A/N: I know, I know...Worst cliffhanger ever. But it certainly keeps you all hooked! My evil plan has succeeded! Okay, well it wasn't really the plan, but you don't have to worry about anymore of those because this is the last chapter of In Search of New Dreams except for the epilogue which will follow soon. I can't believe it's pretty much over! It's good though because all things come to an end and I'd rather it be like this than dragging it out, haha. This chapter gave me some difficulty because I try to avoid doing cheesy dialogue, but sometimes love stories just have it and there's no getting around it. Love can be totally cheesy! Just go with it! :D And I really wanted to wrap things up with the ending all you awesome, wonderful readers deserve after sticking through me through this whole thing. Hope it's fantastic! It's extra long too. Whoa. Monster chapters for the end apparently.

Segeine: Haha, well encouraging me to update this once it was written was good enough for me :). And voila! Thank you very much! Happy to hear you've been enjoying the story!

Hotforteacher3: Fiend! Aha, you might not feel the same after today's update ;). Haha! Oh, it's fixed, all right. Quite nicely too, for our lovely couple anyway. Not so much for a certain mage...

My sincerest thanks and lots of hugs and cyber cakes to all you who reviewed last time: Hotforteacher3, Segeine, Jaden Kismet, Melissa72, JennaSoprano, Kinzichi, willowrain, avulgarism, DaniellaPeirce, Lizzie, sheniyag, The Queen of Water, Kaytori, PhoenixBreaker90, XXPay4XtraShippingsXX, She with the hazel eyez, and Kate499. You all encourage me so much in keeping the story going and doing a good job on it!

Chapter Twenty-Eight: We're Choosing the Path Between the Stars

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A memory of light, deafening sound, heat, shifting space, and sorrow seared Sarah William's mind and heart like a fiery brand. She opened and closed her eyes a few times as she lay completely still on her back atop what felt like her own mattress and blankets and stared up at the off-white ceiling.

An instant later, as the memories and realisations all engulfed her like a wave of the ocean crashing over her while she tried to struggle to the surface to breathe, she shot up off the bed. She nearly fell to the floor: her legs felt like some strange rubbery substance and a wave of nausea swept through her. She sat on the edge of the mattress and frantically searched the room, her own room in the apartment she shared with her best friend Amber.

"No. No, no, no…" She closed her eyes tight and placed her cold hands on her temples, realising at once just how much she was trembling; yet it wasn't from trauma. It was from the rising tide of horror. The horror of her situation.

She stood to her feet and rushed to the window in hopes that it would be an episode like the Junklady with the false room trying to distract her from what was really going on. But it wasn't. Once the curtains tugged open, the pale moon shone through the glass pane and highlighted her ivory skin that had gone ghostly white at the sight of her own world staring back at her.

"No!" she screamed. "I can't be here!"

Sarah dropped to her knees in the pool of moonlight on the carpet. She was again in that lavender dress she had worn to the wedding back when everything changed and she was drawn into the Underground for another adventure that would forever alter her existence. She gripped a handful of the soft skirts of the dress as anguish tore ragged strips right across her soul.

Although the sorrow threatened to overwhelm her as her shock wore off, she would not yet give up. She shakily scrambled up a second time to stand in front of the mirror on her wall.

"Hoggle! Ludo! Sir Didymus! Anyone? It has to work now!" Her fingers touched the reflective surface that showed only her spectral likeness with haunted eyes and tousled dark hair. Her voice dropped to a soft whisper. "Jareth? Where are you? Jareth!"

"Sarah? Sarah, is that you?"

Sarah froze at the sound of Amber's voice heading for her bedroom. She didn't even think before she darted to the bed and dove under the covers to pretend she was asleep. As happy as she was to hear Amber's lovely voice and to see her best friend after being gone for so many months, she knew she would break down into a weeping mess but not be able to explain why. Not now. It was too much…

"Sarah?" Amber knocked lightly on the door. "Are you in there?"

After another soft knock, Sarah heard the door gently creak open. Amber gave a soft 'oh' and closed the door as soon as she saw a familiar head of long dark hair on the pillow across the room. Sarah squeezed her eyes shut and pulled in a shuddering breath. Her hand slowly reached up to touch her face when a few hot tears streaked down her cheeks onto her pillow: tears that she tried so hard to keep at bay, but the breaking of her heart was too deep and sharp to ignore.

