Chapter 1: Only in Your Head

She smiled softly. She was back in the Labyrinth. She was home. Stepping over the dried weeds and straggled remains of dried plants. She could feel the soft, spicy desert wind blowing from the Labyrinth's direction. It smelled like dreams and childhood fancies. Her cry of joy was not a soft one and she began to run, just as she had run the first time to the Labyrinth. Outside its gates the small fairies still flit and frolicked about the flowers and weeds, this time though Sarah avoided them, remembering with a cringe the feeling of fairy fangs. She went to the doors.

This time they did not open for her, she realized with a sigh it was most likely because she had traveled to the great maze on her own this time, with no 'villain' to watch her. Those unexplained tidbits of magic throughout her frantic first journey could only have been so because of a very strange Goblin King poking his pointed nose into everything. She smiled again and pushed the doors open. From there she turned to her right, the west, for the castle lay to the south when she faced the doors. She ran.

It went just as it had before, Sarah knew the ways she went and she followed her old path quickly. She knew though that this dream could not last, but she hoped more then she had ever hoped before that maybe she could reach that castle so far from where she started. But she always woke up before she could reach it. This time, maybe, she would attain it.

The passage itself did seem swifter then all the other dream-journeys, so there was a blooming hope in her that made her smile as she accelerated through the dream. Then all at once it came to an abrupt stop. She was standing under the canopy of trees in a glittering forest. Even though her dreams were in a lacking supply of her companions from her first run, it always included this place, where she stood among the glinting and shadowed trees a small ripe, sweet smelling peach in her hands. It was here where she had woken up many times, but sometimes her sleep was too heavy to keep her from waking. So she would choose. Bite the peach and dance with him, or drop the peach and go to the castle to see him. Until that night she had always dropped the peach and raced to the castle, never quite making it. Tonight, she decided to yield to her fantasy and she bit down into the peach's succumbing flesh.

The flavor was rich, some of the juice dribbled down her chin, a right sloppy mess. Then she fell dizzily to the ground, the peach rolled away and she watched then in silent fear as the world shattered around her. She couldn't move, her body floated; stiff as a board in a strange cloudy world, the forest, the Labyrinth, all things familiar were gone. The taste of the drupe however remained sweet on her tongue.

She didn't know when the world came back, but then it was there. It wasn't the forest or any other place she knew in the Labyrinth. It wasn't even the bubble ballroom that she had been transported into when she had eaten the first peach. It was a dark room. Dark and warm. Smelled sweet, like the Labyrinth air.

She moved forward and bumped ungracefully into what felt like a bed frame pole. Rubbing her aching nose she grasped the pole with one arm and hung to it, trying to adjust he eyes to the darkness.

"Who is there?"

The voice made Sarah jump, then the room was suddenly so flooded with blue-silver light that Sarah gasped and fell back, trying to cover her stinging eyes with her hands. When she could see clearly she felt her mouth drop down slightly. Before her lying on a silk adorned bed very much fit for royalty, was a very exhausted looking Goblin King. In his ungloved hand was a glowing crystal, the source of that abominable light. He had a funny expression o his face and he sighed.

"Come to mock me again, precious?" He smirked. "My dreams make you more beautiful every time. Though I must say," He looked her up and down. "You do look a great deal like the real Sarah."

She found herself unable to speak, but a smile forced its way onto her face. She giggled a little. She felt like a blubbering school girl, blushing before the man who not long before she had considered an enemy. Well…she admitted to herself she hadn't always considered him to be such an enemy, the ballroom in the bubble…had changed her thoughts. For the better or the worse she could not say.

"You're laughing at me," He sighed. The crystal dimmed and he set it down on a pedestal beside his bed that seemed made for it. "Just as well, it's better then the other dreams."

Sarah playfully cocked her head in question. She was certain now that this was a very fantastical dream, one where she could do what she wanted. So she decided she would do whatever she wanted. She slid slowly on graceful feet toward his bed again and sat on the edge, drawing up her legs under her. She had fallen asleep that night in a silky nightgown and a robe, the color of lilacs. Not usually her first choice, but every girl needs to have something to make her feel like a woman. Though she was only just twenty-one Sarah rejoiced in her secret occasional devotions to her feminine side. And a nightgown like this was a most benefitting seduction tool of her dream Goblin King.

