Warnings: The main pairing in this fic will be Jareth/Toby. I decided to resurrect it after four years for a friend who also likes the pairing. Toby is older in this fic, and I may change his age again at some point. I'll comment on a chapter if I do decide to go back and change it. If you do not like m/m stories, yaoi, boy's love, shounen-ai, stories with homosexual themes, etc. then this story probably won't be for you at a certain point. Back away now. :)

Hope you enjoy! Comments are appreciated.

"Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the goblin city to take back the child that you have stolen." Toby looked up at the faded pages that he held in his hands dangling above his head as he lay on his bed. He turned the page, continuing the story his sister had so loved in her teen years. He sighed heavily when it was finished, and reluctantly closed the book and let it drop to his chest.

Sarah had moved from the house when she left for college and never came home. Toby had moved into her room after she left and kept some of her old things around. His mother had discouraged him, trying to get Toby to throw out the old toys Sarah had grown out of, but he couldn't part with them. They were just as much a part of his childhood as they had been of hers. They were memories of the times they had played together, with her telling him stories of the nice goblins and the evil Goblin King that tried to steal him when he was a baby.

Toby had believed her as soon as he was able to understand, and he still did to this day. Sixteen years old, he had the same dreaming spirit she had, and though hers had faded with adulthood, his remained just as bright.

Rolling onto his side, Toby carefully placed the book on its special shelf and stared at it before closing his eyes as memories washed over him. He remembered clearly her visits with the goblins whenever she seemed particularly sad. Toby would watch from her doorway with his five-year-old eyes taking in the large, shaggy beast and the others that sat around her room. She would laugh often, then, and sometimes when she caught him starring, she would invite him to play. He loved Hoggle and Sir Didymus, and even the large, somewhat scary Ludo. They were Sarah's friends, so they were his, too. But it had been years since he had last seen them.

Now, sometimes at night when he slept, he had vague dreams of laughter, dancing, and wispy blond hair. When he awoke, he tried in vain to recall what had happened or what the memory was. When he would recall the dream to Sarah, she would warn him not to become too attached. She scolded him like his mother did whenever she saw the old, tattered copy of Labyrinth with him, which he brought virtually everywhere. Yet despite her warnings, he longed to one day go back and see the labyrinth and goblins for himself.

Not for the first time, Toby fell asleep dreaming of a maze that had no answer, blue caterpillars that spoke with funny accents, and a very stinky bog.

Time passed differently in the Goblin Kingdom. Years ago, when Sarah had fought her thirteen hours through the labyrinth and Goblin City to rescue her brother, only four hours had passed in her world. And what made Toby a sixteen year old young man only brought a few years change in the Goblin Kingdom.

Though years had passed, the Goblin King remained the same as before. His features had not aged, just as they had not in the countless years before Sarah's arrival. His kingdom was just as great as it had been, with new babes arriving to be turned into goblins every so often, as they had for years and years. However, none brought the same emotions that Sarah and Toby had brought.

They were the ones to escape. The only two in all the years that Jareth had been king that had defeated his labyrinth and escaped back to their world. It was maddening. The monarchs in the few other kingdoms in his world taunted him, questioning his power. Had he grown weak? Was he so infatuated with this human girl that he left her escape with her baby brother? Or was it the boy himself he wanted for his own? These questions floated around him, and they angered him.

How dare they question his power? He was stronger than all of them, with the power to turn human babes into ugly little creatures that carried out his will. But there was some truth in their words. He had been infatuated with Sarah. He desired to own her, control her, and offered her everything. But just at the last moment, she realized that he indeed had no power over her. That he could only have that if she granted it to him.

But while he had been banished by Sarah, Toby had yet to make that decision. Jareth smiled and held up the small crystal orb, peering through it and watching Toby. The teen was unaware that the Goblin King had been watching his growth through the years – watching as he grew from an infant to toddler, and then from a child to this blossoming teenage years. He was growing quite beautifully, looking vaguely like his sister, but with much lighter hair. His baby blond locks had turned darker over the years, and now shone a light brown.

Grinning, he played with the orb, rolling it back and forth across his hands, watching the figure in it as he woke, opened the book again, and flipped onto his stomach. Yes, soon, very soon he'd be seeing his babe once more. The boy was growing more and more restless. He was sure of it.

"Toby! Dinner!" Toby sighed, sliding a folded piece of paper doubling as his bookmark into the worn pages of his book, setting it carefully on his bed.

"Make sure that doesn't go anywhere, Lancelot," he said to the old bear sitting on his shelf. His sister had given it to him long before she moved out, and just as she had, he'd grown attached to the toy.

"Toby!" his impatient mother called once more.

"I'm coming!" he shouted down the stairs, then crossed the hall to wash open in the bathroom. Sheesh, he though. She is getting more and more annoying. It's like the world has to revolve around her and her plans. I'm starting to get a better idea of how Sarah must have felt when she was my age. Thank God I don't have any brothers or sister to watch.

