Right once again with lots of feeling (not), I don't own any of the Characters of Labyrinth or any of the song lyrics, however I wish I owned Jareth, (but then don't we all girls ;-) mmmm).



The hidden heart of the Labyrinth

Part one.

He watched her as she walked to school: Sarah Williams, the reason he was so confused. They had parted ways three years ago now, but still she haunted his thoughts and dreams. The effect had taken time to show itself, but once that happened everything around the king was affected.

She went to cross a road, he saw it coming in his crystal, a lorry speeding down the street towards her, and Sarah turned, her face paled. Jareth disappeared from where he sat watching.

Sarah heard the brakes screech and then she felt like she was flying. Strangely, there was no sound: she opened her eyes to find arms tightly round her and white hair tickling her nose. White hair???? It couldn't be, could it? As they landed on the opposite pavement, the driver got out of his lorry and ran over to them.

"Are you alright, Miss? It's a good thing this man jumped in, he saved your life."

Sarah stared up at her rescuer and her eyes went huge: it was Jareth. "I'm fine," she assured the driver, as best she could. In fact, thanks to Jareth, there wasn't even a scratch on her.

After she refused to go to hospital, the driver of the lorry insisted Jareth take Sarah home just in case something was wrong, after all, he said, she couldn't go to school with shock. Jareth, to her surprise, agreed in a quiet voice tinged with concern.

Still holding her, Jareth slowly walked towards her house. When he got there he ran the bell, there came running footsteps and Karen stood there. "Sarah, what the . . .?"

Jareth spoke softly but strongly: "She was almost hit by a lorry, I saved her and brought her home, it is not wise to let her go to school today."

"Thank you. What is your name?" asked Karen as politely as she could manage: not only had Sarah been saved, but by a very handsome stranger. She was a little put out: why did Sarah have all the luck?

"I'm Jareth Geridian Labyrinth."

Karen smiled sweetly. "Those are rather unusual names, do they mean anything?"

Jareth's eyes were boring into Karen with anger, he wanted to get Sarah somewhere that she would be comfortable, not stand here indulging in chitchat. Karen seemed to get the message: she moved aside and Jareth strode into the house. He walked upstairs and asked as he went, "Which room is Sarah's?"

He winked at her, he was trying not to give away he had already been here. Sarah couldn't believe this: he was stopping her from getting in trouble. Karen called up. "The first room on the right."

Jareth called down a thank you, and asked for a damp flannel and two cups of tea. Karen agreed faintly, and went to the kitchen. Maybe he was British?

He gently placed Sarah down on the bed, where she stared up at him, as he pulled her bedcovers up over her. "Thank you Jareth."

Her mind was reeling: he was being so kind to her, considerate of her every need, he was behaving like a true gentleman, like he had been in the ballroom of the crystal. He turned his gaze on her and smiled. The smile was relaxed, not devilish like she had known before. He had changed in the time they had been apart.

Quietly, he turned a chair round so the back was facing her, and then straddled it looking at her with concern. "You're welcome. Are you sure you feel alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine. But why did you come here to save me?" Sarah looked into his eyes unrelentingly.

As she looked at him, a slow blush crept over his cheeks. "I."

There came a knock on the door, they both jumped and turned towards the intrusive sound. Sarah spoke a little distantly. "Come in."

Karen walked in: she had even made sandwiches for the guest. She looked over at Sarah and tried to behave like a sympathetic parent. "I can phone work and take the day off if you want." Unfortunately she failed miserably. Her voice was palpably reluctant.

Jareth looked at her. "I'll take care of her for the day."

Karen smiled at him. "Well, aren't we just the Good Samaritan." He smiled at Karen and looked down at Sarah, Karen caught this look and belatedly realised she ought to ask Sarah's opinion. "Is that alright with you, Sarah?"

"Yes, that would be nice."

Karen laughed. "It just goes to show you how many ways there are to make friends."

Sarah cringed, wishing that her stepmother would go off to work like she so obviously wanted.

Jareth looked up. "By the way, the surname is obvious. A labyrinth is a giant maze, and my middle name means knight or guardian."

Karen nodded and ran off. A short while later they heard the car pull out of the drive. Sarah let out a sigh of relief and Jareth looked down at her and smiled gently. Sarah caught his eye. "You're so different from the last time we met." He looked down at the floor. "And you still didn't answer my question from earlier, why did you save me?"

Jareth appeared to find the floor very interesting. Sarah smiled at him for some reason she couldn't fathom and spoke.

"Jareth, what is so interesting about my floor?"

Jareth coughed and looked up at her: there was once again a trace of colour in his cheeks. "Nothing, it's just been a long time since we last saw each other. Have you been well?"

"Oh I'm fine . . ." The sentence trailed off and she burst out with, "WHAT'S HAPPENED TO YOU?!"

Jareth looked out of the window, he smiled a little and then whispered to himself, "You."

Sarah got a little annoyed at this point. "Excuse me, what was that?"

"Was there anything you needed, anything to do, anything to eat, something to drink, a pill for your head, a story or some music?" he said offhandedly.

"Jareth, you're avoiding the subject," she accused him.

His eyes fell on her and he put his head to one side with his eyebrows raised. "Yes, you have a problem with that?"

Sarah sighed in aggravation, obviously some things about Jareth hadn't changed, he was still going to be difficult. "Jareth, you should know by now that I'm not going to give up, so just answer my two questions and I won't ask you any more today, I promise - except can I see you again some time?"

