A/N: Thank you all so much for your feedback! Here's an extra long chapter for you. There's still quite a long way to go with this story so thanks for sticking with it so far

As Sarah ran through the castle she searched desperately for a door, any door that would lead to somewhere far away from him.

He'd stolen everything from her. The years she could have, the laughter, the joy and the tears, he had taken it all from her. It wasn't the fact that her life had been stolen away; it was the idea of the life that she could have had which burned her the most. How could he not understand? How could he think it would ever be alright?

She cursed herself. In that moment when he had stood before her and gazed into her eyes she let her teenage fantasies take control. She was weak. She wanted him and he knew it. Stupid girl. She reminded herself no matter how kind or sweet, or dare she say even loving he could be, nothing would ever change who he was. She thought back to the night when her pen scratched against the piece of paper and sealed her fate, like a contract with the devil. If she had known what it would cost her she would have never breathed a word of the Labyrinth to anyone. How could something so inconsequential as the wrong words destroy her life?

A small wooden door caught her eye, a strip of sunlight filtering in from its seam. Grasping the iron handle, she wrenched it open, breathing as deeply as she could in the fresh air. She found herself face to face with a small goblin, his mouth dropped open in surprise at her as he carried a sack of potatoes.

"I need you to help me find someone." She whispered, sighing as the goblin gulped.

The Labyrinth was different from how she remembered it. She was sure that glitter had been ingrained into the stone of its walls when she first arrived but now it didn't seem to shine at all. Fallen branches and leaves littered the ground, and cracks in the brickwork were rampant. Sarah swallowed as she surveyed the damage, desperately hoping that it wasn't all to do with her.

The little goblin scuttled in front of her; leading her to the one person she thought could help. He didn't like the request, but he didn't like it when the girl yelled at him either. Soon they came to a small garden that had been hidden in a corner of the Labyrinth.

"He's over there, Lady Sarah." She smiled at him and gave him an errant pat on the head, not noticing when he stuck his lengthy tongue out at her and disappeared.

As Sarah walked quietly to the small figure before her, she watched him pulling weeds from the dirt and swearing under his breath. She bit her lip as he worked, willing her tears not to escape.

"Hoggle?" She whispered, watching how the troll's back stiffened and his head slowly turned to see her. In a split second he had thrown the rotten plant in his hand away, rushing forwards to meet her.

Sarah fell to the floor before him, sure that the ground would bruise her knees but she found that she did not care. The small troll had brought back a rush of feelings that she thought had died. She had poured the remembrance of the wonder and magic of her youth into him, and seeing him again had opened the floodgates. His large hand clumsily stroked her back, struggling with the weight of her body.

"Sarah, just take a breath!" He cried out, his voice muffled in her jumper. She relinquished her hold, sitting back on her knees and gazing at him. As she looked into his eyes she found herself weeping. She remembered. She remembered the shade of blue they were and found herself rejoicing in the knowledge.

"Oh, Sarah." He whispered, his voice kind and low as he gazed at tear scorched eyes.

"He took me." She whispered as she tried to quell the tears, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand. Hoggle's brow furrowed in sympathy as he bowed his head.

"I know. Why d'ya go writing that book for?" Sarah was surprised for a moment that he knew of her arrival, but supposed that everyone had heard the King was keeping a human girl locked in the castle. She sniffed.

"I had to. It was my way of coping, I just missed you all so much." Hoggle sat on the ground before her, running a hand over his face.

"I missed you too…Oh, it's a rotten mess." He said quietly, his heart aching to see the sorry state of his friend for the first time in so many years.

"Words mean something here, Sarah. You can't just go around saying any old thing." He whispered sorrowfully. She bowed her head, scowling bitterly.

"It's funny that. It hardly means anything in my world."

"Maybe that's the problem." She offered him a shaky smile.

"He said he stopped you from seeing me, I thought you'd just abandoned me." Sarah whispered, as if she thought the man in question was listening at that very moment. Hoggle looked at her incredulously.

"You were the only friend I ever had. I would never do that." Sarah turned to scowl at the castle in the distance.

"He's evil." She said harshly, and Hoggle shifted uncomfortably, rubbing a dirt covered hand over his neck.

"He could have done a lot worse. Many Kings would have. What I did was treason, ya know." A small laugh escaped Sarah's lips as she remembered his acts of defiance.

