I'm sorry it took me so long to update this, but my laptop broke. Don't worry, its fixed now, and updates will resume as normal. Here's a long one for your patience :)

For the next hour or so, Sarah remained in the large foyer, with only a few savage goblins for company. Presumably, these were the more sluggish creatures, that cared more about drinking themselves to death, rather than going out to battle. Still, not one of them seemed less than barbaric. They didn't pay one bit of attention to her needs, as she sat timidly on a little stump in the corner, not having the nerve to go and sit on the majestic throne that presented itself before her. Now, ordinarily, Sarah would not have given the goblins even the slightest morsel of attention, but the girl was ravenous, and had not gorged down anything for nearly a whole two days! And since she passed on Elva's attempt at breakfast this morning, she was beginning to feel faint.

Noticing that the cheese that Jareth had brought for them was still being passed around, she wondered if she could get them to offer her a chunk or two. But which one would she ask? She didn't know how to be aggressive like Elva.

At first, she attempted polite conversation with the scoundrels.

"Please, could you break me off a bit of that cheese?," she inquired to a large-eared fellow, who sat half-asleep in the corner, clutching onto a huge block of cheddar. He opened his tired eyes to look at her, but simply frowned then turned his back. She saw a few other goblins look around to see what she was asking for, but they only sniggered to themselves and carried on with their drinking and partying.

Becoming impatient, she raised her voice a little.

"Does anybody have any food they can offer me? I'd be extremely grateful!" But it appeared that the louder she spoke the more they laughed and tried to ignore her with their foolish games. This caused her to become angry, and so she proceeded to shout. "I command that you bring me some food now! In fact, Jareth commands that you do so!" she lied. "He told me, if you don't give me some of that cheese, he'll...he'll be off with your heads, selfish creatures!"

Still, nothing. She screwed up her face.

"That's it!" She marched over to the nearest goblin. This time it turned around and looked a little scared when he saw her cross expression. She picked him up by the scruff of his neck and looked the ugly creature in his eyes. "If you don't tell me where I can get some food right now, I will not be sorry for my actions!"

She waited a moment, until the goblin looked as if he was going to give in and say something. He slowly opened his mouth, as Sarah and all of the others watched in anticipation. She thought her forcefulness had finally made him listen, but her hopes were destroyed when the goblin let out a great big belch that bubbled in her face. The foul stench that emitted from his breath caused her to squirm and drop him on floor, while the other goblins burst into an array of laughter. Sarah groaned. How did Jareth cope with these mangy creatures everyday of his life? It must make him crazy!

'Crazy? I'll give them crazy' she thought, and she ran into the crowd of the cackling pests and began to kick and yell at every one of them. Undoubtedly, they fought back and started to gnaw at her legs. She shrieked and booted them away. Eventually, it sprung out into a full goblin fight, with Sarah picking each of the the goblins up in turn, and throwing them across the room. To her dismay, they actually seemed to be enjoying it, so she became even more aggressive by punching them in the face. It wasn't like her to be violent against creatures, but these gruesome puppets became an exception to her. She was so intent on destroying all of them, that she didn't even notice the owl that flew through the small window. It flew gracefully over to the throne and perched itself on the seat where it then magically transformed into the Goblin King himself. He laughed to himself as he watched Sarah frantically chuck about his shabby goblins. A few of them finally looked around to see there master and immediately stopped what they were doing. The few goblins nudged the others until they were all looking around at him apart from Sarah. Seeing that they had stopped fighting, she curiously followed their gaze until she finally saw the Goblin King.

"Jareth!" she gasped, feeling shocked and a little embarrassed about the fact that he had watched her lose it once again, only this time with the goblins. It wasn't like her to keep losing her composure. Being in the Labyrinth for too long was turning her into a frantic mess.

"Don't stop! I was rather enjoying that performance," mocked the King.

"It wasn't a performance," she uttered, coyly straightening herself up. "They wouldn't listen to me, when I asked for something to eat."

"Oh, what a pity! And there I was hoping you would all break out into a song and dance routine," Jareth teased.

"It's not funny!" But Sarah couldn't control the twitching movement that the corners of her mouth had made. It was the first time Jareth had ever seen her smile at him, even though it was only a half-smile. It comforted him to know that her walls of steel could be melted if he tried hard enough. All he had to do was say the right words to make her smiles become more frequent, and then she would start to feel more comfortable in his presence.

