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Disclaimer: I don't own 'Labyrinth'

Healing Wounds

The door shut softly behind the two forms trembling with exertion. The taller of the two stepped away and collapsed into a nearby chair. The shorter pulled back her brunette hair as her green eyes search the new room for the water pitcher. A brief scan yielded the desired object, its basin and a cloth on the other side of the room. Quickly, she jogged over to the two. Tossing the cloth over her shoulder, she snatched the pitcher and basin, one in each hand, and made her way back to the slumped figure.

Sarah knelt down at the feet of the Goblin King and set the bowl next to her legs. Carefully she poured the water from the pitcher into the shallow basin. Once it was filled, she placed the pitcher on the ground and grabbed the cloth. She pushed the sleeves of her robe up to her elbows and dunked the fabric into the water.

Ringing out the soaked cloth, her eyes turned to the lithe man before her as she let out a deep breath. "Where to start?" she questioned quietly to herself as she scanned over the gashes that marred his pale skin.

"Sarah, this is not necessary. I will heal."

"Oh, shut up!" Sarah exclaimed in exasperation. "This is my fault. Let me help you."

Sighing, the king resigned to her care and leaned back into the soft chair.

Nodding in satisfaction, the brunette placed the rag on the deepest gash that tore into the muscles of his abdomen. The man under her care hissed in discomfort, and she flinched. "I'm sorry," she apologized for more than just the brief flare of pain as she removed the cloth and placed in a different spot.

"You have no reason to say such words," he hissed through clenched teeth. "I wasn't cautious and allowed him to slip through my defenses."

Biting her lip against the prickling in her eyes, she returned the blood soak cloth to the water and watched as the red seeped out and dyed the clear liquid. After squeezing the excess liquid from it, she brought once again to the gash, grimacing at its severity.

"Do you have a healer?" she asked. "This looks really bad. I don't think this can heal properly—"

Her voice cut off as a cool, leathered hand wrapped around her fingers. Her eyes shifted upwards to meet the mismatched gaze of the Goblin King. A soft smile pulled at the corner of his thin lips as he said, "I'm fine, Sarah. You're doing too much. In the morning you won't be able to tell that I looked like this."

"But, what about infection?"

Jareth simply chuckled at her question. He released her hand and allowed her to clean his wounds until she was content: his muscles stretched taunt at her touches.

Sighing once she was done, she tossed the cloth into the water and raised her arms above her head popping her back. Her eyes turned regretful as she dried her hands on the robe that wrapped around her. Suddenly, she felt a tightness in her jaw as she fought off an upcoming yawn, but she lost terribly.

"Get some rest, Sarah," she heard whispered gently.

Looking up, she frowned. "What about you?"

"I'm fine. You need your sleep. I assure you that you will rest peacefully in my bed."

"But earlier you were saying—" Sarah began.

"Sarah," Jareth responded tersely, "listen to me: I have no intention of sleeping. Now go lay down," he ordered.

She pursed her lips as she stood up and grabbed the pitcher and bowl of bloody water. She set them down in their original place and made her way to the bed. Her fingers went to strip away the dirtied robe but stopped short as her mind flew to her state of undress underneath.

Seeing her predicament, the king huffed and shut his eyes. "You better hurry if you wish to discard the robe before you get in bed."

Smiling at his gesture, she slipped the robe from her arms and the thin nightgown. Tossing it over the headboard, she hurriedly pulled back the covers and slipped underneath them. Pulling them up around her, she said, "Alright."

The king opened his eyes and the brunette marveled at how they reflected the moonlight pouring through the open window above her head. Silence fell between the two figures, but a question sat in the forefront of Sarah's mind and refused her sleep. Witnessing her restless form, Jareth inquired, "What's wrong?"

Turning her wandering eyes to the king, she blurted out, "Orgath said that what is done to one is done to the other. That's why you can't kill him. But, he's draining your life. Why isn't his life being drained?"

Jareth sighed as he tossed a leg casually over the arm of his chair, wincing briefly at the flare in pain. His gloved fingers tapped a steady rhythm on his leg as he began. "Killing destroys the life, its energy. The act of killing is equal to proclaiming a person's essence was never in existence. Since our essences are one, destroy one would lead to the destruction of the other."

The king paused, his eyebrows furrowed in pensive thought before he continued. "By draining my life, he is absorbing the essence I possess into himself. The essence remains, capture inside him, but my being is no longer in existence. I will be lost in him. I may come out as a pesky thought in his mind, a rare moment of sympathy, but he is strong and would easily lock me away."

