Jareth came to with a violent jolt, as icy cold water hit him in the face. He sputtered and coughed and had barely caught his breath before he was doused again. He opened his eyes a little and saw the blurry form of a man in an old fashioned executioner's mask standing over him with an empty pail.

"That will do" said a voice as the man stooped to fill a third pail. "Leave us." The masked man silently obeyed.

Jareth sat up slowly, wincing with every movement. His head felt like it was being beaten with red hot hammers from the inside and there was a searing pain in his side. He took in his surroundings.He was in a dimly lit room, bare and unfurnished except two rickety wooden chairs that had most certainly seen better days. One of the chairs was occupied by a figure mostly shrouded in shadows, but Jareth was nonetheless able to recognize Sameth. Jareth rose shakily to his feet.

"Jareth. Do sit." said Sameth, gesturing the unoccupied chair.

"I'd rather stand, thank you." Jareth said stiffly.

Sameth shrugged indifferently. "Suit yourself." he said.

"Now, you are probably wondering why you are here, and why you still have a soul, so to speak. Well, the answer is this: I have a proposition to make. But before I do so, you must understand two things.

I am a very bored man, Jareth. There is nothing entertaining anywhere in the realm of darkness and quite frankly, I'm bored to tears of it. But I am also a very lonely man. I am in need of a woman, but not just any one. I have set my sights on someone in particular, but I'll get to that in a moment.

Now, my proposal is as follows: your soul technically belongs to me. I could rightfully take it at any given moment if I so wished, as you must know. But I am willing to grant you full ownership of your soul if you are willing to play a little game."

"What game Sameth?" Jareth asked, growing suddenly wary.

"So glad you asked." Sameth continued.

"As I'm sure you'll recall, your labyrinth and your heart were recently conquered by a sixteen-year-old mortal girl."

Jareth stiffened. Sameth wouldn't dare drag Sara into this… would he?

"What you have to do to regain ownership of your soul is share True Love's Kiss with her. And I mean true love's kiss. You will have exactly seven days to do this. If, by the thirteenth chime of the seventh day, you have not shared True Love's Kiss, your soul is mine forever. If, however, you succeed, Sara's soul will belong to me… along with the rest of her exquisite self. You, on the other hand, will be free."

"You can't do that!" Jareth said incredulously.

"Oh, but I can." Came Sameth's cold reply. "You see, Jareth, in sharing a True Love's Kiss, she will have given you her heart and soul utterly and completely." He explained. "Since you owe me your soul, Sara's soul will then be mine.

It's quite simple, really," He continued, "It's the same principle that says if you owed someone a sum of money and someone else owed you a sum of money, the person who owed you would by default end up owing the person you owed instead of you, eliminating the unnecessary step: you. Only in this case it's souls that are owed."

"I refuse." Jareth replied resolutely. "I refuse your offer and I refuse to drag Sara into this. My answer is no."

Sameth's expression was infuriatingly amused. "Oh come now, Jareth," he chided, "Don't be the tragic hero. You can choose not to accept my offer and die a terrible death, or you can choose to play my little game and possibly keep your soul. Sara will either be sent back aboveground or she will live a life of luxury as my mistress. And don't forget will have the entire week to decide. So, which will it be Jareth? Will you accept my most generous offer, or will you die now?"

Jareth glared at Sameth with murder in his eyes. "You know choice has nothing to do with the matter." he growled. "I'll play your game, Sameth, but mark my words: I will have my revenge."

Sameth smiled a cruel smile. "Excellent choice." he said. "Just one more thing: the catch. You can make Sara fall in love with you by any means you deem necessary, but you cannot use magik on her and you will find yourself utterly unable to speak to her of our wager. And her dreams belong to me. Now you'd better be off to your Labyrinth. Have fun! And remember : I'll be watchig."