A/N: Whew! I'm finally ready to post this next chapter. I ended up having to cut it in half because it was growing to an immense 10,000 words. I wanted to post this now as it is our dear King's birthday this week. For those of you who gave me characters for this chapter, I apologize profusely. The only place that seemed logical to end was right before your characters were to be introduced. I have them ready to start the next chapter. Thanks so much to those who favorited and followed this story. Special thanks to EmRaHShadow, veronafairy4, BustedBrain, SolasGealalainn, Annibale, Princess of the Fae, BexyLexi, and Wonderland-fae for your kind reviews.
Disclaimer: I still don't own anything you recognize and a lot of what you don't.
~~~~~J/S~~~~~
Sarah stared at the chaos around her. Everyone seemed to be talking at once, but no one was making any sense. The world wasn't really making any sense to her right now. She fervently wished that someone would tell her what was happening. Unknown to her, the silent wish had been heard by the only other person who had knowledge of her past.
"Alright, alright," Amy shouted. "Everyone be quiet."
When no one stopped talking, Amy put two fingers in her mouth and blew out a sharp whistle. The shrill noise was enough to capture everyone's attention. When they were completely quiet, Amy walked over to her friend and put her arms around her in a tight hug. Sarah didn't question the gesture. Instead, she returned it with relief. Amy thought her back was going to break under the strain of Sarah's vice-like grip.
Amy finally pulled away from Sarah, but kept hold of her hands. "I heard your wish my friend."
For a moment, Sarah simply looked at her friend in confusion. A small glint in her eyes that she'd never noticed before caught her attention. That twinkle seemed almost foreign; almost fae, really. It was enough raise her suspicions. Seeing her friend looking back with an apologetic look upon her face told her the day's revelations were not over.
"It's long past time that I be truly honest with you," Amy admitted, trying hard not to look away. She owed Sarah that much after all these years of deception. "Do you remember when we met?"
"Yeah," Sarah said, somewhat confused by the unexpected question. "It was when you moved into the house down the street. You came by while I was playing in the yard and asked if you could join in."
Amy smiled at the memory and for a brief moment the two women were transported back in time to that day. With a sigh, Amy said, "That's not exactly the first time that we met. In fact, we met about a week before then. However, I didn't look like this. Instead, I looked a little more like this."
Closing her eyes, Amy willed herself to transform. It had been a long time since last she had taken on another form, but she could feel the telltale tingles as the magic began its work. Her body levitated in the air and her world grew bigger as she became smaller. Tiny gossamer wings pushed their way out of her back and fluttered rapidly. Finally, a delicate flurry of glitter fell and dusted her skin. Sarah's audible gasp was heard in the silence of the room.
"Cara?"
Amy transitioned back into her fae form. "Yeah, Sar. I'm sorry I didn't tell you who I was."
"This just keeps getting better," Sarah muttered, running her hands through her hair.
"It seems like it's my turn to explain," Amy sighed. "Maybe we should have a seat for this."
With a wave of her hand, her comfy chair from the Above appeared in the small room. She touched the tips of her two index fingers together and then separated them again. The one chair suddenly turned into two identical overstuffed chairs. Amy led Sarah over to one of them and waited until the other woman took a seat before taking her own.
"Where to start?" Amy mulled, ignoring everyone in the room except for Sarah.
Sarah rubbed her temples. "Julie Andrews says the very beginning is a very good place to start."
"Ha, ha," Amy scoffed. "Fine, smartass. Once upon a time, there was a beautiful young fairy."
"Now, who's the smartass," Sarah snorted.
"Shut it and let me tell this story. It's a long time coming."
"Fine."
"Alright then, where was I?" Amy asked, ignoring Sarah's eye roll. "Ah, yes. Once upon a time, there was a beautiful young fairy. This young girl had a half-brother who was known to make much mischief. One day, she followed him into the Above and spied him with a mortal woman. After he spurned the poor woman, she followed after her and found out that she was with child. The young fairy was delighted to find out that she was going to have a little niece, but worried what might happen to the child if her brother found out. She decided right then and there that she needed to protect the baby at all costs. At first, she watched the baby in her fairy form from afar. Then, she found her niece distressed after a fight between her parents. It was then that the fairy decided she needed to be a source of support for the niece she had grown to love. She gave up her fairy form and took a mortal form, instead. She introduced herself to the girl as Amy and they became friends. The rest you know."
