"He thinks he can give her what I can't give her. Bah!" Jareth grumbled as he trekked through a forest to Elysium. "I am the one who offered her her dreams! That ridiculous, stupid, arrogant son of a bitch!"

He grumbled a bit, then reached the doorway. "I will win Sarah back, because she loves me! I will do it without trickeries!" He thought about how ironic it was, he, the master of illusions, refused to use illusions to win her back.

When Sarah had rejected him the first time, he had some time to think about what he did wrong. She had wanted something real, she was being responsible and took care of her baby brother. He hadn't thought about that during her run. He just wanted her to stay with him. Well that, and the fact that the Labyrinth itself forced him to be this mean and commanding king.

He had found her home once more, in owl form, watching her celebrate with his subjects. Oh, how he wished that he could be celebrating with her. But in fact, she was celebrating her victory over him. Nothing hurts more than that.

It was unfortunate that he couldn't find her for another three years after that, then young Toby found him as an owl and Sarah was convinced to bring him home and care for him. How he missed her and her kindness. She was so beautiful, so amazing.

Jareth had opened the door and instantly, he knew what he was seeing in front of him was no deception or a dream. It was really her. His Sarah. The light of his life.

His wife.

She was wearing a dress he had never seen before. It was a forest green, bringing out her eyes. It was perfect for springtime, made of chiffon and looked beautiful when she was humming and skipping around gracefully. At the moment, she was smiling and picking flowers, making some sort of flower crown. What is it with women in the Underworld and flowers?

He just stared a little, watching her put a bunch of daisies and making a little crown out of them. Hades was right, she looked so peaceful, so content. He almost didn't want to disturb her. Wasn't it happiness he had always sought for her? Even in life, he promised that if she didn't want to be with him, if it would make her happier to not have him in her life, he would leave without hesitation. He would make himself miserable just to make her happy. That was what she meant to him. Never before and never will anyone else capture his heart so whole heartedly. No one.

She was barefoot, he saw. He smiled a little, seeing her freedom and how she seemed so carefree, so safe. He was about to turn around, to leave her be. To let her stay in this place to rest. How could he let her back into life, where she would be miserable and working hard for who knows how long? How could he let her be tortured and hurt again?

But then, he saw something around her ankle. Squinting, he saw that it was an anklet the shape of a snake. It curved around her, and with anger, he saw the two bite marks on her let where she had been bitten.

He remembered again why he came here. She did not belong here. She belongs with him in life or at least the Summerlands! Hades had NO right to bring her here!

He breathed a little, trying to calm down. It would not do him good to approach her with anger in his heart. He needed to bring her back, to make her feel happy. He needed to not be Prince Charming, but a king. A king who loved her with all his heart.

He took off his cape and stuffed it in his bag, trying to appear sweet and approachable. He fixed his eyes on her and called out for her. "Sarah?"

The Goblin Queen scrunched her eyes a little, then looked around, as if she wasn't used to anyone calling her name. She looked to his direction, and her eyes went wide with recognition.

She didn't even say a word, she just ran towards him and hugged him. Jareth couldn't believe that after a month of her death, she was finally there with him. Oh, how he missed her so much. She felt alive, she felt real, tears dripping onto his shoulders.

"Precious." He whispered. He closed his eyes, breathing in her scent through his sensitive nose. He ran his fingers through her hair, wanting to feel again that she really was in his arms.

Sarah pulled back, cradling his face in her hands, but made no move to kiss him. "Jareth." She breathed his name reverently, as if she was scared that he would disappear the moment she said his name. "Oh, how I missed you! How much time has passed? Oh my god, what happened? How did you-"

"Shh." He put a finger to her lips. She instinctively leaned into him, missing his touch. He caressed her hair some more. "No Sarah, I am not dead. I am here for you. You don't belong here and you need to come back with me. Hades is keeping you here in hopes of making you his queen. Please."

She looked confused. "Back? Back where? Jareth, why?" She gestured around the beautiful field of flowers. "I am happy here. Don't take me away. And Hades is delusional! I can never love anyone but you. He cannot force me to leave Elysium to be his queen, and I will stay here forever."

