IMPORTANT NOTE, PLEASE READ! This story is actually a continuation of a one-shot I wrote called, "Welcome to the Funhouse." (I guess that one-shot has become a prologue, huh?) While it isn't necessary to read "Welcome to the Funhouse," it will explain a few things now, and later on in the story.

"The past is never dead. It's not even past." – William Faulkner

CHAPTER ONE:

Not a Dream

Sarah had graduated college with degrees in English, Theater Arts, and a minor in Theater Management. All of this made her woefully inadequate to analyze the strange dream she'd had the night before. Or so she thought.

The fact she'd found a white owl feather upon waking made it even more difficult.

And yet, by lunchtime, she'd managed to explain away most of the oddness of her dream. Most of that dream referenced a previous one, after all. The Labyrinth, Jareth – all that stuff she'd dreamed about when she'd been a teenager. Dreams could recur, right? And she'd been interested in Tarot cards for a little while in high school. That's probably where the fortune reader came from. The rest could be written off to "weird dream stuff that never makes any sense"...

Except for the feather. The feather was a puzzle.

It was soft, white, unbroken, and she'd only noticed it after waking up. She'd been lying on top of it, in fact. Could it have stuck to her night-clothes? Could she have had it with her all along and didn't realize it? But, still, the question would have been where did it come from?

She refused to think there was some significance in the feather. The fact it was white was purely coincidental; the fact that her mind automatically went to barn owls simply because she'd been dreaming about one. She didn't know for sure it was a barn owl's feather.

Right now, she was mindlessly entering data into the spreadsheet in front of her, thinking about the dream, and wondering for the millionth time what it could mean.

This job was part-time, the other one she had was her true love – helping to manage a theater downtown. The income from both allowed her to live independently in a small apartment. Someday, she dreamed of the theater taking off and becoming her full-time job, but if she was honest with herself, that was likely a pipe dream.

At five o'clock, she clocked out and headed just outside the city, to the closest suburb where her family lived in the same house she had grown up in. She drove past the park, feeling the same jolt she always did; that tenderness of childhood memory. She could still picture herself on a bench reading fantasy novels, or with a billowy peasant blouse spouting lines from famous plays. Sometimes, the pull of memories was too strong and if the ice cream truck was parked at the curb, she would stop and buy a cone, sit on a bench, and people watch. Today, she kept driving.

Every Wednesday night, she had dinner with her family. Every Sunday night, if her mother was free, she'd place a long distance call to California and chat for an hour or so. Lately, these little rituals had been broken; Sarah's mother had been vaguely busy, unable to call, while her family had been vacationing in Florida. Sarah, unable to take off the time from the theater, had been a little jealous. They'd just returned this week, this would be the first dinner together in two weeks.

Maybe the dream came from the upset to her daily routines? Or maybe it was the opposite? Because, if Sarah was honest with herself, routine wasn't really her thing. Her life spread out before her in weeks and months compromised of boringly similar days. The theater offered some variety, but only some. Maybe she was dreaming about the Labyrinth inhabitants again because she missed adventure?

That must be it, she decided, just as she slid into the driveway.

Except for the feather. The feather was still a puzzle.

Annoyed, Sarah frowned at the steering wheel. She didn't want to dwell on the feather anymore, so she thought, And the feather is just some weird coincidence. And she told herself, willing herself to believe it.

She turned off her engine just as Toby came racing up the driveway behind her, Karen and the new dog, Buxley, in tow.

# # # #

Hoggle heard Ambrosius's panting before he even turned. The interruption was annoying; these dark fairies wouldn't spray themselves. And they'd gotten worse. Now, most of them sported bright pink lipstick, dark clothes, wild hair, and rows upon rows of shark teeth. Prime for the bitin', and a tendency to grin at you afterwards. But that wasn't even the bad part. The bad part was the fever and delirium that set in from their poison. That was a new feature.

He sprayed the last dregs of the can, shook it to make sure it was empty, then threw it at the last fairy. She only laughed, showing off those teeth, then stuck out her startlingly pink tongue and flew away.

Nasty suckers. Gonna have to increase the stuff's strength, he thought as he turned.

Sir Didymus was petting Ambrosius's white fur, his old man's eyebrows tucked down thoughtfully, his eyes unhappy. Great, more bad news. Like Hoggle needed that.

"The Worm is dead."

Hoggle blinked, mentally chewing this news for a minute. So it was going to be one of those visits. Hoggle should have guessed. And then it hit him. Dead?

"What happened?"

Sir Didymus was silent a moment, then answered, "Taken by a bird. Or so the Missus says."

Hoggle's mouth opened a little in disbelief, then he shook himself. "A Blighted bird?"

"I do believe so."

