Jareth stared down at the woman lying on the bed.

"How are you feeling today?" he asked quietly, knowing the answer, but wanting to hear her voice. Green eyes opened slowly to focus on his face, and her hand reached towards his.

"As well as I have been recently." She finally said. He knew she was lying, but he let it pass.

They sat there, fingers intertwined, looking into each other's eyes, for a long moment. As usual, she looked away first.

"You don't have to keep coming here, Jareth." She told him gently. "I know how much it pains you to see me like this." He shook his head in denial.

"It would hurt my heart so much more to not be here for you, my love." He told her, as he always did.

The woman smiled. "You always say that." She scolded, just as she always did.

Another long moment passed between them before he spoke again. "Are you quite certain you want…?" he trailed off at her stare.

"We've discussed this Jareth, you know what I want." She said.

"You don't seem to understand what this will do to me." He countered. "I don't know if I can let it happen."

The woman sighed. "You must let it happen. You know that as well as I do." She reminded him.

"I don't know that." He replied, his tone as petulant as a child denied a treat. "There must be some way – "

"No, Jareth. This is one game that you cannot cheat at."

"I could if you let me try…"

"No." The answer was final.

The woman closed her eyes once more, leaning back into the pillows. Before long she was drifting back to sleep as Jareth stroked her long, silver-white hair. Had it only been seventy years since they had met? Their time together had seemed an eternity, and yet it truly was not long at all. He looked up at the mirror over the dressing table, the same one which had sat in a certain fifteen-year-old's room. His reflection stared back at him, the same as it had been then.

"It's not fair." He murmured, half to himself, half to the woman in the bed. "Why wouldn't you let me try to save you?"

Hours passed as the Goblin King sat at the bedside of the only woman he had ever loved, holding her hand as her breathing slowed and faded until silence reigned in the room, and he knew that she was gone. Forever beyond his reach.

"Goodbye, Sarah Williams." He whispered as he leaned over the empty shell, which had been his partner, his lover and his wife for many years. "I promise to find you, no matter where or when you are reborn. Wait for me." A single tear slid down his cheek as a crystal appeared in his hand.

"Next time, I will not lose you. I promise."

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A/N: I wrote this for a couple of reasons. First, I wrote this because in almost every other story, Sarah and Jareth get their "happily ever after" and Sarah becomes immortal OR the fact of her mortality isn't addressed at all. Second, because of a conversation I had with my sister and father about how people relate to a loved one dying. The idea started spinning around in my head, and then I wrote this in about 30 minutes or so. This is my first Labyrinth fic, and the first story, short or long, that I've ever actually finished, so I'm not sure how good it is. Reviews would be greatly appreciated.