Chapter 1: Throwing a Tantrum

"HOW?" Jareth yelled as he stormed through the throne room. It had been only a few hours since the girl had left the Underground as the only victorious runner of the Labyrinth. The Goblin King had returned the girl and the babe to their home not an hour before, and had watched as the girl and her friends from the Underground celebrated her victory. Growling, the king kicked at a nearby goblin, who yelled in panic as he hurtled out a nearby window. The remaining goblins took no time in skittering away from their distressed – and thoroughly pissed off – king. "How did she best the Labyrinth? MY Labyrinth? She should have given up before she even started. She should have buckled under my offers…" Jareth stopped pacing and slumped down onto his throne, putting his head in his hands. He replayed the last moments in the Escher room, trying to figure out why she had rejected his offers. 'I told her I would grant her every wish,' the king thought, 'Didn't she know what I was trying to say? She could have wished the babe back Aboveground. She could have stayed. She should have known I would never have actually turned him into a goblin. The only reason I took him was because she wished it.'

"I did everything for her!" He yelled in anguish to the now empty throne room. His heart still ached from the last words she had spoken to him.

'You have no power over me.'

The thought of her rejection to his advances made the pit of his stomach fall out in despair. The pain that rose in his chest made his next words come out in only a whisper. "How can six little words hurt so much? How could she not know what I was trying to say?"

"She is too young to understand, and your explanation was too vague," a voice said. Jareth lifted his head from his hands to see a beautiful woman before him. She was dressed in a flowing gown of white, her long, curly strawberry-blonde tresses falling well past her lower back. Her eyes were mismatched, her left eye ice blue, the right eye cerulean, but they still had the ability to look right through you. Queen Titania, High Queen of the Underground, stared down the Goblin King.

"Mother," Jareth stated as the queen walked over to him. Titania waved her hand dismissively as her son began to bow to her.

"Must we observe such formalities in private, my son?" she asked. Jareth grinned at his mother, but sobered quickly when he saw the look on her face. "You have some explaining to do," she said, tapping her slippered foot.

"I thought…" Jareth started, but Titania interrupted him.

"You thought that by taking the babe; by hindering the girl in her run of the Labyrinth; by explaining your intentions after you tricked her, that she would fall into your arms and forget about her life Aboveground? Really, Jareth, you should know better." Titania chastised her son as she had centuries before when he was but a babe himself. Her motherly tone still had an effect on him, as he hung his head in shame. "You cannot possibly think that you could claim her for yourself? She has a will that is far stronger than any mortal I have seen."

Becoming angry again, Jareth continued his stalk around the throne room. He turned back to his mother, a look of frustration in his mismatched eyes. "Why can't I? I am the Goblin King! All I would have to do is hold out my hand and she-"

"Would run the other way," Titania stated matter-of-factly, "Don't you understand? She will only return if it is of her own free will. You cannot persuade her to come back."

The frustrated Goblin King suddenly glanced back at his mother and saw a knowing twinkle in her eye. "You have seen something, haven't you mother? You know what's to happen." He grinned from ear to ear, hoping that the news would be of her.

Titania hesitated. It wasn't her place to tell her son of his future, but it was the least she could do to ease his pain. "The girl will return," she said, then held up her hand as her son tried to speak. "But," she said, "she will only return of her own free will. You cannot trick, or persuade, or magic her into returning," Titania took pity on her son as she saw his features twist in anguish. "However," she said, "Once she returns, she just might give you a chance. You will have to prove to her that you are trustworthy, which will be no easy task." She grinned at her son, which annoyed him greatly, and said, "Please, try not to screw your chances up again." She chuckled a little, but then sobered and frowned as she stared out the dilapidated window of the throne room.

Jareth watched his mother intently. He had a feeling that she was not telling him the whole of her vision. "Is there anything more you wish to tell me, mother?" he pressed, trying not to sound too desperate for information. Titania merely shook her head, her hair bouncing around her shoulders, and grinned. "Then I believe you should return to Avalon. I have many things to do today, and I'm afraid most of them are painfully dull."

Titania smiled warmly at her son, then went and kissed him on the cheek. "As you wish," she said, and suddenly disappeared in a cloud of gold glitter. When he was certain his mother was gone, Jareth slumped back onto his throne, mulling over what had just been revealed to him. How long would he have to wait for her to come back? He waved his hand, and a crystal suddenly appeared in his grasp. He stared into it intently as the vision of a bedroom came into view. She was there, hugging her friends goodbye as they disappeared one by one back to the Underground. A moment of envy came over the Goblin King as he watched her embrace each one. He imagined himself there, holding her as if she was more precious to him than air. The thought made his heart do weird flip-flops in his chest.

"Please," he whispered to the crystal, hoping beyond hope that his words would reach the girl inside it somehow, "Please come back to me soon. My Sarah."

Meanwhile…

Queen Titania stood in her office at Avalon castle, bent over a pool of crystal clear water. Her heart ached as she watched her son, pining for the girl that he wouldn't be able to speak with for many years. She also felt a pang of guilt, as she had, in fact, not told her son all that she had seen of the future. "Oh, my son, the day she returns will be a dark one indeed. The future that I have seen has already been put into motion, and I fear there is no way to change it. Her return will be the start of pain and misery for you both, and I fear what is to come." She gently touched the pool of water with her delicate finger, a small ripple forming at her touch. As the ripple fanned out, the scene changed from her son to the small bedroom of Sarah Williams. She had changed out of the clothing she had worn in the Underground into comfortable nightclothes, and was just climbing into bed. Titania smiled at the child as she drifted off to sleep. "What a mystery you are, Sarah Williams," the queen said, watching as the girl began to dream of the Underground. "Your Fate is complexly intertwined to the Fate of the Underground, yet you only spent a short time wandering its hills. You have power that you could not even imagine, power enough to garner the attention of many here." The queen furrowed her brow as she thought of her vision. "You will have to protect her well, my son. Others will try to take her slumbering power, even before she returns here. She will need you more than ever now." She watched as the girl's dream went from her memory of her journey, to her friends, to something that surprised even Titania. She watched as Sarah dreamed of the broken Escher room, and her battle with Jareth. She felt Sarah become confused, angry, panicked, and then…regretful? Titania stood staring as Sarah struggled in her bed, a single tear dripping down her cheek. She waved her hand, and the image of Sarah disappeared. The queen stood for a moment, trying to figure out this young woman. "What a strange mortal you are, Sarah," she murmured, then smiled fondly, "One thing is certain: you are no ordinary girl."

Yes, yes, I know I've submitted this once already, but I improved it a bit. The first chapter does not give as much away and-

Jareth: Oh, do get on with it. I want to read what happens next!

UGH...Fine, your royal tightness...