~* Jareth's POV *~*

Each day that passed with Lilith still in a comatose state was like another day without food or water. I couldn't fully function without her. I want to know what's going on, how she's doing, but it's impossible to enter her brain and see what's happening. All I can do is wait for her to wake up and see if she lost or if she won.

"Jareth, you need to get some rest. You've been here for three days straight. Get some sleep, I'll be sure to get you if she wakes up."

I didn't even turn to look at Jeremiah. I simply kept my eyes on Lilith as I spoke. "I can't. I want to be here when she wakes up. If I'm not here when she wakes up then..." I sighed. "I can't even think properly right now. I just want her to wake up already."

Jeremiah placed a hand on my back. "I do too, brother. I do too."

I slumped over and rested my head on the bed beside Lilith. I was so worried for her. What if Rolan finds out? Or Ulantier does? Honestly I'd prefer Ulantier over Rolan any day, but I'd also prefer if neither of them made an appearance.

"We should move her to the war room," I said.

"You sure you want to move her there?" Jeremiah asked.

"Yes. It'd be safer for us in there. That way we wouldn't have to worry about someone overhearing and making an unexpected appearance."

Jeremiah sighed. "Alright. Can you carry her on your own?"

I sat up and nodded. "Yeah. Do you think you can move a sofa or bed or something? I don't want her to be uncomfortable."

"Yeah. Now pick her up so I can get this bed in there."

I picked Lilith up bridal style and began to make my way to the war room. Rolan flicked his hand at the bed and it immediately lifted itself up. I reached the war room and he somehow managed to get that bed through the entire castle without loosing anything. I carefully placed Lilith and swept her hair out of her face. I sighed and sat down beside her. I'm completely loosing my mind over this girl. That's something I'd never thought would happen to me. When I was younger I always imagined myself to be the bachelor king. Love had always seemed like a hindrance, a weakness. But now, I can't imagine myself without her. And I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

"Well, I'm going to go home for a bit. Please don't do anything stupid when I'm gone. And tell me if she wakes up." Jeremiah waved and left the room before I could respond. I sighed and let my head fall onto the bed. How could I let something like this happen?

Suddenly Jeremiah burst back into the room with panic clear on his face.

"What is it?" I growled.

"Ulantier's here."

I shot up. "Seriously? Did he say what he wanted?" I asked as I stormed toward the door.

"I'm pretty sure I know what he wan-"

"You never know Jeremiah. Let's hope for the best."

We walked through the halls until we reached the throne room, where Ulantier stood with his usual mysterious aura around him. I put on a smile and walked before him, trying my best not to panic.

"Ulantier, what brings you to my kingdom, dear brother?"

Ulantier kept his normal stoic face as his eyes roamed around the room, clearly not impressed. "I heard through the grapevine that Silme has been staying here. Is that true?"

"And so what if she has been? What has it got to do with you?"

He raised an eyebrow and shot me a questioning look. "If the Rebellion catches word of this, not only would you be in danger, but so would she. It would have been best if she had stayed Above, younger brother."

"They had already found her, Ulantier. Not only that, but the Council had also sent out someone to kill her. I only did what I thought was necessary."

"You interfered with a matter of the Council's? Do you have a death wish, Jareth?"

"She could help us, Ulantier! As we speak she's battling with Valentine's spirit in the-"

"She's what?!"

I froze. I have never seen Ulantier this angry. His normally passive face was contorted in rage and his brown eyes swirled with anger.

"You actually let this happen? The reason we didn't just kill her and dispose of Valentine's spirit is because she was too strong for any of the councilmen to handle! What makes you think that she'll be able to defeat her?"

"I have faith in Lilith, Ulantier. She's stronger than you realize. One day she got so mad at me that she began to freeze everything, but she didn't trigger Valentine. Do you realize what that means?"

Ulantier looked shocked, which is rather surprising since just a few seconds ago was the first time I've seen him express emotion in a long time.

"She really is that strong?"

I nodded. "Yes, so please, wait before you do anything."