"He got so mad when I mentioned you. Guess he's still not over it." She heard Hoggle growl.

'He's a jealous old git. Don't pay any attention." Turning back to him she found that the troll was staring at the ground, face contorted in a memory.

"Jealous?" Sarah prodded.

"He's jealous that you'd rather talk to me than him. He'd be jealous if you so much as glanced at the pondweed. Men like that have an ego, and bruising it makes them angry."

"I don't think-"

"Remember, all them years ago, when we were nearly thrown into the bog? He warned me before that if you were to ever kiss me he'd make me Prince of the Land of Stench. And he certainly tried to." Sarah stopped for a moment, pondering Hoggle's words. Could it truly be jealousy that motivated Jareth's rage that morning? The man was an enigma. She thought she would never truly understand him.

"I never knew." She whispered to Hoggle, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. He awkwardly stood, walking over to the hedges to begin pulling weeds from the ground once more.

"It wasn't your problem." He murmured. Sarah stood from the ground, wincing as her knees groaned in protest. The day had turned cold, a breeze sweeping dust along the floor. She folded her arms over her chest for warmth. As she observed Hoggle at work she noticed that almost none of the plants were in bloom. The vines and flowers were all in a withered state of brown, only a few shocking buds of yellow and red permeating the dead garden.

"He was telling he truth, wasn't he? I hurt this place? I hurt you?" She whispered, and saw Hoggle still for a moment. He turned to her, his eyes meeting hers to give a reluctant nod.

"But I didn't think he'd take ya. We've been coping for centuries; this was just another blow we'd deal with. But…it was you. He always lost his head when it came to you."

"But why?" Hoggle groaned, putting his head in his hands. It seemed that it was still difficult for him to defy Jareth.

"When I first saw you do you remember what I said?" Sarah thought for a moment before shaking her head in confusion.

"I said…it's you. We all knew about you. Well, us in the Labyrinth. Jareth knew about you long before you wished your kin away."

"How?"

"Jareth liked to spend time in your world, just looking at you humans. And one day, he saw you in that park of yours; I think you were only a sprog. You were picking daisies and making them into a crown, declaring yourself Queen of the land. Oh the irony of it all." He lamented as Sarah tried to process the information. Had Jareth been watching her for her entire life without her even realising it? And why would he ever do that?

"How do you know this?" Hoggle gave a small smile, shaking his head.

"Castle gossip flies fast. And when Jareth gets drunk he talks too much. He thinks the Goblins don't really hear him, but they're smarter than he gives them credit for. They pay attention. They all told tales of the human the King had fallen in love with." But still, she couldn't understand.

"He fell in love? With a child?"

Hoggle scowled at her, waving her away.

"It's not love like you think of it, Sarah. He's a lost soul. Much like you were, even back then. And it doesn't matter what age or colour or creed, two souls that are the same will call to each other. And he heard ya."

She was silent.

'When that happens you make a connection. Whether it be friend or foe, lovers even, you'll call for each other for the rest of your lives."

"Soul mates? Is that what you're saying?"

He ignored her, continuing on.

"That's why I was so proud of you when you won. I thought you had beat him, that you'd beat the connection you had. I should have warned you." He cursed himself silently, trying to avoid her gaze. Sarah was silent as she processed the information, trying to make sense of it all.

"Is this what you believe?" She watched Hoggle sigh, placing his hands on his hips.

"It is. It's what everyone in the Labyrinth believes. And Jareth wouldn't lose his head like this if it weren't what he thought too. But, it's up to you what you want this connection to be. Friend or foe?"

The last option remained unsaid, as if he wouldn't even entertain the thought. Sarah ran a hand through her hair, trying to tame the strands that fluttered in the breeze.

"You think me and Jareth are the same?" They couldn't be. She wasn't cruel, she wasn't treacherous. She had done awful things, but none of them had been done maliciously. She almost thought that malice ruled every move that man made.

"No. You're kinder; you're a better person. But you were alone I s'pose. And so was he." She said no more on the subject, choosing instead to quietly help her friend pull the weeds from his withered garden.

"How are ya anyway, kid? In spite of everything?" He said, trying to go for a casual tone. Sarah smiled, grateful for the reprieve of a normal conversation.

