Hey. Sorry about the massivest of massive delays!! Here is the next chapter, and as promised, Jareth is doing some explaining. Prepared to be surprised. Hope you enjoy it, and as I keep saying, THIS IS NOT THE LAST CHAPTER!!!

Please let me know what you think, it would mean a lot after the hard time I've had recently. Oh yeah, and sorry to everyone who reviewed/added me or the story to something and didn't get a response...things have been hectic as I'm sure you can understand.

Anyway...lots of love and on with the story.

FY.A xxx

Sarah hurt. She ached deep inside. Deep to her bones. Deep as her soul. But she didn't open her eyes, couldn't bear to see the emptiness of the world around her. Without him. And yet, playing against the back of her closed eyelids was a scene of such horror. Jareth, silhouetted against the flame of evil, juddering out of control as the twisted face of Time leered. She could still feel his body in her arms as she had seized the sword hilt along with him. She remembered the strike of the thirteenth hour, the feel of Jareth's body sagging in her arms, the feel of her head exploding within and the resulting mess forcing itself from her nose. And then nothing. Nothing until this. The feel of consciousness returning so reluctantly because she knew that he could not have survived. He had been poisoned, beaten and broken, and had still taken on the might of Time. He could not have survived. Sarah rolled onto her stomach and buried her face in the pillow, not even caring to consider how she had ended up back in his room in the castle, dressed in a clean night-dress. She screwed up her face, wishing the tears would come, wishing she could panic, react. Wishing she could just stop her heart from beating its steady rhythm within her chest.

"You don't wish that."

Sarah's shaking stilled immediately, the muscles in her shoulders tense as she held her breath. Slowly, she became aware of the heavy weight of a hand resting in the small of her back. Vaguely she thought it unfair that anyone should impersonate her beloved, why give her hope only to plunge her into the depths of despair?

"Go away," she tried to say but her voice reused to work, the lump in her throat blocking the words.

He seemed to understand anyway because when he next spoke his breath whispered over the shell of her ear.

"Princess."

The hand shifted to run up between her shoulder blades, fingers gently working the tension from them. But it was the feel of a salt tear splashing onto her neck that finally caused Sarah to turn over and open her eyes. Her vision was blurred, her pupils taking longer than they should to contract in response to the light, but slowly his face swam into view. His hair was in disarray, his clothes torn and grimy. Dried blood clung to his face and hands, the black a stark contrast to the pallor of his skin. And he was beautiful.

"I thought I'd lost you," he whispered. Sarah shook her head wordlessly, reaching up to where the tears had caused rivulets of white on his cheeks.

"I'm here."

"I know."

"I love you."

"You're here."

Sarah was still staring up at him in wonder. Her hand traced his features, but he caught it before she could touch his lips. Instead, he leant down and kissed her softly on the lips, the caked blood rough against her skin. His hand traced the edges of her face before he pulled away and regarded her, eyes full of love.

"You're alive," he said, his voice filled with love and happiness.

Her hands reached up to trace the familiar lines of his chest. And then suddenly she stilled, flattening her palm against him. She looked slowly up at him, meeting his calm gaze.

"Jareth..."

"Yes," he interrupted.

"Jareth you've got no heartbeat."

"No."

"How...how..."

He placed a finger against her lips.

"Shut your eyes. Open your mind. Think of me; feel me in your mind. Find that connection." Jareth rested his forehead against hers, tangling his fingers in her hair. "Let me explain," he said into her mind.

"Time was banished, back to the Aboveground. I couldn't have done it without your help." Jareth shut his eyes, feeling again the shaking sword, his sweat damp fingers sliding on the hilt, his strength all but gone. And then the feeling of Sarah's arms round him, supporting him, gripping the hilt with him, sending him her strength. "But you sent me too much Sarah, you couldn't control the flow. You gave me everything and kept nothing for yourself. So when the magic's flow stopped, and it backed up to its source, the force of it was too much." Jareth's breath...he was breathing?...began to shake as he remembered the blood pouring from Sarah's nose, the blankness from her eyes.

"I...I was dead?" Jareth nodded, eyes still closed, unable to bear the horror in Sarah's voice. "Then...then how..."

