While rereading this story, I noticed there was a fair bit of fluff missing, and I couldn't have that.

Also, this is the final chapter in the story! Thank you guys so much for reading, and be sure to give me a follow because I am far from finished writing fics for this fandom.

No matter how much Sarah tried to put on a brave face, something about Jareth always made her feel like she was in over her head. He was so powerful, so beautiful, and so completely other. She'd never wanted anything so badly and never been more terrified to get it. Even as her arms and legs wrapped around him and his hands pulled her as close as she could possibly get, doubt crawled through her mind and rooted itself somewhere among that part of her that never seemed to fit in. Before her first trip Underground, adventure was a dream, something that she longed for in a very childish way. She wanted the chance to be heroic, to be the knight that rides in and saves a child from a monster. The love stories that always seemed entwined in those fairy tales never held much appeal for her, probably because of the immense rejection she always felt. Who could want her? Now, she found herself in love with the villain and it was the scariest thing she'd ever faced. She held him close and his breath whispered across her skin, but no matter how close she held him, she couldn't help but think it wouldn't last. She wasn't special… she didn't deserve it and she couldn't keep it.

Jareth felt it the moment her thoughts shifted from lust to fear. Something very unfamiliar happened to him then- he was concerned. He kissed his way from her chest up her neck and finally kissed her lips softly before he drew back to look in her eyes, then froze. Gods, but she was beautiful. Her hair was fanned out beneath her, framing her creamy skin and making her green eyes shine like stars in an otherwise empty sky. Her lips were full from his kisses and unbelievably red. He'd gotten her shirt unbuttoned so that the tops of her breasts just teased out from behind the cloth, her skin running uninterrupted from her neck. He looked at her the way she was meant to be seen… like something so precious he couldn't even comprehend it. He wouldn't ever let anything take her from him again, he couldn't. He forgot what had made him stop kissing her; he forgot everything, in fact. The words slipped out of his mouth before he even thought them.

"I love you."

Sarah's eyes widened beneath him and she stayed silent, obviously shocked. Fear burned through him like a surge of lightning and he immediately regretted his words. He hadn't meant them… no, he hadn't meant to speak them. He most certainly meant them, but maybe she wasn't ready. Maybe she needed more time. He held himself suspended above her and felt so naked. How had they gotten here? He wasn't used to feeling so lost, so out of control.

Jareth felt like he was burning as he waited for Sarah to say or do something, anything. She only looked in his eyes and his own fear was shining back at him, reflected in green. Then, her bottom lip trembled and a shaking hand pressed to his cheek. His eyes closed at the contact and he heard her say weakly, "Do you?" His lips twisted in bitterness. She still didn't trust him. He extended his arms, pushing his gloved fingers against the cold earth and lifted himself away from her. Mortification and shame were quickly replacing fear and he couldn't let her see him so weak. He wouldn't let her see that she'd cut him. As soon as the cool forest air replaced the heat of her body, he was surprised again by her slender, strong arms gripping him around the neck and waist.

"Don't," she whispered. "Don't leave." She gently pulled him back to her, and he let her. Love was warring with hate as her lips met his again. Jareth had never been so weak and he hated it. His kingdom was on the edge of ruin and his life was likely at an end, but he knew he'd give it all for her. And that was terrifying. Still, her arms around him were bliss.

He felt the first stirrings of magic against his skin an instant before he and Sarah were both flung from the ground and into a tree. Sarah's body hit the tree, and then Jareth was thrown into Sarah, and he heard one of her ribs crack before she shrieked in pain. They fell in a heap on the ground, and Jareth blinked once in shock before he was on his feet in a defensive position in front of Sarah's moaning form on the ground, his hands held up in front of him. Jareth glared at his father, his mother, and Kennan through narrowed eyes. Stupid, he'd been so stupid to let his desire hold them in one place for so long.

"So touching to see you two enjoying your last moments together," Tiernus spat. "The girl, first. I think I'll make you watch her die, Jareth."

Jareth grunted with the effort of holding back the surge of magic that was being aimed straight at Sarah. He heard Sarah get to her feet behind him and wheeze as she tried to breathe.

"No!" a rough voice shouted from behind Tiernus. Jareth's eyes widened as he watched the dwarf yank on Tiernus's shirt. The magic wavered as it's caster was distracted. "Ya promised not to hurt Sarah!"

