Solea: I know what you mean, but remembering the labyrinth from the movie, there didn't really seem to be that many places to live, and it was rather harmless, more like somebody's messy backyard than a dangerous trial. No ogres, no vampires, nothing really scary. I thought I'd elaborate a bit more on the labyrinth aspect and the inhabitants in the labyrinth than usual in fanfics, just to try that angle. And yes, more suckitude for Sarah coming up :-)

SnapeMoment: Yes, it was far too soon for her to swoon over him - he's still a villain after all. ;-)

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Hours later, as the first rays of daylight could be seen in the horizon, a tired, filthy Sarah found herself inside what could only be described as a mud maze! After the stone corridors, she'd walked through a maze made of nasty red thorn bushes, which had made quite a few tears in Jareth's cape. Then for a short while it had changed to tall thick bamboo walls, almost twice as tall as her, with a stone slate floor, which was really nice to walk on with her bare feet, so she'd almost been running in there.

Now, tall yellow brick walls surrounded her, and the ground beneath her was only dirt and very wet dirt almost three inches deep! With every step she could feel the mud oozing between her toes and sloshing up her bare legs, and it felt cold and slimy. Worst of all, whenever she got a glimpse of the castle, it stills seemed as hopelessly far away as when she started. She was so tired, and she hated the fact that Jareth was probably watching her in one of his crystals and laughing at her.

Suddenly Sarah tripped and fell on her knees in the mud, splashing mud on her arms and face and soaking most of her clothing by breaking the fall with her hands. She was almost too tired to get up again, and started sobbing without trying to move.

"Are you hurt, my child?" a deep kind voice asked, and she gasped in surprise and looked up to see a huge lion standing right in front of her. She scrambled back in fear while getting to her feet, but the lion did not move or attack. In fact, it wasn't really a lion – its face looked very human, and a pair of big brown wings was nearly folded on its back to avoid the mud. It looked very much like a picture of a sphinx, she'd seen in a school book once. Behind the sphinx, a wooden door without keyhole or handle blocked the way, and she was very sure that door hadn't been there before her fall.

"Who are you?" she asked between sobs and tried to wipe off her hands in the dry part of her gown, while eyeing it carefully in case it was dangerous.

"I am the Sphinx," the creature said, "I am a guardian of the Labyrinth. And you must be King Jareth's bride."

At the mention of the Goblin King, Sarah flushed in humiliation and quickly choked back her tears. He was not going to break her!

"I am Sarah," she said proudly. "I bested the Labyrinth once, and I'll get through it again even if it takes me a week!"

"Yes, I knew it was you!" the sphinx replied happily and fluttered its wings. "I'm very pleased to meet you, I was so sorry you didn't pass my way the last time."

"Do you know the way through the Labyrinth to the castle?"

"Mmm, yes," the creature confessed, "but I'm afraid I can't tell you. The King has forbidden us all to help you find your way to the castle."

Sarah flushed in anger. "Forbidden?"

"I'm afraid so," the creature apologized and lowered its head, is if it really wanted to help her, but didn't dare. "You know, the Bog might be an old threat, but it still works…"

"But," it continued and looked up, "I can help you through this door to a nicer part of the Labyrinth!"

"Well, it can't be much worse, can it?" Sarah looked down at herself and grimaced. "Anything you can do will be helpful."

"The door behind me leads to two different places. If you guess my riddle, it will take you to the Rose Garden close to the Goblin City. If you make a wrong guess, it will lead you to the Sandstone Maze even further away from the castle than we are now."

"A riddle? Oh, I never was very good with riddles," Sarah confessed. "But very well, I'll try."

The sphinx cleared its throat and stood up in full height, spreading out its wings looking huge and magnificent, before its voice sang out the riddle:

"Walk on the living,
They don't even mumble.
Walk on the dead,
They mutter and grumble.
What are they?"

"Oh, it's one of those," Sarah said and started thinking. Walking on living and dead? Graves? Tombs? Living what? What made more noise in death than when living?

"You couldn't give me a hint?" she said at last to the sphinx, who was patiently watching her. "Just a little one?"

It shook its head sadly, and she inwardly cursed the Goblin King for his power over these creatures. She was completely blank, and finally shook her head as well.

"Nope, I give up – I'm too tired to think, and I can't imagine what the answer could be."

"Oh, I'm sorry," the sphinx said sadly and the door behind it swung open and revealed a small square surrounded by sandstone. "I hope you find a better way soon, Lady Sarah!"

It let her limp by and out through the door, which shut behind her and disappeared as if it had never existed. Sarah looked around in despair and found herself in a maze that looked like the same one she'd tried marking with her lipstick the last time. The castle loomed in the horizon behind her instead of in front of her as it had been just a minute ago, and it seemed even further away than it had at the entrance.

She sank down on a stone bench in the little square and buried her face in her hands as if to shut out the Labyrinth and its King. She felt cold and dirty and wet, and she was so hungry and tired since she'd walked all night and not gotten any sleep before that. And yet, here she was, trying desperately to get the castle and the very person who put her in this position.

It felt very strange meeting him again after all these years. She had been so sure she could never go back. That had been the worst part, she thought, having something that fantastic happening to her, and knowing it would never be matched by anything else she could dream up. Perhaps that was why she had turned to other activities, more normal for a teenage girl. She had left the Labyrinth stronger and more powerful, because she had bested him, so after that she had feared no one, and her confidence and self-assuredness got her a lead role in the school play, which was where she met her two best friends and slowly started to be drawn into the social life of High School. The old shy Sarah would have turned down party invitation and preferred to read or make fantasy costumes, but this new confident Sarah had given up fantasy, because it was so pale compared to her adventures, and she had thrown herself at other activities to leave the dream behind her.

Her fantasies of Jareth had been the hardest to quench. She remembered dreaming about him in secret for months after, thinking about what would have happened if she had accepted his offer to "fear him, love him and do as he said". Stories of love and 'happy ever afters' that had kept her well entertained, when she was particularly bored at school. Thinking back, she realized that the "fear me, love me" phrase was part of the false memory he'd given her – he'd never said that. Why had he even put it in the memory? Maybe he thought it funny if she would indeed fear him and love him as his wife… she shuddered at the mere thought. One thing was a fantasy – the real Jareth was something quite different with his strong overpowering presence and cruel mismatched eyes.

The stone bench was not comfortable, but as she sat there, it suddenly felt more and more inviting, and she lay down on it, arranging the remains of Jareth's cape under her head and across her shoulders to shelter her a little from the hard stone. Without meaning to, she closed her eyes and fell into a deep restful sleep.