Chapter Eight:

"Let me go you beast!" Sarah screamed when Renan and she appeared in the castle thrown

room.

"Shut up, or I'll silence you forever." Renan spat.

"I'm not afraid of you." She announced.

"You should be. I'm not your love sick Goblin King." After a moments thought Renan added.

"Ex King, I should say. I'll kill you and still sleep like a baby tonight."

"Fuck you!"

He lifted an eyebrow at Sarah.

"So defiant. I can see I'll have to teach you a lesson in manners."

With that said he smacked her hard across the face. Sarah let out a yelp, and fell to the floor.

She quickly recovered herself pulling herself up off the hard stone floor, and making an extra

show of dusting her pants off. Then, she made a break for it, running full force out of the thrown

room and towards the Etcher room. Renan wasn't expecting that. He stood dazed for a moment

completely forgetting his magic then ran after her.

She enters the Etcher room with its seven dimensions and ran down and up the stairs trying to

loose herself in hopes that Renan wouldn't be able to find the right path to follow to get to her.

The plan didn't work. Renan simply entered the room took note of where she was and

materialized right behind her yanking her hair and knocking her off her feet again.

"Tricky, tricky, but I have more tricks."

Sarah cried out in pain, as his hand jerked her hair again.

"He'll come for me, you bastard." She choked between sobs.

"Oh. you really think so? By now you sweet King's head is on one of my Ogre's pikes. He

won't come for you. You're mine." He said with a sinister grin. Sarah looked up at him as he let

go of her hair throwing it down. Then, Sarah looked at the sunlight streaming in from a high

window, and got an idea.

"Oh yeah. Well why is it still daylight?" Then, she stood and ran again this time jumping off

the ledge of the balcony they were standing on.

"Hey Renan!" Justin's voice called from another projection on the opposite side of the room.

Renan looked up in time to see Justin's dagger hurtling through space towards him. He didn't

even have time to blink before it smacked into his right eye killing him on the spot. He dropped

lifeless on the stone mantle in a maroon heap.

Sarah had landed in a daze at the bottom of the Etcher room. Much like the last time she

lighted unharmed, but she didn't know what had happened above her. She didn't know Renan was

dead, and now she didn't know what to do.

Above Jareth had seen what Sarah had did. Seen her jump. He disappeared immediately to go

to her aid leaving Justin and Heather standing together at the entrance to the Etcher room.

Sarah turned round and round wondering what to do next. Then Jareth appeared from the

archway in front of her. Slowly walking towards her once again dressed in the garb of a barn owl.

The glitter of thousands of crystals every color of the prism filled the air creating a fuzz around

the restored Goblin King. Sarah's mouth dropped open in awe of the mystical man. She stood

paralyzed in the same spot she stood in when she won Toby back. But Toby was the furthest thing

from her mind as she watched Jareth approach her. I was as if she were seeing him for the first

time all over again. He stopped a few feet in front of her, smiled and slightly cocked his head.

"Sarah." He softly cooed. She filled the gap and fell into the arms of the Goblin King sobbing.

"You're alive. You're alive. You're alive." She kept repeating.

"Yes. Yes. It's okay. I'm okay." He said calming her. Stroking her long hair. "I wouldn't let

him hurt you."

She looked up at him with tears in her eyes.

"Is it over? Is he."

"Dead. Killed by Justin's dagger."

Sarah sobbed uncontrollably then leaning into the King and holding onto him with all her life.

"I was so afraid." She choked.

"There, there my love. Shh. It's okay. It takes more than a demented Sidhe to get rid of me."

"I didn't want to loose you. I don't know what I'd do if I didn't know you were alive. I need to

be able to believe in you."

That was the truth. Sarah had felt that way ever since her first trip Underground. He might

have been her opponent once, but just knowing there was magic in the world was enough to keep

her sane. And knowing that this powerful creature was out there was enough to keep her hopeful.

She had been in love with him for years. He knew it, and so did she. She did not want to leave

him now. She did not want to ever leave his arms. She had waited five years for this moment. But

she knew in the same painful moment that it would not last.

"Sarah, will you stay? If only for a little while?"

"Jareth, I love you. I've always loved you."

"But, you can't stay." Jareth looked away from her, and let her go. Turning so she wouldn't

see his face.

"Jareth." Sarah was at a loss for words. She knew he spoke the truth. She was not a part of this

world, and never would be. She was from her earth, not Jareth's, she would never truly belong

here. He was a man of magic and dreams. Sarah was not. She belonged on the monotonous earth

with her family, however dysfunctional it may be. "I have two weeks." She said without even

thinking of what she was saying. "My parents don't come back for two weeks."

Jareth turned to her then, tears in his strange eyes.

"Stay until then? Two weeks can sometimes be a life time."

"Yes, I will."

Together they made their way back to Justin and Heather, who had heard everything. They

were standing in each other's arms. Deeply in love, and deeply exhausted. Heather smiled at

them. Justin had buried his face in her sweet smelling red hair.

"I'm staying Sarah. I'm a part of this world now."

"It was Heather who saved us Sarah. She blinded the Ogres that would have killed us, and

gave the opportunity for escape." Jareth said.

"How?"

"I'm part Sidhe Sarah. I've known for a while. I. I didn't know how to tell you."

"So that's what Justin meant."

"Yes. It was."

"What about your parents?"

"I can't go back now Sarah. I wouldn't belong. I was hoping you would take my mother a

letter. She will understand."

"I will, but I'm not leaving yet." She smiled at Jareth.

"I know. I haven't written it yet."