DISCLAIMER - I don't own Sarah or Jareth or the Labyrinth (unfortunately) they belong to Jim Henson & Co, and I'm definitely not making a profit from this. (Bummer) All other NPC's are a figment of my own imagination.

Chapter 2 – Lost and Found?

Her whole body ached. She knew it did, even though she couldn't feel half of it. Her head throbbed in time with her irregular heartbeat, and was countered by the occasional footsteps outside on the main ward. In the weird green glow from the single monitor across the other side of the room she took the other envelope out of her box and looked at it for a moment before placing it carefully on the bedside table where it would be seen. She had been planning this for a while, and now that everything was down on paper and signed 20 times she had no more excuses, didn't want to have any more excuses. She fingered the edges of the shoebox resignedly. Not much longer now. Surely the darkness would come soon and carry her away. Her memories pulled her backwards and forwards through time, finally resting on one single image, an Escher picture, a broken room, and a King. The tears fell unchecked as she whispered into the silence.

"Through dangers untold and hardships unspoken… I wish that the Goblin King would…" Her voice broke as she wept into the silence.

"Were you ever real Jareth? Was it all just a dream, a product of my overactive imagination? I would even suffer your sarcasm to see you one last time…" She closed her eyes against the green glow and moved her head so that her pillow smothered the sounds of her weeping.

He lay sprawled across the stone bench amidst the roses in his private gardens, listening irritably to the sounds of the fairies hiding in amongst the thorns.

"Pesky creatures." He growled throwing a small crystal at one in disgust. The tiny fairy yelped and flew away before turning to stick her tongue out at her king.

"Doesn't anybody in this stinking place have any respect for me?" He sighed turning back to the only other occupant in the garden who stood stoically silent, ignoring his king's lack of attention and wild mood swings. Your Majesty, the boy has made it to the hedge maze. Will you distract him again, or should I send… an alternative?" The King of the Goblins sat up on the cushion strewn stone bench and regarded his darkling slave, a speculative look on his beautiful face.

"What were you thinking of?" He asked curiously as a half smile formed on his lips.

"I'm not sure yet. The Labyrinth has not yet made up its mind."

"Set it free."

"I beg your pardon?"

"Set the Labyrinth free to do as it pleases. If it wishes to keep that snivelling pain in the backside running around in circles for the rest of its…" Jareth turned and regarded a golden carriage clock hanging in mid air. "6 hours and 15 minutes it has left, then so be it. I'm tired of this game. He is unimaginably stupid, and even worse than the last one. His sister has already been given the one of the families, and will be far happier here than she ever could have been there. I care not what happen to him."

"He is close to breaking point and…"

"Stop." The Darkling stopped, his mouth open mid speech as his king froze the kingdom so that he could listen. It was so faint he almost missed the first part, until she spoke his name. So long had he dreamt that she would come back to him that her voice was inlaid in his very soul, she was a part of him and yet she had never truly known it. He could feel her every movement now that she had called him, and he bit back a savage snarl as he felt her pain, and her fear, and her empty drowning loneliness. He snapped his fingers and the kingdom resumed its languid afternoon.

"… has several times… What is it?"

"She has called me."

"The girl?"

"Yes."

"The girl who ate the peach and forgot everything."

"Yes."

"The same one who denied the power of the Labyrinth?"

"Yes damn it! How many more times?" Jareth howled stalking around the garden enraged. The Darkling stood and ignored his king's fury.

"Isenith." Jareth said stopping abruptly in front of his slave.

"Yes Your Majesty."

"I may be gone for some time." Isenith looked up into his master's eyes and nodded. Jareth turned and in the blink of an eye had walked between the veils separating the worlds.

Her pain almost overwhelmed him now that he stood so close to her bed in this unfamiliar place. His fey mentality drowned out the urge to open a window to get rid of the harsh antiseptic smell in the room along with the poorly circulated and dry air that was making him want to sneeze or cough or throw up, or all three. She lay so quiet, her raven black hair spilling like a waterfall across the white pillows, obscuring her face slightly. She was awake, and he knew she could sense that she was not alone, but she refused to acknowledge him. Still no respect he mused placing a thoughtful glove clad finger to his lips. His sharp eyes picked out the details of the room, its starkness, and lack of anything "human". He recalled her old room, filled from floor to ceiling with things that inspired her, and yet here there was nothing, a temporary arrangement then. He noticed the shoebox clutched in a painfully thin and scarred arm and felt the magic of the book hidden within. He couldn't help but smile.

"Is this another dream?" She whispered, catching him off guard.

"No. Not this time." He said, unable to resist moving closer to her so that he could move the hair from across her face. He bit back a growl as he caught sight of the scarring and yellowing bruises across her once perfect face.

"You're really him aren't you? You're the Goblin King." He watched her watching him with hazel eyes, dark with pain.

"Hello Sarah." He wiped away a tear that snaked it way down her cheek with his thumb.

"You're really real? I didn't just dream you up. You're really here." She watched him smirk in the green glow of the monitor and bit her lip. He was still the most beautiful person she had ever seen.

"I give much credit to the power of your imagination Sarah, but its not quite that good… yet." He said as he continued to grin. "I am however curious to know why you chose to call me now? It's been 10 years. You were such a little thing, and now you're all grown up. I would have thought you'd have more important things to be doing than wishing up childhood memories."