"Pan came." Jareth opened his eyes and looked straight into her green ones. "He showed me the ancient power, the magic with which he created the Labyrinth. He showed me I could save you. But it came at a cost."

"What cost?" Sarah's voice was quiet, full of fear.

"Life always costs. Remember something I told you, the last time you were here. When you were trying to reach Toby. I don't even think you were listening...but I said 'I can't live within you'. I lied. We are linked. That is why you can now hear me in your head. The Labyrinth is alive, she talks in my head. We are old friends. And sometimes, in my secret garden when things are peaceful, you can feel her life. An underlying heartbeat, the wind breathing her breath. And yet, when I pressed my hand against Pan's chest there was nothing, no heartbeat, no rise or fall of breath. And yet he did breathe and his heartbeat was strong. His heartbeat, his breath are the Labyrinth's. And as long as she endures, so will he. His magic allows him to pass between worlds, for he is very powerful, but they share a life. And so it is for us. My heart beat is yours, my true breath is yours. But when you shut your eyes and feel, they can be felt to course within us both. And as long as you safeguard them for me, we can both endure together."

Jareth did not speak of the meadow. Sarah seemed not to remember. It was not his place to remind her of something best left unknown. Sarah's eyes had filled with tears. Her hand crept to her chest pressing against the steady rhythm that beat there. Her eyes were full of love as she brought them back to his. Slowly, she leant towards him, kissing the corner of his mouth, trying to convey her gratefulness. She tried to speak but her voice failed her and she shook her head in frustration.

"You want to know why," Jareth stated and Sarah nodded. "The prophecy."

"Raemon mentioned that, before he...before he died. Jareth..." Sarah began as a sudden realisation hit her. "I...I saw him Jareth. In a meadow or something. Must have been hallucinating. But he was kind. He helped me. Jareth, I want you to forgive him, because I already have."

Jareth stared down at the amazing woman before him. She seemed remarkably calm, composed.

"There is just one thing. Why didn't you tell me of this...prophecy?"

"Because I needed it to be your choice. I had to know it was what you wanted. To be here, with me."

Sarah kissed him gently. "tell me the prophecy," she said.

As Jareth recited, Sarah found herself sinking into warmth as the rhythm of the words flowed through her. But she did not understand. It took her a few minutes to realise that Jareth had finished speaking. She looked up at him and he smiled down at her.

"You need to sleep."

"I don't understand what it means."

"I know."

"Then explain."

Jareth looked into her eyes, trying to gage the depths of her tiredness, before finally nodding his head. He began to recite again.

As Creation shakes each twelfth hour

Many leaves shall fall

Turning yellow, dry and broken

Time shall claim them all.

"It's to do with Time's designated dominion. He could rule anywhere were the clock strikes twelve, hence he carries a twelve hour clock. The symbol of his dominance. Creation is a person, I think you would call him God where you come from, and we call him Creation. The leaves are the people that grow on his tree of life, and Time feeds off them."

But in the deep, Creation's servant,

Loving, full of care,

Gives his blood, his mind, his heartbeat,

His breath becomes the air.

"Creation's servant is Pan, and the prophecy tells how he loved the Underground so much that he created the Labyrinth, giving it life both so that he could remain there forever and so that the creatures would have a loving place to live. This was the birth of the ancient magic. Living within a sensitive and highly intelligent life-form derived from one who truly loved...is it not paradise?" Jareth was silent for a few moments, musing.

When Time's dominion seems to crumble,

Thirteen stops the circle round

Then Creation's servant sleeping

'neath the smooth and grassy mound.

"Pan sought to banish Time from the Labyrinth he had created, so that his people there, the fae, could live forever. He did this by adding a thirteenth hour to the clock, so that it no longer matched the one carried by Time. This achieved, and Time in hiding, he ringed the graveyard in the old magic and retreated into the earth he loved so much to sleep for eternity. In essence, he was literally sleeping with the one he loved." Jareth grinned briefly at Sarah, and she smiled in acknowledgement of his joke.

But twelve will chime afore thirteen,

So Time can breach that wall,

Bringing heartache, sorrow, bloodshed.