"Dispose of this thing!" Tiernus barked, his eyes still on Jareth as the two magics pulsed against each other.

Kennan grabbed Hoggle around the throat and jerked his body away from Tiernus's. So quickly that Sarah had a hard time comprehending it, she watched over Jareth's shoulder as Hoggle was hoisted up to the eye level of an unfamiliar man. Time stopped for her as first confusion at Hoggle's place with the enemy, then absolute horror, filled her mind. Hoggle's little feet kicked in the air, but quickly stilled at the man's hand crushing his throat. He killed Hoggle with no remorse, not even an apparent thought, like someone would squish a bug under a shoe.

"Hoggle!" Sarah screamed from her place behind Jareth. Her side felt like it was being ripped open as her broken rib grated. She lost all reason, she couldn't think of anything except his little brown body crumpled on the cold forest floor amongst three people who didn't even care enough to dislike him. He was nothing to them, but he was so much to her. Her best friend. Jareth was praying to any god that would listen to hold Sarah in her place, but she'd never done what he wanted. Sarah tried to bolt to Hoggle's side, uncaring of the danger awaiting her across the clearing.

"Sarah, no!" Jareth shouted, but he couldn't stop her without abandoning his defenses. He felt his stomach turn to stone as he realized he would lose her either way. She'd die the moment she reached his mother or Kennan.

The second Sarah reached the middle of the clearing, the magic flowing against Jareth's suddenly cut off. Astonished, his eyes flicked back to his father. His mother was standing there behind him, one hand wrapped in Tiernus's hair, pulling his head back to expose his throat. A knife was in her other hand and pressed tight to the king's throat. Tiernus froze in his wife's hold. Jareth felt a cruel grin stretch his face and he sent a holding spell at Kennan before the man could make one move toward his king.

"You are the monstrosity," Niamh hissed in Tiernus's ear. "My greatest desire since the moment I married you has been to have you like this. I've never been fonder of you than at this moment, my husband. Silent and vulnerable and completely at my mercy." A high, keening sound was issuing from Tiernus, and Jareth could see his robes shaking from his terror. His gaze was still fixed on his son's but he saw no pity there. "Unfortunately for you, my mercy was completely drained the moment you threatened my son." With that, Niamh drew the knife across Tiernus's throat, digging so deep that Jareth saw the glint of bone before his father's body dropped from Niamh's hands. Almost as an afterthought, Jareth removed Kennan's head with a twist of his wrist.

Sarah was oblivious to the entire scene. Her whole world was focused to the tiny piece of land on which Hoggle's body rested. She was on her knees next to him, her hands gripped into the material of his shirt. The pain in her ribs was nothing, just a twinge compared to the agony of knowing that her friend was dead, and she should have saved him. She sat back on her heels and hauled his body onto her lap so that she could see his face. He was staring straight upward, his eyes wide and glassy. With a sob, Sarah eased his eyelids closed so that she could pretend he was asleep. She heard voices around her, and her brain felt like it was moving at half its normal speed as she realized that more people must have arrived in the forest. She heard catches of the conversation, but a strange part of her mind told her to focus on Hoggle. He never liked to be ignored, especially not by her. He was heavier than he looked, and her arm started to cramp from holding him on her lap, but Sarah didn't care.

She didn't know how long she sat there as her tears fell on Hoggle's face, but eventually she felt a hand touch her shoulder gently. "Sarah," Jareth murmured. "Sarah, you have to come with me."

"No," she said. Hoggle was resting, she couldn't move. If she moved and he didn't stir, she wouldn't be able to pretend that he was sleeping anymore.

"Please, Precious, you have to let him go." Jareth moved slowly around her so that he was kneeling across from Hoggle's body. "I'll take him, it's alright." Jareth's gloved hands reached for Hoggle's body, but Sarah jerked him closer.

"No!" she shouted at him and Jareth flinched back from the anger in her eyes and voice. "He doesn't want you to touch him, he hates you."

Jareth felt sick as he watched Sarah remove herself from reality. His mind searched frantically for what to do, but he'd never dealt with grief like the kind that was gripping her. He didn't know how to help her. Finally, as she watched her smooth some of Hoggle's hair under his cap, he knew what to do. He couldn't help her, but maybe others could. He found the fox and the beast somewhere in his castle and brought them to the edge of the clearing. After quickly explaining the situation to them, he let the fox and beast go to Sarah.

