She stood at the top of the stairs, dressed to the nines, and flocked by guards on either side of her. The Master of Ceremonies stood at attention, the whole room going silent.
"Entering, Sarah, Queen of the Goblins."
The dancers all bowed or curtsied as low as they could go. It did not go unnoticed by Sarah that some of them eyed her with disdain. Some were observing her as a predator would observe prey. Some out of curiosity.
It mattered not. She wasn't here for any of them.
The ballroom itself was spectacularly beautiful, adorned with bright curtains that gave the simultaneous illusion of color and whiteness. Strings of crystals hung from the eternally rising ceiling. If she had noticed, she most likely would not have responded to it.
Many courtiers engaged with others, their movements sensual but not vulgar. Their eyes followed the Goblin Queen, who gracefully walked between the crowds, not allowing them a moment of her attention.
She walked by one such person, different from the rest. He was in similar attire yet was dressed all dark and drab, not joining the dance. He stepped out of the crowd to the path behind the queen, his dark eyes, full of stars, glinting dangerously.
"You should enjoy this ball, Your Majesty, instead of seeking for the one who moved on."
Sarah paid no heed. She was not here for him either. Her mission was much more important than even one of the Endless.
Such was the confidence and gracefulness of the queen that the courtiers stopped trying to hiss and intimidate her.
She was victorious against the late Goblin King, winning his heart as no one else had. She earned her queenship from the elusive Lord Shaper.
Despite being human and not faerie, Queen Sarah knew she was better than they.
They knew this too.
Sarah's eyes flickered towards a flash of glitter. She recognized that flash to be unique and unlike the rest of the shimmering patterns on the courtier's attire. She gently held up a hand, walking through the dancing crowds until she reached two dancers holding up their fans, whispering the latest of gossips.
At the command from her eyes, they bowed, separating away to reveal none other than the King of Goblins himself.
Jareth had his hands clasped behind his back, alone and without a dance partner. He was not smiling, nor frowning, though his eyes spoke volumes. Sarah approached him. With a curtsy and a bow to each other as equals, they once more engaged in a dance.
They gazed into each other's eyes, fully enamored by their dance partner. They had been expecting one another. Their crescent amulets glowed brighter the more they moved closer.
"Jareth," she whispered his name in a desperate plea. "Come back to me."
He did not blink.
"My Queen, you know that I am only a wish away."
The dance ended, and he kissed her hand like a gentleman. Though he had let go, he did not move away from her.
The whole ballroom expanded; the rooms itself first, then the pairs of dancers. Even they started to move apart, separating as the ballroom seemed to expand into the nothingness that was outside of it.
"My Queen," the Labyrinth's voice rang clear in her head. "Bring him back to us."
This was it. The wisdom that had been locked away from her was now revealed. This was the moment Destiny had told her of. This was what she was always meant to do.
Holding the amulet in her hand, Sarah tilted her head up, face-to-face with none other than Lord Shaper.
"Your powers of dreams are not to be abused, Your Majesty."
The bright ballroom fell away, leaving the two of them floating in the dark cosmos. Sarah still held her amulet, no longer angry nor afraid of Lord Shaper. She understood now that his intentions were good. Just like hers.
"I am not abusing them, Lord Shaper. I am The Queen of the Goblins, gifted with the power of a thousand dreamers by her beloved through her victory and touched by Lord Destiny's powers through the Labyrinth herself. I am using my powers to right the world."
Using her free hand, she flicked her wrist, creating the most perfect crystal. At first glance, it was a crystal, nothing more.
But when Sarah turned it a certain way…
Morpheus watched as a flicker of glitter formed in the crystal. Then another. Then another, falling like stardust.
Sarah held the crystal up between them.
"I have to dream. Dream the world the way it was. But I need to change something. I have to dream it so that thirteen years ago, I was granted power over the Goblin King's heart, but not his powers due to the Labyrinth setting up its own fail-safe in case this very thing would happen. I won't dream of this universe, sad, and Jareth's life over too soon. I will dream of the real world. A place in which our love didn't destroy so many lives and worlds, but would make it flourish."
She tossed the crystal up, the glowing orb pulling power from her amulet.
"I will change the universe from the beginning of all things, until the end of time, so that it always was. As is my destiny."
Her amulet broke off the chain, lodging itself into the crystal like a key to a lock. The crystal expanded into the universe, encompassing all of it. Sarah closed her eyes, harnessing the power of a thousand dreamers.
All that lived in the universe were put into the Dreaming, where they would rest until the crystal finished its task. The glittering magic repaired the damage that Sarah, as a Kaleidoscope, had caused.
There were no deaths by her dreams, for the deaths had never taken place. Jareth was alive and whole, because he never died in the first place. Instead of his love for her leading to destruction, their adoration for each other made the other person better.
In this universe, Jareth was not chained by anxiety and fear of Lord Shaper finding out how much he had given himself to Sarah. He could now use his energy to discuss with her on how to better work with the goblins.
Sarah was not the Queen of Goblins, because she never was. She was the Champion of the Labyrinth, conquering the living entity of Destiny and conquering the heart of the fearsome Goblin King.
She dreamed of the world as it should be: one where she was holding Jareth as they slept in her bed in peace, full of love after their latest date.
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! If you haven't read the comics, I highly recommend them. Sarah's speech is quoted off of two sources: the speech Morpheus gives to the cat prophetess in Dream Country and a speech Hope gives in Overture, the prequel comic to Sandman (also written by Gaiman).
From Overture: "We have got to dream. Dream the world the way it was. But we need to change something. We have to dream it so that a long time ago, a star died when a star should have died. Don't dream this universe, sad and over too soon. Dream the real world. A place in which a star died long, long ago so that all of us could live. Make it different."
From Dream Country: "They dreamed the world so it always was the way it is now, little one. They changed the universe from the beginning of all things, until the end of time."
I hope you all understood what happened. If not, hopefully that'll be cleared in the next chapter. Thank you so much!