Sarah paused and took a deep breath before she asked the question that sat on her heart. "He also said that you were a coward, too scared to do what needed to be done to get rid of him. Was he talking about you absorbing him instead?"

Jareth's form flinched as he heard the name coward fall from her lips, but his face remained impassive. "Yes," he answered silently. "He is so much stronger than me that I fear if I attempted to absorb him I wouldn't be able to destroy his consciousness. He may remain; an equal personality stuck inside me. Or, he may very well simply overpower my will and take over this body. If that were to happen, where would that put my kingdom? I shudder at the thought of what would happen if I wasn't here.

"By not doing so, I assure myself that I will be conscious, that I will be here to protect them," he concluded sadly.

"But," she urged him, "You will still lose that way if he absorbs you. You're still gone if you don't fight. He's slowly destroying you and your kingdom will be next. At least the other way, there's a chance of your survival."

"No," he said firmly. "I will not risk it. Perhaps one day my strength will be able to withstands his—"

"But, he's draining you! He can still—" Sarah interrupted with passion until she herself was cut off.

"This isn't a topic under discussion," he snapped, his quiet voice firm and deadly. "I have made my decision, and I'm not risking anything. I would rather my kingdom be without a king than to have him on the throne. I will hope for the best and do all I can do."

The brunette bit her lip as she looked at the king. He was going to die. He was going to let himself be destroyed under the false hope that something better would happen. Blinking through the mist covering her eyes, she lay down and pulled the covers around her. "Orgath was right. You're a coward," she mumbled into the pillow, taking grim satisfaction at the pain that crossed his face at her words before she closed her eyes.

Warm sunlight penetrated through the thin veil of skin that covered her eyes. Groaning, Sarah threw her hands to her face and viciously rubbed her eyes as she sat up, the sheets falling and pooling around her waist. As her hands fell away, the green orbs landed on the chair across from her: its seat now vacant of the Goblin King's form.

A soft creak alerted her ears as the door opened and the man in questioned stepped in, his outfit new and spotless, his skin free from any disfigurement. The door shut behind him as he turned to face her.

"Good morning, Sarah," he greeted her, his eyes shifting away at spying the state of her undress.

A fevered blush colored to her cheeks as her eyes move downwards and witnessed what was exposed through the thin material and highlighted by the sunlight filtering in behind her. She hurriedly snatched the sheets and wrapped them around her upper body.

The king cleared his throat and proceeded, "I shall have a goblin bring you your clothes. Once you are dressed, I requested your presence in the throne room. You will join in the discussions today."

Excitement bubbled in Sarah as she jumped from the bed, sheets and clothing forgotten, as a smile stretched across her face. "You mean I get to help?" she asked cheerily.

Surprised by her reaction, Jareth's eyes shifted back towards her. A pale rose blush flowered across his cheeks as his gaze briefly wandered her body before shifting away. "Yes. I shall leave you now. I ask for your haste," he parted with as he left the room.

The wide smile refused to reduce off the brunette's face as she fell back on the bed with a laugh. I'm finally getting to help. We can figure out something. We can destroy Orgath. And then I can get home! I can see Toby, Sarah thought in a delighted rush. Despite her strong desire to make it back home, a small portion of her heart sank at the prospect of leaving the city and the Labyrinth. Her heart had stubbornly grown fond of the city—and of its king.

Biting her lip, the young woman furiously shook her head in attempt to dislodge the thoughts and emotions building up inside. She couldn't let herself follow that path. It wouldn't work. It would all end in heartache and pain. But, silently she believed that a brief moment of happiness with him would make up for the pain that would inevitable come.

"One problem with that," she reprimanded herself as she sat up, "who knows how that blasted king feels about anything? He'd pine after the Labyrinth before me."

Her head swiveled to the door as it creak open and a homely goblin walked in. The elderly goblin bustled over to the bed and laid the clothes in her arms down on the bed with a loving pat. Sarah smiled as she spied her bra amongst the fabrics.

"Thank you," the young woman said as the goblin began her journey back to the door.

She flinched at Sarah's words and turned around, mud eyes wide. "No need to thank, missus. Kingy order it. Lila do it happily."

"Well, that may be, but I'm still going to say it. I've never managed to catch you before to say it earlier."

"Missus might be scared of Lila. Lila no want that. Lila hide."

"Don't worry," the brunette responded with warm eyes, "I'm not scared." Her green eyes fondly followed the goblin until she left the room.

Yes, Sarah thought, I am going to miss it here.