The past few hours have been very enlightening for Sarah. She now knows almost everything there is to know about the Goblin King, from his favorite past time (flying) to his favorite color (indigo). She's even come to rather shaky terms about him taking wished away babies and what becomes of them when the wisher fails to negotiate the Labyrinth on time. However, one question still nags at the back of her mind and she's not sure how to ask it or if she should even ask it at all. She sinks deeper into the comfortable cushions and chews her lip in worry.

"What worries you, my love?" Jareth asks quietly.

Sarah looks up at him and is actually a bit taken aback. When did he move so close to her? She suddenly realizes it not him that's moved, but her. Unconsciously, she kept shifting her position to get more comfortable and in the process, ended up with them sitting next to each other. He is now close enough to stretch out his arm and wrap it around her shoulders, but instead, his hands rest in his lap. For a brief moment, she's disappointed. After giving herself a quick mental shake, she finally answers his question.

"There's something else I want to ask you," she starts. "But I'm not sure how you'll take it or if I even want to hear the answer."

"I said you could ask me anything and I meant it," he responds.

"Well, ok," she says nervously. "If I hadn't beat…solved the Labyrinth last time, what would you have done to Toby?"

"Every Goblin King has been named Jareth from the very first to me," he informs her. "I was planning on changing Toby's name to Jareth. He would have become the next Goblin King."

"But he's only a human," she states in confusion. "How could he be king if he's only a mortal? And how could he do what you do without magic?"

"If a child is brought here at a young enough age, and they stay here long enough they tend to absorb the magic that is inherent to the Underground, eventually becoming a magical being," he explains. "In fact, everyone who comes here absorbs a little bit of the magic into them, some more than others. It mostly depends on their convictions as well. A person who doesn't believe in magic before he or she comes here isn't likely to absorb any magic or at least very little of it. Since a child doesn't have any beliefs or convictions, they soak up the magic like a proverbial sponge. Toby may have not lived as long as a fey, but he would have lived a longer life than a normal mortal and he would have had magic."

"Oh, wow," is all she can say.

Having her sit so close to him has been a sweet torture. It has taken all of his willpower to keep from reaching out and pulling her to him. The fact that she has been the one moving closer, little by little, has sent his heart soaring in the clouds with hope.

She shifts again and moves another fraction of an inch closer. He's not sure he can contain his impulses for much longer. His arm itches to be wrapped around her, holding her to him.

"Does that mean Toby still has some amount of magic in him?" she asks.

"A little bit," he answers. "It's how I was able to contact him so that you could be brought here."

She glares at him for a few moments as the memory of how she got here is brought to the forefront of her mind. She's still not happy that in a very short time she will be nothing more than property to the monarch. He sees her face and his soaring heart feels like it's taken up sky diving.

"What happens if I don't love you?" she inquires.

"I could force you to become my royal consort. I still need an heir, you know," he responds truthfully. The anger and pain etched onto her beautiful features causes him to swiftly continue. "But I will probably find a place for you to live out the rest of your natural life where you can be as happy as possible."

"Do I have magic?" she questions.

He's not sure how or even if he should answer this question. If she knew how much power she really has, it could be devastating, not only for him, but for his world. She could easily use it against him and that actually sends a small shiver of fear down his spine.

She's watching him expectantly, waiting for the answer. Fortunately for him, he is saved from answering. Salvation comes in the form of a small ugly goblin bursting into the room through a door that had previously been unseen behind some of the drapes that are hanging from the ceiling.

"YOUR MAJESTY! YOUR MAJESTY!" the creature yells.

It runs across the room and then comes to a screeching halt in front of them, performing a very quick bow.

"Yes, what is it?" the king answers in an almost bored fashion.

"The red man, the lady that burns, the monster, the knight and the dwarf who used to work for you," it gasps out as quickly as it can.

"What about them?" he asks in a near growl.

"They have gotten through the gates and are in the goblin city!" it exclaims in nervous excitement. "They are on their way to the castle!"

"Is the boy with them?" the monarch inquires almost casually.

"No, sire," it answers.

