This story is about a girl named Dorothy Walker. The poor thing is workaholic, she hasn't got any dreams, and...forgive me, your majesty...she doesn't know anything about the Labyrinth! So, you would say, she is a hopeless case...

HAHA, but not for the King of the Goblins!

LOST DREAMS

Chapter One Strangers in the night

"...and do this by tomorrow!"

" But..."

"Just do it!" said Eve Russel and hurried out of the office.

Dorothy Walker looked after her boss wrinkling her brow , than buried her head in her hands. Outside it grew dark and she was still in her office. Every day was the same. She arrived at 8 and went home in the evening. That was all.

Dorothy worked as a bookkeeper on the unteenth floor of the huge office-building. The view was beautiful as her guests said, she had failed to notice it. She had been working there for five years...and she had been satisfied with her life. Till this day.

Nothing seemed to be working today. She was seized with some strange uneasiness. She was tired...she couldn't see the sense of anything...she felt trapped as if her life was going to nowhere.

She rubbed her eyes and sighed.

"I wish someone would come and help me!"

Hardly had she murmured this words, the light went out! Dorothy straightened and looked around. In the office was dusk, only the lamps from outside gave some light. A chilly breeze blew past her though no windows had been opened.

The lamp flicked and next the office was brilliantly illuminated. Dorothy 's eyes widened and cried out. She found herself face to face with a tall man dressed in black. He was handsome. Very handsome with blue eyes and shoulder-length, honey-gold blond hair. He seemed to be familiar...as if she had seen him before. He looked like...like...an actor...or a singer?

It was strange, because she hadn't heard him coming in. Perhaps during the power-cut...

"Who are you?" Dorothy jumped from her chair.

"You know well who I am." said the man with a voice that made women go weak in the knees.

"Oh...so...I would say...not..er...exactly."

The man frowned. His impressive entrance was for vain. He looked at the girl and a faint blush crept into her cheeks as he studied her. She was in her middle-twenties, dressed in grey trousers suit, her red hair in a simply bun. In her big green eyes he could see fear and something else. Despair.

"I am Jareth, King of the Goblins." said the man straightening up to stand proud, hands on hips.

"King?! " Dorothy thought to hear something wrong. " King of ...whose? Goblins?!"

"Yes." answered the man calmly.

"And...uh...er...where is your kingdom?" stuttered Dorothy.

"In the Underground."

"Underground?" The last word was familiar to her economy-trained brain, and Dorothy's green eyes lighted up from relief. "Are you from the metro company?"

"NO! I'm not form a metro company! " Jareth started to loose his patient.

Dorothy slapped her forehead.

"Allright. Now I understand. It's a good joke, really! Where is the camera?"

"Camera? I don't know about any camera." Jareth's eyes narrowed.

Dorothy felt like screaming. She was tired, angry, and incredibly confused, but in that moment she understood everything. Oh my God, he is insane!

"Oh, yes, you are Jareth, King of the...er...Goblins!" she smiled and picked up the phone.

"What are you doing?" asked Jareth furrowing his brow.

"Nothing! Don't worry!" Dorothy's smile widened as she started to dial. " I just call the security. They are very nice chaps you will see."

Jareth could have said something there,but he didn't. He just made a gesture with his hand and the receiver disappeared.

Dorothy stared at her empty hand. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to get him annoyed.

"Oh my God.." she backed away till she reached the wall.

"What the hell is with you?" Jareth didn't understand her reaction.

"What is with me?" Dorothy became hysterical. "There is a man from the ...from some clinic... and tells me, that he is the King of... by the way, who are those Goblins?"

"Believe me, you don't want to know." smiled Jareth.

"Anyway...so, I'm alone with this..."

"For Heaven's sake, you called me!" stepped Jareth nearer to her.

"No way! I didn't!" Dorothy shaked her head wildly.

"Yes, you did!"

"No, I didn't!"

"You did!"

"I didn't!"

"What said is said." crossed Jareth his arms over his chest.

"I will cry!" warned him Dorothy with trembling voice.

"Just as you like!" Jareth lost his temper. "It's always the same! They ask me to do something, but when I do it, then comes the fuss!" He spoke in a higher pitch voice mimicking a whining girl. "I didn't mean it" or "Please, bring him/her back!" Enough of this!"

Finishing the poor-little-Jareth monologue he conjured a crystal ball.

"What is that?" asked Dorothy timidly, fearing the worst.

"It's a crystal, nothing more." answered Jareth. "But if you turn it this way...Wait a minute! You could turn this damned ball till the Last Judgement, you wouldn't see anything. I should choose another way..."

He threw up the ball in the air. Dorothy followed the movement of the ball with her eyes, till it bursted like a soap-bubble. Looking down she realized that the office had disappeared and she found herself on a windswept hill-top with the man, who supposedly the King of the Goblin was.

Dorothy blinked twice but the vision didn't disappear. On a distant hill she saw a castle. Between them and the hill on wich the castle stood, there streched a huge maze of walls and hedges.

"Where am I?" whispered Dorothy.

"It's my realm." Jareth stepped beside her."The Labyrinth."

A strange thought crossed Dorothy's mind.

"I have got 3 alternatives. Number 1. I'm dreaming. I'm so tired that I have felt asleep on the chair. It's OK. Number 2. I'm imagining things. The stress, the overwork... It's relatively acceptable. I need some rest, maybe a holiday and I will be fine again. But...and it's Number 3. ...maybe I'm going to crazy!"

Answering to Dorothy's thoughts, the bush rattled and a strange little man came out. He was a dwarf dressed in a baggy shirt, vest, breeches and skullcap. He had a huge nose, eyebrows and kindly big eyes. He hadn't expect to see them, because he stopped noticing the girl and the king.

"Your Majesty! Such a surprise!"

"Hello, Hedgewait!" smiled Jareth.

"Hoggle." corrected the dwarf.

Dorothy looked at the dwarf , then at the king, then at the dwarf, then...then she simply fainted. She would have hurted her head badly if Jareth hadn't caught her. She dangled from his arms like a rag doll.

Jareth looked at Hoggle.

"Ooops!"

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A/N : Comments and reviews are always welcome!

Trailer to the next chapter: the rescue team ( Jareth and Hoggle standing on the hilltop, shoulder to...knee, gazing into the sky ) ...Hoggle, the fairy godfather...Fieries...