Oh wow, new story. I seem to have a lot of new stories. I apologize to all of my readers for not updating my other stories. It's been a long past couple of months. I swear I will try to update all of them (yes, even my Harry Potter stories) as soon as I get the chance. In the meantime, enjoy this nice little Labyrinth fic that my muse hit me over the head with (literally).

I do NOT own Labyrinth or any of the songs mentioned within this story. If I did, I would so have changed the ending.

Enjoy!

Valentine Evenings

"You'll find someone true down in the Underground…" – David Bowie "Underground"

"So will you come?"

"I don't know, Hoggle," Sarah said as she folded her clothes and put them in her dresser. Hoggle sat on her bed playing with the small plastic bracelet she had given him 6 years ago when they first met. It still amazed him that 6 long years had already passed since her adventure in the Labyrinth. It seemed like only yesterday that he was leading her through the endless maze towards the castle, hoping with every beat of his heart that Jareth wouldn't send him straight to the Bog of Eternal Stench. But the years passed by and while he didn't look all that different, Sarah did. She had grown up into a beautiful young woman. She had grown taller and her body filled out more. Gone was the innocent fairytale obsessed girl of 15. Now she was a fairytale obsessed woman of 21, though not quite as innocent. Indeed, it was her foray into the Labyrinth that marked her transition from who she was then, to who she had become now. And it showed in the way she acted. With a sigh, she folded up a pair of socks and continued, "Aren't I required to have his permission to be there?"

"Not necessarily," Hoggle said as he looked up at her. His eyes widened pleadingly as she turned around to look at him, "As long as someone from the Underground invites you, you can come. It doesn't have to be him."

"Won't he be able to sense that I'm there?" she asked as she sat gracefully down onto her bed and gazed at one of her oldest friends. Her resolve to decline the invitation weakened when she saw the almost puppy dog eyed look he was giving her.

Hoggle shook his head as he said, "There will be so many different creatures come and going to the realm that he won't even notice your presence unless you stand right in front of him. And I don't think you'd be very willing to do that."

Sarah smiled and shook her own head, "No, no, I don't think that'd be a very good idea. He doesn't like me very much as it is."

Hoggle tilted his head and gave her a strange look, but said nothing. He knew she was stubborn in her belief and wouldn't listen to a word he said unless she had solid proof right in front of her. So there wasn't any real point in him trying to convince her otherwise. He slid down off of the bed and faced her as he asked, "So? Will you come?"

She nibbled on her bottom lip thoughtfully for a moment before responding, "It's only for a week?"

"The festival is longer, but that's all you said you'd be able to get away for without anyone knowing," he replied with a shrug, "At least, not without asking him to rewind time for you."

"We already covered that, Hoggle," she said as she stood up and grabbed a bag, shoving different pieces of clothing into it. A few button up shirts, a couple of vests, jeans and dress pants. Her hand paused at the sight of a simple sundress she had bought a few years ago and never got the chance to wear. It was a simple cream colored dress that ended just inches above her knees. The sleeves were thin and there were tiny purple and gold rose like flowers circling the bottom of the dress. The v in front of the dress was rather daring for Sarah's tastes, going almost all the way down to the top of her stomach, but it had enough ruffles in that spot to cover up most of her skin, so she didn't mind it very much. She found it at an old thrift store and bought it on a whim. It was a pretty dress, and for some unknown reason, it reminded her of her time in the Labyrinth. It was probably the ruffles. With a small shrug, she picked it up and put it in the bag with the rest of her clothes. Along with the dress went a pair of flat ballet type shoes. She wasn't one for wearing high heels, and the pair was the same color as her dress.

"Yes, yes, I know," he said with a large smile as he jumped up and down slightly, "Higgle will be so happy to see you. It's been quite a while since you last talk to her."

"I know and I'm very sorry for that," she said as she zipped the bag closed and set it on the bed next to her feet. She looked around her bedroom with her hands on her hips, making sure there wasn't anything she was forgetting. Finally satisfied that she hadn't left anything she didn't need, she turned the small dwarf and asked, "Shall we go then?"

