Sarah couldn't help but be awed at how beautiful he was. Even in this state, he was very regal. It almost made her jealous. She could see that even if he was lean, he was quite strong and muscular. The body of a dancer. That's what her mother would say.

A few creatures helped Sarah to heal the king. Splinters were placed on his wings and bandages on his wound. She stayed by his side, feeling like she was indebted to him after he rescued her.

A few hours later, she was dabbing his forehead with a wet cloth. They had checked for infections, and everything looked fine. Nevertheless, he had symptoms of a fever.

"I think he did too much magic. And in a short time." Hoggle told her. He was the gardener, but was also at healing. There was no official castle physician as Jareth hated being cared for by others.

Sarah gave a tired nod. "Will be okay?"

"He'll be fine, that rat always pulls through." He reassured her. "I's not sure about them wings though. He'll live but who knows about being able to fly with them. I've never seen him use them before in his fae form."

Sarah resisted the urge to touch the feathers. They were absolutely beautiful. "Do the other fae have them too?"

"I thinks so," Hoggle thought about it. "But I never cared to know."

Sarah nodded, tucking the blanket around the King. "I feel bad."

"Nah uh!" Hoggle put his hands on his hips, glaring. "He deserved it."

"You don't even know what happened!" Sarah snapped at Hoggle. "He saved my life."

"Because he should have, don't be makin' excuses for 'im!" Hoggle rolled his eyes.

"I'm not." Sarah stood up, fire in her eyes. "I know that he's a jerk, that he needs to stop being so angry. But I will give him credit where it's due."

"Did you forget that he called us traitors? For helping you?" Hoggle huffed. "We weren't allowed to call ya, to be your friend. He was awful to us."

Sarah stopped and paled. "Did he…"

She swallowed, mouthing the words, looking at Jareth to make sure that he was still asleep. "Did he hurt you?" She whispered.

"What? No." Hoggle shook his head. "Nuthin' like that. Just gave us more hours of work and allowed the goblins to annoy us. More than usual anyway. We did do work in repairing the city but nah he didn't hurt us."

Sarah sighed. She felt really bad. She got to Hoggle's height. "I'm so sorry. If I never made a stupid wish… if I never did that then you wouldn't have gotten in such trouble."

"It's fine, girly." He patted her hand. "It was better that you stayed safe. I dunno about now though. Has he been nice to ya?"

Sarah snorted. "Well, he's been… mostly decent. A right jerk but he gave me a beautiful room. What's his deal anyway?"

Hoggle opened his mouth but then they heard a groan from Jareth.

"Water, please." he croaked, sitting up.

Sarah quickly got the jug of water and held it to Jareth's lips. He took it away from her and drank. "I can do it myself."

Sarah didn't hide her contempt for him, folding her arms and glaring at him.

He set the jug down, ignoring her attitude. "Higspot-"

"Hoggle." Hoggle and Sarah corrected him at the same time.

"Please tell the cook to give me simple soup for my next meal. I'm quite tired." He wrapped the blanket around him better. "And you are dismissed."

Hoggle didn't argue. If he was told to leave Jareth then he would.

Sarah took his hand and they started to walk out.

"Where are you going?" Jareth called, his voice stronger now. "I only dismissed Hugpie."

"Hoggle." Hoggle mumbled to himself.

Sarah sighed. She had half a mind to yell at Jareth again, to stop telling her what to do but she was tired of fighting him. She still will not yield to him, but sometimes you just had to pick some battles. She smiled at Hoggle and squeezed his hand, reassuring him that she would be alright.

Hoggle reluctantly let go of her hand. "Sarah, if ya need me or any of us…"

"I will call." She said to him. "I'll meet you for dinner?"

"I would like that." He smiled. "Meet ya at yer room with Didymus and Ludo and Ambrosias?"

Sarah nodded. "See you then."

Hoggle left, and she closed the door. She turned around, a bit nervous at seeing Jareth propped up on his bed. To see him shirtless was absolutely unnerving. She hated how he was the most good looking man she had ever seen, that she had to force herself to look at his face and not the rest of his body. It wasn't like she hadn't been in relationships before, she absolutely was not one to just throw herself at a man and be totally entranced but Jareth almost did, even though she wanted to chuck a chair at him most of the time.

Jareth let out a long exhale. "I never kept your friends from you."

Whatever it was that she was expecting him to say, this was not one of the things she had been expecting.

"You didn't?" She asked, not quite sure of what to say.

"No." He confirmed. "In fact, I brought them to see you this morning, because I know you'd miss them. I just told them that they couldn't speak to you."

Sarah frowned. "But you just said-"

"I cannot control that." He interrupted her. "I can't open the portal for them to speak to you. Because I had no power over you."

"You called them traitors." It was more of a question than a statement.

"Well, they were. That's the definition of someone who goes against their king and sovereign." He shrugged.

Sarah paused for a moment. "I suppose you're right."

"Perhaps." Was all he said but a victorious smile was on his face.