Sarah rested her head against the soft recliner as she took in Amy's story. "So, you're my aunt."
"Yep," Amy replied. "However, I want you to know that I've always thought of you more like a sister."
"I love you, too," Sarah said. She paused for a moment, still processing everything. "So what do I call you now?"
Amy reached across and grabbed Sarah's hand, giving it a comforting squeeze. "You can continue to call me Amy. I know that some things have to change now that everything's out in the open, but not everything needs to be different."
"Alright, everyone," Ryan called, breaking the moment. "I think it's time we left this place and sort everything out."
"I agree," said Jareth, trying to keep his own emotions under a tight rein. As it was, he was a jumbled mixture of relief and confusion.
Ryan summoned a crystal and searched for his Captain of the Guard. When the man's face appeared, he quickly summarized what happened and requested that they take Trahaearn into custody. A few minutes later, several palace guards arrived and carried the, still immobile, man away. Once he was satisfied that his orders were being carried out, Ryan transported the group back to his castle.
Sarah walked quietly to a window in a nearby alcove and stared out into the gardens, barely hearing the voices of the others. Her thoughts were a scattered series of memories playing in a loop. Feeling lost, she folded her arms and tried to find the strength within herself to face all that she had discovered. It wasn't every day that one learned that much of her life was a lie.
A warm hand on her shoulder startled her out of her musing. Sarah looked back to see Jareth standing behind her, a kind smile looking out of place on his usually arrogant face. Returning his smile, almost against her own volition, she covered his hand with her own. Sarah's head turned back to the window, but her hand stayed over his. The pair stood that way in silence for several moments, just happy to be close to one another.
Sarah's voice was so quiet that Jareth nearly missed it when she said, "Thanks for checking on me."
"Anything for you, precious."
"I just feel so alone right now," Sarah confessed.
"I can understand why you'd feel that way," he affirmed. "But I hope you'll also come to see that we're all here for you."
"Including the big, bad Goblin King?" she teased, finally turning to face him.
"Especially that rascal."
Sarah smiled for a moment before the pensive look returned to her face. "Where do I go from here? It's all so much to take in. My family isn't my family and I'm fae. What does that even mean?"
"First of all, your family is still your family. Blood doesn't make a true family. They love you and you love them. Nothing has to change about that. Second, you're a halfling and that means you'll eventually have to make a choice. You can stay in the Above and you'll eventually age and die as all humans do or you can come to the Underground where you'll eventually become fully fae."
"What would happen to me if I chose to become fae?"
"You'll still age, but it will happen so slowly that for all intents and purposes you'll become immortal. You'll also begin to come into your power and will have to learn how to control it."
"That's a lot to think about," Sarah admitted.
Jareth smiled and took her hand. "You have time."
Sarah squeezed his hand and smiled back at him. "And you."
"Oh, you precious thing."
"That's not the first time you've called me that. Why?"
Jareth paused and cleared his throat. "You've always been a precious thing to me. Something so exceptional that it would almost be a heresy not to revere it."
Leaning in, Sarah lightly touched his lips in a soft kiss. It was almost breathtaking in its veneration. The hard shell that Jareth kept around his heart had started to crack when he saw her again. Now, it shattered and he could feel love and hope filling him. Though the kiss was delicate in touch, the meaning it held was so much deeper. It felt like a symbolization of the fulfillment of an almost ancient longing between their souls.
Jareth and Sarah soon became so lost within each other that their surroundings and the people around them dimmed to a translucent nothingness. One person, in particular, took a keen interest in their activities. Ryan heaved a deep sigh as he watched the couple continue their embrace. As if written into their every move, their feelings for one another were obvious. Now that Sarah had been found, he would have to address the dragon in the room. His only problem being that he didn't exactly know how to untangle this messy web. He began to rub his chin with the pads of his fingers as he thought about the best way to handle the whole situation.