"We're in deep trouble, aren' we?" Hoggle said.

Sir Didymus calmly looked at the dwarf, nodded, and said, "The Worm was our last defense for the Labyrinth. If something comes…"

"But the Missus!" Hoggle argued. "And all those mites of his. Didn' he 'ave a million children?"

"Five thousand, three hundred, and twenty-seven, to be exact."

"Trust ya to 'member a number like that."

"Only four hundred and fifteen remain at home. And none of them are trained like he was."

Hoggle sighed. "And Jareth?"

"Still gone. We can officially say he is missing now."

"What we gonna do?"

Sir Didymus waved toward the direction the fairy had flown. "The fairies are just the start. Things are changing – here and the rest of the Underground – and the inhabitants are noticing. I don't know about thee, my fine fellow, but I don't think I can keep this ruse going."

"But what we gonna do?"

Sir Didymus hesitated. His snout quivered, the whiskers trembling slightly, as he thought of what he'd say next. When he finally did speak, it was a quiet murmur, as if he was talking to himself. Hoggle leaned forward and heard: "The kingdom needs a Champion."

"The kingdom needs Jareth!" Hoggle bit back.

"And where do thee suggest we find him?" Sir Didymus said, the closest to snapping he'd come. "And who will watch the realm while looking for him?"

Hoggle was quiet. Volunteer to hunt for Jareth or watch over the realm? He had no intention of doing either. Both were nasty thoughts. He was just a dwarf, a jack of all trades. He sprayed fairies, pruned bushes, collected junk. He was no Adventurer and he hated quests, journeys, or epic anythings.

"So who's gonna be this Champion, then?" he asked.

Sir Didymus gave him a pointed look, tilting his snout down so their eyes met.

"Oh no!" Hoggle backed up a step. "No way's you gonna bring her into this mess."

"She is our Champion."

"She doesn' believe in us no more! She thinks we're all's just a dream!" Hoggle felt a familiar stab of pain at the words, but reminded himself at this point that was safer for her. A dream was safer. On his belt, his junk collection tinkled and he knew amongst it, almost hidden, was a plastic bracelet he'd never been able to toss.

"Then we need to wake her up," Sir Didymus said firmly. Ambrosius's tongue, which had been flopping out of his mouth as he panted merrily, oblivious to the conversation, retracted and he sniffed the ground at Sir Didymus's booted feet. "Thou needs to retrieve her."

"'Ey! Wait just one boggin' minute! Why me?"

"Does thee suggest I do it and thee watch the kingdom? I will, if that's what thou wants."

"What about that damn rock singer?"

Sir Didymus sighed. "I can't find him. He may have returned to the mountains...or..."

Hoggle was surprised by the spike of anxiety at the thought after that "or." The monster had been a companion during that time long ago, but Hoggle had barely spoken to him afterwards. He'd seen the beast around, traversing the Labyrinth. Ludo had been one of the few rock singers that seemed to prefer the shaped stone of the Labyrinth rather than the wild mountains. He couldn't imagine Ludo would return there.

"Ya didn' tell me this," Hoggle said, softly. "You never mentioned the rock singer was missing."

"I did not want to cause thee undue unhappiness, my friend," Sir Didymus said.

"I thoughts you'd tell me everything," Hoggle continued. "What else ya hidin'?"

Sir Didymus hesitated again. Next to him, Ambrosius looked up from his sniffing and cocked an ear at his master. Putting a hand on the dog's fur, Sir Didymus said, "The goblins' magic is waning."

"What?" Hoggle reared back, the implications incomprehensible. "But that means –"

"No, we don't know for sure," Sir Didymus said. "Jareth may just be deeply enchanted, or weak, or...no, really, there are many reasons for this..."

"It's the Blight! It's done somethin' to 'im!"

"Possible." Sir Didymus sighed.

Hoggle was silent a few moments, thinking. He watched as the dog went back to sniffing the ground, wondering off some distance as he followed a scent. Sir Didymus let his steed wander, knowing his loyalty would bring him back. Instead, he just kept looking at Hoggle with those sad, brown eyes lined by wispy fur.

"If'n he's...lost," Hoggle said, slowly, "and the goblins' magic be wanin', how am I – if'n I agree to this plot o'yours – even gonna get to the Above? I ain't magical."

"We must hope the necklace has some magic left."

"That's one big hope," Hoggle said the word like it tasted bad. His lip curled as he thought of the risks. "I ain't ready to get stuck or die for this. An' what about riskin' Sarah?"

Instead of answering, Sir Didymus simply said, "Does thou want me to go, then?"

"No! I wants more choices!"

"We're out of choices. We need a Champion."

"I needs a drink!" Hoggle pressed his hand to his forehead.