"The other dreams…" He sighed. She nodded her head, her expression hopefully reading her intent curiosity.

"Well, they are much like this," He explained and laid back on his pillows. "Though, I must admit, some nights your costumes are…less then appropriate. Or not there at all." He laughed at himself. But Sarah frowned a little.

"Oh, now precious, don't be cross. A man can't really help himself sometimes."

And neither can a woman. Sarah thought. This dream was just too perfect. She smiled darkly, and moved across the bed, crawling slowly toward him. At first he didn't quite know what she was doing, the bewilderment in his eyes reminding her of a deer in headlights. How cute.

When she leaned over him, her smile lost all darkness and the soft thudding beats of her heart quickened. Their eyes were locked and the dream felt so real that Sarah almost pulled herself away, in fear that it really was not a dream and she had made a mistake.

"Sarah." His voice said it all. Everything she wanted. She moved quickly and kissed him. Short and hot and she pulled away hastily looking at his face for his reaction.

He looked shocked. Then a half-smile cracked his face and his hands reached out to her. For a moment this reminded her of Toby, when he was a baby on mornings when only she was left to fetch him for his breakfast. He would stand at the edge of his crib and squeal and laugh when she appeared at the door. Then he would stretch his arms up to her and cry with his darling voice, "Saw-wuh, Saw-wuh!" and she would smile and reach for him and cradle him against her heart.

But it wasn't Toby reaching for her in this sweetly vivid dream, it was Jareth. And instead of feeling what she felt for Toby, a maternal sisterly love, she felt stirring warmth that pooled in her belly and shivered its way through her entire body. She smiled to him and smoothly moved into his arms. She buried his face in his neck and kissed his warm skin, loving that he was like a very limp doll in her arms.

"This isn't real," He whispered against her hair. "You're not real." He said sadly.

Sarah pulled herself up so she could look down at him. She watched his sad eyes, their quirky mismatched irises looking up at her with such vibrancy. She smiled and decided to show this dream-Jareth that she very much was alive and that for him at least in this dream paradise she was real.

"Jareth, I am real," She whispered. "And I love you." In all honesty she did. Though it wasn't her real Jareth, the real Goblin King, she loved the man who stared up at her like she was everything he'd ever wanted.

She leaned down and kissed him. It was a long kiss this time, long and sweet and full of that flourishing passion they had both been hiding. He tasted like summer, sweet dreams, and spring rain. Everything she loved. Maybe he tasted that way because he was meant to be hers or maybe he did because she just loved him so much. She wondered then what it would be like to go a little further with him. She opened his mouth with hers and let his tongue meet hers. Melding and twisting, it was like their tongues were made to dance together. Their worlds meant to melt into each and the other. It was so much it was almost painful. Sarah knew that this was a dream, even though it felt so real and so perfect. It was too much.

Tears began to fall down her face and she had to pull herself away from him, his touch, his lips and warmth. She moved quickly across the bed to the bedpost where she clung and leaned her forehead against its cool pole. She gasped, trying to hold back her wretched sobs, but to no avail.

"Sarah." Jareth followed her and sat beside her. He tried to touch her shoulder but she shook him off, probably hurting him more then herself but she didn't care.

"I want to wake up." She whispered. "I want to wake up and make this all go away."

"You're not dreaming," He said. "Sarah, precious, did you mean what you said?"

"Yes, of course I did," Sarah gasped and cried into the soft sleeve of her robe. "I love you, but this is all a stupid dream. I dream of Underground every night."

"Tell me," He said. He gathered her up in his arms and cradled her tightly against his chest. "Tell me about your dreams."

