A/N: I've introduced some stuff in here that's really just me trying to incorporate my own headcanons about the 'Labyrinth' story and everything. Hope you enjoy. (The songs mentioned are "Beauty" and "Beauty Underneath" from 'Love Never Dies' by Andrew Lloyd Webber.)

Did he actually just kiss my hand?

I felt my heart start to race, the vein in my neck pulsing heavily against my skin. The man, James, was tall and thin with piercing eyes that were a mismatched blue and brown color. He had short blond hair with a fringe that fell across his forehead and eyes from the left side of his face. His nose was thin and narrow, almost hawk-like in appearance, and his cheekbones were just as distinctive. His eyebrows were thin and a shade of dark brown, but I also noticed a hint of make up under his brows that only made the different shades of his eyes more prominent.

I could tell my thoughts were becoming more and more jumbled by the second. Speaking with strangers had always made me flustered. Speaking. Oh, damn. Pay attention, Di!

"U-Um, thank you. I guess," I stammered awkwardly. "I mean, um… I'm sorry. I just wasn't expecting that."

James had a very smug expression on his face and I felt my heart thud heavily in my chest once again.

"Tell me, Diana, how long have you been singing?"

I smiled politely and nervously tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. "Well, I'm a sophomore right now, so that makes… four years. I mean, I used to sing on my own before that at church or something, but I've only been in choir for about four years. And I actually just started taking lessons last year, so…"

"My word, you are quite an impressive young woman." I could hear the incredulous tone of his voice and felt a little tug of pride in my chest.

"Thank you. That's very kind of you."

"I was lucky enough to see your last performance as well," James added. "You have a remarkable voice."

I laughed a little nervously and glanced away as my cheeks flushed red yet again. "Thank you. I-I really appreciate that," I said shyly. "I work very hard to be a good singer."

"You are more than just 'good', my dear."

An audience member suddenly bumped me from behind and I stumbled forward, right into James' chest. I felt my face erupt into a blush and I quickly scrambled backwards. He was staring curiously at me with his mismatched eyes and I felt like I was going to implode and explode all at once.

"Ohmygosh," I started in a rush, "I am so sorry. I-I… I'm sorry."

The man simply smiled at me and folded his arms behind his back. "It's quite alright, my dear. No harm done," he assured me, raising his eyebrows into a perfect arch.

From somewhere behind me, a man's voice called my name and I turned in confusion. Standing in the middle of a long row of seats was, to my great surprise, Danny. I smiled and waved a little awkwardly at him, then turned back to James.

"Sorry, a friend of mine- James?" The man had seemingly disappeared while my back was turned and I instantly felt guilty. "James? Where…?" I awkwardly rubbed my hand along the back of my neck and spun around to try and spot the man as he was leaving.

Danny called my name again and I hurried through the crowd of exiting audience members. He waved at me again when I started down the row of seats he was standing in and I smiled at him in response.

"Hello again."

I felt my cheeks flush again. "Hello again to you," I answered. "How are you?"

"I'm great." He lightly reached an arm out and tapped his fingers against my hand. "Hey, you were amazing."

"Oh. Um, thanks."

Danny grinned and I found his smile extremely contagious. "Really. That was a great performance. I loved it." He slowly moved his hands so they were resting partially inside his pants pockets and then leaned back against one of the chairs. "The whole concert was great. You guys sounded really good."

"Oh, thanks. There were a few parts we've been having trouble with and so a lot of the others were really nervous. But I think we did okay."

"You did."

I ducked my head and smiled, feeling my cheeks grow warmer and warmer. As I glanced down, I spotted Danny's jacket draped over one of the seats and a rose sticking out from under the lapel.

"What's that?" I asked softly, leaning forward to see if it really was what I thought.

"Oh, that," Danny stammered. "Uh, that… that's for you actually."

I glanced back up at him in surprise. "For me?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Y'know, for your solo."

"Oh, Danny, that's so sweet," I praised as he reached under his jacket for the pink bud. "Thank you so much. It's beautiful."

Danny's lips spread into a wide smile and his eyes sparkled happily in the stage lights. I brought the flower to my nose and took a sniff of the sweet fragrance. Then I looked back at the young man and offered him a beaming smile.

"Thank you," I said again.

"Yeah. It's no problem."

A few weeks later, after another lunch with Danny, I was walking past the library when I tripped and bumped into a stranger. My arms shot out to keep from barreling completely into him and his hands flew up to wrap around my forearms as I fell against his chest.

"Oh gosh, I'm sorry," I squeaked in embarrassment as I tried to regain my footing.

"No need to apologize, my dear."

Wait a sec… I looked up in confusion, thinking I recognized the man's voice, and started when I found two mismatched eyes gazing down at me. I smiled and exclaimed the man's name, jumping out his arms to gesture at him with a few excited hand gestures.

"I remember you!"

He smiled and pursed his lips slightly, the corners of his mouth quirking upwards for a moment. "Miss Cole," he began.

"Oh, please. Diana is fine."

"Diana, then," he replied with a nod of his head.

I smiled and ran a hand through my hair. "You disappeared the other day, at the concert. I didn't mean to be rude, you know. It's just that my friend called my name and-"

"As I said earlier, my dear, you don't need to apologize. I was… in a hurry," he said slowly.

"Oh. Okay. Well, I hope I see you at our next concert."

James nodded. "I would love to come, so long as you have another wonderful solo in store for me."

I shrugged, absently blowing a few strands of hair out of my eyes. "We'll have to see if my instructor gives me another solo, but I'm hopeful."

