As The World Falls Down

He had been blinded to the betrayal from within his own walls, and when it came to take him from his throne, his Kingdom, Jareth had found the will to fight. Just as he should have fought to keep his Sarah from forgetting them all. This was her world too, not just his, and his usurper brother would not tear it from him. Blood, his and Shade's littered the sandstone blocks, the beautiful throne. Bloodied handprints marked the walls from where he had thrown them both from the realm, tearing through the fabric of reality until they came crashing down in Sarah's world.

Shade had been prepared. Magical blood still coursed through his veins, whereas Jareth had transferred his power to his beloved. He was easily imprisoned. His beautiful Queen, hidden he had hoped, but Shade had been too close already even breathing the same city air as her. As the days ticked by, he felt hope grow until there were barely a handful of days left until her ascension would be possible. Until she could return the magic to the Labyrinth and Shade would be unable to harm her or his realm again.

Jareth felt a small twinge of anger for the creature he held in his arms. If she hadn't refused him in the first place...

"I had to Jareth..." Sarah whispered, and he cringed that she might have been privy to his thoughts. "I was not ready for you my love."

"I worry for you my Queen." Jareth kissed the top of her head and held her tighter. The thought of harm befalling her making his helpless rage spike. "You must stay far from him Sarah. You hold my power, the key to my Labyrinth, and the only way back for him. If you fall into his grasp..."

"I won't."

His Queen turned in his embrace and shifted closer to his warmth, her hands settling on his chest right next to his heart. Her eyes were drowsy, unseeing the hours the Labyrinth was now stealing from her. It had a life of its own as it tried to help them, impatient in guiding its Queen to the right course. It was growing desperate.

As was he. His bewitching love was stretched out along the length of him and every movement she made was killing him slowly. She still wore the vivid scarlet gown and Jareth growled deep in his throat when he could smell his brother on her. He had held her, he knew, his Queen had been in the arms of his enemy playing a dangerous game she had no intention of revealing, her mutinous expression told him all that and more. His hands gripped the delicate fabric tightly and drew her closer until he could reach her lips. Parted on a silent gasp, he plundered her sweet mouth until she was as restless as he, her little hands grasping his white shirt as she all but tried to climb inside of him.

She was scorching heat to a soul long burnt out, reigniting the fire that once raged inside him. His hands tore at the fabric separating her from him and shreds of red silk fluttered to the floor. Her hands grew busy too, his shirt discarded, her hands drawing her little nails over his chest, stomach and back as she kissed him with all the fire he loved in her. She was his, only his. Her lips would caress only his, her innocent body would know only him.

Grasping her head in his hands, Jareth pulled his lips reluctantly from her own and bid her open her eyes.

"You know what I'm offering you?" He smiled at her dazed nod. "I need the words Sarah."

"I know what you offer my love. I accept you..." Sarah cried out as his lips descended and he revelled in her response to him. Soft where he was hard, she was all that made him whole. Pulling a little more magic from her, Jareth willed their dreamscape to his chambers in the Labyrinth, the ones that lingered in his memory, unsullied by Shade's destruction.

Linens, softer than the downiest of feathers met their skin as he drew her down to his bed. Heavy drapes concealed them from view, even though the world was devoid of vibrant life. Enclosed in their own private world, the candles their only light, he could love her the way he had dreamed of. In the darkness of the nights that had followed her departure, the void that had filled him was only soothed by the thoughts of her here, nude and in his arms, his to pleasure and please. He may have been a cold, almost cruel bastard out in his world both before – and without her. But here, with his Sarah back in his arms... it could be just them.

His name was on her lips as he settled between the pale silk of her thighs and entered heaven, and Jareth swore he had heard no sweeter sound than that of her breathless climax melting the icy pain of his soul.

His strength waning, Jareth collapsed in his Queen's arms and prayed for a little more time. But even as he sent the silent plea, he was losing his corporeal form, and Sarah was drifting from the dream.

