Politics had never been Sarah's thing, but when all the news stations kept repeating the words "world war" as if they were a mystical chant, even she was forced to pay attention.

She hadn't paid much attention to anything since her family's deaths in a car crash two months before. Now, in her mid-twenties, she just tried to get through one day at a time. Her job at the retail outlet wasn't exactly what she'd envisioned herself doing for the rest of her life, but somehow she just couldn't find it within herself to care that much. So every morning she'd get up, paste on her false "retail smile" and go to work, trying to sell people things they didn't need at prices they couldn't afford.

She stopped allowing herself to think of the Labyrinth, or her friends there, or its king. Those thoughts were inextricably bound together with thoughts of her little brother, her father, and her step-mother, and they were just too painful. She hadn't called on any of them in years anyway.

Compared to her own personal hell, the news reports of imminent nuclear disaster seemed distant, like they were happening to someone else.

It wasn't until her boss called her into his office and gave her her walking papers that she was forced to pay more attention to the world at large. "Sarah, you act like you're living in a dream world," he said. "You've lost four big sales this past week alone. I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to let you go."

He gave her a kind, fatherly smile -- only Sarah's father had never smiled like that! -- and said, "Look, I know you're still grieving for your family, but sometime you're going to have to get your head out of the clouds and come to terms with the real world! Get some counselling. Get over it!" As Sarah stood up to leave, he added, "With all this going on in the world, with half the world boasting about their weapons of mass distruction and the other half trying to ally themselves with the rest of them so they don't get blown up -- I just don't see how you can continue to pretend it's not happening!"

Now, as Sarah sat in her tiny studio flat sipping her tea, she ran the words through her mind again. Get some counselling. Get over it. Get over it, as if the losses she'd suffered were no worse than having a case of the sniffles. And -- get her head out of the clouds? So that she could hang on every word of the news reports and worry herself sick about the end of the world? Because that was one point on which everyone agreed: as soon as one country got bombed, the resulting retaliation would probably lay waste to the entire rest of the world.

No, thank you: Sarah didn't want to follow the news reports. She sighed, thinking she'd have to start looking for another job soon, but the prospect filled her with dread. No; she'd live on her savings for a while, and try to finish her mourning before finding something else. Of course it hadn't helped that her boss hadn't let her take any time off from work after the day of the funeral!

Sighing, Sarah turned on the television to try and distract herself for a while. As always happened on her aging television set, the sound came on before the picture. Sarah heard the anxious note in the announcer's voice and leaned forward. Had something happened?

As the picture came on, she gasped. The pictures matched the words of the announcer as he recalled the recent events while Sarah had been at work that day. "New York City is a wasteland," he said, and then the picture flashed to the letters HOLLYWOOD on the side of a hill. "And Los Angeles, as the seat of American entertainment, did not survive the attacks either. Almost the whole of Western Europe is now in the sea," and the satellite picture showed the new coastline of Europe, "And South Africa has now joined the fray."

The camera switched to a female announcer who advised, "Anyone left behind is advised to procure a gas mask as soon as possible, and just lie low. We cannot forsee how much radiation damage might be caused by these attacks. The president, just before he died, predicted a worldwide nuclear war. All we here at LMR wish everyone good luck, and we hope you survive."

Then the screen went snowy. Sarah, stunned, blinked several times, and then snorted cynically. So much for needing to find another job! In fact, considering just how little she had to live for now -- not to mention how unlikely she was to even survive, considering she lived in western New York! -- she went to the bathroom and took down her brand new bottle of sleeping pills.

While gazing at her pale, shadowed face in the mirror, she was struck by a sudden thought. She did have some friends, somewhere, at she wouldn't want to leave them without saying goodbye. "Hoggle? Sir Didymus? I need you. Ludo? I need you." Her face crumpled suddenly, and she choked through her tears, "Please! I need you all, right now!"

"My lady, why weepest thou?" came the voice of the fox knight.

"Sarah? Are you all right?" Hoggle's voice sounded concerned.

"Sawah... sad!" Poor Ludo sounded as if he was going to cry, himself.

