We spent days no, lifetimes, in the woods.
Each one bled into the next, as if time itself had gotten lost between the trees.
The air was thick with silence. Not peace, but the kind of silence that screamed. That stalked you like a predator. That made your every breath feel like a crime.
Every path I took led me to the cold stare of something wild.
Sometimes an animal.
Sometimes… a memory.
I should have been scared.
I was scared.
But not of the woods.
I was scared of my thoughts.
Of the truth unraveling inside me.
I had run from Luthor.
I believed he murdered my parents. Believed he destroyed Setvastl.
But it was all a twisted performance, perfectly executed by Lucien.
A lie dressed in the flesh of truth.
And I bought every word of it.
Now, regret follows me like a shadow.
What if I had stayed? What if I had listened?
Luthor may still be hiding something, but… he didn't sacrifice me when he had the chance.
He didn't hurt me when he had every reason to.
And here I was, hidden beneath roots and leaves, surrounded by sounds that dripped dread and decay…
Yet, for the first time in a long while, I felt safe.
Not because of the trees.
Not because the beasts had grown quiet.
But because of Jareth.
He didn't shield me with swords or spells.
He protected me with something deeper.
His presence.
It was soft.
Warmer than the velvet-lined halls of Lucien's estate.
More comforting than Luthor's cold luxury.
We'd been on the run for over a week, slipping through Lucien's traps like ghosts in the forest.
But comfort never stays long in a life like mine.
That night, perched beside him on a thick branch while the wind carried secrets through the leaves, I finally asked what had clawed at my chest since the moment I saw him again.
"What happened after you left Setvastl?"
He didn't answer right away.
His jaw tightened.
His eyes darkened.
And then, finally, he spoke.
---
Jareth's POV
The moment we boarded the plane, everything went black.
We couldn't see. Couldn't hear.
Then…
They herded us into armored vans, our heads covered, arms bound.
I didn't know why. None of us did. We were just… gone.
I found out later that they'd been watching us for months.
Studying Setvastl, the soil, the people.
We weren't taken randomly.
We were chosen.
The experiments came next.
Weeks blurred into months.
We were kept underground in a Russian facility so deep it felt like even time couldn't reach us.
They called it Sector 9.
They tested us, injected us, watched us like lab rats.
And then… the changes began.
One by one, people started transforming. Into something wild. Something ancient.
Some didn't survive.
Some lost their minds.
Whatever they did… it awakened something.
A bloodline that shouldn't exist.
I felt it too.
The hunger.
The rage.
But I fought it.
I knew I had to survive. Not just for me.
Then one night, a power failure hit the sector, caused by a failed experiment.
And I ran.
I was the only one who made it out.
I crossed frozen terrain on bare instincts, feeding on scraps, hiding from drones.
Eventually, I made my way back to Setvastl.
But it was gone.
Nothing remained but ash and bones.
Lucien had already begun his purge.
His men were everywhere patrolling, burning, erasing.
I couldn't get close.
But then I saw you.
Inside the Holy Hall of Wolves.
Bound.
Bloodied.
Your eyes dimmed by pain and gold-lit shadows.
Lucien stood before you with a dagger.
And I knew what was coming.
So I acted.
The plan wasn't perfect. But it worked.
I disguised myself as one of Lucien's guards.
Slipped inside.
I rigged the gas line in the chandelier system. I had overheard from a prisoner that one spark could light the whole place up.
It did.
The explosion tore through the hall.
Smoke choked the air. Screams echoed off golden walls.
Amid the chaos, I ran, faster than any human should.
I reached you.
Tied. Bleeding. Barely conscious.
You didn't see me.
But I saw you.
And when I broke your chains… when I touched you…
Your body remembered me.
Even if your mind didn't.
I carried you through the fire.
Out the shattered window.
Into the dark woods.
And now… here we are.
---
He fell silent.
His voice faded like mist curling around our tree branch.
I stared at him, my heart aching for everything he had endured. For all he'd lost.
For the boy who escaped hell just to find me again.
I felt lucky. Grateful.
Jareth never let anyone hurt me, not as a child, and still not now.
He didn't save me because he was strong.
He saved me because he refused to let me go.
Even when the world told him to forget.
Even when fate said it was hopeless.
Even when it meant risking everything…
He found me.
And he saved me.
I would never forget that.
But if only I had known…
This fragile joy wasn't going to last.
And my life. My truth was never meant to be normal.