Author's Note: Indeed it is for Mr. Bowie. I had this beginning saved for a while, almost a year, just not ready to put it out and get started on yet another project. But, after hearing the news, this story was all that was on my mind. I found a VHS of Labyrinth at a garage sale when I was six years old…and I wore the tape out. I've been riding the Bowie Fantrain Express ever since. The old stuff, the new stuff, I love it all. That's probably why I can appreciate almost any genre of music. The first little story that I wrote when I was a kid was for Labyrinth fanfiction, before I even knew what fanfiction was.

I've seen fics call Sarah's step-mother both Karen and Irene, most of the ones that I've read have called her Karen. I finally went back a couple years ago and looked at the character names, I never noticed that they named her at all, but it is credited as Irene. You are correct, but I just can't bring myself to change now. I'm sorry.

Disclaimer: I do not own Labyrinth or any of its characters. I'm just taking a break and chilling in Jim Henson's sandbox for a while.

The Way Back

Chapter Two

Jareth eyed the glittering mass that swirled and turned in front of him in the gardens of Avalon. His uncle's isle was the main home of the Fae and the tame beauty they created reflected his uncle's tastes. The crystal castle that provided backdrop for the party shined in the lights from the small fires set around the grounds. Lovers slipped away into the shadows or under the weeping willows that surrounded them.

He had sat out the celebration of the Spring Equinox so far. He had sat out all of the balls he had been forced to attend for the last few years actually. He knew what he was really invited for. Oberon had decided it was time for the Ruler of the Labyrinth to take a bride, to get an heir to train. Didn't help that his uncle had been given the prophecy about Jareth finding a mate after the defeating of his maze. He didn't appear to care that Jareth had been rejected. Now, since she had refused, he was supposed to pick from the glittering hoard around him.

The prophecy never stated a who.

He had more important things to worry about. Like the Labyrinth outgrowing her normal borders. The vast outer wall that reigned in the rest of the maze had not changed since the Labyrinth's inception. And she wasn't talking to him anymore. That absence, more than anything, bothered him. The Labyrinth had always spoken to him, came when he called, since the day that his father had brought him to visit the wild lands as a child.

He couldn't bring that up as an excuse. Oberon wasn't the biggest fan of the large maze to begin with, probably because she refused to bow to him. He could never make his uncle understand, the Labyrinth bowed to no one. Any problem that Jareth had had during his kingship was met with the same answer…

"Taking care of that place is your job. Making sure that there is someone to rule it after you is mine."

Oberon may be the High King of the Fae, but Au Dagda had backed the decision to put his favored grandchild on the throne of Dreams and Nightmares. All came from the Labyrinth's depths. Which was another reason the crown was so coveted. Whether the dreamer chose to follow what they had been shown was part of their own free-will.

He wasn't unaware of why he was so pursued. The Labyrinth was the closet kingdom on this side of the mists to the humans. It was the first line of defense should man decide to cross the lines again and as such it carried a certain authority and power. Not they were really believed in anymore. There were pockets of believers but to most, it was just fairy stories. Good for entertainment, but not mired in the reality of man's journey to its current state.

Except for Sarah.

She had been a true believer. Believed even more now. His goblins reported weekly on what transpired in the Williams' home, as well as Sarah's apartment when she had moved to the city. It was hard for him to spy on her there, so much iron. It was no surprise to him that she had chosen to return to her childhood home. After her run and his defeat, Sarah would have a problem with all that iron as well. Dreamers needed space to breathe and live.

Jareth was beyond bored as he lounged against the trunk of a tall oak. Apathy oozed from the Fae that would rather have been locked up in the center of his maze, tending to his current problem. His hand ached to pull a crystal, he knew that Sarah was coming home this weekend. To stay. Toby was always willing to talk about his sister, how worried he was when she was away.

Sisters. The boy was also worried about Mia, the youngest of the Williams clan. Jareth didn't have the heart to tell Toby that little Mia wouldn't survive the world of man for very long. Her body was weak and their world carried too much danger in the air alone. Jareth had toyed with the idea of convincing Toby to wish his sister away, Fae healers and the air not polluted by man's machines stood a better chance of getting the girl to adulthood than any doctor they would find in the human world.

