This fic really does belong in the horror genre. I do like happy endings and I like Sarah/Jareth pairings, but Jareth is not human, he's Other and you captured that here wonderfully.

I did enjoy this, but it has a decidedly different tone from Erlkönig. It's almost as if the two stories are not quite as connected. I think Erlkönig doesn't need a sequel. Jareth here seems less mysterious, chilling, cold determination to me.

But, I will admit that this was disturbingly hot. So, I'm glad it's here for my reading pleasure.

One of the imagery things I do like here is her golden fairyland versus reality. Gold is such a warm color, and to have everything she sees imbued with it is bringing warmth to an otherwise cold reality. (I love that Jareth's face is white when she looks at him with her full memories.)

I also like the juxtaposition you have of all of Sarah's memories. The dark, awful ones from when he *took* her. And the sweet tender ones from her golden fairyland. All these conflicting feelings for her.

However, I also think that's what marks the difference between this sequel and the original story for me. In Erlkönig, Jareth is *almost* sweet, but swiftly shows his dark, disturbing side-so horrific that the tenderness cannot be believed. Here, I can believe that tenderness. And stealing her memory, while truly awful, is less chilling than the revelations in the original story. I don't know if that makes sense.

Again, good read, though. I've quite enjoyed your dark work. Thank you!

And there it is. That sliver of hope. Her body still lives? Which means she can still say The Words. She can still free herself. And yet, she doesn't remember who she is. Cue the creepy sad music as the story fades to black.

Well played, Erlkönig. Well played.

Oh, the bird. Who is the bird? That line, "I only just acquired it" has me questioning my earlier suspicions. And yet, when taking it in the previous chapters, Jareth had said the bird was his just as Sarah was. I had suspected the bird was another incarnation of Sarah, one who is from a future time. But now, I think I'm wrong.

I'm assuming the "sequel" is the final chapter in this. I shall read on!

I had so wanted to read this last night, but alas, my eyelids could no longer withstand the strain. (I'm quite tired now; it's been a long day.)

But I was happy to get back to it this evening. And must I say, there was a...gentleness to Jareth yet again, and I read this chapter anticipating the moment where I'd say, "You bastard!" He did not disappoint.

The most chilling line: "The power of death..." Though I've known for several chapters this ending was coming, Jareth's delivery of that line was perfect. My heart stopped. I could almost hear a gong in my mind as I read those words, tolling the demise of Sarah's hopes.

Nicely done, referencing "As the World Falls Down" without being obvious. Sad love. The path between the stars, etc. In fact, I almost wonder at the lyric, "I'll leave my love between the stars" concerning Sarah's fate. Between the stars, in that darkness where she is lost forever.

And finally, more symmetry. This time in the imagery in the beginning of the chapter and at the end. I love the door, the cries from the carvings. And then, the chiming clock. Wonderful. I could hear it, picture it in my mind as I read.

I really should be sleeping right now, but I'm compelled to keep reading. I'm holding my breath, even though I have a feeling this will all end badly for Sarah. (I have my suspicions about the bird, however. I'm wondering if they will be confirmed. The deer on the other hand, I have no knowledge of.)

What's fascinating about this chapter is not as much Sarah's desperate attempts to stop herself, to stop Jareth by going back in time. (Though, that is the heart-pounding part of it.) But it's the theme, whether conscious or not, of in a round-about way, Sarah is still "knowing fully" Jareth. She has now experienced the futility of reordering time, of attempting to warn herself, of pleading with the one who cursed her. Very much the same as what Jareth did after she defeated him seven years before.

And speaking of curses... Now - NOW - it makes sense, the hearing of the song, the reading the translation. Not a random event, no. Not something that could have happened on accident. But a deliberate binding. And again... so similar to how Jareth was bound by Sarah, isn't it? (Only, she didn't know the power she exuded over him...and yet he was shackled the same as he shackles her now.)

All this beautifully woven symmetry in the midst of this horror.

And of course, we have the disturbing interlude where Sarah is clearly dying and Jareth wants to consummate a union between them - quite literally. Disturbing to the nth degree.

This is brilliant symmetry, Sarah revisiting the visions she had before, this time with new revelations.

Again, Jareth appears for a moment, redeemable. Like I can believe for a heartbeat there are worse fates Sarah could experience than being taken by the Erlkönig... For instance, she could be taken by IaGD Jareth. ;) However, despite this beautiful interlude with the twins, the moment where love and affection seems apparent, Jareth goes on to reprove his black character. And again, done so solicitously, so I am left with battling that pinprick of hope that he is better in some way. But he isn't.

At the end, beautiful Winterreise reference. However, if there is to be more, I have some reading to do. LOL

Jareth's explanation of his mother - of the Mother Voice - sent a wave of chills down my spine. It explains why Sarah saw no one during her first vision of the "mother." It's so...wrong. So indicative of the true nature of Jareth himself.

The beautiful red ribbons sprouting from Sarah's sleeves and pooling on the bed - vivid, disturbing, perfect imagery. She's dying while Jareth seduces her. Fantastically dark.