"Get one," Sir Didymus said, "and then go. Hoggle, thou really is the only one that can do this."

"You're the knight."

"Yes," Sir Didymus said, "and the King is missing, which means the knight should stay here. Thou knows I'm right. We need Sarah, we need thee to get her, and we need me to try and keep this realm together for just a little longer."

"If the magic is waning..."

"It isn't gone yet, there's still hope."

"And I gots to bring that hope back?" Hoggle looked up at the sky, shaking his head. "We're all doomed!"

# # # #

"You only see what your eyes want to see.

How can life be what you want it to be?

You're frozen

When your heart's not open."

Sarah could feel the tickle of sweat sliding down her back. Her heart hammered against her rib cage as she pumped her legs, her mind telling her body to push it, run just a little further. Just to the tree! The music blared in her ears, the rhythm pushing her body forward. Her harsh breathing echoed beneath the song. The CD player was a familiar weight in the fanny pack on the small of her back.

She tried to run at least four times a week – six if she was being good. The exercise helped with stress, boredom, frustration; things she didn't like admitting were present in her life.

The wind picked up, sending cold tendrils along the back of her neck; cooling the sweat on her skin. Despite the fact she had been hot just a moment ago, she shivered. She reached the tree, slapping the rough bark with her palm, and gasped out a breath of relief, resting her hands on her knees as sweat dripped from her hairline. Maybe she'd pushed herself too hard; she felt beyond winded and it took a few long minutes to catch her breath.

A few yards away, near the playground, was a water fountain. She slowly walked over it, noticing for the first time the sky was darkening as clouds drifted across it. She gulped down mouthfuls of water greedily. A leaf flew into her hair and she untangled it, then let it drift off into the wind. Following the track of the leaf was when she noticed the child on the bench near the playground. Alone.

No, not a child, Sarah realized, frowning when she noticed the stark white hair. A wrinkled, wizened face turned to her, watching her, and like plunked notes on a tight string, alarm twanged in her chest.

He pushed off the bench and ambled toward her, his gait slightly uneven. Her fingers clenched as she watched him make her way to her. Something inside her was screaming to run; she could actually feel the muscles in her legs tensing and releasing, but she stood still and just waited.

He stopped a few feet away. He was extremely short, he came to her belly button, and when he finally made his way to her, he stopped and tipped his head back. His black eyes shined with warmth and that's when she knew she'd seen him before.

"Sarah," he said, softly, as if he'd longed to see her and now stumbled upon her by accident.

The voice jolted the memory free. She blinked, disbelieving, and said, "Hoggle?"

He smiled and said, "Ya remember."

"Of course, but..." She frowned, looking down at herself in her jogging outfit. She touched the fanny pack on her back, pulled off the earphones. She shook her head, confused. "I could've sworn I wasn't dreaming right now."

Who dreams about normal day stuff, anyway, like running in the park? She thought, amused.

The warmth in Hoggle's eyes disappeared. Instead, he sighed and glanced away. "Ya thinks this is a dream, huh?"

"Of course," she said. She smiled. "Hoggle! How are you?"

Hoggle didn't answer for a long time. The breeze ruffled his feather fine hair.

Feather...

Sarah shifted, uneasily. "Hoggle?"

He shook himself, as if he had momentarily fallen asleep, or maybe he had just been thinking deeply. He sighed again, then said, "Sarah, this ain't a dream."

Her smile felt brittle on her face. She wanted to stop smiling, but she couldn't. "Excuse me?"

"This...this ain't a dream. It never was."

She laughed. "What wasn't?"

"Everything," he said, impatiently. "Meetin' me, savin' yer brother. The Labyrinth. Jar–"

"Hoggle, it had to be a dream," Sarah interrupted. She spoke slowly, half because Hoggle was looking at her with such an incredulous expression, half because of the growing unease in the pit of her own stomach, as if she needed to convince herself of what she'd always known. "Goblins took my brother away. Goblins don't exist."

"They do!"

Sarah continued, ignoring him, "I ran a Labyrinth for thirteen hours. Thirteen hours don't exist. And the Labyrinth doesn't exist."

"It does!" Hoggle's expression darkened, as if she'd insulted him.

"I went into a room where the staircases were sideways and upside down. I walked the same way, too, which is impos–"

"Don't say it!" Hoggle snapped. "It ain't 'cuz it happened!"

Sarah opened her mouth to continue denying it, but she saw the expression on Hoggle – equal parts devastation and anger – and stopped. She licked her lips and said, "Okay, why are you here?"

"Why'd ya think?" Hoggle said, bitterly. "I needs yer help."