Too soon his world was shrouded in the inky black of his prison behind the mirrors, Sarah's soft scent still surrounding him both a blessing and a curse. In a fit of rage, Jareth pounded on the magical glass, screaming his loss to the darkness as his blood spilt fresh and flowed down the unrelenting surface.

"One day, six hours and twelve minutes." Jareth whispered as the sun beyond his prison set, the time of the world restored to where it should be. "Please stay safe my love."

~~~

Waking, groggy and disorientated, I was more than a little alarmed to find that my dream had been more than just a dream. My dress lay in shredded ruin all around me, my nude form covered by the first thing I must have found in my sleep to shield me from the chill of the room. The scent of it was soothing, all Jareth in its complexity of warm and vibrant man. Jareth... Sitting bolt upright on the small sofa, I clutched the linen to my chest as a secret smile touched my lips. It had been real – far more real than I dared hope. My body ached in places it had not before, and a quick examination left me in no doubt.

His fingers, rough against my skin had left small bruises where he had clutched me closer, held my hips still has he had brought me pleasure beneath him, I ached between my legs and the small tentative movements I made in order to stand and find my shower left me weak kneed.

Holding his shirt close lest it disappear from existence, I stumbled to my shower. Loathed as I was to wash him from my skin, I had a painting to complete, and according to the clock on the wall, a lot less time than I had hoped for to do it.

The labyrinth was reordering time again, and in its usual lack of fair play, had given me far less than it should have.

Showered and less achy, I donned Jareth's shirt and entered my studio. The scent of him, of the paint, turps and charcoal drew me in under a calming haze. I always felt this way in here, the light playing tricks on my eyes no longer did, and goblins roamed freely, Hoggle dozed on the window ledge, Aster crashed out on the small sofa in the corner as Mr Langton had gallantly taken the floor. I wondered how he was taking all of this but he looked peaceful in his repose, I could take some measure of relief that he wasn't plagued by nightmares as I sometimes was. The darkness of the oubliette tormented me occasionally, no one ever hearing my screams. Hoggle never saving me.

Shaking the disturbing image from my mind, I focused on the scene I needed to continue to paint. The throne room...one coated in blood. I stopped myself before I mixed the vibrant reds from my dream and added them without thinking. No. No blood or he will know. Think of it the day you were there to save Toby, think of it how it was before you entered the strange staircases.

Now this I could do. Colours sprang to life on the canvas as I resumed my work. The sandstone fairly glowed with radiance of the sunset through the glassless window, the stone floor in shadow and light as was his throne. Glorious in it's almost ivory like quality. Curved like the horns of some mighty beast, it was a creation of bone, rope and lush fabric that drew the eye as much as the strange shape of the stone walls behind it. I even included his riding crop, discarded at its base out of sheer badness. I had to leave a piece of Jareth in the picture, something to remain of its Master.

As I painted, the world around me rose and moved; fairies flitted to and fro around the grumbling Hoggle and the anxious Aster. Sir Didymus regaled the gathering with tales of gallantry for a while; Ambrocious curled up asleep on the floor by his be-furred feet. The laughter of Goblins trickled through my painting haze and several of the mischievous fellows found themselves included in the canvas. I painted as the stars and moon rose and cascaded over the night's sky and lightened into a dawn so bright, it was almost painful. My hand ached, cramped around the brush as I strengthened my strokes, giving those last little shadows life enough to make the viewer believe the almost alien landscape to be tangible before I set down my brush and rubbed my suddenly chilled fingers.

"My god Sarah..." Aster couldn't finish. I didn't blame her. Even though I ached to be away from it and the memories it drew forward, I couldn't help but sit and stare at a painting that was almost alive. The sun was warm, the breeze real, the scents of the goblin families cooking was on the air and drew us all in to view the canvas even closer. Though the window shadows moved, going about their daily life. The goblins I painted in, smiled at me from beneath Jareth's throne, wicked little adorable things.

I finally left my seat and tended my own needs. I was chilled to the bone, weary and hungry and didn't know which need to fulfil first. With trembling limbs I climbed the stairs and let myself into my apartment and stared at my ever changing gold clock. It was so close to the thirteen hours that for a moment I thought I had run out of time. Jareth thought he had been so clever, silly man. He had told Hoggle that if I was free of Shade's clutches by the time midnight and one second came, I would ascend the throne Jareth once ruled safe and hale. But I would do it alone if he was not beside me to take his share of his magic back from his Queen – when the clock finally ran out of time, so would my King.

"God save me from men with hero complexes."

Falling onto my queen-sized bed, I pulled the comforter down around me and surrendered to sleep with an exhausted sigh.

