I hope you've enjoyed this little fic of mine as much as I have writing it.  I'd like to thank every single one of you that has read Realization and especially those of you that took the time to review. A big hug goes out to Makoto Tanaka Yuy and Crystal for the editing help through out this fan fiction. I could have done it with out you guys!!!

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, the story, or the lyrics composed and preformed by David Bowie in the 1986 filming of the Labyrinth so don't sue me!

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Chapter 14

Stairway to Her Heart

            Racing through the endless stone corridors Sarah reached an all too familiar room. Lined with stairways raising in ever direction she began to climb.

With her confident steps she walked onward sure she would once again conquer him, "Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered-" About to jump onto another set of stairs she was taken aback. Before her, rose that formidable man not looking so unbreakable with tears rolling down his cheek.

"How you've turned my world you precious thing." Walking right through her, Sarah was sent spinning around to make sense of the illogical. His words echoed off the stone staircases as he walked in every direction.

Sarah thought starring after him, 'he even dares to defy gravity. Why am I not surprised?' 
"You starve and near exhaust me. Everything I've done, I've done for you. I move the stars for no one." His hypnotic

song tangled her in his web. Still something tugged at the back of her mind. Banging at the edge of her subconscious to be heard.

'Just like the ball room' he thought to himself, 'can't she ever just let it go?' Sighing inwardly, he kept on with his words

approaching her once again, "You've run so long, you've run so far. Your eyes can be so cruel. Just as I can be so cruel. Though I do believe in you, yes I do"

Damming her self for letting it all come to life again her mind wondered closer to that nagging something. 'Why can't I ever let go of my childish dreams? Maybe if I had none of this would be happening. Fantastical kings and bizarre creatures coming to life, perhaps I'm crazy. Just like in my dreams-'

Her logic was halted with the last of the lines whispered in her ear, "Live without your sunlight. Love without your heartbeat. I can't live within you."

It all came crashing down simultaneously with the walls. Her dreams! He had almost gotten her to forget them. His lullabies and lies weren't going to work this time however. She WASN'T that little girl anymore. Her eyes now cold and heartless burrowed into him as he had once done to her.

 "I have fought my way here to gate beyond the Goblin City." With every step she took he was one inch closer to frost bite from her icy disposition. "For my will is as strong as yours and my kingdom as great." It was coming. He could feel the line inching closer. The words that would sever all connection between him and his beloved Sarah, forever.

He never meant it to be this way. He just wanted her to face her past and heal from its sorrow. Panicked his frustrations raced through his mind, 'Why must she be so difficult? Can't she see all I've done has been for her?' Somewhere in the middle of it all he began think out loud, "I love you Sarah. I always have. Please, think of what you'd be doing by finishing those words." Stepping forward he smothered her mouth with his. Sarah shocked and startled ripped away from his ardent kiss.

"And the Goblin king fell in love with the girl…" In between a whisper and a reflection Sarah's recitation of that line dazed her attack. Stumbled by his unexpected feelings her mind raced onward.

"For my will is as strong as yours and my kingdom as great. You-" Her determined words were lost beneath his silken lips in a searing kiss as he coaxed her to calm her worries.

 "You have no reason to fight Sarah. I can give you your dreams. Simply fear me, love me, and I will be your slave." His offer was not laced with the expected venom Sarah had come to stereotype Jareth with. It was pure and yet so much more in its simplicity. Here stood a regal Goblin king out on a limb barring his sole for some mortal girl he's loved from a far. Pining away for a decade didn't seem to be the image of the Jareth she had remembered from when she was a girl.  Then again she had been just that…a girl. Too young to see the way he looked at her with that unconditional love and all to stubborn to admit over the years that she felt the same.

Lost in thought her drifting mind was brought back by the crystal that was slipped into her soft hands. Before her was reflected a great celebration with much cheer and delight as a young couple was ushered out a chapel under the fall of confetti and rice. The brunet in the white gown looked so happy as she kissed her new husband whose mismatched eyes sparkled in the delight of their nuptials. The image blurred into that of a bouncing babe whose ebony curls were set alive by mismatched ice blue and warm brown eyes. Laughter was traced across its rosy cheeks and giggling smiles as he bounced about on a royal knee. The child's image drifted away as a picturesque sunset came into view with an aged woman and man standing still very much in love before the horizon.

Tears of joy dripped from her green eyes washing away the orange and red sky in the crystal still gripped in her hands. Distraught from her sudden emotions, Sarah's stance crumbled as she fell into Jareth's waiting arms.

"Shhh. No more tears Sarah, no more tears." His calming voiced purred into her ear as countless crystals filled with flames and pain floated far away from the embracing couples never to be remembered.

It's finally complete! Tell me what you think by either reviewing or emailing me at capuchinclover@yahoo.com. Thanx again!

~Clover