As Sarah brought her lips up to meet the Goblin King's, the girl felt him stiffen in surprise, but within seconds he Jareth kissed her back with fervor, his passion easily matching her own.

Sarah had originally thought that she would merely give him a quick little peck of appreciation and move on, but she immediately realized that this was a ridiculous and impossible notion. She couldn't have pulled away, even if she had wanted to.

Ever since their first fateful meeting, almost two years prior, Sarah had considered Jareth to a villainous and conceited being. And since she had believed the Goblin King to be nothing more than this, Sarah had completely repressed any attraction or emotionally stirring feelings she might have felt for him. Every time Jareth had made advances towards her, the girl had automatically pulled away, telling herself that he was a monster; that she had to take the higher road. But for whom, was she taking such a high road? The thought made her gut clench slightly as she pressed her lips tighter to Jareth's.

"Between the two of us, I am the one who should get the title of monster," Sarah thought sorrowfully. "I was so quick to judge, when I was nothing more than a spoiled brat with a need for drama. . ."

The kiss that had started out strong and passionate, slowly transformed into soft and tender thing, and as the Goblin King gently lapped at her bottom lip with his tongue, Sarah sighed happily. And as the young woman did this, Jareth pulled slowly pulled back to look at her in wonder and no small amount of apprehension.

"Sarah . . . Am I dreaming?"

Sarah smiled warmly as Jareth studied her with curious eyes, and she shook her head. "I don't think so. Though after all the weird stuff that has happened to me in the last couple of days, I won't count anything out."

Jareth chuckled tiredly, shaking his head in awe. "Precious, would you believe me if I told you that I feel the same way?"

Sarah met Jareth's mismatched eyes and for several moments and was reminded of all that she had learned in the last handful of days. Then slowly, the girl took the Goblin King's hand in her own and silently began to cry. She had promised her mother that she would stop running from the past, and she would keep up her end. She would say what needed to be said, and take her future into her own hands.

"I'm sorry, Jareth," She apologized softly, her face surprisingly calm despite what she was doing.

At the unexpected sincerity, Jareth looked taken back before his expression turned soft. For a moment he stared at the girl who had won his heart, studying her beautiful face before he hesitantly brought his hand up to stroke Sarah's cheek lovingly with his forefinger, a small smile appearing on his handsome, yet tired face.

"There is nothing to forgive, my dear one."

"That's a lie," Sarah said firmly, though there was no fire in her tone. "I misjudged you, and we both made mistakes along the way. I know that now."

"There is indeed blame to share, precious," Jareth returned. "But I suppose I brought most of it upon myself, by stealing your baby brother and making you wander my Labyrinth."

"Yeah, giving a teenage girl what she says she wants probably isn't the best thing to do. Though setting the cleaners or fireys would help clean up anyone's act."

Jareth chuckled. "I suppose they would. . . Though you were never in any real danger, Sarah. I wouldn't have allowed it."

"Is that because of the promise you made to my mother, or did you just want to play mind games with me?"

Jareth froze and Sarah waited patiently for an answer. She noted that Jareth's expression had fallen, but she didn't withdraw her question. She needed to know the truth, if she was to move on with her life.

"Lillian- your mother- made me promise to take care of you, but I would have protected you without the vow in place." Jareth finally said solemnly. "I have watched you since you were a little girl, Sarah. I knew you before you ever asked me to take your brother away. And I have loved you since the first time you read our story in the book I left for you . . . the first time you believed in me."

Sarah was silent for a moment, taking the time to form her thoughts, before she took a deep breath and said, "I think I always knew you were there. . . Before you took Toby, I used to have an imaginary friend who I would always talk to after my mother died. He was my best friend."

Jareth's mismatched eyes turned warm with emotion as he nodded. "I barely left your side the first couple of years, though I never showed myself to you."

"It was you?" Though it was formed as a question, Sarah already knew the answer.

"I heard your dreams and sorrows, dear one. And I grew to care for you, just as I do now."

"Then why did you put me through hell," Sarah wanted to know. "You took Toby away, made me run the Labyrinth to face dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, you gave me that damned peach . . . Why didn't you just tell me who you were? Why did you just tell me the truth?"

"You wanted an adventure, Sarah," came the rather bittersweet reply. "You needed a villain and a challenge, and a way to face the terrors of growing up."

"So you gave me what you thought I wanted."

"Yes."

Sarah shook her head as a single tear slid down her cheek. "What I wanted was a friend, Jareth."

"I know, precious. And you gained many throughout your travels in the Underground."

Sarah felt her heart clench almost painfully at the thought of Hoggle and the others. Though she had seen them sleeping on the floor of the royal chambers when she woke up, there was no telling what the Goblin King had in mind for them. . . Once again Sarah wondered what would happen, but she pushed aside the fear again and spoke.

"I'm not my mother, Jareth," the young woman said. "I never have been, and I never will be."

"I am aware of that," Jareth said.

"Whatever deal you made with my mother, I relieve you from it." Sarah held up her hand when Jareth looked ready to object. "You loved my mother. . . I saw that when you were holding her as she died. . . . You aren't obligated to care for me, Jareth. She wouldn't want you to be committed to someone you didn't love."