"Yes, well, now you know how I feel every hour of every day. Believe it or not, Sarah, the life of a Goblin King isn't all that easy sometimes," he admitted mournfully, although his sorrow was slightly exaggerated in attempt to gain some sort of rapport with the girl. In a melodramatic gesture, he turned his back to her, secretly hoping his sudden change of temperament would spark some sort of sympathy from her. And as luck would have it, something struck a chord with Sarah, for she never thought the Goblin King would show his vulnerable side and confess that he wasn't entirely happy with the position he so often vaunted about.

"I bet it gets lonely sometimes," The kindly words just flew from her lips, and Jareth smiled, his back still turned. He was finally getting his sought after compassion from the girl. Oh, how clever he felt at that moment. He turned to face her, and looked directly into her eyes, trying his best to form an empathetic gaze.

"That it does. But allow me to be clear, Sarah. Being the Goblin King has its merits; never having a care in the world, never having to do anything that I don't want to do. But what is privilege without passion? What is the point of being King, without...well, without a..."

Before he could finish, a large bearded goblin wearing robes a little less shabby than the rest came surging through the doors.

"Apologies, your majesty. I know I'm late. You sent for me?" he panted.

The goblins intrusion clearly annoyed Jareth, but at the same time he felt a morsel of relief. For, he was just about to admit to Sarah that he had been searching for a Queen to rule by his side, and her frustrated expression proved to him that it was best he remained quiet for now. He did not want her to get the wrong impression; even though it was the right one.

"Sarah, this is Vadmir," Jareth sighed. "He will be your servant for tonight. He will show you to your room, and respond to anymore requests you may have, so long as they are just," He gave her a suggestive look that warned her not to try anything funny. "I trust you're hungry. I have arranged for your dinner to meet you up in your room."

Soon after, Sarah was shown her way down a dark and damp corridor, which led to an old, rusty door. It seemed as if the door had not been opened in years, for it had been dispersed in masses of cobwebs. The large bearded goblin waved his hands over the door to try and eradicate some of the webs, but it appeared that several large spider-like creatures still inhabited them, and angrily hissed as the goblin tried to them all off. Sarah flinched and yelped as the creepy-crawlies admitted defeat and fled down the corridor.

"They're only spiders. There are far worse things in the Labyrinth than these harmless creatures" tutted Vadmir. "Now, if I could just get this key in the hole" he said as he fiddled with the door. "Ah…done it. Here you are then" said the goblin as he pushed the creaking door open to reveal what looked more like the inside of a cave rather than a bedroom. The walls were made of dark stone so that every noise Sarah made created a ghostly echo. All the room was made up of was a bed and a chest of drawers, which, after the spider incident, Sarah didn't even want to look in. There was another door that lead into a bathroom which contained a poorly maintained toilet and sink. It was as if this room was built for a human inhabitant many years ago, and had been abandoned ever since. She hardly believed that the Goblin King needed a lavatory. "I'll leave you to it" said the goblin.

Sarah lay down on the bed and closed her eyes. The mattress was cold and lumpy. Some of the springs were poking through, so she had to curve her body around them. She suspected this was the goblins doing. She could just picture them sneaking into this room when the Goblin King wasn't looking, and jumping up and down on the bed like it was a bouncy castle. 'Well, thanks a lot, goblins!' she thought, struggling to stay in the arched position she had to place herself in so she didn't cut herself on the was far from the comfort she had experienced waking up in His Majesty's chamber, but at least here she could be alone, and free from embarrassment. And as she rested, her thoughts turned away from the goblins, and their master, and back to her poor friend Hoggle. She hoped that Elva would find him soon, and convince him to return home.

"Stupid Jareth, sending me out to look for that ugly, big oaf!" Elva muttered to herself, as she flitted about the Goblin City, avoiding the bullets and cannons that shot about from the goblin battle. The sky had gotten dark now, and was filled with smoke from the several bonfires that the different goblin tribes had created. Evidently, this war was a big one, but none of it fazed the courageous sprite one bit. "Why does he care anyway? I know why! Her! Pfft! What does he see in that glassy-eyed, damsel anyway? She's not even that pretty!"

Just then, a mass a goblins dashed passed her, shouting and jeering as they charged towards an opposing crowd.

"Shut up!" yelled Elva from above. "I'm trying to whinge! Urgh, can't a fairy bitch about a human girl without silly goblins drowning me out!...I only have a little voice you know!" she bellowed, loudly.

But as she flew to the corner of the City, she came a cross a different kind of uproar; not an angry mob, but drunken chanting.

