A/N: I KNOW everyone who is still interested in this story is absolutely despise me for writing this chapter. I'm scared to death of all the hate that I'm going to receive in your reviews, and yet, I still wrote and posted it… Why? Because, it is absolutely vital to the storyline!

I also only just realized that I had this as K+ (or were my eyes mistaken because it's 3 AM?) I'd rather have it at T, just because of some of the language, and how I write.

I do hope that at least some questions are answered here. I did try not to bring in too many questions. Actually, the next few chapters should, hopefully, answer several. Not all, but enough.

I refuse to say anything more in this A/N though, I'm terrified that if I do I'll give away something important in desperation for wanting to explain why and how this will become a romance... so just read it, and hate me if you must.


Chapter Two: Differences in Opinion

"You lecherous pedophile!" Sarah screamed. That was the last thing Jareth could recall clearly before being in pain.

The book that had moments before been firmly in the hand of Sarah Williams was now on the sidewalk. The book was on the sidewalk because it had just ricocheted off the head of a no longer amused Goblin King.

"Ow," Jareth said blankly. He released Kayla's hands to reach over and pick up the book that had possibly given him a mild concussion. The Complete Works of Gilbert and Sullivan, and a hardcover copy at that... It wasn't the book he was looking for, of course, that would have been too convenient. Being The Complete Works of Lewis Carroll would have been too easy, not to mention too clichéd, and probably hurt less. Jareth looked over at Sarah, then at the book again. "Ow."

Jareth stood up slowly and handed the large book to Sarah. "Next time you intend on hurling projectiles at me, Miss Williams, please consider who might get hit if you miss…" He spoke rather dispassionately, especially considering this was Sarah he was speaking to. "I would also appreciate if you wouldn't jump to such presumptuous accusations… My intentions with the girl are hardly that distorted…" With this said his attention was turned back towards Kayla, who had been watching the display with her mouth agape.

"Now Kayla," the girl's mouth snapped shut and her attention hooked onto Jareth as he stooped down next to her again, virtually ignoring Sarah. Well, at least some people showed him the respect a Goblin King deserved. He smiled at her. You must tell me how you've been, my dear."

Kayla easily cast aside what was just happened, because almost instantly she was talking at such a fast pace he could hardly keep up. "Well, I started grade four just recently. We're studying Greek mythology," Kayla beamed. "Danny says the teacher has a really big nose, but I like the teacher so whenever Danny brings it up I tell him his is bigger. My friend Becca thinks the teacher is cute, and makes funny faces whenever me and Danny are talking about him." Here Jareth chuckled, which seemed to boost the talking spree that Kayla seemed to be going on. "And Becca invited me and Stephie to her slumber party. We're going to have a fashion show to show off our Halloween costumes. Stephie is going to be a princess. Becca is going as a kitty. I was going to go as a unicorn, but Danny refused to go as the butt, so I decided to go as a fairy instead, not the biting kind though. I kept telling Danny to be a unicorn with me but he won't go as anything but a goblin!"

Here Jareth didn't just chuckle; he laughed, flat out laughed, and Kayla joined in.

Meanwhile not as ignored as Jareth made her out to be, Sarah stared at the pair, dumbfounded with the book limp in her arms. If Jareth were making a dictionary, he would that image of her next to confusion. Then again if he were making a dictionary, Sarah's image would accompany most descriptions. Confusion was just an emotion that was particularly poignant when it came to thoughts about Sarah Williams.

"What is going on?" Sarah said, her confusion finally reaching vocal comprehension. "How do you know Kayla?" She tried demanding of Jareth, and he, in turn, ignored her. "What are you planning this time?" The pair were still laughing, Sarah left out of the loop.

The laughter finally subsided, but instead of addressing Sarah's confusion Jareth continued his conversation with Kayla, chuckling. "Well I suppose I should have kept him then." Kayla started laughing again, as any ten-year-old would, and Jareth continued to laugh quietly.

"This is impossibly frustrating!" Sarah yelled to the sky, tossing The Complete Works of Gilbert and Sullivan to the pavement. "I should be the one who understands what's going on, but you're not even paying attention to me! It's not fair!"