His Labyrinth shall call.

"But Time was crafty and longed to feast upon the immortal lives of the fae. Imagine, an immortal time-span, a delicacy to one who lives off time-related life-force. So he devised a plan with which to breach the barrier Pan had created, utilising the fact that a clock with thirteen numbers must still strike twelve. Although twelve was no longer the number of power, he found a way to harness its magic anyway. He brought the war, and the Labyrinth began to scream in pain as his telepathic minions began to feed of her loving consciousness."

Pan lies quiet, Herne's antlers broken

Deep, Creation cannot see

Injustice' spears when raised, rich stained,

Black with Royal blood shall be.

"Pan was asleep and Herne's physical body had long since passed back into the earth so there was no-one to heed the cry of the Labyrinth. Herne, by the way, was the power that was appointed to look after the animals placed in the Labyrinth. He is fae, although his affinity with creatures made him the first to achieve transformation. He could turn into a stag, but spent so much time living as one that he never truly turned back; hence he still carries the antlers which grow and shed on his brow. He too must have been very powerful, for his reach was far and his strength as a fauna formidable. But I digress.

"Creation could not see what was happening in the depths of the Underground, right on the peripheries of a Creator's vision. The spiders ran wild, stirring the Goblins into action, drawing them into rebellion against the fae." Jareth looked away, his eyes filling with tears as the memories overtook him.

"They killed your father." Sarah reached out, covering Jareth's hand with her own, wondering how she knew this as Jareth nodded his head. "I saw him Jareth, in the meadow with Raemon. He was with the fae Jareth. Peaceful."

Jareth nodded again, a lump in his throat. Sarah screwed up her face, trying to remember more of the meadow...why had she been there?

But Jareth drew a breath, a breath she now knew was a charade, for she held his true life force, and continued.

Then Creation's servant's eyes,

One of night and one of day,

In a King will now be opened,

Come the monstrous Time to slay.

"The most striking thing about Pan, despite his height and strength, are his..."

"His eyes," Sarah interrupted. She screwed up her own, trying to hold the dim picture in her mind. "One's black and one's blue..." Sarah opened her eyes to look up at Jareth, who was staring at her with a strange expression on his face. "...like yours, but more so."

Jareth nodded his head. "By the time of my birth, Raemon had already been chosen to succeed as King, as fae royal succession is not the same as it is from your world. But then I was born and they saw my eyes and thought of the prophecy. That was why Raemon resented me."

Sarah nodded back. "He told me. He also said you set your crib on fire and turned your bath water to ice, is that true?" She grinned up at him.

"Apparently so," Jareth said serenely. "I did not have control of my power in the early stages, vast as it was."

"Not the only part of you that's bigger than you'd expect," Sarah retorted cheekily and the innuendo could be felt to lift some of the tension. Jareth grinned back and kissed her on the nose.

His expression sobered again. "I grew up adored, pampered, worshipped almost. But all my youth I carried the weight of the forthcoming battle. 'Come the monstrous Time to slay'." His voice sounded bitter. "And then they killed my father, and in that grief, that regret, that...utter inadequacy, I knew it was nearly time. And I knew I would fail."

Once the Light will banish horror,

Striking down encroaching sleep

But Light himself will be defeated,

This conquering an honour, keep.

"The Light?" Sarah asked.

"Me," Jareth said briefly. "Jareth means 'Coming of Light' in the ancient fae goblin. But as I knew, I couldn't defeat the hoards of Time. And while my people celebrated, as they settled and loved and grew old, I knew he would come again."

"But you weren't defeated by Time; you banished him so he hardly won."

"The defeat wasn't by Time, my dear, it was by you."

Emeralds blaze, set face of courage,

Desperation in her stride,

Creation's servant's riddle broken,

She shall be the Light One's bride.

"Your fight to win Toby from me. I answered your call to take your brother because I had seen you in the park and you enchanted me. I watched you. I grew to love you. And so when you asked a direct favour of me, how could I refuse? But you did not want me to be loving. You wished to be terrified. I obliged, it suited my mood for Raemon had been annoying me. And I invited you to my Labyrinth to entertain me until I felt better. In retrospect, it is probably best that you did not ask me to love you in those emotion-filled thirteen hours. But you ran the Labyrinth and won."

