A/N: I'm sorry I missed yesterday's update, since I'm trying to punch out a chapter (even though they're small) everyday, so I'm trying to make three updates (or one big chappie) for today so I can catch up but I'm not promising anything considering I've got a baby to look after.

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Is Jareth alive?
Yes he is.

Will there be J/S love?
Yes there will but sometime later, I don't know when since this story is writing itself.

JHaines – Yes she will be in a lot of trouble for keeping Gareth from him.


Chapter III

"What did you think you were doing?" Sarah snapped, stomping over to the other side of the room and roughly took hold of Gareth's hand and dragged him away from the mirror.

"I-," Gareth began but he silenced himself, what was he going to say? That he was going to walk through that mirror into the unknown Underground?

"I don't want you anywhere near that mirror again" Sarah hissed crouching down to her son's level, he was only seven but he looked more like a nine year old, but of course he wasn't huge like that Kevin he kept going on about.

"But Mother-" Gareth exclaimed, his face full of confusion and sadness, why was his mother acting like this? He tried to tug himself away but her grip upon his wrist was too strong and he only managed to whimper his discomfort for all his efforts. "What is that place?" he asked, his curiosity peeking as he glanced over his shoulder towards the now normal mirror.

"It's nothing." Sarah stated, she didn't want to get into it with her son, she followed his gaze towards the nearly full length mirror on the wall, her eyes showed her panic, her rapid breaths heaving her chest up and down as she clung to her son as if he might disappear. She couldn't lose him, he was one of the only things that made her life worth living after leaving the Labyrinth.

"The Labyrinth said it was the Underground-" Gareth began yet again, his eyes transfixed upon the mirror, not even bothering to look at his mother, his voice began to drift off as his eyes became dilated and unfocused. Gareth lifted his free hand towards the mirror, his fingertips wanting to caress the cool reflective glaze.

Sarah tugged at his wrist again, bringing him out of his revelry, his gaze snapped back to his mother so fast that he could have received whiplash.
"I don't want to hear any of that again."

"But-"

"No buts, Gareth, I want you to ignore that voice." Sarah insisted, her eyes locking with her son's, her unease of the mismatched eyes were dwarfed by the fear of losing her son to the Underground. "Promise Me"

Gareth shook her head in the negative, his eyes not leaving his mother's to glance at the mirror, he thought better of it.

"Promise Me." Sarah repeated, her voice holding a sharp edge that made Gareth wince, why was his mother acting like this?

"No" He finally said out loud, shaking his head slowly in the negative again, his wide eyes looking up at his mother's. "I don't wanna promise." he said, reigniting his struggling effort until he wiggled free from his mother's grip.

"Gareth-"

"NO!" Gareth shouted, taking a few steps back away from his mother.

Sarah recoiled from the shout; she knelt down in her old bedroom, powerless as she let her son flee from the room. What had she done? In her fear of losing her son, she might have lost him anyway.

Gareth fled, blind to everything around him as he fled the house, fled the front yard and rain the length of the street until he arrived at the lush green and welcoming park.

His chest heaved up and down as he tried to calm his breathing as he slowed down into a walk, he momentarily closed his eyes, gah, he was stupid to have run off but he didn't know any other seven year-olds that think before they leap.

"I hate her, I hate her, I hate her" he repeated like a mantra as he edged towards the small wooden dock for small rowing boats on the boating lake or was it just a large duck pond? Ugh, he didn't have time for trivial questions as he eased himself to the wooden decks and swung his legs to dangle over the edge. His mantra fell silent in his throat and swallowed down a lump as he repressed his childish urge to cry.

"Young Prince?"

Gareth didn't answer the voice, he clenched his eyes shut, gritting his teeth together as he tried not to answer the voice that haunted him.

The voice fell silent, waiting the young boy to answer it or try and spark the conversation after the agonising piercing silence.

"Why does she hate that place?" he asked his voice quiet and so down trodden as he gazed at his dangling feet and the lapping of the water.

"She doesn't hate that place" the voice finally answered, its voice was clear in his ears more so than the voices of nature surrounding him.

"She certainly acts like it" he retorted, his hair falling into his face as he looked up to the small island in the middle of the placid body of water where the ducks and geese and the resident swan couple nested. The weeping willow branches limp but still full of life kissed the water's surface as they danced in the breeze.

The voice fell silent yet again, Gareth wondered if the voice (considering the voice did have a body) had a consciousness because of the long pauses as if it was contemplating what to say much like a human.

"Many a thing happened there, Young Prince" the voice confessed. "Many of them changed her life"

"She went to the Underground?" he asked, glancing around- a habit he had to get out of- to find the body of the voice.

The voice chuckled; acting much like a man but it still had that undefined voice that could either be male or female, the voice consisting of low gravel to it, as if drawling out its answers but still held that high pitch that no masculine larynx could replicate.

"Yes, Young Prince" the voice began "She ran through my Labyrinth walls to win back her brother"

"Uncle Toby?"

"The very one"

"So the book is real?"

The voice remained silent for a moment, as if replying with a nod and then remembering it's mistake and confirmed with its disembodied voice. "Yes. The Underground is real"

"Can I go, to the Underground?" the boy asked, his eyes alight with joy as his face lit up with a dazzling toothy white smile.

"No Young Prince" The voice replied, it almost sounded saddened at the development. "Not Yet"

"But why?"

"It is my time to go, Young Prince"

"But I don't want you to go!" the boy exclaimed, in his rush he slipped on the moss covered planks and plunged to the water, his scream lingering as he disappeared from view, well he would have met the water if he wasn't suspended above it with his arms braced in front of him, his palms caressing the water, ripples extending from his palms, sparking dust danced along his skin.

Slowly he...floated up and placed back on the wooden decking?

A screech of an eagle echoed around the park, it felt otherworldly as the sound rippled through Gareth's body. The boy's chest heaved as he started at his now normal hands, his creamy skin void of sparkles.

"Return to your Mother, Young Prince" The voice finalised, and then the warm feeling left Gareth with an endless feeling of loneliness.