Author's Note: Nope, it's not an April Fools Day joke – I really have updated Sleepwalker again. I know it's been forever (almost 3 months, ouch!) but things have gotten crazy around her. I finally got another job and that, coupled with my mom's health issues and an admitted case of severe writer's block when it came to my Labyrinth stories, led to such a huge gap in between updates. Hopefully that will not happen again. And I hope you guys enjoy the new chapter!

Disclaimer: These are always mandatory when dabbling in fan fiction. If there is anything at all that is reminiscent of the 1986 fantasy film Labyrinth, then it probably belongs to Jim Henson, et al., including (but not limited to) the characters of Sarah Williams & Jareth, the Goblin King. Any other characters are the property of this author and will be noted. Also, the title of the story, as well as the lyrics included, are from the Nightwish song, Sleepwalker.

--

Sleepwalker
A place between sleep and awake,
end of innocence, unending masquerade,
that's where I'll wait for you…

It's been three years since Sarah thought she left the Labyrinth but,
as she's learning now, she's never truly been gone.

--

PART TWENTY
In my dreams you're mine to keep...

--

She read the message inwardly but, despite the threatening undertones of the carved words, did not grow anymore intimidated. Instead, she shook her head and, just like the message told her, Sarah turned around. She did not know what she was expecting to see as she swiveled her body but it was definitely not what she found. Rather than the door that she had just emerged from, she found a clear path.

There was no sign at all that a doorway – ladder that led to an oubliette, included – had existed. She was surprised, though she probably should not have been, and her first thought was that it was an illusion. Treading slowly, as if she expected a hole to appear underfoot, she held her hands outward, searching for something that was not there.

Sarah continued to do so, aware of how silly she would look to anyone who was watching her make her way through this part of the labyrinth, but she also knew that it was better to be safe than sorry. Jareth had taught her that much, at least. That and that nothing was fair but only children whined continually about that.

And Sarah Williams – with the things she has seen and experienced – was no longer a child. After all, wasn't that what this second adventure about? Bidding farewell to the last remains of her childhood?

When she had covered the space where the door had only just been, Sarah let one of her hands fall back to her side; the other one was used to rub at one of her overly puffy eyes. She was still so very tired – there was still so much on her mind – but the last encounter with Jareth had energized her somewhat. There was more than three and a half hours left for her to defeat the Goblin King; three and a half hours until her life, once again, belonged to her entirely.

The way she figured it, she had made it through the two toughest parts of the maze – all that was left was getting through the Forbidden Forest, the Bog of Eternal Stench and arriving at the castle beyond the Goblin City. It would be tough, she knew that, but she had done it once before. She could do it again.

With a renewed sense of determination – if only to beat Jareth so that she could wipe that perpetual knowing smirk off of his face – Sarah strode forward.

There were only a few more rocky walls that she had to navigate before she would arrive at the mouth of the forest. And, as long as there were no further detours into obscure oubliettes, she would be there before she knew it.

She made a right, while still keeping the towering castle in sight, and continued to move forward. She stumbled only once, her foot catching in a dip that she was too late to notice, but she did not waver. If she just closed her eyes and thought about the Goblin King, she could see every detail of his sculpted face, could feel the sensation that lingered in the pit of her stomach. It was impossible for her to think of anything else and she found that the only way for her to clear her mind was by walking all the faster.

There was a sense of relief when she finally exited that addendum of rocky walls; however, that relief was short-lived as she stared at the dark, foreboding forest before her. Whether it was because her last experience within this wooded area was terrifying – prior to the most recent onslaught of nightmares, Sarah had plenty of night terrors that featured red-orange fireys attempting to rip off of her head – or because it had been so long since she had been there, but it seemed darker somehow. And the trees… they were taller, denser and appeared to be leering at her, leaning in her direction as if they were daring her to enter their folds.

Sarah gulped. She felt much of her confidence ebb away. Far from inviting, the Forbidden Forest exuded danger – it was a perfect match, she felt, to the monarch that lorded over it. Despite the creatures she imagined lived in there, there was a sense of stillness that seemed unnatural – it was too quiet. Even though she had not run across the rambunctious, fall-apart fireys until she was in the thick of the woods, she had heard their partying a bit away. Now, though, she heard nothing… and that only heightened the amount of nerves she was feeling at that moment.

