"It's so quiet," Sarah commented as she glanced around the empty halls. "What happened to your goblins?"
Jareth gave a liquid shrug. "I don't rightly know," he admitted. "I've found I'm actually kind of fond of the little buggers when they're not around though."
"I hope the others really are okay."
"Stop worrying. We can find them after we get my throne back."
Sarah shook her head at him. "It's still all about you. I can't believe I'm here helping you. That bitch."
Jareth glanced at her admiringly. "Sarah, language. I think I like it though," he told her. "Of course, it's all about me. I control the Labyrinth, I control the stars. Sarah, I even hold power over you."
She glanced at him. "Jareth, I am the one thing you can not control. But wait, what about your little Queen problem?" She smirked, turning down a corridor.
"That's not fair," he snapped back, following her. "She's as much your fault as she is mine."
"I wonder what your basis for comparison is?" she mocked.
He glared at her. "That doesn't make sense. Stop trying to throw my words back at me. You can't do it. You're hopeless."
The two stopped in front of the open entrance of the throne room. The little pit was empty just as the walls were devoid of hanging goblins. In fact, the entire room was clean, a rarity Underground. Jareth suppressed his rage as he stepped over the threshold into the throne room.
"It is customary to bow when you come into the presence of the ruler," a female voice echoed in the high ceiling.
"She may look like me," Sarah said, stepping beside Jareth. "But she sure sounds like you." A shadow rose from the dark throne to be illuminated by light. "She even has your flair for the dramatic."
"I think we both gave her that." The reddish hair of the false Queen caught the light. She wore exactly what Sarah wore, except opposite. Instead of flowers, she wore a pair of black horns and her sleeves were puffed, not curved.
"It didn't take you long to go running to her, tail betwixt your legs," the false Queen taunted. "Mother, nice to finally see you. Too bad this will be our only meeting."
"Don't call me that," Sarah spat. "If what Toby says is true, it won't be hard to be ride of you."
"Ooo, watch it, Sarah. You're rhyming," Jareth told her.
Sarah glanced at him. "We don't want that," she agreed. "Shall we be rid of her, our – dare I say it – our 'daughter'?"
The false Queen folded her arms across her chest. "How?" she continued to taunt them, "You'll have to work together and we three know how much you hate that. Especially asking for help."
Jareth and Sarah exchanged another look. "I guess it depends on whom I'm asking," he said.
"She's got you pegged, lover," she told him. "But I think we've proven her wrong. She's also wrong that we have to work together." Then Sarah stepped away from Jareth and closer to the false Queen. "I'll take back what's mine now. I accept that part of you was – is -- my desire to stay here instead of leaving. Return to me and stop melding with his selfish, perverted desire."
Jareth sniffed. Just like a female to vocalize everything. But he, too, finally accepted the fact that he missed Sarah and wanted, nay, needed her badly.
The false Queen smiled. "Thank you. The war is over. The Labyrinth is completely under your control again, Jareth. You've conquered what made the Labyrinth begin to crumple into itself. Without a full understanding of yourself and control of your emotional state, the Labyrinth will react. And Sarah," she turned away from the true King to look upon the true Queen. "Hopefully you're going to get your happily ever after." The false Queen spilt into two ghostly halves. A halve arrowed toward each other them. Jareth accepted his halve with ease, used to dealing with magic. However, the moment Sarah's halve touched her, she crumpled to the stone floor.
"Sarah!" Jareth slid to her side. What was it about this girl that made him act so strange, so different?
"Sarah!" "Milady!" The rest of their wayward crew appeared on the scene. "What happened?" Toby cried, franticly looking between Sarah and Jareth.
The Goblin King didn't answer; he merely gathered his new Queen in his arms. "She's not used to magic, is all," he finally told her worried brother. "It's an aftershock. What took you so long? Where did she dump you anyway?"
"We would've been here sooner," Toby said. "But we got attacked by your goblins. They were pent up in some room She dropped us in the dungeons. We got here as fast as we could. I solved basically the entire puzzle for you earlier, what else did you want? It was the Labyrinth manifesting itself, right?"
Jareth shook his head. "I shouldn't have needed to do my own dirty work. That was the whole point of bringing you morons. Yes, it was the Labyrinth manifesting itself. Thank you ever so much for making everything better, Toby. I don't know what we would have done without you."
"He's being mean again," Hoggle said. "I think you can assume he's regained control of the Labyrinth."
"No thanks to you, I might add."
Suddenly Sarah stirred in Jareth's arms. She opened her eyes and "Hey."
"You can stand me down, but you have a great vulnerability to magic," he said staring down at her. "Strong with words, but weak when it comes to my Labyrinth. Perhaps this will prove I always have the power."
She made a face at him. "Well," Sarah said as he and Toby helped her to her feet. "That was rather anti-climatic, wasn't it?"
"What, did you want fireworks or goblins coming after you with sharp objects?" Toby asked in mock shock.
She shook her head. "Nah, been there, done that." Sarah glanced at Jareth and then looked back at Toby. "Hey, Toby? Why don't you and the guys go explore the castle? Jareth and I have some unfinished business to take care of."
Toby shrugged. "Alright. But we're not going to get attacked by goblins again, right?"
Jareth nodded. "They have problems navigating the castle. They usually stay in the throne room, but they'll probably end up staying in whatever room they were in."
Toby shrugged again and left the room. The rest of the crew trailed after him, Hoggle shooting Sarah a worried glance. Sir Didymus, on the other hand, just winked.
Jareth looked at Sarah, eyebrow raised. "Why did you send them away? I thought you didn't like to be alone in the same room as me."
She hugged him close. "Remember how I called you 'lover' in front of the false Queen? Well, you don't want me to be a liar now, do you?" She wanted contact. There was something odd about facing down the Labyrinth in the guise of a real woman. She wanted to know she was alright.
Jareth smiled slowly. "Ooo, no. I guess you being a liar now would be bad for your good girl image. Good thing I made that gown, isn't it?" A shield of black energy encircled the throne room, keeping them in and the others out. He ran his hands down her back again. The green fabric disappeared, leaving Sarah only in her bare skin.
She slid her hands under his shirt. "Your turn."