AN: Italics indicate emphasis on one word, thoughts, or, occasionally, flaskbacks.
Please R&R.

Disclaimer: I do not own Labyrinth or any of the characters, sadly. I am not making any money off of this.

Note: This is the revised version. I finished this fic in August of 2003 (Wow, LONG time ago) after working on it for over a year. Since I feel that I am a better writer now than I was, I had to go back and change a few things including a large plot element. I hope you enjoy it. I feel that it is much improved from the original, though not great yet. Maybe one day. All of the other notes you see where from the original posting. Thank you for reading.

Prologue

Sarah flopped down on her bed. She was in her old room, at home. Tired as she was, she was tempted to sleep in her blue jeans and loose white shirt.

It had been five years since her experience with Jareth, the Goblin King, in the Underground. Sarah had grown up since then and was facing the adult world. It wasn't all she thought and hoped it would be, and her college courses were anything but easy. Life was hard. She was struggling in her acting classes, though she worked so hard at it. No matter how many times she called or wrote to her mother for advice, all she heard back was "Work hard, good luck and I will be busy for such amount of time." She felt as if her dreams of becoming an actress were hopeless.

New York City wasn't an easy thing to deal with either, people always crowding everywhere, nowhere to go for peace and quiet. She didn't have friends, save Hoggle, Ludo and Sir Didymus, who she did see on occasion. Those visits were few and far between anymore, due to her roommate, Beth. She got along with Beth fine, but they didn't share any interests. How much do I know about Beth anyway? Sarah didn't date, or get out much. It was hard to tell if more people avoided Sarah, or if Sarah avoided more people. It was just as well, really, because Sarah found them immature and unexciting. She was uninterested in her peers, for some reason. This had the unfortunate affect of making her very lonely. To put it short, Sarah was miserable.

But now that she was home, with her father, stepmother, and Toby, she was much happier. Even though she was only staying for the first week of summer, before going back to her New York apartment.

Things will get better, Sarah thought to herself as she changed into her nightgown, tossing her day clothes carelessly on the floor. And how many times have I told myself that in the past two years? It had all seemed to go downhill at a sickeningly fast pace since she left home.

"Oh, it's not-" she clamped her mouth shut, shocked. She had almost said that line, the line she had not dared to utter for five years.

Sarah shook her head and switched off the light. As soon as she lay down, she was asleep.

The owl that perched on the tree right outside Sarah's window watched and listened. She almost said that famous line of hers, famous as of five years ago. But it was because of him that she had cut herself off before she uttered another word. You never had to be so miserable, the owl thought to himself. If only you had not rejected my offer, rejected me, you could have had everything that you want. Since I am generous, I shall pay you a visit soon, dear Sarah. He blinked and flew off into the night.