The Truth of a Lie

a/n: I do not own Labyrinth. Beta-ed by AngelaScarlet.

Chapter Thirteen – The Misty Place

Jareth walked through the mist-shrouded archway, leaving the lady version of Sarah behind. It was quiet, almost too quiet. He could hear the footfalls he made on the unseen floor. Everything was black as night, and it was still so quiet.

He did not know how long he had been walking when he came to a round chamber, with no exits except the one he had just came from. The walls were covered with silvery webs, and the floor was still covered with mist.

"Go back, Goblin King. I will not warn you again," Sarah's strong voice came through the dark to him. No, wait. Her voice was not strong. It was bravado. Underneath there was a current of fear, and a touch of panic. She did not think he would come for her.

"I am not going back. If I die here, so be it, but I will not leave you behind. Come with me, Sarah. Toby is waiting for you, and I am waiting for you. We want you with us. You have been gone for a month, and I think it is time you came back and let us help you. Please, won't you come?" Jareth did not wheedle. He made his wishes known in as civil a tone as he could manage.

"The oubliette is a place of forgetting. But this, this is a place where people can hide. Some call it the Core. Some call it the Self. Do you wish to know what I call it?"

"You would call it Heaven," Jareth assumed.

"No, it is my Hell. Alone, forever and ever; but what you don't know is that I wish to be here. I want to be here," Sarah's voice still came from everywhere.

"I guess I was wrong about you," Jareth sighed, seeing a hole that he could use to his advantage.

"Were you?" Sarah's voice was amused, "The Goblin King was actually wrong about something?"

"I figured you for a warrior. I figured you for a Queen. Such a woman would not have taken the easy way out though. Such a woman would have stayed and fought for a place in this world. A Queen would have fought for me, instead of letting me go. A warrior would never let herself be beaten down just because she all of a sudden does not feel needed!" Jareth snapped. The mist swirled, and then Sarah was there. She was back in the red leather, with a crop in her hand. Her expression was thunderous, and she looked much like the fierce warrior beauty of only a couple of months ago.

"Do you think this was EASY for me?" she asked, incredulous.

"Yes, I do. It was easier for you to run and hide from all who love you than to stay and deal with us. You hate yourself Sarah, and you thought that it would be easier if everyone else did too!" Jareth stepped towards Sarah, and she whipped her crop at him in warning.

"The only person who loved me was Toby. You made it quite clear that you were disgusted by me," Sarah looked disdainful, as if something smelled foul to her.

"You knew I cared, you lying bitch. You just convinced yourself that the way you thought things were was the only way they could be. Are you a woman, or are you a scared little girl?" Jareth sneered.

"I am a woman. I am more woman than you could ever handle!" Sarah strode over to him and pulled on the front of his jacket. He let her. She pulled him up tight, and he let her. She mashed her lips to his, and he let her. But then, he took control. He did not let her make this sweet kiss into something raw and painful. He backed off, just a little, and kissed her lips softly. He did not open his mouth, and he did not let her clamp down on his lower lip like she obviously wanted to. He kept it soft, simple, and chaste. And most of all, he kept it sweet and understanding. Sarah threw him away from her and lifted a hand to her lips. She stared at him, shocked.

"What, the Goblin King can't properly kiss a woman?" Sarah tried to look bemused, but only came off as being rattled.

"I can kiss you in ways that will make you beg for more, Sarah, but not like this. I love you. I want to make love to you. I think you are rare, that you are precious, and I will make you mine. But not like this, and not here. When I claim you, it will be like I am holding the universe's greatest treasure in my arms, because that is what I feel for you," Jareth took a deep breath to still his heart.

"You bastard! How can you say that to me now? Do you KNOW what I did for you? For this world? I let men fucking rape me! I let them beat me, and use me! I told myself I would never let another man do that to me, but I did it for the Underground. I did it for Toby! I did it for you! For you! And now you want me to sacrifice even more by trying to live life in a body I hate? You want me to hurt, don't you? You want me to have to look at the body of a whore in the mirror and always wonder why no one wants to be with me. You want me to suffer! Why?" Sarah's visage kept switching from her red leather outfit to the long black dress she had been found in.

