Sarah and Hoggle ran without stopping until they reached the mountains of garbage outside of the city limits. On the way out, they had spotted by several goblins, but the goblins had all seemed far too preoccupied with the fire to raise the alarm.

Collapsing against a pile of garbage, Sarah panted, trying to catch her breath. "We...made it...Hoggle!" she said triumphantly. Hoggle, who had his bulky hands braced against his knees and was also gasping, managed a weary nod.

Sarah would have been content to sit on the junk pile for a while, but she had to shift positions when she felt some sort of liquid soaking into her clothes. Springing to her feet, she sniffed at the back of her shirt and made a face. "That smells disgusting! What is it?"

Hoggle snorted. "Goblin garbage. Could be worse."

"True," Sarah conceded, remembering the Bog of Eternal Stench. "It could be much worse." She glanced back at the city, at the billowing dark smoke that covered it. "Hoggle," she said hesitantly, "what happened?"

The small goblin followed her gaze. He shrugged. "Don't know. I ain't never seen nothing like it before. Goblin City ain't supposed to be able to burn."

"Why?" Sarah asked.

Hoggle's protruding eyes held a suspicious expression. Evidently deciding that Sarah's interest was genuine, he grunted. "If you had a city full of goblins, you'd want to keep it from burning. So he did something about it. No one knows what. It's just one of the things about this place, little lady. The city don't burn."

"Apparently it does," she replied quietly. There was something niggling at the back of her mind...something that Jareth had said. Each time she thought she knew what it was though, it slipped right out of her grasp.

Hoggle shrugged. "If it got us out of the city without being followed, I ain't inclined to ask questions. Let's..." He let out a sound of disgust. "Let's go see Didymus at the bridge."

Sarah nodded, a small grin on her face as she thought of brave, foolish Didymus. He tried so hard to be a knight in shining armor that he forgot to use armor. "Does he still have Ambrosius?"

Hoggle looked away, but not before she had seen a strange sheen on his eyes. "More or less," he said gruffly. "Let's get moving."

"Okay..." Sarah said slowly, sure that there was something that Hoggle wasn't telling her. Brushing dust from her clothes, she took Hoggle's hand and they began to wind their way through the mass of junk.

As they walked, she craned her head this way and that, trying to see the Labyrinth beyond the garbage. This was the only part of the maze that she hadn't been through before. Last time she had passed this way, she had been trapped in a dream of bubbles and masks, and of a handsome man who had danced with her and promised her his heart. She shook her head, trying to clear it of the memories, but they wouldn't go away.

Of all her time in the Labyrinth, it was the ballroom in the bubble that had haunted her most all these years. During those moments when her baby brother had left her mind entirely, she'd felt something that she'd never felt before, or – she had to admit it to herself – ever since. Sarah had spent years convincing herself that the yearning she had felt while being whirled around the glimmering dance floor wasn't real, that it had been the product of the magic peach Hoggle had given her. The emotion she had tasted had been so pure and so strong that her fourteen-year-old body hadn't known what to do with it. Since then, every time she'd been with a man, she'd tested herself, trying to feel the ecstasy she had known...and inevitably hated herself for failing. Though she'd striven to hide her disappointment from her boyfriends, she always had the feeling that they knew; surely they'd seen the look on her face, heard the melancholy in her voice. Maybe it was why Brian had –

Sarah winced, cutting that thought off. The hurt was still too fresh. That was another reason to hate Jareth, she thought grimly. He had ruined her for any other man.

They were only partway through on the way to the Labyrinth when a shrill voice sounded right next to Sarah's ear. "So it's you again, is it, dearie? I know you'd come back sooner or later, ohhh, I definitely knew! Did you come back for your things?"

Sarah winced away and covered her ears with her hands. "Oh, no," she groaned. "It's you."

As Agnes the Junk Heap moved to stand in front of Sarah with surprising agility, considering the mounds of trash on her back, Sarah and Hoggle shared an unhappy look.

"Well, of course it's me, my dear," Agnes said in a voice that was as close to effusive as she could come. "This place is my home." She crossed her stumpy arms and stared up at Sarah. "But you? This place isn't your home."

"Of course not," Sarah said. "Why would I want to live in a junk heap?"

A gleam lit Agnes' beady eyes. "I wasn't talking about the junk heap, dearie." She paused. "But I've still got all your things for you, yes, I do! There's the little horsie, and your lipstick, and your pretty music box, and oh!" She rummaged around and produced a teddy bear, which she held out to Sarah. "I still have this. You want this, don't you?"

