Disclaimer: I do not own the Labyrinth or any of the characters.

Chapter Ten

Beginning of Havoc and the Like

Weeks passed as Sarah contemplated her visions. Jareth was constantly meeting with other Kings, Queens, and other leaders. Apparently the Dark Elves numbers had multiplied by frightening amounts. This was not going to be as easy as any of them had hoped.

Sarah still felt left out on information, like there was something missing from the whole story of the dark elves being banned to the mountains. It crossed her mind whenever she thought about what the dark elves looked like. That couldn't be their natural appearance.

Pacing her study, Sarah tried to fit all the visions together, but they just didn't seem to go together. Which vision should she choose? She couldn't bring herself to think about Jareth dying, so she focused mostly on the other two. She came to the conclusion that the battle was inevitable. It occurred in two out of the three visions, and in the one where she couldn't see it, she figured that the battle was going on anyway while she was in the dungeon.

Sarah wished that Queen Asura could have given her more advice besides the things that she learned during her stay in the Labyrinth. Was she telling her not to take Jareth for granted because the vision with him dying was the correct one, and that it's not always fair the way things have to be? That seemed too obvious. She scolded herself for thinking about just one image; she was supposed to be trying to put them all together.

"I just don't see it," Sarah said to herself frustrated. It often ended this way. She would withdraw from Jareth after lunch, having spent the morning with him, and would disappear. Sometimes she didn't even show up to dinner. These visions began consuming her life. She wouldn't even stop to see her friends, saying that she had to find an answer, that it was just too important to put aside.

Sarah would return to their bedroom and bathe before dressing for bed. Jareth would ask her if she had made any progress, and she would sigh.

"I feel like its right there in front of me, and I'm just not looking at it right," Sarah would answer.

"I'm sure you will figure it out," Jareth always said encouragingly. Then Sarah would ask him how he was managing with plans. "We've got a few general plans that should work," was his answer every time. Most nights they just curled up together and fell asleep, others they were feeling too intimate to just sleep, releasing their passions upon each other.

One evening Sarah made a rare appearance to dinner, to an exhausted Jareth. She frowned, hating how much stress this battle had put on him. Walking over to him, she kissed him lightly before moving to sit across from him.

"Evening love," Jareth said tiredly, looking at the food set before him.

"Jareth, maybe you should get to bed early today," Sarah suggested worriedly, earning a small smile from him.

"Dearest, do not fret over me, all will be well once we've finalized a course of action that everyone can agree on."

"That could take forever," Sarah said stubbornly with a hint of a smile. Jareth smirked at her.

"Really Sarah, you should have more faith in me," Jareth said with mock offense taking a bite of seasoned chicken.

They spent the rest of the dinner talking and joking, Sarah trying to sooth some of the stress away with comic relief. Once finished, Jareth escorted Sarah to their room, leaving a soft kiss upon her lips. Cupping her cheek in his hand, he kissed her forehead.

"I'll join you soon, love."

"Don't be long," Sarah said with a small smile. Jareth nodded his consent as he let his hand slide away from her face.

Once inside, Sarah cleaned up and dressed in a short black, lacey, spaghetti strap nightgown. Curling into bed, she sighed contentedly into the comfortable pillows. A startling feeling came over her, like that of a White Shadow coming on.

"But I've seen them all already," Sarah slurred to herself, unable to fight it off at all.

"Sarah," Queen Asura called, watching as Sarah appeared before her, confused. "The time is coming, you must decide. Your course of action will be the deciding factor! What do you choose?"

"I… I don't know!" Sarah's voice rose as she panicked.

"That will not do! You must decide now! Who will you sacrifice? Your Jareth? Your child's future or yourself?" Asura's voice was firm and commanding, not like the kind one she had used when first meeting Sarah.

"I sacrifice myself!" Sarah cried out as she was being pushed back into her own world, Queen Asura's beautiful human face smiling at her once more, the lion and boar's face seeming to be staring at more than just the white swirling mists.

"Very good Sarah," Asura said softly. "Remember what you have chosen…"

"Wait! Aren't you supposed to…?" Sarah trailed off as she was roughly brought back into the living world.

