A/N: Nope...still don't own the Labyrinth or its characters...

Don't ask where this morbid story came from. I am pregnant, hormonal, our house closing is taking forever, another story is just not forming its last chapters for me, and it has been raining for several days straight...makes me downright weepy and by all that's dreary and miserable, you all are going to be weepy with me! :)


They flanked her as she walked the long, lonely road towards his final destination. Pillars of strength and friendship during a time of great suffering. All who watched the strange group found solace and comfort in knowing that at the very last, she had a strong system of support. Not one person turned up their nose at the motley bunch, knowing that she needed them more than ever before.

It had been many years since anyone had questioned the trio's place in the Queen's life. At the beginning, many of the courtiers had sneered at the strange collection of creatures who were so evidently preferred company for the Aboveground wife of their king. There was no noble blood in them that the aristocracies were convinced she should be surrounding herself with – namely themselves. Honestly, they nearly scorned their Queen for her unsuitable preferences. Until the King made it very clear where their loyalties needed to be placed.

So the three friends stayed, buffering the human-turned-immortal woman from the gossip and disdain of the Fae nobility. They were her source of strength when her husband was away on business or when life brought several trials during the early years of her transition to the Underground. They were beside her as her first two children were stillborn and the court blamed her for her human genes.

When the heir to the throne was finally born, the trio proudly took the honor of being the new infant's guardians – aka babysitters, playmates, and partners in trouble. They rejoiced with the King and their Queen as two more children joined the Royal family.

Finally, the court came to a grudging acceptance of the Queen's first friends as their heroic efforts saved the entire Family from several assassination attempts – all while the nobles looked away in blissful ignorance.

They gained the respect of the entire Underground though, when the Queen lost her eternal husband to a bitter war that had lasted for over three hundred years.

The king was supposed to live forever. But iron could kill a Fae, even one as powerful as Jareth the Goblin King and heir to the High Throne of Oberon. Nothing could be done by the time they found the assassin with his own dagger protruding from his back. Apparently, Jareth was able to wrestle it away in time to save the rest of his family, but he had already been mortally wounded.

The entire Underground mourned with their Queen and her family – her three companions included in the family circle. No one protested their place in her life anymore.

The trio flanked her as they came to a stop beside the majestic graveside. It really was everything that Jareth had been in life. Sarah had never imagined comparing a barren piece of earth to her husband, but then again, she had never foreseen losing him to the morbid earth either.

Silence reigned as she paid her final respects to the man she had loved with every fiber of her being. No one except the three loyal companions – loyal since her first steps in the Labyrinth – saw the one glistening tear that traced a path down her face and fell onto the open, marble sarcophagus.

Hoggle, Ludo, and Sir Didymus watched her, comforting her as her legs gave out in a graceful swoon and she knelt on the cold, hard ground with her hands covering her emerald eyes. They assisted her to her feet after what seemed like hours, helping her to move and place a kiss on her husband's cold lips. Like noiseless sentinels, they guarded their beloved Queen until she turned to walk away.

Only they saw the smile of gratitude she gave them as they led her to her room, admonishing her to eat and sleep before the ceremony the next morning.

Only the three friends saw the smile of peace on her face as she slowly faded and breathed her last, determined to follow her soul mate to the afterlife.

Only they stayed by her graveside, long after everyone else had gone. Forevermore would they guard their beloved Queen, three friends and companions watching over her even in death.