It was another late night for Sarah Williams. Another day, another crisis to be resolved right before home time. Deep into the night Sarah shuffled her way through the dark, rain soaked streets to her flat with her saturated shirt and skirt clinging to her damp skin and her dark hair leeching onto and plastering itself all over her forehead, temples, cheeks and even her neck. Sarah stifled a yawn as she headed through the foyer of her block of flats. When she finally made it into her flat, she peeled off her wet clothes and unceremoniously dumped them on the linoleum floor of the hallway. In little more than her knickers and bra, she flicked the lights on and sat at the dining table with her head in her hands.

Her job was tiring and soul crushing. Bit by bit her life force was being sucked out of her through her work. She kept telling herself she was going to quit, but she always kept going back. Like a drug that she just couldn't quit. But it was nearly midnight and she just couldn't go on like this any longer. It was exhausting and not sustainable. As much prestige and money it may make for her, it was more and more a prison for her the longer she toiled and her freedom became less and less. Sarah raised her head and looked through the gaps in her fingers of her hands still pressed into her face.

On the wall above the dining table where she sat, there was a painting her friend had made of an owl in flight. Sarah considered that painting the exact opposite of her current situation. She had never felt more like a caged bird with clipped wings than this very moment sitting in her flat in her underwear, soaking wet, cold, hungry and very tired. Oh how she longed to soar like the bird in her painting. To stretch her wings and feel the wind around her as she took to the skies.

Sarah longed for freedom so deeply. Not just from her work, but also from her broken heart. Her lessons from the Labyrinth were many, but one that stood out was not taking things for granted. So she tried to never take her relationships or friendships for granted since she had left her grand adventure over a decade ago. She was slow to trust, but loyal to a fault when invested in that relationship. And this had been her undoing in recent times. Searching for things that do not exist may be a specialty, but she should never heaped her high expectations on another person who could just not carry them. And stumble under the weight of her heavy expectations, Conway Hild, boyfriend of five years, quite spectacularly did. He "stumbled" into the bed of Sarah's once best friend, Joanie, repeatedly. Sarah's heart had been torn asunder. She had guarded her heart with so many defences, for it to have been so casually abused, Sarah could not recover. Drowning herself in her work was the only solution she saw open to her. But even now that was doing more harm than good. She longed to just escape. To forget work, to forget Joanie and Conway. To find the joy in life again. To take pleasure in the simple things. Sarah wasn't naturally a gloomy person and her strength had always carried her through but it was her strength she was trying to summon to change her circumstances that was tiring her out now.

But in typical Sarah fashion, she gritted her teeth. The last time she gave into her frustrations she had wished her brother away, and she swore she'd never show such weakness again. While she thought about her friends and the labyrinth often, it was in her past. And not something she wanted to relive. So communication with Hoggle and Didymus had faded away, much like the aspects of her adolescence had over time. So two paths lay in front of her. One that involved changing her job, giving in to the pressure that surrounded her, possibly seen as weakness by some who would scoff at her about how she couldn't "hack it." How right they would be proven when they had doubted her ability. Her other choice was to stay in a situation where she wasn't happy but determined to prove she was capable. Was her pride worth so much though? As for her broken heart, that could only be cured with time and her own inner strength. Perhaps a new job that didn't undervalue her and instead built her up, would work two fold to help her heal her heart. Both choices terrified her. Much like turning a blind corner in the Labyrinth, she wouldn't know what waited for her if she made a change, but if she stayed on the same path, it was better the devil you know.

