***This is my little tribute to the memory of David Bowie who will always be the Goblin King. May he reign forever.***

Take note that I've fudged the timeline on when Sarah's original journey occurred for various stylistic reasons. In this story, Sarah's original trip to the Labyrinth occurred at the beginning of summer in 1996, NOT 1986.

I own my original characters and the precise order I put my words down in. The world and characters of Labyrinth will sadly never belong to me. I just like to play in their sandbox. I make no money off of this.

The knock on Sarah's door pulled her from sleep. "Sarah! Breakfast is almost ready," Karen called.

Sarah stared at the door blearily. "Thanks. I'll be right down," she called back. She rubbed her eyes while listening to the sound of Karen's retreating footsteps. What a strange dream… Her eyes landed on a charcoal-colored form curled up beside her feet. Not a dream then. She wasn't sure if she should be terrified or relieved. The goblin looked up at her with glowing amber eyes. "Good morning, Azu," she whispered.

Azu tilted his head and studied her for a moment before responding. "Good morning, Champion." His voice was gravely and deep, but lacked the nightmarish quality Marvok's voice possessed. She was grateful for that. She glanced around her room and located the others. Nessos was perched on top of her vanity mirror, more gargoyle-like than ever. Marvok was curled up in her desk chair, eyes closed.

Sarah stood and stretched. She was still dressed in the clothes she'd worn yesterday. Karen would definitely notice if she went down for breakfast in them. She'd have to change. She pulled pajama pants and a tank top out of her dresser. It's best if I look like I went to bed properly, she thought. She went to change her top and froze. She wasn't alone after all. Should she change in the bathroom? What if Karen or her dad saw her? She noticed Marvok staring at her with amusement. He chuckled. "Your virtue is quite safe, Champion. We are your bodyguards. Noble women are never unaccompanied in the Underground."

"We're not in the Underground!" she snapped. "I'm not some fairy princess and I'm sure as hell not accustomed to people watching me change!"

"Adapt," he said with a shrug. "I am not leaving you open to attack to preserve your quaint mortal sense of propriety."

Sarah sighed. She suspected that arguing with him over this pointless. Besides, it wasn't like the three goblins had anything resembling clothing on. Or any bits that seemed to need to be hidden by clothing for that matter. Maybe they're like reptiles and everything is on the inside? No. Don't even go there. She did not want to follow that thought train. Ever. They aren't even vaguely human in design. It's like changing in front of Merlin. My dog doesn't care what I look like naked and neither will they. With that firmly in mind, she changed into her pajamas as quickly as possible.

Once she'd changed, it occurred to her that she'd practically screamed at Marvok. It was a miracle that neither of her parents had heard. She remembered he'd mentioned something about wards to block sound. "Can my family hear me talking to you from outside of this room?" she whispered.

Marvok shook his head. "No. They can only hear you if you are specifically directing what you say at them. I thought it best to maintain some privacy. It would be inconvenient if they overheard you and decided you had lost your mind."

Sarah considered this. "So they can only hear me if I'm talking to them? Otherwise they hear nothing?"

"Not exactly." He paused for a moment before continuing, his face thoughtful. "A silence effect would be a poor long-term solution. If they never heard any sound from your room, that would seem strange to them. It would inevitably draw their curiosity. Mortals are never truly silent. Rather, the spell causes them to hear sounds that they expect and that seem normal to them. They will only hear what you say if it is directed at them or if you consciously want them to hear it."

Well, that's impressive, Sarah thought. He had clearly spent some time thinking about this. "That's really helpful. Thank you. That seems like it would be pretty complicated magic though. How long will it last?"

Marvok blinked at her thanks. He seemed startled by it. "You are welcome, Champion. It is permanent unless I dispel the effect. As for complexity, I suppose it would be for most. All forms of concealment magic come quite naturally for shadow goblins."

Shadow goblins, she thought. That's what they are. Good to know. "Well, it's certainly useful. It will give me a place where I can speak to you freely. Too bad I won't be able to do that most of the time. I'm assuming that people won't be able to see you?"

"Like all Fae, we are unseen and unheard by most mortals. Those with the Sight will usually be able to see us, as will some mortal magic users, but they will know better than to make an issue of it." Marvok said. He looked up directly into her eyes and she heard his voice echoing through her mind, "As for communicating with us, you can do that without speaking aloud."