As soon as it was clear Amber had gone off somewhere else in the apartment, Sarah sat against the door to listen and wait. The amount of time that then passed did not register to her as she stared straight ahead devoid of life and emotion, but it was a while before she heard Amber close her own bedroom door to go to sleep. A half an hour later, Sarah fumbled around for a pair of sneakers, a jacket, and her purse. As quietly as she could, she crept out into the hall and to the front door which mercifully opened without hardly a sound.

Sarah drove and drove. The stars wheeled above, and the car lights pierced through the dark as she sped down the road in the late hours of the night. She'd rolled the windows down to let the cold air bluster against her skin and toss her hair as if it could somehow shock her out of this dream so she could go back to that old fortress in the mountains where the love of her life had fought to save her.

"I am going to make sure that you are safe."

What had he meant? She couldn't even consider that he had given his life. She just…couldn't…

Another tear dropped to her lap. She wiped at her eyes and tightened her hold on the steering wheel.

"He's not dead," she said to herself aloud. "Jareth is alive. And I'll…I'll see him again."

The drive was long, but there was no possibility of her sleeping tonight anyway, and she refused to stay still, so she went to the only place she could think of to hold on to the last threads that connected her to the Underground. She would not give up. There had to be something.

Her car pulled to a stop in a small parking lot. There were only a few lights out here: lampposts that stood like sentinels against the night. They cast deeper shadows that merged with the silhouettes of the old trees and subtly lit the winding path that curved all around the park. She'd long ago lost count of how many times she'd come here since she was a little girl and of all the years afterwards when she sought refuge in the greenery and open grass.

Sarah made her way to one of the old stone bridges and sat down with her legs hanging over the side only a few feet above the water.

This was where it had all began when she was a kid. Jareth had seen the hurting little girl and granted her a thin red book that even he didn't know the full consequences of. He had inadvertently set the course of their future together and entwined their destinies with his one moment of compassion, an act that would guarantee their meeting and rewrite his lonely future.

As the shock wore off the longer she sat there, the hard band wrapped around her finger finally drew her full attention, and she stared with longing and memory at the intricate crystal and diamond ring still on her hand. It was still there! She hadn't lost it in the transfer of worlds. It was like a rope attached to the Underground, a light in the dark that shone with hope and possibility. This represented the love Jareth and she had promised to each other forever. It both comforted and saddened Sarah to her very core.

"Jareth, why am I here? Please come get me. Don't leave me here without you. Please! I don't even know what happened to you. What if…what if you're gone?"

Only the chill night air and the quiet gurgle of the stream answered Sarah Williams.

Amber greeted her roommate with anxious enthusiasm when she trudged inside in the morning. Amber gaped a minute in astonishment at the appearance of her friend whose hair was a bit wild, no makeup, the same dress from the day before paired with an odd combination of sneakers and jacket, and dark circles underscoring her dull eyes.

"But you…you were in bed last night when I checked," Amber exclaimed. "And you're in yesterday's clothes still! Actually, sorry, why don't we sit down with some coffee or something. You don't look so good…"

Sarah laughed, but it was a hollow and brief sound. Amber frowned and helped her sit down at their little table. She hurriedly poured two cups of coffee and added milk and sugar the way Sarah liked it. Once she set the mug in front of her poorly looking friend, she plopped in a chair across from her and did another inspection.

"I have a lot of questions actually," she began. "Like, where did you go yesterday? First, we're at a wedding, and then all of a sudden you and Bran are gone. We thought you two were just having some quality time together—you know, since I've been hoping you two would hurry up and get together—but even after the reception was over, we couldn't find either of you. I called here to see if you were back home, but no one answered, so we called Bran's number but got the same thing."

Sarah rubbed at her eyes and placed her frozen hands around the steaming mug of coffee. Not only was her posture bent and weary, but Amber saw the same things reflected in her eyes, and it worried her more than she liked to admit. It was as though Sarah suddenly was a lot older and carried some weight that no one understood. Amber shuddered.

"I'm sorry. I really am," Sarah finally said after a heavy sigh. "Yesterday was just…a really bad day."

"We don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

"No, it's okay. Bran," she hesitated as if even saying the name was painful, "isn't who we thought he was. I don't ever want to see him again. Or even hear his name."

Amber's mouth dropped open as a terrible thought struck her. "Sarah! Did he…you know…did he hurt you? What happened? If he hurt you, I'm going to make sure he—"

"Not in the way you're thinking," Sarah interrupted. "He's so angry, so vengeful, and so…inhuman, but he's very good at being deceitful too. Don't you dare blame yourself either. None of us could have known what he was really like. It's over now."

She absentmindedly touched her chest where her heart was.

"Where is he? Sarah, if he did try anything, we should call the police."