Ulantier thought on it for a moment. "Fine, I will do as you ask. But if Valentine comes out on top, I will make sure she is killed."

I nodded, knowing that there'd be nothing else we could do at that point. "Very well. Until then, we will wait."

*~* To Recap *~*

"You won't hurt the ones I love."

Valentine smirked up at me, her eyes going a deeper shade of red.

"That's what I like to hear."

And thus the battle has begun.

*~* Lilith's POV *~*

Valentine threw me up in the air with a blast of force, but I somehow managed to land on my feet lightly. I immediately stood up and sent a blast of energy right back at her, but she easily deflected it.

"Do you really think something as pathetic as that could stop me? Hah! You're even more hopeless than I thought!"

I glared at her. A sudden surge of energy raced through my body and blasted through my hands. Vines raced along the ground, twisting and turning as they raced toward Valentine's feet. They wrapped themselves around her feet and lifted her into the air, and then immediately slamming her back into the ground. I stood there, stunned for a few seconds until a loud cackle pierced the air.

"Now that was fun! Maybe this will be an interesting fight after all!"

Valentine stood up and grinned in my directed. "Now it's my turn."

She threw her hands forward and before I could react, rocks shot up from beneath me and threw me into the sky. I screamed and tried to do anything to keep me from hitting the ground, but I still hit the ground hard and had the wind knocked out of me. Something must have worked because right now all the bones in my body should be broken.

"You're so pathetic. You can't even control your magic enough to land properly. You'll never win. Your body is mine."

I glared up at Valentine. She will not win. I won't let her. Magic pulsed through my body as I stood up. Everything seemed to grow smaller, but I didn't notice. I was too focused on destroying Valentine. I will win, and I will see Jareth again. Nothing will stop me from saving the people and the world that I have grown to love.

"Oh ho! So you want to play that game, huh? Well, let's get started then!"

A red aura pulsed around Valentine as she grew. It didn't phase me though. I need to win this. No, I have to win this. If I don't, everything will be lost. Even though I've never use my powers before, I somehow knew how to use them. It almost felt as if someone was guiding me along, showing me the ropes of how to use my abilities. It made me feel less helpless towards the whole situation.

I grabbed the sword out of the sheath that appeared on my waist and glared at Valentine.

"I won't let you win!"

Valentine cackled as she grew. "I'm afraid I won't let myself loose. Do you know how hard it is being stuck in someone else's head? Absolutely awful! I have to deal with someone else's thoughts constantly entering my own! It's gotten to the point where I don't even know where I begin and you end! I just want it to stop!" A sudden fireball flew at my head. I had so little time to react that I barely ducked in time for it to fly over my head, crashing into the ground somewhere behind causing the Earth to quiver at our feet.

"I'm also afraid I'll be erased too. That's not the type of reputation a woman has to leave behind these days you know."

I huffed and straightened myself up. "It doesn't matter what you want or I want, it's about my world. Our, world. I can't let you destroy the people I love, nor the land I love. You used to be good, you used to be a kind-hearted person, Valentine. But you let power-lust and blood-lust corrupt you into someone you're not. Please, just let this be over. I don't want to hurt anyone."

Valentine cackled at my words. I should've known she wouldn't listen. "Why should I listen to a filthy half-breed? You're not even a real fae or a real anything! You're not even human! So what you're a bit more powerful than an average fae? Well so am I! Bring it on, you puny illegitimate."

"At least I got my powers by birth and not by killing others! If anyone's the mutt here, it's you!"

Valentine glared at me from across the field, her red eyes burning holes into my soul. "What did you call me?"

"You heard me, a mutt!"

Before I could comprehend what was happening, I was sent flying backwards into a rock pillar that shot up from the ground.

Valentine appeared before me, panting as she glared up at me. "Don't you ever, ever, call me a mutt."

I smirked down at her, all sense of dread gone. "I don't care what you do to me, you mutt."

Valentine screeched and reached to grab my throat, but I quickly ducked kicked her feet out from beneath her.