"My lady," Didymus said softly, reaching out a hand to Sarah. Ludo was sobbing softly and the ground shook as his substantial weight collapsed on the ground beside Sarah.

Sarah looked up at Didymus and seeing the tears soaking into the fox's fur beneath his eyes somehow snapped reality back into Sarah. She wept and said, "Oh, Didymus!" Sir Didymus wrapped his tiny arms around her neck and sobbed with her as Sarah held Hoggle close. The beast leaned over the three of them, and his huge tears fell onto Sarah's hair.

Jareth watched them with no small amount of jealousy. While Sarah had held Hoggle alone, he had been dealing with the newly arrived council members. He was well within his rights to kill Kennan, but Niamh was being held in her chambers at the castle while the council decided her fate. Jareth would speak for her at the hearing; she deserved his support after what she did for Sarah alone. They'd taken Kennan's and Tiernus's bodies to the Fae Kingdom and Jareth was left alone in the clearing with Sarah and her friends. He hated that his presence was not enough to soothe her grief, but he loved her enough to leave them to it. He'd told the fox to convince Sarah to let Hoggle's body be taken back up to the castle, and after their tears calmed some, Jareth heard Sarah agree.

Jareth moved cautiously forward and knelt next to Sarah. Her hold tightened on the dwarf's body as she said, "Ludo? Can you carry him?" Jareth clenched his jaw, but said nothing.

The beast nodded and held out his arms. Sarah shifted Hoggle's body and carefully lifted him so that Ludo could cradle him in his arms. Ludo stood and looked at Jareth, waiting for a command, tears running silently down his face. Jareth slowly reached out and brushed Sarah's hair softly away from her face. He held his breath as he waited for her reaction. She stilled at his first touch, but then relaxed and brought a hand up to press Jareth's fingers into her hair. She let him pull her to her feet and tuck her into his side. She winced as her broken rib shifted, but wrapped her arms tightly around Jareth's waist and glued her gaze to Hoggle's form as it rested in Ludo's arms. Once they were all appropriately gathered, Jareth pulled his magic around them and took them to the castle after moving a healing hand absently over Sarah's rib.

The rest of the day was spent gathering the rest of the bodies strewn around the castle grounds. Jareth constructed individual pyres and he, Sarah, her friends, and the rest of the goblins bowed their heads as Jareth spoke about unfailing loyalty and strong hearts. Really, he was doing all of it for Sarah's benefit. He would never have done all this for the goblins; they were supposed to be loyal. He wouldn't have done it for the dwarf, either. After all, he'd apparently led Tiernus straight to him and Sarah. If Niamh hadn't had her own agenda, Jareth knew that Hoggle's betrayal would have led to his death, along with Sarah's. But, Sarah loved him, and Jareth loved Sarah. He'd do anything to take that guilty, haunted look out of her eyes.

As the pyres burned, Hoggle's the largest, Jareth watched Sarah. Her eyes slowly lost that look as she let the fox and beast cling to her. He knew she was doing her best to be strong for her friends, and he respected her for it. Once the pyres were nothing but smoldering ashes, Jareth tightened his grip on Sarah's hand. Her eyes moved slowly to his and she looked so exhausted. He brushed a thumb across her cheek and said, "Are you alright?"

She wove her fingers into his and held his hand against her cheek before she said, "I will be. Thank you, Jareth. He would have liked it."

Jareth smiled at her. "You need to sleep, Sarah." Jareth looked at the beast and the fox and said, "You two can go to your homes. Sarah needs her rest." They waited for Sarah to give them both reassuring nods before moving off toward the city.

"I don't think I can sleep… I can't stop thinking about it. I don't want to be alone." Sarah's eyes filled with tears again and when Jareth took her in his arms, he felt her shaking.

"What on earth made you think you would be alone?"

THE END

Thank you to all you readers out there, this fandom is filled with incredible people.

And thank you to iknowyou2 for the story idea and help along the way!

Also, I don't really do this, but my theme song for this story was "Shatter Me" by Lindsey Stirling.

And don't you dare suggest that I would leave you guys without a sexy epilogue.