"I do not want you to suffer, I want you to understand! We love you, body and all. We love you, no matter what. We love you, and we want to show you how much we appreciate you. I want a chance to appreciate you, to love you," Jareth's voice was getting thick with emotion, and he backed off, trying to control himself. It would not do to break down now, when he was so close to achieving his goal.

"You could have told me all this while I was in your castle, when I was so obviously suffering from melancholia. Instead, you just sat there and talked, and dined with me. You never even made an effort to try to help me. You never tried to reach out to me. You never tried to even court me. What was I supposed to think?" Sarah drew a sword out of mid-air and held it in a battle position, "I think that maybe, if you died here, I could die and remain in Hell forever. I could rot, as is befitting trash!"

This was what Jareth was waiting for, for her to charge at him. If he could get her to weaken, then he could carry her out of this place, and back into the waking realm. He quickly conjured his own sword out of thin air and met her charge, parrying her blow. He passed her and lunged. His sword was met by her parry, and Jareth realized that he was using fencing moves on a girl with an Asian sword. He quickly changed swords, opting to handle his own katana. He used both hands to swing the sword, engaging Sarah's above her head in an overhead blow.

"Sarah, I am Fae. I rarely get exhausted from exertion. If you would just come back with me," Jareth defended himself against a horizontal slice, "we could avoid any embarrassment on your part"

"Fuck off, Your Majesty," Sarah growled, as she tried a jumping slice.

"Ah, but you must call me Jareth, since I am going to marry you," Jareth delivered a crouching blow, but Sarah jumped over it.

"I am not marrying anyone. I do not remember the Goblin King ever expressing interest in marrying anyone except the fifteen year old Sarah who resides in the other room," Sarah sneered. Her forehead was beaded with sweat, and she was panting. Jareth was still fresh as a daisy, however, even if he was a bit tired from being in the misty place so long.

He swung a series of blows. Slice, slice, jump, block, slice, overhead blow, crouching swing, and then he watched as Sarah fell. She collapsed to the ground, panting and slightly whimpering. Jareth pointed his sword at Sarah's neck.

"Do you yield?" he asked.

"Do I have a choice?" she knew she was beat. Jareth picked her up and carried her out to where the other Sarah was waiting. Other Sarah looked up at him, "It is done then? I will come with you"

Jareth held them both around the waist and concentrated on rising out of here. He passed the memories, and slowly came to full consciousness in Sarah's room. Toby and the other members of the household stood in front on him, concern on their faces.

"How long was I under?" Jareth asked.

"It is noon," Toby informed him.

"A long time then," Jareth looked at Sarah, "She should be waking up soon. Will someone pack Sarah's bags for a few weeks?"

"Why?" Toby asked.

"I am taking her away. We are going alone to my little palace by the sea," Jareth told them as he rose from his place.

"Your Majesty, we must protest. Her Grace is not well, and she is also a single female of marriageable age. It would not look good for either of you to be resided alone together without benefit of marriage," one of the healers protested.

"She will be better, and she does not need any more healers. And as for being alone, you will keep your mouths shut! She needs to be alone, without anyone or anything to worry about. Not even you, Toby. You will be going back to the castle to stay with Alis and Alun. We will leave immediately," Jareth told them with regal air. They all scattered, except for Toby.

"Did you see?" Toby asked.

"I saw it all. You were both forced to grow up way too quickly. I am only sorry that I was not in any position to stop it. I am not going to hurt her. I am taking her to heal. I know now that I am the only one who can heal her," Jareth brushed a stray lock of hair away from Sarah's face.

"All right. How long will you be gone?" Toby asked.