Sarah gasped. Holy shit. They're telepathic. A horrible thought occurred to her. "Wait. Do you hear everything I'm thinking?"

Marvok smirked at her and shook his head. "Thankfully, no. We get basic emotional readings off of you and we hear thoughts that are very…loud. Basically, if you are screaming inside of your own mind we will hear it. However, you can learn to project specific thoughts to us. It will likely take considerable practice before it will seem natural to you."

That was a relief to her. At least, they weren't hearing everything that went through her mind. That would have been awkward. She would have to work on this whole thought projection thing. "Okay then. We can work on that after breakfast. I don't want Karen to send in a rescue party."

Marvok chuckled. "We will be accompanying you, of course. Do try not to panic." Before Sarah could ask what he meant, he seemed to melt into the shadow cast by the back of the chair. A second later, a slight weight settled onto her left shoulder. She turned and looked at him. He was less than half the size he had been. His tail wrapped loosely around her throat.

"You can shrink yourself. And…" Sarah gestured vaguely at the chair, "do whatever the hell that was."

"We can change our size to whatever is convenient for the situation. We can travel through shadows and merge with them. In a very real way we are shadows."

Sarah nodded. "Shadow goblins. Right. The name makes sense now." Sarah sighed and headed down for breakfast.

Karen had cooked an extravagant meal: scrambled eggs, bacon, fresh-squeezed orange juice, and her amazing blueberry muffins with whipped honey butter. Sarah's stepmother had always been an amazing cook, but Sarah knew that this was for her. She adored Karen's homemade blueberry muffins. Sarah gushed about how delicious everything was and Karen beamed at the praise.

Months of practice not acknowledging various Fae creatures made ignoring the goblins perched on the dining table easy. Marvok proved to be more of a challenge. She wasn't used to having a shoulder-goblin. About halfway through the meal, Sarah noticed Karen looking at her with concern. "Are you getting a sore throat, sweetie?"

Sarah blinked at her stepmother in confusion. "No. Why do ask?"

"You keep rubbing your neck. I thought your throat might be bothering you." Karen motioned to her own neck.

"Oh. It was just a tickle. I don't think I'm getting sick or anything." Sarah changed the topic as quickly as she could. She kept the hand that wasn't on her fork gripped tight against her leg. It was difficult to remember not to reach up and brush the tail around her throat. If this is going to be a regular thing, I should start wearing chokers, she thought. It'd give me an excuse to touch my neck without drawing extra attention.

Thankfully, Karen's lingering concern made it that much easier when Sarah turned down her parents' offer to go to the movies with them and Toby. "Normally, I'd love to go," she told them. "I just really want some time to kick back and relax before its back to the grindstone."

Karen told her that it was fine before her dad could say anything. "Of course, sweetie. It's normal to be a bit stressed out before you go back to school. You get some rest."

Sarah wished them a good day as they headed out before heading back to her room. The goblins refused her offers to get food for them, so she figured that she might as well get to work. She wanted to get the basics of this silent communication thing down before school started. It would be way easier if she could talk to them when she needed to.

Sadly, Sarah's first attempt at telepathic communication was an abject failure. Azu and Nessos actually shrieked. That was a sound she never wanted to hear again. Marvok winced and glared at her with annoyance. "It is unfortunate that you cannot do that to your enemies," he hissed. "It would be a most effective weapon."

"Shit. I'm so sorry. So sorry. I know I did that wrong. I…"

Marvok cut her off with a sharp gesture. He took a deep breath while rubbing his temples with tiny, clawed hands. After a moment, he looked wearily back up at her. "The blame is not yours alone, Champion. I have had limited experience dealing with mortals. Even as children, Fae have far greater control. Of course, they have the benefit of receiving magical training from the cradle. The ascension has granted you enough power that I forget that you have no such experience. Let us try something different."

Marvok motioned for Sarah to sit and she did. She really didn't want to do that to them again. He perched on her desk, his ruby eyes studying her. Finally, he told her to close her eyes. "Focus on yourself, Champion, on the core of your being. Feel your skin and how it separates you from everything around you. Know that this, alone, is you."

The liquid darkness of his voice lulled her into a trance state. She felt the borders of herself. Felt her separation from the world. It was a new awareness, but hauntingly familiar. "Good," the darkness whispered. "You have found your physical form and defined it. Now, look inside. See the fire burning within you, the heart of your power. Feel it pouring though you. Feel it filling you like an empty glass. