Disclaimer: Yes, the Labyrinth belongs to me... Of course it doesn't, that's why this note is titled disclaimer. It belongs to Jim Henson – I think – and I make no money off writing this fiction.

A/N: Just to inform you that it is a Sarah/Jareth story, not an OC/Jareth story.

Chapter 1: The End

"Shoot, I'm going to be late!" Sarah Williams yelped as she glanced at the clock. "Hurry, Ludo, go back!" The huge Rockcaller nodded as he returned to the Underground via the mirror. Temporarily distracted from her rush to watch him, Sarah marveled at how he managed to fit through the small mirror. Then she glanced at the clock again and gave another frantic eep.

"My shoes... Where are my shoes?" she asked, looking under the wardrobe. A figure to her side held up the red ballet flats.

"'ere you go, Sarah," Hoggle said, handing her the shoes.

"Oh, thank you, Hoggle, you're a lifesaver!" Sarah took the shoes and bent down to kiss him. Hoggle avoided the kiss as best he could.

"Uh, um I don't think you should,"

"Why?" she laughed. "It's not like Jareth can banish us to the bog from here," She thought she saw Hoggle flinch slightly at that comment, but she wasn't sure if she imagined it.

"Yes, yes, of course..." Hoggle said nervously. "Well, you see, the thing is that... um... it has been seven years since you solved the Labyrinth, right?"

Sarah nodded, wondering where he was going with this.

"Well, the thing is that Jareth still hasn't quite... recovered yet. And the higher-ups are startin' to get impatient with him. So maybe you should... visit." Hoggle said with a great deal of effort.

"Visit," Sarah echoed.

"Um... Yes," Hoggle answered, holding his hands in front of him nervously and fidgeting around.

"What did he offer you, Hoggle?" was Sarah's immediate reaction. She arched an eyebrow at her long-time friend in suspicion and crossed her arms.

"Nothin'! I swear, I'm sayin' this out of the goodness of my heart." Hoggle responded.

"Sure. Whatever. Tell Jareth for me that there's no way in hell I'm ever going back there," Sarah said, slinging her purse handles over her shoulder and opening the front door of her apartment.

"Sarah!" Hoggle shouted, just as she was halfway shutting the apartment door behind her. She stopped to look at the dwarf. He was her friend - no matter what. "Just... Just consider it, alright?"

Sarah looked at him, at a loss for words. What could she even say in that situation? She sighed. "Alright, Hoggle, I'll think about it,"

Hoggle let out a sigh of relief. "Good. Now get going, you're going to miss your train."

Sarah gasped in realization and slammed the front door shut. She got out her keys and in her panic took longer than usual to lock the only entrance to her apartment. When she reached the lifts, she repeatedly jammed the down button with her index finger in a useless attempt to make it get to her faster. After what felt like a century, she hopped into the lift and pressed the button for the ground floor. The elevator doors closed with a 'ding!'.

As the elevator traveled down, she glanced at her watch again. She really was going to be late. I hope I don't get fired for this... She thought nervously. At the age of twenty-two, she was a successful editor at a publishing company. She had long given up trying to become an actor after struggling to remember the right lines to several plays. She had also attempted to become a writer, but found that she had more talent in picking out good stories than writing her own. The elevator doors opened and she rushed out into the the foyer of her apartment building, towards the exit.

Once outside, she power-walked towards the subway station. However, she found that her usual train had already left, and the next one was not due for another twenty minutes. She sat down with a sigh. Today was not her day. To her side, she saw a little girl giggling and playing with her brother. Their mother was off to one side, watching them affectionately. Sarah sighed again, knowing that something like that might never be hers. Sure, she had a family in Ludo, Hoggle and Sir Didymus whom she kept in close contact over the years, as well as with her dad, Karen and Toby. Still, she hoped to get married and have kids someday. Something that probably won't happen for a looong time... She reflected.

She had no love life. No man whatsoever. And she knew exactly why. It was because of a certain blonde man who regularly appeared in her dreams – both the day and night ones. In her dreams, they never said anything to each other. He would just hold her close and dance with her. And she would place her head on his shoulder, both just enjoying each others' company.

Sometimes he would sing to her. Sometimes she was dressed in the same puffy dress from the Crystal Ballroom and other times she was in her pajamas. She didn't know if it really was Jareth causing it, or just a dream her subconscious had created to fulfill her lonely nights. But she knew that no man could compare to the Goblin King, which is why none of her dates ever made her as happy as those dreams in which she and Jareth danced together. Maybe... She thought longingly Maybe I should go back to the Labyrinth...

She shook her head. No. If I go back there, I'll never come back. I'll be stuck there forever. And the truth was that she still feared that place. She had felt no fear when actually running the Labyrinth, but when it had all ended, the idea of going back there got increasingly frightening. And she also feared the Jareth there. The villainous one who had tried so hard to be the antagonist of her fairy tale, one that was totally different from dream-Jareth. But... Hoggle said there was something wrong with Jareth... So maybe...

She groaned, feeling more conflicted than ever. If only she could talk to Jareth in her dreams. Every night she would peptalk herself into finally talking to him, to ask for explanations and tell him to quit stalking her in her dreams. However, once she found herself in the dream, with him holding her and twirling her around the ballroom, his eyes silently pleading her not to break the spell... she just couldn't do it. I have to do something. If I can't talk to him in my dreams, I guess... She hesitated, knowing that there was no going back once she made this decision. I guess I have to return to the labyrinth.

It was just as she made her decision that an announcement came over the sound system, informing everyone that the next train had arrived. She got up with a sigh and walked to the yellow line. Suddenly, being fired from work didn't seem to scare her as much, considering that she was going to return to her childhood nightmare. Trying to distract herself from such thoughts, she watched the mother and her two children out of the corner of her eye. The two children were playing dangerously close to the edge. The mother didn't notice, she was busy looking for something in her purse.

That's when it happened. The little girl missed a step and fell onto the tracks. The ominous twin lights of the next train started to light up at the end of the tunnel. Some people screamed and gasped. Sarah didn't even think about what she was doing, her body moved on its own. She jumped onto the tracks and grabbed the crying child.

"Here!" she shouted, trying to catch the others' attention and snap them out of the daze they seemed to be in. Sarah needed them to deliver the little girl to safety. People scrambled to help her and take the little girl out of the danger zone. The mother of the child took her daughter gratefully. Some people held out her hands to help Sarah up, and their hands were lit up by the lights of the approaching train. Sarah shoved the hands away as she stared at the blinding lights of the train. She couldn't hear the shouts and screams over the loud rumbling of the train traveling on its tracks.

Jareth. She thought breathlessly, closing her eyes. Jareth, I'm sorry. She didn't even know what she was sorry for, but she was. And she was suddenly flooded by all those feelings of wanting to see him - urges she had been blocking out for years. But too little too late.

Inevitably, the train impacted with the young woman.

She died almost immediately. The final image she had called up was of a man with mismatched eyes and wild blonde hair. Her soul slipped away slowly, leaving the mangled mess of her body behind. That was the end of Sarah Williams.

Meanwhile, in the Underground, a gigantic, ominous, black cloud formed over the Goblin City and the Labyrinth that surrounded it, casting the place into shadows. The wind screeched as it blew, a high-pitched, mourning sound. Bright bursts of light lit the dark sky for a single, frightening second, then darkness fell, before the booming explosion of thunder, not unlike the furious roar of a mighty dragon. Goblins trembled and hid away as their master mourned the loss of his to-be queen.

A/N: It's actually taken me close to six years to muster the courage to post this. So be kind to me, okay?