Jareth's eyes flashed with indignation, before the emotion changed to regret. "You think that I feel obligated to love you?"

"Yes," Sarah said without blinking. "Because you still love my mother."

Jareth was still for a long minute before he reached out and placed his hands on either of Sarah's shoulders, making her look at him. His actions and gestures held no room for contradiction, as he held Sarah close to him.

"I will always care for Lillian," Jareth agreed. "But her heart never belonged to me, in life or death."

Sarah regarded Jareth as tears rolled down his high cheekbones and down his chin. In all her time of knowing the Goblin King, Sarah had never seen him show such emotion. Never before, had she seen Jareth cry, other than when Lillian had died.

"At first, I only cared about you because of my vow," Jareth admitted somberly. "But as I watched you grow year after year, I began to truly love you. . . After Lillian chose your father, I never thought that I would never love another . . . But you proved me wrong, Sarah, because I do love you. So never believe for an instant that everything that has happened occurred only because of a vow. Our prologue was written by your mother, but the rest of our story is ours alone."

Sarah was silent as she watched Jareth cry, though her own eyes had become watery. And after what felt like a lifetime, the Goblin King continued.

"This is our story, Sarah," he repeated with a shaky breath. "And I wish for you to design the conclusion."

Sarah's forehead crinkled in confusion. "What?"

Jareth didn't move to explain immediately, but instead raised both his hands and began chanting words that Sarah could not understand. Though the girl wasn't afraid, she watched cautiously as bright light surrounded both herself and the Goblin King . . . And then, Sarah felt some of the weight that had been wearing her down slowly begin to lift from her weary shoulders. Little by little it faded, all the while Jareth chanting in old Goblinish, until finally there was nothing left and the magical light disappeared altogether.

Sarah and Jareth stood in silence for several minutes, before the young woman had the courage to ask. "What just happened?"

Jareth gave her a smile that was on the borderline of his commonplace smirk. "I've taken off the binding spell that was keeping you in the Underground, Sarah. Freedom is yours."

Sarah's eye grew wide. "My-My freedom?"

"I thought long and hard while you were with your mother, dear one. And I realized that you no longer needed a blackmailing villain, but rather your wings. Your future must be yours to decide."

"But- But what about the Viviari Trials? What about your people, the Underground, "Sarah asked anxiously. "You said they would cease to exist without a Queen."

"Oh they will," Jareth confirmed. "But desolation of that magnitude will take years to come to pass. There is time for everything. And once you leave the Underground the Viviari Trials will be irrelevant. No more nightmares' beasts shall stalk you, I can promise you that much."

"Oh. . . So you'll find another Queen?"

"There is only one woman in my heart, Sarah," Jareth said softly. "But I will not force you into a marriage and a life that you do not want."

A million different feelings and thoughts flickered through the young woman's mind as she took in all that the Goblin King was saying. He was being honest with her; he was giving her the thing she truly wanted. He was giving her the choice!

"I can go back to Toby . . . my old life?"

"Yes, precious. I shall take you back this very second if that is your wish. And I shan't bother you again, unless you wish me to. Your friends have been pardoned of any crimes that I had convicted them for and are freed as well."

"You would do that for me?"

Jareth smiled once more, which was answer enough- and Sarah felt her own bittersweet tears fall down her pretty face. Though the happy smile was more than compensation when Sarah wrapped her arms around Jareth and buried her tear-stained face on his smooth chest, feeling safer and more contented than she had for what felt like a lifetime.

"Thank you, Jareth. Thank you."

Mariya the Goblin watched the exchange between her King and the Labyrinth Champion from the shadows, crying along with them as she felt their emotions as her own. When the binding spell had been broken, Mariya had known it, and she had been more than aware of what it meant.

Jareth had found his heart, and Sarah was leaving.

The old goblin woman had been in Jareth's life since he was first born, and in all those many years of service she had never seen the likes of what she had just witnessed. Though Jareth had been a good King, he had always been rather selfish when it came to affairs of the heart. But now, he was doing the right thing, he was letting his beloved make her own choices. He was giving his heart away, and wasn't asking for anything in return. He had learned to love and let go, and Mariya had never been more proud of him.

With muddy, tearful eyes, the old goblin took one last look at the one she considered to be a son and the young woman she had come to care for, and let the picture be ingrained in her memory. The human girl from the Aboveground and the King of the Goblins embracing as friends and equals, with no more masks or fairy songs left between them- only truth. It was one of the most beautiful things the old goblin woman had ever seen, and she thanked the Rulers that she had been able to witness such a tender moment.

Then as the first rays of the new morning began to rise up over the far hills of the Underground, Mariya turned away from them and left. There was no need for teary farewells, not when it was ending so perfectly. So the old goblin woman, went home to her little cottage within the Goblin City, and was reunited with her children again. And as she settled in beside her youngest daughter, Mariya sighed contentedly knowing that deep down the Underground would get its Happily Ever After, after all.