd you do to her powers?" She asked once she was gone.
"Let's just say, she'd definately get a taste of her own medicine." He pulled her over to the book shelf. "Why don't we make this official?"
"How much more official could it be?" She rolled her eyes for the thousandth time. From out of nowhere he pulled out her book. With a small smile he looked at her before he placed it among all the other books."
"And they all lived happily ever after." She sighed. "If only life would ever be that simple."
"Now," He touched her cheek, waited until her eyes closed. "Where would be the fun in that?"
When she opened her eyes they were in her kitchen, her smile faded. "What's wrong?" He demanded, not quite sure what to do if she changed her mind now. Would she rather just stay?
"Nothing." She looked around, feeling out of place in her evening gown. "I guess I just realized how much of a home the castle had become for me."
"We can go back as soon as your done here." He promised her, taking both of her hands again.
"It should only take me about a day." She cut her previous time in half with no effort at all. She wouldn't need to say goodbye to everything like she thought.
So the goblin king would marry the human woman and she'd live there with her friends, where she belonged. And one day she would tell her children the story of the labyrinth, and they'd tell their kids and so on to the rest of eternity.
Epilogue
She was all ready to go, just had to get the young ones ready. The door opened as her husband of four years strolled in. His face showed signs of aging while remaining as beautiful as ever. When he stepped in, she knew it would be hopeless to contain the children.
A smile spread across his face, he gazed down at his children. They were gorgeous, he decided at least once a day. The boy, Jereth Jr. was three now, and the girl, Katelyn was a year old. The boy ran at him in a smaller version of his father's suit as the girl clapped cheerfully in her sparkling white dress.
"Are we almost ready?" He looked up at thier mother. She was still as beautiful in his eyes as she'd always been. Her hair was chopped shorter now, ending right above the shoulder. There was something more there now, too, she'd had his children. It was miricales like that in which he'd learned to trust over the years.
Still, she was as young and vibrant as always. They were still young enough that they took thier children back to her world for christmas, visited with all her family. They'd been kind of upset when she got married with out telling them but they had forgiven her the moment she walked in the door. And now, after three christmases together, they would celebrate thier fourth anniversery.
"Yes, we're ready." She took Katelyn in her arms and grasped Jereth's hand. Junior was already in his arms, he sat there expectantly. As Jereth squeezed her hand, she smiled and they started on thier walk toward the ballroom.
Inside, they waited for them. Hoggle and his girlfriend, Gertrude, grinned at them, Ludo called out thier names. Junior took off, climbed up the beast's back. Katelyn waited patiently until Hoggle left Gertrude's side and took her from Sarah. He was Uncle Hoggle to thier kids, had been with them every step of the way.
Every year it was the same, and yet better, they danced with thier friends and celebrated another happy year. As her hands were now free, and to keep with a tradition she didn't plan on dropping any time soon, she reached out to kiss her husband.
"I still love you." She told him as everyone else went to play with the kids. "And I'll continue loving you until I die."
"I'm going to hold you to that." He nodded, pulling her out onto the dance floor.