"It's about time," Amy opined as she joined the High King, jarring him from his thoughts.
"Yes, it would seem so," Ryan replied.
"What are you going to do about it?"
Ryan thought for a moment and then shook his head. "I really don't know. If I give her up, like I know I should, then I would have to step down as High King. If it don't, I'll still be High King but we'd all be miserable."
"Sounds like a big pile of bullshit you've stepped in."
"You could say that," he said with a snort.
"I'm not one to say I told you so," she sighed. "What the hell am I saying? I love being right, but not in this case. The whole situation sucks all the way around."
"I could have avoided this whole mess if I had just listened to you and Jeremy," he admitted. "I should have talked to Jareth about Sarah before I asked her to marry me. I was foolish."
"What's done is done," Amy said, patting him on the arm. She'd been slightly shocked to hear his confession and didn't really know what else to say.
"Now I just have to figure out what to do."
"The way I see it, you already know what to do. You just have to gather up the courage and take action."
"Wise words, young Amy," Ryan said, a sad smile decorating his handsome face.
"Any time, Your Majesty. And call me, Cara. I think I'm going to be needed here for a while."
"I'll be nice having you back in the Underground. We missed you."
Amy nodded and turned to leave, but stopped abruptly. "I guess I'll have to find a place to stay."
"You don't even have to ask. I'll have someone make up a room for you. You can stay here as long as you'd like."
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
Ryan called over a servant and gave him instructions to prepare a room in the castle's guest wing. For a moment, he watched her leave to get some rest. It had been a long night for all of them. With that thought, he turned back to the task at hand. There was no sense waiting to do what had to be done. Taking a deep breath, he considered her words and took heed of the sound advice. He gathered his courage and made his way across the room.
The sound of a throat clearing seemed to break the spell that fell over the couple still kissing in their small alcove. Sarah and Jareth turned to see Ryan watching them with a strange look on his face. His smile seemed bittersweet and somewhat relieved. Sarah felt her face redden with shame. She was still engaged to Ryan and here she was kissing another man; Ryan's own son, in fact. However, when she tried to apologize and explain herself, Ryan placed a gentle finger on her lips.
"I know what you're going to say, but it's ok," Ryan said. "I just came over to tell you that I am happy to see you two are finally being honest with yourselves."
A hearty laugh accompanied their incredulous faces. It still amused him that he had the ability to shock his only son. He was glad for the laugh as he could sorely use it. By the end of the day, he wasn't sure he would have much to laugh about. Still, he could feel some relief filling his soul and telling him that he was doing the right thing.
"May I speak to you, Sarah?" he asked, looking pointedly at Jareth. If he was going to do this properly, it needed to be done alone. Such things did not need an audience.
Sarah walked with him to a quiet spot away from the others. "I'm sorry, Ryan. I know you said it was ok, but it doesn't feel right to me."
"That's because you have a good heart, my dear. It's one of the many reasons why I found you so entrancing. It's also one of the traits that will be good for my son."
Sarah swallowed hard, scarcely daring to hope. "What are you saying?"
"I will admit that I love you, but not in the way you should be loved; with my whole heart. I think you and Jareth were meant to share that love. That being the case, I want to release you from our engagement. Go, love, and be happy. Trust in where your heart is leading you; follow that path and it will lead to wondrous things. Don't waste time in sadness. It's much too precious a commodity. No one knows how much time they have to live. Any time spent apart from the one you love is simple foolishness."
Sarah had to smile at the fatherly words from her former fiancé. "Thank you.
"You're welcome, my lady," he said, returning her smile. "Now, I have to go apprise the Council of this whole situation. Make sure you give some thought to what I have said."
"I will, Your Majesty," Sarah said with a mock curtsy, the gesture defusing his suddenly serious countenance.
"I shall enjoy watching you keep my wayward son in line," he laughed.
