"It’s not really work
It’s just the power to charm"
--David Bowie, "Modern Love"

"Sweet dreams ‘til sunbeams find you
Sweet dreams that leave all worries behind you
But in your dreams whatever they be
Dream a little dream of me"
--Mama Cass, "Dream a Little Dream of Me"


Inigo thought for a moment. "Centipede."

"Yes, indeed," Fezzik came back fast.

"That was very good."

"I learned a lot from Puck," he said, nodding.

Inigo was still in bed. Sarah’s orders. He felt fine; his constitution was rather sturdy. He was still a skinny Spanish guy, but he was stronger than he looked, and besides, he was the great Inigo Montoya, the only fencer in the world who could claim the rank of wizard—the only rank above master.

He had explained all this to the Goblin Queen only to have her snort derisively and proceed to ignore his protests.

But Fezzik was good company, and from this room he could see the gardens outside where he’d first kissed Aeris. And he was also close to her room.

She’d been sleeping, he heard. Stephan had come to see her, and Sarah had turned him resolutely away while Inigo smirked as he listened to the conversation.

He was getting to understand a little more of her world, the rhythms of it, the way everyone was around her. One of the first things he’d figured out was Stephan, followed shortly by Sarah and Jareth. He liked Titania and Oberon immensely. And so did Fezzik, apparently.

The question for him at the moment was if it was possible that Aeris could love him still. And if she did, could he stay here? And if she didn’t, how would he go about forgetting her?

She’d come so far for him. She’d saved his life and he owed her whatever she asked for that.

And if she asked him to leave her be, he would have to find a way to.

He would cross that bridge when he got there.

In the meantime, Fezzik was with him, delighted to have his friend back, completely healed already from his injuries, rhyming merrily along with Inigo just as he’d dreamed he would when they were reunited.

Sarah and Jareth had slipped back into their life so easily it seemed unreal to her. In the bustle of Inigo and Aeris being in the castle and recovering, her forgiveness had turned to forgetfulness. Aeris needed her, Jareth was doing his best to help out, she was getting to know Inigo and Fezzik…she remembered ‘Tania telling her that someday it would seem like a bad dream. It was beginning to already. She mistrusted everything peaches, that much was certain. But she didn’t exactly mistrust Jareth. Or Aeris.

For Jareth it was just a relief, a wonderful, lightening sensation that swept over everything around him. He was completely happy, free of secrets, free of curses. He had everything. He could be the man he had always wanted to be.

Stephan sulked endlessly. He didn’t like being kept from Aeris, he didn’t like Inigo being in the Labyrinth (much less the castle), and he didn’t like not knowing where he stood in all this. Aeris had kept his suit at bay long enough. It was time he had a long talk with her. For now he had to wait. And keep Inigo Montoya as far from her as possible.

Oberon and Titania kept watch over all of this, sensing the currents around the castle ebbing and changing, the interactions that would become events in time. This was a period of resting, of gathering strength and reflecting on what they had come through.

Aeris only slept. Her body was weakened greatly by the Pandora, and she could do no more than lie there, sensing just as Titania and Oberon did that it was all she needed then. When she was awake, she was quiet, resting, waiting for her period of consciousness to tire her back into dreams. Soon, she thought, her eyes closing again, she would rise.

But not yet.

She slept.