Allo everyone. I want to thank everyone for reading this but I'm afraid my story is coming to a close. Don't worry I'll continue writing other stories and this one still has one or two chapters left. ;}
Also I put some pictures in my profile to help with a few of the chapters/how I imagine people/things to look.
Ch27 The End?
When she landed, without hurting herself much to her own surprise, she opened her eyes and was not sure where she was. It could have been another part of the hall, she thought she recognized it but could not place it. Yet something had changed. Near her was an ogee window, without glass, and through it she could see the upper half of one wing of the castle. It was in ruins, the cladding stones mostly gone, grass growing in the gaps they'd left. The turret roofs had collapsed, and brambles were reaching for the throat of the tower. Within the castle, where she was, she heard in the air the humming that she had come to associate with Jareth, but it had a hollow ring to it, something forlorn, like music in an abandoned house. In the crack between two flagstones where she stood she saw that weeds had started to push their way through. How long had she been here? She detected no change in herself yet it was obvious something had caused the labyrinth to change. She stood up and looked around; there was no sign of Niki anywhere.
Jareth stepped out from a shadowy archway wearing a faded, threadbare cloak that looked like the wings of his owl form, he looked tired. His face looked older, drawn in his blond mane was a trace of gray. Jareth was waiting for her with his arms folded.
She walked toward him, "Please, let me have my sister."
He paused before answering. "Cara - beware. I have been generous until now, but I can be cruel." He took a pace back, into the shadow of the archway.
"Generous." She took another step toward him. "What have you done that was generous?"
"Everything. I have done everything you wanted. You asked that she be taken. I took her. You cowered before me. I was frightening." Taking another step away from her, he gestured in the air. "I have reordered time," he told her. The thirteen-hour clock had appeared, floating above his head. Its hands were whirling around. "I have turned the world upside down and I have done it all for you. I am exhausted from living up to your expectations. Isn't that generous?" he said with a shake of his head.
Cara continued to advance upon him, one of her hands outreached to him. He retreated deeper into the shadows. "Stay back!" He raised his hands as though to fend her off and took another pace away from her. In a louder voice, he repeated, "Stay back!"
Cara stopped advancing and lowered her hand; when her lips parted to speak, she spoke gently and quietly as if she were trying to calm a frightened child, "It's alright, I won't hurt you. Yes you have been generous; to give me things that I wasn't even aware I was asking for is probably the most generous thing anyone's ever done for me."
Jareth's eyes widened from surprise he hadn't expected her to speak this way to him or to admit she found him generous.
"You play the villain because you feel you're supposed to but the truth is you're a nice person. Another truth is I have to go. I have to get Niki back home," Cara smiled slightly and turned from him to try and find a way out.
Jareth raised the palm of his hand to her, "Stop!" he said in an almost panicked voice which caused Cara to turn back to him, "Wait! Please Cara, look - look what I'm offering." He raised his left arm and made a large gesture with his hand. A glowing crystal ball appeared in it. He spun it around in his fingers, smiled wanly, and said, "Your dreams."
Cara tried to smile back, "I know what you can give me Jareth but I have to go Niki needs me."
He took a step toward her now, "I ask so little," Jareth said, spinning the crystal. "Just let me rule you, believe in me, and you can have everything you want."
She frowned slightly and replied, "I can't. I have to go back."
Jareth took another step toward her and stretched his other hand out toward her. He needed her belief in him, her love. "Just fear me, love me," he told her in a gentle voice, "Do as I say, and I will be your slave."
She stood where she was, shaking her head sadly, "I can't."
Jareth's fingers were close to Cara's face. She saw the crystal spinning in his fingers, and felt on her lips the warmth of his outstretched hand.
She felt herself fighting back tears as she took Jareth's hand from her face and backed away, she looked down as she spoke, "I have to go, I have to take Niki back. I have to protect her till she can protect herself. Please try to understand."
"I do," he said softly "You've always tried to protect and care for your sister, you help people without expecting anything in return and you run from what could make you happy."
Cara looked up at him confused, she watched as he released the crystal ball and it began floating around them as a bubble.
Jareth come closer to her, "You feel you don't deserve to be happy, that if you were something bad would come of it but that's not true you, don't have to be miserable to help your sister," he was right in front of her now. He caught the bubble with one hand and held it, once more in crystal form, up to her. "I've seen you're dreams Cara, they're beautiful and pure just like you. I know you'll not abandon your sister but when the time is right, when she doesn't need your protecting, would it be so wrong to what to be happy yourself?"
Cara gave a small smile, "I guess not but it may be a few years till that time comes."
"I could help it along if you wish," Jareth said motioning to the clock.
