Authors Note: Sorry for the long wait in updates, I am back and my muse has returned. I hope to have several updates in the very near future. Especially if they don't post coded, sorry for the trouble. Enjoy
Sarah couldn't remember each twist and turn they had taken in the maze of hallways. However it was obvious to her as she followed Jareth that he knew each step of the path with his eyes closed. She wasn't sure why, but that idea deeply annoyed her. Sarah wanted to stop where they were and demand Jareth drop the game she was sure he was playing. But she bit back the words. Instead she silently counted each step she took, remembering to breath each time. It wasn't much, as far as distractions go, but it helped to curb her frustrations. Sarah was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't notice Jareth stop in front of her. She collided with him before falling backwards.
"Oomph, hey, a little warning next time?"
Jareth turned slowly, looking down, and offered a hand to Sarah. He moved so casually it was almost without thought. Sarah could see his thoughts were elsewhere. "A warning wouldn't be necessary if you had been paying attention to where you were going." Jareth pulled Sarah to her feet with little effort and turned back to the door he had paused in front of. He pushed the door open and stepped through.
Sarah growled and gritted her teeth but stepped through the doorway after Jareth. The growl died in her throat as she looked around. She had expected more halls, instead she was standing at the entry of what could only be a courtyard garden. Sarah was sure that it had been beautiful at one time, but time had obviously taken over the garden. The hedges, now dead and leafless, had once formed a natural wall around the edge of the garden. If she had to guess Sarah would say the bushes were once roses, if the walls of thorns were anything to go by. The ground was hard-packed dirt with patches of brown grass. There were paths of stone crisscrossing the ground where walkways once led through the garden. Moving farther into the garden Sarah followed the walking path from the door to a large fountain in the center.
Jareth stood by the marble base of the fountain. His head was bowed, as though he was staring into the water. But as Sarah neared she could see that the fountain was empty, much like the rest of the garden. And had been so for some time. Jareth seemed not to notice Sarah's approach. He appeared to be deep in thought. Sarah hesitated, looking around the mostly barren landscape. An odd feeling had settled over her, but she couldn't quite place the reason why. She wanted out of the garden, but yet she felt drawn to it. As if she had been there before, though she knew she had never been in a courtyard of any kind before.
"This is our future Sarah." Jareth finally spoke, but he didn't look at her. "It was once a beautiful garden, full of hope and promise. It once rang with joy and laughter. Now it holds nothing but death. As the rest of the Labyrinth will soon."
"But, it's one garden. There must be hundreds in the Labyrinth. Why would only one matter?"
"It isn't just a garden. Every garden in my kingdom is dead. But this, this garden was the last to linger." Jareth turned away from the fountain and walked to a barren area of ground. He knelt, pointing to a single brown stem that hadn't lost its petals. "This flower was the last to bloom in all the Labyrinth."
Sarah shook her head. "Why would one garden in all the kingdom mean so much to you? What makes this one so special?"
"Do you not recognize it?" Jareth met her gaze with an unreadable stare. He seemed to almost study her. "No, I suppose you wouldn't. You saw it long ago, when it was young and new."
Sarah frowned. "I never saw-" A thought occurred to her and she stopped. Realization dawned on her and she flushed slightly. She had never been in the garden but she had, indeed, seen it. "It's the garden from the crystal. And you were the little boy."
"Yes, it is my garden from the crystal. From my memory. Now maybe you will understand." The pain that flashed in Jareth's eyes as he spoke startled Sarah. He might be crying, except for the lack of tears.
Sarah bit back the urge to scream. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to understand, but she would never find out at the rate she was going. "What is there to understand? Why don't you save everyone some trouble and just tell me? That way I can save the Labyrinth so I can save Toby."
Jareth sighed. "If only it were that simple." He produced a crystal in the air before him. Jareth held it up in front of her, allowing her a glimpse of bright red roses and lush bushes. "Look Sarah. This is the garden you saw. Only a month ago, by your time, it was green and full of blooms. Now it holds only death."
"What has that got to do with me?" Sarah wasn't in the mood for guessing games.
Jareth flicked the crystal to his other hand. Without missing a beat he held it up to Sarah. In the orb she could see the walls at the beginning of the Labyrinth. She remembered those walls well. They had seemed to shimmer as if covered with glitter. The walls she saw now were dim, dark and cold. They had crumbled in places until half of the bricks lay in piles of dust. The creatures who had once peeked at her from the walls were nowhere to be seen. Jareth looked into the crystal as he spoke. "It isn't only the garden. Every area of the Labyrinth is in trouble. The walls crumble daily. The gardens die and blow away with the wind. The Bog lies silent, the stench all but gone. And the creatures..." Jareth looked away.
