Disclaimer: Labyrinth and all its characters and settings do not belong to me, though I would pay a hefty price if those 'right words' actually worked! LOL

A/N: Continued thanks to all who review. Your words are the best motivation I can think of, and your thoughts just might help shape this tale! By the way, I respond to all registered users. I present chapter 8, in which GK (as I affectionately call him) spares some of the truth to his reluctant guest.

Chapter 8

The Truth Shall Take You Prisoner

Jareth's POV

"What are you doing in here? And what do you mean by…queen?"

Her eyes had often acted as a broken mirror which reflected my behavior in a warped representation that could not understand its own judgment. As she stared at me now, ready to fight me yet again, I found any twinges of remorse or embarrassment I might have felt at being caught in her borrowed room slip away. My reply was instantaneous; "This is my castle, Sarah, and I may go wherever I choose."

Her breathing hitched, and she pushed herself roughly into a sitting position, scooting as far from me on the bed as possible. "I-I want you to go. You shouldn't be in here!"

Her words, in light of the dream she'd just unknowingly shared with me, stabbed at me like ice. The urge I'd been fighting since she returned to the Underground to mark her, claim her, force her to remember her promises, flared into a fiery temper. "Is that so? Do not lie to me, Sarah. I know what your heart desires, even if you so conveniently choose to forget." I shifted my stance to reach towards her, feeling my eyes narrow to match the spiteful tone emanating in my words.

She gasped in obvious fear, and she jumped from the bed, clutching her arms to herself as some sort of shield. "I don't want you! Why won't you just let me go? Queen? Are you joking? I don't belong to you and I never will!"

I laughed mirthlessly, the sound resembling splinters of broken glass, while internally I cringed at her constant rejection. I had not intended for her to know my hand while she so stubbornly refused to acknowledge her own, but my patience was running thin. Perhaps wooing her was pointless after all, especially when facing a given set of time. Drawing and expelling a deep, settling breath, I rose slowly from the bed and turned to face my future queen, cowering before me despite her desperate attempts to control the situation. "Tell me, dear Sarah, what exactly do you recall of those last hours in my Labyrinth?"

"I remember you," she snapped, her beautiful face scrunching in scorn. "I remember how after fighting my way through each and every nasty thing you and the Labyrinth had planned for me I still managed to make it in time to save Toby, and then you still tried to distract me, tempt me."

"Tried? That implies that I did not succeed."

"But you couldn't have!" She cried in frustration and began pacing in front of the balcony. My gaze traced her silently as she worked through the remnants of the memory. "I woke up the next day and everything was as it should be. In fact, everything was so painfully normal that I assumed everything about you and this place was just a dream."

"They were. They were your dreams, exactly as I offered you…" I stepped closer in her direction. She retreated warily, though she was quickly running out of room to maneuver away from me. "The dreams that you accepted."

"I don't believe you. It doesn't make any sense. Why would you-"

"Why would I what?" My voice was sharp as I cut her off, my irritation continuing to swarm at her repeated argument. We had been rehearsing this same song and dance since I appeared to her yesterday. Why did she not understand that she held no power over this situation?

I moved forward again, not stopping until I had effectively backed her away from the balcony and against the stone wall of the chamber. I could feel the heat of her body crawling over my own skin like the crackle of lightning. Her dusty green eyes were littered with an amalgam of emotions as usual. "Choose your words carefully, Sarah. My generosity is waning."

"But I got Toby back, I must have won…" Her quiet voice held the futile characteristic of one who was slowly realizing her own defeat.

"Perhaps you did win, but not the victory you assume?"

"Must you always speak in riddles?" She spoke through clenched teeth, though she could scarcely meet my gaze. I smiled in spite of myself at the seeds of doubt visibly clouding her mind, not to mention the surprising lust drifting in her eyes.

I lowered my voice and moved another inch forward. "Forgive me, dearest, let me speak plainly. I, unlike you, am not afraid to speak the truth, and I grow weary of your efforts to ignore it. I offered you your dreams, and you accepted before the clock chimed.

Her eyes widened measurably and her perfect lips silently formed the word 'no' as she seemed to freeze.

