Title: Fit For A Queen
Prompt by: fictionalfaerie
Rating: PG/K+
Originally posted: 31st January 2018
Notes: Treat for Chocolate Box Exchange 2018 at Dreamwidth and AO3.
It was more than two years before she saw him again. There were times in between when Sarah would dream, both asleep and awake, of goblins and creatures, of helping hands and oubliettes, of crystal balls and magic peaches. She almost began to believe that was all it had ever been, just a dream, and yet...
It was Prom night. Sarah wanted to go. It was the last big high school dance, a rite of passage, why shouldn't she? She could've had a date too. Two different boys had asked, but both times she politely declined. They were nice enough, good looking too, and yet...
"I can go by myself," she told her reflection in the mirror, straightening her dress and pushing her hair back over her shoulders. "I'm the one with the power," she said confidently, before the smile started to slip a little, "but just sometimes, I wish... I wish... No," she told herself, turning her face away.
It meant she missed seeing the impossible reflection in the glass.
"Sarah!" her step-mother called.
"Your cab is here, sweetheart," said her dad next.
"Time to go," Sarah told herself, hurrying downstairs.
She smiled at her family gathered by the door, kissing them all goodbye, then headed out, raising her chin and taking a deep breath as she went. A girl could go to a Prom without a date. Why not?
"I can do this alone," she said definitely.
"Yes, you can," said a voice, seemingly without an owner, "but do you want to?"
Turning back, she was startled by the figure of a man stood on the porch now, casually leaning on the post at the top of the steps she had just this minute descended.
"Hello, Sarah."
"You," she gasped, taking in the sight of him.
He was more man than Goblin King, less eccentric and fantastical, but with the same figure and face, same smile, same amazing eyes, same intoxicating voice and commanding presence.
"How are you here?" she asked at last.
"You wished it," he told her simply, descending the steps to stand before her, almost too close for comfort, but she didn't move away. "I have given up everything to be where and when and how you wish."
"But..." Sarah struggled to breathe, let alone speak, for a few moments. "I just think... Well, you should be what you wish, not what I wish."
"You are all I ever wished for, Sarah, and when you wished for me, the deal was made."
Sarah could hardly believe what she was hearing. She had never even spoke the words of the wish, but it was true enough that she had thought it, that the essence of it sang in her heart always.
"You're here for me," she realised aloud. "You gave up everything... for me?"
"Well, not everything," he admitted, hands straying to her shoulders.
Something happened, and when Sarah glanced down, her simple dress had been transformed into the most beautiful sparkling ball gown that she recognised from another place and another time.
"Fit for a princess," she said in awe.
"Fit for a queen," Jareth corrected her, lifting her chin on his finger. "Shall we go?"
"Yes," she said, smiling widely at him. "Yes, let's go."