"Okay, I guess."

"How's he been to you?" She thought for a moment before giving a half hearted shrug.

"He's Jareth."

"I know. Has he been unkind?"

"I think he's trying not to be. But then he says something or does something and I remember exactly what kind of man he is. He doesn't get it. He doesn't see what he's made me leave behind. I don't even understand why he wants me so much." Hoggle grunted as he threw a weed over his shoulder.

"I told ya why, Sarah." She tried hard not to roll her eyes at his insistence. It was a silly belief, nothing more. Why was she surprised that a fairytale land believed in soul mates?

"My family, Hoggle. My friends. I'm just going to miss them so much." She tugged hard at a stubborn root, trying to focus her frustrations into her actions. As Hoggle's hand covered hers she stopped.

"I know. It's hard Sarah. We've all lost people…but at least they're alive. At least they'll keep on living."

"What will they think happened to me? They'll think I'm dead…or that I've run away-"

"Maybe one day you'll get the chance to see them again." Hoggle's kind eyes implored hers, willing her sadness away.

"Tell me the truth, Hoggle. Was it right for him to take me? Did he have to?" Sarah squeezed his hand tighter, observing the myriad of emotions that crossed the troll's face. Finally, he sighed.

"If he's planning what I think he's planning…then…maybe. But he needs to be the one to tell you."

"Tell me what?"

"Sarah, it's not my place." With a desperate look to her Sarah quietened, accepting Hoggle's reluctance. Together they began to pull weeds once more, talking quietly of their lives and old friends. For a precious few hours Sarah could believe that everything would be alright.

It was peaceful outside, silent except for the distant calls of birds in the sunlight. Hoggle had shown her back to the castle grounds, the sun had begun to set low in the sky and she thought she should return for fear of angering Jareth. Glancing around she saw what she presumed to be the castle gardens. But as gazed at it she found that she was not ready to go in and face another tempestuous conversation with the King. So, she began to walk.

She walked for she did not know how long, just thinking about the extraordinary circumstances she found herself in. No other soul was around it seemed, and as she walked deeper and deeper into the garden the atmosphere started to change. The wind whistled low at her, pushing against her harder as if willing her to turn around. Sarah swallowed. For some reason the very air around her had become unsettling, and the lack of life was beginning to feel suspicious. She had almost decided to turn around when she saw a pair of rusted gates before her.

Built into the hedges, the gates stood at a tremendous height, towering before her so that she had to tilt her head up to see the top. They were spiked, and once upon a time she thought they would have gleamed. Two voices in her head sounded at once to her in that moment. One observed the heavy padlock on the gate and the stillness of the air and urged her to turn back. The other noticed that the padlock was unlocked and there was no one around to fend off her curiosity. And honestly, what did she have to lose?

Pushing against the gates, she winced as they seemed to screech at her, the metal groaning as she disturbed them. Flakes of rust fell into her hands, the bitter smell making her wrinkle her nose. As soon as a gap was wide enough for her to fit through, she wriggled her way in, stopping to look around her new surroundings. Hedges closed in on her on either side, wild and untamed as they protected the path she was on from prying eyes. The weathered stone underfoot was dusty, leaves scratching along the path in the wind. With a deep breath, she set off to find just what was being guarded so spectacularly.

Sarah counted the slabs of stone before her as she walked, trying to take her mind away from Jareth and everything that lay behind her. But she found herself faltering as she reached a bundle of dried flowers at her feet as the hedges fell away. Looking up, she clasped a hand over her mouth at the sight that greeted her.

It was a graveyard.

Rows upon rows of ancient graves stood before her, some newer than others, but all placed haphazardly in the ground, like someone had given up any semblance of order when placing them. They stretched out as far as she could see, and she was sure that beyond that there were miles more. Against the setting sun the stone cast looming shadows over the dry grass, like a silhouette of the person that lay in each grave. Her mouth had gone dry as she looked over the sheer volume of them. But in the distance, something sparkled. Almost without her command her feet began to walk towards it, heart thudding. As she got closer, she saw that it was another grave, but this one seemed larger and grander than the rest. It was almost ten times the size of the others, the stone marker dwarfing Sarah in height and width. And this one wasn't weather beaten or crumbling, it was startlingly clean and tamed, almost as if it had been tended to everyday. Her fingertips traced the engraved lettering, written in some language that she couldn't understand.