That smile made her want to tape his lips shut. If there was one thing she couldn't stand, it was cocky attitudes. She was like that herself as a teen and boy did she hate it. "You realize that admitting your mistakes and being a better person is the adult thing to do, right? I admitted every single time I was wrong, including when I ate the peach. I really am sorry about that, but that doesn't mean that I'm going to ignore that you were way off in your anger towards me."

He didn't say anything. But his smile faded and his eyes looked a bit faraway, as if he was thinking.

When Sarah thought he wasn't going to say anything, he finally spoke. "The reason I got angry at you when you ate the peach wasn't because I was being possessive over my food."

He fiddled with his fingers. He never told anyone this before, never said it out loud. "That peach tree is planted over a grave of the first child that was wished away to me. He was sick and he died in my arms."

Sarah put a hand on her heart. "Oh my…"

"That peach tree is enchanted." Jareth continued on. Now that he was talking, he couldn't stop. "The peach that you were given on your Run is from that tree, it's supposed to give one their most desired fantasy. I had not expected you to go there, or for its pull to be so strong for you."

He took a deep, deep breath. His eyes closed. "I-I'm sorry. You were right, that I had no right to be upset at you."

Wow. The Goblin King, apologizing?

Sarah walked closer, sitting on a chair next to him. "Thank you. I really appreciate the apology."

Jareth looked at her face. It had been a long time since he had received real kindness from someone. Not because they were scared of him. Or found him amusing. Or rich. Or entertaining. Just… a connection for no reason at all.

Sarah held her hand out. "Should we start over? I would rather that we get along since I'm going to be staying Underground."

Jareth took her hand. But instead of shaking it as she had expected him to, he kissed her knuckles like a gentleman.

Sarah blushed, not expecting that.

Jareth smirked a little at her blush. "I think that is a lovely idea."

Sarah sighed in relief. "Will you be alright? I'm not sure how to help you with the - the -"

She waved at the wings.

"They will be fine." He looked at them. "The feathers are lost, but I will take care of them. There isn't anything you can do to help further my healing. It's just not the most comfortable to sleep with them out, so I will retract them after you leave. Thank you for taking me back here when you could have left me."

Sarah realized that she was still holding his hand so she squeezed it gently. "You saved my life. Of course I had to take you back safely. Thank you for that, I know that I drive you crazy. I wasn't expecting you to actually follow me."

He looked at her, a sad look in his eyes that surprised her. "I am many things but I am not someone who would let an innocent die." He looked away, hurt. "Especially when it was my fault. I know that I haven't been warm, but I'm not evil."

Sarah felt bad for saying that now. She wanted to kick herself. "Jareth-"

"You are dismissed." He pulled a blanket over him. "Please, I need rest."

Sarah looked at him sadly. "Okay. Sleep well."

When she closed the door, Jareth looked out his window where the moon was.

When she had run away, he had a mind to let her go. And he would have, if he wasn't worried about the Dark Forest. Dangerous things lived in there, and the thought of someone dying because of a petty argument from him was too much. He may be selfish, he may not feel much guilt, but death by his own hand was too much to bear.

And even worse if it was Sarah who may have died. Something felt painful to him at the thought of her being lost forever.

When he told her that he would be fine, he wasn't completely telling the truth. His wings around not grow back. They were too damaged and if he allowed them to be where they were, they would continue to die and rot, possibly killing him too.

Getting up with difficulty, he grabbed an extremely sharp blade. He stuck the blade in the fire, all while drinking wine. To dull the pain.

He found his shirt on his chair and put a part of the cloth into his mouth, biting down.

He took the hot blade to his back and seared off his bad wing.

He screamed, burying his face into his bed.

For the first time, he felt like he deserved what he got.

In the past, he would have been angry at Sarah for running away. For getting a part of himself taken away

This was more than just his wing, it was a part of who he was. He would no longer be able to fly as an owl either. No more Aboveground trips except for taking children. No more feeling the wind in his wings as he flew through the sky. No more feeling that solitude that he felt when it was just him and the clouds.

And for the first time in years, he cried. He cried until he fell asleep.

Poor Jareth. He's learning, slowly but surely. Enough to put himself in harm's way for Sarah. It was important to me that Sarah isn't just "oh he did this nice thing! So now I'm going to let everything go." Nah. She understands that what he did was kind and she was to thank him for that, but it doesn't mean that she's going to let him push her around and be rude. It's important that she takes responsible for her actions but to not let him off the hook. Him losing his wings is a big deal, but to me, he needed to prove that he would give up something big of himself to gain something else. You'll see what happens to the wings later, I'm not done with that idea yet. I know it's very sad but don't worry as I only write happy endings, lol.

Yes, this scene and the rescue was also inspired by Beauty and the Beast.

I hope you liked this chapter! It's going to move a lot faster in time from now on, because this story wasn't meant to be that long. Please leave a review, thank you for those who have already! They really motivate me and let me know what you guys liked!