A/N: I don't own the Labyrinth or any of the characters therein. Oh looky another chapter. It's coming to an end. Maybe one more after this. It's not ending like I thought it would. But as promised, no happily ever after.
Chapter EightJareth's jaw dropped as he appeared in front of the sleeping Sarah. He could and yet he couldn't believe she'd made a wish. He felt the Labyrinth stir around him, waiting. He recalled the words. "I wish I was stronger than this". Then he recalled the true wish. The one Sarah had meant to say. "I wish I were not vulnerable to the magic of the Labyrinth". It was a tricky wish. The words were much simpler to fulfill, but they were not a true wish. Jareth wondered if he could get around it. She had been wishing when she said it. The Labyrinth pulsed behind him and Jareth knew it had heard Sarah's true wish. He cursed inwardly.
"And what would be the equal and opposite reaction to this?" Jareth asked the Labyrinth conversationally. "If she's not vulnerable to it you can't make her completely vulnerable to it." Jareth mused over this for a moment.
The Labyrinth's justice is not your concern, Goblin King, the Labyrinth replied inside his mind. Jareth raised his eyebrows.
"I'm just asking. It's not like I have a choice whether or not to complete the wish. I'm her slave. I'm just… curious," Jareth replied archly. Things he could not escape were things he despised. He had regretted every single day since the one he had uttered his final edict to Sarah, his desperate plea for her fealty. And he lived seething at the knowledge that he had no power over Sarah - her final edict to him. It was so frustrating that even now, as she ran his Labyrinth again, he had to get the Labyrinth's permission to do the simplest thing to her, to fulfill her wishes. He had to rely on hurting Micah, the Firey's sense of justice and Sand-Imps doing what Sand-Imps did to slow her down.
Perform your magic, Goblin King, and leave the rest to the Labyrinth, the Labyrinth replied. Jareth's back was already up, and he was not used to anyone, let alone his Labyrinth issuing commands at him."Labyrinth, I demand that you tell me what you are going to do," Jareth shouted. Sarah shifted in her sleep, a sign that she was not too deep yet. This surprised Jareth, despite his anger. Once you feel asleep in the Grove, it usually meant deep instant permanent sleep. No stirring, no dreaming and certainly no consciousness of the world around them.
The Labyrinth will do the only thing it can do, it replied. Goblin King will know what is done soon enough. Jareth scowled as he plucked a crystal ball from thin air. There was no point in fighting the Labyrinth. And he had nearly run out of time to fulfill the wish. If he waited too much longer Sarah would win and he'd still have to fulfill her wish, only without the consequences. Jareth dropped the crystal onto Sarah's forehead with disdain. Jareth felt the Labyrinth pulse and shift around him, swarming forth to Sarah, before receding slowly.
Equal and opposite reaction, the Labyrinth whispered as Sarah sat up slowly. The fog cleared from her mind as the Labyrinth continued, Sarah now belongs to the Labyrinth and the Labyrinth belongs to Sarah.
Sarah and Jareth looked at each other, equally horrified.
"You are my Labyrinth!" Jareth shouted.
"What does this mean?" Sarah asked.
The Labyrinth is the Labyrinth's to give. Sarah can not be controlled by Goblin King. Sarah is invulnerable to the Labyrinth's magic. Sarah is the rightful Queen. She belongs to the Labyrinth now. She can never leave.
"I made you! I raised you from the ground. I built you up. I gave you yourself, Labyrinth. I am your King. How dare you defy me?!" Jareth yelled, fury emanating from him. Sarah pulled her knees up to her chest.
"I don't want this," Sarah whispered. "It's not my choice."
A wish is a wish Sarah Queen. Equal and opposite reaction, you were warned. The choice belongs to the Labyrinth and the Labyrinth has chosen.
Jareth glared at Sarah. She shrunk back from him. Never had she seen such fury in his eyes. She feared him. Jareth felt the pull of emotion and scowled. More fear. More fear to fuel the strength of his edict to her.
"You have stolen from me," Jareth said quietly. Sarah shook her head and looked up at him with a pity in her eyes.
"I did not take anything from you. You heard the Labyrinth, it was it's choice," Sarah replied softly.
"It was your wish," Jareth scowled. Sarah narrowed her eyes.
"I was barely conscious. I didn't know what I was doing. If I had known," Sarah began.
"If you'd known you would have done it earlier!" Jareth accused her. "How dare you, impertinent little girl. You have destroyed my city, solved my Labyrinth and stolen my heir. Now, you have taken the Labyrinth from me as well."
"I fought my way to your castle," Sarah retorted. "I wouldn't have broken I thing if you'd just let me through. You challenged me to solve your Labyrinth and I did. And I took my brother back, whom you stole! I did not steal your heir. Go rape some faerie somewhere and get a real one."
"I don't need to rape my women, thank you very much, little girl. But you'd like that, wouldn't you? Me to take you by force?" Jareth taunted her. Sarah stood up, anger flying from her.
"I would rather spend the next century gardening in the Bog of Eternal Stench than spend a second with your fingers on my skin," Sarah tossed back at him. Jareth was slightly wounded by her retort and it showed on his face. Sarah looked up in shock. She did love him, in her own way. She hated him with a passion, to be sure. But she loved him, secretly, illicitly, for fulfilling her wishes; for her last trip to the Labyrinth. Jareth felt the love, barely there, but there enough, binding him to his edict. He scowled. He would never escape it. He was bound for all eternity to fulfill Sarah's wishes, but never to exercise power over her. And now, it seemed, she'd be right there, in what used to be his Labyrinth for all eternity. A living, breathing, constant reminder that he had been bested.
Sarah's heart was racing. This couldn't be happening, could it? Ruling the Labyrinth?
"I don't suppose," she said aloud. "There's much point in me finishing the run, is there? I mean, it's my Labyrinth now so it would lead me straight there." Jareth scowled deeper.
"No, there really isn't," he conceded after a moment. He had lost his victory. He had lost Sarah as a plaything and gained her as an ever-present master.
"I don't suppose," Sarah said again. "That there's anyway of fixing this?"
A/N: Definitely only one more chapter after this one. I nearly ended it here, but I'll draw it out for one more. But that's definitely it. I might wait three weeks before posting it too… just to make you all jumpy. Joking guys. Give me a week. Actually, I've got a "weekend" coming up in a couple of days… might wait till then so I can give you a really good chapter. Well, an okay chapter. This is me writing it after all. So review away, my friends, I appreciate all your comments. Even if I am really bad at getting back to everyone. SpaBath