"I don't know where he is," Sarah murmured as if somewhere distant. "Like I said: it's over now. I don't want to even hear his name again."

"Fair enough. I wish you'd tell me what happened, but we'll just forget about him and let it go. I still would like to give him a piece of my mind though! Right, well, anyway…where were you this morning? You must have gotten up pretty early."

"I went out for a while, to think about things and to just get out of the apartment."

"Yeah, I should've known." Amber smiled. "You do that a lot when you need to think or deal with something. I hope it helped. If there's anything I can do, please let me know. Maybe we could have a girls' night or something later? Get your mind off things."

Sarah shook her head. "Not tonight. Maybe tomorrow."

Amber nodded and sipped at her coffee. Sarah hadn't even touched hers, but her hands still clutched the mug rather tightly. Amber reached out to place her hand over Sarah's. It worried her to see all the light gone from those lovely green eyes.

"I'm sorry for whatever happened. I wish I could do more."

The days began slipping through Sarah's fingers like a handful of sand for no matter how hard she tried to hold onto them, more and more slid past. One day turned into two, then three, and before she knew it two weeks had gone by since she woke up in her bed in her own world. Two agonizing weeks of inner torment and grief that no one else could understand because she couldn't tell anyone what really had happened unless she trusted someone with the truth of the Underground. She didn't want to add friends or family thinking she was a lunatic to the list of troubles weighing down her heart. Would anyone even believe a word she said if she tried to explain? The only proof was the ring that hung on a chain around her neck under her clothes, but would that be enough?

The first three nights she actually slept, she fell asleep clutching the leather-bound Labyrinth in her hand. Now it sat back in a drawer where she couldn't see it. For those first few days her grief had been delayed or tempered by the light of hope that kept away the darkness, hope that the Goblin King would appear and take her home with him. That hope died a little more each day that passed until the night at the end of those two weeks when nothing held back her sorrow anymore.

She broke. It was midnight, Amber was asleep in her own room, and there was no moon in the sky. She was in the dark.

Sarah wept until there were no more tears. Her pillow was wet, and the deep ache in her heart spread over her chest and up into her throat. It was an anguish that clenched her very soul and made her heart feel as if it would collapse under the weight.

If Jareth had lived through whatever cataclysmic event that transpired in that moment she got sent back here, wouldn't he have come back for her by now?

And that was the thought that drove a blade deep into the recesses of her being.

The man she had fallen so in love with, the one she had basically agreed to marry to spend the rest of her life with, was not likely to be alive.

Her gaze caught on the mirror on the wall, and it reminded her of those days when her three friends from the Underground would appear in the reflection, she would turn around, and there they would be in the room with her. She stared for hours into the mirror hoping that Jareth would materialise behind her, she would spin around, and there he would be standing in the room ready to take her home.

I didn't need him then like I needed the others. But now...now I do. He spoke of living up to my expectations of him and how exhausting it was, but now I have no expectation of him except that he just is, that he just be himself. I need you, Jareth! You can't be dead. I need you…

In all those months in the Underground, Sarah had almost forgotten what had been happening in her life in her own world. The harsh reality did nothing to soothe her grief. She still didn't have a job and school was still underway, so she had to go to her classes and do her work as if nothing had changed. If she didn't find a job soon, her situation would get more difficult since she had to pay rent and survive through college. By the end of the second week since she'd been back, she threw herself into her schooling like she never had before to distract herself from the tragedy eating away at the edges. However, she held out on finding a job just a little longer as if it was the last bit of hope to cling to, to imagine that she wouldn't need one because Jareth would come for her soon. She couldn't give that up yet. Not yet.

Although she still grieved the loss, Sarah had come to a point where she knew she had to live life and be strong even when no one was watching. It may not have seemed fair, but life wasn't fair. It was a lesson she learned years ago in a strange labyrinth…So she persevered, and Sarah Williams grew up a little more each day.

Amber and Sarah had a couple classes together, and while one of those finished, Sarah got caught up in remembering the nightmare she'd had the night before. They were all at that last battle in the dark fortress up in the mountains. Jareth and Fiachna fought while she stood to the side helpless and having to watch. The end of the nightmare was always the same: Fiachna killed Jareth in a blaze of light and fire and pain. It woke her up every time with tears on her cheeks.

"Sarah?"

Sarah jerked her head up.

"Class is over," said Amber. She laughed. "You were off in some other world there for a second."

"Oh, sorry. I guess I was."

She gathered up her bag and books and walked with Amber out of the classroom.

