The Vision

Disclaimer: They do not belong to me. Even though I really wish they did. ( I can always dream can't I?)

Summary: Jareth remains unconscious, and encounters someone he hasn't seen in a long time. Then he is forced to make a difficult decision.

Well, I am still alive and healthy. Just too busy to sit down and write a chapter in my story. I have been backed up with school and studying for semester finals. I also want to take a moment and publicly apologize to Emerald The Lady Destiny. I ended the last chapter with the line that she usually uses. I honestly didn't know that it was yours, (well, not technically) but still, I understand the importance of it and will refrain from using it. Even though it will take every ounce of strength that I have ;) And I would like to send a shot out to SqueezyStan, and thank him for his review. I wasn't originally going to put that in the last chapter, but I appreciate the positive feedback that he gave me.

And now...... On with the Show.

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Sarah remained at the window for a long time. She tried to make herself turn around and go to Jareth's side, but every time she tried to, she couldn't for fear that she would start crying again. And she had had enough crying the past two nights.

She heard a gasp from behind and turned to see Jareth convulsing in the bed. She ran over and tried to hold him down, while saying things into his ear, trying to calm him down.

"Shhhh. Jareth, I know you can hear me. Just calm down. Please Jareth." Sarah kept repeating this until Jareth's tense body began to relax. His eyes remained shut the entire time, and Sarah didn't know if he had regained consciousness or not.

"Jareth are you awake?" She asked him, hoping that he would respond. When he didn't, she said, "Jareth please. Open your eyes. Please open your eyes for me. I need you to open your eyes and look at me." When she got no response, the tears involuntarily began to flow down her cheeks.

Sarah climbed up onto the bed and laid her head on his chest. She listened to Jareth's heart beating as the tears continued to flow off her face and onto his chest. She closed her eyes and fell asleep to the rhythm of his heartbeat.

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Jareth opened his eyes and looked around. He didn't see anything but black. The only light was from a candle about twenty feet away from him. Jareth got up from the bed and walked carefully over to where the candle stood.

The candle stood alone on a table, it's flame burning a bright color. Jareth reached out a hand to pick up the candle and explore some more. To his suprise, the candle's flame grew and the wax on the candle began to melt and flow down the sides, making it shrink very quickly. Jareth withdrew his hand and turned as he felt a small breeze from behind him.

Although he still saw nothing but black, Jareth took a few steps forward, not knowing where he was heading. From nowhere a small slit of light appeared in front of him. He took a few more steps when the slit exploded into a bright light.

Jareth closed his eyes and covered his head with his arms, protecting himself from debris flying at him. He didn't see the shadowy figure that appeared in front of him.

Jareth lowered his hands and opened his eyes to see the person standing in front of him. He couldn't see the person's face, so he asked, "Who are you? Why are you here?"

The figure moved towards him and said, "I always wonder how many times that line has been said to you.

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Jareth couldn't see the face of the figure in front of him, but the female voice sounded familiar to him.

"Do I know you?" he asked her. The figure moved forward a little more and made her way over to the light. Jareth finally saw the face and smiled as he said, "Mother."

Victoria, his mother, smiled and opened her arms to him. He walked towards her and locked his arms around her as the tears began to pour down his face. Even though Jareth had only been around ten years old when his mother died, there wasn't a day that had passed that he didn't miss her.

"What are you doing here? Your dead." he said as he released his hold on her and looked at her.

" I came to see you. I don't know if you know this, but you're teetering between life and death right now." Victoria replied.

"I knew that I was sick, but Father said that they were working on a cure." Jareth said.

"Yes, they are working on it, but you condition has been deteriorating very rapidly. And I don't think that they will be able to help you in time." she replied. She then added, "They certainly didn't help me in time when the same thing happened to me."

Jareth just stared at her. He never really asked his father how his mother died, he didn't really want to know at the time, though. He had refused to believe for the longest time that his mother was going to die, and he never really accepted it. It was quite a shock to him all the same, though.

Victoria noticed him staring at her and said, "Now, you don't think that there haven't ever been problems between your father's kingdom and the Warlock kingdom, did you? I was drugged with a drink that contained the same potion that they put on their daggers. I fell very ill and found myself in the same position you are in now."

"What position is that?" Jareth asked her.

"I saw my candle. That candle over is your life line, once the wick wears out, your life is over. As you can see, yours is deteriorating very rapidly, even though you are immortal."

"I saw my candle and wondered what I could do to keep myself alive until I got my vision." she said.

"What vision?" Jareth asked. As if on cue, another slit of light appeared in front of him. He began to bring his arms to his head, expecting another explosion of light and debris, when the slit grew and began to glow. Then he saw Sarah.

He moved toward the glow and kept his eyes on her. She was sleeping on his chest, her cheeks stained with tears, and Jareth completely motionless under her. Victoria walked next to him and said, "She is a very beautiful girl. I can see why you fell in love with her."

"What is this? Why am I looking at this?" Jareth asked her. "How do you know all of this?"

"This is what is happening right now in the Underground. You're not really there because you have lost consciousness. Josephus went to get Sarah, hoping that you two could see each other before you slipped away, but he was too late." she said. "I saw nearly the same thing when I had my vision. You sat in the room and refused to look at me, or to believe that I was dying. That is when I made my choice."

Jareth looked away from the vision and looked at his mother, "What do you mean decision'?"

"I saw that you and your father couldn't handle me being in the situation that I was in, and I realized that I wasn't going to be saved very quickly. So I had to make a decision between living like a vegetable for a long time, or finishing the battle quickly and ending both my and you and your father's pain, so I chose death."

"I can't believe that I am hearing this." Jareth said. "How could you do something like that to us? Didn't you think that by dying, we would've been suffering even more. I know that I was."

" You never showed it, though. That's your problem, Jareth. You are just as bad as your father with your lack of emotion. I didn't see your real pain when I looked into my vision. But, I had made a decision, and I thought that it was the best choice."

The vision faded away, and Victoria turned to face Jareth and said, "And now you find yourself in the same position, Jareth. You can chose to remain alive, but unconscious for a time until you pass away, or you can end yours and everyone else's pain right now."

She turned and began to fade away, but not before saying, "Please think of other's before you make your final decision, Jareth. And please remember that I love you, no matter what your choice is."

And with that, Victoria disappeared, leaving Jareth alone in the darkness, the only light coming from his life line. The lone candle stood on the table, burning as Jareth tried to figure out what his decision would be.

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Well, I see that you made it through yet another chapter in this saga. I hope that You stick around for the next chapter. ( I promise that I will update more quickly than I did for this chapter.) But if you would be so kind as to leave a review on the way out, I would be forever grateful.