Right when he woke, Jareth went to find every book in his castle that had to do with the afterlife. He searched everything about the Summerlands, with nothing about being able to come back. "ARGH!"

He slammed yet another book shut. How was he supposed to do anything? "My whole life is just a damnation!" He bellowed. He couldn't find ANYTHING and Labyrinth's stupid hint didn't help at all.

He heard a crystal making a ringing sound next to him. Calming down a bit, he twisted the crystal a few times to see the face of his brother-in-law waving. Grinning, Jareth waved back. "Hello Toby!"

"Hi Jareth!" He called. "Are you still coming to dinner tonight? It'll just be us and Mom and Dad. We're having some salmon and Mom says you can bring the dessert by the way."

Jareth smiled. Though no one could make him smile like Sarah, Toby was close. He supposed that a break from finding her would do him some good. Plus, he was hungry as he hadn't been able to retain food very well since she died.

Toby's large blue eyes and curly light-brown hair bounced a little, excited to see Jareth. He had missed Sarah so much and Jareth as well. He was glad to have him come over for dinner.

"Do you think maybe we can play chess? I have this sweet chess set Sarah got me for Christmas, and no one wants to play with me. They all want to play video games and such."

He looked a little sad, and Jareth felt for the boy. He promised he'd play and told him that he had to do some work first before going to dinner.

He sat back and sighed contently. For the first time, he felt just a small glimmer of happiness and something to look forward to. Even with Sarah gone, her family still adopted him as theirs.

Just as he promised Karen, he wouldn't just "poof" into the living room, but at the front door like a "normal" person wearing "normal" clothing. The only hing not "normal" was his wild hair.

Karen didn't say a word when she saw him, but gave him a large hug. "Oh sweetie." She said softly. "I'm so glad you're here."

They had all seen each other, of course, but at the castle and not as anything close to normal as having a dinner. The King shyly held a tray of peach cobbler, his specialty. "Does this work for dessert?"

"Oh yes!" Karen took the plate from him. "This works nicely. Go have a seat, Toby is waiting for you and Robert and I will get everything ready, don't worry. Toby really misses you, you know?" She put a hand fondly on his shoulder, trying to give him some motherly comfort.

Jareth held out his arms for Toby to run into. "Jareth!"

"Why, have you grown?" Jareth ruffled his head. Toby smiled even bigger at the compliment. "I hope so! Can we play chess after dinner?"

Jareth took his usual place in the middle, where he normally sat between Sarah and Toby. "Of course. I can't wait."

Dinner was polite and a little fun, though not nearly as fun as it was with Sarah. Everyone felt her loss and it was so difficult to not just cry. They tried to talk about the good times, the times Sarah made them laugh and the times she did all she could to make them smile. Even in death, the very mention of her sweet person still made Jareth warm and happy inside.

Karen asked Jareth something they never really talked about before, religion. It was mostly avoided as Robert and Sarah weren't very religious, so Karen never pushed them to go to church with her. She always invited them though, and Sarah would go to church maybe for Christmas and Easter with her if nether Robert or Toby wanted to go. Karen wasn't particularity loudly religious, but she volunteered in many humanitarian settings now that she and and Robert were no longer poor. She didn't put pictures of Jesus around her house, for example, but tried to radiate goodness by being a good person.

"Jareth, Easter Sunday is next week. Would you like to come with me to church? Sarah used to come and you don't have to, but it may be good for healing. Maybe just try it out."

Robert tried to not roll his eyes and Toby looked obviously bored. Jareth just didn't get Karen, and he just had to ask her a few questions. "That's very thoughtful of you. But, how do you think it'll help? I've been wondering what you thought of your God and religion now that you know that magic is real and you have a Fae that's a Goblin King as a son-in-law." It never ceased to amaze him that humans could be so rooted in their beliefs even after seeing how things worked.

Karen shrugged. "Who knows. Maybe Jesus isn't real. It just feels good to go to church. I know, I know." She saw Toby's face. "Other religions do the same. I was just raised Christian, and who's to say Jesus isn't real? Maybe he is. Maybe he isn't a deity or maybe he is. I don't know. There are many ways to learn to be a good person and this happened to be the way I learned it. Maybe I just feel some kind of comfort, as the stubborn woman that I am." She chuckled.

Jareth blinked for a moment, and made a mental note in his head about an epiphany that came while Karen was talking. However, he didn't show anything to her or admitted about using vision with Labyrinth. He didn't want to raise anyone's hopes up.

Smiling, he nodded and declined Karen's gracious offer and continued his lovely time with his bride's family, all while itching to go back to his libraries.

"Things aren't always what they seem." He muttered. "Maybe, I'm searching for the wrong places."

The Summerlands was where faes went after they died for peace. He had assumed Sarah was there, as she was fae.

But what if he was wrong? What if, for some reason, she wasn't there?

He changed his search tactic to look up different forms of the afterlife. Many human beliefs from many religions were listed on there, but not all. It was still unclear of where humans went for the afterlife, but in every case, there was a sort of heaven and hell, and things in between or nothingness if they so choose.

"Hmm, what's this?" He found a green book with gilded edges. It's obviously old, but yet, it looked new at the same time. He blew dust off it, and saw the title, "Rituals for Afterlives."

He flipped through the pages, eyebrows furrowing in concentration. He saw a few rituals here and there that humans would do for the dead. Back when humans did magic, some believed that rituals were required to give the dead peace, and many of those traditions were still there.

