It all started with a dream, as do most incredible things. A dream that led a girl to many adventures and triumphs. And best way to know how something got tarted is from the beginning.

Claire fell asleep peacefully that night. She couldn't wait to dream. It was the only time she could escape from the real world and be herself. As she slipped to the great state of dreaming, her mind became at peace.

*Skipping through the Underground, Claire found Ludo napping on a pile of rocks. Quietly, the eight-year-old girl crept closer to the rock yeti, being sure as to not wake him. When she was standing right next to his resting head,she sighed as she smiled and shook her head. "WAKE UP, LUDO!" She screamed into his ear.

With a start, Ludo jumped nearly a mile high when he tumbled off his rocks. Looking around, he let out a sigh of relief when he saw Claire. "Why Claire wake Ludo?"

"I thought we could go and play." She replied innocently.

Then, Sir Didymus came from around the corner. "What's all this yelling and screaming about? Are we under attack?" Then he saw Claire. "My Dearest, you become more beautiful every time you come here. But today, you shouldn't be here."

Claire's eye knitted together when she heard that. "Why? Is something wrong?"

Then, Hoggle ran out from the Labyrinth gates. He seemed very scared. But he froze when he saw Claire. "You can't be heres, Claire! It's not the best of days to be's here. You needs to go back."

Now Claire was upset. This was the first time she was told to go home. Being mad, she stomped off. But unbeknownst to the others, all she did was walk around a corner and stayed there. She planned to find out what was going on. Listening in on her friends, she heard their conversation.

"Is he really planning on coming out of his castle today? It's far too soon for the young dear." Didymus asked.

"I'm afraid he does. We all knew this day was coming, but we nevers expected it to be this soon. And Claire, she's too young to understand. If Jareth meets her while she's this young, it might not turn out very good on our part. She might never want to come back and see us if he scares her." Hoggle explained.

"Claire hate us?" Ludo asked sadly.

"No, it's not that, my good friend. She'll just be too frightened to came back, for fear of our king." Didymus explained to the gentle giant.

"We swore that if Jareth was to ever meets Claire, it would be under better terms. He's still mad about what all Sarah did. And who knows what he'll do to poor Claire if he ever sees her." Hoggle said.

"I believe a better term for it is 'when', not 'if'. He'll meet her sooner or later, there's no denying it. We can only hope that he'd be in one of his better moods when he does." Didymus said.

And with that, the trio walked off. Claire came out from around the corner. She had heard about Jareth from the fae folk. But they described in ways she just heard. Was he really that fearsome? He's probably ugly and gross-looking. With all these thoughts in her head, Claire decided to walk through the forest. It was going to be a little different than her normal visits, but she'd adjust. While walking, Claire's stomach started to growl. As she wandered further, she found an old wicker basket. She picked it up and dusted it before walking further. Not much longer, she found a peach tree. It was very big, but some of the branches were low enough for her to reach. She started picking only the best ones she could find.

Fifteen minutes later, the basket was overflowing with ripe peaches. Claire sat down at the base of the tree and took a bite from the first peach. While she ate, she heard what sounded like humming. She quickly turned around and saw a man. He was the tallest man Claire had ever met. His hair was blond and long, reaching past his shoulders, and he was dressed like royalty. He was smiling as he walked closer. And as he got closer to Claire, she noticed his eyes were different colors.

The man stopped and crouched in front of Claire and smiled again. All she did was smile back. Quickly, she reached to the basket and picked up a peach. She pretended to shine it and handed it to the stranger. The stranger kindly took the peach and bit into it. He then sat next to Claire, still smiling as he ate his peach. "And what is a young princess such as yourself doing alone in the forest? Don't you know that the Goblin King is coming out of his castle today?"

"I'm not afraid of some grumpy old king. If he wants a piece of me, I'd like to see him try to take a bite." Claire answered confidently.

"You're very sure of yourself. Why aren't you afraid of the Goblin King?"

"What happened between him and my grandmother is their business. It had nothing to do with me. If he tries to blame me, then he loses a chance to make a friend with me. My friends tell me he's the strongest goblin in the Labyrinth. And they make him sound like he's mean. If he's mean to me, then I'll stay away from him."

"But what if he tries to make things unfair for you?"

"No one ever said life was fair." Claire simply said.

"Do you know the Goblin King's name?"

"I think it's Jareth."

"Well, that's quite a coincidence. Because that happens to be my name." The stranger whispered. Claire's eyes widened. She looked like she saw a ghost. But before she could do anything, Jareth laughed. "I am not mad at you, young one. I am mad at Sarah for what she did to me, but I would never take that anger out anyone. Especially a young, beautiful princess like yourself."

"So, you're the Goblin King. Why didn't you tell me in the first place?"

"You would have reacted the way everyone else does. With fear."

Claire looked at the Goblin King in awe. It was amazing how she misjudged him. But she knew he was only trying to prove that he wasn't a monster. "My dear child," The Goblin King said, bringing her back from her thoughts. "You are to wake up soon. I only hope that our meetings are just even better than they were in this one." And with that, everything vanished. Claire then fell into notingness, screaming along the way.*

Claire's eyes snapped open, her breath was rapid. She hated falling, whether in real life or dreams. But she finally met the one person she had been dying to meet in her dreams. She finally met Jareth the Goblin King.