Sarah cried but a string of explanation came with the sobs. "Each night I fall asleep and I see the Labyrinth. Each night I follow my first path, my first run. But every time I get to the peach I skip it and try to run to the castle. But tonight I bit the peach because I wanted to see you, and dance with you. I knew that this time I wouldn't have cared about anything but the dance. And you. But instead of the ballroom I dream myself here, to your bedchamber." She had to laugh a little. She looked up at him with watery eyes. "I'm a pervert."

The world around her began to fade and her tears poured faster. "No." She whispered.

"Sarah!" Jareth clutched at the air she was vanishing into. "Sarah where are you going?"

"I'm waking up." She said softly. "I love you."

"Sarah, precious," He said. "Stay here."

If only you were real, she thought and she opened her sleep-heavy eyes. The morning around her was unusually bright and cold. It was winter, but the chill of December hadn't made it into her apartment. She sat up in bed and peered dazed around her bedroom. With the white walls and pale blue covers on her bed, and plain woods floors, her room looked rather empty, save for one wall where painted around the French doors was the image of a great tree. At the bottom of the tree sat smiling Ludo, a cranky looking Hoggle and a courageous looking Sir Dydimus. Up almost hidden in the branches of the tree was a cocky looking barn owl. It had mismatched eyes, and a strangely wise expression.

She wiped the still damp tears from off of her face and stood. While facing the complication of the tangled cord that sealed her robe closed which had twisted over around her waist and knotted in many places during her frantic sleep she walked past the mirror. At first she hadn't noticed. But when she paused in the bathroom in front of the mirror, she turned and ran back into her bedroom.

There standing in her mirror was Jareth, wearing what he had in her dream, a baggy sleeping shirt and his trademark tights. He looked disheveled, like he'd just woken up.

"Sarah," He said. "You weren't dreaming. I'm not sure what happened, but you were in my bedchamber."

She watched him with eyes that were blooming with tears. She sucked in a labored breath and stepped forward timidly. She put her hand to the glass, but it was cold under her fingers.

He put his fingers on his side of the glass up to match hers. "You only need to call for me precious." He said gently. "And I will come."

"Jareth…you don't understand." She sighed. "I…I have…"

"Sarah!" Karen's voice was just outside the door.

"Your stepmother is with you?" He asked.

"I'll be right there Karen." Sarah looked at him with sad eyes. "I wish the Goblin King would come and take me some place to talk right now."

He flicked his wrist and they appeared together in a bubble by the looks of it. Inside one of his crystals. Sarah looked around; the ceiling rounded itself into the floor, which was covered in a glittering sheet of fog that was warm against her ankles.

"Sarah," Jareth said. "I move the stars for no one, but you."

She watched him warily. "I have wanted to be back in the Labyrinth for so long now. I've wanted to be with you again. I was so young when you first asked for me to stay with you."

"I was foolish to have wanted you to fear me," He said. "I was so used to that; I had hoped that my being your slave would have made it all better." His tone was terrifying, he sounded so sad.

"Jareth, I want to go back to the Labyrinth," She said. "I want to stay with you in Underground. As your friend, slave, servant, whatever you want. I just need to be near you and Underground, and the Labyrinth."

Jareth frowned, a look that terrified Sarah. But he moved toward her in soft easy strides and gathered her up in his arms. "I've watched you precious, you have a lovely life. Karen and Toby and Robert visit. You have a writing job and friends. Why would you want to leave it?"

"I miss the Labyrinth and everyone there." She sighed. "And you obviously don't watch everything."

He cocked his head in question. It was true though; over the years he had tried to not watch her every moment of every day, but had failed miserably. He only watched her every other moment of every day. Only a bit stalker-like in personality. He asked her. "So what precious detail am I missing?"

"I'm getting married." She said, and lowered her eyes in what appeared shame.

He felt everything for a moment stop and his magic burst out of him in a single instant; he accidently froze her in time, stopping everything for a moment. He watched her still form, her face directed down, and her hand half-way through running her fingers through her hair. Even suspended, with her lips parted a bit too far, her eyes half closed she was beautiful, young, everything he'd dreamed of. He stepped toward her.