Jareth's laughter stopped, and was instead replaced with a devilish smile. He turned his head to look at Sarah, cocking an eyebrow. "My, my Sarah, I haven't heard that in a while..." Sarah gasped and clapped her hands over her mouth, no doubt swearing internally for returning to her childish mantra. "Though I must say it is rather hypocritical considering the tantrum you just threw over the fact that I was paying attention to you."

Kayla cast a sidelong glance at Sarah and pulled Jareth in a bit closer before whispering in his ear, "So how do you know the librarian?"

It was true that Kayla was keeping their inside jokes to a minimum. And considering that both were runners the conversation would probably be a benefit for Kayla to possess that knowledge. "You could say she is my Theseus," Jareth said coyly as he glanced back at Sarah again. He was referring, of course, to the same Greek myth that the girl had gotten that irksome nickname for him from. He didn't really believe himself to be foolish enough to fly too close to the sun, and certainly could have found a far safer way out of his labyrinth at any given time… but still, it had been rather creative.

Keeping Sarah out of the loop as much as possible was rather exhilarating... It was a guilty pleasure to watch her failing to put two and two together, though almost anything was a guilty pleasure in Sarah's presence. He was also a man of principle, and one of his principles was that people should learn to use their brains, which seemed to be a principle Sarah refused to follow in his presence.

Kayla's eyes went wide, and her eyes went back and forth between Jareth and Sarah several times. Eventually, she joined Jareth in casting a coy glance back at Sarah, who was not at all amused. She seemed to have given up entirely on trying to figure out what was going on, and had simply leaned against the library's wall and watched the two talk, pouting.

After another few moments, Kayla's smile lost it's glamour as she looked over at Jareth again, asking "So what are you doing at the library?"

Now Jareth beamed at her. He had almost forgotten why he was here in the first place with all the chaos that had just taken place. "Well my dear, I am here to procure a book… well, more specifically, the sequel to the book you left in my possession the last time we met."

"Bit by the reading bug," Kayla said in a singsong way, but then she tilted her head to the side. "Or in your case would it be a kind of fairy?"

Jareth shuddered. "For the sake of my kingdom we shall hope it is a bug, because if it is the work of fairies I shall never be rid of it." Sarah seemed to have perked up from the wall. She must have been starting to piece together what little information she had now that she wasn't trying so hard… Well it had certainly taken long enough... Jareth ignored her, and instead of commenting, dug through his jacket and pulled out the worn copy of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. He smiled at Kayla gently, "I'll be giving this back now."

Kayla's eyes widened as she stared at the book, and then at Jareth, with a skeptical expression. "Jareth, I traded it to you for Danny. I don't want to go back on our deal."

Jareth chuckled. "Firstly, anyone who actually wants to be a goblin is not the sort of riff raff I want to have to deal with for the rest of my life... Secondly if I am in possession of two books that I greatly desire to read, then I will logically have to put one down… And since jeopardizing a library book is no longer an option," he glanced over at Sarah, who was staring at the two with her mouth agape, and then glanced back at the child, "I shall be giving this book to you for safe keeping. Consider yourself its guardian," he grinned at her, "although I have absolutely no intention of coming back to take it away." His speech finished, Jareth placed the book into Kayla's lap with a fond smile.

Kayla looked like she was about to say something else, when the conversation was cut off by Sarah's mortified words. "She got her brother back for a book?!"

The fond smile became a menacing grin as Jareth turned around to face the woman who had finally figured things out. She also looked to be quite irate… "Believe it or not, my dear, you're not the only child who has ever wished away a sibling…"

"But a book? A book of all things!?"

It was probably a good thing that the road appeared to be decently empty, otherwise the small group would probably be drawing a lot of attention to themselves… Jareth raised an eyebrow at her. Perhaps irate was too gentle of a word. No, Sarah looked to be seething with anger. Over what? The fact that he had wanted to let Kayla get her brother back? "Your point being..?"

