Sarah dreamed of falling.

She floated in space but also felt a weight pulling her downward. Around her blackness stretched endlessly, broken only by the occasional object that drifted up from below and then above her, out of sight. Long strings of pearls. Books, their pages fluttering like strange birds. Little points of light like fireflies. Her music box.

…it's further than you think…

She was falling down the shaft full of hands, and then they were pushing her upward, and then pulling her down again.

Her mother was staring at her through a pane of glass, tears rolling down her cheeks. "I'm sorry."

Sarah reached out to touch the glass, but her mother was gone—

—and she was falling again. She looked down but could see no end in sight, and nothing up above. Her limbs felt strangely insubstantial, almost as if she were blending into the blackness around her.

…I don't need you…

Ludo was in her bedroom vanity mirror, his fur looking grey and ragged, giving her a weak wave. "G'bye, Sawah."

…she chose down…

"Sarah, I'm cold."

She was with Toby in the park, and it was snowing, and she held out her arms to him, bundling him inside her coat and pressing her cheek against his. She didn't want to let him go, felt somehow that it was very important that she hold on to him, but…

…so cold…

Gravity tugged like a magnet and she was falling faster, faster, she mustn't let go of Toby, and all at once she slammed into the earthbound weight of her own body, curled into a tight ball, her arms wrapped around empty space, Toby was gone—

"Toby! TOBY!"

She desperately reached out for him, but something pinned her flailing arms to her sides. "Sarah, wake up."

"Toby…"

"You're on the other side of the mirror, Sarah. Toby isn't here."

She blinked her eyes and the entryway of her home gradually came into focus around her. Her body was stiff and cold, but not as cold as it had been before. Before…oh God, the blackness. She was on the bench near the stairs, and she was wrapped in some kind of black fabric that smelled faintly of leather, and she was leaning against—

"Before you play the indignant maiden, Sarah, I will remind you that you were quite literally freezing to death, and you did utter the words 'I need to get warm.'"

She was nestled in the curve of Jareth's chest, his arms and very long cape wrapped around her. She started to wriggle away but he held her back.

"You're still cold, and if you'd prefer to die just to spite me then by all means proceed. I believe your will to live is stronger than that, though."

She sighed. "Fine. Because I'm still cold."

"Yes, surely this must be torture for you."

She crossed her arms under his cloak. "Must be miserable for you as well."

He snorted. "Of course not. I've often dreamed of cuddling up to a girl whose anger almost swallowed me."

She opened her mouth to retort but then suddenly felt exhausted. And realized that he had probably saved her life. And that he smelled and felt very, very good.

She cleared her throat. "Thank you."

There was a long silence, and then he laughed, and she felt his chest rippling against her back. "I should spirit you to the goblin healers, Sarah, as you're clearly more ill than I thought if you're expressing gratitude."

Sarah rolled her eyes. She felt her body slowly growing warmer, which was a relief, because this level of physical closeness was…disconcerting.

"I guess I had more rage in me than I thought."

"It would appear that your talent for destruction is exceeded only by your talent for understatement."

She laughed. "How did you—how did you know what to do?"

"I didn't, not for certain. But your rage was centered on an image, which inspired an emotion, and given that so much of magic is about the play between opposites and balances, I surmised that an opposing image and an opposing emotion might solve the problem."

Sarah thought for a moment. "Are you saying…that you saved me by making me think happy thoughts?"

"Given that the idea clearly displeases you, I'll say yes."

She shook her head. "Dear God, I've turned into a Disney character. My teenage self would be so, so disappointed."

"I would hope this is a small price to pay for being alive."

Sarah laughed. "Now who's the king of understatement?" She flexed her fingers and toes, which now felt slightly less frosty. "Yes, I am happy to be alive. Even if I had to go all Peter Pan in order to save myself."

Silence stretched between them for a moment. Finally feeling somewhat warm again, Sarah gently removed Jareth's cloak from her shoulders and stood up (not without regret, and you know it). She wandered over to the wall of photos and looked at the one of herself and her mother, miraculously undamaged. Their faces glowed. They did look alike, maybe even more so now.

"I can't hate her," she said softly. "Isn't that weird?"

"Most mortal tendencies are peculiar to me, Sarah, but no, I do not find this odd."

"Why not?"

He looked at her for a long moment and then plucked another crystal out of the air. "She brought you joy as well as pain."

Sarah looked into the crystal to see a series of moving images of her mother—laughing at supper with Sarah's father when Sarah was a baby, letting Sarah do her make-up, reading to her, both of them curled up in bed watching television.

Sarah felt tears welling behind her eyes. "It's not fair."

Jareth sighed and made the crystal vanish with a flick of his hand. "Please tell me you're not still expecting fairness from life."

"I'm not." Sarah groaned. "I just…I wish she were 100% horrible." A tear rolled down her cheek, and she brushed it away. "I wish I could hate her."

Jareth considered this. "An odd thing to wish."

"I know." She ran a finger over the photo. "I just feel like it would make everything simpler."

"I could make you hate her."

Sarah blinked. "What?"

He stood up and reached out to touch her forehead with a gloved hand. She felt a prickling sensation and a brief flash of images that felt quite real, hints of her mother doing truly terrible, unforgivable things. Things that would make it easy to banish her for good.

