A/N: Last chapter!
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In the few minutes it had taken her to search the kitchen for coffee, he had done what he did best. Sitting in the living room between the two chairs, there was now an oak table with a genuine silver tray on it, upon which sat a steaming mug and a large coffee pot. Collapsing into the empty chair, she hurriedly picked up the mug and sipped at it, trying simultaneously to satisfy her need for caffeine and not burn her tongue. She noticed after a few sips that there was only the one mug. "Are you not having any?"
A look of disgust crossed his face. "I detest coffee."
She shrugged and went back to sipping the bitter brew. He watched her in silence for a moment before he said, "I find it thoroughly amusing that just an hour or so ago, you didn't trust me with a water glass, and here you are sipping coffee, also from my hand, with no second thought."
She paused mid-sip, her eyes widening slightly as she considered the mug in her hands. Seeing her hesitation, he said, "I haven't done anything to it, but you only have my word for it, which doesn't go very far with you."
"If everything you've said this evening is true, I'd say the value of your word has grown exponentially in the last hour."
He seemed rather pleased with that statement, as though he had just achieved some unspoken goal. "Before I continue, I want to ask you a question. Since that fateful evening, many years ago, have you ever felt like something was missing out of your life, or have you felt complete?"
"Well, I just finished high school a couple of months ago. The epitome of the high school experience is a bunch of post-pubescent, hormonal teenagers running around trying to figure themselves out, while having fun, before being ejected out into the adult world. Of course I felt incomplete. I was trying to find myself."
Jareth didn't say why he asked, he merely mused over her response for a silent moment before he continued with his earlier thoughts. "As I said before, you were still a child in many respects when you went thru the Labyrinth. There were many things you learned as a result of your journey, but there were also some things you wouldn't be able to comprehend as a child. For that reason, I temporarily took your memory away. Many decisions you've made to guide your way thru life were instinctively a result of your experience; you just didn't realize it at the time. For example, your relationship with your stepmother, while never achieving the ideals of what it could be, improved dramatically. Your outward love for Toby became more apparent to your parents; little things that you probably never consciously thought about.
"Now that you're an adult, I've restored your memory to you. Only time will tell if you learn anything more with its return." Sarah got the distinct impression that there was something he wasn't saying, but he didn't elaborate, and she felt it best not to press him. He stood up and walked back over to the balcony door, lost in thought. The storm seemed to have lessened slightly. The wind was no longer shrieking as it whipped around the building and the rain was no longer pounding dents into the roof.
As she sat there, she realized there was only one question he had left to answer, but the very thought of it almost brought a blush to her cheeks. Trying to bypass it, she ransacked her brain for the first thing to come to mind. "You offered me my dreams once, in exchange for keeping Toby." She almost cringed when she realized those were the words coming out of her mouth. Hurriedly, she continued, "The boy that you sent to Neverland, You said that he loved Peter Pan. Did that love play a part in where you decided to place him?"
Jareth turned away from the window. Sarah saw the look in his eyes. A look that said he knew exactly what she was doing…and he was amused by it. She shifted slightly in her seat, grateful for the dim light that was helping to conceal the blush on her cheeks. She couldn't remember having any romantic inclinations towards him before, except for the ballroom fantasy and she had credited that to her drugged senses, but now… She just felt weird in his company.
"What kind of a person would I be if I offered dreams to those who wish away children but not to the children themselves? Most of them just want to be loved."
Sarah smiled in embarrassment. "It would seem that my first impression of you was quite different from my impression of you now."
"Which is exactly how it was supposed to be. Like Hoggle, and Ludo, and Didymus, I was merely acting a part in your journey. I tried to emphasize that point earlier to ensure that you understood its implications weren't restricted only to my subjects." He snapped his fingers and the chair he had been sitting on vanished, along with the table full of coffee supplies. Sarah got to her feet and Jareth waved his hand and made the other chair disappear. Suddenly, Sarah felt very small in the silence of the large, empty room. "You wanted to know why I'm here. I'm here to offer you your dreams again."
"What's the catch?" Sarah asked, after a moment's pause. Her opinion of him may have greatly increased as he explained to her a little bit more about why things had happened the way they had, but she certainly wasn't crazy enough to go from no trust whatsoever to complete trust at the drop of a hat.
He stood erect, his hands clasped behind his back. He seemed to have slipped back into the stance of a king presiding over his subjects. Sidestepping her question, he returned to one from earlier. "Do you feel whole in your life here, or do you feel like something is missing?"
Sarah frowned. That wasn't what she was expecting to hear.
"Think hard before you answer. Have you ever felt like you didn't quite fit in here?"
His words brought back many introspective moments she'd had throughout her life. Sure, she'd had friends all thru school and she'd been involved in plenty of extracurricular activities, especially theater and drama, but Jareth's insistence on her giving it some thought before she answered made her assume that he was looking for something specific. In that moment, she remembered how often she'd gone out with groups of friends, but felt emotionally lost in the crowd. She remembered how she'd tried so many different things—dance, art, soccer, cooking, debating, etc.—only to realize nothing ever satisfied a craving she'd never known she had until this moment. She'd always passed it off as a child merely trying to figure out what she liked and disliked in the world. It occurred to her then that the only reason she was pursuing a career in acting was because she was able to escape from her dissatisfying life into roles that were intriguing and fascinating and they allowed her to live out fantasies she could never hope to embrace, even if it was only for a few short hours each day. She'd always felt like there was something more in store for her, but she couldn't quite reach it. Part of her problem was that she didn't know what she was looking for.
She rubbed her hands up and down her arms, as though she found the muggy August evening chilly. Lost in her thoughts, she'd forgotten that she wasn't alone in her apartment.
