It was late one night in a dark tall castle. The castle was unkempt and a disarray, but he liked it to be like that. All the inhabitants of the castle had fallen asleep, even the guards on duty. In his chambers the owner of this castle, and the ruler of the surrounding lands, tossed and turned in his large bed. His blonde hair was a mess, more than usual and the bed covers were wrapped around the lower half of his body. Once again he was dreaming of her. His plan to make her his queen had been flawless, until she started things too soon.

She had been younger than he had originally intended. He had picked her out for his bride when she was just a baby. And as the time moved differently in his world, he wouldn't have long to wait until she was old enough. But, then she wished her half-brother away, and very soon after regretted it. He couldn't do anything about it, a deal was a deal, but he forged another deal so she could try to rescue her brother. On her adventures to save her brother, she grew to hate the one man who cared for her. He tried everything, but sadly, he wasn't able to win her heart. She had eventually beaten him. She never knew, how he adored her, he saw her for the woman she would become, the queen she could be.

Not long after she had gone home, he tried to reach out to her, make things right. The way they should have been. But she had put up blocks; she had given up living in a world of fantasy and magic. He had no power over her. Now he only saw her in his unrestful dreams. Smiling, beautiful, and now grown-up. He tried in the dream world to bring her back to him. But even there she was unreachable. She moved too fast for him, he couldn't grab her, pull her into her arms, he couldn't talk to her either. He would call out her name, "Sarah! Sarah! Come back to the Goblin City and to me Sarah!" but she never turned her head at his call.

He awoke in a sweat, all the tossing and turned and the confining blankets made him hot and unable to sleep anymore. Getting up from his bed he strode around before leaving his chambers for his throne room. The guards that her to guard the doors to his throne room were asleep. Scowling he walked over to them and kicked them both waking them. "How many times have you been told to stay awake while on duty?" he barked at them.

The two goblin guards shrank back, "Many times Your Majesty," one replied.

"Go and wake the rest of the guards that are on duty, for I am sure none of them are awake," the Goblin King told his guards, knowing his subjects well.

The guards nodded and ran out to go wake the other sleeping guards. Rubbing his head and sighing the Goblin King sat onto his throne. He needed to find someone to talk to about this, but who could he admit his failure to? And who would also understand his love of Sarah? He remembered her friends that had helped her defeat his army. They had known that what they did gained them no favor with the Goblin King but they had helped her anyways. They had seen what he had seen in her and could not help but give her everything she wanted. He could not 

blame them for this, and they had all received only a slap on the wrist for their treason and it had been forgotten.

Getting up from his throne determined to find one of the three that had helped her, he made his way to The Bog of Eternal Stench. He knew he would find at least one there. He did hate the smell and it was his least favorite part of his domain, but he had gone through worse in his battle for her love. Reaching the Bog was not hard at all, as the Goblin King could transport himself to anyplace of his vast kingdom at any time he liked. Pinching his nose he made for the bridge that Sir Didymus guarded with his life. Didymus and Hoggle, the prince of the Bog of Eternal Stench now, were both on the bridge conversing. The Goblin King was glad one of his many guards actually took their job seriously. He had asked Didymus to come to his castle and run his army there, but Didymus preferred his post in The Bog of Eternal Stench and had kindly declined.

The Goblin King, stayed back and listened to their conversation, curious as to why they would be together so late at night.

"My Lady hath not requested my company in such a long time, and I begin to fear, Prince Hoggle, that she will not," Sir Didymus said to his companion.

"Don't call me, 'Prince Hoggle', I hate that. I hate this Bog," Hoggle grumbled "And Sarah hasn't called for me either, it's been years since I last saw her and I don't think she remembers us."

"Of course My Lady still remembers us, Prince Hoggle-" "Don't call me prince!" "She would never forget her loyal friends!" Didymus insisted.

"I don't know, has Ludo heard from her at all?" Hoggle asked.

"Sir Ludo hath not, dear Prince-" "I said-" "That is why I thought to talk with you about My Lady, she was closest to you."

"Well she sure does show it, doesn't she?" Hoggle grunted.

"Do not fear, I'm sure My Lady is just busy," Didymus said defending Sarah's name and memory.

"Huh." Was all Hoggle said before getting up and leaving for his small home in the Bog.

That was all The Goblin King needed. Returning to his castle, beyond the Goblin City, he pulled out one of his crystal orbs. He knew that if Sarah had not visited her friend's in a long time that she had either forgotten all about her adventures in his labyrinth or that she had convinced herself it was nothing more than a dream. Either way there might be a way for him to reach her now.



Staring into his crystal, the image of Sarah began to focus. She was sitting on a large chair in a small apartment where she lived by herself. The TV was on but she was not watching it, she stared off at her window. She seemed sad and contemplative. Her shoes were off and she had her feet tucked up underneath herself, making herself appear small and younger. She was older than when she had been to his labyrinth, in her mid-twenties. She got up slowly from her seat and walked over to her window and looked out. She seemed to be looking for something in particular. She took a breath, about to say something extremely draining. She looked around and whispered "Jareth" to her empty apartment.

That was all he needed to be able to cross that border.