Cara tried not to laugh, he was certainly persistent, "Thank you but I should take care of things myself, besides I think I can wait a little while to come back here." At that she saw a glint in Jareth's eyes; they looked more like she remembered now.
"Very well," he said in an amused tone, "I'll let you both go home but," there was a glint in his eyes again, "When the time comes I'll hold you to your promise to come back here."
"I don't think that'd be a problem, if you'll still want me here of course," Cara suddenly felt sad, as the thought of never returning or seeing Jareth and her friends again crossed her mind for the first time.
Jareth gently lifted her chin with his other hand, "You're always welcome here. Just promise you'll come back to us, to me," he gave her a small hopefully smile.
It was probably the only promise she'd ever been ask to make that she knew she didn't have to think about, "This place is my home, my real home, I can feel it. One day I'll return here I'll make sure of it, I promise." Cara smiled as she saw the recollection on Jareth's face.
A clock began to strike.
Jareth tossed the crystal ball up into the air, where it hovered, once again a bubble. Cara looked at it and saw Jareth's face which, though distorted, on the shifting, iridescent surface still held some sadness. It gently drifted down toward her as Jareth drew his cloak around him. She reached out fascinated fingers for it and, as she touched the bubble with her fingertips, she found herself holding the crystal ball it had once been.
The clock continued to strike.
Cara was confused, naturally she'd expected it to burst, unsure of what this meant she looked toward Jareth but all she could see was the swirls of fabric from his cloak. She stood there watching as the fabric of his cloak continued to swirl and change around Jareth.
As the clock struck for the twelfth time, Jareth now a white barn owl flew about the room and circled over Cara before flying out the window. Tears were trickling down her cheeks as she held the crystal ball to her. She let out a sad sigh as she looked around, she was home.
Her first step was instantly toward Niki's room it wasn't long before she ran headlong into Niki in the hallway.
"CARA YOU'RE ALIVE!" Niki cried throwing her arms around her, "I didn't know what happened one minute you were jumping at me, next everything went dark and I was falling again, then some weird lady appeared and was all 'Everything will be fine now dear', and then I landed in my bed."
"I'm glad you're alright," Cara said with a smile, *Must have been Morgana.*
Niki noticed the crystal in Cara's hand and giving it a weird look pointed at it, "What the heck do you have that for?"
"I'm not sure but I'm going to put it somewhere safe," Cara said heading toward her room. Niki shrugged and followed her not sure she wanted to be alone at the moment. When they got there Cara went to her vanity, by the corner of the vanity top and mirror her Erik doll was propped sitting up, she placed the crystal ball there in its lap. Niki just shook her head thinking how odd her sister, she glanced at the mirror and gasped. Cara looked at her then into the mirror; there inside were Hoggle, Sir Didymus, and Ludo smiling at them.
"Good-bye Cawa," Ludo said his voice sounding far away.
"And remember fair maiden should you need us," Sir Didymus said turning to Hoggle.
"Yes, should you need us" Hoggle said gesturing to all of them, "For any reason at all."
"I need you Hoggle, all of you," Cara said trying not to cry again, the thought of not seeing her friends again was too much.
"You do?" Hoggle asked looking at the others then back to her.
"Yes," Cara said with a smile, "I'm not sure why be every now and again in my life, sometimes for no reason at all I need you all. I think it's because even if people don't want to believe it they need not only good friends in there life but fantasy and magic as well. It lets us believe in things again, things that if we aren't careful we'll forget completely and when you read a book, watch a movie or play, play in a game, or whatever it is you bring yourself into that world and when you leave the story you can't help but take a little of that fantasy back with you into your regular life."
Niki let out a laugh, "Yeah, no matter what anyone says we all need fantasy we can't help it, we're only human after all. You know what? I think we both need you guys."
The smiles on Hoggle, Ludo, and Sir Didymus grew wider.
"Well then, why didn't you say so?" Hoggle said his voice sounding closer, Cara and Niki turned around to see nearly everyone they'd met was in the room with them, even Morgana and Merlin.
"Whoot! Party!" Niki yelled as Cara ran to her friends and hugged them one by one then introduced Niki to them.
When she introduced her Morgana tackled Niki to the ground causing Merlin to facepalm. After that the group got noisier so Cara went to shut the window when she did she noticed something. Outside the dark window, a white barn owl was perched with his claws hooked on a branch, an effigy of watching and waiting. She smiled and waved at him, as if he'd been waiting for that cue he nodded at her and flew away. Cara watched as he swooped away over the park, on silent velvet wings, up toward the full moon where nobody could see him, white in the moonlight, black against the stars. Still smiling she closed the window returning to her friends inside.
