The next morning the forest screamed.
Not with sound, but with the way the wind tore through the leaves, scattering them like fallen memories. Branches groaned like old bones, swaying under the weight of a night that refused to end. The moon watched in silence, casting silver scars across the dirt, across us.
Jareth stood in front of me, his body tense, eyes locked on the approaching figures.
Lucien's men.
I heard them before I saw them. The soft crunch of boots on rotting leaves. The low growl of a wolfhound sniffing for blood. The static of radio whispers breaking through the trees like ghosts chasing breath.
"Run," Jareth whispered, turning slightly toward me.
"No," I said, choking on the word. "I'm not leaving you."
He smiled.
A sad, broken smile that cracked something inside me. "You have to live, Elira. You're the key. Don't let them take you."
Then they were on us.
A flash of metal. A hiss of breath. A shot fired into the air like a warning or a curse. Jareth moved faster than I'd ever seen him. One moment he was flesh and breath beside me—the next, a blur of motion diving into the heart of chaos.
He fought like the forest was part of him. Fluid. Wild. Untamed.
But there were too many.
A blade found his side.
He grunted, staggering.
Then another pierced his shoulder.
He fell to one knee.
My scream tore through the trees. Birds scattered from the branches, and the moon seemed to dim.
"No!" I cried, rushing forward.
He looked back at me, blood trailing from his lips. "Elira… go."
The final blow came swift
A sword through his back, silencing the night.
Time froze.
The trees stopped moving. The wind died. Even my breath disappeared.
Jareth collapsed.
Face in the dirt.
Eyes still open.
Unmoving.
Gone.
I didn't feel my knees hit the ground. Didn't feel the gash across my arm where a branch had clawed me in my sprint. All I felt was the hollow cracking inside my chest, like ribs snapping one by one under the weight of grief.
"Jareth…" I whimpered.
My fingers reached for him, shaking. Cold. Blood soaked into my palms like ink on an unwritten goodbye.
He was warm.
Still warm.
That made it worse.
Because I could still pretend he'd breathe again.
That he'd whisper my name like a prayer. That he'd laugh at my stubbornness. That he'd tell me stories in the quiet of the woods while I leaned against him, feeling safe.
But he was gone.
He had given everything for me.
Lucien's men closed in, weapons raised.
I stumbled back, heart pounding like war drums. My body moved on instinct, dodging through branches, tripping over roots. My limbs were heavy. My eyes blurred with tears and smoke. Every step was agony, but I ran.
Because Jareth died to give me a chance.
The forest became a blur of greens and blacks and silver slashes of moonlight. Leaves scratched my face. Thorns tore my clothes. The woods were alive, mourning with me. The trees whispered his name. The soil carried his blood.
And still, I ran.
Until my legs gave out.
Until my screams were swallowed by silence.
Until I collapsed, hands sinking into damp earth, face streaked with mud and sorrow.
"Why?" I sobbed. "Why him? Why now?"
My cries echoed through the night, answered only by the rustle of leaves.
I lay there, curled like a broken thing, shaking.
He was gone.
And I was still here.
Alone.
Useless.
Empty.
A soft crunch of footsteps behind me jolted my senses. I tried to rise but my arms were trembling. My vision spun. Pain laced through my spine like ice.
I looked over my shoulder.
A man.
A silhouette at first.
Tall. Wrapped in a dark cloak that rippled with the wind like shadow itself. The trees bent slightly toward him as if recognizing something ancient in his presence.
My breath hitched.
"Who… who are you?" I whispered.
He stepped forward, and moonlight brushed the edge of his face. Just enough to catch the sharp line of a jaw. A sliver of a scar along one cheek. Eyes, strange eyes. That burned gold and red all at once.
Then darkness claimed my vision.
My body gave out.
I collapsed into the damp soil, the sound of his boots drawing closer the last thing I heard before the world disappeared.