Hoggle grinned largely and held out a gnarled hand to her as he said, "Sarah Williams, I invite you to the Ambar Erin Festival in the Labyrinth."

She placed her hand in his and smiled just as wide as she said, "I accept."

The two disappeared in a flash of magic and glitter that floated calmly down to the carpet of the now empty apartment. Moments later they appeared in front of a very small cottage. A little too small to Sarah's eyes, but just right to Hoggle and Higgle. It looked exactly like a cottage from a fairytale, she realized. It had a chimney, flowers on the window sills and a small garden out back. It was big enough that she was able to crawl through the door without a problem, but still much smaller than a human dwelling. The walls of the cottage were a tan white color with a red sloping roof. Behind the house and garden was a large open field that had more wildflowers growing in it than she could name. She doubted she could name any of the ones in the field simply because they were the Underground's version of wildflowers. If her time in the Labyrinth taught her anything it was that things weren't always what they seemed to be here. Including something as seemingly harmless as wildflowers. Hoggle was already up the tiny walkway and almost in the door when she hurried to catch up to him.

"Higgle! I'm home and I brought company!" he called out as he walked through the door and holding it open for Sarah. She had to get down on her hands and knees to crawl in, but once inside she saw that there was plenty of room for her to sit straight up without knocking her head on the ceiling. Given the size of the two dwarfs, she could only assume that there was some kind of magic involved to make the house bigger than it appeared to be. The room they first entered appeared to be some kind of parlor and Hoggle took her bag from her to set it next to the staircase off to her right. Directly to her left was a large living room that had a warm fire crackling merrily in the fire place. There were two small couches with a beautiful dark wood coffee table sitting in between. Carved into the table were small spirals with leaves and trees that seemed to grow right up out of it. In the far corner she could see a beautiful old grandfather's clock tick away the time silently. On the walls were little decorations. A shelf full of little odds and ends, a book case housing several Aboveground myths based on dwarves, and finally a large painting of a grumpy looking dwarf. Sarah made a mental note to ask Hoggle who it was in the painting later on when she was settled.

A large screech echoed from the kitchen and Sarah tilted her head just enough to the left so she could see what was going on. She had just enough time to notice that the kitchen was very pristine and orderly before she found herself with an armful of a brown haired female dwarf. She hugged back tightly for a moment until the two pulled apart and grinned largely. Higgle looked like an almost exact copy of Hoggle, except for the fact that she wore dresses, had quite a lot less wrinkles, and green eyes instead of blue. Higgle gave Sarah a once over as she laughed and nodded, "So. The ol' boy managed to convince you to come along, eh?"

Sarah nodded as Hoggle sputtered indignantly next to her. He glared at his wife and said, "I'm not that old!"

Higgle laughed, a raspy harsh laugh and shook her head at him. Placing her hands on her hips, she tilted her head upwards and said, "You're older than I am. I get to call you old."

Hoggle muttered under his breath as he walked into the living room. Sarah was just able to catch him saying that he might be old, but he could still move quicker than Higgle could. Sarah merely shook her head with a smile. She missed being around her friends. It had been a while since she last spoke to any of them, so it was nice to do some catching up. Higgle turned and motioned for Sarah to follow her. The two made their way into the kitchen, Sarah stopping every few seconds to make sure she didn't knock anything over. By the time she made her way into the kitchen, Higgle already had two cups of steaming hot tea sitting harmlessly on the kitchen table. She hummed to herself as she added sugar, milk, and honey next to the cups. Sarah looked around the kitchen in curiosity. The walls were a bright yellow and the cupboards white. The kitchen table was round and made completely out of stone. It was beautiful and intricate. The legs and middle was one gigantic piece of stone, and the top was made out of several smaller stones forged together. The chairs were tree stumps with matching cushions. A small window was above the magically powered sink overlooked the lush garden out back. It was cozy. That was the only way she could describe it. Sitting down carefully onto one of the stumps, she added just a little milk and honey to it before taking a sip. She hummed softly in delight as she said, "You being here has done wonders for Hoggle."