Sarah sighed. "It's not real. None of it is. Don't you remember, we went through this already?"

"Of course it's real!" Agnes cried. "What about this?" She held out a journal. Though Sarah knew not to be swayed by Agnes' tricks, she involuntarily held out her hand as Agnes flipped through it, and Toby's familiar handwriting leapt out at her. Agnes smiled and made to place the journal in Sarah's hand.

Before the journal touched Sarah, though, Hoggle slapped it to the ground. Sarah started, having almost forgotten that Hoggle was with her.

"None of that," Hoggle told Agnes sternly. "The little lady's with me."

Somehow, Agnes managed to look exactly like a kindly grandmother who's just been caught playing an innocent trick on her roly-poly grandchildren. "Why, I was just offering," she said. "A gift for an unlikely reunion."

Sarah squatted down and looked Agnes in her ratlike eyes. "I want none of it," she said, "not even the journal. It's not real. My little brother is real, and he's out there somewhere," she waved in the direction of the Labyrinth. "So just let me be on my way. Nothing you have could possibly interest me." She stood up. "Come on, Hoggle. We have to go."

As Sarah and Hoggle walked away without another word, Hoggle glanced back at Agnes, who was staring darkly at him. The two goblins shared an unreadable look. After a moment, Hoggle shrugged sadly and waddled off after Sarah.

Within moments, they were at the edge of the garbage, and Sarah stared out over the Labyrinth. Every time she saw it, it staggered her with its enormity. Somewhere out there, Toby was slaying his own dragons. She had to find him.

"Somehow," she whispered, "I will."

"What's that, Sarah?" Hoggle was looking up at her.

"Nothing." She turned to look out over the expanse again. "Do you think he's noticed yet?"

"Who?"

"Jareth. Do you think he's noticed that I'm missing?" Ridiculously, she felt herself blushing.

If Hoggle noticed the blush, he didn't mention it. "If he hasn't yet, he will soon. We should hurry."

Sarah nodded. "Right."

Taking a deep breath, they descended the hill. Neither one noticed the high winds blowing through the mountains of garbage behind them. Nor did they notice the mountains teetering and collapsing. Only Hoggle, with his sharp ears, heard Agnes' scream, but it was cut off abruptly. He didn't allow himself to turn around.

"So," Sarah asked as they walked through the dark forest, "what have you been doing for the past twelve years, Hoggle?"

"What do you mean?"

Sarah looked down, alarmed by his surly tone. Hoggle had never been one for steady moods, but if he sounded this angry, there had to be a reason. "Well," she stumbled over her words, "I just mean, well, it's been a long time since I was here. So...what's happened in the meantime?"

Walking by her side, he looked straight ahead, his wrinkly face pursed. "For me? I went back to guarding the gate."

"And...?"

"That's it."

Sarah stumbled over a root. She caught herself on a nearby branch and stared at Hoggle, who hadn't bothered to pause. "That's it?" she said in disbelief. "For the last twelve years, you've...stood outside the Labyrinth and guarded the gate?"

A grunt in the affirmative was her only answer.

Brushing the bits of bark off of her hand, she hurried after him. "But, Hoggle, that's so...so... Didn't you want to do anything else?"

"At one time, guarding the gate was more than enough for me."

"But it's not anymore, is it, Hoggle?" Sarah asked softly.

Now he stopped, and looked up at her. His large round eyes held an expression she couldn't read. "Not since you was here before."

"Oh, Hoggle," she said sadly, "what have I done to you?"

He shrugged, looking down again. "Taught me that there was more than guarding a gate and doing what he told me to do."

"Then...why couldn't you..." She gestured wildly. "Why couldn't you do something else? Get another, um, job?"

"Things must be easy where you come from," he said in disgust. "If you don't like what you're doing, you can just pick up and go do something else. Well, it don't work that way here, Sarah."

"I'm...sorry," she said in bewilderment. "How does it..."

"I'm the gatekeeper!" Hoggle snapped. "That's what I am, and that's how I have to stay. I can't go up to Jareth and ask to be reassigned. I was created for one thing, and I can't go gettin' above my station and...hoping for something else."