Jareth ran his hand down Sarah's cheek. "Your eyes, emeralds. Your desperate run through my Labyrinth, your defeat of Pan's mazes and puzzles that are the protection of his Labyrinth and people, for I merely maintain and update, who am I to challenge Pan's judgement? How could you not be the one spoken of? But it said bride and, cruel as I am, that was not something I wished to force from you."

Time will stop and love will blossom,

The tree of fruit begin to grow,

Before the clock that striketh twelve,

Shameful, faceless, dare to show.

"We were destined to fall in love, to become so caught up with each other that nothing else mattered. I took my eye form my Kingdom Sarah, that's why this is all my fault. Despite what I knew, I couldn't stop it."

Sarah reached out to him and laid her hand on his arm. "So the prophecy speaks of the return of Time?" Jareth nodded slowly. "He is 'the clock that striketh twelve'?"

"Yes Sarah, he is."

"What about 'the tree of fruit'? That doesn't seem to make much sense."

Jareth leaned over, flattening his hand over Sarah's abdomen as he leant down to kiss her. Sarah linked her fingers through his, feeling for the first time that her belly was no longer flat, but that a small swelling rose under her fingers, barely noticeable, easily overlooked.

"Oh..." she gasped. "You...knew?"

Jareth nodded his head. "But only after all that happened. Only since I've been turning the prophecy over in my head as I waited for you to awaken. I could not think of another explanation... I had always assumed it would have something to do with the coming of spring...but now..." he shook his head. "Sarah, if I may ask, when was your last menstrual cycle?"

Sarah felt herself blushing furiously, found she couldn't meet his eye as she stammered her reply. "I...um...I was never very regular...you know...Aboveground. Stress and all that. Sometimes I could skip completely."

"Precious..." Jareth murmured as he brought his lips against Sarah's, pushing her back on the bed gently and cradling her in his arms. "You're safe no. Here with me. Forever and ever. Remember?"

Sarah nodded against his neck, biting her lip against the tide of emotion.

"Sarah...do you miss it? The Aboveground. Because this experience taught me that I love the Underground, my Labyrinth. I can't be without it, not while I live and..."

"Say it Jareth."

"...not while I live and breathe."

Sarah wrapped her arms round his ribcage, crushing his body down onto hers, pulling him so close that she felt they could merge.

"Never leave me," she whispered, "never send me back."

Jareth stilled at her words, remembering his conversation with Pan on top of the mound - "Would you give her up to let her live? Return her to her old life" – he remembered his nod. Slowly he disentangled himself from Sarah's embrace.

"I'm filthy," he muttered, closing his eyes. As he drew on his power, Sarah felt a small spark of electricity flicker within her. When she looked back at him the blood and dirt was gone, his hair was clean and he wore a pair of loose fitting, black silk breeches that hung low form his waist. He smelled clean, of magic and fresh grass. Sarah's eyes were drawn to the silver scar that coiled on his bicep, the mark of the arrow. Gently she traced it with her finger tips. Distracted for the moment from her previous question she looked up at him.

"Does it hurt?" she asked.

Jareth nodded his head. "But not there, here," he said, fisting his hand against his chest. "Iron aches, long after it is gone. I can still feel it."

Sarah pushed herself up from the bed, placing her lips against the silver imperfection. She drew him back to lie down on the bed once more.

"Carry on with the prophecy," she whispered, by way of distraction.

Stealing thoughts to finance evil,

Ceaseless from the dark they strive,

Sleepers' peace is rent asunder,

Of two but one is left alive

"They came as a whisper. A whisper in my mind. Feeding off the people I am here to protect. Ever wondered about that irrational fear of little house spiders?" Sarah looked at him. "They feed off your thoughts. That's how they survive. Humans have lost their telepathic ability to the spiders, and it hurt. So now, generations later, you're still scared. And they don't give up. They're not really spiders, by the way, but the creatures Time has captured. The spider is just a convenient form."