"Hmm...No matter how big the battle, there'll always be the ones who just wanna get pissed!" she tutted, looking on at the small brewery. "Well, maybe, I'll join them! Hoggle will be okay for another hour or two...if he's not dead already!" A wicked smile smothered her face as she uttered those tragic words, and casually, she coasted over to the tavern.

When inside, she headed straight to the bar, ignoring the heap of intoxicated goblins that were scattered about the hostelry.

"I'll have a cold one!" she chirped to the grumpy goblin bartender, who reluctantly began to poor her a fresh keg of ale. Normally, the goblins disproved of fairies trespassing into their territory, but every tenant of the Goblin City knew not to mess with Elva. She was too smart, and too quick for each and every one of them.

As the goblet was passed to her, she submerged her entire face into the frothy liquid.

"Ahh, that's better!" she gasped.

"You wanna watch yerself, Elva! If you fall in and drowned yerself...*hiccup*...don't expect no one to be saving yer!" said a croaky voice from the other side of the bar.

He sounded familiar, but it wasn't the voice that made her recognize who it was. Elva could smell him before she could see him, and as she turned her head, her eyes fell upon a drunken little dwarf, who sat on the very end stool of the counter, making sure that he stayed as far away as he could from the other goblins. Not that they cared too much about the smell. In fact, the goblins were the only ones who seemed to be able to tolerate it, as much as he hated them.

"Hoggle!" Elva screeched, staring in disbelief at the unstable dwarf, who still sported the cursed crown on his head. "You're drunk! My, things really have gotten bad!" she teased, finding it utterly amusing that he chugged his ale so that it missed his mouth completely poured all down his front.

"Oh, buggle...*hiccup*...bugger off, you...you f-fairy!" he stuttered, wobbling back and forth on his stool, clutching to his almost-empty drink like it was his last lifeline.

Elva ignored his words, and did the opposite, gliding towards him playfully, only to recoil in disgust when she got too close.

"Poo! You really do smell bad, don't cha?" She held her nose as she spoke. "Well, as much as I'd love to "buggle off", I was sent here specifically to come and find you, and now that I have, I must order you to go to the castle!"

"And why would I wants to do that?" he frowned, gulping down the rest of his ale, and demanding that he have another one. When the bartender ignored his requests, he climbed on top of the stool and scrambled onto the bar in an attempt to reach the keg of ale himself, only to fall off on the same side he was already sat.

"You stupid oaf!" yelled Elva. "You really think Sarah is going to be happy when she sees you like this! She is in that castle right now, waiting for you! That's why you must go there!"

The mention of her name caused him to sober up almost immediately, as slowly he picked himself up from the floor, and gazed softly into what seemed like an alternate universe.

"Sarah...She's still in the castle?"

"Yes, and I'm happy to be the first to tell you that when she found out about your true feelings for her, she realised that she felt the same way about you! Of course, you ran away before she even got to say!" Elva lied; one of the most horrible lies one could ever invent. But Hoggle wasn't convinced.

"Nah, I don't believe you!" he replied. Elva knew was going to need to add more to the story if she wanted to get him to believe her.

"Really? Then why did she brave the tempest earlier, just to look for you!"

"She did?"

"She nearly got herself killed for you, Hoggle!" she exclaimed. It was sort of true. She did nearly get herself killed for trying to find him, only it wasn't because she was in love with him! 'But what harm could a little white lie do?' thought Elva.

"Oh...oh my...is she already...*hiccup*...i means, is she alright?" he panicked, now believing every word Elva said. He knew she was spiteful at times, but she would never be so cruel as to lie about something so serious.

"She is now! She's back there, sobbing her heart out!" Elva cried, causing Hoggle's eyes to widen with curiosity. "She's head over heels for you, Hoggle, and all she wants is for you two to be together, but she fears you're dead!"

"She...she does?" he queried, with delight, seeming to forget that he smelled bad for the first time, as he edged closer to the fairy, happy to be hearing from her, for once.

"You must go and tell her you're alive!"

"Yeah...yeah, I must...must tell her!" Hoggle staggered away from the bar, and began to totter towards the exit which would take him to the ruckus that was the Goblin City. It took him several attempts to locate the vast space in the wall that was the doorway, but eventually he stumbled through it. "Sarah...Sarah will be mine!"

Elva looked on, rolling her eyes at the pathetic scene. She could not believe a dwarf that had lived in the Labyrinth for son long could be so darn gullible.

"And Jareth will be all mine!" she smiled, malevolently, satisfied with what she had just done.