DISCLAIMER: I do not own Labyrinth, or any of the characters associated with the film. Labyrinth is property of the Jim Henson Company.

Jareth had watched Sarah's life unfold through his crystals. Years had passed and the girl that had once been the most extraordinary creature from the Aboveground he'd ever known was now waxing into a new era of her life: womanhood. The Goblin King was always the silent observer. He'd watched her quiet, antisocial nature slowly dissolve through the teen years; watched her repressed fire slowly make itself known to the world through sharp wit and a quick temper; watched her childish ideals fade into the past; watched those cruel eyes grow even more calculated. Human men were more interested in her physical growth than her mental alterations. They noticed first her obvious beauty-perfect dark tresses; oddly, but perfectly, shaped green eyes; tall, curvaceous figure. Jareth wasn't blind to these attributes, but really in the larger scheme of life, those things were far less interesting than her mind. Sarah truly was remarkable in his eyes, and as time passed his feelings had not dissipated. In fact, they had grown.

As Jareth now watched Sarah's everyday occurrences, he noticed something had changed in her. She was losing her grip on the Underground. She was beginning to doubt its existence. Beginning to lose faith in her own memories. It was part of what humans called "growing up" – the complete willingness to ignore the truths of childhood. Sarah was letting go, but not without a fight. It was her inability to smoothly move forward into adulthood that had interested Jareth, and perhaps given an old fae a second chance.

Sarah sighed. It was midway through her last year at university. It had been a thrill, a great ride, and a wonderful dream. She'd decided to study acting at UCLA, just to put herself right in the heart of the acting world. She'd mosied down to Hollywood on more than one occasion, gone to a few open auditions, and even modeled a bit – quite a bit actually. She'd had bit parts in films, mainly because some casting director had thought her beautiful enough to share the screen with a more famous beautiful person. Her fifteen minutes would come; in truth, it was only a matter of time. She knew she was talented enough to make a career on the stage, and beautiful enough to make it on the big screen. She really had only to wait. But, for some reason knowing this had not given her the comfort she had expected. She felt a bit empty. Something was missing. Her brow furrowed,

"Why bother worrying about it now?" she shrugged.

Sarah decided to do what she always did when some particular train of thought bothered her too much – head to the salle.

It was empty; most people were too busy studying for exams to bother with physical activity. She considered herself lucky. To have a whole, quiet room to herself for an undisclosed amount of time. An Arts degree afforded her the time to do what she pleased. Right now, she'd be pleased to poke at a fencing dummy. Smiling, she donned her glove and swiped up her sword. Nothing takes care of nasty frustration like stabbing something, she mused. Sarah had discovered fencing in her first year of university. Her first year acting coach had recommended checking it out to her class. It was sure to help out with performing accurate stage fighting. And how. Sarah had been immediately smitten with the sport. Highly individual in nature, much like her own disposition, fencing allowed her to relieve stress, sharpen her mind, and exercise all at once. She had made friends within the team, people with just as many strange idiosyncrasies as herself, and she had become a valuable asset to the team athletically, as well. Becoming a member of the team had definitely improved her stage fighting.

Even as she poked away at the dummy, the nagging dread she had felt had not relented. She had a strong fear of growing up, and graduating would make her just that one step closer in the whole process. To top it off, her dreams were becoming more anxiety-filled. She dreamt of the destruction of the labyrinth, the deaths of Hoggle, Ludo, Sir Didymus, and, most disturbing of all, Jareth. The more she thought of the labyrinth, the more she started to disbelieve her own memory. Had it really happened? Had she really been there? Had a man as powerful and seductive as Jareth actually offered her her dreams? Had she actually been strong enough to refuse him? That last part really got to her. Thinking back on her frail fifteen-year old mentality, how could she actually believe that she had been strong enough to turn Jareth down? Or, maybe she was just getting weak in her old age. She didn't believe that, if given the chance again, she could turn him away. Of course, that's all assuming that the whole ordeal wasn't just a delusion of an overly romantic, fantasy-loving little girl. She missed the hit.

"Damn, thinking too much again! It's bad for my health," she muttered.

"So's talkin' to yourself."

Sarah jumped at the sound of a voice that was not her own. She turned quickly to see who owned it. She smiled.

"Hi Seth."

The lean redhead strode towards her and swept her into a quick hug.

"I thought I'd find you here," Seth said, releasing her from his embrace.

"Just needed to blow off some steam," Sarah replied, as she began putting away her equipment. "Were you looking for me?"

"Yeah, well, we're headin' to the bar for a few drinks before the big karaoke night. Wanna come?"

Sarah glanced at Seth and smiled. They had met last year when the lanky Southerner had decided to make his fencing debut on try-out night. He'd been a natural with smooth easy movements and the ability to judge when to change up the routine. They'd become fast friends due to his easy and wacky nature. Occasionally Sarah had wondered what it would be like if they were to become more than friends, but she often banished the thought frightened at the prospect of ruining something truly good.

"Nah, I think I'm going to see if I can book a flight home," she replied nonchalantly.

Seth raised his eyebrows. "Hun, you ain't gonna be gettin' home tonight."

Sarah laughed. "Of course not!" Her smiled faded slightly, her tone reminded her of something from long ago.

"Her head don't come off!" "Of course it doesn't!"

"Sarah, are you alright?" Seth asked, the look of concern in his eyes was duly noted. Sarah returned an easy smile.

"Yeah, just got something on my mind."

"Wanna talk about it?"

"Nah, nothing to worry about…I think." Her disturbing dreams suddenly came to mind as she said it. Seth still looked worried.

"Well, you know who to call, if you need to."

"Ghostbusters?"

Seth frowned, and gave her a playful shove. "Uhhhg, Sarah! That was SO lame."

They laughed as they left the salle. Seth walked her back to her dorm. When she got inside, she realized that her want to go home was actually something she needed to do. She went online and booked a flight for the upcoming Thursday, she had no classes Thursday, and Friday's classes she could afford to miss. It was settled; she was going home.