Sarah spun around and threw herself into the beast's arms. He was like a giant teddy bear, and his orange fur absorbed her tears like a towel. Hoggle and Didymus crowded close, patting her back and murmuring comforting words.

"I - I'm sorry, guys. I'm not all right, Hoggle. I haven't been all right for a long time now," Sarah said after she'd regained her composure -- a poise so brittle it would crack at any moment. "My world is coming to an end. I wanted to see you and say goodbye before it did." She hugged each of her friends for a long while, and then wiped her tears and smiled bravely.

"Thanks, my friends. Thank you for everything. If you guys only knew how much you meant to me..." There was a mild tremor of the earth and she jumped, startled. "You -- you guys should go home now. Something could happen any minute here, and I don't want you to get caught up in the destruction."

Sir Didymus looked as if he wished there were a live enemy to fight, but as the earth shook again he twitched his whiskers and bid, "Goodbye, my lady." He blew Sarah a kiss before he disappeared.

"Ludo... scared!" the beast admitted.

"So am I, Ludo, but I don't want anything to happen to you. Goodbye, now," and Sarah gave him a kiss on his furry cheek. He disappeared.

"Sarah... is there anything I can do?" Hoggle asked, quaking in his little dwarf boots. He was terrified, but his concern for his old friend outweighed it.

She shook her head. "I don't think so, Hoggle. Just -- would you give the goblin king a message for me?" Hoggle nodded, eyes bright. "Would you tell Jareth that... I wish things between us could have been different? And I'm sorry I hurt him. And tell him..." Sarah was crying openly now. "Tell him goodbye for me, Hoggle." And with that she swept the dwarf into her arms and kissed him on his leathery little face. "Take care of yourself, Hoggle." Her last friend disappeared.

Suddenly there was a loud crack! like at a fireworks, and the ground rumbled ominously. "This must be it," Sarah thought. "It's the end. Guess I don't have to worry about finding a job. And with any luck, I might be with Dad and Toby and Karen again soon. I just wish I could have seen Jareth at least one more time..." The rumbling got louder and Sarah gasped as cracks appeared in her bathroom floor. She had time for one scream before the world went dark.

###

Sarah awoke with a start and tried to sit up, colliding with something hard. "Ow!" she heard someone say. The voice sounded vaguely familiar. She blinked her eyes open to see who it was.

A pair of amused, steel-grey eyes met her gaze. The eyes were set in a lean, pale face, with upswept eyebrows and streaks at the corners. "Jareth?" she breathed.

He smiled. "Oh, please. You must have known it was me, or else you wouldn't have bashed me on the jaw the instant you woke up," he teased.

"But what are you doing here?" she asked in wonder. "What happened?"

"I live here," he answered, brushing a lock of hair out of her face with gentle fingers. "And now, so do you. Your world ended. I barely got you out in time."

This must be what it feels like to be in shock, Sarah thought. She felt numb at the news of everything she'd ever known -- every person on earth -- being blown up. No emotion at all, except a growing sense of wonder at being spared.

"How - how did you know?"

"Hoggle gave me your message," he murmured. He lay on the bed next to her, propped up on one elbow. His face was close, so close. At her puzzled look, he clarified, "Time runs much faster here. For you it was only seconds later, but here it was a day and a half. He came as fast as he could, but he did have to run the maze to get here. I went and got you as soon as I heard."

"Then you answered my wish yet again," Sarah realized. "My final wish was to see you again, at least one more time."

Jareth gave her a tender smile and pressed his lips to her forehead. "My dear, you may see me whenever you wish. You are safe now. I kept my promise."

Sarah was distracted by his lips, warm and soft as they touched her face. "What promise was that?" she whispered, reaching up to touch his cheek.

In answer, he sang softly, words that had been burned on her heart years ago. "But I'll be there for you, when the world falls down."

"The world did fall down," she realized. "And there you were." Jareth closed his eyes as she stroked down the side of his face, and she smiled.

"Sarah," he hesitated a moment, then opened his eyes to look deeply into hers. "When you told Hoggle you wished things could have been different between us... what exactly did you mean?" His voice sounded eager, yet constrained, as if he didn't dare let himself hope. "How 'different,' Sarah?"

