'Well, shit,' said Eames.
'An accurate, if useless summary of our situation,' snarked back Arthur.
'I should have known,' continued the Corinthian. 'He's a creature of nightmare, it would only make sense that he would return to it in death.'
'So we can't kill him?' asked Arthur.
'Not in the real world, no.'
'But Sarah...' all heads turned to Sarah, asleep on the bed. Her head was shaking from side to side, as though she was struggling.
'Sarah!' Jareth leaned over and shook her. She wouldn't wake. He looked back up at them, almost pleading. 'I have to go back in.'
'We'll all go, we stand a better chance of beating him together.' Arthur was setting up the PASIV again.
'I'm sorry.' This was Scott. 'I can't go back in there. I can't. I died once; please don't ask me to do it again.'
'Okay, Scott, you control the PASIV from out here. Give Ariadne your link.'
Soon, they were asleep again.
Dream of the Endless watched as his throne room filled up with people. The Corinthian had told him about the death and subsequent return of this entity that called itself Freddy Krueger. He was starting to take these invasions personally.
'I think he'll be back by the nightmare cliffs.' The Corinthian was saying. 'He does seem to like returning to his old haunts. But he will have learned a new trick. Don't think that dream device will keep you safe again; he will have worked out how to get around it. We can't kill that bastard in a dream, we can't kill him in the waking world. It's time to get creative.'
Sarah knew that something was wrong as soon as Jareth blew the glitter in her face. She had found herself spiralling into heat and dark instead of cool sleep. She regained her balance in the same damn boiler room.
Then it hit her. He wasn't dead. She wasn't safe.
Then he hit her, and she saw stars.