The Darkened World

Sarah felt the cold, hard stone biting into her back and for a moment she was confused as to where she was. As to what had happened. One moment she had been driving back to the dorms, she remembered getting a text...the memories refused to resurface as she fought for breath. The air had a heavy feel to it, which made it harder the draw breath, as if the very world was holding its breath, the air smelled of rain and mold. Sarah finally caught her breath as she realized where she was. It was as if she was laying in a forest...the memories were knocked loose and flooded her mind. Sarah struggled, once more, for breath as she fought not to be taken out to sea by the tide of her memories.

Toby, Rachel, the new deal, what was lost, and the devil himself kissing her.

Sarah opened her eyes and shot up, which proved to be a bad idea considering the world spun around her, looking around her stomach dropped even as her head finally stayed in place. She truly was back in the Labyrinth. Yet he had not sent her to the beginning, instead she was in the Fire gang's forest. 

Great exactly what she needed, to have her head torn off her shoulders and thrown around like a beach ball. She would just have to avoid them, not that any sane creature would seek them out. Though considering her previous actions she could not claim to be a sane creature. What the hell had possessed her to make a deal with Jareth...right loyalty to friends. She needed to find more rational friends whom did not run off with good looking men...yeah, right. As if any college girl would be able to say no to the Goblin King. 

Standing, Sarah brushed off her jeans and proceeded to find a way out of the dark forest. Or at least she attempted to find a way out. The trees had either grown taller or her memory had not been as good as she had first believed. There was also not a convenient path for her to follow, which proved to be more of an inconvenience than she would ever admit. 

It must have been night in the Underground because everything was much darker than before, but then again even in the ten hours that she ran the Labyrinth in last time it had never gotten darker or lighter. 

Sarah found herself tangled in the bramble and unable to get out. The thorns had ripped through her jeans and she was attempting to ignore how she was bleeding all over Jareth's labyrinth. She had a strong suspicion that Jareth was watching her and greatly enjoying himself. 

"Oh, this is just fucking wonderful." Sarah grumbled are she attempted to avoid the sharp thorns that had somehow attached to her hair. She was less than successful in not ripping out a few strands. 

After several minutes, more cussing, and handfuls of scratches, Sarah was finally free of the bramble and was stumbling, once more, through the forest. The little light that she had entered the forest with was gone and she doubted her situation was going to get any better. In her world, if things could get worse, then they would. 

How was she supposed to "find" what she had supposedly lost if she could not even see?

The entire deal was an oxymoron, why did Jareth even need her to find the lost item? He ruled this place he should be able to magic to himself like in Harry Potter or something. 

No, instead he forced the mortal to do all the dirty work, typical egotistical male.

💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐 

Jareth watched with his typical glee as Sarah stumbled through the forest, and within moments she was already cursing his name. With some luck (and a little interfering) he would get the chance to watch her run from the fire gang again.

Though he could not let the distress of his mortal distract him from the real reason she was in his kingdom once more. She had to find the path, too long had he been separated from his kind. It had been so many years that he could not even remember what crime he had served that caused his banishment and ruling over the idiotic goblins. At times he was surprised he still held on to his sanity.

Though whatever crime he had committed he was almost certain that it involved a dark haired beauty, he always did have a weakness for girls with dark hair.

Sarah was always meant to return to his kingdom, it was just a matter of time before she found her way back, but Jareth was not a being known for his patience and so he had taken matters in to his own hands.

He had found Sarah's mortal friend to be highly annoying and, if he was to be truthful (though Jareth rarely spoke the whole truth), was glad to be rid of her. If Sarah had not agreed to the trade, which he knew she would, then the human would have been turned into a goblin and sent to the bog.

As was fore mentioned, Jareth was not a being of patience, which could have been another reason for his banishment but he could not be certain.

His memories of the Faery domain were dim at best, he barely recalled the faces of his family, though he had long since forgotten their names, and had no memory of his homeland. Though he did remember the feeling of being loved and of loving completely, of feeling a wind upon his face and of being in complete and utter awe of the natural beauty that surrounded him, but like the rest of his so-called memories it was dim and fading.

Soon, he would not be able to recall anything  of the lands he once called home and that frightened him wholly. Jareth, desperately, needed to find his way back to his homeland. The dreams of the mortals' were fading and he would fade along with them. Humans no longer believed in the monsters that hid within the shadows of the night. They no longer sought the magic that the Fae hid and few of them ever stumbled into his kingdom. Without belief, Jareth would fade completely from existence. 

He needed to break free from his prison and, at times, he was sure he found a the path back, but then it would close to him.

It was more maddening than any of the goblins or any runner, even Sarah. At least with them Jareth knew where he stood and how to manipulate them. But it had been so long since he had any contact with any of the Fae.

Without even realizing it, Jareth had be gone to move the ball between his hands, and he had dropped it.

Another reason he needed to return to Faery was because his powers were waning, waning fast. If something was not done then he would lose his power before he lost his mind. Jareth had never been, or at least could not remember a time, without power. Except for the one time the mortal, who conveniently was being torn by thorns, reduced him to nearly nothing. 

Yet, even as she defeated him, her belief empowered him. The power that she held in her words both hurt and healed him. After she left his kingdom he found that he had the most power he had felt in centuries. But he also found that he could not use them against her, which was maddening.  

Very few humans believed in his kind anymore, he could not afford to lose her, and because of that magic was slowly beginning to die out.

Jareth would rather die than be reduced to a magicless being.