"Please Jareth…" She whispered shaking her head. "I wanted to… before I… I just needed to know that you were real. I don't have much time, but I…" Her words caught in her throat as he leaned in close to her. Close enough so that she could smell the faint scent of roses, and hot dusty summer days, and wild things. He had almost moaned as she whispered his name, wanting to beg her to say it over and over and over, but he didn't.

"You have all the time in the world." He whispered into her ear instead. "Who did this to you?" He said settling himself on the edge of her bed and leaning over her with the grace of a cat.

"It was a car crash." She squeezed her eyes shut as the memories threatened to overwhelm her. "They're all dead. Toby, my dad, Karen…" The tears continued to flow no matter how much she willed them to stop. Jareth sat and watched her for a moment before drawing her thin and cold hand into his own, touching it to his own face, turning it so that he could place a delicate kiss in the centre of her palm. In the seconds of skin contact he shared all of her memories, something he had never been able to do before. In the space of a single heartbeat he knew her more intimately than any other creature in the world. He fought against the torrent of emotions and found what he needed to know, to understand. He lived the terror of one night 2 years ago when she had been attacked and raped, he watched as the crash was replayed over and over in infinite detail, endured the agony from the multitudes of corrective surgery, and he felt the creeping death of her own body as the super virus had invaded her, leaving her lifeless and immobile.

He silently took her tiny fragile frame into his arms and held her, wanting to take away the pain, and the terror and the loneliness, and at the same time revelled in the touch of her body next to his own, the closeness of skin and breath. She gave way to the tears and let them fall unchecked as she wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her head against his silk covered shoulder.

"Forgive me." She whimpered as he stroked his fingers through her long hair. "I didn't want to die without asking you to forgive me. You were the only one who ever took the time to care, and I was too young to understand what you were offering me."

"I forgive you." He said as she clung to him harder, gasping for breath through the maelstrom of tears. She could feel the vice gripping her chest, forcing the breath from her lungs and making her heart pound in agony.

"I wish… take me away… Jareth… I don't want to…" The darkness spread, her vision fading, but she could still feel him, still feel his heart beating next to hers, could still feel his arms around her, touching her hair and her face.

The machine screamed it's warning into the night, frightening the nurse half to death as she drowsed at her desk. She ran to the room, alerting the standby doctor, but when she opened the door, there was nobody there, the girl was gone, and only a letter remained of any of her possessions on the bedside table with a glowing crystal next to it. The nurse screamed and ran to get security.

"How can you stand there and tell me she disappeared into thin air? She's paralysed for Christ's sake! She can't even sit up without help!" James screamed at the night duty nurse who was still being questioned by the police the following morning.

"Don't tell me what I already know! I've had to look after her!" She screamed right back at him, her face flushing in anger.

"Please Mrs Singer, Doctor, this is a hospital ward not a boxing ring." The security officer said walking in between them to stop them fighting.

James sighed and walked away to flop down on a hard chair by the main desk, not quite sure what to think.

"James?" He looked up quickly, expecting Sarah to be stood in front of him. The young policewoman smiled kindly and held out a grubby envelope. "You are James aren't you?" He nodded and took the envelope from her.

"Yes. Yes I'm James." He looked blankly at the envelope and his hand written name on the front.

"This was with the letter." The policewoman continued holding out her hand again. He looked up at the crystal in her hand and carefully took the fragile looking globe from her.

"Thanks." He sat and stared at the smoky crystal for a long time whilst the police took statements from everybody, ignoring the others around him. Then finally giving up its enticingly hypnotic depths he opened Sarah's letter.

James,

I haven't ever written anything like this before, so you're just going to have to make do with the mess and the crap spellings. Since you're obviously reading this, there's no need to go through the whole tedious "I'm going to go away" scenario. We both knew I wasn't going to get any better, and I might well have gotten worse. Remember that dream I told you about a long time ago? Well, it wasn't a dream. I don't have any proof I can give you other than my word. You can't even ask Tobe. Its important to me that you understand that where I've gone, is safe. I'm very likely going to die there, but I don't care so long as my few last requests are completed.

I want you to speak to Grievier, he will sort out all the legal shit that I hate so much. I've attached my last will and testament to this letter. You're the only person I have left, and I know you won't be stupid and go on a world cruse. Set up those offices you've been dreaming about for so long in the new house and be happy! I'll be better there, living my dreams like I always wanted too. He won't have a choice you see. I can feel the Labyrinth calling to me in my dreams, so if I wish myself away to it, to him, then he'll have to take me. It's a bit underhanded, but I'm still playing by his rules, I think I always have done. I just hope he can forgive me.

That's not the point anyway. I just wanted to tell you that I love you. You're the only one who has been through it all with me since I moved to the city, and you've been a good friend. Perhaps one day if things go better than I've hoped, then I'll come back and visit you. Just remember one thing, if you believe in anything, believe in yourself. Its something that you once told me, but I never thought I'd be repeating it back to you.

I'll send a postcard.

Take care of yourself James.

Sarah

James sighed again and glanced through the contents of the other page. She had left everything she had to him, telling him to share out her own clothes to her old friends and take anything he didn't want to the charity shops. Toby's toys and games should be given to his friends and Karen's personal things from the house should be given back to her own family. She also charged him to have her name added to the family's gravestone and to make sure that he sent her favourite flowers to the grave on her birthday. She had even noted that Grievier should be paid from the proceeds of the house and apartment sale for his legal costs.

"She really did think of everything." He muttered to himself, playing with the crystal in his hand. "You couldn't give me proof Sarah, but I think somebody else did." He said standing up and walking away sadly into the eddying crowds outside the hospital.