Sarah sighed, ashamed. She'd never really considered before how her visit might have affected others. Like any typical self-absorbed teenager, she'd just assumed that all of the inhabitants of the goblin world would just pop back to normal once she left, as though she had never been there. And it seemed that the world, at least, had returned to normal, if Didymus' bridge was back. But Hoggle had changed, and probably, her other friends had changed too.

Jareth hasn't changed, a treacherous voice in her head whispered. She frowned. Now, that she wasn't sure about. On the surface, he seemed to be exactly the same: cocksure, imperious, and damned sexy. But beneath that, when he had talked candidly to her, she'd caught a hint of something else, something that she hadn't seen last time, or at least, she didn't remember seeing. What was it, though? Pain? Bitterness? Exhaustion? Or all three?

She shook her head, and looked down at Hoggle. "Hoggle, I'm so sorry," she said with all of the sincerity that she could muster. "I had no idea. If I'd known what it would do to you, I wouldn't ever have—"

"Oh, yes, you would," Hoggle interrupted. "You wouldn't have done a thing differently, Sarah, 'cause you was who you was, and you was selfish." She stared at the ground, her ears burning. "It's okay," he said quickly, seeing her embarrassment. "I wouldn't done anything differently either, 'cause it was the best thing that's ever happened to me."

"Really?" she glanced up at him.

The hope in her face made him turn bashful. "Yeah..." He scuffed his shoe on the ground. "I mean, I never got to do fun stuff or break the rules before. And I never had a...a..." He looked up at her, then seemed to change his mind about something. "A friend. Before you, I never had one, and never was one."

"And you still have Ludo and Didymus as friends, even when I'm not here," Sarah said softly.

"Yeah, but that ain't the point. The point is that I don't regret meeting you, even after the last twelve years." He shrugged. "At least now I know what I'm missin'."

Tears in her eyes, Sarah went down on her knees and hugged the little goblin tightly. He may have been grouchy and ugly and not a little abrasive, but he had to be the most loyal friend she had ever had.

Though he grumbled and patted her back awkwardly, Sarah could tell that he was pleased with the hug. As she stood up again, he harrumphed and said, "Well, come on, then. We don't got all day, little lady."

She smiled and nodded. "Of course. I can't wait to see Didymus again!"

Long before they reached the Bog of Eternal Stench, Sarah could smell it. She didn't know why the pervasive stench surprised her. Had she really expected it to have stopped smelling in the past twelve years?

Involuntarily, she gagged. The smell that reached her nose was even worse than she'd remembered. It smelt of rotting fish and...and... She couldn't even identify what it reminded her of. Wiping her streaming eyes with a hand, she noticed that Hoggle was surreptitiously doing the same.

"So," Sarah said, trying to breathe entirely through her nose, "do you visit Didymus often?"

Hoggle's voice sounded similarly nasal. "With this smell? Are you kidding?"

"Does he come to visit you at the gate?"

"And leave his precious bridge?" Hoggle snorted. "You've been gone a long time, but you can't have forgotten that much about him."

"So," Sarah said, trying not to sound like she was nagging, "when do you get to see him?"

"I'm in the area maybe once or twice a year."

"So little?" Sarah exclaimed. "But you must get so lonely!"

"Yeah, but sometimes the loneliness is better."

"Better? Hoggle, what are you talking about?"

He shot her a sideways glance. "You'll see."

They rounded a particularly bulbous, misshapen tree, and there it was. The Bog of Eternal Stench. The swamp had become even more depressing and drab in the last twelve years, if that was possible. Sarah, however, tried to ignore the Bog and to look beyond it, to see if she could see Didymus' small figure.

Hoggle tugged at the bottom of her shirt hem. When she turned to look questioningly at him, he pointed off to their left. "The bridge is over there."

"Of course," Sarah said quickly, and unconsciously doubled her pace. The bridge was, in fact, there. It looked as rickety as it ever had. As she stepped up to the edge of the bog, straining to see Didymus, a small figure leapt in front of her.

"Halt!" it cried. "None may pass!"

She jumped back, startled. As she attempted to regain her balance, her foot caught on a patch of weeds, and she went tumbling to the ground, landing squarely on her rear.

"Ouch," she moaned. Then she looked up at the goblin that had surprised her, and to her embarrassment, tears flooded her eyes. "Sir Didymus?"