Before leaving, Ryan bent down and gave Sarah a chaste kiss on her cheek. Sarah's hand touched her face, uncertain as to where his words had left her. She knew that Jareth was still standing at the window, waiting for her return. What was she going to say to him? Could she really be in love with him? They'd only spent a few fleeting moments together and most of them as adversaries.
Linda could see the battle going on inside her daughter and the impatient fae male attempting to give her some space. A sigh escaped her as she realized that it was time that she became the mother she should have been. She walked over to Sarah and, for a moment, just stood there next to her. Maternal instinct had always seemed like a foreign concept to her. Now, she felt an overwhelming urge to take her in her arms and hold her; so she did.
"My Sarah," she breathed, caressing the soft waves of her hair.
"Oh, mom. What am I supposed to do?"
"What is your heart telling you?"
Sarah closed her eyes and listened hard to herself. "It's telling me that I belong with Jareth. How is that possible, though? I hardly know him."
"I hardly knew your father, either."
"I wouldn't say that's a great example," Sarah said, sardonically. "You saw how that turned out."
"Touché," Linda said with a laugh. "However, you are not me and Jareth is not your father. You have to walk your own path. Take it slow; take it fast. It doesn't really matter if it feels right. I'll never be sorry for my own love affair, no matter how brief. It led to you."
The two women hugged and Sarah felt something she hadn't felt in a long time: free, loved, and strong. Linda left with Jeremy, knowing that her daughter would make the best decision for herself. Leading his wife to his old room within the palace, Jeremy knew that they also had some things to settle and those talks were best done in private.
After watching her mother leave, Sarah squared her shoulders and walked back to stand next to Jareth. For a moment, neither of them spoke. They simply stood there in a silence that was more comfortable than either had expected. Pieces of their lives seemed to come together in a puzzle that showed the potential of wondrous things. It wasn't until Sarah took his hand in hers that Jareth felt the need to speak.
"What did my father say to you?"
"He broke off our engagement. He said that I need to follow my heart and trust in where it leads. Your father told me that time was a precious thing and not to waste any more of it because no one knows how much they may have left."
Jareth thought about what she said for a moment before finally deciding to say what he'd put off for ten years. "I've lived for over a millennia and have spent most of that time doing whatever I wanted; caring nothing for regrets. I always thought that regrets were for the softhearted cowards that were too afraid to go after what they wanted and damn the consequences. Then, I found myself hoist upon my own petard with a singular regret."
Sarah turned to look at him, but he was still staring out the window. "I know a lot about regrets. Why don't you tell me yours and I'll tell you mine?"
While she watched, he turned to look her fully in the eye. "I don't regret letting you go. You needed to grow up to know your own heart. No, I regret my own idiot pride that kept me from finding a way back to you."
"I don't regret my actions in the Labyrinth. I had to fix the mistake that I made by wishing Toby away. My main regret is not calling for you when I realized that, not only had the King of the Goblins fallen in love with the girl, she had actually fallen in love with him in return."
"Sarah –"Jareth started.
Whatever he had been planning to say was swallowed by her urgent lips upon his own. Not one to give up control easily, he quickly took over the kiss. His arms wrapped around her, almost possessively. A battle soon began for domination as she gripped his back with an almost painful tightness. Lips pressed against lips and hands began their own vital exploration as a demand to end their years of separation rose higher. Not even the need to breathe could stop their passion after what seemed like eons of pent-up frustration.
When it could be delayed no longer, the couple broke apart. Their breathing was harsh and labored, but their hearts were light. A euphoria filled them as they recovered, knowing that they would never have to part again. A happy grin lightened his features so much that he almost looked centuries younger. That same grin was mirrored on her face and changed her beauty to practical divinity.
It was Jareth that finally chose to speak after their entanglement. "Oh, my Sarah."
"My Jareth," she echoed.
"We wasted so much time, but we have forever to make up for it."
"It's not long at all," she reminded him.
"Let's get it started right, then."
Jareth's fingers flexed and a crystal appeared. The orb popped out of existence as quickly as it had arrived as a silver necklace replaced it in his palm. Sarah could see it was a smaller, more feminine, version of his pendant. In the center, there was a small crystal that seemed to float within it. He held it out to her.