"Oh, trust me," Higgle said with a wave of a gnarled hand. Her voice was raspy and deep sounding. It was just a few octaves higher than Hoggle's voice, "I know. When I first moved in here with him, this place was a mess. It took me ages to get the place cleaned up enough to live in. Hoggle was the typical male dwarf alright. A messy hoarder."

Sarah laughed, her voice ringing out like a bell. It filled the small cottage and she missed the sad wistful smile on Higgle's face at the sound. By the time Sarah composed herself, Higgle was smiling kindly at the girl. It was a long time since she had heard anyone laugh so freely, and she marveled at the way everything seemed to light up in the young woman's presence. It was, she realized, the very thing that enabled her husband to become friends with her. Not to mention, the Labyrinth itself liked Sarah. The last time the Labyrinth took a liking to anyone, that person became her king. The girl in front of her would make an excellent queen… She mentally shook her head when she realized that Sarah was speaking to her, "… very good tea."

"I'm glad you like it," she replied with a nod of her big head. She set her cup down and pulled out a small tin of sugar cookies from the cupboard. Placing them on a plate, she offered one to Sarah, who sniffed at it curiously before taking a bite, "I'm surprised you're willing to eat anything in this place after what Hoggle told me last time."

Sarah chewed the piece of cookie slowly, a thoughtful look on her face. She swallowed when she got done chewing and replied, "I trust you and Hoggle. I don't think you'll do anything to hurt me. Such as tying me up and dropping me in front of Jareth's door step, figuratively speaking."

"Oh, by the Labyrinth, no," Higgle said with a wave of her hand as Hoggle padded into the room. He helped himself to a couple of cookies as he looked between the two females. Higgle took a sip of her tea and shook her head, "Every time Hoggle comes within so much as 10 feet of the castle, he gets bogged. Jareth really isn't happy with him. Luckily Ludo and Sir Didymus managed to catch him the handful of times it happened, so mercifully he doesn't stink."

"A downright bit of luck, too," Hoggle said with a sharp nod of his head, "Thanks to you, Sarah, none of us can go near the castle. Not that it means we can't make a living. Jareth does allow us that much, at least."

Sarah glanced down at the cookie in her had with a guilty expression. It was all her fault that Hoggle and her friends couldn't go near the castle. If she hadn't befriended Hoggle, then maybe… No. If she hadn't, then she wouldn't have won. Then both her and Toby would be at the Goblin King's mercy. She fingered the edge of her cookie as she muttered, "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Hoggle said, "I'm not. Jareth may scare me, but you showed me the meaning of friendship, Sarah. I wouldn't trade that for the world. Besides, we all had fun anyways. A lot more fun than we had in quite a while, I should say."

"Hoggle's right, Sarah," Higgle said with a firm nod. She stood up and moved around the table to rest her hands on Sarah's shoulders, "If it hadn't been for you, my Hoggle wouldn't have had the courage to come see me and win my heart. So don't be sorry. It's not your fault for anything. Jareth's bruised ego is at fault for this one."

"If you say so," Sarah said. She smiled at Higgle and Hoggle before a sudden yawn took over. She quickly covered her mouth with her hand and made a small noise of surprise.

Higgle laughed and moved away from Sarah, waving her hand at Hoggle. He understood and left the room to get some blankets and pillows for the girl. Higgle wrapped up the remaining cookies tightly and put them back in the cupboard as she said, "I'm afraid we don't have the room in the house for you to sleep, but the field out back is beautiful this time of year. It should be perfect for sleeping outside."

"Is it safe…?" Sarah asked hesitantly as she glanced out the kitchen window at the field. It looked okay. Nothing seemed to be wrong with the field, but she knew that no matter how innocent something looked in this place, it could be deadly. She didn't trust anything to be normal by her standards. The Underground was not a normal place, and even she herself, felt abnormal whenever she was there. Which wasn't often.

