Disclaimer: Alright, this is getting pretty bad. Y'all are aware that Jareth isn't mine, or I'd be the one getting credit for his beauty.
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Sarah was laid out on her bed. She rubbed her fingers absently along the scar at the base of her neck, thinking, as she did so often now, of Jareth. Memories haunted her, in and out of dreams or nightmares. She could barely live anymore. She didn't want to live without him, but, as he'd made it clear (though he'd said nothing), she was unnecessary to him anymore. Her eyes drifted closed, and her traitorous mind forced her to relive what happened after her death once again.
Within Sarah's Dreams
Jareth held Sarah to him as he brought the three of them back across the Veil. Lumini's body he merely tossed to a few of the goblins standing idly.
"Throw that to the Pits. If I see it ever again, I will kill each and every one of you." Sarah's body in his arms, coupled with the tears in their King's voice, forced them to action faster than the threat. The Goblin King bypassed every room in his palace, going straight for the Ballroom. She would recognize that place. Jareth laid out his love on the floor, taking in every injury. Each new wound forced a knife deeper into his heart. He had been unable to stop them from happening.
"Oh, my love, I'm not what you needed, am I?"
Sarah's body did not move even once. Her form was still, rigidly retaining her last look: eyes softly closed, mouth slightly open, body covered in scores and marks and blood. One could almost say she looked peaceful. Jareth saw her as sensual, even though she was dead.
Jareth could feel the Spirit of the Labyrinth nearby, could feel its sorrow at her loss. The Goblin King cried more tears than had ever been shed within the castle walls. How could he have been too late? She was dead now, all because he had been unable to stop the Shadow Lord from making his final move.
"Sarah, I love you. I'm so sorry I couldn't be there for you, my love," Jareth turned away, unable to look upon his love any longer. He sat hunched over on the floor, sobbing softly, occasionally keening his agony to the Heavens. The goblins in the citadel could hear him, and they quivered in both fear and grief. Sarah meant a lot to the entire Labyrinth. Her loss was a blow to them all.
The Labyrinth itself shook, going so far as to release an unearthly bellow of rage and regret. Jareth's cries were drowned out in the Labyrinth's. There was no consolation for the Land of the Goblins. Sarah was a part of them all. Now she was lost to them forever. Jareth felt the Spirit of the Labyrinth close by him, trying to express some semblance of comfort.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," Jareth spoke to no one in particular, "She's dead because of me." Something bright flashed on the outside of Jareth's vision. Turning to look, Jareth's mouth dropped open.
Sarah's entire body shimmered with white light and pale glitter. The Spirit of the Labyrinth could be seen for the first time. A pale form, fragile and almost too faint to be seen, turned and smiled almost sadly at the Goblin King. Jareth stared and gaped in absolute shock.
"Goblin King, I can bring her back. But until she realizes what has happened and her true worth to the Land of the Goblins and the Labyrinth itself, you cannot ever see her again. Until you realize the depth of your need for her, and your dependency on the Labyrinth itself, she will be lost to you forever. You will need her here, because she is going to become the Spirit of the Labyrinth. I will enter her, breathe life along her veins once more, and I will become she as much as she will become me. But you will drive her back to the Surface until my stipulations are met. If you do not, I will leave her, and both of us will be lost to the Labyrinth forever. Should this happen, you and all within will die. Entropy will take place and the Labyrinth itself will die, dissolving into blackness. Do I make myself clear, Goblin King?"
Jareth could only mutely nod. Lose his love forever after gaining her back from death? How could he? But, as the Spirit said, he had to. For her.
Sarah's body lifted off the floor completely, floating among the chandeliers and the fog that perpetually filled the Ballroom. She appeared ethereal and sensual, fragile but at the same time completely solid. The white light grew so bright it hurt Jareth's eyes to watch, but he couldn't bear to look away. Her body shuddered violently once, twice, then was still. She drifted back to the floor of the Ballroom- completely naked and covered in pale, soft scars. She was whole once more.