"Sarah," He whispered and moved to run his fingers over her cheekbone. "How could you do this to me?" He leaned forward and kissed her forehead.

Stepping away he controlled his magic enough and released time from his invisible grip. Sarah's sigh was soft.

"I'm sorry." She whispered and little tears began to fall.

"Why?" His tone was cold. It startled her beyond speech for a moment and she looked up to see his face. But she couldn't distinguish what his expression meant. It was blank and transparent, but its filminess did not reveal the tortured heart of a man, it only showed shadow and blank white space.

"You…" She shook her head. "I suppose I'm not then." She looked anywhere around the empty room but at him. His expression was too much to bear.

"Well you admitted you love me," He said and tapped his riding crop on his side. "This was a very foolish thing to do, precious thing."

"Why's that?" Sarah crossed her arms over the low rise top of her nightgown. "You have no power over me."

"No, that is half true," He swooped in and spun her around in his arms so he was holding her against his chest, his arm around her waist, holding her tightly even as she struggled against him. "But I do have power over your little heart."

"You'd move the stars for this little heart," She said darkly. "Does that not also mean I have power over your heart, Goblin King?" The last part was mocking, though her words were honest.

Jareth was for a moment almost inclined to agree with her, but then he smirked. "My heart? Darling! I have no heart to have power over. Sweet of my lover to think so." He buried his face in her hair, smelling her scent.

"So what do you want me to do, precious?" He asked. "If you love me so much you must not love your fiancée so well. Shall I bog him?" He laughed.

"Jonathon is a fine man; but he's only marrying me to help my father in his business. He's his business partner." She said.

"So how old is he then?" He laughed.

"Much younger then you." She said then sighed. "Thirty-five."

"You really do have a thing for the older men."

"Jareth," She sighed. Then stiffened. "Prove it."

"What precious?"

"Prove that you don't have a heart." She said. He grinned, though it was grim and sharp. Had Sarah been facing him it would have chilled the blood in her veins.

"I can be so cruel, precious." He said.

"You're all talk." She knew she was testing her boundaries, but she would rather suffer the consequences of his hurt pride then the delusions he bragged about his heart.

Jareth released her, even pushed her away. Sarah turned around and looked at him.

"Heart or not," She said. "I am your favorite." Jareth found he could agree with that.

"It's true; you are my favorite of pets. But why should this make me want to help you?"

"Did I ask for your help?" Sarah fumed. She was getting angry, Jareth found he very much liked her this way, and her face was absolutely adorable.

He raised an eyebrow. "You came into my chambers, kissed me, and said you loved me…"

"That's irrelevant." She interrupted.

He held up a gloved hand. "Said you loved me, vanish and now we're in a bubble. I say my love with your current engagements you are in a great deal of misery and are in need of my help."

"That's your opinion," She said, then mirrored his expression with a dainty raised eyebrow. "If you mean help by getting rid of Reynolds then by all means, bog him for all I care." Sarah could feign carelessness better then anything else, it got her through life without much need to be where people wanted her to be. But Jareth could see through this easily.

He in turn feigned terror. "But conceiving children would be a fright! You will never be a mother Sarah with a husband who smells so like walking death."

"I wouldn't want to mother any of his children." She grumbled. "Besides I wouldn't make a good mother."

"You would make a spectacular mother." The compliment slipped out before Jareth could stop it. For a moment Sarah only watched the ground then her eyes soared with a daring speed up to his eyes.

"You mean that Goblin King?" She asked. The mocking in her voice was gone, replaced with sincere curiosity. He pursed his lips, a tight line across his face.

"I do, but personal opinions of a villain aren't worth the time for the heroine." He raised a dark eyebrow.

"No, don't you do that," She said. "Stop."

"What, precious?" He was a rather sexy mess of sarcasm, but Sarah was having nothing of it, sexy or otherwise.

"You always have protected me, taught me right from wrong," She said. "No backing out now, help me."

He shut his eyes, his mind a cascading tangle of arguments. The words he said next came out in a sad sigh. "I am your slave my pet, I must do what you say."