"I don't recall giving you permission to come here." Sarah gasped sharply, retracting her hand as if she had been burned. Turning, her heart sank as she saw Jareth standing a few feet away from her. His jaw was tensed and his hands clasped behind his back. She could see that he was struggling to control his temper.

"I'm sorry. I just, I didn't think…." Her words fell away as he walked towards her. For one startling moment they gazed at one another, and Sarah felt a genuine fear at what he might do. She released a breath as he turned his eyes away from her to look out at the graveyard.

"I suggest we return to the castle. It is getting late." Sarah took in the rigidness of his body and swallowed hard, knowing that maybe she was wrong to trespass.

"I'm sorry, Jareth. I was just…" He sighed, a weary hand coming to rub his tired eyes.

"Dinner shall be soon. We may talk then. But for now…please…no more questions." The frailty of his voice silenced her, and for once she found it best to listen to him.

"Okay. Okay, we'll go back to the castle." He glanced at her, an eyebrow raised incredulously at her obedience. After a moment, he reached out to gently place a hand on her shoulder, and when she opened her eyes once more she found herself in her chambers.

"There is a wash room through there, I trust that you'll find everything you need inside." Jareth motioned to a door off the side of the small room, and Sarah gave a small nod. He walked towards the exit of her chamber, but stopped in his tracks. Turning towards her, he opened his mouth as if to speak before shaking his head, dismissing whatever foolish thought had passed through his mind. Sarah then found herself very much alone.

What on Earth had just happened? She found herself on autopilot as she walked to the door of the bathroom and entering. She had never seen him so subdued and plaintive. For a man who was such a force of nature in his own right it unsettled her. Something had happened there, that was obvious enough. But what?

As she left the bathroom she found a set of clothes on her bed. It was a floor length dress in a deep burgundy, long sleeved with a low neckline. She eyed the creation and sighed. She supposed a pair of tracksuit bottoms would be lost to her forever in this world. Slipping on the garment she felt a spark of remembrance for her love of dressing up. She supposed the outfits she used to rehearse her plays in wouldn't be out of place here. It was a small reminder of the girl she once was, a small smile marking her lips as she stroked the soft material, enjoying the lightweight caress against her skin.

"Lady Sarah?" A small goblin, one who she had never seen before peeked around the door.

"His majesty wants to know if you would like to dine with him tonight? He said something about answers."

Sarah looked to the little creature, smiling at the earnest gaze.

"Then please, lead the way."

As she reached the dining hall she almost gasped, the room was cavernous; a fireplace that almost took up the length of the wall greeted her at the far end. The fire was the only light, and she spotted Jareth standing before it, his shadow as large and ominous as his presence. She could see a crystal glass in his hand, a black viscous liquid in it.

He turned to her, bowing his head in greeting.

The long table before her was laden with foods Sarah couldn't even dream of. Platters of lightly spiced cheeses, basted meats and succulent fruit adorned it, the smell almost clawing her towards them. Without realising it she hadn't eaten a thing since breakfast, and the sight of the feast made her feel the gnawing ache in her stomach. Jareth pulled out a seat for her and she silently sat, the only sound in the room was the scraping of the chair and the hearth crackling. He walked to the chair opposite her, maintaining eye contact as he sat.

He looked different than he did at the graveyard. Before he looked almost frail, tired even. But know he had regained his sense of stature and self-importance as he lounged in his seat, regarding her with an amused look. The dress clung to her form tightly and he followed every curve with his eyes, admiring his choice. The burgundy contrasted deeply with her pale skin. He thought for a moment that she looked every inch a Queen.

Shifting uncomfortably under his watchful gaze, Sarah composed herself, crossing one leg over the other and grasping her wine glass. He remained silent as she drank from it, watching the scarlet liquid caress her lips.

"So. Answers?" Sarah said, her mind delicately buzzing from the strength of the wine. Jareth quirked an eyebrow, picking up his own glass.

"Answers." He repeated. He raised his goblet in a toast, satisfied when she followed his lead and drank.

"I'm sorry…about earlier. I was just looking around." Sarah said, trying to address the elephant in the room. Jareth waved her away, allowing her a small smile.