Sarah opened her mouth to interject, but Jareth had already continued.

"The sleepers. The lost fae. The dwell in another world now, they belong to the stars. They are the guiding lights in a meadow of the uncertain."

"I met them."

"I know." Jareth stared deep into Sarah's eyes, trying to work out what she was thinking. "They sleep beneath the mounds in the graveyard – the meadow of the dead. The spiders, they were feeding off the residual thoughts still imperceptibly leaking from their bodies, you saw them swarm Raemon I think?"

Sarah shook her head.

"Well he was fresh. That's why I started the fire. I didn't want them to consume him. He was my cousin after all."

"And the last line?"

"Yes. You died. I didn't, 'of two but one is left alive'. I'm sorry."

Again Sarah shook her head. "Don't be," she murmured, tracing the line of his jaw with her finger. "You brought be back."

Desperation follows battle,

Salt water kisses deep of brave,

'til Creation's servant wakens,

Bringing hope, to serve, to save.

"I lay down beside you Sarah, I couldn't leave you," tears were coursing freely down Jareth's cheeks, remembering the desolation, the loss, the terror. "I didn't want to live. I cried, I think, though I don't remember, because it was my tears that slipped through the soil and woke Pan. He came with hope."

Strong sword in hand to wield and gentle,

Death aligned so close to life,

Black will flow to bloodless chalice,

An end to anger, fear and strife.

Loss and pain so closely allied,

Light would gift her up Above,

Giving up his breath, his heartbeat,

To live within the one he loves.

"These tow verses come together. Pan's sword had been missing from the tomb, that's how the spiders got in. But you brought it back."

"Raemon gave it to me. In the meadow the first time. Before I woke up under the statue."

"You were in the meadow before. By the name of all things good, Sarah my love I am truly sorry. Had I known, I would never have left you."

"They gave me the sword, and I knew I had to take it to you. So I screamed to the Labyrinth and the statue became Elixsyure and we came to find you."

"Sarah, my love you are amazing. Pan had regained his sword so he once more took on the mantle of the great magic to use for peace. And Sarah, he asked me a question. He asked me whether I would send you back Aboveground with no memory of me if it meant you could live. I said I would, though it tore me apart. So he cut me and I gave you my life, in return for a forever with you. Do you understand?"

"No. I don't. I can't live without you Jareth."

"Listen to the next verse."

Death for both gives life eternal,

From ancient magic to invoke,

Linked forever, one becoming,

Turning on harsh words once spoke.

"Wait Jareth, the meadow. I have this weird memory of a meadow. That was death wasn't it?"

"More like a waiting area, a reception."

"But I saw you there. You said you didn't die." Sarah looked up at him, accusation in her eyes.

"I had to come and get you. You had nearly accepted, I was only just in time. But that was what I was meaning earlier...that we are linked. We truly can't live without each other now, as we share a life. We will die together Sarah, if either one of us should take that step. Are you alright?"

Sarah was gripping his shoulders tight, her fingernails digging into his skin as she was gripped by strong emotion. "You can never leave me alone?" Jareth kissed her gently in confirmation. "What harsh words?"

"Me again. 'I can't live within you' – the statement I uttered in anger. You proved them wrong by accepting life."

Sarah nodded up at him as she settled back on the pillow, her fingers linked through hers. Her eyes were glazed with tiredness and as Jareth looked, he could almost read the emotion that walked through her mind, processing all she had learned. Would she accept it? Would she hate him for not telling her, not giving her true choice? He settled himself beside her and her hand snaked to rest in the centre of his chest.

"I can still feel it beating," she muttered.

Jareth fought the emotion within him. To distract himself, he began to recite the last verse, the epiphany of hope.

When truth hurts like the hell it is,

So hope rise in the strength of line,

Giving lovers one forever,

In which to crush the world of Time.

The glanced over at Sarah's sleeping face, wiped smooth as she lost herself to the dream world. He lifted one hand, pillowing his head on his arm as he thought of the prophecy. The future. Their future. Hope in his children and their children, his line stretching away into the mists of the yet to come, while he Sarah defied Time, sharing eternity together as one.