Higgle nodded her head and dug out an Aboveground flashlight from one of the many drawers in the kitchen. Sarah didn't even bother asking how Higgle got it, or got it to run, for that matter. In all the years she had known the two dwarves, she knew they had a knack for getting things to work that normally wouldn't. Which was probably why Jareth kept them both around instead of transporting them back to the Dwarf Kingdom. Why else would he keep Hoggle around when he betrayed him knowingly? Sir Didymus and Ludo both were a little too slow to understand just exactly what it was that they had done, but she knew Jareth knew that Hoggle did it knowingly, and willingly. What she couldn't figure out was why Jareth kept Hoggle around as the gardener and Higgle as a kitchen servant in the castle. If he disliked them that much, wouldn't he replace them with other people? He was, after all, the bad guy, and that was something bad guys were supposed to do, right? Sarah took the flashlight Higgle handed her and said quietly, "Higgle… can I ask you a question?"

"Technically you just did," Higgle said as Hoggle came back into the room with an armful of thick blankets and fluffy pillows. She took some from the dwarf and motioned for Sarah to follow her outside.

"Why does Jareth keep you and Hoggle around? I mean," she said in confusion. The warm air outside hit her in the face sharply and she tugged at the collar of her shirt in response, "Isn't he supposed to hate you and do all sorts of mean stuff?"

Higgle gave a tired sigh as she dropped a blanket on the ground. She waved her hand to Sarah, motioning for her to help spread the blanket out. She debated how to tell the girl the truth without seeming too harsh. Really, it was rather sad that the girl had visited the Underground several times and never noticed how Jareth acted. Hoggle, while being quite frank sometimes, just couldn't bring himself to tell her the truth. That job fell to Higgle because she had the most guts out of the two of them. Grabbing an edge of the blanket, she spread her side out at the same time that Sarah spread hers out. She stopped and studied Sarah for a moment, her hands on her hips, before replying, "Jareth doesn't hate us. He's frustrated and a bit mad at Hoggle, but he doesn't hate. At least not any of us here, you included."

Hoggle silently arranged the pillows on the blanket, watching Sarah's reactions. He was slightly nervous as to how she was going to react to what Higgle was going to tell her. For all the tricks Jareth put Sarah through that day so long ago, he wasn't a bad person. Everybody but Sarah knew this, but of course, she couldn't see the real Jareth past the image of him she had created in her mind so long ago. Higgle frowned deeply as she walked over to Sarah. Looking up into the young woman's eyes, she said strongly, "Jareth is not a bad man. He's a kind and just ruler when no one is running the Labyrinth. You just refuse to believe that because of some image you created based on what society told you. Jareth may be cruel to those who deserve it, but know this, Sarah. He never would have let any harm come to you or Toby that day so long ago. He genuinely cared about you and that boy. But not only did you take his heart, you shattered it completely when you turned him down. He would have given you the world, if you only asked. The only reason why he acted the way he did with you is because that was what you wished for."

Sarah had the grace to look ashamed at Higgle's mini speech. She went to open her mouth to argue that she couldn't accept Jareth's offer because for one, she didn't know what it meant at the time, and two, she had to get her brother back. Higgle held up her hand to stop everything that Sarah was about to say and said, "Sleep on that for the night, child. Tomorrow is going to be an early day. It's the street fair tomorrow and we need to get there early to set up our table."

The two dwarves turned and went back into the house, leaving an overly confused Sarah standing dumbly behind them. She stared at the closed kitchen door for a few minutes, her mind racing with more questions than answers. A slight breeze broke her out of her trance and she lay down on the blankets, pulling one over her legs as she folded her hands behind her head and stared silently up at the stars. They were different in the Underworld, but still looked pretty all the same. His name echoed in her mind as she tried to figure out if she really had forced Jareth to act a part he wasn't like normally. She only wanted an adventure when she was 15. She didn't mean to make things happen like that. At the time she didn't even believe that the goblins were real, nor would they take Toby. It was just wishful thinking on her part. She slowly fell asleep to the sounds of the night creatures moving about. In her sleep, a blonde haired man with mismatched eyes haunted her dreams.

Poor Sarah. She's confused now. She'll be that way for quite a while in this story, I'm afraid.

Wynter: Hush. You're going to give away the story.

Sorry, sorry. Anyways, if you liked it, please review. They help feed this hungry authoress. Until next time!

Ja!