TWO

"So," Sarah finds herself back in the Labyrinth just two days later, a bag of supplies resting on her shoulders and a ball of nerves and excitement churning in her stomach, "where to first?"

Jareth's gaze briefly flits down to her right foot – excess energy tapping out an irregular beat – before his lips curl into something between a smile and a smirk, all obvious amusement and hidden fondness. "I was rather under the impression that you would be in charge of that."

Sarah blinks. "I mean, yeah, I'll pick, but first you've got to tell me what my options are. I can't just randomly point at a gateway… can I?" She sounds equally excited and scared by the prospect, and Jareth lets out a short huff of laughter as he shakes his head at her and offers her his hand.

"Oh, precious," He chuckles, and it's the first time in a long time that he's called her anything but her name but she can't bring herself to point it out or discourage him, can't risk doing anything that might wipe that genuine smile off his face or extinguish the spark in his eyes. "You can do absolutely anything you want, as long as you stay by my side."

Funny, how an idea that once sounded so revolting can seem almost tempting with a little less "let's be each other's slaves" and a little more "just stay with me". But of course that isn't what he meant – not that he ever meant it in the first place, even when it was revolting and frightening and too much, too fast – so Sarah just blinks, shrugs, and points at the nearest cluster of flickers.

"That one," She declares, and leads the way fearlessly. After all, she's safe so long as Jareth is right behind her. That's definitely what he meant, right?

There's no door for her to open, no threshold to cross, nothing to mark the end of one world and the beginning of another except for an oddly familiar whoosh as she steps into the flickers. It feels like the blast of cold air that greets her whenever she steps into a mall, but instead of the usual assortment of stores she's met with the sight of…

"Spaceships?" Sarah gasps, turning back to Jareth for confirmation. She moves too fast and he moves too slow, and her hands come up to brace themselves on his chest before she can fall face-first into her former nemesis. "Oops," She squeaks as his hands reach for her shoulders to stabilize her.

Jareth smiles. "Spaceships," He echoes affirmatively, but something tells her maybe the curve of his lips has more to do with her little blunder than her childlike excitement. Sarah pushes the thought out of her mind – she might be newly sixteen and dealing with out of control hormones and developing a bit of a crush, but there's no way in hell she's going to let that get in the way of this experience.

"Is this… the future?" She asks, craning her neck to get a better look at all the ships that dot the unfamiliar sky. Some of them seem to literally blink out of existence as they speed their way past the atmosphere, while others are flying so low and at such comparatively slower speeds that Sarah can't tell if they're spaceships or flying cars.

"We're travelling through space, not time," Jareth reminds her, voice hushed as he comes to stand by her side.

It might not be exactly what she was expecting for her first trip, but the purple sky and futuristic spaceships and dozens of unfamiliar-looking beings are still pretty damn magical, Sarah decides.

"C'mon," She tugs on Jareth's hand without quite realizing it, eyes already trained on the adventures that await them. "I want to see everything."

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"What's Hell like?" Sarah asks Jareth over lunch one day. They do this sometimes, have a little picnic in his castle while she looks out the window and tries to narrow down her options for the day. Oh, if only Young Sarah could see her now: sitting cross-legged on the floors of the Goblin Castle, sharing a meal with the Goblin King himself, watching him choke on a grape-

"Oh, crap," It takes some effort and a lot of balance to lean over the food and reach her hand around Jareth, but she manages to give his back a good few thumps eventually. "Are you okay?" She asks, handing him a glass of water before moving back to her spot.

"Nothing to worry about," Jareth tries to assure her, voice hoarse and face the slightest bit red. "I just wasn't expecting that, is all," He adds after a long sip of water. "Why do you ask?"

She shrugs, hoping to feign nonchalance. "Just a random thought. I mean, if the Labyrinth is the gateway to all worlds, one of these portals has got to lead to Hell, right?"

Jareth eyes her with a familiar wariness. After all the trouble she's gotten them into in the past year, she can't really blame him for being cautious. "If we're talking strictly about Hell as most humans know it," He sighs, resigning himself to whatever madness this 'random thought' of hers will lead to, "then no, it does not."

"A-ha!" Sarah cries victoriously before popping a grape into her mouth, careful to chew and swallow before she speaks again. "So there's no Hell, but there is some kind of afterlife or whatever out there."

"Is there any chance I might talk you out of this? There's a lovely oceanic world I've been meaning to-"

"Next time," She waves dismissively, brushing crumbs off her fingers as she leaps to her feet. "I wanna see my future home first."

Something flashes in Jareth's eyes at the casual mention of her inevitable death. She wonders sometimes if her mortality bothers him, if maybe he'll miss her when she's gone and he's left with an eternity stretching ahead of him and no annoying teenage girl to help him pass the time. A part of her wishes he will, wishes that this – that she – will be more than just another forgettable chapter in his long life; a bigger part of her works overtime to squash that selfish desire and the messy feelings responsible for it.

Sarah shakes the thought away, and Jareth blinks away whatever it is her words have evoked in him. She pulls him up to his feet and soon enough they're in the Labyrinth.

