Chapter One

The Magician

"In the dreamland of the night,

I rule as magician and

work wonders to delight."

-English translation of "Vor dem Schloss:Finale Akt 1"

from the musical "Tanz der Vampire"

*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*

Seven years.

Had it really been that long?

One could suppose that for a life that would extend past the existence of time, the years would be nothing, but to a creature with an indefinitely long life who was in love, who was obsessed with a mere idea, who spent hours upon hours deep in sorrow and regret over events so long past, seven years was quite a long time.

Jareth sat on his throne as he did so often, surrounded by his beloved goblins and lost in reminiscences of a time when he had actually seen her in person, spoke to her, actually touched her. It did not matter that she had cut a swath of destruction through his Labyrinth when she had been there last, nor that she had charmed half of his subjects into following her, had kicked down his castle, and took back her baby brother. It did not matter that she had defeated Jareth with mere words, leaving his powers broken and frail and his heart quite mystified.

Oh, Jareth was careful to keep his countenance as it was before she had came, trying in vain to keep up all appearances of normalcy. However, when he was alone and out of earshot of any goblins, he would allow himself to display some emotion, and to grieve for the consequences of his stupid mistakes, raging around the castle in a high temper.

Though his powers had been ravaged by hers, Jareth had managed to watch her every so often through his crystals, weak and delicate as they were, watching her grow and mature and watching her forget that her time in the Labyrinth was real and not some memory of a dream she had once had. Slowly through the years, Jareth had mended his Labyrinth and regained the loyalty of his subjects. His power grew slowly too, waxing leisurely year by year, bit by bit.

In all that time, Jareth had been planning, watching, and waiting. His plan was delicately and carefully concocted, every bit thought out, changed, thought out again, and changed yet again. He had pruned it and perfected it, molding his plan into a foolproof plot.

Seven years…

So short a time for his powers to regain their full potency, and yet so long. Now was the time to set things in to motion.

Jareth's heart leapt at the thought of finally setting into motion the plan that he had thought of in earnest in his seven years of near magiclessness.

He was confident. He was eager. He was ready.

Jareth smiled wickedly and sat back comfortably in his throne, draping his legs insolently over the arms of his chair, exuding an air more akin to a rowdy schoolboy than a king.

He conjured a crystal with ease, rolling it between his fingers before holding it still, poised gracefully on his fingertips. He gazed deeply into the orb, its crystalline depths revealing a familiar visage: a girl, sitting beneath a tree reading a book, face set in intense concentration as she read. Her concentration was broken only when a great hairy dog bounded up to her, licking her face, causing the girl to drop her book and laugh merrily, petting the dog with loving rubs.

Jareth sighed and watched as the girl picked up her book and settled back against the tree once more, her dog laying his great shaggy head in her lap.

Jareth was not quite sure how long he sat there and watched the girl. Time seemed to cease to exist as he sat there, breaking out of his trance only when the girl finally got up and closed her book, leaving the tree, with her dog tagging along at her heels.

He involuntarily recalled some of his last words to her, his last desperate pleas…

Just fear me, love me…

Jareth groaned and rubbed his hands over his face.

"Oh Sarah," Jareth murmured, low and contemplative, "I wish you had believed me."

*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*

The first year after her excursion, Sarah held firmly on to the idea, no, the fact that the Labyrinth and its inhabitants were real, that she had journeyed to the center of the mythical Labyrinth and defeated its tyrant, winning the freedom of the baby brother she had so carelessly wished away. She called on her faithful friends many times after her journey Underground, talking for hour upon hour through her mirror.

The second year, Sarah found fewer and fewer chances to call upon her beloved comrades as she had entered her sophomore year of high school, though her homework load had not increased drastically from the previous year. Instead, her stepmother Karen had prodded Sarah to indulge in more social excursions, shepherding Sarah out of the house as often as she possibly could.

