'Thas been a while, but don't worry, this chapter is as long as three normal ones. unfortunatly, it is also the last chapter. I thought it was time to make an end to it, and no sequal will follow. I like the ending too much for that (you people won't like it, but that is ecatly why i DO like it :D)

LadyKurama1: Not much hoggle action in this chap, but hoggle will always be our own little hero!

LabyLvrPhx: Evil, plot twist. It is all the same and a lot of fun for me! Good news for you if you like it: a new story is in the making, which will turn all theories aout the movie upsidedown and bakc again. Believe me, it'll be massive.

Tyoka Bina: answers will come in this chapter gall! And if he did it... well... just read and be amazed...

jackfan: thank you so much! This story is ending now though, but I'm working on a new one already, even more plot twister and unecpected turns!

WARNING: massive plot twisters, and for those who love a happily ever after with jareth and Sarah and a lot of little children: DON'T READ ON! Please look at another story, and leave this. I don't like happily ever afters...


Chapter 20 'Confession'

The man made a strange gesture with his right hand, pointing to Jareth. Sarah saw from the corner of her eyes that he suddenly started to move again. She turned around and saw Jareth collapse on the stone floor, his body bruised and blood dripping from the corner of his mouth. Sarah stood still, making no attempt to help him. "After all, he was a heartless killer," she thought. She grieved that the one she loved was murderer, that he was perhaps not worthy of life.

"But times change," the little voice inside her head added. Sarah considered that thought. Could he have changed? Maybe not, yet Samuel may not have told the whole truth. Maybe he was hiding something that would exclude Jareth from any blame…
Sarah cursed herself inside her mind, sighed deeply, and then walked over to Jareth. She kneeled down and began to wipe away some of the blood and sweat on his face. He was shivering all over and his eyes twitched like he was having a nightmare. A sudden wave of compassion came over Sarah. This was no King, and no killer. This was a frightened man who had the wrong dreams, and no-one to guide him.

Sarah took hold of Jareth's shoulders and turned him over onto his back, a somewhat more comfortable position. Softly stroking his white gold hair, she muttered comforting words to him and hoped to break whatever curse had been put upon Jareth.

"Jareth. Please wake up," she mumbled. Markla sat down next to her and softly pushed back the girl's hands.

"Let me handle this. I am more skilled then you are," she said. Sarah looked worried at her, but Markla was not returning the gaze. The Goblin fiddled with some small bags at her belt and eventually chose one. She laid the content on Jareth's head wound, and then added some liquid from a small bottle. Jareth began to hiss and Sarah had to lay down on his chest to keep him down.

"Please be quiet Jareth. We're trying to help you," she said, more to reassure herself then anyone else, for she was doubting whether Jareth could hear her.

"So much compassion for a killer. I never expected that from you, young woman. I have been told you were stronger, one of the few that had beaten the Labyrinth even. Such a man is not worthy of your comfort or even presence," Samuel suddenly spoke with a deep yet chilling voice. Sarah shot the youth an angry glare, and then turned her concentration back to Jareth again. She did not notice Samuel raising an eyebrow.

"What? Got too much of an ego after your little victory to speak to me?" he said with his usual small grin. Sarah jumped up and pointed a with Jareth's blood covered finger at the man.

"Now listen up you bastard! I don't know what you did to get Jareth involved into your story, but I think you are making everything up just so you have a cover for your own flaws. And now shut up! I'm trying to help someone here!" she yelled angrily.

"Do not defy me woman," Samuel said with a soft growl. Sarah started to laugh a joyless laughter.

"Too late for that. I already ignored that command once," she said with a meaningful look at Jareth. Samuel narrowed his eyes and raised his upper lip to reveal his fangs.

"How do you know what happened in Jareth's past? How do you know what he was, and still is, like? Did you talk that much with each other? Are you friends?" Samuel emphasised that last word, pronouncing it in such a way that the word almost seemed to obtain a darker meaning. Sarah was dumbstruck. She could not tell him she loved Jareth, and she had never been a good liar. Samuel's eyes gleamed. He laughed.

"Oh, I should have known! The old women lover strikes again!" he began to make a little dance and danced to Jareth. "Tsk, and at her age," he tutted. He glided and jumped back to his place at the window.

"Sarah, please do not believe him," Jareth suddenly said. Sarah looked behind her, and saw Jareth, though with great difficulty, rising from the ground and walking towards her. His skin was so pale that Sarah thought she could see right through him.