"Lead the way, Goblin King."

"Oh, I won't be the guide this time," Jareth smirks. "No living creature except one can locate the way to the realm of the dead."

It's second nature at this point, to catch his hand in her own as they start wandering around. She can reason it away, can tell both of them it's just a reflex after nearly getting separated from him one too many times in a crowd, but that won't change the fact that her heart starts racing every time he laces his fingers through hers. She really, really wishes this stupid crush would just die already.

"Okay, I'll bite," Sarah grins. "Which creature?"

Just then, a flash of black zooms past them and turns a right into one of the Labyrinth's many winding paths. "That one," Jareth says as he pulls her into a run.

"A cat?"

Jareth flashes her a rare smile – toothy and too wide and complete with mirth in his eyes – as they chase after their tiny guide. "Cats are very good at going where they shouldn't go," He explains with a shrug, and Sarah thinks about the cat Karen's recently gotten and decides to go along with it.

Sure enough, the cat leads them to the afterlife. Sarah's a bit too distracted by the way Jareth holds her hand the entire time to truly focus on the world she'll someday spend the rest of eternity in without him. A small voice in her head tells her she's deliberately not making any real memories with him here so that she won't miss him when she comes back and he doesn't. A louder voice covers her ears and sings some dreadfully off-key melody to drown the other one out.

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"Can we go somewhere nice for a few days?" Sarah asks the day after finals, shoulders slumped with the combined weight of her weekend bag and the stress of the last few days. She flings the bag to the ground and practically collapses into the chaise lounge she's claimed as hers.

"Won't your sudden absence concern your parents?" Jareth points out distractedly, eyes still focused on whatever it is he's reading. Sometimes she forgets that he's an actual king, with a real kingdom to rule and a study constantly filled with laws and trade agreements and whatnot waiting for his attention. It occurs to her that unlike a high school senior, magical kings probably can't just take off for a few days and go somewhere nice.

"They think I'm on a road trip with my friends," She tells him, voice muffled by the pillow she's planted her face in. Suddenly, she's aware of every single ache in her shoulders, her neck… her poor, abused, overused head. "On second thought, I could just crash here. This is nice too. Keep working, just let me sleep," Sarah's out before she can hear Jareth's reply, assuming there is one.

When she wakes, the light pouring in through the floor-to-ceiling windows is considerably dimmer than the blinding afternoon sun she'd closed her eyes to. At first she thinks maybe hunger has woken her, or perhaps the call of nature. It takes a while for her to realize a hand is gently shaking her shoulder as a soft voice murmurs her name.

"Hmm?" She hums in question, blinking away the last vestiges of sleep as she stretches cramped muscles and slumbering limbs.

Jareth's face suddenly snaps into focus, hovering just a few inches above hers as he leans over the back of the chaise to address her. "I have completed my work for the day and notified the castle of my absence for the next two days. Did you have anywhere specific in mind?"

"Wait," Sarah yawns as she pulls herself upright. "You're actually up for a trip?"

"You look in need of some peace and quiet," Jareth says as he moves to sit next to her. "And a king is always in need of some peace and quiet so yes, I will happily accompany you. Where do you wish to go?"

If she hadn't just woken up from a nap, Sarah would probably have some kind of reaction to Jareth taking two days away from his kingdom to go on vacation with her. As it is, she simply rests her head on his shoulder and shrugs. "You pick. Somewhere peaceful and pretty."

After a moment's thought, Jareth leans his head on hers and wraps an arm around her shoulder. "There's a kingdom built entirely on trees, an entire forest's worth of trees supporting a variety of structures and connected by an endless string of bridges. One of the Elven princes keeps a summer palace there, and his court is filled with jesters and artists and forest nymphs who will gladly share their rivers with visitors and braid flowers into their hair."

"That sounds nice," Sarah mumbles into his neck as the heavy fog of grogginess threatens to pull her under once more. "Okay, let's go to Tree House World."

Jareth laughs quietly; she feels rather than hears it, and the intimacy of the moment washes over her like a shower of freezing water, making quick work of her lingering drowsiness. "Okay," She springs up to her feet and claps her hands together like an overexcited child, hoping Jareth won't suspect the cause for her sudden flight from his arms. She's a senior now, a college student come fall, an adult in just a few weeks – and adults don't let their stupid teenage crushes get in between them and their closest friend. So she shakes off the phantom weight of his arm around her and picks up her bag as Jareth stands up and straightens out his clothes, a force of habit more than anything.

"Tree House World, here we come," Sarah announces as she accepts Jareth's hand, and soon enough they're in the most beautiful, serene forest she's ever seen. They get separate rooms, spend nearly all of their time with jesters and artists and forest nymphs, and Sarah's heart only aches for something more four times, as opposed to the dozens of daydreams she usually finds herself entertaining on trips like these.

It's a personal record. She takes that as a sign, and says yes when a vaguely-familiar classmate asks her out at her first college party that fall.

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"I broke up with David," She announces one day in lieu of a greeting, causing Jareth to choke on his tea.