~~~

"Saa-raah..." The pained voice called out and drew me closer. The comforter felt heavy and warm about my shoulders and ears as I trudged my way through frost-laden forests and met with two lifeless door knockers. Their eyes closed, Lyon's mouth gone lax until his knocker had fallen and lay in a frozen lump of snow to the side. I reached out to touch his cheek and cried out at the chill of him. When I had been here before, his cool metal work had still radiated warmth of life. Now, I knew he was no longer there. I moved to his companion and winced. The look of pain on his face, as though braced for a strong blow broke my heart. But no more than the mournful howls that resounded from behind the thick wooden doors.

"Ludo??" I screamed, my fists banging against the wood in a futile attempt to gain entry. "Ludo!!!"

"Saa-raah..." More howls, sorrow lacing each note as he howled to the sky and pleaded for sanctuary.

Leaning hard against the door, I felt drained as my tears flowed and my hands seized up from the cold. I caused this, the realisation was not a new one, but faced with the pain and desolation my dear Ludo suffered, I could no longer look at it with simple sadness from the outside. I had to solve this, I had to free Jareth and I had to restore his realm. I owed it to them all. I owed it to myself.

"Ludo, call the rocks dear friend. Call even one, show me which door you are behind."

His long call sounded around the trees and stone in sorrow but yielded nothing. "Again Ludo, please, again!"

Nothingness, faint and silent greeted me after his lungs had bellowed their tune. Long moments passed in which I just listened, and after a while I ceased breathing. There... somewhere in the distance... the crack of ice was unmistakable, the roll of something as it hauled its way relentlessly though the vast snow banks, edging ever-nearer. The smallest obsidian pebble rolled from the preserved forest and tumbled across the stone walk way towards me. Towards my dear Lion's door. A door no longer with its knocker, and no longer with its breath to hold until I could force him to accept it.

"Oh Ludo."

"M'lady..." A deep, weak voice sounded beside my head and startled me from my sadness. "...you don't half make a racket when a door is trying to sleep."

I gasped, laughing as the lion's large lips parted on a toothless smile.

"But, the other knocker..."

"Pulled a face at a fairy and she made the wind change."

"Hmmohs fohhppmmmmm!"

"I've never been so happy to hear you mumble in all my life!"

"Fphwhat?"

"He's deaf you remember?" I nodded, happy beyond belief that there was still some life in the labyrinth.

"I need to free Ludo, can you take the knocker?"

"Alas M'lady, I cannot. And he is most certainly behind this door. Been driving me mad with all that screaming."

I glared at him but fought with myself over giving him a lecture. "Is there another way in?"

"No, 'fraid not." He grumbled. "Not here anyway."

"Not here? But somewhere else?" I asked, more than aware it was still the same question. The lion refused to speak, his mouth pursing as he looked pointedly at the paint spattered shirt of Jareth's I was wearing. "The painting?" I mouthed soundlessly and smiled at his satisfied nod.

With a happy heart I felt myself being pulled back to the human world, and back into wakefulness.

I woke, the lethargy of before no longer a problem as I rose from my bed and stretched. Despair yanked on my elated emotions suddenly until I wanted nothing more than to crawl back into my bed and cover myself with my blankets. I could free Ludo through my painting as it was a place I had already seen, I had no knowledge of the place Jareth was imprisoned. But tonight I would and it would be too late to paint it! I could feel panic settle in my chest and I leant forward until my head rested between my knees and I could take a deep breath. One step at a time Sarah Williams. One step at a time.