His Grandfather and the Labyrinth herself had swiftly struck that idea down. It wasn't his job to rescue, it was his duty to collect the unwanted and give them a home. No one could look at little Mia's family and say that the girl was unwanted. She was doted upon, by everyone.

The Labyrinth had warned him that it was better to have a short life basking in the love of her family than a long one amongst strangers. Mia was old enough to remember her family and wouldn't be grateful for the perceived rescue. Besides, how could he think to step in the way of a human's fate? When Fae reached maturity, they took a vow to not interfere with the natural order of the universe, and death was just as sacred as life. It was one thing to save a life in front of you, another to circumvent the universe to steal a life from Death's hands.

His stormy gaze was returned to the throng in front of him. There was no one that he didn't know here. Few of the women that he hadn't already tasted. Virginity wasn't highly valued among the Fae because of their long lives. Marriages were normally no more than contracts on a time limit. No one wanted to be tied to one being for the rest of eternity. And sometimes, that's exactly what their live-span felt like. The Rulers of the Labyrinth and the Forgotten Sea seemed to be a little different than most. Their marriages were known to last forever, even if they occasionally invited another in to play. Shame that his was going to break that. If he did chose from one of Fae, there would be a time limit that he had to put up with them.

Then again, if you spoke to most of the Seelie Court, Jareth should never have been placed on the Labyrinth's throne to begin with. The throne that had once belonged to Oberon's youngest brother, Ragnok. They didn't know it wasn't Oberon's decision. Wasn't even Au Dagda's, the Father of the Fae, in the end. The Labyrinth chose her own ruler. It was a secret kept fiercely by her kings. Imagine his surprise when he had discovered that the Father of all the Fae hadn't known how the Labyrinth originated. Au Dagda had explained that it already existed when he first ventured through the mists to this land. Jareth had been shocked as only a child of a few decades, he knew the story of the Labyrinth's creation and its creator.

She had chosen him after his uncle's heart had turned dark and merciless. Jareth didn't know then that she had planned and executed his uncle's very downfall. The Labyrinth stood as sentinel between man and Fae, but it also nurtured the dreams and nightmares of mankind. She welcomed the unwanted of man and gave them homes.

It couldn't be ruled by a king that hated humans.

Not that Jareth could blame his Uncle. Ragnok had once been a just king, loved by his people and the Labyrinth herself. When the last war between man and Fae hit a fever pitch, when his people had decided to surrender the Earth to humans and retreat into the mists forever, Ragnok had lost his wife and son. The incident turned him bitter and ugly to all humans.

Jareth had lost his own mother in those last battles and sought refuge from his grief in his beloved Labyrinth. It was there that he found the true heart of the great maze and her. Because he had needed to.

For a while, Jareth was the same. He had found solace, and he loved the Labyrinth, always finding a way to explore its many twists and turns, the many worlds contained within itself. The many creatures it nurtured and the endless habitats that it housed. From the darkest forests, to the barren desert at it's gate. Everyone could find a home in the Labyrinth lands. Just as its creator had intended when she poured her heart and soul into the land itself untold millennia ago.

The great gates at the entrance to the garden burst open and the party ground to a halt. Everyone hurried to move to the side as the large man dressed in a leather kilt and weathered cloak walked easily through the crowd as if he owned everything he saw. Jareth supposed that he did. Au Dagda, the Druid of the Gods, all lines of Fae began and ended with him. Behind him walked the little red head that had been his companion for centuries. Jareth wondered, in idle moments, where he had picked up the beautiful human and how he kept her alive. Human, Kiera was surely, even though she had never carried a child of Au Dagda, nor added to his bloodlines. Still, she stayed alive, sharing his life. His last child had been Jareth's mother, the child of his previous companion.

Perhaps that was why Jareth was favored by the ancient. Au Dagda was not often found in the civil and enlightened court of his son, Oberon. He preferred the cruel wildness and pleasures of Tara. He had once told Jareth his home was more real than Oberon's could ever hope of being. Instead of politics and back biting, when someone had a problem in Tara, the entire Hill turned out to see the battle taken straight to the accused.

Some called it barbaric, Au Dagda called it honest.

"Father," Oberon bowed lowed, as everyone else had already hit the floor. "We were not expecting to see you."

"I didn't think ye were."

It was no secret that Oberon and Au Dagda did not see eye to eye on several subjects and were content to leave each other in peace.