"Please..."

His voice still sounded a little faint, but he stood up straighter with every step he took. Sarah offered her arm to lean on when he stood next to her. Jareth gratefully accepted it.

"Samuel has said many things, but this one is not true. I never had any woman in my life," he said, looking at Sarah with eyes begging her to believe him. Sarah nodded, but before she could say anything, Samuel made a remark.

"So, if my interpretation of your line is correctly, the women lover part I said was a lie, but the others though…" he looked at Jareth expectantly. Jareth sighed. He hoped things would not have gotten this far. He had hoped Sarah would never have to know this.

"I…" Jareth's throat was like made from rock. He could not say it. He felt Sarah burning gaze at his side and her desire that he would say no. But the truth…

"I indeed killed his parents…" he said with a sigh.

In Sarah's eyes, Jareth had turned from the brave and charming man she loved back into the cold-hearted murderer. Black and white, white and black. The world had been turned upside down again, and Sarah just stood there, her eyes wide and not a single sound escaping from her lips. This could not be true. It had to be a lie!

Sarah looked at Jareth and realised that he was speaking the truth. Jareth's face was red of wounds, anger and sadness. He stood motionless in the middle of the room, trying to avoid the unbelieving gazes that hit him like massive rocks. Jareth had failed. He had lost everything… his pride, his throne, his power and even Sarah. He was completely defeated.

"My Lord?"

Markla's soft voice broke the silence that had covered them all. Jareth did not dare to look at the grief-struck face of the motherly goblin. He had even lost her

"Why did you never tell me?" Markla continued with small voice. It would have been lost in other noises if it were not for the soundless spectators. Jareth could not tell. He could no longer speak. His body tensed as he heard bare footed footsteps slowly coming closer like a person trying to help a wounded and frightened animal. Markla laid a caring hand softly on Jareth's arm.

"Why did you not tell me Jareth?" Markla said. Jareth turned around. She had never before addressed him with his first name. He looked at the Goblin's eyes and saw them filled with grief and sorrow. The eyes were disappointed, and Markla was not hiding it. Jareth gazed, and tried to find the strength to explain her, to at least take away her discomfort, but he only felt emptiness where his hope and strength needed to be. He looked away again, leaving Markla taken aback behind.

"Ah, so you did not tell her either?" Samuel grinned. Jareth shook his head once in disgrace. "Did you not trust anyone with your foul little secrets? Who knows what you did in the darkness of those lonely nights when no–one is there to comfort you and no living soul seems to care for you," Samuel whispered. "I know what you went through, I did it myself. Every single night when you locked me up in my room, from the time you turned the key at night, till the time the sun's light fell through the small windows again."

With slow, gliding pace Samuel walked over to Jareth, who stood with his head lowered in one of the few Sun's rays that could escape from the dark clouds. Samuel halted only an inch way from Jareth's face.

"Tell them," he hissed. "Tell them what you did."

Jareth looked up. "No," was his simple answer, though even those two letters were filled with fear. Samuel took a step backwards and stretched out his right arm towards the crownless king. He twisted his arm and fingers and while he seemed to be pulling air from the sky, Jareth was forced to the ground. Briskly, Samuel lowered his arm again and glared at Jareth, who reluctantly started his story.

"When I became King of the Labyrinth, these lands were in chaos," Jareth began with a slow and unsteady voice. "The previous leader had left it in a mess, and it took me three thousand years to restore peace. I was unaware of the death of my parents, passed my age for marriage and missed practically every bit of news from the other countries. Three millennia long I did nothing but fighting and struggling for this country, and when I finally was finished, I was tired. I was exhausted from all the work and all the pain. I wanted to rest, but could not. The time on the AboveWorld had come for humans to be able to speak and tell, and after only a short time, stories were told about the Labyrinth. People started to learn and my rest was no longer granted. I was called more and more often to take a child away and no-one ever came to return the children home," Jareth told. He sighed deep and turned to Sarah. "Do you know what it is like? Fighting for centuries, seeing everyone you knew die and then still not able to rest? I was living on the brink of death, yet I remained standing and working. I had died of hunger, but lived on. My thirst had drowned me, but I kept on breathing. I was more of a mindless zombie then a Fae.

"I realise I was not going to be able to continue this for long, and so, I began my quest for an heir. I looked far and wide for a suitable Fae, but found out that in my absence, the race of the Fae was almost gone. I returned home, only to find another uproar going on.