Running into my studio, I found a short canvas and sketched the outlines of the Lion's door before turning to my charcoals and filling in the details and depth, finishing with a bright and shining new knocker, in its rightful place. With an action borne of madness and sheer hope of success, I closed my eyes and sought inside myself for the power Jareth had hidden inside me. My hand disappeared into the painting, Technicolor bleeding into tones of grey as my fingers curled around the brass knocker and put it to use. The sharp rap of metal against wood filled the void, echoing out into the real world, as did the squeak of age-old hinges as I retracted my hand and watched in awe as my dear, bedraggled friend crawled out and onto the stone courtyard with a sigh of relief and a tentative look towards the perma-grey sky. How long had my poor Ludo been trapped in the confines of only the Labyrinth knew where?

With a distinctly goofy Ludo smile he disappeared into the forest, the charcoal drawing following him fragile dust particle by dust particle until there were no longer anything left on the canvas but the satisfying sight of a virgin base for imagination.

One small victory...one step at a time.

"I need to get ready." I said to my smiling audience as they listened to the faint echoes of the door knockers arguing with one another. "I'm running out of time."

"Come Sarah, I have just the dress." Aster's smile turned brittle as she took my hand. "Though if you tell Jareth that I put you in it, I will deny all knowledge and stay in this realm forever." She whispered in a conspiratory tone.

Jareth may well be furious with me for what I was planning, but he would be beyond rage with any of the others if they knew the danger I was placing myself in and my uncertainty of success.

The Crystal ballroom, the place my heart had been stolen and the largest crystal of magic in his realm was a portal of sorts. Its reflective walls – portals to memories – could create your own personal prisons. Memories of Jareth's pain of my first rejection assailed me. I had run from him, shattered his beautiful illusion with my anger over his trickery and my confusion over my feelings for the cold and callous, uncaring man. It was only later, much later that I realised my opinions of him were so far from the truth it hurt. He had cared, more than his cool countenance would reveal in the crowded ballroom, and I had felt my heart break a little more that I had left him at all.Ho In his fury he tried to condemn me to a life in a junkyard resembling my younger self's bedchamber. My own personal prison.

This was the way into his. I hoped.

Everything was linked to the Labyrinth. Jared, the goblins, the fairies, Hoggle – them all. Even me. Our souls were irrevocably connected to that contrary place. And so I would return to the crystal illusion he made just for me, to where Jareth's magic and my love was founded and pray it would shatter for me once more and bring him back to me.

It really is a long shot. I chided myself in my thoughts.

I swallowed my doubts that I had perhaps been mistaken in my thinking, and shook the feeling away. I could not enter the Labyrinth unaided outside of my dreams until the moment of my ascension. Shade could return, but only if he had me in his grasp. With both of our powers side by side, Jareth had warned me I could be used as the Realm's key. Shade's way back to the abandoned throne, his way to defeat his brother.

He had been hunting me down for just that reason.

"Bastard." I muttered as my thoughts raced. If I simply waited as Jareth hoped I would, Jareth would die. I was damned if I was going to simply save myself and ascend without my stubborn King.

"Shade needs me to open the realm so he can take the Labyrinth." I murmured to myself, solidifying my fraying nerves with simple facts. "I have to be in the Labyrinth before I can get to Jareth, before one second past midnight." Beside me, Aster nodded.

"You need to be in the ballroom before then my dear." I glanced at her and a new fear flooded me.

"We might enter that damn labyrinth anywhere..." I thought harder, thought about the man I had met, all that he had asked me to do and the unending smug, cruel and calculating nature of his being. "No...we won't. He will take us to the throne room."

Just to revel in his victory.

"Do you know the way?" Aster asked, bustling around me, her actions a blur.

I smiled. I did know the way. I had spotted the shattered, glistening glass crushed between the blocks of sandstone as I made my way round the staircases looking for Toby. First left and a jump behind the throne room...and I would be there.

All I needed to do now was convince the brute I believed him to be Jareth, my memories fuzzy and incomplete, and their familiarity enough, and take me with him to the Labyrinth to become his Queen.