The two of us stood in awkward silence after that, the wind blowing through the trees overhead and the sound of students walking and talking echoing behind us in the dining commons. I kept glancing at James from beneath my bangs and letting my gaze jump away when he locked eyes with me. His blonde fringe hung partially over one eye and swayed just so with the breeze. With his hands stuffed casually in his pockets, he had the appearance of a "handsome, mysterious stranger" from a film.

"Um, I, uh… I kinda have to go," I finally breathed after a long stretch of silence. "I, um, have some work to take care of back at my room."

James said nothing; he simply nodded at me and took a half step back. I smiled briefly at him and stepped past him with a whispered goodbye. He remained silent, but kept his eyes trained on me as I walked off. I looked over my shoulder and paused mid step when I saw that James had disappeared. Then, flying out of the trees, a small barn owl cooed and circled overhead.

I sighed and hurried back to my room, opening the window to let in the fresh air. I put on some music and started cleaning up my half of the room. Just a few minutes into my cleaning job, a soft coo sounded outside my window. I looked outside and spotted the barn owl sitting in the tree by the window.

"Hello again." I leaned my hand against the mesh and scratched my fingernails against the surface. "You've been gone for a few weeks, you know. And I've finally come up with a name for you while you were M.I.A."

The owl hooted and tilted its head to the side, its eyes widening with what I guessed was curiosity. I smiled and scratched the mesh again.

"My friend Clara got me a book like a month ago and I decided to research it. Apparently some woman called Sarah Connelly based it on a dream she had when she was a teenager." The owl made an almost alarmed hoot, ruffling its wings and scooting closer to the window. "She said in an interview that the Goblin King was called Jareth in her dream, but she didn't name in the book for some reason. Anyway, I was thinking that Jareth would be the perfect name for you. What do you think?"

The owl cooed softly, its claws scratching against the tree branch. It ruffled its wings again and scooted even closer to the window. The owl leaned forward and bumped its head against the mesh by my hand. I smiled and hummed lightly in content.

"Well, I'm glad you like it," I laughed. Jareth rubbed his beak against the mesh and cooed again. "You're surprisingly friendly for a wild owl," I noted.

The music playing from my laptop grew steadily louder and I leaned my head against the windowsill. Jareth blinked almost expectantly up at me and I laughed again.

"You are the strangest little owl I've ever met. You seem to like my taste in music and you're extremely friendly." The song playing reached my favorite part and it was impossible for me to resist the urge to sing along. "Just a song in my head… I think it's beautiful. Beautiful, beautiful notes, beautiful, beautiful sounds. Don't you agree?"

I closed my eyes and let my body move freely to the music. "It's beautiful, so very beautiful. Music that comes uncontrolled. Floating and lovely and bold."

The song changed to the next I the sequence and I smiled. I let the music continue when my part ended, but kept my eyes closed. I focused on every note, letting it tear through my heart and move my body.

"Have you ever yearned to go past the world you think you know, been enthralled to the call of the beauty underneath? Have you let it draw you in past the place where dreams begin, felt the full breathless pull of the beauty underneath?" I lifted one hand and let it drift through the air in time with the melody. "When the dark unfolds its wings, do you sense the strangest things? Things no one would ever guess, things mere words cannot express?"

I let myself fall into the music, become a part of it. "Do you find yourself beguiled by the dangerous and wild? Do you feed on the need for the beauty underneath? Have you felt your senses surge and surrendered to the urge and been hooked as you looked at the beauty underneath?" Passion for the music swelled in my chest and I leaned forward as the feeling moved me. "When you stare behind the night, can you glimpse its primal might? Might you hunger to possess, hunger that you can't repress?"

The softer part of the song came and I leaned back. My heart soared with each high note. And then the loud, passionate melody came back and I poured myself into the lyrics. "Is the music in your head, have you followed where it led and been graced with a taste of the beauty underneath? Does it fill your every sense, is it terribly intense? Tell me you need it too, need the beauty underneath." My hand swirled in the air. "When it lifts its voice and sings, don't you feel amazing things? Things you know you can't confess, things you thirst for nonetheless. It's all so beautiful, almost too beautiful. Do you see what I see? …How can this be what it seems? All of my most secret dreams somehow set free!"

I sang with the rest of the song until it ended and skipped forward to the next piece in the sequence. Realizing that I still had the window open and that my hand was still pressed against the owl's beak, I opened my eyes and gazed meekly at the barn owl.

Jareth knew then that he had to bring her back to his world. Her raw passion and love for the music made him realize that she needed the training he could give her in the labyrinth. With the teachers and trainers back home, she could be the most remarkable singer either world had ever known.

It seemed to him that she had a dozen surprises in store with him. After her quite awe-inspiring performance, Diana flashed Jareth a shy smile and shrugged. "Sorry about that," she apologized. "I get a little into the music sometimes."

Jareth shook his head, still stunned by her performance. He continued to stare wide-eyed at her as she whispered nonsense to him. Instead of feeling ridiculous at being treated like a mindless animal, Jareth let her continue her babbling as he gazed curiously at her. She had no idea that he had been watching her over the past few weeks without her knowing.

Where does she keep that voice? he wondered. She hides that remarkable voice behind a shy smile and a veil of innocence.

Unfortunately, a tugging at his mind's eye told Jareth that he had to leave for the labyrinth. He could see the goblins up to all sorts of mischief and knew that if he stayed in the Aboveworld for much longer, he would return home to a terrible mess. So while Diana was turned away to work at her "laptop", he flew off and headed home.

I will return, Jareth promised the girl. I must.