Chapter 21: The End?

The bells rang.

The wedding was over, Jareth was hers. She smiled at him as he led her down the aisle and out the door to dinner. Tradition for weddings seemed very similar in both the Underground and the Aboveground, but she wasn't complaining. Jareth was hers. She thought back over her life, and the last few months. Jareth had become the man he was meant to be: he had stopped running from his responsibility to his kingdom and his loved ones. Luc had become more sure of his powers, more confidant in what he could do. Mathis had been accepted with open arms back into the Underground, all charges held against him by the Council lifted. Lilly was to be wed to Luc in a few months time.

Yet of all the people who had changed, she felt like she had changed the most. She was stronger, more confidant, and so much more sad. She had lost forever her childlike personality, that innocence that could never be returned to her. She had seen death, murder and betrayal. She had taken the lives of not only goblins and orcs, but Elena and the Lich as well. It somehow seemed to taint her, to make her less than she could have been. She sometimes felt like her hands were wet with the blood of those she had slain.

It hadn't taken long for the wedding to be put in order, but Alex felt trapped, forced to sit still when she wanted to run. She was restless, and no-one seemed to notice. It was beginning to drive her mad. She sat smiling in the dining hall, but her mind was elsewhere. She couldn't believe it: the man of her dreams was hers forever, her true love was married to her, and she couldn't pay attention to him because she felt… tainted.

Jareth knew, could see it in her face, that something was wrong. She was distracted and uncomfortable. He saw her rubbing her hands together, a frown creasing her youthful face. She did seem far older than her years would make her, she didn't seem like a child at all, and her worry only served to make her seem older. Finally he could bear it no longer, "Alex? Whatever is the matter? You've been acting distant for weeks."

She jumped and looked at him curiously, "Yes? Oh, yes."

He sighed and rubbed his face in his hands, "Child, do you know how tired you make me?"

"Not my fault you have a short temper."

"Indeed?" he chuckled.

"Mm, indeed."

"Alex…"

"If you must know, I'll tell you when we're alone. I don't want them to know." She waved vaguely at Luc and Lilly.

Jareth nodded, "However, much as the wedding is supposed to be the bride's time, it is just as much the groom's. I would appreciate the bride being present. Ignore what feelings have been haunting you for but a few hours, then you may tell me in full and I shall strive to help you."

Alex frowned at him for a few seconds before she smiled, "Okay, I think I can manage that."

He nodded and continued on with previous joviality, while keeping a close eye on his bride. Alex got up and danced with Jareth, Lilly danced with Luc. Jokes were swapped and riddles mangled. The night passed quickly for Jareth as he watched the purple-haired girl that had saved his life. She had saved him from himself, his formerly-betrothed, his brother, and the Lich. And yet, she could not save herself from the memories of what she had done for him.

As the reception for the wedding began to thin, Jareth led Alex off to the balcony of their room. He watched as she stood staring out at the Labyrinth, stars twinkling in the distance. She hummed the lullaby that Jareth often hummed and swayed back and forth in the gentle breeze. It was all he could do to simply stand there and wait for her to tell him what was wrong.

Finally she said, "There are so many things that I did to get revenge."

"Ah, so it comes to this, then, does it?"

She turned and looked quizzically at him.

"Blinded by rage you acted in ways that you should not have, did things that you regret, not the least of which is the murder of quite a few things including Elena. You feel regret at what you would term murder and at your rage. Is that it? Is that why you have been so distant these past few weeks?"

Alex didn't say anything as she turned to look back out over the Labyrinth, but he could tell that he was right. He walked up behind her and put his arms around her waist, lips barely brushing against her neck in the whisper of a kiss.

"I know, Alex. I know you are sorry for the way things played out. What would you have done differently, though? What could you have changed to make things better? You killed only what you had to. Revenge was originally for you, but you learned the folly of such an act. I see nothing that you have done wrong."

"I feel dirty."

Jareth's face became pained and he backed away from her, "Then there is nothing that I can do to help you. You have to come to terms with what you have done. Until then…"

"How am I supposed to do that? How am I supposed to forgive myself for acting a fool? How am I supposed to forgive myself for murder?" she whispered.

Jareth sighed, "That's something you have to figure out for yourself, little one, and until you do, you are not mine to have, but your own little island that no man may touch."

"You can't help me?"

"I can speak words, but you must choose what to do with them."

"What can you tell me?"

He sighed, "Everyone acts the fool at some point or another, and everyone will do it again. You murdered nothing, all the lives you took were taken in self-defense and justice. You were ridding the territories of evil creatures that had gone past the point of aid."

Alex stared at the sky, her back toward Jareth, the lose bun of her hair making her neck and back visible in the soft starlight. She seemed an angel with that white dress and innocent ideals.

"All I can do is speak my words and hope that you listen. But you do know that you are not only hurting yourself, but those around you as well, correct?"

"Yes, Jareth, I know." She said as she turned and smiled at him.

"Very well."

"Jareth…"

"Yes, Lady Rose?"

She smiled, "Oh, no you don't. No guilt trips for me, I'm already doing that to myself. Besides, I think you were on to something."

"Beg pardon?" Jareth seemed confused.

"Keep going, that sappy junk was good."

Still seeming confused, Jareth simply frowned.

Alex sighed, "Why else should I forgive myself?"

"Because you took advice from a dragon and saved the lives of thousands of people, both of the Underground and the Aboveground?"

She smiled, "So maybe I screwed up, but I fixed it too, didn't I?"

"It took just a few sappy words to show you that?"

"Well, Lilly and Mathis had been saying the same things, but sometimes it takes a lot of people saying the same thing before it sinks in."

"You and your thick skull." Jareth whispered as he grabbed Alex around the waist.

"Yeah, well, it's what kept me alive."

"Alex?"

"Yes?"

"Shut up."

Alex smiled as the Goblin King kissed her again, all thoughts of depression and taints having fled, leaving her only with peace. The months that followed were a time of settling into the Labyrinth fully. The Goblin King and his bride were not brutal task masters, but neither were they too lenient. The simple punishment of the Bog of Eternal Stench still answered those goblins that rebelled against their orders, but rules were a little less strict. Jareth maintained his callous façade for the poor girls that wished away little children to the goblins, but he no longer searched for challenges, he simply followed rules.

Years of ruling the Labyrinth well resulted in the Council granting more power to the couple. Their magic grew, their love for the idiotic goblins grew and things prospered. In time, Alex had a child: a boy to rule the Labyrinth when his father retired. He was named Gabriel after Alex's father, and would grow to be a strong ruler, if slightly… eccentric. He did have Jareth and Alexandria for parents, one must remember, and their influence was obvious in his life.

But that is another story, dear friends, for another time. Or rather… My stories aren't over yet, I need time to write them. I felt that I first had to explain who my mother and father were, and how they met. And so ends the tale of my father's past, and my mother's future. I, Gabriel son of Jareth son of Mathis, have written truthfully and fully all of the accounts herein and any who yet live can attest to this.

Fin