Jareth knelt beside his love, taking one pale hand between both of his. He forced a hard look into his eyes: a stony mixture of refusal and sorrow. He had to make her go back. Only until he realized how much she meant to him, he told himself. Her eyes fluttered open to look into his. Jareth knew he couldn't let her speak; he would lose his nerve.
"I'm sending you back to the Surface, Sarah. Lumini is dead. You need not fear he will return to come after you. Know your worth to us, Sarah, and you may be able to return one day." Jareth waved his hand casually and Sarah disappeared. Only when she was gone did he allow himself to cry once more.
End dream
Sarah awoke with a start. She brushed angrily at the tears on her face. Tears were not going to change the fact that he did not want her in the Labyrinth any longer. But why? Why would he drive her away when the Labyrinth meant so much to her? Why would he force her out when he meant so much to her? She didn't understand. She knew she had to discover it, though, or she would never get the chance to tell him how much he'd hurt her.
The Castle Beyond the Goblin City
Jareth sat idly on his throne, staring into the bubble he'd conjured to watch Sarah. It had been almost a year since he'd been forced to push her away. This was the first time he'd let himself look at her. She was seventeen now, practically a woman. She had filled out nicely, he saw, though something seemed very different about her. Her eyes were deeper, more sorrowful, and a Hell of a lot more knowing. The room she rested in was not the one at her Father's house, though she'd decorated it much like that one. How had so much happened? How could it have gotten so bad for her? Jareth angrily threw the bubble away from him, where it shattered against a stone wall.
The Goblin King looked exactly the same as he had before, if a little more disheveled. He hadn't been able to think of anything but Sarah. In an effort to get her off his mind and ease the pain of her being gone, he'd managed to organize the goblins somewhat and begun extensive repairs to the castle, grounds, and citadel. The gardens had never looked so good. The castle was stunningly clean and in gorgeous repair. It was no longer falling apart. The goblin's own homes had been repaired and even painted, so it was now a barrage of bright colors.
But no matter what he did with his time, something seemed strange to Jareth. He conjured another bubble to stare at his love. She was still on her bed, angrily brushing at tears on her face. Something startled her, and as she looked up, the image dissolved within the bubble. Jareth swore viciously. How had that happened?
What had caused her to block him from seeing her?
Sarah's Room
Once things had calmed down again, Sarah allowed Jareth to view her once more. She was upset with herself for having to stop him in the first place: it was, after all, the first time he'd done so in the eleven months it'd been since he'd forced her out. Perhaps he did want her with him after all. Sarah wished there was a way she could see him again. That was all she wanted, after all. She knew that without her, the Labyrinth would crumble into dust. She wasn't sure how she knew it, but she knew.
How could she face him, knowing what she knew now? After all that had happened, how could he still want her? She knew he thought her death was his fault. But wasn't it true that her new life was his doing as well? If he hadn't loved her so much, why would the Spirit of the Labyrinth have brought her back? Especially with her… well, why had the Spirit given her a second chance?
But how much can a used woman mean to a fey man?
The Castle Beyond The Goblin City
Jareth watched in amazement as the bubble filled again with Sarah's visage. She had stopped him from seeing her? But why? Was there something he was not allowed to know? What could possibly force her to block him from seeing her? Was she ashamed of something, frightened of something, unwilling to tell him something? The Goblin King stood, donning his glitterized purple cape and shimmering through to the Veil. It was time he paid his love a visit.
