A/N: Howdy folks. I, the mighty SpaBath, do not own the Labyrinth. I owned Micah… but I killed him off… So maybe it's a good thing I don't own the Labyrinth, hey kids? And to be honest I was tempted to kill Sarah off. And then Jareth. And then I thought I could kill Jareth off with Sarah's accidental wish and then she'd die trying to save him on this weird gut instinct thing. You know the one. It's the one that drives you to make soup for your mortal enemy because he's sick. Anyway. On with the story!!
Chapter NineJareth looked at Sarah in surprise.
"Fix it? Whatever do you mean?" Jareth asked her, utterly confused. Confusion was a new emotion for the Goblin King and he was not entirely sure that he liked it. Sarah nodded.
"Fix it. The last thing I want is to be stuck here for all eternity. So, how do we fix it?" Sarah asked determinedly. She wasn't going to mope and sulk around. There were things to do, goals to achieve and plans to set in motion. She loved this new sense of direction. Everything in her celebrated her rediscovered determination.
"Why not? You'd be the most powerful being in the Underground. Your subjects would revere you. You could flaunt your victory day in and day out in front of my face. You could get your revenge, Sarah. What is there to fix?" Jareth asked her, still confused. Sarah sighed.
"You just don't get it, do you Jareth? This isn't about power or strength or revenge. I was happy enough to let sleeping dogs lie. I tried to forget this ever happened the first time around! I have a life back home. I have Toby and a job and an apartment and... Stuff. I can't just never go back. People would miss me, wouldn't they?" Sarah said, finishing in a question. Would people miss her? Would they? Would she even miss them? 'Forget the boy, think of what I'm offering you! Your dreams, Sarah,' Sarah remembered Jareth's words from her last visit. Was this her dream? To rule the place that had captivated her heart, then pushed her to the edge and made her who she was?
"No, Sarah, they won't miss you. Just like they won't miss whatever-his-name-was," Jareth replied gently with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Just like you wouldn't have missed Toby if you'd lost. Once you are claimed by the Labyrinth… it's almost like your existence gets deleted there. No one remembers you. You disappear from photos. You never had a job or an apartment or a brother or friends anymore. Because according to the world, you never were."
"I, I…. But I was. I was there," Sarah whispered. "Oh no. No. No." Sarah shook her head, struggling not to cry. Jareth was torn between mocking her and… well… he wasn't exactly sure what the alternative was. Whatever the case, he stood there like the most awkward statue the Labyrinth had ever had.
"Not anymore, Sarah. If you went back no one would know you. I'm not even sure that anyone could see you, except small children of course," Jareth replied. "This place is built of dreams, Sarah. You rule it. I would suggest that you get used to it. Or die suddenly, so I can get it back." Sarah narrowed her eyes, melancholy suddenly gone.
"I'll die when I'm good and ready, thank you Jareth. And my death would not achieve anything that I am aiming for," Sarah retorted angrily. Jareth thanked whoever was listening that she wasn't crying anymore. He opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by a look from Sarah. He waited for her to speak.
"If I rule the Labyrinth, and the Labyrinth is made of dreams… does this mean that I can dream you out of my Labyrinth?" Sarah asked him. Jareth narrowed his eyes, trying to hide a modicum of panic that had built up in his chest.
"You wouldn't dare," Jareth replied in a bored tone. Sarah smiled at him.
"Wouldn't I? But then, I don't have to dream, do I, Jareth? You are my slave after all," Sarah said, realizing the truth, finally. "You have no power over me." Jareth clenched his fists, his entire body pulsing with fury.
"If you do it, you'll have no way home. You'll never figure it out," Jareth replied tersely. Sarah shrugged.
"I have no home, do I? You took that from me by bringing me here. If you could fix it, if you could be rid of me, you would be. Your hatred for me far outruns mine for you, Jareth," Sarah replied conversationally. Sarah had no spite in her heart as she said the words. She was done with it. She feared and loathed and loved the creature before her. But more than anything she pitied him. And it was her pity that Jareth could not abide, more than any other emotion. What was said in the Escher Room was inescapable. It is a room reserved for unbreakable promises – it twists and turns and bamboozles and tires, but it never pretends to be something that it isn't. Jareth had begged there, never doubting truly doubting his victory. Sarah had stood her ground there, never truly expecting to win.
Sarah and Jareth stared each other down. Neither said anything, because there was nothing to say. Emotions and thoughts raced through them both, to begin with. They each battled to find the right thing to say. Sarah knew she could end it. She could wish Jareth die. She could dream Jareth away. Jareth didn't know what he could do, in the end, except keep standing there. He had no power over her. She was smarter, in the end, than he was, and he knew it. He could not manipulate her with pretty turns of phrase. But, until the end, he was and would be a king. He would not beg. Not for mercy, forgiveness or favors. Sarah would not give them without him asking. She desired him humbled before her after everything that had happened. She would not help an ungrateful soul.
Neither of them noticed when the Labyrinth stirred about them, still locked in their staring match. The Labyrinth crept around the pair, encircling them and weaving vines around their legs. The Labyrinth whispered to them, but they did not hear. Their thoughts were too loud. Neither of them could turn away and so neither saw the Labyrinth seal them off in the grove. The Labyrinth preserved the pair, in a glass dome, like dolls. Timeless and unmoving. Sarah and Jareth were not to be set free until one of them made a move. But neither of them could. They were both to stubborn to give in. And so the Labyrinth left them there, waiting, running wild. The Labyrinth left them there for years, and still has them there, perfectly preserved. The Labyrinth will keep them there too, until one of them breaks the silence, until one of them looks away or until one of them makes a wish…