Disclaimer: That's right, I don't own any of it. Surprised huh?

One true mate

Chapter Three: It's hard to stay apart.

Jareth appeared in his throne room, drenched to the bone and looking incredibly unhappy. All around him, the chaos of goblins ceased abruptly and all eyes turned to their estranged leader in shock. None of them dared move, lest they attract the king's attention and suffer his wrath, for a person with such a dark expression on his face was bound to get physical. Normally, goblins weren't such cowards, but with a person of Jareth's power, to be in close vicinity with dark clouds over his head could spell potential disaster for them.

Of course, sometimes Jareth merely walked into the Labyrinth to spend his frustrations. One foolish goblin with a death wish had the gall to suggest a stroll in the Labyrinth.

There was no telling what really happened to the poor chap for he disappeared as soon as the king's snapping gaze fixed on him. He could have been sent to a deep deep oubliette or worse, straight in the bog. Truthfully, no one really cared, it was the goblin's own damn fault, but gods forbid should they ever speak a word while Jareth was in such a mood ever again. A collective shudder of fear traveled around the goblins as soon as his icy glare snapped in front of him as he marched out of the room.

All were wise not to remark upon the goblin king's clothes making funny squeaky noise as he walked.

Once he was in his private chambers, Jareth passed a tired hand over his face, sighing. He thought of Sarah and his newly discovered information. He thought of what might happen should she really come back to the underground. He placed a hand over his heart. He needed her to come back, it was literally a matter of life or death.

Sarah groaned as she stared at the ceiling, both her arms on either side of her chair. "I'm stuck again." She whined and pinched at the bridge of her nose. This time, a character magically appearing would not save her story plot. Or anyone else for that matter. She thought dryly. First, she could not decide whether or not to kill off the heroine's lover. On the one hand, the ending would be so dramatic that it might get it that much more attention. On the other hand, her readers could absolutely hate it, someone would make a movie based on her books and people will hate it even more. So, Sarah felt like keeping the poor chap alive, if only to save her reputation. She glared angrily at her off white ceiling. She was playing it rather safely. She stood up with an air of determination on her face. She was brave! She took on the goblin king himself and won!

Besides, she was leaving this place so who cared about the bad movies anyway?

So, Sarah decided to go out with a bang. It wasn't much of an explosion, mind you, but it made her feel that much better. With a smug look on her face, Sarah clicked the "Send" button to her editor. She leaned back against her chair and entwined her fingers on the back of her head. Tomorrow or the day after that, she was going to get a response. After that, if everything went well, Sarah could finally start the long and tedious process of arranging her departure. There were a lot of things to be done and so little time to do it. She pressed a hand to her heart.

And somehow, she had a feeling she did not have much time left.

She realized that she had to at least contact Jareth beforehand, but that would ruin her plans so she decided against it in favor of surprising the king with her tricks for once. She couldn't wait until she finally had both feet in the underground for good, living out the rest of her days with her true friends. She wouldn't ask for anything more, but she hope that if he let her stay, she would try to at least be friends with the elusive king. Sarah stared at the ceiling still and bit her lip. That was the thing with Jareth, if he didn't want her in the underground, he had more than enough power to expel her from it.

When she would get her answer from the editor, Sarah would take until Saturday to fix everything, send her final work, sign her final contract and wave good-bye to Clever Reeds Publishing and hello to freedom. The Reeds family had established a publishing company in the early 1960's and had been handed down from father to son since then. A modest, well off company that had published some great works aside from Sarah's. She never regretted going to them for her books. Sarah ran a hand through her hair and rested her chin in her palm with her elbow on the edge of the desk.

She was thinking about the Jareth plush that she had since she was a child. This morning, she had told Hoggle that she would give it to her friend, except, that person wasn't exactly a friend.

She shrugged. She had outgrown dolls a long time ago. Standing up, Sarah headed for the kitchen to make herself some diner. She opened her fridge and eyed the left over linguine in Alfredo sauce and the Sheppard's pie from two nights ago. She didn't really feel like eating Sheppard's pie so she grabbed the pasta and heated it in the microwave. Whilst that was heating up, Sarah crossed to her room to look into her closet for something. "I think I put it in that drawer..." She mumbled to herself. Reaching far at the back of her dresser drawer, Sarah brushed the tips of her fingers on the edge of her book, taped to the underside of the drawer above it.

