Disclaimer: I don't own the Labyrinth…

The sky was a horrible red color, and everything seemed distant and out of focus. He slowly started walking down the paths of his labyrinth when he come across a rotting mass lying underneath a dried up bush, and upon closer inspection he ruled out that it was a body. Flies surrounded the dead body that was once presumably one of his fateful goblins. He put his gloved hands over his nose and mouth as it took all Jareth had to keep from gagging and throwing up right on the spot.

He continued walking for some time, looking at all that he had failed to protect, and all the innocent lives that could have been spared. As he walked he could almost swear that he heard footsteps behind him, but each time he turned to look nothing was there.

As he slowly rounded the corner a gloved hand grabbed him by the throat and squeezed so hard he could feel his pulse pounding against the being's fingers.

He gasped for breath trying to keep his eyes open enough to see who it was.

The enemy did have a face but wore a hooded cloak that completely masked all of their features extremely well. "You are not welcome here. Leave now!" The voice boomed, it sounded like thunder. As it turned to the side Jareth could see through his blurred vision Sarah chained to a wall, her head lying on her shoulder with what looked like blood dribbling out of her mouth...

She had bruises on almost all parts of her body, and she barely had on any clothing.

Through all the strain of trying desperately to breathe and speak and tear from this thing's grasp, the monstrous creature finally let him go. He fell to his knees, his hands instantly coming to his neck, and as he looked up the creature and Sarah had disappeared. It was using the labyrinth's abilities to their advantage.

"Everything is not as it seems..."

Jareth was finding this situation to be very abstruse. How anyone had access to the labyrinth's power other than him, he had no clue, but he knew one thing...that Sarah was in trouble and she would die just like the others if he didn't reach her in time...

Jareth's eyes snapped open. There was something about this dream that made him want to throttle anything that opposed him or his Sarah. This was it, no more time could be spared and he didn't have it in him to want to wait anymore either.

If he didn't make it to his labyrinth, he would certainly die and the labyrinth would turn into hell grounds.

He looked over at Sarah, her skin resplendent in the moonlight.

Although he hated to do this, he shook Sarah and tried to wake her up.

"Jareth?" He looked into her eyes; he could tell she had seen something. "What's wrong?" Her lip quivered and her eyes were laced with tears.

"The labyrinth... it's horrible, all that's there now is death and decay, and you were almost dead." It had sounded similar to his dream.

He gently caressed her cheek. "Now you see what we must do. The reason it is like that is because a force greater than myself has taken over, and it is searching for you as well and it will stop at nothing to see me or you dead. I can only hope that our return will be the end of the labyrinth's destruction." Sarah's gaze quickly shot at him.

"You mean you aren't sure that if you can stop these people from destroying everything?" Sarah's hopelessness increased as Jareth shook his head slowly.

"I draw my magic from the labyrinth itself, we are connected in ways, but if it is incapable of surviving and I don't have magic at all, then there is no way of I have to find this thing at the source. They have drained my magic, and they are slowly killing the labyrinth off. Destroying all of the life in and around the labyrinth, until there will be nothing left at all and I don't have much time, and if you would kindly appreciate it, I would like to be able to see if you're...my magic is still alive in you."

Jareth turned from her and grabbed his chest, it was almost like it hurt to breathe, and he knew that it was the effects of his magic being drained from his veins.

His body was designed to contain magic and him to be able to use it at his will, but now being stuck in this human world had took every element of magic he had left.

Sarah's body had contained it in and out of the labyrinth and showed no signs of stopping, and he had the slightest notion that she could've been part fae. He walked over to the window.

"I know that this has all been a sudden shock of over demanding issues, but I have to do my duty, I had put it off for way to long in search of you and I have finally found you, in the process I unintentionally left myself open for attacks such as this and now I find that I need your help." He turned to her with deep sincerity in his eyes.

"I really hate to put you through this Sarah my dear, but I really haven't any choice." Jareth gripped her hand and brushed his lips ever so lightly across her skin.

Sarah's heart very nearly stopped.

"It's the least I could do." She walked over to him and put her arms around his chest.

"I really do love you, you know. You really did a good job of pissing me off the first time around but you finally found my good side." She said as he stroked her hair.

"I always knew you'd warm up to me." Jareth smiled earning rolled eyes from the woman in his arms. "There's that arrogant jerk I know." She said playfully slapping his chest.

"As much as I'd like to have you in my arms to look at for the rest of my life, it would make the task at hand very progressive if we started now." Jareth said pulling away and looking at his ensemble.

"And I'm in dreadful need of my own clothes, don't get me wrong, you humans have a great assortment of fashionable wear, but it just doesn't suit me." He put on a sheepish grin.

He grabbed her hand. "Can you feel it Sarah? It's right there! Will everything in you and anything you want will appear." She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath.

She could almost feel it, and then she found the release. She felt Jareth let go of her hand and she heard a small chuckle escape his throat. She opened her eyes to find him sitting on her bed dressed in the white poet's shirt with the v-line neck going all the way to his abdomen and the very tight black pants she remembered he wore when they first met.

Her eyes went back to his chest, he also wore the pendant she remembered and underneath it was the very obvious scar, and his hair seemed to blend right in as if he had, had the cut all of his life.

"You did it!" he said smiling.

"Wow. That has got to be one of the weirdest feelings ever." Sarah said opening and closing her hand as if trying to release some kind of ache.

He stood up. "Yes, that is how it starts out, and then you start to get a feel for it soon after and it becomes a second nature, like breathing." He said inhaling and exhaling to emphasize the point.

"I can transport us to the labyrinth by will?" Sarah asked in between shock and fascination.

Jareth nodded. "Anything and everything you want will happen, but the magic you have will only last for a short while so let's use this to get there. Just do what you did before." Jareth said as he pulled her close to his chest and closed his eyes as well.

Soon he felt the rough wind against his face and he could almost smell the dry dirt and death all around, it was all for real this time around though. He heard Sarah gasp, and he was almost afraid to open his eyes. But he braced himself for the inevitable blow of the sight before him. It was exactly like his dream, the dried up bush, the dead goblin, the horror of it all, from dream form projected right into his life.

He tried to gather magic, but the labyrinth screamed in his head for him to stop. The horrendous images from that god awful dream he had flashed through his mind of Sarah dead, and the princess sitting in his throne, staring down at the body beneath her feet and him being chained to a wall, and all of a sudden he was out of breath. He fell back against a wall for support, and Sarah finally turned around to see him. "Jareth!" She ran to him and pulled him down slowly. She watched as his chest heaved for breath and he was sweating profusely. She used the end of her shirt to wipe his brow.

"Oh God Jareth, what are we going to do?"