The ancient looked around his son to where Jareth was kneeling on the floor.

"What are ye doing boy? Do ye believe the wild and powerful land that ye rule over will accept one of these tame, pampered blossoms?"

Jareth raised his head, showing the lifeless gaze that taken over his eyes. "Life in the castle itself is rather tame."

Au Dagda threw his head back, roaring laughter to the sky. "Take some o' these pampered pets to visit and see how tame your home is then." He turned serious and glared at the young king. "Your people have already spoken, boy. When one befriends those walking the Labyrinth, they have found their queen."

"Leave us," Oberon commanded the throng and held up a hand, stopping the two from speaking until they were alone.

Jareth burst from the floor as soon as the castle doors closed behind the last. "She rejected me. Have you forgotten?"

"And didn't ye say yourself that ye had played your hand too soon?" Au Dagda crossed his arms over his large chest. "I expected better of ye boy. Ye let her get so far in your little game. Your rejection is your fault and it's not for your people to suffer for it."

"They would not," Oberon protested. "Every woman that we have selected is well versed in the skills needed to run a kingdom and castle."

"Ach, too civilized for me boy. Too peaceful an arrangement for the Labyrinth. You can hide a lot of evil under all your pretty speeches and fabric." He turned back to Jareth with fire in his eyes. "Your land is a force of nature and will accept nothing less from those that rule its inhabitants."

"You expect me to throw myself at her feet and grovel?"

Au Dagda grabbed the young king and hauled him close. "I expect ye to show her who's king, me boy." He growled. "Capture that little witch and bring her into the heart of your maze. Make her bow before your throne and let that wild storm fuel your people.

"Ye rule the wilds and ye let that elemental soul get away and take the prize with her. You canna tame a storm with pretty words and a soft touch. Ye must show it ye are its equal. That ye will not bow before its might. That ye alone can keep that force turning."

"Prize?" Oberon turned to Jareth. "You fed the boy?"

The younger king turned away. "It is not in my nature to deny food to a hungry child."

"Then you must get it back. A changeling cannot live in the world a man forever. It will stifle and suffocate him until he takes his own life."

"Even my own son agrees with me. Will wonders never cease."

"She won the challenge, Father."

"She did no such thing." Au Dagda stood tall. "She forfeited when she herself got hungry. Didn't she, boy?"

"You fed her too?" Oberon didn't wait for the answer that wasn't coming. "Then she should never have left. How did the Labyrinth allow her passage back to the world of man?"

"Seems the Labyrinth decided to allow the girl the illusion of winning." Kiera spoke softly from behind her companion.

The men turned to look at her in shock.

Jareth did not recall Kiera speaking very often and kept his own voice low. Human or not, Au Dagda would not tolerate any disrespect for the woman that traveled with him. "She said that Sarah was too young."

"Ach, what a load of bullshit. If she's old enough to respond, she's old enough to keep." He eyed the red head behind him, who looked no older than Sarah did when she ran the Labyrinth. "Isn't that right?"

Kiera raised an eyebrow. "You must remember that humans mature differently than they did when you found me. I was unaware of the particulars, but I still knew what was expected of me. Sarah did not." She looked at Jareth. "You scared her."

"Eager enough though, weren't ye lass?" He snorted at her nod. "More lies the world of man feeds itself. They live longer now and think they have forever to do it. Preferred when they knew life was precious and surrendered more to their instincts."

Oberon sniffed. "Is that not what your Tara is there for?"

"Aye, lad. And don't forget there was once a time that ye didn't lie to yourself either."

"I don't lie to myself now."

"Keep telling yourself that. Ye sit in this gilded cage and play your own games. Ye think I don't know what ye and your queen are up to? Surrender more to your own needs than ye be willing to admit." He waved to the garden around them. "It's all just smoke and mirrors. Soft furs and breakable fabrics over sharp blades and vicious hearts."

"Regardless." The woman put a hand on her companion's arm. "She is old enough now. Even by the laws of the modern world. More to the point, she had also lived. She has left the safety of her home, seen how the world truly is and come back."

"Give up the manipulations. A stubborn human doesn't care what is more beneficial. Now is the time to battle, boy. Show her what she misses and what she canna get in the human world. It don't cater to the dreamer. The world of man will break her down, suck her dry and leave her to rot."