Jareth took her hands in his. His eyes pleaded her to understand. "Sarah, you are a queen! Your work in the kingdom isn't done. Think of all our subjects, think of how Toby and your parents miss you. Don't you want to go back?" His heart was tearing in half. She had rejected him three times before, he didn't want to be rejected again.

She pulled her hands away from him, looking distressed. "Jareth, that's the thing. All my life, it was do this, do that, stay alive for this, sacrifice for that. I know, it was my fault because I felt guilty about everything. I didn't feel free. Even my college years, my relationships, I felt that I had to sacrifice all the damn time. Even with you, although I never felt guilt or sadness about sacrificing for you. Look around." She swept her hand across the field.

"I am here. I am free of pain, of life. I am happy where I am. I don't have to worry about anyone else. Elysium has sort of, reprogrammed me to not care. To be happy. Until you came, and reminded me of how sad I could be." She looked sad, almost glaring at him.

Jareth couldn't believe what he was hearing, and he wasn't sure what to feel. He knew that she would feel guilty easily, but had no idea that she felt trapped by her self-sacrificing nature. That was the thing with Sarah, she felt happy about helping others but would often bury her sadness inside, not understanding why it brought her so much happiness yet pain to hurt herself when caring for others.

He supposed it was partly his fault. His labyrinth and her time in it as a child had taught her to be selfless and loving. It taught her to grow up. It made him sad, actually. This was something she was still working on before she died.

Maybe she just needed a reminder.

"Life isn't just pain." He said quietly. "It is happiness too. You were the one that taught me that."

Sarah rolled her eyes. "Life is pain, your majesty. Anyone who says otherwise is selling you something." She turned around, and kept on piecing together her flower crown. "Look, Jareth. I had happiness, yes. But now that I am feeling bliss, how do I go back? The only person who made me feel free was you. And you're a king. I would be a queen, with responsibilities."

Jareth knew that part of her didn't actually mind being queen, in fact she loved it. A lot of it was Elysium trying to keep her there, for the dead was not supposed to be coming back to life. It was a smart system actually, but it wasn't helping him.

Sarah looked at him again, her green eyes showing a little more empathy. "Oh, Jareth. You are amazing though, coming for me. Why don't you stay? Your kingdom will be fine. Plus, everyone will just die anyways so why even try? Oh don't look so shocked, I know that you name an heir or something at least. You're not stupid and I'm your wife." She giggled a little and placed the flower crown on his head. "You look pretty. And see? We could stay here forever. Just running around, having fun and being together. Don't you want that?"

Jareth smiled, trying to not get pulled into this blissful spell as she was. "Yes, we could do that. And we will, but in the Summerlands. Here, you are being influenced by something. I would want nothing more than to spend all of eternity with you, just being by your side and seeing your beautiful smile every single minute. You are the light of my life."

Sarah smiled brightly, and grabbed his hand. "So come. Come on here, come run in the fields with me and let's in bliss for eternity." She tugged, but he wouldn't budge.

Jareth gave a single nod, a plan now in his mind. "Yes, I will. But first, might I give you a gift?" He held out a crystal.

Sarah laughed a little. "Always offering you my dreams, aren't you my king?"

Jareth said nothing as the crystal expanded to a screen of some sort. Sarah looked at him, crossing her arms suspiciously, and yet, she turned and looked at the screen anyways.

It showed different scenes from her life. He showed her when she graduated from high school, college, Toby's birth, when he gave her Lancelot, when she set up the Resistance to save him at the Battle of the Crowns, when she was having fun kicking goblins with him. He waved a hand and showed her their first date, how Robert danced with her at her wedding, Karen fixing her dress and gushing over her. He showed her the first time he had tried to teach her how to make a crystal, and so much more.

Sarah watched her life go by, a nostalgic look on her face. She still remained stubborn, however, and gave a tired sigh. "Whatever you're doing, Jareth, it doesn't change the fact that life HURTS. It won't change my mind. I want you here with me but I will be happy even without you because this is how this place works. I can be happy by myself. Isn't that what you always wanted for me?" She shot at him.

