Sarah stumbled suddenly, a cold sweat breaking out on her pale skin.  She drew a deep breath and tried to ignore the rising nausea.  Clinging to a nearby tree, she dropped her school knapsack on the ground and fought to say conscious.

These attacks were becoming more frequent.  At first, they were once a day perhaps.  She had thought it a reaction to the after-shock of being thrust through time and universes to and from the Labyrinth.  Now she knew it wasn’t.  These attacks were now more frequent – 4 or 5 times a day.  And they were a little stronger each time.

This one passed in about 15 minutes.  That meant they were getting longer too.  Maybe she needed a doctor.

Dragging herself upright she continued on through the park until she came to the low stone bridge.  She never came here to play dress-ups anymore.  In fact, she never pretended anything anymore.  After her experiences, who would know what was pretend or real?  Who knew what would start you on a terrifying journey in another realm?  It was worse than having the wardrobe from The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe in your house.  At least you could stay out of the wardrobe.  Now she was terrified to say anything that sounded magical or make any wishes.

But she did have one wish – to see Jareth again and her friends in the Labyrinth.

As she reached the middle of the bridge, the nausea descended again and this time she was powerless to resist the rising blackness.

It was during Sarah’s fits of illness that Jareth felt well.  He was almost permanently ill now, his kingdom nearly destroyed.  He was pale to whiteness and barely visible.  But he was healing and as he became stronger, Sarah became weaker.  He was drawing on her strength and he would use it to bring her back.  She had invited him to intervene in her life once.  That gave him – a fae, the permission to do so whenever he chose.  Those were the rules. 

Summoning his strength, fighting the terrible weakness he felt he used his magic to bring her to him.

Sarah woke up on cold stone pavings.  She opened her eyes and stared into a dim, hazy, lilac colored nothingness.  She thought she was still unconscious.  Slowly she realized she was stiff and cold – something she wouldn’t know if she was really unconscious.

She sat up, feeling off-balance by there being no horizon to orient herself against.  She was floating in space amidst chunks of a ruined castle or fortress.  She froze.  She knew exactly where she was.

“Not again,” she whispered.

Jareth watched from behind part of a wall, his shadowy form nearly insubstantial.  His strange eyes glittered in the twilight atmosphere with their usual predatory gleam.  His mouth in a grim line, he stepped out to meet her.

She looked at him in disbelief.

“Jareth?”  She frowned.  “I can barely see you.”

“There’s no need to gloat Sarah,” he said sardonically.  “We both know you won the last time we met.”

“What happened to you?  What can’t I see you?” she asked, squinting at his pale outline.

“Stop!” he hissed, his eyes narrowed.  “Stop pretending you don’t understand.  You did this to my kingdom and to me.”

Another wave of nausea hit her and she struggled to breathe.  When she recovered, she could see him more clearly.

“I didn’t mean to.  I just wanted my brother back,” she gasped, blinking back tears from the nausea.

“Then you shouldn’t have wished him away,” Jareth said, frowning down at her.

“I didn’t know you were real!” she yelled.  “Otherwise I wouldn’t have!”

The weakness overtook her again and she passed out once more.  Jareth stepped over to her and place his hand on her head.  Instantly he looked more substantial and well.  Sarah moaned in her unconscious state.  He picked her up in his arms.  As he carried her, the walls and rooms of his castle began to appear again.

Sarah never knew how long it was before she regained consciousness.  She was in a bedchamber, lying on silk sheets.  She was wearing her own clothes but she’d never seen a room like this.  As she sat up, Jareth materialized through the wall facing the end of her bed.

“Don’t you ever knock?” she muttered.  She took a good look at him.  He looked exactly how she remembered from her stint in the Labyrinth - very stylish, very arrogant, very substantial, very sensual and extremely handsome.  Certainly quite solid and virile again.

He looked at her with an infuriatingly unreadable look and paced next to the bed.

“How do you feel?” he finally asked, one fair eyebrow raised nonchalantly, looking down at her.

She frowned.  “Actually, I feel fine.  How long have I been here?” she asked.

He shrugged.  “In your world, about 2 years.”

She sat up suddenly.  “2 years!  I’ve been missing that long?  What happened?  What did you do this time?” she demanded furiously.

“Temper, temper!” he tutted.  “You destroyed my kingdom so I used your strength to re-build it.  It took 2 years in your time.  Only about a century in mine,” he said baring his teeth in a snarl of anger.

“I didn’t set out to destroy your kingdom.  I thought the play was a game and my wish just meaningless words.  Once I knew different, I had to get my brother back,” Sarah explained.

He eyed her icily.  “Don’t you humans know about us or about magic?” he inquired, his temper suddenly gone.

“Yes.  But we don’t believe it’s real,” Sarah replied.

“Do I look unreal to you?”  he shouted at her.

In all honesty he did a bit, Sarah thought.  Certainly noone on earth would ever go around in that gear.  But then again, they’d never look as good as he did in it either.  A slight smile touched Sarah’s mouth but was gone again before Jareth could be insulted by it. 

“No,” she replied as calmly as she could.  “What’s going to happen when I show up in my world after a 2 year absence?” she wondered aloud.

“They think you’re in a coma,” he said absently, tugging on his gloves.  “They’re thinking of turning off your life support.”

Sarah sucked in her breath suddenly.  “But then I’ll die!” she said.

“Not if you’re here, you won’t.  And if you were there, you’d wake up,” he explained.

“Well, I need to go back,” she said determinedly and got off the bed.  She swayed on her feet.

“Lie down again, you fool!” he hissed, and stalked over to the bed.  Meekly, she got in.

“You’re still weak,” he said coldly.

“Thanks to you,” she snapped.

“No-one told you to wish your brother away or to reject my gift,” he stated angrily.

“You don’t get it!” she said helplessly, shrugging.

“Get what?” he snarled.

“That I didn’t know you were real and once I did I had no choice but to save my brother,” she explained again patiently.

Suddenly something dawned on Jareth.  He sat down on the bed, elegantly poised on one edge.  He leaned right over her though and whispered, “No choice?”

Not taking her eyes from his, she shook her head slowly.  “I couldn’t let that happen to my brother,” she said gently.

“What would you have done if you’d had a choice?” he purred dangerously, his mis-matched eyes pinning her to the bed.

“What choice?” she said, feeling panicky.

“Say I let you keep Toby without saying the words?” he persisted, his breath warm on her cheek.

“Then, I wouldn’t have said them,” she replied, her green eyes clear as a summer sky.

“You wouldn’t have destroyed me or my kingdom?” he demanded.

“No,” she replied.

“Why not?” he hissed softly.

“Because I don’t hate you,” she answered honestly.

His eyes widened in shock for a second, then narrowed dangerously.  “Why?” he asked, his voice hard.

“I don’t know,” she said truthfully.

He drew away from her suddenly and walked away, frowning.

“When can I go home?” she asked his back.

He glanced at her over his shoulder, distracted.  “When I’m ready to send you,” he answered carelessly.

“When will that be?” she asked but he’d already disappeared into thin air.