A/N: I think this is my favorite chapter so far.
She was weightless, floating through the darkness. It was like drifting out in space, except it was warm and inviting. A cluster of glowing drops occasionally hovered above her. She tried to ignore them when they appeared. The light, though dim, stung her sensitive eyes and the voices were too loud.
Th-thanks, yer majesty. Sarah? What happened? What's wrong with her?!
Sir dwarf! My lord! Thank the Labyrinth you are both safe! …My lady?!
SAWA!
Sarah, come on now. Wake up! You gotta-hey! Where are ya takin' her?!
Right behind you, my liege!
KING HELP SAWA?
Hey, wait for me!
Who was Sarah? And why were they shouting? She moaned in discomfort, wishing that all the noise would just stop.
Immediately, something soft and unseen, tenderly stroked her cheek and a different, more soothing voice glided over her.
You precious thing.
Yearning rippled through her. The warmth began to recede and she strained to follow it. The gleaming specks grew closer and larger, chasing the blackness away. She concentrated on another voice from earlier calling a name.
Sarah…
Sarah…
Sarah…
Her name.
After what seemed like an eternity, she passed into the brilliance and her eye-lids fluttered open.
At first, it was so bright, Sarah couldn't help uttering a feeble whine, but once her vision adjusted she recognized the two solid shapes leaning over her.
"Ludo! Sir Didymus!" She exclaimed in delight, rising from her recumbent position to hug them tight. "You're alright!"
"Of course we are, my lady."
"LUDO MISS SAWA!" The behemoth groaned.
When she released the pair, she looked between them and almost choked with joy once she saw who was standing a few feet away.
"HOGGLE!" She shouted, darting to cuddle her friend like a mother finding her lost child. "I was so worried! Are you really okay?"
"Fit as a fiddle." Hoggle grunted bashfully, giving the girl an awkward pat on the back. "I'm glad to see you too, Sarah, just don't be kissin' me!"
"Is everything…back to normal?" She asked the dwarf, releasing him after a few more affectionate squeezes.
"Yep!" He beamed. "You should've seen it! Mya was all tied up in her own thorn branches and she even had a few fairies crammed in her mouth! Then Jareth took the rest of the spines and-"
Jareth!
Sarah whirled around, frantically searching the area for the Goblin King. She blinked in surprise when she realized that they were in the castle's throne-room. Someone had placed her in the royal chair while she'd been sleeping! She just now noticed the familiar, shimmery black and blue cape draped across her shoulders.
"Hoggle! What happened to Jareth?" She urged.
"Huh? Oh, he's fine." Her friend said dismissively. "Back to his old, scary self. Anyway, he wound them all into a ball and then hurled them down into the-"
"Hoggle!" The girl implored, gripping her friend's elbows. "Where is he?"
"I believe his majesty is in the library, my lady." Sir Didymus answered for the dwarf. "That fairy witch left it in quite a poor state."
"Which way is the library?" Sarah demanded, already on her feet.
"Take those stairs to the Escher Room," Hoggle hesitantly instructed, pointing to the same archway she'd taken the first time here, "then take two rights and a left."
"Thank you, guys!" She hollered to her friends as she hurried to and up the steps. "We'll talk more, later!"
In no time at all, Sarah was running through the Escher Room to a nearby opening. She quickly turned to the left in the hallway beyond and rushed to the thick, wooden door at the end.
Bursting into the disheveled library, her heart stuttered and her jaw went slack at the sight of Jareth, in his true form at last.
He stood before her, clad in his signature 15th century knight/Romantic hero getup. Hiis clothes were all black. It was a striking contrast to the white color she'd recently grown accustomed to.
He stared at her with pure devotion.
Smiling so big it hurt, Sarah sprinted across the room and threw her arms around the Goblin King, burying her blushing face in his neck.
The Goblin King returned the embrace with equal, if not greater, passion.
She didn't know how long they stood there holding each other, and she didn't care.
Nothing was better than this.
"Is Mya really gone?" She suddenly inquired. "Is everything…fixed?"
"Yes, precious." He purred in her ear. "I sent her and her minions deep into the bowels from whence they came. Everyone is safe."
"Why does she even exist anyway, if you're basically a god here?"