"Do not trouble yourself. I'm sure we will get to that eventually tonight." With a small truce formed, the two of them drank deeply from their glasses.

"So, where would you like to start?" Jareth sighed as he sat haphazardly in his chair; clutching a goblet of wine so reverently you'd think it was a living thing. Apparently she wasn't the only one dreading this conversation. Sarah popped a grape into her mouth, chewing slowly on the plump fruit. She tried to ignore how his eyes followed her fingers as they placed it against her tongue.

"From the beginning, I think." Jareth cocked his head at her.

"My, my…someone is planning a very thorough job it seems." Maybe it was the excess of alcohol, but Sarah found she could only manage a half mocking smile.

"I think the occasion calls for it." Jareth nodded softly, raising his glass to her once more before taking a long draught.

"So…you've known about me since I was a little girl?" Jareth placed his goblet on the table with a resounding thud, his eyes burning with cold fury. Sarah tried to ignore it, continuing to place grapes in her mouth one by one.

"And who, pray tell, told you that?"

"I thought it was my turn for questions? You don't get to ask any." She said calmly, observing him with a casual eye that seemed to infuriate him further.

"If you want an answer, then the answer is yes. I was aware of your…existence…for quite some time." Sarah nodded, pondering the statement. She nearly allowed a smile as Jareth held out his goblet for more wine and watched a bungling goblin leap from the shadows to fill it.

"Why?" Sarah pushed, placing her elbows on the table and leaning towards him. Jareth mirrored her pose, his eyes tracing the line of her lips and curve of her nose.

"I told you that you may ask as many questions as you'd like. But I will maintain my right to refuse an answer." She frowned.

"That's not fair." He sat back, once more drinking from his glass.

"Alas, life is sometimes not." Sarah pursed her lips. He was a tricky person, she should have known better.

"Fine. Let's fast forward a bit. Forget everything that happened before, I want to know about now…my book. How much damage did it cause?" She said quietly, and Jareth lowered his eyes to the table.

"A fair amount. Yet you see, we've been suffering for centuries, this was, how do you humans say it? The straw that broke the Camel's back so to speak. We would have vanished into the ether if I had done nothing." Sarah heard the echo of Hoggle's words within Jareth's and knew he was telling the truth. A little part of her wanted to catch him out in a lie but it seemed she could not.

"Okay. And the choice you gave me…to amend my words or come with you…Do you admit that it was a trick?" At her words Jareth scowled, the strength of his gaze hitting her with brute force.

"It was no trick. That was the choice you had and you chose your preferred option." So he was being literal Sarah sighed. Two could play at that game.

"Fine, but you didn't tell me the whole truth. You took advantage of my ignorance in the matter, correct?" Jareth closed his eyes, as if exhausted by her questioning.

"I may have lead you towards one option. But it was the only option you were ever going to pick, correct?" Sarah blanched, not willing to think of what ifs and what might have beens at that moment in time.

"You don't get to ask any questions, remember?" Jareth let out a long breath before draining his glass again.

"You don't play fair." He murmured as he watched it be refilled.

"Okay…so you admit you lead me towards coming with you, albeit to repair damage that I've done…how are we going to do that? Rebuild ties, you said?"

Jareth settled further into his chair, ignoring Sarah's grimace as he crossed his legs atop the table.

"Do you remember what I told you? That we used to live together, Fae and Human. We were prosperous even." He snuck a peek at her face then, admiring the way the wine had created a glaze over her eyes and stained her lips red. Even through that he could see her steadfastly enraptured with his words.

"You went your way and we went ours, I told you. But…it was not as peaceful as that. There was a war, a great war. Many were lost." Jareth murmured, gazing into the dregs of his glass, as if he could see every fatality at the bottom of it. Sarah blanched, thinking of the rows of graves she had seen that day.

"Why? Why were they fighting?"

"There were many reasons, Sarah. They were jealous, I suppose, of our magic. Wary of us when they found their science couldn't explain our existence. And when they found religion, well, your Gods don't have room for creatures like me and my kind in their scriptures. They thought we were demons…it was an amalgamation of reasons and all of them extremely complex."

"Who won?" Sarah urged softly, and Jareth gave a bitter smile.

"No one. By the end so many were lost that it didn't matter. Everyone simply gave up and decided to fracture. The war was pointless, in the end. The numbers on both sides had dwindled so low that both races feared extinction." His hands gripped the glass, the whites of his knuckles shining in the light.