Amber fingered her blonde hair after stopping to look at some announcements and advertisements posted on a board just outside. Her eyes lit up, and she pointed at one of the decorated papers that had large, bold letters on it.

"Look at this! Someone told me about it, but I didn't think it was this soon. It's a costume bash! Doesn't that sound fun? It's going to be at the Pearl Ballroom downtown in two and a half weeks. Sarah, we should totally go to this!"

Sarah barely registered what her friend was saying since she was still trying to rid herself of the terrible images from her nightmares. "Hm. Maybe so."

Amber rolled her eyes and nudged her friend's shoulder. "Don't sound so excited. We are going and that's that. Michael works that night, so don't worry about the whole third wheel thing. We can go together: just us girls."

"A costume bash?" It finally hit Sarah what exactly Amber had said. At least it wasn't a masquerade, but it still reminded her too sharply of memories that pained her. "Um, I'm not sure I want to go. I don't have a costume, and I just…"

"Nonsense!" Amber declared. "I said we're going, so we are definitely going. You need to get out and do something anyway since you've decided to hole up these last couple weeks. It'll be fun! And don't worry about costumes! We are part of the drama department, so I'm sure Mindy will lend us a couple costumes that haven't been used in a while. There's a whole room full."

Sarah wanted to protest more, but she could see that Amber wouldn't hear a word of it. She was probably right too. Maybe she did need to get out and do something more than drowning herself in school work. But did it have to be a costume-themed event? It almost was like rubbing salt in the wound, and she determined to take any route out of going if at all possible. By then it would have been a month since she returned, but a deeply broken heart was not something that healed in a month; especially when so much of that month was spent waiting and hoping that the circumstances would dramatically change in a glorious instant.

A couple days later, Sarah and Amber raided the costume room from the university drama department with the good graces of Mindy who oversaw the backstage unit. Sarah's normal sense of adventure and excitement had been considerably dampened by the grief sitting like a heavy stone in her chest, but even through the haze of mourning she felt a slight thrill at the sight of the racks of well-crafted costumes that awaited the two young women.

Amber made an atrocious, girly sound that caused Sarah to cringe as she dove right in to scour the costumes.

Sarah was struck yet again—as she often had in those first few awful days—by the oddity of performing simple or normal tasks of life after all that she'd been through and all she'd seen in the last months. Well, the last months that technically didn't exist here. How did you go from rubbing shoulders with the mythological Sidhe, battling a mage, and living in the Goblin Kingdom in the Underground to washing dishes, attending college classes, and pretending you were okay so no one would ask what was wrong? The first visit to the labyrinth and the Goblin Kingdom had felt dreamlike after returning to her own world: this time, her own world felt like the dream and the Underground like the home she'd suddenly lost.

She looked at a rack with dresses arrayed in bright colours and draping fabrics. While her mind wandered to the abnormality of her situation, she pulled out a hanger with a knee-length dress the colour of the sky. The fall of the sheer sleeves and the tiered skirt reminded her of some of the imaginative celebratory garb from the Fey on Midsummer's Eve at the Adamant Palace, but the colour was extremely close to the shade that Seraphina wore. The hanger clacked loudly as she hurriedly put it back on the rack. No, certainly not that one.

She meandered to another rack with outfits that seemed to be from earlier 20th century. As she sorted through them almost mindlessly, not really caring much about what she wore to a party she didn't look forward to, a swath of rich colour caught her eye. After pushing aside the mass of frilly pink frosting that suffocated the dress she wanted to see, her eyes ran up and down the gown.

"Hey Amber," she called, "what do you think of this one?"

The costume bash was quite the big event for all the university students. Finals were over, and it was time to relax and celebrate. The Pearl Ballroom had a few impressive rooms under its roof to host the party, all with soaring ceilings and hardwood floors that gleamed with polish. The brass light fixtures had a faint dimming, and music drifted through the two rooms that had been rented out for the occasion.

While Sarah and Amber had gotten ready, Sarah determined to try to enjoy herself; greatly for the sake of her friend who had been the best of true friends through the whole month. Even though Sarah wouldn't say what exactly troubled her spirit and ached so deep in her heart, Amber stuck by her and tried to be a comfort and stable shoulder to lean on without knowing precisely why. There had been multiple times when Amber was trying so hard to soothe the sadness in her friend that Sarah nearly broke down and told her everything so that she'd have that assurance of trust; but she always stopped herself. No matter how much any of her friends and family cared about her, she didn't think any of them would handle the truth very well without some sort of proof, and the beautiful ring Jareth had given her wouldn't be enough.

