Hey guys - this is my first Labyrinth fic and I have NO idea where it's going, so please review if you like it! Thanks for reading!

He had been begging her.

Sarah froze with her key in the lock, one arm carefully balancing a stack of books against the doorframe. She frowned, annoyed with herself for the random and unwelcome thought. Why had she even been thinking about that time? About him?

She looked over her shoulder and glanced up at the moon, clearly visible in the darkening sky although it was only just past sundown. Full and glowing, it hung lazily above the treetops, flanked by a lone star.

Sarah shook her head, unlocked the door and staggered into her apartment, both arms full of books. That was it, then. The full moon always reminded her of him, of everything to do with that dizzying trip to the Underground. It made her think of crystal balls, of clocks, of his odd eyes...it even had the same full roundness of a peach like the one he'd given her.

She shut the door behind her with her foot, pausing before the mirror hanging on her wall. Her own clear eyes stared back at her. Silky black hair fell around her face; her lips were full, her skin pale and creamy with a smattering of freckles still sprinkled across her small nose. She still looked like the hardheaded, naive girl who'd stomped into the Labyrinth with such confidence, but her features had grown and shaped into those of a woman. Now twenty-one, she liked to think that she was a little wiser than the stubborn teenager she'd once been.

She kicked off her shoes and wandered into the living room, her mind still troubled. That damned moon had gotten her thinking about the last words she'd spoken to him on that night. The words that were her farewell to the Goblin King.

Standing alone together at the end of her ordeal, he'd stood before her - still every inch a King, but somehow weakened, a little humbler than the laughing monarch who'd watched her struggle through the Labyrinth with her baby brother on his lap. His bright eyes, always teasing and scornful, now looked at her with calculation and with something very like tenderness.

"Look, Sarah. Look what I'm offering you."

She could still hear his gentle, dark voice, pressing her, entreating her. He had summoned a crystal, held it before her, willed her to look into it.

"Your dreams..."

But she wasn't the same girl he'd sent into his Labyrinth. She had had enough of his beautiful illusions, his tricks and promises.

"...My will is as strong as yours, and my kingdom is as great," she continued firmly. Her heart racing, she had taken a step forward. He mirrored her movement, stepping back, never taking his eyes from her face.

"I ask for so little." His drawling voice, so sensuous and lofty, now seemed to waver, and he stared into her eyes with something like fear. "Just let me rule you...and you can have everything that you want."

She had caught her breath at the seductive offer, but forced herself to press on. Even as the lines failed her, as she hesitated, still she stood her ground.

His mismatched eyes were now wide, alarmed. Pleading. "Just fear me," he whispered, "Love me...do as I say, and I will be your slave!" He must have known that she had the upper hand, that he was going to lose her...

Even in her own emotional state, Sarah could plainly see desparation carved into the proud King's features. What else would prompt the ruler of the Goblins to offer himself so plainly, so plaintively? But she had been too frazzled, too exhausted from her ordeal in the Labyrinth to care. His words surely meant nothing - just empty promises and impossible delights, like the enchanted peach he had tried to trick her with, like every illusion and deception she had faced and conquered so far. He was the last one - the last deception. And she would defeat him the same way as she had his many tricks.

The final words came to her, fell from her tongue. For one final moment she had stared into his eyes, watched his face fall, contorting with something that looked like pain - and then everything had fallen away in a rush as a clock chimed, the Goblin King was transforming and suddenly she was home again. Home, standing bewildered in her dark living room seven long years ago just as she now stood in her tiny apartment that badly needed cleaning.

She sighed and tossed her armful of books onto the sofa. Dropping down beside them, she ran her fingers through her silky black hair and let out a groan. Why would he choose now to invade her thoughts again? College had been keeping her busy, and it had been quite some time since she had thought about her adventure in the Labyrinth all those years ago. Indeed, with the pressures of the real world surrounding her, several times she'd come close to making herself believe she had dreamed the whole affair.

She smiled, closing her eyes. Wouldn't that be nice? To know for certain that in spite of her vivid memories, in spite of the dreams that still woke her in the middle of many dark nights, the entire thing had simply been conjured up by her overactive imagination. She chuckled to herself as she stood and moved to the curtains to close them for the night. What she'd needed as a young girl was some therapy - all those hours of playing dress-up and make-believe had clearly made her a little insane!

She turned back around and nearly collided with the tall, dark figure standing in the middle of her room. Unleashing a banshee scream, she leapt backwards, tripped over the edge of the rug and went toppling to the floor. Landing pretty hard on her butt, she squeezed her eyes shut as a sharp pain shot through her - but even with her eyes closed she could still see him standing there. There was no mistaking him, even in the dark. She gritted her teeth as that purring voice filled her ears for the first time in seven long years.

"Hello again, Sarah."