The third year, Sarah only called on her otherworldly friends twice: the first time on Hoggle's birthday, and the second was when she'd been left alone in the house one warm spring night, as her father and Karen were at a smart party and Toby was at her grandmother's. Looking back, Sarah didn't know what had made her pick that night to call upon her friends. Perhaps it was the memory of Hoggle's soft-spoken words so long ago: Should you need us, for any reason at all… and her declaration of: I don't know why, but every now and again in my life -for no reason at all- I need you. All of you…

The fourth year after Sarah's excursion into the Labyrinth, she did not call on her friends, not once. She was a senior in high school, and was thusly preoccupied with college applications, scholarship applications, and studying for her college entrance exams. She thought she glimpsed Hoggle, Ludo and Didymus every so often, staring forlornly out of the mirror at her as she worked hard on her homework, striving to be the best in her class.

The fifth year, Sarah enrolled at the community college the next town over, driving the 45 minute commute each morning to attend classes. She did not call on her friends this year either, though she could have used the companionship desperately, for she had half-convinced herself that the Labyrinth and the events and people that she had experienced and met within were nothing more than an elaborately vivid dream, brought on by the angst and fantasy of her teenage years.

The sixth year, Sarah finished school with an Associate's Degree in Early Childhood Education, placating her father and stepmother. She was now almost completely convinced that anything having to do with the Labyrinth was an elaborate dream she had once had, conceding to the idea (in dark times), that perhaps she was going slightly mad.

After all, how could such things be real? Goblins? Talking rocks? Helping hands that were less than helpful and more than handsy? All these things were the product of the over-active imagination of a teenager who had a flair for the dramatic, a penchant for fantasy stories, and a romantic streak a mile wide.

The seventh year…

The seventh year, Sarah was absolutely, 100% sure that she had had a very strange dream as a child, where she had befriended a motley crew of made-up creatures, trekked through a Labyrinth which surrounded a city built and inhabited by goblins, and met a strange man who had stolen Toby from her, who had ultimately been defeated by Sarah saying some magic words. A memory of a dream…

It was all so absurd.

Sarah was still settled at her parent's house, a fact that nettled Karen greatly. However, thanks to the careful saving of her earnings from her tidy little job as the program director of a local childcare center, Sarah was able to pay rent on a modest apartment, taking care to visit Toby and Merlin on the weekends. The old vanity which had sat in her room at her parent's house now sat in her sparsely-furnished apartment, adorned with a few pictures, mostly of Toby and her family.

Though the apartment didn't look like much, Sarah liked being there. It was cozy and bright and a place all for herself.

Sarah was happy. Not overly so, mind you, she still dreamt grand dreams and planned magnificent plans for the future, but at the moment, Sarah was content with her modest and tidy little life. She may not live in a grand mansion filled with luxuries galore and populated with pleasant people, but she was alive, she had a warm ( if a bit trying) family, and she was young and healthful.

When she was younger, she would have been appalled at her future self for compromising so easily.

She should be in New York, becoming a great actress like her mother, or in Hollywood gracing the silver screen. She should be wealthy, she should be powerful, she should have everything her heart desired and then some. She should be the loveliest lady, sought after by the richest, handsomest, and most powerful men.

Or, she should be a heroine, boldly defeating the evil dragon terrorizing some Tolkien-esque place, tearing down the tyrant king's regime, and winning the love of the dashing Prince Charming.

But of course, the older Sarah knew a painful truth that the younger Sarah was not as of yet cognizant of, alas, that such futures were only present in fairytales.

…and dreams.

Yes, such things existed in dreams as well.

What strange and wonderful dreams Sarah had, as varied and multi-layered as life itself. However, sometimes Sarah had a reoccurring dream of a strange, far-away place that at once felt both familiar and alien to her, as if it was the imprint of a long-lost memory.

It was one of her favorites.