Amber looped her arm through Sarah's as they headed inside the Pearl Ballroom, and Sarah absently fingered the chain around her throat that hung past the neckline of her dress where the crystal and diamond ring hung between her breasts. She actually flashed a genuine smile at her best friend once they passed through the doors: she had a feeling that tonight they were going to have a good time despite Sarah's emotional woes.

The costumes were enormously varied: from princesses to flappers, cats to chickens, and knights to robots. Sarah gaped in confusion at a girl dressed head to toe in pink with a piece of cardboard stuck on top of her head. What on earth was that supposed to be?

In true Amber fashion, she had decided to be Queen Elizabeth. Typical, Sarah thought with a laugh. She would pick a queen…

Sarah had gone an entirely different route by choosing the glamour Hollywood years. The deep scarlet dress accentuated her slender curves with a tumble of satin to the floor that slung over one shoulder, fit at the waist, and dipped in the back. It swished around her feet as she walked. Her long, dark hair was curled in big retro waves, and a bit of red lipstick topped it all off.

Try as she might, she couldn't stop herself from comparing the last gala she'd attended to this one as they entered into the host. Instead of Sidhe in their ethereal finery gliding on silent feet, college students milled about in their variety of costumes. Where she had stared in wonder at the living adornments and magical gold and silver lights, here she took in the large rooms lit by electricity and decorated with garland and glitter. These faces that eyed the two women were quite human contrasted against the extraordinary faces that hovered before them in her memory. She glanced over at Amber whose blonde hair shone golden in the light.

And although her companion was blonde, she wished it was a different head of pale hair towering over hers.

Since the school had decided to make it a somewhat classy event, there was real dancing—ballroom style—instead of the usual college-age fare, and some people already huddled in the wide open space set apart for dancing. Right now it looked like they were doing some kind of salsa.

The evening started off rather well. The two women got drinks, found some of their other friends off to the side, and had some good laughs together for a while. Then Amber got the urge to join the dancing, so one of their guy friends asked her to go in the middle of an East Coast swing. Some of the others dispersed their own ways, and their friend Aaron asked Sarah for a dance.

"Thanks, Aaron, but I'm not really up for it tonight," she said with a sad smile.

"Ah, come on! Finals are over, and we're free for a while again. I'd say it's a great time to dance!" He waggled his eyebrows at her and smiled.

She laughed a little and shook her head. They'd been friends since the start of college, but there had never been anything remotely romantic or beyond the normal level of interest, so she normally wouldn't have hesitated to have fun and join him; but seeing those couples swirling around the room stirred up memories that she kept trying to push aside. No dancing tonight. Not yet.

"Maybe later," she said with a shrug. "Sorry, Aaron, but I'm not feeling up to it."

"All right," he sighed with mock hurt. "I suppose you're off the hook. For now." He nudged her with his elbow and turned to go find someone else, then glanced over his shoulder at her. "Oh, by the way, you look great! Red's a good colour for you."

"Thanks."

Sarah was all alone.

She smoothed her dress unnecessarily and glanced around the room full of people. So many of them were strangers. After a few minutes of awkwardly standing by herself and noticing a couple guys ogling her in the dress, her feet moved as if through sludge to wander around the dance hall.

I wish you were here, Jareth…What's happened to you? I thought you'd have come back by now. After all those wonders and all that love, how do you go back to a normal life?

A glimpse of spiked blonde hair.

Sarah closed her eyes and sighed. Now she was imagining things. She kept meandering around the room, but her gaze was a bit more vigilant on the guests dancing and loitering about even though she convinced herself she wanted so badly to see a sight of the Goblin King that he formed from her imagination.

A bit of midnight blue that sparkled when the light hit it.

Sarah's breath came a little shorter now. Her heart stuttered as it tried to resume a normal pace. Her heels clicked louder on the polished wood floor as they moved quicker past people blocking her view.

Who was wearing that? It looked like the one…the one he wore so many years ago…It can't be!

But she had to find out, so she wove her way forward with her neck craned to search through the throng of costumed people. There it was again! This time her heart really did thud noisily in her ears: that glittering blue coat had some familiar pale hair attached to it. She became almost frantic in slipping between groups of bystanders, standing on the tip of her toes to look over shoulders, and moving rapidly in the direction she'd seen that quick glimpse of the mysterious man.

A few guys made a protest as she shoved past them, but her focus zeroed in on the one thing that mattered in that moment. She'd forgotten about her friends, didn't give a thought to anyone else around her, and failed to recall convincing herself that it was only her imagination.

She saw it.