"What happened after that, was the breaking of my mind and the beginning of all this," Jareth lowered his head and gave Markla a short glance. "I was growing mad, every day eating away a bit of my sanity. It was Markla who was able to hold me upright, but even she could not do much. Eventually, Markla began to lock me up at night so I could do no harm… Yet my mind had other plans. I knew that if I wanted to free myself from the madness, I had to pass on all my duties to another person. And even though I realised it was wrong, I decided that if people would send their children away anyway, why not take then right now? Without Markla's knowledge, I brought many children to the Underground, with the excuse more children were wished away," Jareth paused for a moment and clenched his fists when he noticed Markla had kneeled down, softly murmuring questions why he had not told her. Jareth quickly continued his tale.

"One of these children was Samuel. He proved to be strong enough and I proclaimed him my heir. I granted him the gift of magic and with that, immortality. I do not regret what I did, neither the way I treated you. This is how I was raised and how my father treated me. To my opinion, it was as common as a Goblin," Jareth looked up and gazed at Samuel, who stood motionless near the window. Anger was filling him, eating him from the inside. Jareth knew he should feel victory, even oh so little, for the fact he had been able to brake Samuel's nerves. Yet Jareth felt nothing. An empty blank space filled the place where his heart should have been, and he realised, that this was what had gotten him to do all this. It had been the almost emotionless life all Fae had been cursed with, that had driven him mad and had eaten away his heart. Even his feelings for Sarah had been no more then childish dreams.

"Jareth please do not continue," Markla said with a shaky voice. Jareth saw that her cheeks were wet of tears.

"Oh, please do continue daddy," Samuel smirked, though it was not as full with victorious feelings as before. He grinned, but his fangs became more visible every time he opened his mouth.

Jareth looked from Samuel to Markla and back again. Samuel started to raise his arms again, ready to force Jareth.

"I am sorry," Jareth whispered to Markla, only to help her, but not meaning it. Then he carried on.

"As time passed, I found young Samuel stronger that I expected him to be. He was a quick student and soon learned the Goblin Tongue. He began to study more Magic on his own, and though I was satisfied at first, I found it time to put an end to this studying when he named himself Samuel Rà Istosar, which means 'Samuel the Enduring'. I forbad him to do anything without my knowledge, which led to a fight which eventually…"

"Which eventually turned out to be more challenging that you had imagined, right father?" Samuel interrupted, his face glowing with the pleasure of victorious thoughts. "How could you have known that Markla was caring for me? Like you never told her the truth, she held her, I mean our, own little secrets too, right Markla?" Samuel looked at the female Goblin expectantly, who in turn, nodded her head without looking at Jareth nor Samuel.

"I was able to convince your truthful Goblin maiden to help me, to sneak in some of those exiting magic books into my bedroom. How ironic, don't you think? You using her as your most loyal servant, and she betrays you," Samuel laughed. Markla started to cry again and covered her face with her hands. Her soft sobs echoed in the cold stone room. Jareth did not say anything. Blank emptiness filled his heart as he continued with the story.

"When I had finally defeated Samuel, I did what I had done so often already. I turned him into a Goblin. I thought he would do no more harm, and I spread word that he had been wished away by his parents, tried to assassinate me by practicing the Dark Art and had eventually sworn revenge as he left. I had not permitted many to see Samuel anyway, so the story went around and did its work as planned," Jareth said with a small hint of what some would see as pride. For Jareth, it was just his imagination pretending to be what he was not again.

"I even convinced Markla that we had a new Goblin named Kranlar, and that Samuel had been banned from these lands my a magical curse." He was defeated. No pride left, no friends left, no imagined emotions left. He might as well tell everything now and be rid of it.

"And then I kept him here, in the castle, just to be sure he would be no more menace to me," Jareth concluded, his head and body up straight with no more things to hide and no more wishes of feelings. "Apparently though, I was mistaken."

"Yes. Your precious little Goblins are not a innocent as you think Jareth. There is an underworld here, just like crime and criminals. It was not as hard as you might think to get the necessities for the undoing of your curse," Samuel snarled. Jareth looked uninterested at him. The information did no longer matter. Samuel gave him a death glare and slowly walked over to the throne. He sat down and threw one leg over the arm rest arrogantly.

