Love Is Lost

Chapter 8- Lost and Lonely

A/N: Here's a long one for you guys ;) Thank you to everyone who takes the time to review- it really means so much to get all your feedback. Don't stop!

Hope you like Jareth's point of view and I hope I've got it ok.

LOST AND LONELY

Jareth had felt a nagging that evening to see Sarah. He had begun to feel it infact at early afternoon, but he had tried to ignore the feeling. Sarah was gone and he really ought to let her go.

But the King of the goblins knew he would never be able to bring himself to do that. He cared for Sarah too much- he had sure as hell fallen for her, and even though he knew she had turned down his offer and rejected him, he couldn't ever forget about her. He had never felt the way he felt for her now, and it tore at his heart- it ached to know he couldn't have her back. He should leave her be, to get on with her life...to get on with her own world.

But he couldn't help but not let her forget him, or forget the Underground- the Labyrinth. He couldn't help but manipulate her dreams, provoke feelings in her for him she didn't even know she had. He had to, it was the way of the book- it was written that that was the way it would be. She would slowly start to fall for him, not be able to get the Labyrinth out of her mind as hard as she may try- not get him out of her mind. It tore at him to know exactly how she felt, he only wish she had felt it earlier, when she had her chance. Now things were going to be a lot harder. Jareth had predicted everything that had happened, he knew she would feel less and less as though she belonged in her world and more and more as though she belonged in the world she dreamt of- the Underground. He knew she would feel rejected, misunderstood, not loved...He knew it would eventually overcome her. He knew it all yet he resisted the urge to visit her in person. The dreams would have to do- he had to wait.

He had nearly given in and come to her one night, she had been dreaming so restlessly- about him no doubt- that he had so nearly come to show her that everything was alright. That he would be there for her- to hold her in his arms and whisper the mere breathe of words into her ear. He had awoken her that night- she had not been stirred by nothing. He had come in his owl form to flap his majestic white wings against her window like he had done that night where everything had all started. He had realised just then that he was making a mistake, she was too confused and young to understand. Quickly, before she had fully woken up he had flown into the tree outside her window, but not before he had cast a magic spell on the night. Sarah had felt his presence so strongly, she had felt contentment- something she hadn't felt for days. Jareth knew that. He had sat in the tree and he had watched her and when she had gone back to sleep he had flown off, back to his world- one of his snowy feathers fluttering through her open window. He couldn't give in to her, not yet. She must first know of the consequences, but she had not been ready yet. He had needed more time- she had needed more time, more time to fully come to a decision. If Sarah truely wished to return to him it wouldn't be easy, as much as he wished he could just take her, that was not the way of The Underground. There were certain consequences.

Now, Jareth had finally felt she was ready to hear them. To see him. He could not fight staying away from her for a moment longer.

He had seen her run, run as fast as she could in the fleeting light, tears streaming down her cheeks and catching in her throat as she struggled to breathe. It tore at his heart- the cold hearted Goblin King that he had only ever been to her- that everyone knew him as. He felt it like a blow to the chest, just momentarily and it tore at him. He followed her through the night, to the park where she had collapsed on the ground in the pouring rain. He had landed in a tree to avoid his wings from getting sodden, but he was not far from her. He could not take his eyes off her. She was such a young, troubled girl and it was as though the whole world was against her. Sarah hardly ever cried, she was strong- a fighter, and seeing her like this, in this state only wrentched at him more. She was young, perhaps too young for him, and he knew it but he couldn't avoid it. He understood her, he was perhaps the only one who understood her- he could read her. He knew how she felt, he understood it all and he knew it wouldn't last for much longer. Not if he could help it. Sarah couldn't be blamed for walking away, for turning her back on the world, she was lost and lonely and her life was Underground. She knew it and Jareth knew it. Too much rejection sure as hell would get to anyone eventually.

Jareth couldn't resist it any longer. He flew out of the tree, a sudden beat of rain pounding on his wings and back, making it harder for him to fly and weighing him down. But he didn't care, he didn't have have far to fly. Without a sound, he landed on the ground near Sarah's broken down form.

"What's not fair?" A quiet voice said out of the dark.

Sarah froze, rain mingling with tears that cascaded down her face, soaking her hair so that it hung in lifeless clumps. She didn't know if the voice she had heard had been real or if she had imagined it in her dispirited and distraught state. She looked up through a curtain of sodden hair and pushed it out of her eyes, blinking against the sudden onslaught of raindrops. The rain beat down relentlessly and thunder rolled overhead in the distance. Concern began to mingle with her current feelings, and she looked around into the dark night, still sitting crumpled on the ground.

Jareth stood in the dark, only feet away from Sarah. She could not see him for the rain blinded her and she couldn't pinpoint which direction the voice had come from but she knew the voice. Better than she knew anything else. Jareth saw her tense and look around blindly. He had no problem seeing in the dark and he had cast a spell on himself ensuring he would not get wet. He would've done so for Sarah but he paused and watched her, strength drained from her eyes. Eyes that reflected her despair but that had a glimmer of hope flash in them when she had heard his voice.

"Who's there?" She spoke into the deluge timidly. Hope fluttered in her stomach and quickly her crying subsided altogether. She needn't ask the question though, she already knew. But could it really be?

"You know very well who's there." Jareth spoke stepping fowards so that suddenly he was standing right over her. She reeled back with a start, scrambling to her feet. she wiped rain out of her eyes furiously and frowned against the onslaught, looking at him openly with confused eyes. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out and she just stood there in the downpour, her jaw slightly dropped. Words could not describe how she felt in that moment, all she could do was regard him and just stare. Jareth shifted his weight and smiled, revealing his dangerously pointed teeth but he did not make any attempt at moving anywhere. He too stood still and watched her expectantly.

Sarah shuddered at his smile, it sent shivers of cold ice- or it could've been the cold rain- running down her spine. Her heart leapt into a frantic pulsation, beating against it's cage of her ribs. Her hands shook. She couldn't bear him looking at her like this, the way he just silently regarded her. He was completely dry,the rain avoided him altogther and she knew it could only be magic. She felt like a deer trapped in the headlights of a car that thundered towards it- she was frozen in place. After everything she had been through, after everything she had felt, she couldn't believe he was here. She had to be dreaming.

But Jareth just stood there, only a few feet in front of her, dressed in his regalia- tights that hugged his skin and black knee high boots. His expression was all but unreadable- as it always was and Sarah was overwhelmed. She suddenly felt weak, her knees buckled and with a desperate widening of her eyes as she looked into his mismatched ones, she once more collapsed to the ground.