Sarah was leaned forward, holding the owl in her arms, when she felt something begin to pull her arms apart. Startled, she opened her eyes to find the owl to be growing, changing shape. The feathers were spreading apart, baring skin. She gently moved the owl back to the ground, fighting her natural urge to drop him in shock. She pushed herself back away from him, watching the transformation in awe, her breath caught, her tears forgotten.

The figure was moved around by some force as it morphed back into Jareth's humanoid form. She watched as it twisted in the most unnatural of ways to get every bone back in its proper position. She didn't remember seeing things in this much detail the one time she'd seen him change form before. She wondered if it had something to do with his physical state. She couldn't remember if his heart was still beating or not when the transformation had begun.

Finally, after what felt like several minutes of bending and molding, Jareth's body settled lightly onto the ground in front of her. She watched his face, looking for any kind of movement to tell her if he was alive. It remained motionless. She crawled forward and sat beside him, reaching her hand out until it was just inches from his face. She took a deep breath, trying to build up the courage to check the only things that would tell her whether or not he was there whether they wanted to or not.

'If you don't check, you can't look for a way to bring him back if he's gone.'

She could hear every breath she took.

'The longer you wait, the slimmer the chance that he can be saved.'

Her shaking hand moved slowly to check his pulse. The let out a grateful sob when she felt his blood pumping. She moved her hand to check his breathing and smiled when she felt his warm breath caress her fingers. She put her palm to his face, holding it there on his cheek for a moment before pushing a strand of hair out of his face.

She gasped when his brow furrowed in response. "Jareth?" she breathed.

His eyes opened slowly before connecting with hers.

"Oh, thank God!" She moved to help him sit up, which involved a lot of grunting on his part.

He shakily rose his hand in front of him, studying every detail of his fingers closely. "I didn't think it was possible."

Sarah blinked at him. "What?"

He blinked at her. "I didn't think I'd be able to win your love in time. I almost want to ask if it's true, but..."

Sarah felt her cheeks turn red. "I guess it took me nearly losing you for me to realize."

Jareth put his hand to Sarah's cheek and pulled her into a long, tender kiss.

A frown descended on his face mere seconds after they parted.

"What's wrong?"

His brow furrowed. "It's quiet."

Sarah nodded slowly, just realizing it herself.

"Where is everyone?"

"We need to go make sure they're alright," Sarah replied, her heart pounding. She stood up quickly and turned to go search for them.

"Wait," she heard Jareth say.

She stopped and turned to look at him, only to find him rising slowly.

"I'd let you go without me, but I'm not sure if it's safe or not," he said, taking a few slow trial steps.

Sarah nodded and moved to stand nearer to him.

"Alright," he said once he was sure of his balance.