Sarah's heart sinks to the someplace below the vicinity of the soles of her grubby socks. In the back of her mind, she had silently hoped that Hoggle or Hellboy or someone would have been able to get Toby out of the oubliette. Now all hope is gone, and in seventeen minutes she will become a permanent resident of the Underground.

"Then let them come," the king orders in the same tone of voice as before. "I have no interest in what they're after."

The creature performs another quick bow and scurries out of the room. Jareth turns his attention back to the woman next to him. The look on her face of utter hopelessness breaks his heart. His heart completes its sky dive right into the Bog.

For a moment, he thinks of retrieving Toby and bringing him here so that she could be free. But the fear of losing her again is too great, and besides the Labyrinth would be very angry. It wasn't too pleased the last time she left and it would be outright furious if she left this time. Of that, he is sure of.

"Would it really be so horrible to love me?" he quietly asks.

"A loving relationship is built on trust and respect, not resentment and fear," she whispers her answer.

He doesn't know how to answer that, so he stays silent. She moves back to her original sitting spot and curls up into a ball. After several minutes, he notices her quietly crying, he touches her shoulder, but she shakes his hand off. He lets his hand drop back into his lap and stares at it. Abe said that love gives you strength; he never said anything about it making you feel like dirt.

Another goblin comes charging in a little while later, stops short of its king and bows.

"Your Majesty, the red man, the lady that burns…" it starts.

"Yes, what about them?" Jareth interrupts in frustration.

"They have entered the castle," it reports.

"Very well," the king responds as he waves away his subject. "Leave them be."

The goblin bows again and scampers back out the door. Jareth stands and holds his hand out to Sarah.

"Do you want to say goodbye to Abe?" he asks.

She looks up at him with tears streaming down her face. She nods and then hastily wipes the tears from her face. Placing a shaking hand in his, she lets him pull her to her feet. He produces a crystal and throws it to the ground. A second later, they're in the now rather crowded throne room.

Abe is standing in the pit looking up at someone who's on the other side of Ludo and smiling. Everyone is staring at Abe and they don't notice Sarah and Jareth's arrival. Sarah can't see very well past her large orange friend, but she suspects that it must be Hellboy and Liz that Abe is looking at. Sarah glances at the clock on the wall. Six minutes to go before she needs to start filling out change of address cards.

"Touch him and you'll be returned to your world," Jareth informs the rescuers.

Startled, almost everyone jumps at the sound of the Goblin King's voice. Turning toward the newcomers, smiles light the faces of Sarah's old friends.

"MY LADY!" Didymus exclaims.

"SAWAH," Ludo happily cries.

"Hello, little missy," Hoggle greets with a smile.

Sarah pulls away from Jareth and runs to her friends. She hugs them without saying a word. She knows that if she utters a sound right now it will lead to more tears. After finally managing to disentangle herself from Ludo's hug, Sarah turns towards the pit and Abe.

He's now standing on the edge of the small pool with a puddle of water building up around his feet as the water slides off of his smooth blue and green body. She grabs him in a rib crunching hug causing his eyes to slightly bug out. He quickly recovers and gently returns the hug. When she finally releases him, her front is damp and he's slightly drier.

"Thank you," she whispers.

"You're welcome," he replies quietly.

She looks down and notices the now sodden bandages on his arm. Feelings of chagrin and shame overcome her sadness for a moment.

"Sorry about the goblins," she apologizes again.

"It's all right. I'll heal," he responds with a graceful shrug and a wave of his hand. "May I introduce you to Hellboy and Liz?"

Sarah turns around and gets her first good look at the people that attempted to save her. It amazes her that anyone would go through so much trouble for her, especial a couple of complete strangers. The woman, while shorter than Sarah, is very pretty but seems to have a permanent sadness deep in her eyes. Hellboy towers over Sarah with his bright red skin, sawed off horns and glowing yellow eyes that seems to contain something close to amusement in them.

"Hi," Sarah greats. "Thank you for trying to save me."

"You're welcome," Liz answers with a small smile on her lips.

"Hey, not a problem," Hellboy grunts. Suddenly he swings in front of him a fair sized burlap bag that had been hanging over his shoulder and hands it to Sarah. "Here, we got you a going away present."