She backed away, shaking her head. "No."

He regarded her curiously. "Why not?"

"It's…" She turned away. "It feels like cheating."

Jareth laughed. "The world may not be fair, precious, but that won't stop you from trying to follow its rules."

Sarah smiled in spite of herself, turning back to let her gaze linger on his face. Most of the gauntness was gone—maybe her need for warmth had replenished him. His clothes fit a bit more snugly (never not going to notice that, are you?), though there was still a slight darkness under his eyes and a hint of silver in his hair.

Without thinking, she reached out and touched his cheek. He started to pull away but stopped, perhaps seeing that there was no pity in her expression. He sighed, closing his eyes and reaching up to thread his fingers through hers.

"Is there…" Sarah frowned. What exactly was she supposed to ask? "Can I need anything for you?"

He laughed, not unkindly, and kissed her hand. When he spoke there was genuine wonder in his voice. "What a remarkable question."

"I just…shit, you basically saved my life—"

"I saved myself, and you happened to get saved in the process."

She rolled her eyes. "Fine, but I'd still like to…I just don't want you to suffer, like before."

A flicker of pain passed over his face, and his eyes seemed to soften. "I have suffered intermittently for longer than your mind can imagine, Sarah. It's a part of my nature." He paused and let go of her hand. "I do…thank you for wishing to ease it."

"Couldn't you just, I don't know, keep people locked up in a dungeon in your castle and siphon off need when—" Her mouth fell open. "Dear God. Please forget that I just suggested that."

Jareth's eyes went wide. "You continue to surprise me, which is saying a great deal." He sighed. "I won't say that I never considered the prospect. Sadly—or not, from your perspective—it would be ineffective. Whatever elemental forces created me saw to it that I could not, as you might say, 'cheat.'"

She sighed. "So no faking needs, then. Well, I could use a cup of hot chocolate and a good night's sleep right now, but I don't know if that's going to give you much juice."

He smirked and then slowly, deliberately reached out to run a finger down her cheek. Her skin tingled under his touch, and she felt her face flush.

"I think there might be other things that you need, Sarah."

She lowered her eyes but didn't move away. My God, if just his hand feels that good, and with gloves on…

Nope, nope, back to reality, Miss Frisky.

She cleared her throat. "Forgive me for, ahem, hoping that when it comes to my…desires you'd be interested in more than a quick need-fix."

He smiled. "Gods, Sarah, the number of interests I have when it comes to your desires could fill a book."

She shivered. Please tell me again why we're not doing this?

"Well," she began, and gently moving his hand away from her cheek was pure agony, "while I'm not going to pretend I don't want…that (very badly), I will remind you that I just nearly drowned in my own rage and had to re-live an extremely painful memory, which, despite what my body might want, is a bit of a mood-killer." She looked around at the familiar entryway of her home. "And ugh, not in this limbo between childhood and adulthood, surrounded by angsty childhood memories. That's just creepy."

He sighed, but he was still smirking. "Cruel girl."

She couldn't resist giving him a particularly seductive grin. "I didn't say never, Jareth."

His eyes widened very slightly, and then the cad-mask was back in place. "Well then. Your beggar king wouldn't say no to a kiss, if you're still feeling generous with need."

She laughed. "You've already had two of those."

"Yes, but the last one made you cry."

He had a point. "Fine. I need you to kiss me. And then throw me back through the mirror, please."

He reached out to twine his fingers through her hair, cupping her chin with his other hand. That tingling sensation traveled all the way to her fingers and toes, and she forced herself to look away from the very attractive hint of chest that his slightly-open shirt revealed.

"One kiss, and then through the mirror. Sure that's all you want, precious?"

Not by a long sh-"Yes."

He made a deep bow. "I am at your service, my lady."

He moved forward and kissed her very gently on the mouth, his lips barely moving, and as he closed the tiny distance between them she could feel the softness of his hair brushing over her cheeks and the warmth of his body, feel the hard angles of his chest and shoulders gently pressing into the softness of her breasts, his legs shifting against hers. And then he pulled back and smiled, tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear.

He laughed at the look on her face. "I'm sorry, precious, was that not to your—"

She pulled him to her and kissed him hard, her hands gripping his hair, and he seemed to freeze for an instant before he responded, kissing her back with equal fervor, drinking in the need that even she could feel flowing out of her in waves. And then his tongue slipped between her lips, and she drank in the taste of him just as eagerly as he was consuming her. She pushed her body tightly into his, feeling heat and hardness and a need that matched her own.

And then images burst through her mind, images of the two of them that made her blush much more deeply, wonderfully clear images of exactly what her body wanted to do with his and the remarkable things he seemed capable of doing with those truly magical fingers, tongue, and—

And then he pulled away, breathing heavily but looking at her with a decidedly satisfied look on his face. "My duties are completed here, then."

He gave her one last, chaste kiss on the cheek, gripped her shoulders, and tossed her through the mirror.

When she woke up her mouth was still saturated with the taste of him. Her body felt warm and tingly, even before she was able to move properly.

She sighed and started to wiggled her fingers and toes. That, she thought as her body slowly came back to life, was a very, very dirty trick.

Author's note: Sorry this one's a bit short, but it seemed like a good place to stop. Two (or MAYBE three) more chapters to go, they're in the works.