Hello, readers! Second to last chapter here! I hope you enjoy it! One more to go. Please leave a review with what you think.

Disclaimer: I don't own 'Labyrinth'

Battle of Wills

The black crystal fell to the floor. With a silent crash, inky shards scattered across the tan stone ground. The moment the last of them settled, a sharp pop stabbed at the Goblin King's eardrums. His gloved hands shot to cover his ears as he was completely surround by an oozy, black fog that crawled its way into his nose and mouth; it fought its way through his fingers to pour into his ears. The lithe man collapsed to his knees, his chest wrenching violently in attempt to free itself from the suffocating substance.

"Why even try, Goblin King?" his voice hissed through the dark mist.

Shoving off the taunt, he struggled for a full breath as he clambered on to shaky legs. He held his breath, shutting his eyes from the blackness as he clamped his hands together in front of him. The king focused on the empty air enclosed in his gloved fingers. Quickly he brought his entwined fingers up to his lips, pressing them firmly against the cool leather. He expelled the last of the fading oxygen in his lungs into his fingers. In a quick motion, he threw his arms to the side, the fresh air expanding across the room and banishing the oozing black.

Taking a grateful breath of clean air, his eyes fluttered to Sarah. Her skin was ashen underneath the inky swirls, and she was sweating profusely. Her chest raised and fell rapidly as her body weakly thrashed. She was fading fast.

His blazing mismatched eyes sought out his other self who still stood by the archway. He met his own eyes matching his gaze icily.

"Oof," the king let out as a racing mass of shadows to the gut winded him.

"She's distracting you, you pathetic creature. True she is beautiful prize, but a weakness? She will be your downfall, Jareth."

"You are wrong," he hissed through clenched as he held his stomach. "She is my strength. This will end NOW!" he roared, pulling himself to his full height.

His eyes locked on their twins, and he cleared his mind. Breathing deeply, he plunged into the depths of himself. He searched for the thin cord that connected them. It took him more time than he would have liked to discover the small strand that tugged in his mind towards his darker self. Taking a firm mental hold of the thin wire, he tugged with all his might, pulling the separated self back into him.

A dark chuckle filled his mind, threatening to distract him. "Are you trying to absorb me? You fool! I am too strong, and you too weak. You are fighting a lost battle," the shadow sneered.

Steeling himself, he dug deeper and gave one final yank. The shadows poured into him, clouding out his mind, his heart, everything. Cold stone pressed against his face as he struggled to breathe, struggled to find himself.

He felt his control slipping from him.

He felt the fear and hate penetrating and taking weed in his heart.

He felt a numbness enter his limbs.

He could no longer move.

He could barely breathe, barely think.

He wasn't going numb.

The Goblin King was being pulled from consciousness, uprooted from his body and packaged to be stored in the deep recesses of a mind that was no longer his.

He hadn't been strong enough.

He had been too exhausted.

Too weak.

Not enough.

Not enough for her.

Never.

Everything he could give was never enough.

He had failed her.

He had tried and he had failed.

She would never smile again.

Her lips stretched wide across her face, flashing the white pearls underneath. Her green eyes flashed with amusement as a slight crinkle wrinkled the bridge of her nose.

She would never laugh again.

Creamy lids shaded emeralds as her brows pulled together. A pale hand flew to her mouth to cover the wide opening that spread even wider as she struggled for breath over her giggles. Her chest shook as her body lost control to the musical chimes.

She would never be again.

Stray strands of warm brown hair fell from the tie that held the mass of it back. They gently brushed against her flushed cheek, and he wished that he was able to replace their touch, to feel the soft, warm flesh under his fingers. Her green eyes glittered with defiance as she stubbornly stood for her own opinions. Her brow and lips set in firm lines of determination. The only woman who dared to defy him, and he only wanted her more for it.

She would die.

The wonderful spark would be snuffed out.

He couldn't.

He couldn't allow that to happen.

Gathering up the remnants of his tattered self, he pushed out and fought for control and dominance. This was his body. This was his kingdom. And she would not die.

The body of the Goblin King let out a heart shattering screech as the two entities demanded their right of control and existence.

Snarling.

Fangs bared.

Fingers stiffened to claws.

Hissing.

Spitting.

Eyes rolled back into the skull as the body lay stiff on the floor.

A black puddle spread from the outstretched body as shadows dripped from its still frame.

With a last effort, Jareth submerged Orgath and locked him away in a far corner, cutting himself off from the rage and fear. He drew in the black mass beneath him and tossed into the chamber with his darker self, hidden away so that they could torment no one else.

A shuttering breath disturbed slightly parted lips and a quivering chest. Coughing violently, the Goblin King groaned as he sat up, cradling his head in his hands. He rubbed the heels of his hands against his eyes to clear the blurred visions before clambering to trembling legs.