He handles it so casually that Sarah isn't expecting the weight of the thing. When he lets go, she almost completely drops it onto the hard stone floor. As it is, the bag and its contents still hit the floor hard enough to make the bag grunt in pain. In confusion, Sarah quickly opens it and then gasps in surprise by what she sees.

"NO!" Jareth screams.

Pulling back his arm, the king quickly creates a crystal and throws it at Sarah. Before the orb can reach its target, Abe deftly catches it in midair and then disappears. Hellboy pulls out the Samaritan and aims it at the monarch as Jareth pulls back his arm again and creates another crystal.

"JARETH, STOP!" Sarah yells, stretching out her hand towards him and willing him to obey.

"ALRIGHT, QUEENIE, WHERE THE HELL IS ABE?" Hellboy shouts at the same time.

Jareth stands frozen, not moving a muscle, not even blinking and definitely not answering. After several moments of an immobile king, Sarah walks over to him, waves a hand in front of his face and gets no reaction. She realizes that he has completely stopped, and in fact, to her horror, he's even stopped breathing.

"Oh god, Jareth, please breathe," Sarah chokes out.

The king complies with a ragged and sudden drawing of breath into his body, but that is the only movement he does. Sarah watches for a few seconds more and then something dawns on her.

But what no one knew was that the king of the goblins had fallen in love with the girl…and he had given her certain powers.

"Get rid of the crystal," she orders the Goblin King.

The crystal disappears.

"Lower your arm," she commands.

He does as he's told, but that is all he does. His body still holds the stance like he's about to throw something even though his arm hangs by his side.

"If you promise not to try and send me anywhere, I'll release you," she informs him. "Do you agree?"

"Yes," he growls through clenched teeth.

"I release you," she says.

His body moves into a more relaxed stance. He glares at Sarah with a combination of fear, anger and sadness.

"I guess I do have power," she comments.

Jareth only nods.

"How much do I have?" she asks.

"Enough," he grumbles.

"Enough to stop you from sending me someplace so I couldn't go home," she snarls. "Do you hate me that much?"

"I don't hate you, Sarah," Jareth states quietly with a look on his face akin to the one he wore at the end of her last visit to the Underground.

"Well, you sure as hell aren't acting like someone who cares about me," she snaps. "I'm leaving now. And if you have any respect for me, then you'll trust me to make the right decision."

At this, Sarah turns and storms back across the room towards the Hellboy and Liz as the clock starts to chime. Sarah grabs the top of the bag and opens it enough to reveal Toby's hog tied hands and feet. Toby tries to protest his treatment, but his cries are muffled by the gag in his mouth. Sarah touches her brother, and in a cloud of glitter, they disappear.

Hellboy still has his weapon aimed at the Goblin King who's turned towards the window and is looking out over his domain. He's waiting for the Labyrinth's reaction to Sarah's departure, but surprisingly, none comes this time.

"Where's Abe?" the demon growls.

"He's up the stairs in the Escher Room," the king responds listlessly. "You have one hour to find him."

"No need," says Abe as he takes the last few steps into the room.

"Normally I'd ask how, but right now, I just don't care," Jareth barely utters.

"Give her time," Abe consoles. "She'll be back."

"How the bloody hell would you know?" the monarch snarls.

"Because he just knows," Hellboy replies as he holsters the Samaritan. "As annoying as the fish stick is, he's right. She'll be back."

Jareth looks doubtfully at the large red being as Abe collects his discarded gear off of the floor. He dons most of the items except the respirator and then comes to stand by his friends.

"Ready to go home, you big red monkey?" Abe asks, trying not to smile at the glare he's rewarded by his friend and failing miserably.

Liz and Hellboy both touch Abe and the three disappear in another cloud of glitter. Hoggle, Didymus and Ludo silently watch their king. Hoggle knows it's better to just get the punishment over with as soon as possible, so he waits. Didymus is expecting a commendation for their bravery, so he also waits. Ludo is just waiting for his friends to leave. Jareth looks at them briefly, and then with one final cloud of glitter, the goblin king disappears.