"But you humans…you can breed and breed and breed…how many children could a woman such as yourself have in a lifetime?" Sarah flushed at the way he gazed at her, such longing and sadness permeating his gaze that she found him almost hard to look at.

"This was centuries ago. And over time human's breed and their numbers increase; now you are stronger in numbers than ever before. But the Fae, we are lucky if we conceive one child in our lives. And most don't even manage that. We are not a virile race, which is why people believe we live for so long." He stopped, draining his glass again. As it was refilled, Sarah remembered Hoggle's words. When Jareth drinks he talks too much. And he was certainly talking now.

"But still, generations down the line we tried to forgive you. Those who remembered the way it used to be tried to forgive. So they went to the Above, trying to rebuild the ties that were lost." He stopped, a pained expression crossing his face. Sarah, transfixed, urged him on.

"What happened?" He met her gaze, his eyes boring into hers.

"You recall the Salem witch trials?" Her heart stuttered.

"Yes?"

"They weren't witches. They were Fae. Fae who lived in your world, trying to rebuild the ties your race had severed. And you burned them like devils." He spat, looking to her for answers for her species' crimes. Sarah swallowed, taking a long draught of her wine.

"Things were different, less open minded, it doesn't excuse it but maybe they were just scared-"

"Fear does not make you do such things. Fear shows the nature of your hearts. And the nature of you species, Sarah...it is evil."

"We wouldn't do that now." He cocked his head at her, a bitter smile on his face.

"Are you so sure?" She remained silent, looking away from the coldness in his face.

"That's how my duties came to be. We left a portal open in your world, and we put the words into your world. So when someone says the words, words your entire world has known subconsciously for eons, we would come. We would save your children from the evil of your world and raise them as our own. When they come here they know nothing of hate. They grow surrounded by magic and peace. It's heaven compared to the above world, and they're so young that they assimilate our world. They become Fae and they transform, nothing human is left of them. It is both merciful and raises our numbers. It was the perfect solution." Sarah felt tears blossom in her eyes. Could it be? Were they viewed as some hateful creatures?

"You said my book affected your magic."

"Not so much me. But this world. This world is a pocket in your universe if you will. Neither here nor there, it exists and yet it doesn't. We hid ourselves from you here. It is only through the magic of the Fae that this world can be sustained, and all of the creatures who live here, including Hoggle, can only survive with the support of our magic. Now there are so few of us…so few to hold such a great weight on our shoulders. As we become fewer and fewer, we can sustain this world less and less. So this world is, simply, fading away. We could survive for another few centuries…but beyond that we can simply no longer hold it together. The children helped us bear the weight. Without them…we cannot. Quite simply, without adopting the children our numbers will dwindle. As they dwindle the few Fae left cannot support this world anymore."

"What about me? Why do you care about me so much then if I'm such a despicable species?" She whispered, shivering as his gaze softened.

"You are different. You are of good heart, yet foolish. What you did to Toby was malicious, but it was done in ignorance, not hate." He whispered back, looking at her with such reverence it almost broke her heart.

"You could never hate anyone. Of course you know anger, fury, heartbreak. So much pain in such a short life…but you are not venomous or deceitful. It's as if you know nothing of hate. You are perfect in your naivety. That is a rare thing in your world."

Sarah held out her glass to be refilled, her heart pounding.

"Is that why there would be complications if I left the castle? Everyone despises me?" Jareth shifted uncomfortably.

"As you can imagine, my race are not so forgiving. Taking a fully grown woman such as yourself, it is different from a child. They believe that once a human is grown they have become tainted with hatred and fear and every despicable nuance the human race suffers. Naturally, the rest of the kingdom does not want you here."

"But you do?" Jareth set his glass down, leaning towards her once more.

"I've seen the truth of you. I know your heart. I watched you for all these years because I didn't want to believe that you would turn to such things. And you didn't. You are still as pure as the day I first saw you." For a moment they gazed at one another, whether it be through the dizzying effect of the wine or an unspoken feeling, she found her heart touched by the sincerity of his words. The fire had begun to burn low; the only sound in the dim room was of the low crackling.

"Are they going to kill me?" She whispered. Jareth sat back, shaking his head.