She ran her hands across her face as she closed her eyes. Taking a few seconds to prepare herself for what she had to do, she opened her eyes again and pushed a few of the strands of hair out of her face; her ponytail was wilting and some of the sweat she had experienced during her journey so far had led the front pieces to stick to her skin before drying again. She could only imagine how she looked now…

Before starting the trek through the forest, the girl glanced down at the silver watch on her wrist. Going by the time that Jareth had told her was remaining when they were together in the oubliette, Sarah could see that there was exactly three hours and fifteen minutes left.

That's plenty of time to get through the last obstacles of the labyrinth, she thought to herself, encouragingly, as long as I don't run across any of those stupid fire monsters. She had outrun them the last time she met them and she only got away from them due to Hoggle's help.

But she did not have Hoggle on her side this time. She did not have anyone to help her. She had to do it on her own.

With a defiant stare at the inanimate forest, Sarah nodded. And I will.

--

With every step she took in the eerie forest, Sarah waited for something to jump out at her. She had never been, for the most part, that paranoid but her last trip to the Underground three years ago had instilled in her a sense to look over her shoulder at any given moment. The way she saw it, she could never be sure when she was alone; as hard as she tried to forget this place, there was always that part of her consciousness that remained in the Underground. It bothered her – it definitely did – but, until the rash decision to wish herself away had come to her mind, she had never known what she could do to change it.

That paranoia was the most acute in the Forbidden Forest – at the very least, it was much more than it had been throughout the rocky outer layer of the labyrinth or the garden hedge maze portion. The long, wild grass seemed as if they were creepers aiming to ensnare her ankles; the trees were even thicker the further she traveled inward, often leading her to take another route by blocking her path.

And it was still quiet. Too quiet.

But it wasn't that it was just quiet. This quiet had a strange quality, like the calm before a storm. Sarah had the idea that, perhaps, this was the quiet that was produced by creatures who were trying their hardest to be quiet… the same quiet that resulted in the silence becoming almost unbearable.

There was the sound of her sneaker covered feet crushing the grass, and her breathing. But, beyond that, there was nothing.

Wait.

Sarah paused, her heart already hammering its beat as a result of the clear sound she had heard. It was a loud crackling noise that ended almost as quickly as it began.

She cocked her head to the side, listening intently to see if she could hear the sound again. It seemed to be coming from somewhere in front of here but, thanks to the acoustics of the forest, it could be anywhere and she would not know.

That loud noise did not echo again but that did not mean that the quiet replaced it. In fact, as Sarah stood still, resting underneath the bare limbs of an overgrown oak tree, she could hear another sound. Though it would be one that she normally would associate with a gentle, calm and soothing sensation, the strange whirring sound frightened her.

"Is there… is there someone out there?" she asked, trying to keep the nervousness-induced tremors out of her voice. She succeeded but only just. "Hello?"

As she waited for some sort of response – she was not sure if she actually wanted someone to answer her or not – Sarah listened to the tell-tale sound of something being spun. Though that whirring sound did not stop after she yelled out into the woods, it did seem to fade until it was only a whisper being carried on the wind.

She waited for only a beat longer. The gong announcing that her seventh hour had completed had rang roughly fifteen minutes ago; she was, as far as she could tell, still in the thick of the woods. She wanted to get out of the Forbidden Forest as quickly as she could so that she would be able to hurry through the Bog of Eternal Stench (while holding her nose, of course) and have sufficient time to meet with Jareth at his castle. She knew, deep within her, that the final confrontation would be much more eventful than the last time they met. She wanted to have enough time to face-off with him; as she knew from experience, five minutes was not nearly enough.

Shrugging in a sorry attempt to convince herself that there was nothing to worry about – though she could thing of hundreds of things that she should be worrying about; must of them revolving around the Goblin Kind and his less than fair playing tactics – Sarah took a step away from the tree. As soon as the sole of her tennis shoe had settled against the ground, she heard another sound – and this one frightened far more than the earlier ones.

"Does she still got her head?"

Sarah turned said head around this way and that, trying to spy the creature that had spoken. It had not asked the question directly to her so she was not surprised when she heard a second voice reply – not surprised but scared.

"She does. We should take it."

Almost subconsciously – and definitely protectively – Sarah lifted her hands to her throat. She was frozen in place, though. She could hear them but she could not see them. She did not want to run forward or back in case she stumbled across them. Her actions did not make much sense, considering that, wherever the fireys were, they could see her. But, at that moment, logic and common sense were not playing a role in Sarah's decision making process.

"Can't take it," piped up a third voice. It sounded almost wistful. "King wants her head. Remember?"

