Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Labyrinth or Jareth. All else is mine unless noted.

AN: Sorry bout the dust. It just struck me. Still haven't read the real thing...sorry to all. And I tried to make a break between thoughts and actions. Many thanks to SVA/Ladybird. Enjoy.

2. Dark Hallways

Cathrine stirred. Her pale eyelids flickered, but remained firmly shut. She simply laid there. Enjoying the warmth of the silk sheets. Her steady breathing was undisturbed despite her waking. The sticky tearstains on her cheeks and the dried blood on her feet didn't click with her sleep clouded brain.

She eventually sat up, finally opening her blue-green eyes. The room was strange to her. For all of its unearthly beauty, it didn't make sense in her mind. There wasn't a room in her house with stone walls or a massive canopy bed. Instead of truly examining the room before her, she moved with a purpose to the bathroom she could see through a doorway. She was puzzled by the deep sunken bath, but looked past it to see a simple shower. A shower that was normal. After her shower, she walked through the room, wet hair dripping on her clean shirt, to another door.

The dark hall stretched before her. Stone blurred to paneling. Cold stone changed to cool hardwood beneath her feet. The cold water running down her legs and pooling at her feet turned to warm sticky blood. As she stood there, remembering what had happened in her home, she began to sway. She was in her home. She was alive. He would find her and kill her. The blood that had been creeping down her legs began to climb up her body, incapacitating her. The darkness of the hall closed in around her, effectively trapping her in her home. A flash of silvery light reflected off a blade blinded her to the fate she knew was coming. As the blood and darkness began to choke her, Cathrine screamed.

Jareth was anxious. No child, for despite her age of eighteen she was still a child, should have to go through their parents being murdered. Especially in their own home and forced by the murderer to view them. To stand in their blood. He paced for hours before finally realizing that losing sleep was doing him no favors. His fury and sadness were taking their toll on his sleepless mind. Mentally exhausted he turned to sleep despite the sunlight that shone brightly through his windows. Even as he completed his turn a bone chilling scream split the peaceful early morning air.

Jareth vanished from his rooms.

He materialized beside the girl. Her eyes were wide, staring horrified at the terrors that her mind created. Jareth looked down the sunlit hallway for anything that would terrify her. It was empty of all but golden dust motes dancing in the early morning light.

Dust motes? Did they remind her of her home? They were peaceful things. Bright like stars. Innocent as she was. They knew no terrors or fears. They simply were. The sound of choking brought him back from his musing.

Cathrine began to fall. Her eyes wide and streaming. She was choking on her memories. Jareth saw no reason for her reaction, but also knew that something was wrong. Something was very wrong. He lifted her again into his arms. As he entered her room, the door swung shut behind him. He set her down on the edge of the bed and sat down beside her, with one arm around her shoulders.

It was so dark. He was coming. The blade! It was...it was sunny. Cathrine stared. It was a stone window. With sunlight gleaming peacefully through it. The stone...it reminded her of the cathedrals and old churches her mother had taken her to. They went on a trip every other month to see some different old church. It always amazed Cathrine how pretty sunlight through a stone window was. The dust motes always looked so peaceful. Like they were dancing to their own tune. Like miniature stars. Swirling aimlessly through the air giving off light, but not enough to light anything but themselves and their medium.

"Are you lost too? Can't find your way?" She whispered. She reached out to the light letting it play between her fingers. "Are you missing something too?" She suddenly clenched her hand into a fist. "It won't come back. They can't come back. They're never coming back...and now I'm lost too." Tears fell as she pulled her hand back and hugged herself. Her eyes dropped to the floor beneath her feet.

Jareth had watched her blink. Her strange eyes went from horror to wonder. Before he could move to comfort her she began to speak...to the dust motes. They seemed to be capturing everyone's attention today. But her words cut him to the bone. Alone. He knew loneliness. He knew it all too well.

"You chose this path Jareth! You knew what it entitled when you chose. You must walk it! That is final."

The memory rang in his head. Reminding him of the darker corridors in his mind. He looked back at the girl. Looked past the hauntings that rose before his eyes. She hadn't chosen. The choice had been forced upon her. That wasn't choice. His path was his choice. His loneliness...if not fair, justifiable. There was nothing fair about her being lost and alone. But...she wasn't truly lost if she was in the Labyrinth. Not really. No one is ever really lost here. Never truly forgotten. Not even this child. This forever child. Only a fool would cause her to grow up. It would only break her more. So very much more. Her fate just wasn't fair. Very slowly, very carefully, Jareth put a hand on Cathrine's shoulder.

Cathrine look up startled. She wasn't alone. There was a man there. But...he wasn't the one she was afraid of. He had strange blue eyes, one the shade of midnight the other like the ocean in the sun. His pale blonde hair was long and wild...but there was a strange almost elegance to it. His pale skin and high cheekbones made a single thought cross her dreamer's mind. Elf. And yet...

"You're safe here. No one will hurt you. As long as you are here, no one can touch you."

"What are you?" There was awe and fear in her voice. And there was more than a little curiosity. Blue-green met two different crystalline blues.

Good going Jareth.