A mask held up to a face with a defined jaw and framed by styled blonde hair. The hand was gloved in black leather. The mouth was turned up in a partial smirk, a mouth that had first kissed her under the tempest in a high tower in a magical realm none of these people knew existed.

The masked face disappeared amidst the hundreds of other faces.

Sarah wanted nothing more than to shove everyone out of the way in a direct path towards him, but she drew a deep breath to calm her racing pulse and circled around towards where he'd been standing. If it was really him, would he behave this way? And why would he wait so long—over an entire excruciating month—to return to her? The fear that this wasn't actually Jareth was like a spear straight through her chest, and then another more terrifying thought followed: what if the Raven Mage Fiachna had killed Jareth and come in disguise as him to finish her off?

There was only one way to find out.

It reminded her so sharply of the masquerade dream where he'd tried to beguile her at such a young age into forgetting about Toby that all those vivid memories came rushing back and so quickly that she thought she even heard that same music.

Wait…but…

It turned out, it wasn't her imagination. She stopped and listened. The last song had ended and a new one had begun playing, the music hauntingly familiar from her past.

Couples floated out onto the dance floor in a waltz flowing gently with the music. What she didn't notice was the DJ frowning and fiddling with the sound equipment as he tried to figure out where the music came from and why his tech had stopped working. Her hands trembled, and her heart struck against her breastbone in a staccato pattern. She spun around in a frantic search for the one man she wanted to see. The one man who wasn't from this world.

There's such a sad love
Deep in your eyes, a kind of pale jewel
Open and closed within your eyes
I'll place the sky within your eyes

There's such a fooled heart
Beating so fast in search of new dreams
A love that will last within your heart
I'll place the moon within your heart

Sarah closed her eyes as tears glistened in their green depths. A voice sang quietly behind her, warm breath softly stirring her hair and sending a shiver down her spine.

As the pain sweeps through
Makes no sense for you
Every thrill has gone
Wasn't too much fun at all
But I'll be there for you
As the world falls down

A hand interlaced with hers and pulled her around. She opened her eyes, and they trailed up from a couple of shiny black boots, to a glittering midnight blue coat, and up to a pair of mismatched eyes long missed. They gazed at her with such ancient feeling and emotion hidden away for only her to see that her heart ached and more than one tear escaped down her cheeks.

The Goblin King drew her closer and put his other hand at her waist. He moved them across the floor with ease and grace and kept her close, close enough she had to tilt her head back to look up into his face. She stared at him in wonder without ever turning aside as if he might disappear if she looked away for even a second.

Jareth came back for me…I can't believe he's alive!

Sarah couldn't even explain all the emotions bursting out of her heart. When a hope long waited for finally arrives, there is little that compares to its joy. All the pain and sadness from the last month were worth every moment for this one when the source of suffering transformed into the source of bliss.

The love of her life had survived the Raven Mage and made it back to her across their worlds. And they finally had gotten their dance!

He mesmerised her with his soothing, pleasant voice as he continued to sing to her with the music sweeping around them. He conveyed with song what couldn't be otherwise expressed with just mere words.

I'll paint you mornings of gold
I'll spin you Valentine evenings
Though we're strangers till now
We're choosing the path between the stars
I'll leave my love between the stars

Neither of them paid any heed, but a great many eyes watched them dance in the middle of the room with a few other couples, drawn to the mysterious pair almost as if the air around them bent and stirred with something not of this world; as if destiny cloaked them in a glorious haze that attracted the gaze of simple minds that didn't understand why this moment was so pivotal.

As his voice drew out the last word and came to a stop, Sarah swallowed the lump in her throat to try to form words. She moved the hand that rested on his shoulder to remove the mask still covering half of his face. He smirked a little when she did. She touched his cheek and ran her fingers along his jawline.

"You're alive," she whispered.

His breath ghosted upon the skin of her wrist. "I am. Did you really think the Goblin King would be defeated by a ragged mage?" He smiled and tugged her even closer so his coat brushed against her dress.

"But…" Sarah paused before she unleashed a slew of questions on him and saw that he waited for her to ask them. He knew her so well. "I don't know what to say first. There's so much. It feels like I can't contain everything."

"Then we will save the words for later."

Jareth enfolded Sarah in a kiss that she would never forget. His arms wrapped around her waist to pull her close until their hearts beat against each other. Her hands slid up to his shoulders and gently gripped him as her knees weakened. All the built-up emotions from the time separated and wondering, the radiant joy that erupted from deep within at their reunion, and the great hope for what was to come poured into that kiss like a raging tide that swept them away from the rest of the world in a place only they existed.

