A/N: Sorry if I pissed anyone off last chapter! I can't be held accountable for what I do. . . 'Neither is Ree! If this next bit sounds familiar it's because I'm sort of taking a small page out of the movie Insidious which scared the ever LIVING out of me with Tiny Tim's Tip Toe Through The Tulips. You have to listen to THAT version to understand my horror. *shivers* *cringes* Perhaps Jareth will make it all better? (And if you haven't seen Insidious this isn't THAT spoiler-ish. Speaking of all that - I own NOTHING but the characters NOT associated with The Labyrinth or Insidious.

MAY EVE

The Realm of Fairy is a strange shadow land, lying just beyond the fields we know.

~Author Unknown

Chapter 21: Darkness

"Hello? Hello!" Sarah shouted into the darkness. She knew she was standing on solid ground because she was, not because she could see it. She was in pitch blackness, lifting her hand before her face and experimentally wiggling her fingers. She could see absolutely nothing. "Is anyone there?" She shouted. She shivered, had she been in a large room there would have been an echo, wouldn't there? Her voice sounded like she was under water, like it was just inside her head. Like she was the only thing in this infinite black space. "Jareth?" She begged, her eyes began to sting from unshed tears as she began to think perhaps she would never see him again.

~M*E~

"What have you done with Sarah?" Jareth asked, his hands gripping the woman in his bed. It was mind blowing holding down his wife's body as if it would attack him knowing that his Sarah wasn't in there. How could I be so blind, how could I let this happen? The more he thought about it, the more angry he became and instead of taking it out on himself he watched from outside of himself as he took it out on the demon inside of his soul mate.

Not letting up the grip on her upper arms he shook her as she giggled, an odd evil sound, not her own. "Jareth, stop fighting this. You can have your precious little human, I can be anyone you want me to be." Keaira beamed at him through black eyes.

"Get out of my wife! Give me back my wife, damn you!"

"I'm sorry but she gave into me so easily! The longer she's in the Further, the worse for wear her body will become, which is quite the shame considering I'm playing in it at the moment. But do not fret, my King! For when her body dies her soul does, too, and you will be widowed and then you may take me as the bride that should have been. I am so generous, am I not?"

"You are absolutely mad, woman! I will find a way to rid you from Sarah and I will find a way to rid you from this plain completely. I will banish you to the Further before you can blink." Jareth seethed. Keaira just laughed.

"Oh, King of Wishes, you couldn't possibly know how to even begin." She smirked and ran her hands up her stomach only to squeeze her breasts tight, letting out a moan as she squirmed.

"You will not touch her like that!"

"Oh, but how will you stop me when I am inside of her? Don't you want to be inside of her, Goblin King? Or shall I find her a more willing suitor?" Keaira licked her lips and Jareth growled, tossing a crystal at the naked woman. One moment she was gone from the bed, the next she was chained to it, wrapped in a oversized white night gown, spread eagle.

"Now you can't hurt her anymore. I'll be damned if I let you ruin her like you want to. I will get her back and when I do then I will hunt you down to the further most reaches of this realm, and then. . ." He purred as he leaned in as close as he could, almost brushing his lips to her ear. "I will kill you."

He stormed out of the room in search of help. He knew that if his father's Mage couldn't help them no one really could. Carina was one of the only female Mages in the Underground and as he sent word to his father he also collected Raeywen.

"We must keep the boy from his sister's body. He can't know what has happened to her. He's too young to go out for revenge and he has little skill." The healer said as she chased after Jareth to the royal chambers.

"I agree, but we won't be able to keep this from him for long. If he finds out some other way he will hate me." Jareth sighed as he stopped at the door. "Sarah is in there, but the eyes. . . If it were anyone else's body that was possessed this way I would just simply destroy it." He shook his head.

"We won't have to do that, your Highness. I'm sure Carina will be able to help." Raeywen squeezed her king's shoulder. "Now, let me see to Sarah."

Jareth opened the door and the healer walked in. She kept her face stone but inside she was worried. The Goblin King had never been as happy as he had been when this girl came to stay with him. When Sarah gave her love to him he had become the most kind, most loving king and now everything was a mess.

She stood at the side of the bed and pressed her hand to where Sarah's heart should be. It was beating, but it felt tired. She saw the black trails poisoning her internally and sighed. She knew that this was an evil poison that soon would seep into every vein, every artery, every organ, until there was nothing but an empty, dead shell of the queen.

She ghosted her hands over Sarah's whole body feeling for the extent of the damage. Thankfully it hadn't gotten far yet. When her hands passed over Sarah's abdomen she froze for less than a second and continued on her quest to check on the Goblin Queen's status.

"What has happened?" The High Queen, Pheona rushed into the room, closely followed by her husband, Cahal and the Mage, Carina.