"Sarah," He shoots her a half-hearted glare as he waves away the drops of tea that threaten to stain his shirt. "I've told you-"

"To announce myself and never, ever take you by surprise because who knows what you might do with your super-fast reflexes and survival instincts, what if you attack me before realizing who I am, yada yada yada," Sarah rolls her eyes. "C'mon, I'm feeling adventurous today. Let's pick a random one."

Jareth huffs and scowls and crosses his arms, but follows her nonetheless when she leaves the room and heads for the closest exit.

"What did David do?" He finally asks once they've left the castle behind. "Shall I send a few goblins to give him a good scare? Perhaps throw him in the center of the Labyrinth and let him stumble around for a few hours?"

"No need for any of that," Sarah dismisses his suggestions, well-intentioned though they are. "He's a great guy, didn't do anything wrong. Maybe he even did everything right, if you ask anyone else," She nibbles on her lower lip as she considers both her words and the portal on her left. After a moment, she keeps walking. "I just… got bored, I guess."

"Bored," Jareth echoes flatly. "You got bored of someone who has done nothing wrong and everything right."

Sarah turns to flash him the briefest of glares. "Hey, save the judgement for someone who hasn't seen the never-ending string of scorned and heartbroken lovers on your doorstep, Your Majesty. I just…" She sighs, all irritation and defensiveness suddenly draining out of her. "I only have ten years left to explore all of this. I have my whole life to find someone. So yeah, I got bored and picked magical adventures over date nights."

She locates an unusually dark concentration of flickers before Jareth can react to her little rant, and steps into the unknown world without a moment's hesitation. It's not like she has anything to fear -of course he'll be right behind her, of course she'll be safe as long as he's around.

It takes a while for her eyes to adjust to the darkness she has stepped into, for the blurry outlines of their surroundings to settle into trees.

"Oh, come on," She groans at the disappointing sight. And here she'd had such high hopes for this portal. "Another forest world? How many of these are there?"

"Sarah," Jareth says very, very quietly. It takes a while for her to place the unfamiliar note in his voice, to identify it as apprehension. "I don't think we should be-"

The usually reassuring weight of his hand lands on her shoulder at the exact same time cold, long fingers encircle her wrist and pull her off balance. She shrieks as she crashes to the ground, hisses when she feels a burning sensation on her inner wrist, swallows a scream when she sees Jareth fling her unknown assailant a good twenty feet away with a flick of his wrist.

"We need to leave," Jareth helps her up to her feet and hurries her back to the portal. Experience has taught her that only those travelling with the Keeper of the Labyrinth can see or use the gateways, but she can't help the shiver that travels up her spine at the thought of the creature following them.

The late afternoon sunlight is blinding but welcome after their brief run-in with darkness and things that hide in the shadows.

"What the hell was that?" Sarah demands, eyeing the portal with no small amount of fear. A look at her arm reveals three red scratches from where Jareth ripped the creature's fingers away from her. "Is this bad?" She holds out her wrist for inspection.

Jareth pulls off a glove and traces the scratches with his bare fingers, angry red fading to faint pink in the wake of his touch. "That was… bad timing," He finally says, allowing Sarah's hand to drop back to her side. "It's a lovely world, usually. Unfortunately the inhabitants tend to get a little… starved during the long night."

"That thing was going to eat me?"

"No, no," Jareth hurries to reassure her as he leads her away from the flickers. "Not eat you, just… drain your life force."

Sarah comes to a sudden halt. "Vampires," She mutters as she slumps against a mossy patch of wall and slides to the floor. "I almost got eaten by a vampire. Christ," Her eyes widen as something occurs to her. "Jareth, you just saved my freaking life. I owe you. Big time."

"Don't be ridiculous," The Goblin King sighs as he joins her on the floor. "It is my responsibility to keep you safe, Sarah. You owe me nothing."

"Oh, hell no," Sarah insists. "I'm pretty sure this counts as a life debt, and I'm not gonna have one of those hanging over me for the rest of my life. You don't have to come up with something right now, but either I find a way to return the favor before our time is up or you ask me for something. Okay?"

Jareth casts a long-suffering look at the sky. After three and a half years, he must know that they're equally matched when it comes to stubbornness. There's no way he's talking her out of this.

"If you insist," He finally agrees, voice dripping with disdain.

Much later, it occurs to Sarah that she now owes a favor to the Goblin King of all people. A really, really big favor. He could ask for pretty much anything, since it's a life debt and all.

It's a good thing they're not enemies anymore.

So this... might be a disappointment to those of you hoping for more magical adventures, less relationship development. I know it's a disappointment to me. I originally intended for this to be 70% magical adventures, 30% relationship stuff, but I suck at world-building and writing good fantasy stuff and all that, so it looks like this is what we're stuck with. Sorry!

In other news, this is going to have a total of five chapters. The next two will span years 5-8 and 9-12 of their travels, and Chapter 5 will cover their final trip and goodbyes (or maybe not).

IMPORTANT: I'm barely ever on FFN anymore these days, so if you'd like to read updates as soon as they're available, please look me up over at AO3; I'm E_Salvatore there.

Thanks for reading and as usual, I'd love to hear from you guys!