Obligatory Disclaimer: I don't own these characters (except for one in later chapters), I just like to play with them.

Anyone from the Labyrinth Fan-Fic list might have read some of this before (about six years ago). I wanted to bring it out of retirement and finish it. Enjoy!

"You have no power over me!" Sarah jerked awake from her nightmare, the same one that had been haunting her since she had rescued her brother Toby from the Goblin King. Her heart was beating quickly, her breath coming in shallow gasps, and her sheets were drenched in sweat. Turning on her bedside lamp, she stared at the hollow place in her wall where Lancelot had lived before she gave him to Toby.

Toby took Lance everywhere now, even though he was nearly four. Things had improved greatly between the two of them since they had gone to the Underground, but Sarah still had difficulties warming up to her stepmother. The woman was insistent that she find a boyfriend, but she didn't know that Sarah could never love a mortal boy, no matter how much she tried. There could be only one man in her life, and he was far away.

"But I am with you always," a voice whispered, and Sarah realized it was hers, voicing the words she heard in her sleep. She had no proof that he was there, but she felt it inside. Everywhere she went, everything she did, he was there somehow, though she saw no physical signs. "The dreams have to mean something," she said to herself, rolling onto her side to look out the window at the pending sunrise.

Sarah still had no friends her age, or even any age, but now it was by choice. Everyone she talked to, everyone she met--no one was as complex and exciting as Jareth. She was content to remain friends with Hoggle, Ludo, and the others, but their visits grew less and less frequent. Hoggle had said something about separation, but Sarah couldn't understand what he meant, except that it was getting harder and harder for them to come to see her.

As the darkness lightened around her, Sarah slowly sank back to sleep, her dreams again unsettling, full of visions of Jareth and the Underground slipping away.

"No date tonight?" her stepmother asked as she prepared to leave. Sarah was reading, and she remained silent, eating a bowl of popcorn. "Do you even talk to anyone, Sarah? I swear--you're going to college in two months. It might behoove you to have a little social experience, or are you going to lock yourself away in your dorm room, too?"

"It's really none of your business," Sarah replied, trying to avoid a fight, and luckily her father returned from taking Toby to the babysitter's just in time.

"Are you ready, dear?" he asked, grabbing his wife around the waist. Shaking her head at Sarah, she said yes. "Don't wait up," her father called as they walked out the door.

"Finally!" Sarah said, exasperated. She finished the popcorn and decided to read upstairs, where she could lay in bed and listen to music as loudly as she wanted, now that the Wicked Witch was gone.

Climbing the stairs two at a time, humming a song never heard in the mortal world, Sarah again let her thoughts drift to Jareth. If only circumstances had been different--if only she had said "take me away" instead of "take you away"-- but would things be worse if she had? She had tried saying the words again, with no results, which only added to her sorrow. Her life was based on ifs, and it was driving Sarah mad. "If only he would come," she said as she entered her room.

Nearing her bed, she gasped. It was dusted with glitter, and on her pillow was a silver envelope. Had he been here? Why did he not wait to see her? It was no matter for him to make her parents forget, or even disappear. Why had he not spoken to her? "The only way to find out is inside that envelope," she said, her voice barely audible over the fierce beating of her heart. Tearing it open, she took the letter out and read it aloud:

"Dearest Sarah-- "Do not think that I have forgotten you. No, I could never forget the only thing I could never possess. It is true that I am with you always--I watch you constantly from afar. I am too afraid to come near--I dare not try to impose myself upon you again. I realize that love and power are two different things, and neither has a place with the other. I asked too great a price for what I was willing to give freely, but I had to say it--I had to control you to keep my place.

"I am risking my life to bring you this letter. I dare not stay to speak to you for fear that I would not be able to return to my world. Since you left me, our worlds have been drifting apart. If you wonder why your friends don't visit as often, it is because the way to your world keeps shifting, changing--our portal is diminishing, and very soon, we may not be able to cross over at all.

"There is a new power gaining control over the Underground--it grows ever closer to my kingdom, and I am powerless to stop it--unless I have you. With you by my side, dear Sarah, we could defeat the evil which grows and our worlds will again mirror one another. If you do not help me, you will never see your friends--or me--again. I hope that this is enough incentive for you to help, but if not, then perhaps a place at my side as ruler would entice you. We would be equals, however, and you would be free to come and go as you pleased. I would have. no power over you. If you will help me, please go to the fountain in the park where I first saw you, and I will help you through. Please do not let your stubbornness keep you from the aid of your friends. Without you, they, like I, will surely be lost forever. "

The letter was simply signed 'Jareth'.

Sarah's mind began to race. He still cared for her--he was with her always--he could be watching her now. What could be happening--who could be taking over the Underground and making it disappear? What if she and Jareth failed? She would be lost in the Underground forever, a different, darker Underground, and Jareth would most likely be killed. But of course, she had to try. Her friends--and Jareth--were too important to her to just let them disappear forever into darkness.

After a moment's hesitation, Sarah left a note full of lies (last-minute date called) on the coffee table and ran off into the night to meet her destiny. She only hoped it wouldn't be the end of her.