The small fox-goblin, who had been growling as viciously as he could, now looked confused. His visible eye blinked once, twice, three times. "Aye, that is my name. Err... Have I had the pleasure of—" Once he saw Hoggle hovering by Sarah's side, his words choked themselves off, and he took a much closer look at Sarah... So close that his pointed snout took up her entire field of vision. When he pulled back, his little face had an expression of wonder on it. "Is it... Milady Sarah?"

Sarah smiled broadly, her eyes still full of tears. "Yes, Didymus. It's me."

Didymus drew himself up to his full height, which was still very diminutive, and made as though to kiss Sarah's hands. Sarah, however, grabbed him, and pulled him in for a tight hug. She'd wanted to hug him and stroke him for twelve years, so soft and silky did his fur look. Unfortunately, that wasn't the only reason she was hugging him.

If she was hugging him, she didn't have to look at him.

The years had been extraordinarily cruel to Didymus. Once, his fur had been thick and lustrous. Now there were large patches of his body where there was no fur at all. Thick scars criss-crossed all of his exposed skin. His face, while still noble, looked old and tired. Perhaps most horrible of all, one of his legs had apparently been cut off.

Still holding Didymus to her tightly, Sarah stared up at the sky, trying to find the strength to look at him again.

She only let him go when she realized that he was making squawking noises into her shirt. As she reluctantly relinquished her grip on him, he pulled back with an expression of wounded dignity.

"My Lady!" he said with chagrin. "It is not proper for a knight to have physical contact with his lady fair!"

Sarah felt an absurd urge to giggle, but she suppressed it, knowing that Didymus did not find it funny at all. "I'm sorry, Didymus. I'm just so very glad to see you."

Didymus sat down on a nearby log with an obvious expression of relief. "And I you, my lady. Whatever befalls me, I shall have the comfort of having seen your kind face again."

Sarah looked at Hoggle, who had seated himself right next to Didymus. He, however, didn't meet her eyes. "Didymus, what's happened to you?" she asked frankly.

Didymus coughed embarrassedly. "I must apologize for appearing before you like this. No lady should be subjected..."

"No, don't apologize!" Sarah exclaimed, holding up a hand to silence him. "When I said that I'm happy to see you, I didn't lie. I never expected to have a chance to, and now here you are! But..." she paused. "You've been hurt."

"Aye." Didymus shook his head ruefully. "Some knaves refused to admit when they were beaten fair and square. It really is nothing, Lady Sarah. No wound can stop me from guarding this bridge with my life!" he cried with a hint of his old zeal.

"He's lyin'," Hoggle said flatly. "It ain't nothing, Sarah. A few years ago, he got into a fight with a man who was trying to get through the Labyrinth."

"A human did this to you?" She looked at Didymus' old injuries with fresh horror in her eyes.

Didymus bristled, his sharp little teeth showing. "He tried to cross without first obtaining my permission. Naturally, I did my utmost to prevent him."

"How did he..." She trailed off, not sure how to ask.

"The rogue was carrying a concealed knife. Most ungentlemanly, I tell you," Didymus said indignantly.

"Didymus, I'm so..." Sarah choked a bit. "So very sorry."

He stretched his foxy face in a horrible satire of a true smile. "Think not on it, my lady! Why, I barely even notice my...infirmity."

She very much doubted that he barely noticed that one of his legs was missing, but she was inclined to waste her time with him arguing the point. There was something else that was bothering her, though. "Didymus?" she asked quietly. "Where...where is Ambrosius?"

Didymus looked away, but not before she saw the heartbroken expression on his face. "Ambrosius? He's...over there." He waved a little hand at a nearby copse of trees.

Sarah heaved herself to her feet, and walked over to the trees, already dreading what she would find there. Pulling the hanging branches aside, she gazed in, fresh tears in her eyes.

Right in the middle of the small grove was a small circular mound of dirt with a stone placed on top. Carved into the stone, in childish letters, were the words, "AMBROSIUS. LOYAL FRIEND AND STEED."

She miserably crouched down next to the grave and looked at it in silence. Ambrosius had been so like her beloved Merlin, so sweet and vulnerable. Remembering how Ambrosius had carried Sir Didymus into battle, then turned and ran at the last moment, she choked back a sound halfway between a laugh and a sob. She didn't even realize that she was no longer alone until Didymus spoke next to her, his voice heavy.

"He fell honorably in battle." He shook his head. "He was growing elderly, Milady Sarah. 'Twas probably for the best." Despite his words, Sarah could see how his eyes were shining. He swayed in place, attempting to keep his tenuous balance on his single leg. Without a word, Sarah offered a hand. He took it with gratefulness, though she knew that he would never admit to having needed it.