When they finally pulled apart, at last Sarah noticed the amount of attention they'd managed. Her cheeks flushed pink, and she laughed a bit out of both amusement and embarrassment. He glanced to the side and took a step back but kept his hands on her waist. Their song had also just ended, and the regular music restarted.

"Somewhere quieter would be a better choice," said Jareth. "Shall we?"

"Yes!" As soon as he led her off the dance floor, she tugged on his hand and leaned towards his ear. "Oh, but my friends! I can't just leave without saying something."

"I will bring you back here before the night is over. They will have to wait till then, won't they?" He smirked and quickened his pace with those long legs.

Sarah saw swift movement out of the corner of her eye and turned her head. Just before Jareth and she went through the door, she saw that it was Amber heading for them. Sarah opened her mouth but closed it again when she couldn't think of anything to say. Then they were gone.

The crisp night air washed over them. A few stragglers were headed inside for the party, but there weren't hardly any people outside. Jareth led them around the corner out of sight, and just as Sarah started to ask where they were going, she blinked and wavered. In that instant, he'd transported them up onto the roof of the building.

The stars glittered like crystals scattered heavily all over the sky without a cloud in sight. It was cool but not too cold to stand out in the open air. The city spread out before them in an array of lights that twinkled against the darkness.

She wrapped her arm through Jareth's and nestled close into his side where his warmth calmed her nerves. He slipped off his gloves and reached out to push some of her rich dark waves away from her face.

"I thought you'd died," she said in a breathy voice. "What happened? Why didn't you come back for me sooner?"

"I shall tell you all that happened, my love," said Jareth. "I want you to know."

Jareth took time to collect himself before beginning his side of the story and reliving those terrible moments up in the mountains. He stared down at the loveliness of the woman he loved and basked in the joy of their reunion. The red dress did look particularly stunning on her…

He turned his thoughts back onto the right path and remembered how Fiachna the Raven Mage had come to his end.

"And I made a vow to myself, a vow that if I had to give my life to save you, I would. I am going to make sure that you are safe."

As Jareth spoke these words, he collected up every last ounce of energy and power left within him until it pulled all around him and through him like lightning gathering to strike. He had never used so much all at once for it was like draining every last drop from a deep well. And he used it to save Sarah Williams even though it could cost him his life.

Sarah's eyes in those last moments haunted him. So much confusion, sorrow, and love. Then she disappeared in a flash of light.

He had used his ability to send her home where she'd be safe.

However, the cost was high for it took most of his remaining energy to do it and left him so dreadfully vulnerable to the bloodthirsty enemy standing so close. Physically he had already weakened from the wound in his ribs that had bled so much, and now his energy was all but gone. It had been similar as to when he used a great deal of power to try to locate Fiachna up in the Chamber of the Stars where Sarah found him unconscious.

Death loomed like a shadow in the corner of his eye. He gasped for air and lifted his head. He hadn't even realised that he'd fallen to his knees on the hard ground.

But so had Fiachna. He too had an injury that bled freely down his back, and Sarah's abrupt disappearance had stunned him. Jareth used the distraction to his advantage. He used the very last dregs of his power to hit Fiachna with a force that threw him backwards. The mage cried out in pain when his wound struck the floor.

Jareth crossed the distance between them after struggling to his feet. He could go at any moment but would not leave this unfinished.

Fiachna stared up at him with wide eyes that no longer hid their fear, yet hatred and anger burned behind the dread with a blazing furnace. "The Darkness. The Shadow is there. It will finish the work I could not…" Madness was coming over him at the end.

"I do not take life willingly," said Jareth, "but do not think that will make me hesitate to take yours, Raven Mage."

Jareth took out the dagger Fiachna himself had put in his ribs and plunged it into the mage's chest. It pierced straight through his dark heart. The scream that filled the Great Hall echoed out into the mountains.

It was done. Fiachna was dead.

Jareth stumbled and collapsed. His hand clutched the wound that throbbed in his side, and he struggled to keep his eyes open. Just before he lost consciousness, he saw another figure rise to their feet across the hall. Seraphina. He would have laughed at the irony if he hadn't been about to pass out of knowledge and coherence. So this is how I will die…at the hand of Seraphina. How wonderful, he thought with a scornful laugh inside his mind.

It had all been worth it. It was worth greeting death to know that Sarah made it home safely and that Fiachna could no longer haunt her steps. He had given everything for her…

The unexpected happened. Completely unexpected.