"I'm afraid so, precious thing. I won and you are my prize."

Sarah's POV

There had been many occasions in my life where I worried I might pass out, or even die, from the adrenalin coursing through my veins: the time I'd stupidly bungee jumped at Six Flags, when I'd nearly been run over by a delivery truck in town, when I'd stared down the Goblin King in a room filled with broken masonry…but nothing, nothing had ever come close to the way I felt at waking from that dream with the man himself sitting beside me.

The taste and warmth of his dream lips still burned across my own even minutes after our surprising encounter had driven me from my bed to find myself caged between him and a stone wall. I wanted the frantic beating of my pulse to signal fear, intrusion, and I suppose in a way it did, but only in response to the desire his very presence elicited. Though he barely touched me, I could feel the promise of his strength flow over me in a heated wave. His maddening scent surrounded me in a magical cocoon and it was all I could do to stay focused on our conversation. I wanted to be furious and deny all he spoke of. I wanted to make him furious too, if only to cause him to back up. "Do you really want that, Sarah?" The devil inside me was far too joyous at my current predicament.

So he believed I gave in to his last temptation? Would I really have risked that, not knowing if Toby would ever be safe? I wanted to believe I wouldn't; especially considering I now had only lingering feelings of attraction for the Goblin King. Was I really so pathetic six years ago that I'd trade my baby brother for…lust? That's all this was, right?

I wanted to deny him again. But, even as he spoke about his triumph my memory replayed that final scene – one that I had thought of as merely a nighttime imagining for nearly a decade – and I knew he spoke the truth. My fingers seemed to tingle in recognition. I had touched the crystal before the chime.

"You say I lost…then why did you send us back?" With enormous effort on my part, I lifted my face and met his penetrating gaze once more, trying not to think about the fact that his lips were only a mere foot or so from mine, or the way his pale hair shimmered in the moonlight . His enigmatic pupils looked nearly the same size in the dimmest of lighting.

"You were too young. It was not our time yet. So I waited until you reached your adulthood, which by your own standard was whenever you left your parents' home to make a life for yourself. I did everything you asked of me: I returned your brother, I honored your friends, I acceded to your time frame, I even -"

He stopped speaking abruptly, and for the first time that evening, he dropped his head from my gaze. When he spoke, his own voice held hints of uncertainness. "I needed you to be ready first."

"Ready for what? What exactly did I agree to when I accepted my dreams?"

"Sarah, didn't you listen to a word I said then?" His expression softened. It was an imploring look that I had never seen from him before; nearly vulnerable.

Pledges spoken long ago passed through our joint consciousness. "Just let me rule you, and you can have everything that you want…Just fear me, love me, and I will be your slave…" Hadn't I thought upon those words a million times in the years since my alleged dream? And yet I never really questioned their meaning. All this time I had remembered his words as a desperate last attempt to distract me. Could they really have meant much, much more?

"But…but you can't be in love with me!" I sputtered, slipping past him to pace once more near the balcony, wondering fleetingly if escape could be found there. Though, I wasn't sure that was what I really wanted, or simply what I should want.

"Would that really be so hard to believe? Was it not you yourself who added that charming little detail to the story? Hmm?" He mocked, laughing bitterly as he continued circling my movements with the promise of recapture.

"It was just a story!" I cried. "I didn't mean what I was saying!"

"Calm yourself. I could no more be in love with you than I could be the kind, charming prince you dreamt of," he scoffed, stepping back to tower over me, his stance every bit that of a foreboding Goblin King. In his dark clothes, he looked just as deadly intimidating now as he had that night he appeared in my parents' bedroom. "Though, it matters little to your situation. Sincere or not, you chose me."

"And what if I don't believe you?" I lifted my chin and gathered every remaining iota of strength to lace my words with the promise of challenge.

His mismatched eyes captured my own for a long moment, seemingly able to caress every inch of my skin while simultaneously measuring my mind. Wordlessly, he turned his wrist and conjured a crystal. I tensed my muscles in an effort not to recoil from it.

