Disclaimer: No more disclaimers, this isn't 2002 and Anne Rice isn't going after people with her lawyers anymore.
"Once again Precious, that should be obvious," Jareth punctuated his statement with an exaggerated sigh.
Sarah stared him down and waited for further elaboration.
"You are my champion, the only one who has ever been my equal so you are the only one fit to be my queen," he said while slowly closing the gap between them.
Sarah watched as he leaned towards her but she wasn't about to let him steal another kiss from her. She took a quick step back and put a hand to his chest to push him back, an action that was more a request that he stop than an actual attempt to physically overpower him. Thankfully he did back off just slightly farther than he was a moment before. He stood waiting for her to speak, clearly confident that he had the upperhand in this game.
She knew that despite Mary's best efforts, she couldn't rely on her friend to save her. This left her with few other options of escaping the Labyrinth for a second time. Sarah took a quick breath to brace herself for what she was about to do.
Sarah tilted her head and adopted a look that she imagined might be reminiscent of what she must have looked like during their final confrontation of her run of the Labyrinth to ask, "Is that supposed to be romantic or win me over?"
His smile didn't waver but something about his expression darkened in response to her question.
She knew she couldn't let up now, "You kidnap my brother, force me through trails that thousands have failed just to get him back, and then after all that 'Oh, by the way, another bonus to winning the Labyrinth is that you get to be taken from your life and made my queen whether you want to or not.'"
"Stop," he raised one hand to her lips to silence her, "One point that you continually avoid mentioning is that you do want this, you aren't happy in your life with your silly human friends in a world without magic."
"That isn't even-" she began but Jareth cut her off, "In a world where you don't matter."
"What?!" she hissed in response.
"Don't act so surprised Sarah, in this world you are a champion, you've defeated trials that no human had bested in thousands of years, you could be more than that even if you stayed but you act like you'd want to go back to a world where you have nothing to look forward to but mundanity, with no one that needs you." He reached up to caress her cheek and as she looked into his mismatched eyes she wondered for the first time since she had met him if he might actually care about her as more than an opponent to be conquered.
"SARAH!" Both Jareth and Sarah turned to look in shock at Mary and Hoggle who had just burst through the door.
"Hog-brain, you remember what I told you what would happen to you if you ever helped a runner again?" Jareth asked, pointedly ignoring Mary who was attempting to catch her breath and pat out a small fire at the end of her hair.
Hoggle moved to stand behind Mary in response to Jareth's threat. The two looked about as well as could be expected Sarah thought considering that they had presumably just come through the goblin city.
"As for you," Jareth began while now turning his attention to Mary, "Do you even realize the full extent of anything going on here?"
Mary looked him in the eye, silently prayed that she memorized the lines right, and began, "Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered-"
"Wait."
All eyes in the room turned to Sarah. The shock was clear on everyone's face for a moment.
"Sarah, what are you doing?" Mary asked in complete confusion.
What was she doing, she thought to herself but ignored it, "You don't."
Sarah paused unsure of how to continue, very aware of Jareth's intent stare, "You don't need to do this, I've made up my own mind."
"Sarah?" Hoggle asked in confusion.
"I choose to stay here," she answered.
Jareth studied her expression waiting for some kind of trick but finding none.
Mary put a hand to her forehead and stared at her for a moment, "I don't get it, I thought that you didn't want to stay here or that I had to solve the Labyrinth to get us home."
Mary clearly exhausted, lowered herself slowly to a sitting position on the floor, "I don't understand anything."
Jareth laughed clearly thrilled at this turn of events, "I believe that might be literally true, dear Mary."
He turned to Sarah and in fashion that was out of character seemed to be at a loss for words momentarily.
"I want to be clear right now though, I have conditions," Sarah told him.
Jareth's smirk returned, "I expected no less from you, Precious."
Sarah turned to look at Mary and Hoggle, "Mary goes home unharmed at the end of this and Hoggle isn't getting punished for trying to help me."
Jareth nods in acknowledgment so she continues, "And we aren't just going to get married as soon as Mary leaves, we are going to spend some time just actually getting to know each other since, you know, this is the longest time we've ever actually talked to each other."
"So you want me to court you properly?" Jareth asked her.
"I guess, if that's what you want to call it," Sarah said, "Lastly, I'm not abandoning my friends and family aboveground, I want to be able to visit."
Jareth looked to consider for a moment before replying, "I suppose you're going to say I can accept or you'll tell your friend to finish the words?"
Sarah nodded in response.
Jareth's expression became predatory and he slyly asked, "And what if I told you I'd rather gamble that she doesn't remember the right words, Precious?"
"What?" Sarah asked caught off guard.
"Did you think that this would be like a fairytale?" Jareth began as he stalked toward her, "You don't get to pick and choose what you want, and if you think that I'll let this end with you having the upper hand again, you're just as naive as your first visit to the underground."
"I thought that this is what you wanted, why are you willing to risk that just to. . . win?" Sarah asked while backing away.
"Oh Precious, I'm not risking anything, even if your companion succeeds that won't be the end, what happened here today can just as easily happen again tomorrow, you can spend the rest of your life waiting in fear for someone around you to slip and wish for something just vague enough for me to twist it," Jareth told her while holding a gloved hand to her face in a mockery of the gesture he had made moments before.
"That can be your prize if you win this time."
"Mary!" Sarah yelled in panic at her friend that had been looking on in horror.
Jareth made a crystal appear and threw it toward Mary and Hoggle as it got farther away it also appeared to expand and it suddenly stopped, creating a full glass wall between them.
"They can't hear us but we can hear them, just to make it fair," Jareth told her, "And no chairs to break it this time either."
Sarah looked at her friend and pleaded with her silently through the glass to know what to do.
Mary took a shaky breath and started again, "Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered."
