Forever and Always

Chapter Five: The Fall of a King

Jareth and Sarah returned to his rooms. As soon as they closed the door, Jareth began throwing things and screaming like a mad man. Sarah walked up to him, fear evident in her eyes. She had never seen him act this way before, so it obviously would frighten her, even just a little. "Jareth! Jareth you have to stop throwing things! Not only are you breaking very nice things, but you're scaring me!" Sarah yelled over the constant crashing and screams of rage. "Jareth please!" She cried once again. He stopped and fell to his knees, tears pouring from his mismatched eyes. "I-I don't know what to do anymore Sarah... He's gone. He's really gone and I can never see him again..." He cried like a lost child, Sarah walked over and kneeled in front of him. She took his face into her hands and made him look up at her. When he did so, her heart broke. 

Tears were glistening in his beautiful eyes, and running down his sculpted cheeks. "Jareth, I can't imagine how bad this hurts, but you have to remember that he is in a better place... You can't let this take over you. You still have your family to think of. Your brothers, your sisters, your nieces and nephews... And not to mention we now have two kingdoms to look after. We can get through this, but you have to remember that I am here for you, we work through everything together." Sarah held him close to her chest and he only nodded a reply as he tried to slow his racing tears. "Don't hold it in Jareth, it's just us here. Let it all out. I will still be here when you're finished. I promise." Sarah whispered into his ear and he let the tears fall, like twin rivers did they flow down his face.

The King's body was taken from his rooms into a separate chamber, so that the morticians could properly take care of it before the funeral. He was washed, clothed in his death robes, and an ancient crown was placed upon his chest, like the kings of old. Markings were painted onto his body, so that his soul could find ever lasting peace in the Summerlands. The funeral was to take place the next day after Jareth and Queen Quamara made their speeches about who would take over as High King now that Ylyndar was dead.

Upon her throne of roses and thorns, Queen Quamara sat, lonely with silence being her only friend. "You always did say that you'd leave before me... Damn you Ylyndar and your gifts of sight. It wasn't supposed to end like this... We were meant to have thousands of more years together, see our grandchildren grow, the rest of our children married, step down and hand the kingdom over to Jareth... It wasn't supposed to be me doing all of this by myself..." She cried to herself, praying to the Gods that he could hear her in the afterlife.

Locien paced his rooms, his wife, Katia was down the hall with their children, telling them the news and of what was to take place just the next afternoon. He stood in anger and sadness of the evenings events. He was sure that the reason his father had been taken by the Gods this soon was because of that Sarah girl Jareth was infatuated with. She'd been gaining some major power lately as his father had been losing it, but there was no sure fire way to make everyone see that it was her fault. Everyone loved Sarah, even his own wife usually spent time with her and spoke of nothing else when they went to bed at night! Locien took a shaky breath and sat on the couch, Katia walked back into the room at that moment. "How'd everything go dear?" He asked her as she poured each of them a glass of wine and sat next to him on the couch. "There were lots of tears obviously... They're still so young Loc... This crushed their little hearts, thankfully they all understood what is going to happen tomorrow... And thank the Gods that we've all been expecting this as a long time coming, it still doesn't dull the ache unfortunately." Katia explained and took a deep sip from her glass. Locien followed suit, only nodding his head in understanding. He took her hand into his own and let out a shaky sigh. "Kat..." He began and she put a finger up to his lips and shushed him, shaking her head. She pulled him in closer to her and kissed his forehead lovingly. "I know... I will be strong for the both of us." She whispered into his ear before he burst into tears, broken sobs escaping his throat, making him weep even harder...