"I suppose," she started, "that deep down, I've always felt like something was missing. It's not something I've ever really thought about. I'm sure thousands of people feel the same way. I'm still young, so I'm sure I'll find it eventually."
Surprisingly, he smiled in response. "Are you certain you'll find it here?"
Sarah felt like his words were veiling something that should be obvious to her, but it wasn't. Sarah laughed, more to disguise her unease than for anything amusing. "Well, obviously not here in this apartment. It's not that monumental or grand a place. But, maybe I'll find the missing piece during my university years or afterwards when my career takes off. I just have to be patient."
"Here in your world?"
She felt like a bucket of cold water had been thrown on her. She rubbed her arms a little more vigorously. "What are you saying?"
"I've always been fascinated with you, Sarah. You're the only one to ever best my Labyrinth, and you did it with compassion and consideration for those around you. Naturally, I'd be drawn to you, as it sets you apart from everyone else that has ever entered my domain. I'm saying that I am offering you the chance to return to the Underground. To live there. I think the Underground could really use someone like you." He spoke slowly, so he could impress upon her what he was offering. His body was tense as he waited for her to accept or reject him for the second and final time.
Sarah considered her words before she spoke. "Last time, you offered yourself to me, but I refused you. I was too young to understand. That's what you meant earlier, when you said there were some things I couldn't understand before, wasn't it?"
In answer, he merely cocked his head to one side. He remained silent. She was so torn. The very thought of being able to return to the Underground, to see her friends and to delight in all the wonderful adventures she could have was, oh, so tempting, but could she really leave her home and her family behind? And, what would leaving everything behind entail? Could she come back to visit? Would she be forbidden to return? These were the questions that plagued her. How much time did she have to consider his offer?
"What would happen to everything I leave behind here?"
He concerned her question, pacing alongside the wall. "There are two ways to go about this, one slightly distasteful." Her eyebrows shot up. "We can go the same route I use with the children who don't get to return home and I can erase your existence from the memories of everyone you've ever come in contact with." This hit Sarah like a sledgehammer to the stomach. She collapsed against the wall behind her, its unyielding presence being the only thing keeping her upright. She could hardly bear the thought of her father and Toby forgetting all about her. She had some cherished memories with them that she didn't want taken away, even after she left…if she chose to go to all.
"The second?" she whispered.
"I can stage your death." It was said so simply and plainly that she wondered if she heard him right at all.
"I beg your pardon?"
"I can stage your death," he repeated. It was clear that he took no pleasure in the option. "That way, your existence lives on in the memories of your family and friends, but they receive the closure they need to realize you aren't coming back. If you come to the Underground, you can't come back here, even to visit."
Sarah lost all feeling in her legs. She slid down the wall to sit on the carpet, her mind awhirl with every implication of the choice before her. She didn't think anything could possibly be worse than erasing her existence completely, but she had been dead wrong. She hadn't realized how tightly her hands had been clenched until she looked down and saw a thin line of blood appearing on her palm where her nail had broken the skin. She took a deep, shuddering breath. "How long do I have to consider the offer?"
In a manner most unbefitting a monarch, he sat down next to her, his back against the wall, his long legs extended out in front of him, crossed at the ankles. "I can give you an hour at most, but after that I must return to the Underground. You have no idea what goblins can do in the absence of a governing hand. I may not even have a castle to return to." His slight attempt at humor fell on deaf ears. The only thing Sarah could manage was a faint smile that quickly disappeared. "If my opinion has any weight whatsoever, I want you to say yes."
"Why?"
"Well, let's see. You've only seen the Labyrinth, and we both know that I am quite a vain king, so I want to show off the rest of my kingdom. Putting it into a context you can understand, it's like seeing London and thinking you've seen the entire world. There's so much more to be discovered that you can't possibly imagine."
She smiled in spite of herself. It sounded wonderful and she wanted so badly to accept, but she was held back by the love she bore for her family. It was asking a lot for her to forsake them and never look back. "Is that the only reason?" Those haunting lines from the book were never far from her thoughts now. She wanted to know, but she was too unsure to come right out and ask.
"You're not stupid, Sarah. I know you're thinking the same thing I am. 'Does he love me? Can he love me?' First impressions are so misleading. I loathed you upon our first meeting, as much as you did me. It was all a game to you. A chance to act out a fantasy that only existed in your mind. 'Be careful what you wish for.' Isn't that what they say? I was going to grant you what you wanted, but not in the manner in which you wanted it. Yet, you overcame it all. You beat me at my own game. Even when I changed the rules, you still triumphed. However, saying that I love you now is a gross overstatement. Let's just say that, right now, I am fond of you and your fiery spirit. I am fond of how you fight against injustices and refuse to take anything lying down. To be honest, if you had accepted my offer the first time around, I probably would never have come to respect the person you've become in the intervening years."
That made her smile, but it did not make the choice any easier.
They sat in companionable silence as the minutes ticked by. Occasionally, he would make some remark about his kingdom or the citizens who lived therein and Sarah suspected he was trying to sway her to accepting his offer to live in his kingdom.
When he got to his feet, she knew the time had come. It had gone without saying earlier that this was a one-time offer that would never be repeated. It was now or never.
He held his hand out to her.
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A/N: I bet that you are hating that I left it hanging (provided you enjoyed the story at all). Yes, this is the end. I'll leave it up to your own imagination whether she went with him or not. I'm slightly dissatisfied with this last chapter, but after numerous reviews of it, I can't figure out what I don't like about it. It may have something to do with Jareth being a little out of character, but that needs to happen for the explanation to hold its own. I was also tired of chopping up chapters, so this one intentionally stayed long. I hope you enjoyed it!