"Who can tell?" He shrugged. "Universal balance, perhaps? Everything needs opposition. Good needs evil, yes needs no, and push needs pull. As to your other question…not quite."
She raised her head to peer at him curiously.
"Suppose we discuss exactly where you and I stand?" He clarified.
Sarah felt her cheeks redden again and her skin tingled.
"You're already aware of my sentiments." Jareth continued.
"Really?" She quirked an eyebrow at him coyly. "I don't think it counts when I had to have the enemy spell it out for me. You better give it to me one more time, Goblin King."
Jareth's smirk was so enchanting, she forgot how to breathe for a few seconds.
"Your talisman is quite correct, Sarah-mine." He murmured combing his gloved fingers through her hair. "I am very much in love with you, ever since that book came into your possession as a child and you believed each word with every ounce of your faith. In my mind and heart, you have always been my queen; and though we're are equals in all ways, especially, stubbornness, I would still move the stars at your request. I would turn the world upside down all over again, to earn your smile. I would happily be your slave, if only to hear you laugh."
Sarah swallowed and blinked away the salty moisture in her eyes.
"Is that clear enough for you, my love?"
She nodded dumbly.
He grinned and tapped her nose in a playful manner.
"Now it's your turn, precious."
Sarah fidgeted as she struggled to accurately formulate a proper and coherent response.
"Jareth," she nervously began, "most people think that…when someone my age says that they're…in-in love, they don't really mean it cuz…they're just a stupid kid…but, I can't…I can't even…pretend to deny the way I feel about you. It'd be like…saying that the grass isn't green or…or that the sun isn't hot. It's-It's just…the most obvious fact to me. I've…never felt so…so confident, so…content…and so…complete. I love you, Jareth. I know I do and I know I'll never stop."
He cradled her against the length of his frame.
Sarah could've sworn she felt him shudder. She bit her lip, dreading what she had to say next:
"I have to go home now, Jareth."
He drew from her so abruptly, she winced.
"How can you expect me to let you go after all that has passed between us?" He demanded in an anguished tone. "Do you not understand how much I want you? How much I need you? I want you to be my wife, Sarah!"
"Jareth, would you be reasonable?" She pleaded, chest fluttering at his last sentence. "I have a life and family in the Aboveground. I can't just abandon them now. Besides, I'm still a teenager. I'm not ready to be anyone's wife and I'm certainly not ready to be a queen! I need to do some growing up first. And for the record, I do understand how much you want me and need me cuz I want you and need you just as much, if not more!"
"I could reorder time." He suggested weakly, already doubting she'd take the bait. "I could make you grow up right now."
"But you won't." She stressed.
Jareth turned sharply away. After a minute of silence, Sarah sighed and moved in front of him again. His eyes were closed, his expression stony.
"Jareth, please listen to me." She begged quietly. "I have to go, just for a little while. Let me finish high-school and go to college to get my basics done. By then it'll make much more sense when I tell my Dad and step-mom that they won't be seeing me very much anymore cuz I'm…moving to…Australia or something. It'll give me time enough to say goodbye to Toby. You've waited this long, Jareth, you can wait another four years, can't you?"
The Goblin King finally looked at her and she almost gasped at the glint of pain and despair in his mismatched gaze.
"Jareth," she whispered gently but firmly as she cupped his smooth cheeks, sensing his fear, "I promise you, I will come back and when I do, we will get married and I will rule this kingdom beside you, forever."
He trembled, as if he was fighting with all his might not to crush her against his chest and slant his mouth over hers. He sighed harshly before speaking again.
"If you do this," he muttered lowly, "I cannot see you until you return."
She blanched in shock.
"At all?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Do you honestly think that I could stand to see you day after day, for the next four years, trapped in a body that cannot have you? My Labyrinth would surely break all over again."
Disappointed, but still determined, Sarah nodded and stepped back.
"Well," she muttered, "I wanna get this over with as fast as you do, so…I'm ready." If she drew this out any longer, she'd start crying for sure.
Jareth approached her solemnly. An intricately carved golden clock on the far wall began to chime thirteen hours. With one last melancholy look, he pressed his thin lips to her forehead.
"Until we meet again, precious love."
A shower of glitter rained down upon her and instantly, she was home in her room. She threw herself onto her bed and sobbed into her pillow.
A/N: Reviews make me write faster!