Carina had the palest of skin as if she were made of porcelain. Her hair was white and cut short and choppy, sitting on her head like a wild mess. Her eyes were cerulean blue and she wore black robes. She was incredibly petite, only coming to Raeywen's shoulders and thin, but she was one of the most powerful beings in the Underground, second only to Jareth.

"Stand back." Her tinkling voice demanded. The four stepped back and as she walked toward the bed she looked directly at Jareth and nodded. "It has been too long, young man." She smiled sadly.

"It has." He agreed.

"Congratulations on your marriage. An invitation would have been nice." She huffed and Jareth choked out a laugh, which was exactly what Carina wanted. She knew this would be one of the hardest nights he would ever face and she needed him to not sink as low as the Princess of Nightmares had. Evil fighting Evil wouldn't do.

Looking at the beauty on the bed she smiled to herself. Jareth certainly had found himself a beautiful young woman. She sniffed the air and nodded. She'd begun the change to Fae, and what was this? She sniffed again and bit her lip to stop from grinning from ear to ear. Though this was wonderful news it was not something the evil inside of the Queen should know about. Ever.

"I will need you, Raeywen. You are the one to cure this girl. We must first remove Keaira from Sarah's body and the only way we can do that is through a healing Depossession. I want someone to go into the Further to find Sarah first. If we cannot reach her we run the risk of her spirit being destroyed by the Princess' while she transitions through the further and back to her own body.

We have time, though. She has barely any infection. Someone - perhaps you, Cahal, go to the Queen of Nightmares and form a line of guards in the girl's room. I have a feeling someone knows about her travel and they are watching her body. If anything happens to Sarah, Keaira shall be punished." Carina was explaining. Jareth stepped forward quickly.

"She shall be punished as it is! She's taken over my wife's body and sent her into a dangerous place. I want her dead." The Goblin King roared.

"You will calm down, boy! We cannot have this much evil in one room. If you cannot then you must leave." Carina shouted, her eyes glowing brightly. "I won't have this madness!"

"I will leave now and report back to you as soon as I can." Cahal bowed and vanished.

"What can I do?" Pheona begged.

"You can keep control of Jareth. Now, who does Sarah trust enough to lead her back to her body? It has to be someone she fully trusts because I would bet anything right now that she is terrified. She won't come to just anyone." Carina asked.

"If I can't do it then I am not sure." Jareth shook his head, defeated.

"Wait! What about Elizar? Would he be willing to risk his life to go into the Further for her?" Raeywen asked. "She has spent so much time with the old man, she would certainly trust him."

"He may be our only hope." Jareth replied, a new found hope brewing inside of him. He called for the old troll and instantly he stood in the crowded room.

"Certainly I wasn't expecting to be in here of all places this soon after the wedding." He grinned mischievously until he saw the state everyone was in. Coughing back his last statement he looked around Carina and gasped. "Is that. . ?"

"Yes, it's Sarah and something terrible has happened." Raeywen sighed. "The Princess of Nightmares is inside of her and we need someone to find her and bring her back before we can begin the cure."

"She's in the Further?" The old troll asked, his voice gruff and all business.

"Yes." Jareth whispered. Elizar looked into his King's eyes and seemed to stand up taller.

"I've been around for a very long time, my boy." He smiled.

"I know."

"I taught you all you know!" He chuckled.

"You did." Jareth smiled sadly.

"I'm too old to come back, you know." Elizar said flatly.

"We know."

Elizar walked up to Jareth and gripped his upper arms tightly, staring into his king's miss-matched eyes with his steady faded ones. "Are you happy?"

"Exceedingly."

"Is she?"

"I believe so, yes."

"It is done." Elizar nodded. Everyone in the room turned to the old man, each hugged him tightly in turn while he mumbled agitatedly before he laid on the bed next to Sarah's lifeless form knowing that he was sacrificing everything for his queen.

When Keaira felt the pressure on the bed she snapped to attention. "Ah, Jareth, you've changed your mind!" She grinned, turning her black eyes toward the form and hissed as she saw who was lying next to her. "You won't get me out of here! Not before I kill her first!"

"Shut your pathetic little mouth Princess. . ." Elizar snapped and rolled his eyes. "Your voice annoys me."

With that Carina began the chant that would slip Elizar into the Further. As his eyes drifted shut everyone in the room knew that was the last time they would ever see them open again.

A/N: OK, I am SERIOUSLY proud of this chapter and I hope you like it as much as I do. Please, please, please let me know what you think. I did say I wanted 100 reviews before I posted this chapter, but I can't be that cruel. I can only hope you get me over 100 with this chapter. Thanks guys!

Also… Ree923, that friend I talked about up there in the first a/n, she and I have started a collaboration and it's called JarethsLoveSlaves. Go find our profile and put us on alert so that you know when we post our first piece. It's awesome. And it involves a really fun board game!