A/N: *gasping for air* For some reason, after months of regular updates I almost missed posting this chapter! Which is weird, because I've had fanfic on my mind all day - I am done with the outline of a new project and am starting the first draft. :)
"This is as far as we kin go, Sarah," said Hoggle. "The Labyrinth's borders are close, and without a geas we can't break free. Get ye down, we'll wait fer ye."
Sarah approached the stranger warily. The woman was short and slim, with dark hair and pale green eyes much like her own.
"Welcome, my kith and kin," she said.
"Are you… Hekate?" Sarah asked.
The woman gave a silvery laugh. "No, I am but one of her daughters. You may know me as Ariadne."
"Ariadne?" gasped Sarah. "You led Theseus out of the Labyrinth. You loved him."
The pale green eyes blinked, and she murmured, "Indeed, though many mortals forget that he spurned my love and marooned me on an island." She smirked. "You, I think, will not be so unfortunate."
Sarah blushed. Way to bring up old wounds. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…"
Ariadne smiled. "I had my revenge on Theseus though he knew it not. I lost my kin by fleeing with him, and I returned the favor by orchestrating the death of his own. It is of no matter. But to see you, my daughter's daughter, that is a precious gift I have longed for many a year. Let me look upon your face."
Ariadne approached Sarah, brushing aside the younger woman's leaf-strewn hair. So close, Sarah caught a whiff of her magic, feeling the biting cold of Winter. Unseelie. Her heart ached in recognition. Family.
"I believe you're one of Nemain's," Ariadne mused fondly. "You have the look, and they have always been the fierce ones. Certainly you must be bold of spirit or you would not have conquered the Labyrinth."
"I don't feel bold," Sarah confessed. "I've never felt so confused or lost."
Ariadne embraced her like a mother. "But you haven't faltered, have you? You have unearthed secrets and pieced together hidden truths. Your blood sings in you, do not doubt your power or your will."
Sarah relaxed, returning the woman's hug. "Are there more of our kind? J-The Goblin King said he thought perhaps my clan had died, since I had been left Above."
"The House of Hekate knows its own business, my dear. Prophecies marked you out long before you set foot in the Labyrinth and it required that you were watched from a distance. If it is your choice you will be able to seek out your sisters, and they will be glad of your coming... I am but a poor herald of the welcome you will receive."
Sarah smiled, her heart swelling at the thought. Family, real family. Someone who really wants me, wow, that's… amazing. But first we have to finish this. She stepped back, taking a deep breath, clearing her mind. "What else must I do?"
"That depends entirely on what you want. You are the queen of this realm, at the full height of your power. At this moment there is little outside your grasp, but the time of choosing wanes."
"I want…" Sarah halted. My family. Jareth, My friends. How can I keep them all? "I want to know the price, if I choose to leave, or stay, or unravel the Labyrinth."
"I commend you, for considering the price before you commit. I did not, and ended up betraying my family and people, never to see them again." Ariadne closed her eyes, considering. "If you wish to leave your kingdom and crown entirely behind, you may unravel time back before you happened on the Labyrinth's book, and you will have no memory of it. You will live out a mortal lifespan, and your children and grandchildren will be mortal as well."
"What… will happen to Jareth? And the people here?"
"The Goblin King will take no notice of you, will marry a Seelie or mortal bride and will continue to sate the Labyrinth with his power. The peoples of the Labyrinth will go on much as you have seen them in your time here, and the prophecy of your birth will flicker and die with you."
"Ok, what happens if I stay, and accept the Labyrinth's power?"
"You will wed the King, and the Labyrinth will use your extensive powers to expand its reach Above, as it did in my youth. The mortal world will be subjugated by the Underground, until such time as heroes may arise to thwart you."
"And what if we defeat the Labyrinth? What does that even mean?"
"When I was a girl, a mortal hero managed to win his way to the Labyrinth's center in Crete. He too, won the horned amulet, although in the end he was not so clever as your Goblin King. He became the Minotaur for his troubles, the conduit of the Labyrinth's hunger for magical souls. When I helped Theseus defeat him and threaded our way out of the maze, I destroyed the Labyrinth's foothold into the mortal world and diminished it greatly. But you and your king, to walk the same paths and defeat it at its source, would release the Underground from the monstrosity it has become."
"And what is the cost of that path?" asked Sarah.
"The Goblin King's powers will diminish," explained Ariadne. "As will your own, for your magic is inextricably tied to his. The two of you will not be powerless, but the Goblin King will have to come to terms with merely having exceptional powers instead of god-like ones."
Sarah snorted. "What about my family? Would I ever be able to see them again?"
"It is possible, although there are limits on such things. Those who are Fae-touched, like your brother, may pass more easily."
"What about the people that live in this place? What will happen to them?"
"They will be released from their geas, and may choose to come or go at will. It is a difficult land to rule, for many disparate peoples are gathered here in an uneasy peace. There is no certainty that this kingdom will withstand the collapse of the Labyrinth's geas, and neither you nor the Goblin King will be vested with the powers to renew it."
I will be destroying his dreams. How can I weigh that against my own? He left this in my hands for a reason… I have to trust in that. Sarah was silent for a long moment. "What must I do to defeat the Labyrinth?"
Ariadne pulled an amulet from the folds of her cloak and held it out to Sarah. It was an ouroboros, coiling in the shape of a maze. "This is the token of the Undoer, the Unraveler, such as was won by Theseus. You must stand at the center of the Labyrinth with the Goblin King, and cast both amulets into the Labyrinth's heart. I must warn you - while this will dissolve the sentience of the Labyrinth a considerable power will remain. Such caches are never left fallow for long, and in the wrong hands it can be used for great evil and destruction."
Sarah took the amulet, and the morning sky began to darken as sickly orange clouds gathered on the horizon. Great rumbles of thunder pealed over the Labyrinth.
"It is time," said Ariadne. "The Goblin King can stay the hand of fate no longer, you must make your choice. Follow this road, if you wish to leave the Underground behind," She cast out a slender glittering thread that led down the hill away from the Labyrinth, into the dusty wastes. "Or return to the Labyrinth's heart with your King."
Sarah clutched the amulet tightly and turned away from the thread, her face towards the Castle.
A/N: The choice is made, and a Queen stands her ground. But will they be in time? Is it enough?
re: Theseus: legend has it that he married Ariadne's sister Phaidra, but she accused his son by his first marriage of rape and in anger Theseus initiated the events that led to his death - thereafter she committed suicide out of guilt. I will just say in THIS universe, Phaidra used the incident to revenge her family on Theseus and fake her death like a true Unseelie.