Sarah was no longer up against the wall. She was standing; looking down at him with anger as she virtually ignored the fact that Kayla was still here. "I go through the Labyrinth, I beat your puzzles and your twisted logic. I finally get my brother back after thirteen hours of getting my lipstick signs mixed up, my butt grabbed by messed up 'helping hands', bribing a dwarf, getting chased down dirty tunnels by spinning blades of death, getting chased by body part throwing monsters, going through the bog of eternal stench, getting drugged by an egotistical maniac who thinks the way to a girl's heart is through spiked peaches, trekking through a garbage dump, having a giant robot try to decapitate me, and running through some freaky stairwell to finally having a complete prick ramble on and on about how much I should want his balls! And she trades you a book?!"

There was silence for several moments. Kayla was clinging to her book, looking up with a frightened glance at Sarah. Jareth was staring vacantly past her, trying not to count the many ways he could have corrected her statements. Finally, his eyes fixated on Sarah again, and he stated quietly, "She couldn't have completed my Labyrinth otherwise,"

His chest hurt, but the hurtful words had probably needed to get out. Of course Sarah had probably been holding it in since their first meeting. What else could she have done? There would have been no one to talk to about her problems without her sounding mad as a hatter… But now she had been given the chance, to the man who she seemed to blame for everything that had gone wrong in her life… Maybe now she could grow up and move on with her existence. However, he would have no choice but to do the same.

"Kayla, would you help me find the sequel to your charming book?" Jareth asked the small child, but his eyes were still fixed rather sadly upon Sarah, who now apparently found the ground in front extremely interesting, considering she wouldn't look anywhere else.

"Goblin King," Jareth heard Kayla from behind him and could make out the shuddering of the wheelchair. He turned to her to find that she had attempted to pull herself to her feet with that resolute determination of hers, and was now holding herself steady by clinging to the wheelchairs arms. "Thank you for giving me the book back…" Once all this was said, Kayla reached out an arm for the hug that Jareth readily accepted, if for no other reason then to make certain she didn't lose her balance.

Once the child had relaxed her embrace, Jareth aided her back into her wheelchair. Turning back, however, Sarah was gone, as was the book that had been horribly mistreated during the emotional scene.

Jareth continued to stare at the place Sarah had been standing, her hateful rant repeating through his head continuously. He knew that he had never made things very easy for the girl, he often preferred not to if he thought the runners could stand up to his challenges, and, God forbid, learn from them. He had made things difficult, from taking several hours off of her time to sending his infantry after her… but he had also sent Hoggle to help her in the first place, and his drugged peach (magic was most certainly not drugging!) had carried her a fair distance closer to the castle… But most importantly he had not rambled on about his balls; if that was all he wanted then someone as twitter-brained as Cindy certainly would have sufficed. All he wanted was-

Kayla's hand wrapped around the Goblin King's, interrupting his chain of thought "Let's go get you that copy of Through the Looking Glass. You can use my library card, and visit me and Danny again when you return it."

-

The tower felt emptier then it had when he had left. The room was void of signs of anyone except himself entering it in a very long time. He should have been used to this feeling by now, but the truth of the matter was, he wasn't. He never was.

He pulled the small chest out from underneath the desk, opening it. Lancelot was still there, looking up at him in the same position he had left him in three months prior. He pulled the small bear out and looked at it, heaving a sigh.

"At least I've been given actual closure this time... Nothing left but memories now." His voice cracked a little, causing him to realize that was the first time he had spoken since Sarah left. No wonder Kayla had looked so awkward by the time he left. He sighed.

Jareth placed the newly acquired book on the table, along with the bear. Funny, only hours ago he couldn't wait another day to set his eyes on the new text, and now, it was just another book. Just another story. Just another thing to add to his meaningless existence.

What was a soldier without a family back home to protect? What was a knight without his damsel to rescue? What was a king without his queen?

No one. Just a lonely man fighting a lonely battle.

It didn't mean that he never had to think about her. She was a part of his memories, and would probably never go away. All of those emotions were real and did not need to be buried away in chests that were never opened. He did not need her to find his own happiness, because she was not his damsel nor his queen.

Perhaps, in his fixation with Sarah Williams, he had forgotten that there could always be someone else who was meant to 'turn his world.' Perhaps it really was time to move on.


A/N: Please don't kill me. I swear, I know what I'm doing, or at least I think I do. Anyhow, reviews, hateful or not, are still appreciated.