The Goblin King slowly, carefully inhaled through his nose and began massaging his temples. This was not going well. All of the passages to the Above that were near Sarah's home were still blocked, bouncing any messages or goblins Jareth had attempted to send right back into his throne room. The goblins thought it was great fun and were now doing it on purpose.

Even Hogbrain had been unable to reach Sarah; the call simply echoed back. Absolutely nothing from the Underground could touch her.

Jareth knew from (very frustrating) experience that even if he was called to her vicinity in his role as Goblin King, he would be confined to that call, unable to explore in order to find her. Not long after Sarah's run, a young neighbor, having heard Sarah play-acting in the park, had wished away his hamster when it piddled on his homework. Jareth had arrived to find a boy of about ten panicking about his soggy Math homework that was due the next morning. Jareth had managed to convince the boy that, no... he was not hallucinating, and yes.. the hamster would become one of them forever unless the boy ran the Labyrinth for it. The boy declined to run, asking only that the goblins take good care of Fluffy, and accepted his dreams instead. Dreams that included non-piddled-on homework.

Afterwards Jareth had tried to leave in owl form to go seek-out Sarah, but had been brusquely detoured back to the Underground.

Finally years had passed without the slightest contact and the Goblin King had resigned himself to his plight, but Sarah's dream had given him new hope.

That hope was not willing to be squelched again. He must find a way.

...

After Carla and Tina had left to get lunch, Sarah was eating her turkey sandwich at her desk, still thinking of His Royal Glitter Pants.

Seriously? she scoffed, disgusted with herself.

She had managed to not think about him (much) for almost nine years, and one little dream managed to have him on her mind 24/7?

He's a villain! she scolded herself. He said so himself, I should not be daydreaming about my childhood nemesis!

Even if he is supremely good looking? her inner voice teased.

Sarah rolled her eyes, and had just finished the last bite of her sandwich when she saw movement in her peripheral vision. She almost choked when she saw that it was coming from within her paperweight. Her crystal paperweight.

Maybe it had just been a reflection... from the window? she looked outside, but all she could see were tree tops and blue sky.

She held her breath as she picked up the sphere to look closer...

...and found herself gazing upon said Royal Glitter Pants, lounging on his throne, surrounded by a gaggle of rowdy goblins.

She almost dropped the crystal.

Scrounging up her courage she looked again and noticed that he didn't seem to sense her watching. He was just tapping his riding crop on his thigh, seemingly absorbed in thought. He was dressed rather casually (for him), in a cream open-necked pirate shirt and overly snug brown leather breeches tucked into heeled boots. He seemed completely oblivious to the chaos around him - and chaos it was. The goblins had set up a makeshift catapult and were using it to launch themselves at what looked like a hole in the wall. But instead of passing through the hole, they bounced off, like a vertical trampoline. They didn't always hit the target though - those unlucky goblins slid down the wall, dizzy, before staggering over for another try.

Suddenly the Goblin King looked around suspiciously and then made a crystal appear in his hand. Her perspective shifted; she found herself looking him directly in the eyes, which widened in surprise, and then his trademark smirk appeared.

She did drop the crystal this time.

She fumbled, caught it, and shoved it in a drawer.

"I must be imagining things!" she placed a hand to her chest and tried to calm her breathing.

She'd just been caught unintentionally spying on the Goblin King!

Okay, so maybe it had been a bad idea to keep that crystal. Damned nostalgia!

She really was beginning to feel uneasy; either her teenage fairytale fantasies were real, and invading her life, or she was going crazy.

…

Jareth positively grinned.

So Sarah had kept a crystal? It was curious that it had remained dormant until now. At any rate, the look of shock and blush of embarrassment on her face had been priceless.

Now, how to use this new information to his advantage?

...

Authors note

I'm sorry it took so long to get this chapter out, but there is a reason, I got a beta reader! Yayy!

The first chapters have already been revised (don't worry, nothing drastic, dialogue almost unchanged, mostly grammar corrections and fleshed out the descriptions a bit.)

Thank you Guest 2019, mae-E and IslandOwlArcher for reviewing! :)

I don't own Labyrinth :(