Seraphina seemed dazed, but as soon as a small figure rushed into the room, her whole body stilled. Jareth recognised Hoggle who viewed the devastation and the aftermath with astonishment written in the crevices of his face. Seraphina stared at the dwarf for a long time, and Hoggle finally saw her watching him. He cowered and started to back away.

She smiled a radiant smile at the dwarf and began speaking to him, but Jareth couldn't understand what she said. He did see the dwarf's puzzled reaction though. Hoggle wrung his hands and scowled while the Fay woman talked and slowly approached him. That expression of pure adoration on Seraphina's face was so foreign and confusing that Jareth thought he was hallucinating in his last minutes of awareness. The last thing he saw was Hoggle hobbling towards him at a quick pace with Seraphina trailing behind like a glad puppy.

Then darkness.

Jareth hid his amusement at the look of pure amazement on Sarah's face once he finished his tale. She sputtered a bit before forming coherent sentences.

"I…it…It worked! Ha! I didn't even…wow. Oh poor Hoggle!"

"So it was you. Once I woke from unconsciousness days later, I tried to discover what had happened and only got vague answers from that stupid dwarf. It turns out, Seraphina had fallen into some sort of infatuation with him. He was wishing all sorts of plagues on her whenever I saw him. I thought you might have something to do with it…"

Sarah laughed for a long while. When she calmed down, she grinned up at him. "Serves her right!" She told him about the vial containing some sort of love potion or other that Seraphina had planned to use on him and how Sarah used it on her instead when she'd been knocked out. "I couldn't kill her. I just couldn't. So it seemed like a good idea at the time."

"She cannot enter my realm, so he is quite safe from her affections—which will only last another week or two—but it certainly put him in a ruffle for a while. Turns out that you were quite brilliant to do it because without her help when he asked, I would not have gotten back to my realm. Who would have thought that Seraphina would be the one to help us! Last I knew, she was outside the walls of the kingdom pining away for silly Hogworth."

"Hoggle."

"A better plan for her was never conceived before. You are amazing, Sarah Williams."

She ducked her head and smiled under his appraisal. Then she reached out to touch his ribs where he had been stabbed. "You almost died. You almost died to save me."

"It was a cost I was glad to pay," he murmured. "I am alive still. See? It took a long time to regain all my strength and recover, but I am well again. I was on the edge of death for days, but there was something worth fighting for to stay in the land of the living. And I am here. Even if it took years before I could come find you, I would still come."

She wrapped her arms around his waist and held him tightly. "And I would have waited all those years for you. There were times I thought maybe you'd been killed or couldn't come back, but I knew that my life would never go back to the way it was. There would never be anyone I could love like I love you."

He rested his hand on her lower back and leaned close. "I will love you forever, and forever is a very long time for me. And for you. I came back to you Sarah because you still owe me a favour."

Sarah blinked and raised an eyebrow up at him. "Oh really? That's why you came back?"

"Oh, and because you owed me a dance as well. Now that we have had our dance…"

Sarah cleared her throat and avoided looking directly at him. He could feel her hands shaking slightly on his back. "What would that favour be then?" she asked.

He leaned down until he was inches from her ear and whispered, "Fear me, love me, do as I say, and I will be your slave." He pulled back so he could look into those beautiful, large green eyes. "Be at my side forever. Be my Queen."

Sarah gaped at him as wonder and joy effused every inch of her. He already had basically asked for her heart for as long as they would live, but this was so much more direct and so much more real. It wasn't a dream anymore. This was her life and her choice that would forever change its course. Was this what she truly wanted?

It didn't take her long to answer that.

"Forever," she said as a smile stretched from one ear to the other, and her eyes brightened with something special that only Jareth would ever receive. She laughed when she couldn't contain the happiness inside anymore because her brilliant grin didn't release it all nearly enough, and his earnest countenance transformed into impish delight that danced in his eyes.

He put a bit more space between them, took her hand with the crystalline ring sparkling on it, and bowed low over that hand. He pressed his lips to her fingers then turned it over and kissed her palm, slow and deliberate. His gaze lifted up to hers.

"I look forward to it."

Her smile dimmed a little as he straightened and towered over her. "But first," she said, "let me say goodbye. I know we can visit here whenever we like, but I can't just leave them all without a goodbye. Not this time."

NOTE: One more chapter left (the epilogue) and the story of Jareth and Sarah is complete. So what do you guys think?! How did you like the resolution? There will be more obviously in the next chapter that fully wraps everything up, but I'd LOVE to hear everyone's thoughts about this one. Excited about them reunited? I am!

Oh, and go watch my Doctor Who YouTube video I posted the link to last chapter...because you love me for giving you a happy ending. Right? Or just review! :)