With her tongue sticking out, she carefully pulled off the tape so not to damage the old leather from her favorite little red book. She exclaimed joyously and held the book to her chest, looking at it reverently like a long lost friend. From the kitchen, Sarah heard the microwave alert her that her food had warmed up. With a bounce to her step, she walked into the kitchen and pulled out her bowl of pasta. It smelled so good! If there was one thing that Sarah was really good at doing, it was Alfredo sauce. Every time she did it, it turned out perfect, yet, it never tasted quite the same twice. Maybe that's what made her sauce so special, it was unpredictable.

Happily, Sarah nestled herself down into her lazy boy with her wide bowl balancing on her hip as her legs came up to lay behind her while most of her weight was on her right elbow resting on the armrest. Her right hand was extended and tilted toward the lamp light and the other help her fork upright mid-swirl as she mouthed the words from the book. It was hard to tell if she were reciting the words from heart or because she was reading them, but they still never failed to bring her great joy. She could feel her limbs tremble with anticipation as she read line for line. Halfway through the small book, Sarah went to the kitchen to dump her bowl in the sink, nibbled on a cookie while making her way to her bedroom. As she curled up on her bed with only her lamplight to read, Sarah was soon back into her story.

Jareth looked over at his throne room with a blank stare. He just couldn't stop thinking about Sarah. Surely if she wanted to come back, she would have called onto me, right? He really didn't know. He felt a great deal of anticipation, shaking him to his bones. She had such an effect on the strong king. "She holds such power over me." He grumbled, chin in hand and elbow on his knee, propped on the armrest of his throne. He had long since changed and washed, now his hair was dry and he was wearing a new set of clothes. This time, he wore gray slacks tucked in slightly shiny black boots that went just above his knees. These boots barely had a heel to them, making them look more like riding boots and pants. He wore a white linen shirt that was slightly parted over his chest and over his shirt he wore a black vest.

The vest consisted of straps wrapping around his mid-section to look like belts. It stopped a little before his hips all around, with three belts looping loosely around his hips. The vest wrapped around his mid-section with no straps on his shoulders or neck and only started under his pectorals. Jareth stood from his perch and rolled up his sleeves to gather at his elbows and decided that perhaps the Escher room would be a good place to spend his bad mood. Besides, he had something to reflect about.

With a sigh, Jareth climbed the stairs to his favorite room and started walking around through various archways and climbing stairs upside down. "Maybe she's not ready yet? Maybe that's why she hasn't contacted me." For surely, she would contact him to gain access to his world. All she needed to do was summon him like she summoned her friends in the mirror. Would she do it? He sighed. He had no idea. In fact, he was most positive she wouldn't. It had been five years, she would have tried at least once or twice since then if she had planned on coming back.

He looked around at the stairs criss-crossing, reflecting silently. The only disturbance was a chicken running in front of an entryway and a goblin cursing as it chased it. Idly, he twirled a crystal ball in his hand and decided to tried and see Sarah in its depths. His eyes widened as an image finally started to appear. After all these years! His heart pounded in his chest as he watched his queen now nestled in a pile of cushions on her bed.

She was reading the book.

He could not believe it. She was actually there, in her home and reading the book again. He swallowed hard as his eyes traveled the length of her matured body. A dainty foot showed up to mid calf from under her royal blue bed cover. She lay sprawled on one side, the lamplight illuminating the room for her. He saw her lips move with the words, a small cute frown on her face as she mouthed a dialogue out loud. He chanted a small spell and suddenly, he could hear her deep voice as she whispered to herself. What he heard made his heart leap.

"You have no power over me."

The crystal ball slipped from his hand and shatter to the floor. He vaguely saw that the image had turned blurry with those words as he took a step back with a look of disappointment on his face, his eyes narrowed and his lips pursed.. He rubbed circles on his temples with his black-gloved hands with agitation.

"This day is not getting any better." He muttered to himself. He regained his composure and decided it was time for a visit.

-Yuya-Sama