"How dare you defy me! Maybe I should teach you a little respect."

Rocks once again shot up from beneath me, but I was prepared this time. I crouched down and rode them up, using them as an advantage. I jumped down at Valentine and shot a wave of energy at her, which she managed to dodge and retaliated with her own ball of energy which hit the rocks, sending a wave of them raining down on me as I landed. That didn't phase me though. I immediately retaliated with a wave of vines and sent ball after ball of energy at her.

"Oh so you're going for a power play, eh? Very well then."

Valentine cut the vines with a swipe of her hand and dissipated the energy balls in the same swipe.

"Why don't we make things a little more interesting, eh?"

A red aura surrounded Valentine once more. I hadn't even realized we weren't giants anymore. That doesn't matter though, I let the purple aura surround me again, sending me up along with Valentine. The same feeling from earlier surrounded me, the presence of someone else seemed to be with me. I felt the almost motherly embrace of someone fold around me, sending a warm feeling through my veins and to my fingertips, itching to hold the sword at my waist again.

I glanced up at Valentine, suddenly filled with a new determination to beat her. I grabbed the hilt of my sword and brought it out, to find that it now had purple flames surrounding the black blade.

Valentine chuckled from across the way, a sort of humor in her red eyes.

"It seems you have someone helping you. Tell Silme I said hi."

"Why don't you say it to me yourself, you coward?"

I suddenly found myself no longer in control of my body, and I now saw everything in a sort of third-person point of view. Panic seized my chest as I realized I was no longer in my body, I was actually out of it. I was having a literal out-of-body experience.

Don't panic Lilith, it's me, Silme. I'll take things from here.

I-or rather, Silme- lunged at Valentine, her sword out and a fierce look on her face. Their swords clashed, sending streams of fire to the ground as the flames fell. The sounds of metal clashing filled my ears as the two fought.

Lilith, listen to me. I know this is sudden and strange, but I'm on your side. I don't want to be locked away anymore, but I also don't want to be controlled by her either. I've had time to reflect upon my actions and I see how wrong I was back then. I've also had time to reflect upon whether or not when the time comes for me to come back, whether you or I would get the chance to continue to live.

Now before you start to worry, don't. I've watched you grow up, Lilith. I've been watching you since you were a baby. I watched you when you said your first word, took your first steps. I watched you when you first started riding your bike, and also when you baked your first cupcake. I watched it all and I remember it all. So that is why I'm giving this chance to live to you, Lilith.

I've had my chance to live and I wasted it in a blood-lust fueled rage. You still have a chance at life. Know that as I fight, I fight for you Lilith. And I will win for you. So please, do not stress. I won't let us fail now.

Goodbye, my Lilith. Have a good life, and know, that I loved you like you were my own child.

Tears streamed down my face as Silme's voice echoed through my head. She's been watching over me this entire time. My own guardian angel. And I didn't even know.

Silme shot a blast of energy at Valentine and immediately went in for the kill while Valentine was distracted by the ball of energy. Just as Silme's sword plunged itself into Valentine's chest, another sword buried itself into Silme's stomach.

A loud scream pierced the air as tears streamed down my face. It took me a second before I realized it was my own scream.

A loud cackle filled the air as Valentine crumpled to the ground.

"It looks like we both loose, Lilith."

"I wouldn't say that."

Valentine looked in shock and anger as my body seemed to disappear and then reappear beside Silme.

"What is this?" Valentine shrieked. "What have you done?"

"It seems we were able to fool you, Valentine."

Valentine glared in anger at Silme as she sat on the ground. I rushed over to her as soon as I was fully materialized and tried to fix her wound.

"No no no... You can't die on me. Not like this. I didn't even get to know you! Oh no, please don't do this to me Silme. Don't leave me."

Silme smiled and wiped the tears off my face. "It's fine, Lilith my darling. It's my time to go. Live your life now, don't let me be a burden. Oh, and do tell Jeremiah I've missed him so, and that I forgive him."