This Jareth is so damnably refined. So civil even with his ghoulish propensities. Like I said before - the devil you don't know, you don't expect. And even when you know, when you understand, his beauty, his manner still stirs this belief that he can't really be *that* evil, can he? (One of my pscyh professors called it the "angel complex," this subconscious believe that attractive people are more intelligent, more capable, and also, more inclined to be good.)

I am falling madly in love with this story. The rider, the boy - brilliant. How in saving the boy-who-is-not-Toby, she kills him instead. For a moment as she chases them, as she grabs at them, *she* becomes Erlkönig. *She* mortally wounds the child as Erlkönig did in the song.

One line from IaGD applies so well here: "Soon you will know fully, as you become – fully known." (I apologize for comparing and contrasting the two stories, but they play off each other so well.) It's almost as if she becomes him, what Jareth is, for a moment because he wants her to understand - to be fully known by her.

Ah, now Jareth shows his hand - or the rest of it. And oddly, even at his declaration of love (and how it came to be) that tiny, twisted romantic in me died, withering as if by frost. Because here, while expression his love, his desire for her, he also shares fully the monster he is capable of being - the monster that he is. (Far from a Byronic hero many of us in the fandom would like to pretend Jareth to be.) Together, both his confirmation of ardor and his revelation of character, turns him into something as sick and twisted as IaGD Jareth. And yet, still, Erlkönig is alluring and beautiful.

Run, Sarah, run. But then, can she run far enough? (I think of Japanese horror, and their belief that it is impossible for a mere mortal to defeat the supernatural. Really, does she stand a chance against an omnipotent being such as Jareth? Hm.)

Ha! I caught the Pied Piper of Hamelin (absolutely brilliant adding that to the mix - a perfect comination: Goblin King, Pied Piper & Erlkönig) and the Christopher Marlowe references right away. However, I missed the third you alluded to. Hm. The rider with the boy was a wonderful way to end the chapter. (Is that not from Der Erlkönig?)

Oh, but I have a sinking feeling that should Sarah read the translation of the ending of Der Erlkönig, that will seal her doom. Jareth has her in a tailspin though, unable to think clearly. I'm not holding much hope for her at this rate.

One of the contrasts I'm enjoying between this and IaDG is the fact that Erlkönig Jareth is so cold. IaDG Jareth is fire and brimstone, dragging Sarah to hell. Erlkönig Jareth is the cold fingers of death. Starkly different yet equally disturbing and terrifying.

And yet, some part of me still wants to believe that *this* Jareth, this chilling representation of death, *does* love Sarah in his own way. How I can find romance in something so dark frightens me a little bit.

Clever, clever Sarah. I'll admit that I hadn't considered the notion of Jareth frigthening her so she'd make a mistake - so she would be the cause of her own demise. Interesting idea. I'm wondering if it turns out to be correct.

But then, not-so-clever Sarah. Why did she turn off the car? I understand that she's frightened of hitting something, of having an accident which would harm both herself and Toby. But why turn it off?

I do like that she works so hard to appear nonchalant when speaking with Toby, despite her mounting terror. And, oh, I have mixed feelings about her leaving Toby alone in the car. I think I might have taken him with me... And yet, there is the chance that Jareth would show up and whisk them both away.

That's one of the disturbing things about horror - the protagonist faced with impossible choices, none of which will save her (or him depending on the story), increasingly trapped by terror-induced circumstances beyond her/his control.

Next chapter!

I adore your IaGD Jareth, with his wanton wickedness and dark humor. Erlkönig Jareth, however, is more chilling in some ways. He's like the devil you don't know. Evil, and yet more...calm, mysterious. Of course, he's more forthcoming with his plans for Sarah than IaGD Jareth is, but he's more chivalrous, more beautiful-to the point where I almost root for a romance, despite this being a horror. Almost.

Fascinating that listening to the song, that understanding its meaning is what Jareth implies as binding Sarah to his designs. Truly terrible that something innocent and harmless might have sealed her fate. (And having read IaGD, I know you are not afraid of unhappy endings. I suspect this story might suffer a similar fate.)

Onward to the next chapter!

And what an entrance Jareth makes. My skin is prickled with goosebumps. The fog, how he approaches her... Splendidly foreboding imagery.

I apologize for the short review, but I hasten to read the next chapter!

Interesting theme I'm seeing here. In the previous chapter, Sarah was well during her waking dream with the gown until the line "My son will be here soon" (I'm paraphrassing). Only then do the ribbons choke her.

Her dance with the girls in another vision is wonderful until one of them says, "Father will be here soon." Then she is drowning. Is he coming to take her like Erlkönig took the little boy in the song, I wonder? I'm getting chills, anxious to see Jareth's entrance into this story.

Oh, fantastic. Using the imagery from the song. The flowers, the golden dress. And the horror element of Sarah's waking vision, being choked by the ribbons. Oh, wow. I can't even begin to express how perfect that was.

(I like horror, obviously. LOL)

I'll admit that I looked up "Der Erlkönig" before I read this chapter. (And listened to it-the German version-while reading.) I know exactly what that those last two lines mean. Ominous, indeed.

I'm prickling with anticipation for Jareth's appearance. What will he be like, I wonder?

And really, this is a fantastic concept-marrying Erlkönig with the Labyrinth. It's disturbingly fitting.