Sarah's Room
Sarah stood and stretched, forcing the last of her thoughts of Jareth from her mind. If he had still wanted her, he would have come for her by now. She walked to the bassinet and stared down at the son of Shadows. Heir to the Hierarchy of Evil, she had been unable to lift a finger against the baby. He looked quite a bit like his father, which sometimes made it hard for Sarah to look at him. The doctors she had seen about it told her it was just post-partum depression and recommended she see a psychiatrist, especially if she was thinking about harming the child. She had tried to kill him, once. She held him in her arms and, watching his calm face all the while, she tried to drown both herself and him. A nurse had walked by at that moment and taken the child from her, buzzing frantically for help. Sarah had tried desperately to regain the infant from the nurse. They had taken him from her for almost a week- no one would take him as their own, so Sarah promised to be good to the baby. She was regularly checked up on by doctors to make sure she was no longer trying to kill her child, but other than that she was alone. Alone with baby Núramórea. She had named him 'Deep Dark'. Though most of the time, she just called him Nyx, meaning 'Of The Night'. Both name and nickname seemed to fit.
Nyx reached up to Sarah with a smirk rather like his Father's on his face. She reached down and retrieved him from his place. At two months old, he was in perfect health. He hadn't been sick, and was relatively quiet. She cuddled him close, almost able to forget who had fathered him.
"What the fuck is this?" Jareth exclaimed. Sarah whipped around. Núramórea stared at the newcomer, glaring as well as an infant of two months can glare.
"Jareth…?"
"A baby, Sarah?"
Sarah nodded mutely, unable to look at him. When she finally looked up again, glitter was settling on her carpet. She forced back the tears that threatened and rocked Núramórea to stop herself from trying to hurt him. He had forced her love from her life jus as easily as his father had. Anguish, regret, fear, self-loathing all swept through Sarah. She would never see Jareth again.
The Castle Beyond the Goblin City
Jareth sat on his bed in a state of absolute shock. There was no doubt who that baby belonged to. If the child should grow, he could inherit his father's legacy. He could potentially kill Sarah. Sarah could not be left alone with the baby. But how could Jareth accept the Shadow Lord's heir?
The Goblin King bolted to his feet, suddenly understanding what the Spirit of the Labyrinth had told him. To have Sarah back, he had to consent to Lumini's baby as well. He smiled sadly. He would be inviting Death in for dinner.
The Graveyard
It was close on midnight on the surface, three weeks after Jareth had disappeared from Sarah's life for the third time. Sarah was sitting on a tombstone in the Graveyard where she'd first met the Goblin King. Núramórea was settled in his tram right behind her. She watched his sleeping form.
It was good she was such a clever charmer. She had been kicked out of her father's house when it was discovered she was pregnant. They refused to support her because she could not tell them who the father was. She knew, but she couldn't tell them. She'd bought the apartment she lived in now with the money she had saved up from her own Mother's Will and the small acting jobs she'd done around town. To keep it, she'd had to get several little jobs. She'd even resorted to sleeping with her boss once or thrice to get the money she needed to keep her new home.
"Jareth…" She whispered, once. Then a single tear trailed down her cheek. He was lost to her forever. A hand gloved in black took the tear from her cheek. Sarah, startled, looked up just as the Goblin King knelt in front of her.
"Don't cry, love. Tears remind us of what we would do better to forget."
Sarah threw her arms around his neck, holding him as tightly as she could.
"I can't live without you, Sarah. Return to the Labyrinth with me. Serve by my side as Goblin Queen."
Sarah pulled back, her gaze shooting to the tram behind her. Jareth smiled softly.
"He comes too, my love. I am not so cruel as to murder a child."
Sarah nodded and lifted the baby into her arms.
"I have named him Núramórea, Jareth. Though most of he time I just call him Nyx."
"Deep Dark; of the night. Fitting names for a Son of the Shadow."
"Perhaps we can teach him to forget his heritage."
"Perhaps, my love."
As they shifted through the Veil, back to the Castle Beyond the Golin City, both were too wrapped up in themselves to notice Núramórea open his eyes. And smile wickedly.
A/N: That's it, y'all. That is The Face Of The Past. I must admit, it turned out rather well. I'm toying with the idea of making a sequel. Let me know your opinions. Much love, Eden.