"No! You're going to tell him that yourself, and you're going to tell him that you love him. You're going to make him happy again, okay?"

Silme only smiled as her life slowly left her.

"Oh Lilith... How you've grown..."

Silme's hand reached up once more to touch my cheek before it fell to the ground, lifeless.

"No!" I screamed, holding onto her lifeless body. "Please... don't leave me like this..."

Sobs shook my body as I held onto Silme, the guardian angel I never knew I had. The one who should've hated me but loved me instead. The one who should've lived in place of me.

I glanced up from Silme's body to see Valentine, on the ground, lifeless. I let go of Silme and stood up to look around me. In the distance, I could see a white door that wasn't there before. I began my way over there, but before I got far, I turned back and grabbed Silme's body. She's looked after me all these years, for once I'm going to look after her and make sure she gets a proper burial.

And so, with Silme's body on my shoulders, I trudged my way out of my head and back to my family. To my world.

To Jareth.

Hello, it's the author of Changes here! Now I don't normally do updates like this, but I feel like it's necessary. I haven't written anything for changes in three years now, and there are a lot of reasons for that. The first reason was that I got some serious writers block after the last chapter. I spent months trying to come up with what to say, and it never really came to me. That was the summer before I started high school, and I got introduced to many new things during that summer that took my attention away from Changes, amongst many other things. My education took control of my life and I began pursuing acting in a way I had never done before. My life was changing before my eyes and Changes didn't have a place in that new life.

My freshman year flew by without much consequence. I would occasionally look at Changes and try and write something, but I had lost the love I once had for Labyrinth and its characters and the words just wouldn't flow like they used to. My sophomore year of high school was probably the most problematic year of my life. I entered my first serious relationship, and it was pure bliss for the first few months. Everything else around me ceased to matter and the only things I focused on were my relationship, school, and acting. Writing no longer had a place in my life.

In June of 2018, I lost a very close friend of mine to a fatal car accident. My relationship turned very sour very fast, and I entered a depressed episode in my life. I couldn't seem to be happy anymore, and I didn't have the same drive that I used to have. I tried writing various books that piqued my interest, but school became harder than it ever had before. The first half of my junior year of high school had stolen all the drive I had to do anything. My relationship ended, and my life seems to finally be falling back into place again. Now that my relationship is over, I find myself with more time to return to who I used to be.

That leads us to today, the second day of 2019, and my resolution is to return to a happier, more organic me. How does that tie into Changes? Well, I've had a few small ideas regarding this book throughout this year. At first I wanted to scrap the fanfiction aspect of it and make it it's own original story, but then I'd be leaving all my old readers behind and I can't have that. Also I couldn't come up with a coherent plot that didn't mimic Labyrinth and I wasn't about to get my ass sued.

With this thorough editing, I'll be taking into account the comments pertaining to the relationship between my OC and Sara. Young middle school me was all about complicated plots and adding in plot devices that had no place being there. Now me, who has much more experience reading and writing, hates the ideas old me had and I will be completely scrapping the relationship between my OC and Sara. However, that does not mean that this will be a Jareth X Sara fanfiction. I have no intention of making this book that type of story. In my personal opinion, Jareth and Sara could never work out. She's literally like sixteen when he falls in love with her. It's just c r e e p y. It's like the Phantom and Christine from Phantom of the Opera. It just sends wrong signals and I don't think that Sara would give the time of day to a man who kidnapped her baby brother and poisoned her with a fruit.

That being said, the new Changes will be less of a cheesy romance and instead will explore more of the action/adventure side of it. I've never been an action/adventure writer but I've always leaned more towards writing those scenes than the romance ones, so I think that I'll really enjoy writing this new version of changes and I hope you, my faithful readers, will enjoy it as well!

I have no idea how long the chapters will take to come out, so please bear with me on this aspect! I'm still a high school student who's heavily involved in my studies and acting! I'm not sure what kind of schedule I'll have yet, but I'm hoping for updates every other week once I get the ball rolling. I hope you will all enjoy my new book and my (hopefully) better writing style!