DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANY OF THESE CHARACTERS.

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When Sarah woke up the next day, the first thing she saw was the distant sunrise. The second was the crystal on her nightstand. Suddenly the thought occurred to her: I promised to return with him some day. Though on second thought, she oddly found nothing wrong with that. It all seemed strangely fitting. She would have ever how much of this life she wanted, and then...Sarah couldn't deny that she desperately wanted her old dreams as well. She could never forget that place--never forget him--and the very thought of never being able to know either again had been maddening. No matter the things of this world that had gotten in the way, in the back of her mind, Sarah had never given up on her dreams. She had always returned to them.

And he would still give them to her. However, he was as elusive as ever on explanations. Sarah suddenly realized that so much of their talk had been an argument over her first words, that she hadn't asked him several things that she had intended to. But the fact that Jareth had allowed her to almost manipulate him was undeniable proof--of something. But Sarah could figure that out later. She didn't think she would see him again until she made the final wish.

She was dead wrong on that account.

"You're up early. Good."

Sarah whipped around, finding Jareth languidly draped across her corner chair. He was spinning one of his crystals around in an almost bored fashion.

"What are you doing here?" she gasped. And how long had he been there?

"Now is that any way to treat me? After I've gone out of my way to accommodate you?"

"I thought you couldn't come unless called!" she protested.

"I can't."

"But--"

"Someone has short term memory, it seems," he remarked nonchalantly. "You did call me. I haven't collected yet. Which means I'm free to come and go until I do so." Her face must have shifted into a look of horror, because he added, "However, I'm only here at present to say a few things which were neglected last night."

"Which are?" Sarah asked, somewhat relaxing.

"Since I'm being so generous--and I am, my dear Sarah," he added, as her face contorted once more. "Since I'm being so generous, I think we should agree on a few parameters."

"Such as?" she asked, then steeling herself for the catch, the trap.

"You said you wanted this life. Fine. However, I've been patient enough, now that I've found you.... No more than twenty years."

Sarah was surprised, but quickly calculated in her head. "Agreed."

"And should I even bring up the topic of marriage?"

Jareth obviously expected some sort of a rise out of her. "No," she said simply. "I won't be getting married. If I thought I would be, I would have never called you."

A look of surprise passed over his face, before his usual mask replaced it. "Well then," he said, rising, "enjoy your 'life.' And despite the convenient ability you've placed me with, I won't be dropping in on you all the time. I hope you won't be disappointed," he smirked.

"Why?" she asked suddenly, moving toward him. "Why all this? So easily?"

"Easily? You think everything I have done I have done easily?"

"No, I mean, why give me what I want, so easily?"

"Must I repeat myself, Sarah? I'll give you your dreams. But if this is what you want right now, you shall have it. And perhaps you need it."

"But that still doesn't explain why--!"

But he had vanished. In the distant sky, an owl was flying.

-----

Sarah began to notice owls, once she started paying attention. Flying overhead, perched on the tip of some tree, sitting on a far lamppost. She wondered how often he had been there before. But as the months went by, she saw him less and less. Finally, she stopped paying attention. And while she completely expected him to show up in full (since he hadn't "collected" her yet), he never did. She was relieved in an odd way.

Sarah went back to her life, and actually felt more normal than she had in years. She knew that it was odd to feel more normal, as her situation had become increasingly abnormal, but she did feel normal. There was nothing to obsess over or discover. And there was a faint sense of satisfaction in her knowledge of the future. Sometimes Sarah wondered what she had ultimately gotten herself into, but any other ending seemed oddly unsuitable.

-----

It was the fall of her freshman year, and Sarah was living in a small apartment just off campus. She was going to a college that focused on the arts, and was taking elective classes in drama and painting, as well as the required courses. Sarah was also taking ballroom dancing. She had a feeling it would come in useful someday.

She thought of Jareth or the Labyrinth surprisingly little, though she still kept the crystal on her nightstand. But Sarah had never looked into it for some reason.

On the whole, she had an average life.

There were several exceptions, however. Little things that happened every now and then, and usually at night.

Once when she had been leaving the library late after finishing a paper, a man had been standing round a corner. He had leered at her, before a horrified look passed over his face and he left, almost running in the other direction. But all Sarah found behind her was the library wall, covered with the twisted shadows of the trees.

Once someone had left her a single black rose on her dresser. There was no name and no card. But it had been five years since she had visited the Labyrinth.

Once when she had locked her keys in her car in a deserted parking lot, the car door had simply unlocked itself after a moment. She had been sitting on the ground with her back to the door in frustration, when she suddenly heard a click. And the car was open.

And then there was the time that the college had held a masked ball one Halloween, the first time that she had actually seen the Goblin King in years. Sarah had gone to the party dateless with several friends. Almost as soon as she had walked in the door, a man who was obviously Jareth had taken hold of her and led her to the dance floor, occupying her time during all the dances. But he never spoke a word, and when time for the unmasking came, he was nowhere to be found.

-----

And so college slipped by. But every now and then, a question would enter Sarah's mind: Why?

Why was her Labyrinth as it was? Why did she have his name? Why did he play these games with her?

And why did she not really care anymore?