When her feet slammed into solid ground, Alysa's knees buckled, and with a cry, she clutched onto the nearest thing to steady her. Unfortunately, that was Jareth. He held her by the waist, with a look of smugness very apparent on his face.

Alysa, however, seem to take no notice. "Thank you," she said as she released him, and straightened up. If Jareth felt disappointment at her lack of embarrassment or flustering, he showed no sign. "So, what happens now?" she asked. "Is there, like, a ritual, or something? Some sort of… initiation…?"

Jareth chuckled. "No. As it turns out, you are actually too old to have a goblin's fate."

Alysa looked confused. "Well, then what? Why am I here?"

"You are here, because you caused someone trouble. Someone despised you enough to wish your existence away."

"Wait a second," the young woman cut in. "Are you trying to make this sound like my fault? Because I had done nothing to Claudia to make her hate me!"

"Are you quite certain about that?" the Goblin King questioned.

"Yes," came the firm reply. "The moment we met, she was nasty to me. Everyone had said that she was already bitter about something, but it seemed to increase tenfold when I started volunteering." She looked at him with a tilted head. "You've met her before," she said slowly, recalling the brief interaction Jareth had with the woman, before she was pushed out the window.

Jareth nodded. "Correct. She used to be Sarah's personal aid, and of course, Sarah told her about her time in the Labyrinth. However, unlike you, Gammel was not as open to the idea, and ridiculed her. And though it was a jest, she still Wished Away Sarah, my Sarah," he finished angrily. Alysa shrank back from the waves of fury he was emanating.

"Sadly, Sarah was far too aged to even set foot in my kingdom, so there was no reason for Gammel to Run. I had erased her memories, but…" He paused for a moment here, as if debating whether he should tell her the rest. "I suppose that there was a chance that I missed a few strands of memory."

Alysa smiled. "Don't go hurting yourself, there, man," she teased.

Jareth's eyes flashed. "Do not make me regret telling you this story," he warned quietly.

She raised her hands. "Sorry, sorry, continue."

He looked at her with a sense of warning, before saying, "It is... possible that I had missed a few strands of memory, so… there is a chance that she felt that something had happened, but could not quite remember what, but felt that she had missed the chance of a lifetime."

"Hold up," Alysa interrupted again. "'Chance of a lifetime?' Is that what this is?"

"Not the same chance, I suppose," Jareth said, walking over to his throne, assuming his usual position of legs over one arm. "It's one thing to Wish Away, and another to be Wished Away. The one who had done the Wishing is given the chance to take back their words of hate or anger, and Run to get the Wished Away back. They never make it," he added wickedly, glancing to gauge her reaction.

Getting none but a stare of mild interest, he continued. "However, a Wished Away remains in the castle until retrieved. If they are not, then they become my subjects, citizens of the Goblin Kingdom. Naturally, they become goblins."

"But I'm too old?" Alysa asked.

"Correct."

There was a moment of silence.

"So… what now?"

"Well, you are still my subject, so you are free to do what you will. Simply swear fealty to me, and your life will end up being much easier."

Alysa stared at the king. "That's it?"

"Indeed."

"I just have to swear loyalty to you, and I can just do whatever the heck I want?"

"I do not like repeating myself."

Alysa thought for a while. The smart thing to do was just follow his conditions. But for some reason, she was wary to do so. Perhaps it was because Miss Sarah had spoken negatively of the King before, when she did speak of him. Or maybe it was his habit of placing himself in her dreams. Seriously, though, how can he expect her to just be loyal to him after his weeks of stalking her?

"Exactly what does swearing fealty to you do for me?"

Jareth sighed. "Well, how about I don't lop off your head where you stand?"

Alysa rolled her eyes. "Seriously? You want me to like you, right? If you're gonna threaten me, that's not gonna do you any good. No, but really, why do I have to do it?" she asked. "I really don't see a problem with me not swearing fealty to you. I mean, all is does for you is ensure that I won't betray or rebel against you without dire consequences, and from what I already know of you, that probably wouldn't stop you anyway. For me, all it does is put me under your protection, which I'm not sure is a good thing, honestly," she added.

Jareth straightened up. "Do you really think you could last even a week in my Labyrinth without my protection? You, whom I found running from the Fire Gang?" She was doing it again! Why must she always act in such unpredictable ways?

Alysa brushed her hair out of her face, wishing in the back of her mind that she had remembered to wear a hair-tie. "Hey, if Miss Sarah could do it back in the 80's, I don't see why I can't."

The Goblin King stood up. "You would do well to remember that my Labyrinth is always changing, that I may shape it in any way whenever I wish."

She was starting to feel a little underestimated, and that would simply not do. "True as that may be," she began hotly, "I really don't see any reason why I wouldn't be able to live out there on my own. Really, how hard can it be?"

"Shall we wager on it then?" He stepped closer to her, eyes glinting with mischief and pride. Alysa stood her ground, staring back at him with a steely gaze of her own. "If you can manage to survive three days in my Labyrinth on your own, without any help from me, then I'll allow you to live however and wherever you please. But," here he started walking around her, still looking at her, "if you end up needing or using my assistance, then you shall be mine to rule, no questions or complaints. Is it a deal?"

Alysa smiled. "Sounds good to me. But, you can't sneakily try to get me to accept your help. Like grow my food for me, or whatever, and claim that makes you win. You can always come to tempt me, or something, but that's how your help should be offered: openly and honestly."

Jareth raised his eyebrow at her possible innuendo, but only said, "That sounds fair. I believe we have a deal."

Alysa grinned more broadly, and held out her hand. Jareth looked at it, just as he did back Aboveground. He reached for it, and placed his lips upon it again.

"That," he said, "is how we strike bargains here."

Her face flushed a bit, and Jareth allowed himself a small smile of triumph.

"This should be easy," Alysa said, taking her hand back. "A piece of cake."

"We shall see."

Then he and the throne room vanished.

A/N: Well, this ended up being unexpected. Like Jareth, Alysa surprises me by acting in ways I did not predict. I didn't think she'd be the type to make a bet just cuz she didn't want to swear loyalty to Jareth. I totally thought this would be a Beauty and the Beast deal. But, she made a fairly good point, so I thought this could be fun.

Anyhoo, that's the end of chapter four. And it's so far my shortest one, with only 1,258 words. But, I think this chapter was just going to be about the start of the wager, and future chapters would be about her challenges. There also might be larger gaps between updates. But don't be discouraged! We still need to know: Why was she dreaming about him? Will she win the wager? Well, my guess is 'yes, duh', but like I said earlier, this story is just full of surprises. Please review! Or fave! Or follow! Or, you know, don't; it's not like I'd find out. (: