Prologue - Before

"Gods, I hate days like this one was," Sarah muttered to herself as she set her keys down just inside her front door. In the six years since her mad run through the Labyrinth, there weren't many days that went wrong for her, but today had been bordering on the ridiculous.

She tried not to think about the last time a day had been like this, because it was the day she wished her brother away, which made her think of one infuriating Fae with the prestigious title of Goblin King. After she returned, she had studied what she could find on fairy tales and the Fae — which, she refused to admit, wasn't much. Stupid fae, bastard, she thought, without any real heat.

She'd matured considerably, though she had still had days where she played the spoiled brat. There had been days when she felt some indefinable something that helped everything go smoothly, but couldn't figure out why.

"Sarah, is that you?" came a voice from the living room.

"Yeah, it's me. How was your day?" Sarah responded as she followed the voice. When she came around the corner, she stopped dead. In the middle of the room there stood her roommate, Kim, and every inch of floor was covered by what was left of the furniture. "What happened?" she squeaked.

"Umm… I don't know. It was like this when I got home, I've only been home for about ten minutes, and haven't gotten much farther than this." Kim answered in a small voice.

"So you haven't seen if the rest of the house is like this? Have you called the cops? Is anything missing?" Sarah asked in one quick breath.

"No, I couldn't make it past here, though I don't think anything is missing, all the electronic stuff is still here, and no I haven't called the cops yet."

"Okay, I'm going to look through the rest of the house. When I'm done, I'll get some garbage bags, and then we'll start with the mess."

"Okay, I'm going to stay here because I can't seem to make my legs work."

"All right, I'll be back in a little bit," Sarah said as she walked out of the room. She was surprised though; the rest of the apartment was intact. The only other shock she got was when she walked into her bedroom because sitting on the night stand was a clear crystal ball. She closed her eyes and prayed she was imagining it, but when she opened her eyes again the only thing that had changed was the crystal, now glowing softly.

"Damn it, what now, Jareth?" she muttered.

"Come now, precious, is that anyway to greet me?"

The voice came from directly behind her, in a soft whisper that caused her to jump.

"Damn it, don't do that!" Sarah shrieked as she turned around and glared at the same Fae who'd been in her thoughts all day.

"Don't do what?" Jareth asked from just a few inches behind Sarah. He had his ever present smirk and a glint in his mismatched eyes.

"Sneak up behind me," she replied. "It drives me nuts."

"My apologies, I didn't mean to startle you." As he was completely unconvincing, she continued to glare at him.

After a moment, the silence started to get uncomfortable, so she asked, "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here at your request, precious. You called me," he replied smugly.

"Really? How did I do that?"

"Your thoughts have been screaming at me all day. It gave me quite a headache at first, until I could make out what you were saying. Then it was rather quite amusing."

"What are you talking about?" she asked, confused. She didn't remember thinking about him until she got home; and only then complaining about her lousy day.

"For some reason, you have been thinking about me awfully hard today, Sarah. Is there something that you wish to tell me?" he asked in husky voice, and Sarah cringed at his choice of words.

"No, the only thoughts I've had of you have been cursing you."

"Yes, I know," he muttered. Slightly lifting his eyes at the ceiling, he continued, "which was what was so amusing, Sarah." With that said, he stalked towards her, slowly, gracefully. She instinctively backed up, right towards her night stand. He kept walking towards her with a strange glint in his eyes, until she hit the night stand. That was when everything changed.

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A/N: Okay so this is a first for me, I've never done a fan fic, so please be kind. There was a pic that isnpired this story and as soon as I find it again, I'll put the artist and name of the pic down. Please let me know what you think, and I'll try to get more up in the next few days. Oh and before I forget thanks to my beta and partner in the insanity that is love of the Labyrinth, KatelynnLynn, you're the best Lissa!!!!