Jareth opened his eyes. He understood what he had to do now. The crystal the Labyrinth had given him, presumably full of Sarah's memories, lay dormant in his hand.

He was in his own chambers, far from the room he had placed Sarah, but he still heard her voice.

She cursed. He could hear her cursing halfway across the castle.

That was not a good sign.

With a thought, and a twist of his magic, he was in front of the door to her room.

For some reason, it was as dark as night in this wing, for all that it was well past dawn outside.

He knocked.

'Goblin King, that better be you! I've about broken a leg in here,' Sarah called out frantically.

'It is. Do I have your permission to enter, then?' Jareth tried, and failed, to keep the amusement out of his voice.

'Yes! And turn the lights on while you're at it!' She howled, and another string of curses erupted. They were followed by a loud crash and that blasted cat meowing at the top of its lungs.

The lights returned to their normal state as Jareth opened the door. He was expecting a small mess, perhaps some broken furniture or a chicken. He found Sarah flat on her back with a coverlet tangled around her legs, the cat sitting on her chest, and the dog chasing a goblin around the room at top speed.

He couldn't help himself--he laughed.

'I would hurt you right now if I could.' Sarah growled.

'I'm sorry, oh, but you should see your face!' Jareth chortled. He reached down and tugged the blankets free of Sarah's legs. The cat decided now would be a good time to start a bath, but Sarah shooed it away before things got too furry.

'Where did the goblin come from?' Jareth asked. The dog pounced, and finally caught its prey. However, the dog was perfectly content to lick and sniff the goblin until it dissolved in its own fit of giggles.

'I have no idea. I had just woken up from the strangest dream,' Sarah said, but then suddenly looked thoughtful. 'And...uh...the lights went out.'

'A strange dream, Sarah? What did you dream of?' Jareth asked.

'I forget.'

'...Sarah...'

'Look, why should I trust you? I'm not sure why I'm here, who you are, or what is going on, and I've got the biggest headache ever!' Sarah shouted suddenly. 'I hate surprises, just like I hate riddles and being told what to do. So when some girl in a nightgown tries to do both, I'm not sure I want to go along with her plans!'

'Girl in a nightgown...' Jareth repeated. 'Sarah, did she say her name?'

'No! She just acted all high and mighty and tried to give me a history lesson, and then told me to talk to a swan. Who has dreams about talking to swans? And witches burning. I just want to go home!' Sarah's voice was getting more petulant by the second.

Outside her window, lightning flashed. The rain began to fall again.

'Sarah, I have to give you something,' Jareth said. He pulled the crystal out of the air, and held it out to her.

'Oh, right. I have to give you this thing, too.' Sarah reached behind her, into a chest that had fallen to the ground, and pulled out a similar crystal. She held it out to him.

'Where did you get that?'

'Where did you get yours? Did the nightie girl give you one, too?' Sarah asked, tilting her head to one side.

'Perhaps.'

'Hmm. Perhaps I was given this one by the same individual. How do you make it work?' She reached out and plucked Jareth's offering as he accepted hers.

'Turn it this way, Sarah,' Jareth said, demonstrating. 'Turn it, and it will show you its contents.'

'Like this?' The crystal in Sarah's hand began to glow with a gentle white light. Jareth's crystal answered with a soft blue glow. He held it closer to his face.

'What does this mean?' Sarah asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

'Sarah, give me your hand.' Jareth said, his voice equally quiet.

Their fingers met in the distance between them- Sarah's, shaking, and Jareth's, hot even through the gloves.

'What happens next?'

Darkness fell around them like a curtain.

'I hate you. I hate you!'

Jareth and Sarah stood, clutching each other's hands tightly, in an all-too-familiar living room.

'Honestly. She treats me like a wicked stepmother in a story no matter what I do!'

'Goblin King! I know what this is...' Sarah suddenly hissed as she watched her parents, many years younger, walk around the living room.

'This looks like the first memory I took from you...' Jareth sighed. 'And my name... it's Jareth. Use it.'

Sarah pretended not to hear him. 'We should go upstairs.' Still clutching Jareth's hand, she dragged him up the stairs. She heard her parents slam the door downstairs as they left.

'Say your right words....' The younger Sarah was reciting a story to baby Toby. Jareth knew what was coming, but Sarah didn't. She watched the whole scene with confusion.

'I wish the goblins really would come and take you away. Right now.'

'I don't remember this.... I would have never done this!' Sarah whispered fiercely. Outside, the past storm raged, and the creatures Sarah now knew were goblins tormented Sarah inside.

Jareth could not help but smile as he saw himself crash the doors open and enter dramatically.

'You're him, aren't you? You're the Goblin King!' Young Sarah cried out, and Jareth saw the older Sarah whisper the words, as well.

