There and back again

A tale of no magic

"Where am I?" She was in nothing but darkness. Her whole body shook. She couldn't handle her fear and nervousness.

"Sarah..." his voice came which shook her. It was him...it couldn't be but it was.

"You!" She looked around to find him but she couldn't see him. "What did you do?"

"Me? I assure you, this was not my doing." He said and finally came to light. He was in his usual black leather and his cane and cape. His hair was beautiful with his green and blue eyes.

"What happened?"

"You had an accident...a terrible one." His voice was same as ever-husky and deep but not so humorous this time. "But you were brought here for some reason."

"Brought here?" She repeated. "I thought you did."

"Why would I?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Because I defeated you last night..." she wasn't afraid of saying it. "And you probably want revenge."

"What a pity?" He buried his head in his hand. "Such a pity."

"Please, let me go home. I must see Toby...he must be crying."

Jareth looked at Sarah. He wondered whether Toby was the only being he ever worried for. What of her parents or friends? Were they never caring for her? Life must have been harsh on her.

"There is nothing I can do this time. This was not my doing for me to undo. It is something the magic has done. Seems that magic wants you to do something to undo this."

"What is it? Anything!" She became anxious.

"Anything?" He smirked, showing his dimple. "Are you up for this, Sarah?"

"Says the king who has no power over me." She distastefully said, making him frown. "What do I need to do?"

Jareth waved his hands and their dark surroundings changed to a garden. Sarah never saw this place and was checking it out while Jareth paced slowly to think. "I think this has to do with the recent diminishing of magic in my labyrinth."

"Diminishing in magic?" She asked. "When did that happen?"

"A long time ago. I have been keeping the evil thing in check so it does not eat my kingdom away with all my subjects."

"All the goblins and other creatures! Oh no!"

"But since you defeated me, it has taken power over me and will soon eat away this land."

Sarah almost fell but she managed not to. She was shocked that she had weakened the king's power that protected this land. "So...I almost destroyed this kingdom...b-but...I didn't mean it." She looked at him desperately.

"You didn't?" He cockily looked at her. "Now you must help me to restore this, otherwise the magic will not let you return."

"What?" She exclaimed. "But it's not fair. I have Toby waiting for me!"

"Then we must quickly get to the bottom of it." He put on a forced smile. "I am not too keen going on an adventure with a 16 year old girl."

Sarah fell into thoughts. She didn't want this land to be destroyed. She came to love this kingdom during her travels. She had to fix this...

"Alright." She said. "But we take my friends with us."

"Friends?" His face scrunched. "You want Hedgewort to come with us?"

"Hoggle." She corrected. "Ludo and Sir Didymus. They are my friends and I believe they will be of help."

Jareth narrowed his eyes, thinking. He whipped his cane on his cape and said. "Okay, we'll take those repulsive creatures. Now...we go back to my castle and get ready." He started walking with Sarah following him.

"Can we not just teleport as you do?"

"Little girl, where we are going, my powers can't get me there. It is almost a 'no-magic' zone, which means someone with little to no magic can fix this."

"Which is me?"

"Yes and I must accompany you. Save you from any trouble and after all, this is my kingdom. I must see to it."

Sarah didn't know why...but she was excited to have another adventure. She didn't want her life to just go back to normal. She was excited and happy to be back.

But she couldn't tell him that.