They were standing toe to toe, glaring murderously into each other's eyes. He wanted to slap her, he really did. And if he did, she would slap him back with everything she had.

"I've had enough, Jareth. I can make my OWN dreams," she said. "I won. I won and you lost. You've been showing up and pestering me ever since I was fifteen years old and I've had enough. Frankly, I think there's something wrong with you. Why would you be fixated on a fifteen year old unless there's something wrong with you?"

"You haven't been fifteen for some time and I'd like very much to shut that venomous mouth of yours, Sarah. Perhaps a nice poisonous peach?"

"Oh, roofies, again," she smirked. "Seriously, can't you ever come up with anything new?"

She turned and stalked away from him, throwing her head so that her dark silky hair swirled and spun. His fingers itched to grab that hair and give it a good hard yank.

She sighed and turned back to him. She leaned against the desk in her small bedroom and considered him. He stood in the doorway leading to the hall and gazed back at her.

The shards of the crystal bubble lay crushed and broken on the desk behind her. His latest gift had been violently rejected.

"Really. Why?" she asked. "How do you explain how a man, or goblin, or whatever you are, how do you explain a sudden, permanent fixation on a random teenage girl that you'd never met until you decided to snatch her brother and torment her in a maze."

She was wearing that chilly, superior little smile again. He hated that smile. That smile hurt.

He kept a tight rein on his anger and ground out "But we had meet before, Sarah."

"Oh, really? When?" she said in a tone of condescending disbelief.

He clenched his fists in frustration and then ran his gloved hands through his wild hair; white blonde hair with chopped strands and the occasional thin feather peeking through. Then he slumped against the door frame, crossed his arms and shuffled one boot-clad foot in irritation. "Well, what difference does it make? Go ahead and tell her", he thought to himself.

He began to speak in a flat, featureless voice. "We are soul mates, Sarah. We are also fools that made a very bad mistake. You were once an immortal, too, you know," he said, staring at the floor.

"Oh, do continue, this ought to be good," she said.

He glanced up, surveyed her face and then looked back at the floor.

"We did something stupid, it doesn't matter what anymore, and an angry individual with more power than the both of us put together, cursed us, cursed you, and cursed me."

She made a sound of disgust. "Sure," she said.

He ground his teeth. "You have been born and have died again and again for centuries, Sarah. I always find you. I always know you. But you never know me. I have won you again and again and lost you again and again. I have watched you die and leave me alone… so many times. I have courted you over and over and been rejected and accepted and spurned and adored and ignored and loved. I have tried to reorder time within time within time and I cannot fix this!"

He looked up at her and stood up straight. He began to walk toward her. "You always go away and you always come back. You always hurt me. Every. Single. Time. You hurt me. The pain is maddening. I want to let you go, but I cannot."

He stopped in front of her. "I tell you this story every time." He paused.

"You are so full of it," she sneered.

"And you never believe me," he said.

"I don't believe you because the story is ridiculous. Just more of your foolishness. Everything you ever told me was a lie, and I DON'T WANT YOU HERE ANYMORE," she suddenly shouted. "You're right, I'm not fifteen anymore and I don't have time for this."

She held her hands up as if appealing to the heavens and said, "I must be delusional, anyway. You're nothing but a figment of my imagination. Goblins aren't real and neither are their pervert kings!" She laughed harshly into his stricken face.

"Give up, loser," she jeered. "You'll never have me in this lifetime. Maybe better luck next time."

He looked intently into her face. He saw dismissal and indifference in cold green eyes and knew he truly had lost. His simmering anger flared.

"You're right," he said. "Maybe next time."

He grasped her arms and leaned over and roughly kissed her curled lips as she angrily twisted away from him. Then he took hold of her head and sharply snapped it to the right.

Her body collapsed to the floor and twitched slightly as dying nerve endings sparked for the last time.

He knelt and stroked her hair. "Forgive me, Sarah, you know I've never been very patient."

He stood and looked down at the still form for a moment. Then he stepped over her and walked out of the room. He would be watching for a baby soon. A little baby girl with dark hair and green eyes.