Sarah sighed. Midnight was way too late to be having deep philosophical discussions with herself about her possible future. She stretched her aching muscles and ran her eyes over the painting of the owl. It wasn't a barn owl like she knew Jareth had turned into, but seeing the owl, she still couldn't help but draw parallels. When she had still been in contact with her friends from the Underground, they had only rarely mentioned Jareth in passing. Never a direct reference, but Sarah worked out that was who they talked about. After all this time he was still an enigma, and she'd be lying if she said she didn't wonder about him every now and then. This particular owl was a Morepork, an owl native to New Zealand, where her friend Di had visited after they had graduated College. It was given to her on her 21st birthday after Sarah had mentioned in passing a mild curiosity about raptors. Di returned from New Zealand and painted the Morepork, or ruru as it was also known and told her it was the start of her own collection. The Morepork was a brown owl, so she felt safe that it couldn't really be compared to the Goblin King, who was from memory a white barn owl. But its eyes staring through the canvas were still enough to let her think of His Majesty as the picture loomed over her.

"I wish I could just fly away like that owl," she said out loud with an audible sigh, before she bit her lip and nervously looked around as if her wish would summon the very devil himself to grant it. Nothing happened. The rain still bucketed down outside, the thunder still rolled ominously across the heavens, but nothing changed. She sighed again and headed to the bathroom to shower and change into her night clothes. It was an early morning the next day as per usual, so she wanted to get at least four hours sleep in. In her head she planned and dreamed of throwing her notice at her boss. A triumphant exit where all the plebs that worked alongside her stood and cheered and tossed their hats in exaltation as she stuck it to the man.

"Take your job and stick it," Sarah muttered to herself as the warm water washed away all traces of the day. She was strongly reminded of her exit from the Labyrinth over a decade earlier. How victorious she was over the Goblin King when she uttered those damning words. How she won her brother back and defeated the man who had kidnapped him. Now look at her; a drowned rat returning from a 16 hour day in the rat race only to start the same exact thing the very next day and on only 4 hours sleep and a few cupfuls of coffee.

It had to stop. She had to sacrifice her pride for her happiness. She thought back to her wish that she had foolishly uttered out loud, a few minutes ago. She knew the Goblin King had turned into an owl and vice versa in front of her very own eyes. She imagined he would feel great freedom soaring above the world and the Underground with nothing but hopes, dreams and wings to keep you from being claimed by gravity. The shower started getting colder by degrees before she mustered the energy to turn it off. Maybe she should become a pilot she thought to herself as she hugged a towel around her achey, neglected body.

Once in bed, she planned out her letter of resignation in her head, slowly drifting off with thoughts of hitting capitalism where it hurts and taking one for the workers of the world.

Jareth stood upon the flagstone path, leaning over the low marble balustrade which looked down over his Labyrinth. He tapped his foot impatiently against the base of the balcony. There was a strange glow emitting from the Labyrinth that he had never seen before. The walls shimmered with hues of green making the whole kingdom look like a mirage. Jareth sent crystal after crystal into the labyrinth to give him a diagnostic. Now he was waiting for news of the inexplicable haze over his land. His eyes narrowed and scanned for anything else unusual that stood out, but everywhere he looked it was the same. Just a blanket of thing, wispy green clouds. Slowly a crystal appeared in his outstretched and gloved hand. It was the diagnostic returned from the heart of the Labyrinth. He raised it up to eye level to discern its contents. Someone had made a wish. But not one that he was to fulfill. One that the Labyrinth had intercepted and kept for itself to do with as it desired. Jareth raised his head back up to the offending maze with a scowl deeply etched on his face. He could not tell what the wish was nor who made the wish. All he could make out was that a wish was made and intercepted.

"What is your game?" he asked out loud as he surveyed the green mist.

In an instant he was gone and reappeared deep in the hedge maze, just as the fog started to dissipate.

Jareth peered down into the rustling undergrowth at his feet.

"Ah, what have we here?"

AN: Nothing. Nothing? Nothing tra la la.

Or is it something?

Next chapter we discover what Sarah's wish has resulted in… (it is probably very obvious haha).

I have written fan fiction before but never published anything. So please be gentle. This is probably raw and rough, but I felt like I had to cut my teeth on one of my more basic plot bunnies, before I ever pour my heart into one of my more nourished and nurtured plot bunnies.