Sarah couldn’t sleep.  She considered getting up and pacing around the room but decided that exhibiting all that restless energy was Jareth’s job, not hers.  Around midnight she finally sat up and looked at the source of the deep yellow moonlight that was streaming in from her high window.  With an impatient sigh she wished herself back to the balcony to get some fresh air.  There was a strong, warm wind blowing in from the desert as it did most nights.  She lifted up her arms and let it blow around her, tugging at her heavy velvet skirt and sleeves, and her silky dark hair.

She had to make a decision!  She could marry someone who frankly frightened her at times and exasperated her at others. Or she could have a normal life in her own world without Jareth.  She drew in her breath sharply as the full implication of that thought hit her.  Her whole life – the rest of her life never seeing Jareth again!  Never seeing him frown in concentration over a book in his library, never see him prowl around in that way that made her feel exhausted just watching him, never have him sneak up behind her just for the fun of seeing her jump, never see those odd eyes glittering at her over the dining table.  Worst yet, never having the fun of seeing what he was going to be wearing each time he appeared out of nowhere!  She suddenly burst into tears.  For some reason she had never considered the fact that if she went home, Jareth would be out of her life for good.  Probably because in her heart of hearts she’d always known she wanted to stay anyway.  She had merely been hoping to ignore how she really felt about Jareth for as long as possible.  But very cleverly, he simply wasn’t allowing her to do so.

Watching the moon from his own chambers, Jareth once more knew she was upset but this time it felt more like an acute grief then any of her previous passions.  He frowned, immediately disturbed.  He wanted to go straight to her of course, but he couldn’t bring himself to do so after her last order to him to leave her alone.  Tensely, he waited for her emotions to calm but they didn’t – if anything, they intensified.  He clenched his teeth in agony.  It was so hard to stay where he was when he knew she was feeling like this!

Sarah couldn’t stop crying.  She was quite frightened at how heart-broken she felt at the thought of never seeing Jareth again.  Without thinking, she called to him.  He was there in an instant and obviously disturbed at her state.  She flung herself against him and held him hard, as though he may suddenly disappear forever.  He didn’t hesitate to put his arms around her and hold her close.  After all, what else had he been angling for all this time but to have her in his arms?

“Sarah!  For God’s sake, what’s wrong this time?”  he asked, his distinctive voice gentle as he gathered the black silk of her hair into one bare, slender hand.

Sarah was incapable of playing games with anyone, least of all someone whom she just realized she cared that much about.  “I just realized that if I went home, I’d never see you again!  It was horrible!” she sniffed pathetically.

He stared wide-eyed at bent head.  Did she know what she was saying?  Did she understand the implications of what she had just said?  There was no way he would let her go home after an admission like that.   “Sarah,” he said tiredly, “you know I love you…”  He didn’t get much further than that. 

“You love me?” she interrupted in amazement, stepping away from him.  “Why didn’t you ever tell me that before?” she demanded crossly. 

He looked annoyed for a second.  “Because you already knew that,” he said impatiently.

“I did not!” she argued.

“Yes, you did,” he insisted wearily.  “Look.”  He conjured a crystal and Sarah glanced into it.  She gasped.  She saw herself looking in the mirror in her parent’s room with a striped orange and white beanie on her head.

“But what no-one knew,” she was saying, “was that the King of the Goblins had fallen in love with the girl and he had given her certain powers.”  Sarah blinked in surprise and looked at his suddenly vulnerable face.

“But I thought I just made that up!” she protested.  Actually, it had been wishful thinking, she thought to herself!

His pale face creased into a frown again.  “Do I look ‘made-up’ to you?”  he hissed. 

You mean apart from the face paint, she thought?  But wisely she kept the question to herself.  “Weeeelllll…” Sarah began, wanting to be honest. 

He gave her a withering look.  “Look again,” he commanded.  This time she saw the ball.  And there’s my fabulous dress, Sarah thought smugly.  “Listen Sarah,” Jareth directed impatiently.

“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..

“Falling

(As the world) Falling down

Falling in love..

“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…”

Sarah felt suddenly dizzy.  She had remembered very little of the details of the ball.  Just that it was beautiful and dangerous.  And that she’d felt somehow betrayed when she realized it was a diversionary tactic to her quest.  She glanced at his impassive face.

“There’s more Sarah,” he warned, as the scene in the crystal changed.  This time it was the Escher room.  “Listen Sarah,” this time it sounded more like a plea.

“How you turned my world, you precious thing

You starve and near exhaust me

Everything I've done, I've done for you

I move the stars for no one…

“Live without the sunlight

Love without your heartbeat

I, I can't live within you

I can't live within you…”

And then she saw them in the ruins of his kingdom, the last pieces of the Labyrinth floating in empty space.  He appeared ill and pale, and the look on his face was heartbreaking.

“You asked that the child be taken, I took him.  You cowered before me, I was frightening.  I have re-ordered time, I have turned the world up-side down and I have done it all for you!  I’m exhausted from living up to your expectations of me.”

“Stop!  Wait.  Look what I’m offering you!  Your dreams.  I ask for so little.  Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave…”

Sarah found she had tears running down her face again and she looked helplessly at Jareth as she realized how wrong all her judgments and suspicions had been.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.  “I was only thinking of Toby and getting him back.  I wasn’t really listening.  I didn’t hear,” she admitted and hung her head in shame.

He sighed.  “You only ever saw me as a storybook villain,” he accused gently.

“Yes,” she confessed in a small voice.  She recovered quickly however.  “Mind you, I never did understand that bit about fearing you and doing as you said and then you’d be my slave.  It seemed rather contradictory to me,” Sarah pondered aloud.

A smile tugged at one corner of his lean mouth.  “It was simply part of the theatrics Sarah,” he explained wryly.  “I was simply being what you expected me to be at a time when you still had dreams like that.  Your dreams bound me and I had to play my part even if it meant losing everything I wanted,” he added sadly.

“The part of a villain.  I’m sorry” she murmured again, shame-faced.  Sarah felt horribly remorseful again and wouldn’t look at him.

“Sarah, do you think you could have defeated my Labyrinth if I didn’t love you when so many others failed?” he asked.

“I thought it was a question of will,” she replied, curiously.

“Yes.  The Labyrinth is only an extension of myself.  Only if I loved you could my will have given way to yours enough to allow you to make it to my castle,” he explained quietly.  “My love for you makes me powerless over you.”  His eyes examined her face intently, as the warm zephyr blew his moonlight coloured hair around his fine-boned face.

The way he was looking at her was making Sarah feel seriously weak at the knees.  She knew she had to be honest with herself and with him – she couldn’t put off growing up any longer.

“Stay with me, Sarah” he whispered, his eyes gleaming in the moonlight.  “Be my wife.”  He held out one pale, bare hand to her.

She smiled at him, her green eyes shining like emeralds and took his hand.  “Yes, I’ll stay and be your wife Jareth.  I do love you.  I couldn’t bear the idea of never seeing you again,” she said, looking him straight in the eye but then dropping her gaze shyly.

In one stride he’d covered the distance between them and he lifted up her face for his kiss.

THE END!