In the dream, Sarah found herself in a landscape prominently dominated by a golden hue; the sky was a golden yellow, the dirt beneath her feet was yellow, and the stones in the tall wall that always stood in front of her were always the same: yellowed with age and worn from the elements.

She always met the same creatures: a wizened, dwarf-like creature with a craggy face, browned lovingly by many hours spent in the garden, a huge shaggy beast with heart of gold and a penchant for speaking to rocks, and a small, dog-like creature, dressed in medieval finery, brandishing a rapier on his English sheepdog-steed.

There were other creatures as well: small, grungy goblins, a strange old wiseman with a bird as a hat, strange demons both fiery in temper and in name, great talking rocks, and a man: the King of the Goblins, who was as darkly cruel and dangerous as he was fascinating.

She always had the same task: to rescue her brother who had been kidnapped by the goblins and taken to the king's castle, which was located at the center of an impossible and confounding Labyrinthine maze. She always got her brother back in the end, but the dream was still her favorite, even if she knew the ending.

Even though Sarah was no longer a child, this reoccurring dream held full sway over her unconscious: thrilling her in the trek through the Labyrinth, terrifying her when she faced-off with the Goblin King, and exhilarating her when she won her brother back in the end.

It was an exceedingly good dream.

*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*

Jareth was quite happy, when he regained his ability to view dreams five years after Sarah's quest through the Labyrinth. No, he was more than that; he was ecstatic, over the moon, sing with a hairbrush in front of your mirror while in your underwear kind of happy.

He immediately began to keep tabs on Sarah's dreams. He was a bit appalled when he discerned that Sarah was forgetting that the Labyrinth was real, that she had half-convinced herself that everything was just an elaborate dream. It was absurd, Jareth thought. More than that, it was insulting to such a proud and self-centered creature such as himself. Had he not left a tangible impression upon the girl, one that would leave no compunctions of his validity, of his existence, of his, well, real-ness?

Jareth pouted (in a manner fit for a king, mind you) for a bit after finding out this little bit of information. A few goblins were punted out of very high-up castle windows during his tantrum, while others were lucky, and were merely hucked at sharply-pointed, appendage-damaging items. Chickens were thrown liberally into the bog for an excess of clucking and preening, and many rooms of the castle (and areas of the Labyrinth) were demolished with a relish that could not be ignored. Hoggle was summoned from the entrance of the Labyrinth to be told the great tidings. Jareth had perversely enjoyed watching Hoggle react to the news that Sarah no longer believed that he was real. He knew that Hoggle and the rest of his fur-brained compatriots had talked with Sarah through the use of mirrors. He also knew that they had not talked for two years now. (Being the monarch of this land, he was obliged to know everything that went on in his realm.)

It was some time before Jareth had emerged from his foul mood, enough at least to see that he could use his apparent status as a fictional character to his advantage. Grinning wickedly, Jareth planned carefully, thus bringing us back to Jareth watching Sarah reading under the old oak, lamenting the time gone by and relishing in plans to be hatched.

*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*

AN: Hey look at that! A new story!

I can't guarantee any sort of timeframe for when chapters are going to be posted, so expect them when you least expect them! (Seriously, like if a month or so goes by…) I am working 40+ hours a week (to pay for my shiny new Macbook Pro I just ordered for school) and then I go on vacation for a week, and then school starts again in August, and I'll be pretty busy!

BTW- I swear I'm going to make Jareth a more complex character that does more than just mope after Sarah and throw temper tantrums. I just needed to get something that I can build on!

Here's to trying to write a Laby fanfic that *hopefully* has a somewhat original plot! Cheers! (BTW: I am not an Early Childhood Education major, in case anyone is curious, I just thought that it would fit Sarah.)

For those who enjoy it: a Harry Potter and a Little Women reference!

Please review! I always enjoy reading and responding to them!

Disclaimer: Labyrinth and its characters do not belong to me. Quotes from the movie belong to Henson, Froud, and Lucas. Quotes from the book belong to A.C.H. Smith.