"I'll make a case before the Court. I'll show them your book as evidence in why I had to take you. And I'll tell them of my plans to right this world."

"They won't like it." Jareth smiled.

"No, they won't. But the case is strong. I'll tell them I offered you a choice and this was your decision. Mercy is an honourable thing in my realm, and even though I could have killed you, I spared you...I think it can hardly be argued with. Besides, they know that we cannot survive the way we are now for much longer. Perhaps a radical solution will be welcomed." Sarah ran her hands through her hair, trying to process the words and their implications. She wanted answers, yet she had no idea that they would shake her world view to the core.

"How will they feel about you marrying me?" Jareth raised his eyebrows, as if only just pondering the thought. She spoke without disgust or anger about the nuptials. Maybe they were making some ground. After a while a smirk crossed his face.

"I am the King. I may do what I please."

"You said it's to protect me?" She pressed, scared of the animosity that lurked outside of the castle walls.

"If you marry me, if I claim ownership over you, body and soul, then no one would dare touch you. You belong to a King. It would be treason and I can protect you. And I suppose they would understand, I need an heir and a human is the most fertile being we know of. It is not unheard of, it is just not done anymore for obvious reasons."

"I don't want to belong to anybody." Jareth chuckled.

"Yes, I know. But you see, in front of everyone else you will. Behind closed doors...I hardly think I'll have any reign over you at all." Sarah could not help allow a small smile at the amusement in his voice.

"And I have to be a virgin for this to happen?" She asked sceptically, the wine making her braver than she ever thought herself. A slow salacious smile crossed Jareth's face as he regarded her.

"Correct. It must be assured that my heirs are of my blood. I cannot marry one who is touched by another." Sarah shook her head, embarrassed.

'This idea of virginity is so archaic." He gave a shrug in agreement.

"My world is, Sarah."

"How do you treat women here? Because if it's anything like our medieval times I don't think I'm looking forward to it." Jareth smirked at her.

"Were you ever?" She shrugged. With a sigh he continued.

"We respect them. We treat them with dignity. As in every world there are a select few who do not...But I would never harm nor humiliate you, you have my word." In that moment, Sarah believed him.

"How will we rebuild?" She tried to steer the conversation on, eager to finish.

"There are many ways. To have a human in the bloodline of the Fae is a powerful thing. The so-called witches in Salem were all descendants of human and Fae relations. They had the best of both races I think. But it won't just be our children. With you here, you can show this world what it is to be human, that you are more than hate and fear. Once you've shown them, maybe a few, maybe even one Fae, will see the truth that I have seen in you. Maybe they'll return to the Above and maybe, just maybe, your kind will finally accept them."

"It doesn't sound like a sure thing." Jareth shrugged, drinking from his glass.

"Nothing is ever certain. But it's the only hope we have left. All the war and famine and greed your world suffers...it is because we are not there to balance you. Our world does not bloom as it once did because you are not here to balance us. We were two opposing forces working in tandem. When you take an element away, you turn to an extreme. It has not been ideal." He smiled not unkindly at her. She released a long shuddering breath.

"I had no idea."

"None of you do." Though the words were kind it still seemed to pierce her heart.

"It sounds like a waiting game."

"It will be. You will show the world. Then our children will continue. Maybe in a few years, maybe in a few centuries...maybe I will not live to see the day...but it will happen. And it all begins with you."

"That's amazing."

"As are you." Jareth observed her, and once more the tenderness in his eyes made her heart flutter. They stared at one another, not quite foes and not yet friends. It was an uneasy truce they had fallen upon that Sarah was unsure if it made her feel weak or powerful. He was a cruel man, he could be wicked and salacious and a downright bastard. But at that moment in time he was all she had. She was caught in the middle of a fight that was bigger than her, one that she still didn't quite grasp fully yet. She would never dare admit it, but in some twisted way she understood. He continued to look at her, and her mind trailed off on a dangerous thought. Could she really marry him? Well, she supposed she would have to, for fear of her own life at least. And maybe she could never forgive him, maybe she would always hate him a little bit for stealing her away…But then maybe they could build something together that was real and strong. Hoggle's words floated back to her. Friend, foe, or lover? At that moment Sarah couldn't quite imagine what would become of them. Maybe one day, she pondered, maybe one day things would be alright.