"I've brought you a gift," he said with a grin.
"What is it?" she asked, deciding to play along.
"It's a crystal, nothing more." Jareth twirled the medallion around his fingers. "But if you turn it this way and look into it…"
Sarah took it from him. "Will it will show me my dreams?"
"Not this time," he corrected.
Peering closely into the small crystal, she let out a soft gasp of surprise. Inside, she could see a tiny her in a tiny wedding dress. She was slowly walking down the aisle towards a tiny Jareth. Though he was trying to hide it, she could tell that he was nearly giddy with happiness. Her own happiness shone on her face as the cleric began the ceremony. The crystal dimmed for a moment before showing the two of them in matching thrones. They were conducting court together, obviously happy that it was almost over. Once the final petitioner had left, tiny Jareth swept up tiny Sarah into his arms and carried her back to their shared bed chambers. Before they could get too carried away, two little boys and a little girl ran through the door and jumped on the bed. Jareth and Sarah began to tickle them fiercely for the interruption. Sarah felt she could almost hear the squeals as they begged for mercy.
With wet eyes, Sarah looked up at him. "What is this?"
"Our dreams. Do you want it?"
Sarah didn't hesitate. "I do."
"Then marry me," he implored.
"Yes."
Sarah's answer may have been short in word, but the wonder and exultation it created was vast. Jareth grabbed her hand with one of his own and created a crystal in the other. Sarah didn't get a chance to ask what he was doing before she felt herself being transported away. If anyone noticed that the Goblin King had absconded with his champion, it wasn't mentioned. Instead, the rest of the group had begun to leave; some to get back to what they were doing and others to begin to put the pieces back together again.
~~~~~J/S~~~~~
While the others were quickly dispersing, Shaun took Meinwen's hand and tugged her to a secluded terrace. Her cheeks flushed at his insistence. Being alone with him didn't help them to cool. Instead, she could feel the color deepening to a bright red. Without the intrigue and danger bringing them together, she couldn't help being curious about what he wanted to say.
"Milady," Shaun started.
The Sprite King seemed to be at a loss for words. He'd meant to spout flowery words at her and sweep her off her feet. Capturing his heart from their first interaction, he wanted to court her. Now seemed like a perfect time to ask, but he couldn't get his mouth to cooperate. Instead, he leaned forward and kissed her startled lips.
After getting over her initial shock, Meinwen returned the kiss so passionately that it surprised both of them. Her mouth moved against his with a new found intensity, fiercely confident in their resolve to conquer him. Shaun was in no hurry to stop her domination of him as he found it to be delightful to give up control.
Eventually, Shaun regretfully pulled away from her and tried to slow his harsh breathing. When he was finally able to speak, he said, "I must apologize for my behavior. I did not bring you out here for a mere tryst."
Meinwen grinned at the still breathless tone of his voice. "Why did you bring me here?"
"You must know, by now," Shaun laughed.
"I have some idea," Meinwen said, coyly.
"I've lived a long time without a partner. For the most part, I was alright with the state of things. However, since I met you, the thought of going back to my solitary existence is intolerable. Just being around you has opened my mind and heart to a whole multitude of possibilities. You've added an entire rainbow of color to the greys of my life. My heart is beating out a singular question and I want to ask it now. Will you allow me to court you?"
Meinwen knew in her heart that Shaun shared the other half of her soul. His words, though, were unexpected and touched the most romantic dimensions of her heart. Reaching into her mind to find the words that would complement his own, she opened her mouth to give him her answer. Before the words could come out, the couple was interrupted by a court page.
"The presence of King Shaun is requested by the Closed Council of the Underground immediately."
"Looks like we'll have to postpone this discussion," Shaun said, irritably.
Meinwen soothed his disposition with a quick kiss. Shaun took her hand and placed a kiss of his own to the back of it. With one last look, he created the spell that would take him to the Council chambers. Arriving there just after leaving his beloved, he could see that they were waiting on him. Shaun quickly took his seat and motioned for the proceedings to begin.