"He was a wonderful..." Sarah paused. She wasn't sure whether to refer to Ambrosius as a dog or as a horse. In the end, she just settled for saying, "He was wonderful."

"That he was. That he was." Didymus looked up at her, again stretching his face into that horrible parody of a smile. "But enough of sadness, Lady. What fortunate stars have led you to visit us again?"

"It's a long story," Sarah sighed, still unable to take her eyes away from the still grave where the white sheepdog lay. "My little brother is attempting to solve the Labyrinth, and I'm trying to help him."

"Your little brother!" Didymus exclaimed. "Is he the same...?"

"One and the same," Sarah confirmed. "Though I haven't the slightest clue why I got dragged in too...but I am very happy to be here," she added hastily, seeing the slightest droop of Didymus' ears.

"She was trapped in Jareth's castle," Hoggle put in from behind them. "So I went and got her."

"Most brave of you, Sir Hoggle," Didymus replied with approval. He paused. "My lady, I apologize for not recognizing you right away when you arrived. It...has been a long time."

"It has," Sarah agreed. "I grew up, so I don't look quite the same anymore."

Didymus sniffed. "You are not the same, but you are still my lady."

"Thank you... I think," Sarah said, slightly confused.

"So, Didymus," Hoggle said, "we're gonna go find Ludo and Sarah's brother. Do you want to come with us?"

"A noble quest, to be sure," Didymus replied. He glanced back at Ambrosius' grave. "However, I do not think I can join you this time. I must guard the bridge, as well as my loyal friend's resting place."

"C'mon, Didymus," Hoggle wheedled. "Don't you want to see Ludo?"

"Of course I hunger to see my gentle brother again," Didymus said stiffly, "but I have made vows, and I must honor them."

"This may be your last chance," Hoggle warned.

Sarah didn't like something in the tone of his voice, though she couldn't put her finger on it. "Hoggle," she chided, "if Didymus can't go with us, then we have to accept that."

"Noble lady," Didymus said, leaning over to kiss her hand, "as always, you have an understanding heart."

Ignoring his protesting yip, she grabbed Didymus for one more hug. He felt so fragile that she was worried that the slightest pressure would break him, so she gently released him and rose to her feet.

"Perhaps we will see you on the way back to the castle?" she offered.

He bowed, swaying back and forth. "I should be most gratified to offer you safe conduct across the Bog at that time."

"Thank you," she smiled warmly at him.

"And," he added, "give my fondest greetings to my dear brother, Ludo."

"Of course!" Sarah kissed him on the head, then turned and walked towards the bridge, closely followed by Hoggle, who kept glancing backwards worriedly.

"And tell thy brother that he shall receive safe passage too!" Didymus called after them. There was a short pause. "And you have my permission to cross the bridge!" he yelled frantically.

As Sarah stepped onto the bridge, she giggled a little. After everything that had happened to him, his greatest concern was still the silly bridge. As she crossed, she held her breath, but this crossing was far less eventful than the last. Both she and Hoggle made it safely to the other side of the bridge, then turned to wave at Didymus one last time.

"So, Hoggle?" Sarah asked as they resumed their walk. "Do you have any idea where we might find Ludo?"

Hoggle made a noise deep in his throat. "Not sure. He don't have much of any specific duty, like Didymus and me. But if I was to guess—"

He was cut off as horrible crashing noises sounded behind them, topped off with a high yelp of pain.

Sarah froze. Then she turned around, and walked back towards the Bog, slowly at first, then running as fast as she could. She dashed across the bridge, not even noticing how it wobbled. Her only thought was for Didymus.

As she skidded to a halt, her eyes surveyed the sudden devastation that lay in front of her. Her heart began to pound wildly. Somehow, in the last few seconds, every tree in sight had toppled to the ground.

She hurried towards the remains of the copse. At the sight that met her eyes, an anguished cry was torn from her soul. "Didymus!"

Author's Note: Wow. I updated. And it only took me, um, four months. I'm so sorry that it took so long, but y'all know how real life is. Damn you, real life! And can I just say that I love Didymus a whole lot? Because after Jareth, he's my second favorite character in the movie. Let's just hope that my next update doesn't take me nearly as long...though knowing what I now know about what's about to happen, I doubt that it will. Thanks for reading!