Chapter 3: Dancing Stars

It was the fifth day. Jareth and Scar had wandered into an empty green valley that seemed as endless as the Labyrinth, the horizon couldn't be seen. It was a long trek, Jareth had known that from the beginning, but he was starting to wonder where they were really going and what it was he would have to do. He decided early on that for Sarah it didn't matter, but it couldn't be helped if he ached for a warm bed and good food as opposed to conjured peaches and rock flats meant for resting. They stopped for the night just after reaching the receding grass, where Scar said that down a few miles was the infamous Lover's Tomb. Both men were lying on their backs, looking up at the star-scattered sky.

If one has never seen the Underground's nighttime sky then there must be a brief explanation as to what it looks like and it's impact on magical beings. Some say the stars learned to dance from the Goddess of Rain, or the God of Lightning tickled them into frenzy. Sarah had learned from Jay that the star moved, if you watched them properly or were in a dark area. And it was scientifically true; the stars danced. Scar was telling Jareth of the first time he met Sarah and the first time she saw the dancing stars. In turn Jareth told Scar about her Run through the Labyrinth and how he felt so powerless around her.

"I don't think you feel powerless," Scar remarked. "I think you have just found that one person who you want to use your power to please."

"You know, you're right." Jareth said. He twirled a very small crystal dyed blue on his finger tip.

"I'm dead, I'm always right," Scar snorted.

There was a comfortable pause.

Then Jareth cleared his throat. Scar hmnd? in attention and waited for the king to speak.

"I…. She looked so small," He said, glancing at the ghost. "When she turned into an emerald, I felt that everything was over. She's all I've got now."

"Yes, with your kingdom, your goblins, and your talents and power…" Scar said roughly.

Jareth winced, remembering the dead man's previous life as a vagrant pirate. "I only mean…"

"I know what you mean, Jareth," Scar said, his tone reassuring. "She is the only one you've ever loved. You don't have any other source for the feeling anywhere else."

Jareth blinked in response, unsure exactly of what to say. Nothing more was said the rest of the night, the two men watched the dancing stars, each thinking of the same woman, each wishing for the same eyes to see, the same lips to kiss. With a start Jareth realized Sarah had not come that night. He looked at Scar urgently only to see the ghost had realized it at the same moment. Neither could figure what to do, neither wanted to know if what they feared was true. So, in agony they decided to wait.

Margo was the first to hear the crack. It was a small sound, more of a little dink then a severe crack. But when Jay opened his eyes and peered curiously at Sarah the little sliver of dink turned to a great splitting crack.

"What's happening?" Margo panicked.

"I don't know!" Jay laid a calloused hand on the crack in the emerald Sarah, the split starting where her left hip was meant to be all the way up to her right shoulder. Then it all shattered and emerald flew in every which direction, breaking into smaller pieces and even disintegrating into dust.

When the explosion of broken stone was done Jay let out a cry so loud and so afraid the Helping Hands cringed in the oubliettes.

Margo stepped toward the bed and looked down at the empty place where Sarah had once been. "Does this mean…that she died?" His croak came out painfully and he had to bite his lip to keep from crying out as Jay had.

Jay didn't answer him. He was too busy watching the window.

"Jay?" Margo turned and saw what the old man did.

Climbing up the window, or rather, sliding up the window was the long body of a snake. Hanging from its mouth was a sliver chain, upon which, it looked, hung a pair of green eyes.

Jareth woke, the air around him was stale and breathing it was almost painful. It smelled of sulfur and wet rock, the smell of caves. He opened bleary eyes, had he been moved in his sleep? The soft valley he had fallen asleep in was gone, replaced with a dry expense, resembling the dunes around the Labyrinth. He looked up at the sky and noticed the moon, a dark shape through the grey-brown clouds, moving, inching sleepily toward the sun. Then Scar's words came back to him:… on the seventh day a solar eclipse shall occur and in the process of blocking the light of the sun the invisible light of the emptiness shall light our way through the endless caves to Forever's Teardrop… Then was this the Lover's Tomb?

"Scar?" He called. He didn't need to call again to realize that he was alone, with no one to guide him and no one to look to comfort for. He sighed heavily, relishing rather then shunning the feeling that clung to his insides like a leech and he set about his way toward the moon, his only indication for navigating.

I'm so sorry that it's this short, the next chapter will be longer, I promise. Please review!