Epilogue: In Search of New Dreams

As the first light of the sun streamed through his bedchamber window, the King stirred, somewhere pleasantly between awake and dreaming. Not ready yet to open his eyes, he nestled closer to the warm body beside him and sighed with satisfaction, basking in the warm glow of the morning.

This was happiness. He was happy.

His thoughts swirled in contented circles, languorously exploring a feeling that had never made sense before. Happiness. It was like something sharp and soothing and pure was squeezing at his heart. It felt more real than anything else. He smiled softly against his pillow, burning every second of the night they had shared into his brain.

If only this moment could last forever. There was a part of him that wanted to break the hands off all the clocks, to make sure that they would never move again. However, somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew that they would both have to wake up soon. Later, the reality of the new day would hit him and he would have to face another set of new choices.

Even though he didn't want to wake, somehow Jareth found that he was anticipating the moment when he would open his eyes. He felt like a small human child about to unwrap a present, already knowing that it was exactly what he had always wanted. He would get to see her again. As soon as he opened his eyes, it would be the start of building a life with her. The only problem was that he had no idea what their life together would look like.

Would they rule as one, sitting side-by-side on thrones of bone and blood? Somehow the image jarred in his sleepy mind. She did not fit the picture. Similarly, he struggled to visualize Sarah kneeling before him with the rest of his subjects, cowering at his terrible power. His imagination faltered when he tried to bend her body at the knees. She would simply not be the same person without her fight.

Then an alarming thought wandered into his mind. Perhaps she would want him to join her in her world? He had the sinking feeling that he would walk the world over if she just gave the word—even if it meant living Aboveground. But could he ever make a home in that dimension, crawling as it was with petty, selfish humans? The idea of dressing like them and eating like them left a bad taste in his mouth. Then again, he had been acting bizarrely… human… lately. She seemed to coax it out of him. Perhaps with Sarah by his side, the experience might even be pleasant.

He had no idea of the future. That was the power that had been given to him. Every single moment from here on out had the potential to splinter in a million different directions, changing everything—all he had to do was choose the right thread. He would use his heart and his hands to build them a life that they could share, and they would find a way to be together. That was the best part—he would not have to make the choices alone. The King smiled so widely that his cheeks hurt, savouring the sensation of being filled with unfamiliar and freeing emotions.

For right now, though, there was no rush to sort out the rest of their lives. Those were future challenges that they would combat together. None of these problems belonged to the right now. For now, there might just be enough time before the goblins got back… with the scent of Sarah still in his lungs, he leaned over and opened his eyes, realising just in time that he was moving in to kiss one of the biggest and ugliest of his goblins, who was currently locked in his arms.

Every citizen of the Labyrinth froze. Birds stopped singing mid-song.

Without moving his head, the King could see at least twenty of his subjects, crowded in and around his bed, leaning in towards him, interested to see what he would do next.

Jareth calmly pulled his arms back to his sides and sat up in the bed. Then, with the same mad calmness, he reached to the floor beside his bed and picked up his pants. He dressed himself under the covers.

Time dragged by slowly, until Jareth opened his mouth. "Why…" he managed to say before he had to take a deep breath to compose himself, "… are you all here?"

With permission to speak, the noise in the previously peaceful room was deafening.

"One at a time!" Jareth roared.

The goblins all looked at one another and nodded. After a quick game of rock-scissors-paper, in which all but one of the goblins chose rock, their elected leader spoke. "You told us to come back in the morning, so here we are, Sire."

"Look! The sun's up and that means it's morning."

"Yep, yep. We are clever, aren't we, King? We did just what you asked."

They all began to nod so vigorously that Jareth was surprised their heads didn't come off. Pity, it would save him the bother of having to do it himself. In a flash, he was out of the bed and pacing the room. "What I mean, you cretins, is why are you in my… oh, never mind." He waved his hand, dismissing it as unimportant. "Where is the girl?"

The goblins quaked. There was something about that voice that was sharp enough to even pierce through the thick fog of stupidity that surrounded them. They knew that voice—it was like a promise of an all-expenses paid one-way ticket to the Bog. "What girl, Sire?" one brave goblin ventured.

Jareth struggled to quench his rising desperation. She was gone. It did not really matter where she had gone, or how. All the dreams of his future possibilities crumbled, as though he had built them from nothing but shifting sand. What mattered was that she had left him… again.

He should give chase, pursue her until he was nothing but dust… but if she had made her choice… then he could do nothing. Every part of his body suddenly felt too heavy to hold upright anymore, and he threw himself back on the bed.

It probably would not have worked between them anyway. They were so different. She was exhausting, barely worth the effort. Maybe it was for the best. He shook his head, suddenly tired of all the pathetic untruths. The truth was, he had fought and he had lost. The truth haunted him, even behind closed eyes, where all he could see were memories of their time together, branded onto his brain.

A kiss, that ended up being more than a kiss. A chase that lasted all night. Every part of her connected to every part of him. The feeling of wholeness, of belonging. Everything new, everything exposed. Raw. Elemental. Even at the time, in his wildest heart of hearts, he knew that she had left him changed; reborn.

He let out a breath. He was becoming just like them; the greedy humans. Before he had stolen the moment of time to live again, all he had wanted was a night with her, just like the one he had just lived. He had never thought past it, hadn't even known there could be anything else. Now that he knew there was more, he wanted it.

In the past, he would have relied on the snarling voice of the Beast at times like these. Without it, he was lost. Suddenly, the King's head snapped up. That was right. He had changed. Jareth slid from the bed and stood upright with the grace of a panther. He had changed, and was still changing. He would not hound her. But that did not mean that he would simply give her up, now that he could see all of their futures. They needed to talk.

The crowd of goblins parted before their King as he strode through the room towards the exit. Several of them trailed behind him, as though they were pulled along by a magnetic force, which meant that when he stopped abruptly after only a few paces they all bumped into his backside.

Sarah may have been gone, but she had left something behind.

Sticking out of the fallen bedroom door was her knife, made of iron, used to pin a scribbled piece of paper. Jareth approached the note, careful not to touch the blade. It was her handwriting.

He read the message, and then reread it. It was only a short note, barely a sentence, but it changed everything. By the time he had finished, his eyes held a new spark.

He looked down, and for the first time, he noticed that she must have cut more of her skirts in order to wrap around the palm of his uninjured hand. Both of his hands were covered now—there was no way he could use magic. For a moment, he could almost hear her laughing voice: "No cheating this time." She would know if he had removed the material wrapped around his hands—nobody could possibly replicate her clumsy style of bandaging.

As always, she was several steps ahead of him; his clever girl. The happy feeling bubbled up inside Jareth again until he could no longer contain it. The goblins were treated to the sound of their sovereign laughing freely, and it was gilded with an edge of pure light they had never heard before.

So, she had left her weapon behind, and had taken away his magic. She knew him better than he had thought; maybe better than he knew himself.

He stood at the opening to his room, grinning, and it was sharp, and something more. He wondered which way he should go. In the excitement of the moment, it barely mattered. The chase was about to begin again, and this time, he knew that it would last a lifetime.

He took his first step, with her written words echoing in his head.

'Catch me, if you can.'

I hope you enjoyed my story!

Hang on, was this even an epilogue? Maybe it was just a final chapter. I guess I just wanted to call it an epilogue… all of the cool kids have one.