Sarah turned to face Jareth. 'I won. I beat you. I got Toby back.' She said, almost questioningly.

Jareth saw the knowledge in her eyes. She was starting to remember.

'You did.'

'But... I hurt you. Is that why you took my memories away?'

'Sarah....'

'And what about Sir Didymus? And Hoggle and Ludo? Did you take their memories away too? Or did you let them think I didn't want to talk to them? That I had broken my promise to them?'

Jareth said nothing.

The curtain of darkness fell again.

'Where are we now?' Sarah whispered, as tiny points of light became visible.

'I'm not sure...' Jareth said, his voice barely audible. All of his senses were warning him that wherever they were, it was very dangerous. He placed a finger over Sarah's lips to forestall her next bit of commentary.

A figure slipped past them in the dark, her feet making no noise on the marble floors. She carried something close to her chest.

It dawned on Jareth where they were, suddenly. He had been raised here. It was the Aboveground court of the Unseelie Sidhe.

This was a very long time ago.

Acting on a hunch, Jareth moved to follow the slight figure. Sarah followed him, still clutching his hands tightly.

Voices faded into hearing.

'You fathered a brat on a mortal woman, and yet I can give you no son! How am I supposed to feel about this, Ethur?'

Jareth froze, his heart pounding in his chest.

The figure placed her tiny bundle on the steps in front of her. The door was cracked just enough to let a single bar of light break the darkness.

'It's a baby,' Sarah whispered in amazement. As if the child knew it was under discussion, it began wailing fiercely. The figure paused, as if to help the child, but then turned and ran.

The door flew open, flooding the hallway with light. A gloriously tall woman, with skin the color of new-plowed earth, stood above the child.

'Your plaything has left you a gift, my King!'

'You'll scare the child, Banba. Bring him in here.'

'Is that you, Jareth?' Sarah whispered, close enough for her lips to touch Jareth's ear. She had remembered the stories that she had read about the Guardian of the Labyrinth: a bastard child of the Last King, who was given rule over the Labyrinth as his dual nature allowed him to understand the mortals who were wished away, and yet still be a member of the Court of Danu.

'For a half-mortal child, he's finely formed. I sense a strong soul in this one.'

'Yes. But Cailleach Beara has seen him already, and the Morrigan agreed. He'll have a hard life ahead. I'm not surprised his mother abandoned him.'

'Yes, it is,' Jareth said as a shudder ran through his body. 'My mother abandoned me when I was just weeks old, and left to return to her village.'

Sarah was silent as the darkness fell again.

The darkness turned to grey, and then finally to a faded yellow light Sarah had associated with the Labyrinth. There were no windows, and no obvious sources of light, but Sarah knew where they were. The first memory had brought about her recollection of her time in the Labyrinth, from Hoggle and the Gate to the room they stood in now- a room full of stairs and doorways. There was no horizon, and stairs went upside down, sideways, and curved in impossible directions.

An infant Toby, in red and white striped pajamas, crawled up the stairs closest to them.

'Toby!'

Toby caught a crystal ball as it came bouncing towards him, and smiled. He tilted his head, and Sarah locked eyes with the infant.

'Jareth, he sees us.'

'It's just a memory, Sarah. He doesn't know we are here because we aren't really here.' The Goblin King's voice was strangled. This room was still destroyed in his castle; he had taken his own memory of this moment for a reason.

'How you've turned my world, you precious thing...'

'You sound so sad,' Sarah whispered, as she listened to Jareth sing.

'You starve and near exhaust me....'

'That's because I was.'

'Toby!'

The room began to fall apart, and Sarah unconciously clutched Jareth's shirt as they fell. It was only natural for him to wrap his arms around her shoulders protectively. When they landed, it was on a solid piece of stone that floated a distance a way from the past-Jareth and Sarah. They watched the scene unfold in silence.

'Through dangers untold, and hardships unnumbered...'

Through her palms on Jareth's chest, she felt his heartbeat speed up rapidly. She was suddenly aware of every inch of space they shared together, and so took a step back.

'Jareth...?'

'This is a memory I took from both of us. I wanted to spare myself the pain of your rejection.'

'Fear me, love me...'

'I was 15. I had no idea what you were offering. I just had to get my brother back, don't you see?' Sarah said softly, seeing the anguish on the Goblin King's face.

'You have no power over me!'

The words echoed throughout the destroyed room.

'You had no idea what I was giving. What I did for you. I had only hope, and the image that you had conjured of me.' He would not meet her eyes. 'Every trick I played, every setback you had actually brought you closer to the center of the Labyrinth. I had....I had hoped that you would see that, and think kindly of me.'

'I couldn't see that, then. All I could see was losing Toby and never forgiving myself.'

'And so I took our memories, to spare us both.'

The ground fell from under them, and they grabbed onto each other as the darkness of memory faded again.