He held the crystal in front of my face and I had no choice but to gaze into the scene being displayed. It was us, standing as adversaries amidst the ruins of his Escher room. He was dressed in the same feathered cloak, crystal in hand, offering his promises of dreams to my fifteen-year-old self.

"So you accept? You will be my wife and queen?"

"Jareth, I love you. I want to be yours."

"As I will be yours, forever, my darling Sarah."

"Yes, forever…"

"You're mine now, precious thing."

"Just give me enough time to grow up. I-I can't be what you want; not yet at least."

"Say your right words, Sarah."

"When my childhood home is no longer my own, I will make my new home in the Underground as the Goblin Queen..."

He raised my hand to his lips, pressing a delicate kiss over the knuckle as some sort of seal. "Awaken now, precious thing. Our time has yet begun."

I struggled to remain standing as I watched the scene in the crystal blur seamlessly with the ending of the dream that had never been a dream. I remembered waking that morning, the smell of bacon permeating the air, the sound of Karen's snippy voice, the contentment I'd felt moments before rushing to make sure Toby was okay, and the joy that this beautiful creature wanted me, before the harsh mortal reality stripped me of my fanciful ways. I remembered …saying yes. I just didn't remember why.

"We're…we're…engaged?" I could barely speak the word.

His posture both stiffened and relaxed at the same time. He tilted his head to the side and smiled in that way of his, though I couldn't help noting his eyes seemed sad, almost as if he pitied me. "Yes, though the connotation in the Underground is a bit more than what humans view it to be. For Fae, to be betrothed is essentially to be married."

"So you're telling me that by coming back here with you, excuse me, being forcefully brought back here by you, I'm…I'm the Goblin Queen?"

His smile twisted mockingly. "I'm afraid wife and queen are two separate things. We ascribe to the old ways here, Sarah. A union is not considered official until its two parts are proven…compatible."

My face burned crimson. Compatible? As in…oh hell no! I tried to muster some kind of righteous indignation, but my inner voice was actually pleased at the idea of discovering just how compatible the Goblin King and I could be.

"So if it's not official, that means it can be annulled?"

He actually flinched. "No. As I told you, you cannot leave the Underground, regardless of how you may believe you feel about me. You are bound by magic. Your mortal soul could not survive otherwise."

I was very quiet, for even in my discomfort I had not missed how carefully he phrased his reply. I could not leave the Underground, but could I leave him? And what did he mean, how I believed to feel about him?

"How do I know that crystal was real and not something you made up to manipulate me?" I spoke without thinking – a terrible habit where he was concerned – though I knew very well what I saw was no lie.

I shrank against my stone barrier at the sudden storm in his eyes. "I grow tired of your games, precious. Think you I cannot see the truth reflecting in your eyes?"

"Fine. I lost, you won, I get it. But I was only fifteen, and stupid. That doesn't mean I want you now, so I guess your victory was pointless after all," I lied again.

With a movement so sudden I could barely comprehend it, he was suddenly standing fully before me. He placed his hands against the wall on either side of my head and leaned his body completely into mine before lowering his face until his mouth was against my ear. "And who would stop me from exercising my spousal privileges right here and now?"

I actually trembled. Every muscle in my body began vibrating at a fever pitch. I wasn't sure if it was fear or…desire. "Leave me alone. Please." My voice was little more than a whisper.

For several long moments, all I could hear was the pounding of my own heart, and our combined, shallow breaths. He didn't move or speak, but his proximity ravaged my senses nonetheless. I felt trapped beneath his solid frame, and slightly intoxicated by the feel of him pressed so intimately against me. Wisps of his soft hair brushed against my cheek, and his warm, moist breath traveled down across my exposed throat. Every breath I took was filled with his spicy scent. I felt my hands clench in agony at not being granted permission by my brain to wrap around his broad shoulders. My body shamefully wanted everything his actions were promising, while my head was literally scared stupid. Suddenly, he pressed the softest of kisses below my ear, sending flames though every cell of my being. I actually whimpered before my hands flew from the wall to press against his chest, willing him to move away while I still had enough coherency to resist.