"Sarah," he breathed out as he remembered the young woman who allowed him such a victory.

His mismatched eyes blazed as they turned to her still form, arched at a disturbing angle across the stones. "Oh God," he muttered as he lurched towards her, tumbling onto the ground near her.

Her green eyes were nothing more than glass orbs staring into the beyond, her face etched with the horror at what last greeted her sight. Her ashen skin was stained with stilled black shadows that tattooed the surface in elegant patterns. Pale lips fluttered slightly at the barest trace of breath that rustled through her lungs.

With water rimmed eyes, the King of the Goblins gathered the brunette into his arms and pulled her onto his lap. He rested her head against his chest as he held it close with a gloved hand. His grip tightened around her shoulders as he rested his chin on top of her head, his mouth gaping open and shut like a fish starved for oxygen. As trails of burning liquid traced paths down his cheeks, he buried his face in the crook of her neck. He took a deep breath, enjoying her lingering scent.

He heard a forced breath expelled from her lungs shaped to fit the curves of his name. His body jolted away from her to spy the faintest flutter of eyelids over glazed orbs. His heart shattered as he gazed down at her pathetic form, her life fading before him to the fear where she would be stuck in a limbo: her body as good as dead, but her mind living on in endless torment from the shadows. He couldn't let her have this fate. He wouldn't be here if not for her.

The Goblin King closed his eyes and poked a hole into the boxed portion of his mind where the darkness was stored away. Keeping a firm grip on maintaining the size of the hole, he bent forward and lightly pressed his lips against hers. Her mouth opened at his touch, and he drew in the shadows, the oily mass pouring into his mouth and down his throat.

Her body arched against his as her fingers found his shoulders and dug her nails dug into the tender flesh there. Tremors shook her body as the darkness clawed into her, fighting to stay in the warm body it had hardened into its home.

When her body finally stilled and her hands fell away from his shoulders and the last of the darkness puddled into his stomach, he slackened his grip and allowed her limp form to fall onto his lap. Tightening his clamped eyes, he took a deep breath and pulled the darkness from his stomach and into the small hole he had allowed to open. Once the last of the reluctant mass had slithered through it, he cemented it shut with no intention of tearing the walls down any time soon.

The Goblin King's shoulders slumped, and his chest heaved with exertion. His eyes opened and he lifted a tentative hand to the once again creamy face that rested on his lap. His long fingers wrapped around the warm flesh as his thumb caressed small circles on her flushed cheek. Her pink lips parted slightly as she sighed softly. Lids fluttered back, dark eyelashes brushing light kisses against her skin. Bright green eyes smiled up at him, and he felt his smirk return.

"Sarah," he sighed, "what shall I ever do with you? I believed you were to help, and yet as the battle came you decided to lay here and content yourself with unaiding me."

A fire flashed behind her eyes causing them to sparkle brilliantly. He felt his smirk widening. How he loved that fire.

"Are you really that—" she began to retort as she sat up, but Jareth couldn't be held back any longer.

His arms ensnared her waist, and he pulled her to him. His lips crashed down on hers as he pressed her body closer to his. Her hands gripped his shoulders as she struggled to pull back. She opened her mouth to protest, but he took full advantage of it. He smiled as he felt her body slacken into him before her muscles tightened as she arched closer into him. Her hands traced their way up to his neck and took a firm hold there. He grazed her bottom lip with his teeth and felt his body thrill as she moaned and pressed closer to him than he thought humanly possible.

Deeping the kiss, he tightened his grip on her with one arm as he allowed the other to snake upwards and cup her head. He straightened up on his knees and pulled her up with him, her legs entwined around his. Reluctantly, he let go of her waist as he leaned forward and propped himself up on his arm as he slowly lowered her to the ground. Once she lay stretched out on the ground with him kneeling over her, his arm returned around her waist and as he lowered himself to join her. Sarah, however, was too impatient and pulled herself up to him, arching her body into his. He hesitated before lowering himself further to the ground, his body lurching at the feel of her soft form cushioning him.

After several moments, the pair pulled away, their heavy pants warming the humid air between them

"Jareth!" Sarah exclaimed as she pulled back, her chest still heaving. The young woman's eyes were eyed with shock.

"What?" he asked, worry creeping into his heart.

"Your hair," she whined. Her fingers entwined in his hair, and he moaned slightly. She pulled her hand closer to her face, a dark strand of hair snared in her fingers. "You've got a streak."

He removed a gloved hand from her to reclaim his hair from her grasp. He twirled it in his fingers before flinging it over his shoulder. "A small price to pay. Besides," he smirked, "I like it: a bit of darkness."

The brunette's body shook underneath him as she laughed. Her fingers returned to his hair, and she yanked his face closer until it hovered just over hers. "Shut up and kiss, you prideful bastard," she ordered.

Jareth, though King of the Goblins, could not refuse the order of this young woman.