Jareth ignored her outburst and showed her one last scene. Sarah's eyes widened at it, a tear escaping her eye without realizing it.

It was when they had first danced in the peach dream. Jareth was sandwiched between two beautiful women, and he walked out of their arms to hold her gently by the waist, spinning and twirling her all while singing to her. He sang her words of care, words of fear that he was falling for her and how he would make her happy.

"Oh." Sarah breathed. Oh indeed. She missed that feeling. The feeling of being scared then calmed down by being in his arms.

Jareth held out another crystal in front of her. Still not speaking, he crushed it in his hand, the shards falling down on the grass, melting like ice on a summer day. Jareth held out his hand to her.

"Sarah, remember when instead of staying in my arms, you broke the spell and crashed the dream? You loved it, me coming at you away from the arms of other women. And yet, you refused to stay because you wanted something real, something valid. You said no to dreams because you wanted something tangible. You wanted to do something with your life, to make it worth it.

"Remember back when I met you again and was weak? You told me that you wanted to find something worth living for. You told me years later, that you lived for making people happier. That's what your life purpose was. But, the source of what made your life WORTH being happy was the people who love you. People like me. Sarah, come back with me. I am here. I said I would be there for you as our world falls down, and I will still do that." His eyes were full of tears, his heart beating fast. Sarah didn't budge, and he was getting desperate to take her with him.

"I ask for so much, yet so little. I am your SLAVE, Sarah. Don't tell me the truth hurts, it hurts like hell to know that life is pain. But life is REAL and vibrant. Life is where we can do so much and learn so much." He cleared his throat and tried one last resort.

"Through dangers untold, and hardships unnumbered," He whispered quietly, seeing Sarah's stone face turn soft and sad. "I have fought my way through the Underworld to take back the wife which had been stolen from me. For my will is as strong as Hades's and my kingdom as great. And Sarah, I have no power over you, but you have every power over ME." He was openly sobbing now. He was breaking down, and he didn't care anymore. He loved her that much, to show her his tears when he would show no one else. "If you tell me to leave and to never come back, I will. I will go and leave you to be in a state of eternal bliss. I cannot force you to come back, I don't even know if I deserve of your love, of your pain. I can only tell you that I want you and if you left me, I will always be happy for the time you've allowed us to be together. I will never love again and I will go back as I was, single and grieving. Or, just say the word, and I will fight anything to bring you back. I will fight with my very life."

Sarah still sad nothing. He only saw he chest heaving up and down from breathing. He was shaking, trying to restrain himself from going even more crazy from leaving her. He refused to stay, to be a part of Hades's pawn, but he wanted to just stop existing at the idea of leaving his wife.

"Sarah?" He asked her quietly. "Love?"

He was ready for her to turn away, to never come back into his arms. He didn't even care if she chose to be with Hades or to stay here. He just cared that she wouldn't have the chance to finish the life that was taken from her. He just cared that he would never see her again, that in his afterlife, he would be alone, just as he had been for years before he met her. She was what made his life happy, and he would only give her up at her request.

But instead of running away, she leaned into his arms and pressed her lips to his.

Jareth didn't even think. He just kissed her back. He kissed her with all the hope and future that was in his life. He wrapped his arms around her waist, feeling her press closer to him. Tears flowed through his shut eyes, making way to his lips as he still kissed her. He missed her, and he didn't give a damn if she said no to his offer. He was going to kiss her one last time and treasure this moment with her.

Sarah pulled back, hands on his neck and his hands on her waist. He could see that she was also crying. "Jareth." She started. "Life is something that is so difficult for me. But, no bliss feels so good as kissing you or has made me feel so, so, ready to be active again. You are the fire in me and no matter the pain, I will be here with you too. Jareth, take me back. Make me alive and I won't leave you until we are both ready to cross over to the Summerlands together!"

Jareth sobbed, kissing his bride once again.

Anyone notice the "life is pain" is from Princess Bride? Hehe! Also, of COURSE Sarah would come back with him! This is one of my favorite chapters, as it talks about life and what makes things worth it. It's things I have struggled in the past with suicide so it's very personal.