He was about to snap the book shut when he came across a strange image that depicted most of the different afterlives. Finally, FINALLY, he found something that peaked his interest.

It was a way to determine WHERE the dead had gone.

He read the spell and found that it really wasn't difficult to make, not for him anyways. The difficult part was the limited ingredients.

"If they would just ask for slime and snails, or even puppy dog tails, that would be so much easier than this ridiculous list they're asking." He sighed.

Taking a pen and paper, he wrote down his list for the spell he needed to do. He was determined to get her back if at all possible. He said he would be there for her when her world fell and he intended to keep that promise.

Jareth felt like one of those ridiculous witches that were often in children's stories as he was throwing ingredients in a small black pot and stirring it with a wooden spoon. He coughed a bit as the smell from his potion was just putrid.

"Ehhh." He groaned. "This is stupid." Only Sarah would compel him to do such a thing. This was the craziest spell he ever had to do in terms of obtaining the ingredients. He climbed to the top of Mount Everest to collect snow, sea water from the four large oceans, a plant from all the continents (yes, even Antarctica), get an object that was important to Sarah (he chose a charm from her bracelet that he given her on her first date since he could replace it), a lock of her hair, and a few other magical ingredients that were easy to come by like a boar's heart or pig intestines.

He wondered if his concoction was worse smelling than the Bog. The sadistic part of his mind wondered if he should ask his subjects and threaten them with this. He smiled a little, knowing that Sarah would no doubt scold him on thinking such thoughts.

He added the last ingredient, some jade he had purchased from China. It was a precious stone, one that was quite strong and claimed to have special powers. The stone made the potion glow bright green and he sighed, seeing that he was done.

"Finally." He growled. "All of that work! Took me weeks to get everything. Bleh. I need to kick some goblins to cheer me up."

He dipped a small shot glass into the potion and lifted it up to his face. "Just think of it like doing shots of gross vodka." He told himself, gulping.

He held out the shot glass to no one in particular, his eyes a little worried and paranoid about getting the results right. "For Sarah." He whispered.

And with that, he drank the potion.

Instantly, he was knocked backwards, but he didn't fear for he knew this would happen. "I should have been laying down." He muttered to himself.

It was a strange experience. One moment his eyes were closed then the next he was floating. He tried to not panic, for it did seem like he was dead. He looked down and saw that he had a spirit body of some sort and his hands were see-through. He looked back and saw his sleeping body on the floor. Satisfied, he looked up at the clock and was horrified to see that an hour had already passed, for he only had three hours to find his Sarah's spirit.

In front of him, also in "ghost form," Sarah's engagement ring was floating, and swaying. The book had told him that a different object that was important to her would be guiding him to her spirit. So off he went.

The little ring was too fast for him, so he transformed into an owl and flew after it. He chirped, a little surprised to see it move Aboveground. What did this mean for him?

He kept on following it, realizing that he could go through walls and such. He didn't often go through things even when he could as it made him feel strange when it did. He only did it to throw people off as well as it took a lot of energy, much like when he scared Sarah on purpose when she ran his labyrinth.

The ring appeared at a strange bar, lots of noisy musicians drinking and playing as well as couples singing and dancing to the songs. "Must be some indie band." Jareth thought to himself.

It looked like a fun place, but he couldn't help but think that it looked a little dark and dank from the outside, quite sketchy if he was honest with himself. He still wondered why he was there.

Going to the back of the bar, the ring descended through a sewerage hole. Jareth blinked. Why on earth would Sarah's spirit be down there?

Nevertheless, he dove after it. He'd sacrifice for her, do anything for her. This was part of it. On he flew, seeing that he didn't descend into the sewers, but in fact, he saw mountains of bones and skulls, parting a way for a small dirt path, toning green everywhere.

Now he was even more confused, but on he trekked. He flew past a little hooded man on a boat. He felt so strange being there, cold, and hopelessness. As if he was lost. Looking down at the river where the little man was, he realized that there were bodies on it. What WAS this place?

On a closer look, it wasn't dead bodies, but in fact, souls. Souls that cried out for life, to receive peace. Damned to an eternity of feeling lost, Jareth pitied them. They sensed him, a live being as his soul was still attached to his live body.

That should've been the clue to him as to where he was, but he didn't know until the ring lead him to see a beautiful couple. A woman with golden hair with a flower crown was watering some pink roses, her cheeks with a healthy blush and wearing a Grecian style white robe. Her skin was light but tanned, and he could hear her humming beautifully. She honestly was more beautiful than any woman Jareth had ever seen. Aside from Sarah, of course. Nothing would compare to Sarah in his eyes.

Next to her was a man who was obviously attracted to her her. The man had jet black hair. His feet had golden sandals and he was wearing on a Grecian style armor. Unlike his wife however, he was wearing dark clothing. His piercing grey eyes were a stark contrast to his black hair, almost electric. His skin was pale and deathly, much like a vampire's would. And yet, he exuded so much power and allure that it almost Jareth want to kneel before him and worship him as his king.

He blinked once, then everything went blurry. He groaned, rubbing his head. Looking around, he realized he was back in his body and in the castle. He knew now where Sarah was.

Her soul was with Hades, God of death and riches, Lord of the Underworld.

This is based off a Greek myth, can you guess which one it is? I'll reveal it in chapter 10. I know there's a lot more to the Greek stories of the Underworld than this, and I have taken liberties to make up my own stuff or change stuff around. Please do not comment on how accurate the myth is or not, I know that it isn't. I do want to know what you think of the story and the writing though! Thank you!