Ever so slowly, he pulled back to allow a good foot of air between us, though the tense intimacy still shone in his eyes. "Very well. I shall give you your space, precious thing, but do not think to keep me waiting long. Make no mistake; your memory may not be fully restored to you, but you did accept my offer before time ran out. Husband or king, it matters little. You. Are. Mine." With another step backwards, he was gone. But not before my eyes had seen the look of hurt flash across his face.

I slumped against the wall and fought to regulate the flow of air coming and going from my panting lungs. My body continued to shake uncontrollably. I wanted to fight against his last declaration, but I couldn't. He had won in some way or another. He did rule me now, whether I liked it or not.

Jareth's POV

The door to my chamber crashed closed behind me with a satisfying slam that could challenge the aching pain thundering through my heart.

How could I have told her? She was not ready to know yet, at least not in this order. I had foolishly replenished the memory of the night in her mind, a simple enough task, though it was truly her heart that needed the recollection. Would she even try to reconnect to her feelings now that she knew the truth? After viewing her dream, I knew without a doubt that her subconscious recognized me, and her body more than wanted me, but Sarah's will was nothing short of brutally impressive. If she continued to choose not to accept my love, or her own for that matter, then she simply would not, and we would both perish.

I could feel her sense of despair and resignation resonating through our half-formed connection. Even now, even after pulling away from me out of her own warped sense of power and morality, I wanted to return to her side and soothe her concerns. Why could she not see me in earnest? I had done all that she asked of me, time, and time again, and yet she still painted me the darkest form of villain.

I was at war with myself. Love her or hate her? I should despise her for weakening me in this way, for betraying our love with her own shortcomings as a mortal, and for toying with my emotions ceaselessly. She should hurt as deeply as I did.

I sighed wearily before collapsing into a chair before the cold fireplace, swinging my leg over one arm in my usual stance and closing my eyes. I had not slept since journeying to the Aboveground to reclaim my obdurate would-be queen, a not so unusual occurrence, but this night I felt every rise and crash of emotion spread through me like iron fetters. Though I would not admit it to anyone, this had quite possibly been the most exhausting day of my very long existence. Even worse, I suspected this tiresome charade would continue indefinitely if I could not discover some way to ease the impasse between us.

I would simply have to keep my distance for awhile to allow her to acclimate to her new life and perhaps soften towards me. In three months, our betrothal would be over, and unless I found some way to give her the elixir, I would become mortal, lose my kingdom, and eventually…die. I smirked hatefully at the thought, my memories returning once more to the decree set forth by my own father, who knew very well that he was possibly condemning me to death. While he certainly seemed remorseful at the handing down of fate, I knew many others of his court would like nothing more than to see the Labyrinth fall.

The realization sobered me instantly. This stalemate between Sarah and myself could prove so much more dangerous than a pair of broken hearts. Should we fail to reconcile, and secure her immortality, the lives of everyone in my kingdom could be at stake.

I rose sharply from the chair and began spinning crystals in my palm, mimicking the thoughts spiraling through my mind. I would simply have to win her back, there was no other alternative; unless, I could somehow procure the elixir in lieu of the High King. Neither course would be easy, but perhaps it was best to try for both? Hedge my bets as the saying goes?

Apparently, sleep would evade me for another night. My purpose renewed, I hurried to my balcony and shifted into my owl form, soaring over the Labyrinth towards the portal to the Aboveground. It was time to demand yet another favor from a very talented hobgoblin.

A/N: I hope you are sensing the roller coaster that both of them are so stubbornly taking. What would they do I wonder if they realized they were passengers on the same ride? I apologize if you get tired of hearing their inner musings, especially Jareth (he does get lost in his thoughts a lot!) but his ruminating does serve a point. I just love to really develop my characters, and share what they are thinking. I hope you don't mind.

So is it getting hot in here or what? (I have to admit…I was listening to the Labyrinth soundtrack while working on this over the past few days, and holy hell, when David Bowie does his growling thing in Underground – especially towards the end – I just about melted, or combusted? LOL. Wish THAT one was performed in the film…) Anyhoo, long winded A/N over. Reviews are love!