Someone tied her hands back. Opening her eyes, Sarah was roughly thrown to the floor. Above her paced two dark elves, their familiar red eyes glowing in the darkened room. She wanted to scream out for Jareth, but knew it would only end badly if he started a fight now. She had to remain calm.

"What do you want?" Sarah made her voice commanding.

"We've come to offer you a proposition," said the dark elf nearest to the balcony doors. "You come with us peacefully; we spare your king in battle. You come with us forcibly, and we will not be held responsible for what happens when he tries to come to your rescue, or if he will even live to see the fight." The beast paused, searching her face with those demonic red eyes, it made her skin crawl. "What will it be pretty?"

This was it, this was her choice, had Asura really thought she'd be so selfish? Perhaps the demon Queen of the spirits had to be sure of her character.

"I'll come," Sarah said quietly.

"Very good," said the other dark elf as he came forward grabbing her roughly by the arms. There would be bruises later, she knew it. Why would they offer such a thing? Perhaps killing Jareth wouldn't be enough; maybe they wanted to make him suffer first. They said that they would not harm him in the fight, but how could she trust them?

Sarah didn't have time to continue that thought, one of the dark elves had smacked her hard, too hard, on the forehead making her lose consciousness.

Jareth returned to the room after finishing the final plans quickly. He reached for the door handle but stopped, something was wrong, something was very, wrong. Surely if it was Sarah he would have sensed her distress, but opening the door open proved him wrong. He couldn't believe it; the sheets were in a twisted heap on the floor and the balcony doors left open in abandon.

Running out onto them, Jareth could see no trace of her, all but for a few drops of blood where they had struck her upon the head.

"Why didn't she call for me? Why didn't she even scream?" Jareth questioned, looking out to the night sky. "Is it possible she blocked me?" He couldn't fathom why she would do such a thing, unless it had to do with the visions she'd been seeing. He could barely contain his worry and rage. A vicious growl left his throat. He would make them pay.

Sarah groaned, awaking in a strange place. Why wasn't she shackled to the wall? Sitting up, she was woozy, putting a hand to her forehead, she felt dried blood from the gash they had inflicted upon her. She noticed she was on a hard mattress in a very dark room. It looked like someone had chucked her into a cave. The walls and floor were all made of uneven rock. There was a wooden door on the wall to the left of her, and a small candle sitting on an outcropping of rock that provided meager amounts of light.

Getting up and going to the door, Sarah found it to be locked. Of course… Sighing, she sat on the edge of the hard mattress wondering when the vision she had seen would come to be. She then thought of Jareth and her heart broke, he must be worried sick. She hated to put anymore pressure on him, but if there was someway she could make it so they both got out alive for sure then she had to try.

Hearing a scraping sound and a small "chink" she stood up quickly, startled with what would be coming through the door.

"Finally awake are you?" It was a female's voice, scratchy and metallic like the male guard she had seen. Sarah could see her glowing red eyes from under a hood. They were not laughing evilly, but observant. She had never seen a female dark elf before; maybe she could get some information out of her.

"Y… yes, where am I," Sarah asked though she already had an idea.

"You child, are in the mountain kingdom of the dark elves," the female replied brining a change of clothes and food for her.

"What's your name? Do you know if a battle has started?" Sarah couldn't hide the concern in her voice as she asked.

"I am Feryia, and yes, the battle has already started. You've been out for a few days, our King was not pleased with how roughed up you were when those idiots brought you in."

"…Joker and the thief?"

"The very same, well here's some food for ya, and a change of clothes if you like." With that said, Feryia turned to leave.

"Wait, please, could I ask you some things?" Sarah thought Feryia may ignore her, but she did not.

"What could I possibly tell you?"

"What happened to you? I know you were banned by Jareth's father…"

"Yes, they all thought him an angel for banning our rowdy clans to the mountains, but there was blood upon his halo." Feryia seemed uncomfortable talking about this, but continued none the less. "He not only banished us, but put a curse on us to distort our images to the demons the vandal's of our clan portrayed us to be! He had the group causing the trouble murdered, and punished the rest of us for not being able to put a stop to it." Sarah gasped. Could this all be true?