The girl heard that and let out a tiny sigh. Right then, if Jareth popped up for another chat, she might have hugged him out of gratitude. She was rather attached to her head and, in same strange way, was intensely glad that Jareth felt the same way.

"Head! Take off her head!" A fourth voice chimed in and Sarah was beginning to wonder just how many of those vile, though fun-loving, critters were spread out around her. The last time she had run across them, there had been five of them, singing and dancing around a glowing bonfire. While they had seemed quite friendly at first, their games quickly proved themselves to be out of the mortal girl's league: they had a penchant for taking off their body parts – including their heads – and throwing them around.

"No head," said that third voice, still sounding sad. Then, as if an idea popped into its head, he spoke again, his tone much happier, "But we can have her arms or her legs, right? She doesn't need two of them and, if we have them, she can't run or throw our heads."

There was a chorus of cheers, followed by one of the voices hollering their cry of "Chilly down with the Wild Gang!", and then there was quiet. But not necessarily quiet – again, the silence was deafening. The fireys were coming for her.

Gulping, Sarah's stomach began to squirm. She wouldn't put it past the fireys to try to take some part of her body – or for Jareth to let them do it. After trying to take her head, and realizing that it was stuck on, they had then offered to remove her arm and her ears, one of them even yelling that they would get a saw to do the job right. And the Goblin King had not stopped them then.

So, her fifteen year old mind terrified that those furry firey's really would disassemble her, she had ran. Alone in the vast maze, but all the more determined to rescue Toby, she fled.

It was just as she found herself at the edge of the Forbidden Forest that she ran into a large wall, one of the many that cordoned the labyrinth. She had thought that all was lost as she fought to scramble up the side – until Hoggle appeared out of nowhere to save her.

But, as she reminded herself for the countless time, there would be no Hoggle this time. She had to defeat these fireys on her own.

Running had been the way she had gotten rid of them, for the most part, the last time. She was not sure that it would work this time – especially since she had not actually seen any of them yet, but there really was no other choice. Besides, she could not afford to spend any more time frozen in place; the quick pace of her run would help her get through the labyrinth all the faster.

Without another thought, Sarah began to hurry. She was running frantically and, as she moved, sidestepping trees and watching for rocks in her path, she tried not to equate this run with the ones she experienced in her nightmares. She had to remember that, this time, it was for real – she could not wake up and be safely tucked away in her bed. If the fireys emerged and captured her, she was done for.

Out of the corner of one of her eyes, she thought she might have seen the vivid red-orange color of the strange creatures. She half-expected the uneven gait of the creature to propel it right into her path, its wide green eyes staring at her with a mixture of amusement and madness.

But it didn't. She remained alone, though, every few feet or so, she could make out one of the fireys singing that strange song they had. And, as if the forest, on a whole, was the fire they were singing around, the air became dry and warm. Sarah could feel beads of sweat popping out along her forehead before dripping down the side of her face, once more plastering loose strands of hair along the flesh. She did not have the chance to wipe at it, though; it was hard enough to breathe as it was.

It was strange. The heat seemed to descend on her out of nowhere but, before long, it was unbearable. It weakened her but, in her frightened state, she refused to slow. She was convinced that the fireys were waiting just out of sight to pounce on her – she would not slow.

She was staring in front of her, eyes frantically searching an exit out of the forest. She could not remember running this long the last time she was there but, as she was re-learning, things were not always as they seemed.

That's when she saw it: there was an area of the woods that seemed as if it did not fit. There was a patch, about the width and height of a standard doorway that shimmered in a vague blue color. It was not an exit – it was not anything really – but, for some reason, the sight before her gave her some sense of safety. She could not explain why exactly she felt that way but something told her that, if she could just pass through that hazy cloud, she would be all right (or, as all right as she could be while trapped in Jareth's labyrinth).

Putting on an extra burst of speed, Sarah headed straight towards the fuzzy shape. She did not slow as it neared her and, before she knew it, she had passed right through it. Relief from that heat was instantaneous, as if she had just dived into a swimming pool on a hot summer day.

Breathing in the cool, refreshing air deeply, Sarah slowed her run until she had stopped. Then, leaning over so that she her hands were on the knees of her blue jeans, she continued to inhale and exhale briskly, catching the breath that the run had cost her.

It was only after she had calmed considerably, and she had stopped to look around at her new surroundings, that the sound she had earlier echoed loudly around the woods.

The whirring sound was back. And, strangely enough, Sarah was not frightened any longer; she did not have the energy with which to be afraid.

Instead, she was just curious.