"When I say it's time for dinner, you come down right away, do you understand?" Toby glared at his mother as she put a plate of food in front of him. He glanced at his father who just shrugged, already starting to eat.

"Mom, I was getting ready! I can't like, snap my fingers and just appear," he argued. She held up her hand to cut him off.

"Your father and I have plans tonight after dinner. I want you to stay in and finish your homework."

Toby rolled his eyes and poked at the food in front of him. "I don't have any homework. I finished it when I got home from school."

"That's fine, but maybe you should look it over again. I don't want you going out tonight, even if you are finished. It's supposed to rain."

"Mom, it's not like I go out with anyone."

"You're just like your sister, always arguing with me. And you go off to the park like she did when she was your age. What is it there that holds such fascination for you?" Toby merely shrugged. "I mean it, Toby. You are not to go out tonight."

"I need to take Galahad for his walk." With the mention of his name, the golden retriever barked, sitting up on his bed by the back door.

His mother glanced at him and took a bite of her pasta. "Just let him run in the yard, it makes no difference."

"Mom, he needs to go for a walk!"

She glanced up from her meal, annoyed. "Honestly, what has gotten into you lately? Don't raise your voice; you're getting the dog all worked up. He can miss one day. I don't want you out there tonight without us home. That's my final word."

Toby wondered how she would even know if he went out. "Why do you have to dictate everything I do? I'm sixteen, Mom, I can take care of myself."

"I said my final word, Toby." She didn't bother looking from the pasta on her plate. Toby glanced at his father for help, and the older man just shrugged, not caring to get into the battle he knew he couldn't win. Toby pushed his plate away and stood.

"I'm going up to my room."

"Finish your food."

"I'm not hungry," he said, and snapped his fingers. Galahad stood and followed him towards the stairs, running up ahead of him.

By the time he got to his room, the dog was already on his bed, lying across the foot of it. Toby sat next to him, patting his head. "Don't worry, boy. We'll go out anyway, as soon as they leave. Though knowing Mom, she'll probably call to check up on us." Galahad just looked at him, tongue lolling out of his mouth.

Toby lay back on his bed, his dog curled up under his knees. He awoke from a light doze when his door was banged on.

"Toby?"

"Yeah, Dad?" he asked with a yawn.

"Your mother and I are leaving now. Remember what she said about not going out. The number for the theater is on the fridge if anything happens."

Right, Toby thought. If anything happens, I probably won't be able to call, so what's the point. And it's not like I don't have that number memorized by now.

"Sure, Dad." He listened as his father's heavy steps went down the stairs. The front door opened and shut, and the car started. He waited until he heard them pull out of the drive before getting up and slipping on his sneakers. As an afterthought, he grabbed a light jacket to throw over his clothes in case it really did start raining.

Toby and Galahad went down the stairs. Grabbing the house keys and slipping them into his pocket, he let them out the front door and locked it behind him.

The park in question was about fifteen minutes away, ten if he jogged, which is what he did then. Galahad loved being outside and didn't need a leash to keep him by his master's side. He had been trained well.

After their run, Toby found a bench by the pond and sat on it. The park was deserted in the fading evening light, and only the geese and ducks remaining to float leisurely on the glassy surface of the water. Galahad sniffed around the bushes while Toby relaxed, arms spread along the back of the bench and head dropped back to stare up through the leaves on the tree.

"Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City to take back the child that you have stolen." Toby ran a hand through his hair, pushing the bangs out of his eyes. "I wish I could remember what it was really like, Galahad. Instead of having just what Sarah told me." The dog came to sit at his feet. "I wish I could go back. Even if it was just for a little while. So I could see everything for myself. I wish… I wish the Goblin King would come take me away." As soon as the words were out of his mouth, there was a clap of thunder and lightning arced across the sky. The rain followed soon after.

"Shit, come on Galahad. Let's go home." The two took off running towards the house and Toby was glad he had worn the light jacket.

When they reached home, Toby threw open the door in time to hear the answering machine in the kitchen pick up. He dove for it and picked it up just as his mother's agitated voice came on the line.

"Toby? Where have you been? This is the third time I've called and you didn't pick up! I told you not to go to the park!"

"I didn't, Mom! I didn't even hear the phone ring."

"That's a poor excuse." Before she could rant even more, Toby cut her off.

"Why are you calling, Mom? I thought you were going out to have a good time with Dad, and you're wasting it checking in on me?"

"Just making sure everything is fine."

Toby sighed. "I'm old enough to take care of myself, Mom." The two argued for another few minutes before he could get her off the phone. Annoyed, Toby slammed down the phone in the cradle and headed up the stairs to his room. He opened the door and reached for the lights, but he switch wouldn't work.

"What…? Did we just lose power?"

He stumbled on something in his room while trying to find the switch on the lamp itself. It clicked on, but still no light. Even the digital clock on his desk was off. And yet, he could still see a faint light in the hallway from the lights downstairs. Had he somehow tripped a switch? "That's so weird…"

"Hello, Toby."

Toby jerked around, looking towards the voice. His eyes widening, mouth dropping open in surprise.