"If this is all true then why not have the curse reversed?" Sarah was startled at the cold laughter that emanated from the woman.

"As if anyone would believe us. We didn't used to be so dark you know… It doesn't matter they wouldn't believe our side."

"I could make them believe!" Sarah protested.

"They'd think you a fool for believing anything an old chamber maid said," Feryia said solemnly.

"No! I could, I…" Sarah fumbled upon her words. She knew she shouldn't just believe whatever crap she heard, but she felt it, she felt the truth.

"Listen, our King has been planning this revenge for a long time to come. Someone needs to pay for the suffering of our people…"

"But it wasn't Jareth's fault," Sarah cried. Feryia seemed to smile sadly under the cloak.

"We know that as well as any, but the others need this. When a people have been wronged so greatly, it's not fair, it's not even close to let that go peacefully. It may not have been your king's fault, but he's as close as the king can get to the one who caused this. He won't be killed, but his Kingdom will be taken, his citizens ruined, and he will be cursed and humiliated along with you."

"That's the way it is though!" Sarah looked frantic. "It's a terrible tragedy what happened to your people, but what good is it to punish someone who is just as innocent as you were!"

"Some of us sympathize with you Goblin Queen; we know very well that if your King knew how to reverse this curse that he would. Most of my people see him as his father, always going after a quick fix to please the rest of the world, be damned the innocent. Listen child, it is not I who needs convincing that this war isn't the revenge everyone wants it to be, it's not fair, but that's the way it is," she said mocking Sarah's earlier statement.

Sarah sighed and seemed to be on the verge of tears, perhaps she had chosen wrong? How could she know?

"Listen here, I'm not to blame if you put on those cloaks and pass out of here like one of us," Feryia said wisely. "It would only be natural to warn your King and try to get out while you still can. Faulty locks these doors have." With that said, she turned to leave. Sarah did not here the door lock.

Quickly Sarah changed into the robes and hooded her face from sight. Running for the door her hand stopped halfway to the handle as Feyore's words came to her from when she had told the light elves of her vision: I don't know why you would be in the midst of the battle, but apparently you end up there for this certain ending to occur. She couldn't go, if Feryia was right and the battle was going on right now, Jareth would die if she went there now. The horrible image of Jareth being impaled by the beast's sword and crumbling to the ground was too much. How would she end up in the dungeons though?

"That's it!" Sarah had figured it out. She was meant to be let out, but not to actually get away! If she did this right, they would capture her and keep her in the dungeons and attempt to beat her for her disobedience. Deciding to take her chances she quietly left the room. Sneaking down dark rock hallways, she didn't see any guards. After wandering for quite awhile she found herself in the main hall leading to the gate that would lead to her freedom and Jareth's death. They didn't want to take revenge by killing him, but if they couldn't exact their plan out perfectly, death would do.

Thankfully, she heard some scuffling and saw two guards approach. By the sounds of their voices, they were the guards from her vision. Thank god…She thought, staging the scene. If she timed it right, she could make it look like she was truly trying to escape.

Waiting until she heard them turn the corner, Sarah broke out into a run. Her hood flew back to reveal her long silky locks. Looking over her shoulder she feigned panic.

"It's the Goblin Queen! She's getting away," one of the dark elves yelled. Sarah purposely ran slowly and daintily making it easy for the two dark elves to catch her. Again she was knocked unconscious, but not by a knock on the head, it was the same charm the thief had used on her to force her to sleep. She fell in a heap just before the doors.

Very good Sarah…

Sarah heard Queen Asura's voice in her head as she awoke shackled to the cold stone wall. The scene before her was very tangible and real…

Author's Note:

Okay, I've slacked a bit on the last chapters, but here's a longer one for you. This fic is drawing to a close. The next chapter will probably do it, unless I can think of something else to add in here. Maybe two more chapters and an epilogue. Thank you all for reviewing so far. It's really helped motivate me through the ups and downs. Please keep on reviewing to let me know what you think. As always, please forgive any errors that slip my eye.