"As for those criminals," he said, stroking the bone arms of the throne admiringly. "I thought you might want to see them, Jareth." He grinned, and with a wave of his hand, the doors of to the main hall were opened, and a large group of vicious looking Goblins marched inside. Before any of the spectators could react, the room was filled with the fully armed creatures, leaving only a small clearing for their prisoners to cluster. Markla huddled back against the once so familiar Jareth. Jareth stood motionless looking into the void past the world of the living mortals. Samuel lifted his arm and the Goblin drew their weapons. They aimed at the prisoners.

"When I give the sign, the Goblins will strike without any mercy," Samuel said with a low voice. Sarah looked at the spears and axes in fear for her life.

"But my goal is to destroy Jareth only," Samuel continued. All looked up at him, even the Goblins. "For the others, I give the choice of joining me in my reign of the Labyrinth, or to die with Jareth," he said with a hopeful look in his eyes. All except Jareth looked from one to the other, wondering what choice they had to make. Tears rolled over Markla's cheeks. Samuel looked up and for the first time, Sarah saw compassion in his eyes. He made a movement like he was about to get up and help him, but he only just could hold himself back.

"For you Markla, for all you have done for many of us, I will reward you with anything you want," he said quickly with the hope of calming her. Markla looked from Jareth to Samuel. She wiped the tears off her face with her sleeve.

"I wish… I wish I could see my origins again," she said with a nervously sounding voice. "I want to go to the Goblin Lands." Her eyes shone with happy memories and promised adventures. Samuel looked slightly disappointed, for he had hoped she would have stayed with him, but he nodded his dark haired head and smiled.

"So it will be. I will give you some of my most loyal soldiers to help you on your journey," he said, pointing at three large Goblins with grumpy looking faces. Markla bowed as thanks.

"Such Goblins are no company for a fair lady like she is," sir Didymus suddenly said. Sarah turned startled around and saw the little fox waving his staff. She lowered her head. She had forgotten all about her three friends, again.

"I am afraid I have not given you the choice of leaving," Samuel said with a dangerously calm voice. "Only that of staying, or that of dieing."

"Then we will join you, and become the protectors of Markla on her journey," Hoggle said briskly, making himself as tall as possible.

"Help fweind," Ludo grumbled in agreement.

"We are stronger than we look, My Lord," sir Didymus said bravely. Samuel looked surprised, but was convinced by the pleading eyes of Markla.

"Very well, I accept your services. You will hereby be the protectors of the Protector herself. Make yourselves worthy of the title," he said. Sir Didymus beamed with pride, and ordered the Goblins to move aside for Markla and to open the door so she could leave.

"Will you not stay a while Markla?" the new Goblin King asked. Markla looked at Jareth, who seemed not to care what would happen, and to the weapons of the Goblins. She shook her head.

"No," she said simply, and with that walked at the side of Hoggle to the Main hall, followed by sir Didymus and Ludo. Two large Goblins closed the doors behind them, and Samuel smiled. He would pretend he had not seen the beast hiding the young woman to help her outside. He could not explain why, but he preferred it this way. He turned his attention to Jareth.

"Don't worry Jareth, I'll make it nice and slow and as painful as possible, as you deserve," he laughed, and snapped his fingers as signal for the Goblins to attack.

"I'm afraid." Jareth though. "Fae do not feel fear, they do not feel emotions. Stop living in a dream!" he replied to himself, trying to calm down. But a little voice kept on saying the same thing over and over again.

"No use of that when you're dead…"

-

Sarah could not remember anything about how she had gotten back to the AboveWorld to her house. It had taken her a while to explain her absence to her parents, but eventually they had calmed down at the excuse of teenage hormones and too many movies. Her life continued after that, but she rarely again thought of the Labyrinth. Only this one nagging feeling remained, haunting her in her dreams and keeping her awake at night. Her sadness and contradicting hate for Jareth…

And so, just as the sorrow and anger ruled in Sarah's heart, the darkness ruled the lands of Labyrinth forever.

But,

It's only forever…

the End
I come on! You just have to love those last three lines! (impish grin) I hope you enjoyed the story, and I want to thank everybody for reading it. If you liked it and loved the plot twisters: keep checking my account regualiry, for a new story is in the making. It will be even more shocking, plot twisting, mind-shattering and awsome then anything you have ever seen before. I am planning to turn all theories about the Labyrinth upside down and back again, so expect the unexpected!

Love and Luck,
Kaori Himoru