Instead of using words, Sarah slid her hand around to the back of his neck and pulled him down to close the distance between them. She poured her heart into the kiss, trying without words to let Jareth know how much she'd missed him, how alone she'd felt without him, how much she (admit it, Sarah, she told herself), yes, loved him. His lips were soft and passionate on hers as he returned the kiss with all his heart.

Finally they parted, and Jareth's usual hard expression had softened as he looked down at his love. He looked as if he'd been lit from within with happiness. "Oh, Sarah," he breathed, swooping in for another kiss. "Marry me," he pleaded. "Please. Make my happiness."

Sarah's jaw dropped in shock for just a split second before she threw her arms around Jareth as if she'd never let him go. "Yes!" she cried. "Oh, yes." She started to laugh with joy, and she didn't stop until the tears came rolling down her face.

Jareth solemnly wiped up one tear on the end of a black-gloved finger and held it, glistening, in front of her face. "I swear," he said formally, "By your tears of happiness, my love, that I will devote my life to making you shed these tears and not those of sorrow." You've had too much sorrow already, he thought.

"And I swear in return," Sarah said, "That you will always have my love, and my gratitude for saving me from the ruin of my world." They kissed again, a soft, short one like at the end of a wedding.

"Congratulations, my dear," Jareth whispered with a quiet laugh. "We're married."

"That was it?"

"Yes. Here, weddings are usually private. Would you like a ring?" He conjured a silver ring and slipped it onto her finger. Sarah examined the design -- a delicate filigreed band with a symbol that matched the triangular pendant he always wore. "There. It's a symbol of my power here, power that you now share as my queen."

"It's lovely, Jareth. I wish I could give you a ring, too."

He gave her an enigmatic look. "You can, if you wish to."

Power that she now shared, hmm? Without even knowing how, Sarah conjured a crystal of her own and handed it to her new husband. As soon as he took it, it dissolved into another silver ring. Smiling, he tugged off his gloves and Sarah carefully placed it on his finger.

He examined it closely, with growing delight. A plain silver band opened up into a microscopic scale replica of his labyrinth, with his castle in the centre, all done in silver. "It's a symbol of your power over me," Sarah said. "Power that I give back to you, along with my heart."

This time the kiss was heated and passionate instead of gentle and tender. Their mouths clung and merged, just as their bodies soon would. Sarah wound her hands through Jareth's wild hair, letting the silky strands slip through her fingers as he raised his head to gaze hungrily at her. "Sarah," he said in a low voice. There was a note of warning in his tone. Too late, she saw the blue sparks that danced at the ends of his hair that she'd touched.

Startled, Sarah drew her hands back, grabbing the top of the bed instead. There was a loud crack! and it buckled, the wood splitting in two under her hands. Sarah folded her hands tightly on her chest, looking up at Jareth in shock, eyes wide. To her surprise, he started to laugh. With a flick of his wrist, the bed disappeared, leaving them lying on a mattress directly on the floor. Taking her hands in his, he kissed them both and placed them back in his hair. "I can see," he said in an amused tone, "That I'm going to have to get you a pair of gloves too. You're going to be too dangerous without them, until you learn to control your magic! Luckily, yours is compatible with mine, so you can't hurt me with it as long as you keep touching me."

Sarah chuckled with relief. "I always wondered why you wore them," she said. With a grin, she slid her bare fingers through his hair again, before playfully sliding one hand down his body. "So what you're saying, then, is that we're both fine as long as I keep touching you. Is that right?"

"Sarah, my love," Jareth said, with a sudden intake of breath at the feeling of her hands on him, "If you keep touching me I'm going to be a lot better than fine!"

"Then I'll just have to do my part to keep you safe," Sarah teased as she pulled her husband down to kiss him again.

His voice sounded strangled, as if he didn't have quite enough breath to reply. "That's... most... noble of you!"

###

They lived, predicably, happily ever after. Jareth helped Sarah mourn the loss of her family -- strangely, the loss of her entire world didn't affect her quite as badly -- and then instructed her on how to be a Goblin Queen.

Sarah grew to be a legend in the Underground, a lovely woman who appeared when she was least expected, who helped and befriended those who needed it most, and who always wore gloves.

Well... almost always.