Sarah was horrified. Surely he wasn't implying that the creatures of the Labyrinth were dying. Could a mythical creature die? Sarah had never considered it before. She wasn't sure she wanted to find out the answer now. Instead, she pushed the idea from her mind and focused on the reason she was back in the Labyrinth in the first place. She had to save Toby, and nothing could distract her from that task.
"I don't have the power anymore Sarah. I can't restore the Labyrinth. I couldn't even keep my garden safe."
Sarah felt tears threaten and brushed them away. Jareth wasn't looking at her. He was staring at the crystal, lost in his own memories. Sarah could see how worn he appeared. And without the mask of indifference he usually wore she could see the pain and despair he felt as well. It was the same pain that Sarah felt each time she visited Toby. Swallowing her guilt Sarah cleared her throat and forced a calm into her voice she didn't feel. "What exactly will restore the Labyrinth?"
Jareth's gaze met Sarah's. A flicker of something, possibly hope, lit his eyes briefly. He almost smiled. "Your magic."
Sarah was sure her jaw nearly hit the ground. She couldn't have been more shocked if he had announced that she was the tooth fairy. She would have laughed out loud if Jareth hadn't looked so serious. "Come again? In case you've forgotten I am a mortal woman. I have no magic."
Jareth truly smiled. "Yes Sarah, you do."
Sarah realized she was gawking. Quickly she closed her mouth and shook her head. She couldn't imagine where Jareth would get the idea that she, a simple mortal woman, would have magic. Never mind enough to restore an entire Labyrinth. Somewhere through her thoughts Sarah heard Jareth snicker. It wasn't a wicked snicker, like so many she had heard from him. But it was enough to irritate her. When she answered his snicker with a glare he only laughed louder.
"What's so funny?" Sarah crossed her arms over her chest and frowned. She knew she must seem like a pouting child. And that thought alone kept her from stomping her foot as well.
"Dear Sarah, such a willful child. And just as willful as a woman. But still as blind to your own power as you ever were. Do you not recall your own favorite story? Do you not remember how your words called me from my Labyrinth? Or do you just assume that I answer every whining girl who makes a wish?"
"Jareth, stop talking in riddles. I know my favorite story. It's the same now as it has been since I can remember. Of course I remember using the words in that same story to wish Toby away. But even then how was I to know that you would actually take him? It's not as though there are goblins walking the streets everyday."
"You knew Sarah, because you are the one who gave your power to that story. You believed, and so it was."
"What are you talking about?" Sarah groaned and flopped down on the edge of the fountain. She could feel a headache starting. Yet for all she had tried to gather the magic to save Toby she was still no closer to saving him than she had been before she arrived in the Labyrinth.
"Think Sarah. Think about all your toys, your dolls. Think of all your trinkets. Of all the things that seemed to live. Even this Labyrinth. You created stories for each creature, each little toy."
"I was a child Jareth, of course I created stories. That doesn't make them real."
"Doesn't it? What is real Sarah?"
Sarah started to answer, but stopped herself. What was real? She had been about to answer that this was real. But as she looked around her she couldn't bring herself to say so. Was it real? Or was the Labyrinth some place in her mind? A place she made up to hide from what was real?
"It isn't as easy as it seems, is it Sarah?"
"Of course it is." Sarah heard the lack of conviction in her voice and winced. Pushing her chin up a notch she held Jareth's probing gaze. "I am real. My life is real."
Jareth shook his head. "You still refuse to believe. And that will be the death of the Labyrinth. And Toby." Jareth turned his back on Sarah. "I can't live within you..."
Sarah blinked. "Wait."
Jareth turned. His expression was one of regret. All the light that had remained in him seemed to drain from his features. But he stood tall, and waited.
Sarah swallowed the lump of fear in her throat and stood. "I can't lose my brother. Not when he shouldn't be the one hurt in the first place."
Jareth arched a brow. "And why is that Sarah? Surely you don't believe, after everything, that happily ever after can be real."
Sarah sighed and bit her lip. She could feel tears threatening and blinked several times. It didn't help and Sarah had to brush at her eyes with the back of her hands. She tried to answer, but her voice caught on a sob and she quickly hung her head to hide her emotions.
Jareth moved toward Sarah. He didn't touch her, but she could feel him sit beside her. "What are you not saying, Sarah?"