"As long as it takes," Jareth strode out of the room to change his own clothing, and to gather himself into some semblance of order. He was a King after all. Appearances must be maintained.

&&&

Jareth laid the still unconscious Sarah on the large bed inside her room at the Castle at the Sea. This is where Jareth had been born, inside this peaceful castle. It was a vacation home of sorts, but one that he loved. He loved it far more than the Castle Beyond the Goblin City. This place was decorated in soft stones and colors, instead of the harsh beiges and browns of the main castle. This place was gray and blue, as if it were part of the ocean. Sarah's bed was made of pine, with white fabrics covering the bed. The drapes at the windows were white, and the floor was gray shale. The room was warm, and filled with sunlight. Jareth would not let Sarah live anywhere dark anymore. She needed sunlight. He had purged her wardrobe of anything dark, leaving only light fabrics.

The sea breeze came in through the window, and it ruffled Jareth's hair. Jareth laid a hand on Sarah's forehead.

"Wake now, Sarah. Come out of there," he said, bringing her out of the slumber he had forced her to stay in ever since he had brought her out of the misty place. It has been necessary to transport her.

Jareth watched as those gray eyes fluttered open, unfocused and blurry.

"Jareth?" her voice was little more than a hoarse whisper.

"I'm here," he told her, taking her hand in his.

"I remember such strange things….I cannot think very well. I thought I died, but then I saw you, and you helped me…. Was I dreaming? Where are we?" Sarah tried to sit up, but she moaned and fell back against the pillows.

"So many questions love. You tried to kill yourself. Toby found you," Jareth ignored Sarah's sob, "I came to you where you were stuck in your subconscious and rescued you. You begged me to leave you there to go to Hell, but I wouldn't," Jareth told her.

"Why?" Sarah asked.

"As I told you down in the misty place, I love you. I always have. I love the warrior Sarah, the woman Sarah, and the Queen that you always have been. I am only sorry that I could not share that with you sooner. I had hoped to court you from afar, and do things right. But you, silly girl, had to try to kill yourself. Now we are at my sea palace alone, and we will stay here until you have recovered from your melancholia and your self-mutilation," Jareth assured her.

"Oh, you saw that?" Sarah asked with a faint chuckle.

"It was painful to see. Such a beautiful woman, thinking she had to mar such perfect flesh," Jareth chided her.

"Who am I now?" Sarah asked after a moment.

"A warrior and a Queen," Jareth told her.

"There is no need for a warrior like me in this world," Sarah sighed.

"There is always a place for someone who wishes to fight. There are other battles, Sarah. It may be a different type of battlefield, but it is a fight just the same. And now, you have a whole new battle to devote yourself to"

"What's that?" Sarah asked, her eyes narrowing.

"Our great task now is to rid you of your bulimia and cutting behaviors. You must get well. How am I supposed to make you my Queen if you are throwing up royal dinners and wearing out-of-fashion gowns?" Jareth joked.

"How do you know I even want to marry you?" Sarah asked.

"You do. One day you will let me know," Jareth sounded sure of himself, "Do you wish to have dinner?"

&&&

Jareth had another bed pulled into Sarah's room. He slept across the room from her every night. He used some of his power to limit Sarah's weaker power, and purged the castle of anything sharp except for in the kitchens. Sarah had seemed to agree at the outset. But after the second or so week of her rehab, Sarah started to get foul-mouthed and disagreeable.

"Leave me the fuck alone, Jareth!" Sarah shrieked.

"No," Jareth folded him arms and just stared at her. The past two weeks, she had been in denial, not even wanting to accept that she had been cutting herself or throwing up her food. Finally, a couple of days ago she had admitted to her behaviors. But now she was going through the portion of her recovery where she would be incredibly angry at anyone and anything.

"You impotent asshole! Stop limiting my powers! You're just jealous!" Sarah yelled.

"No, I'm not. And no, I will not stop limiting your powers. And Sarah, I am far from impotent," Jareth smirked and stayed where he was.