He looked at her, mild surprise in his face, and a light Sarah never knew he could possess shining in his eyes. "Of course you can see me again, just call out my name and I will come to you."

"Ok, so tell me the answer to the other two questions and I'll ask nothing else."

"Are you sure about that?" he asked, eyebrows raised quizzically.

As she looked at him, Sarah realised no one had mentioned the strange clothes that Jareth wore or his hair but knowing Jareth he was using magic to make sure nobody noticed.

Sarah thought long and hard about her answer to this question, because she had memories of Jareth and another time she had answered this question too quickly, it had caused a lot of trouble. "When am I ever unsure?"

He smiled at her, his eyes gleaming with laughter. "Never. Alright, you win."

Sarah was surprised that he had given in so easily. If she had known what his answers to her questions were going to be then she wouldn't have thought this was giving in at all, far from it.

"The reason I saved you is because I didn't want the one person who had beaten my Labyrinth to die in such a dishonourable way, though there are those who would have said you deserved it for not looking where you were going."

Sarah snorted but at the same time saw his point. A question surfaced in her mind: just how long had he been watching her anyway? She suddenly hated the fact she had said yes to 'Are you sure?'

Jareth caught her attention by saying, "And the reason I've changed so much is that I have found myself enlightened by someone and their dreams."

Now she really hated the fact she had promised to ask no more questions, whoever this person was she was jealous of them, and Sarah couldn't place why.

Jareth smiled at her softly, Sarah was again taken back, different, he was so different. "Now what do you want to do? You have me all to yourself until your parents get back at three and its only ten a.m. now."

Sarah found herself smiling at the prospect of having Jareth all to herself for that long.

"So, I'm allowed to have music or a story?" she repeated, tapping a finger against her lip.

He nodded. "It's your choice."

"Sure? You're not going to subtly hint which you'd prefer, or try and steer me towards one?"

Jareth merely smiled at her. Sarah guessed that meant a 'no', but you could never be sure with Jareth - even this new 'improved' version. She thought for a while, wondering which was more harmless. A song could be hypnotic . . but a story surely couldn't do any harm. No harm ever came of listening to a story, right? (Anybody watch 'The Mummy'? 'No harm ever came from reading a book' - you haven't read any books lately, have you, Evelyn?)

"I think I'll have a story," she said finally, settling back against her pillows.

Jareth rubbed his hands. "And which story would my lady like?"

She gave him a weird look. "Any one you happen to know that I might not have heard."

"I have many from the Labyrinth: would you like to hear of Sir Didimus and the Goblin Raiders?"

Sarah's eyes went wide. "What happened?"

"Oh he's still alive, don't worry. I wouldn't let them kill your friend. I didn't exactly have to do anything anyway: he had them cowering for some reason."

Sarah smirked, but wouldn't explain why. "I'd prefer something . . a little more relaxing."

Jareth pondered. "Relaxing? What would you call relaxing?"

"Romance: good beats evil, hero gets girl - or heroine gets boy. Happily ever after ending."

Jareth sat there for a moment in silence. He only knew one story that she would classify as romantic. The trouble was, it was about him, and if she found this out.

"Well? I know we're talking about you, but you must know *something* romantic."

"One story."

"Well, that's more than I'd expected."

"I don't know if you'll like it."

"How about we let me decide that? You tell it, and I'll decide."

"How democratic," Jareth murmured sarcastically.

"This is my world, so we're playing by my rules," she said triumphantly. "And you can't argue with an invalid!"

He laughed. "Remind me never to do a good deed again."

Sarah folded her arms and tried to look hurt. "Are you implying that I wasn't worth it?"

"No."

She was surprised, not just by the short answer, but by the sincerity in his voice. He watched her over the chair, satisfied at her shock. Sarah recognised the look and shook herself.

"So, tell me. Tell me the story."

Jareth shifted and took a deep breath. "Far away, *beyond* the Labyrinth . . ."

Sarah listened spellbound as a story unfolded of a powerful king, both cruel and kind, never knowing love therefore never able to give it. He did not consider this as a drawback, until one day when an old family servant told him the terrible truth: if he had not found someone to love him truly, whom he could also love, then he would slowly wither away and die in the full bloom of youth, like a flower on the stem . . .

"And he still to this day has not found someone who will return his love, and the time of his death draws near."

He finished and was silent. Sarah couldn't speak. That wasn't romance, that wasn't even relaxing. That was terrible, tragic. When she looked at Jareth's face, she got a horrible sinking feeling in her stomach. She was afraid to analyse this feeling and find out what it meant. She was suddenly grateful that she'd agreed not to ask any questions. The answers would probably have been too much for her to handle.

The clock struck three. The sunlight had turned lazy and golden. They both jumped at the sound of the chimes. A car pulled up in the drive. Jareth stretched, stood up, and stretched again.

"I must be going."

"Wait-!" But what could she say?

"Sarah?" He was standing there, one eyebrow raised. She searched his face desperately, but there was no trace of any age or pain on it. Only his eyes showed emotion, a hint of sorrow buried deep within the darkness.

"I know I promised no more questions, and you don't have to answer this one, but - was that story about you?"

He looked at her, and smiled a little, sadly. "Yes," he said softly. "It is."

Sarah gasped, wanting to say something, but her father's voice called up the stairs, "Sarah! Honey, are you awake?"

She glanced at the door, and when she looked back he was gone.