Were her dreams allowed to be so bitter or sarcastic? Sarah wondered. What did that say about her? She studied the dwarf in front of her. He clenched something hanging around his neck and he was glaring at the ground angrily. She had an urge to hug him. It was strange; she hadn't dreamed about Hoggle for years, not since the last dream, and yet she remembered the closeness she'd felt with the dwarf. He'd been a friend, despite his grumbling. She remembered that perfect warmth of friendship, of counting on someone to have your back. That feeling had lasted, even as the dream's particulars had faded over the years.

"What do you need?" she said.

Hoggle hesitated, then said, "It don' matter if you think it's a dream. Ya can't be a Champion if ya don't Believe!"

Sarah could hear the capital letter in "believe." It was important to the dwarf. She didn't know what to tell him; how was she going to believe something that didn't happen? She said, "I don't know what you want from me, Hoggle."

"I needs a Champion!" Hoggle said, stomping his foot.

"Well, I'm just a regular person," she pointed out. "So even if I believed you, you've come to the wrong person."

"Naw," he said, firmly. "Yer the Champion, all right, lot of fat good that's gonna do us."

Sarah stiffened. "Well, if that's how you feel, sorry I couldn't help." She whirled around, angry.

"Sarah!" Rough hands grabbed her wrist, stopping her. She turned back to Hoggle. "Would you really leave the Labyrinth in trouble?"

"Hoggle," Sarah said, gently, "I'm just finding this difficult to believe. You're saying everything happened for real? Everything?"

"Everythin'."

"The Labyrinth exists?"

"Yeah."

"We really won the Labyrinth in thirteen hours?"

Hoggle nodded. "Yeah."

"Ludo?"

Hoggle hesitated. "Real."

"Sir Didymus and Ambrosius?"

"Real."

Sarah said, softly, "Jareth?"

Again, Hoggle hesitated, then he answered, "The Goblin King's missin', and the Labyrinth is dyin', Sarah. That's why we need a Champion. Or all those memories? They'll really be dreams soon enough 'cuz we'll all be gone."

Sarah blinked. Hoggle had never struck her as the melodramatic type. Cynical, yes; aloof, yes; grouchy, yes. But not melodramatic. The air had gotten cold, blowing across her face with increased moisture that warned of a coming storm. Sarah wiggled her toes in her Nike jogging shoes, felt the cool sweat on her skin. She looked around at her New England surroundings. She considered the dwarf in front of her, and considered the possibility that maybe – just maybe – none of it was a dream. And if that was true, it opened so many possibilities.

Despite the bad news Hoggle had just given her, she felt the tiniest flare of excitement kindle in her chest.

"Okay," she said, slowly. "Okay, I'm going to need the whole story. Why don't we go to my apartment? It's close." She pointed back the way she came.

Hoggle hesitated. "We don' have time…"

"Hoggle, I'm not agreeing to anything until I know what I'm agreeing to," Sarah said, firmly. She paused, smiling. "And I'll make you some hot chocolate."

Hoggle brightened. "Ya gots yerself a deal."

Author's Notes:

(The song Sarah's listening to in this chapter is "Frozen" by Madonna.)

So, I'm back. This story, as my note at the beginning mentioned, actually continues the one-shot "Welcome to the Funhouse." This was not my intention when I wrote that one-shot; I fully intended to end that story with a question mark. And then I started thinking. And then an idea popped into my head. And then that idea sprouted into a full-fledged, potential story. And then I had to write it.

I am trying to create a buffer of chapters so I can post fairly regularly, and I have a few already, which is why I started posting. That and feedback and interaction with the fanfic community warms the cockles of my heart. Weekly (or bi-weekly), I will be uploading one chapter, writing one chapter, and editing one chapter (I'm considering finding a beta reader to make this process go quicker...?); not the same chapter. Hopefully this will keep everything going at a fairly regular speed. I really will try my best. My goal is to get back into the swing of writing regularly, so if I can make a proclamation of regular updates, I can try and do that!

Sorry this chapter is a little lacking on the action and Goblin King-ness. I warn you now, I wanted to write an adventure story that felt a little epic, so this may be quite a few chapters. I'll throw in suspense, action, and humor - along with some romance, of course. But, it's going to be a few chapters before our favorite "villain" rears his glittery head. (Or should I say flashes his tight pants?) Also, this story will eventually land in the "M" rating zone, at least for some of the dark stuff Sarah's going to stumble upon. As for the romance? I'll keep you in suspense on that for now...

And as for my other stories? Sigh. I'm waiting for my Muse to twitch that way. If I get back to a regular writing schedule, I think I can get back to updating my works in progress.

Disclaimer: This is a fanfiction written for entertainment purposes only, not profit. My original characters are my own, and cannot be copied, but otherwise the characters belong to the original copyright holders. Please do not copy and/or distribute this work!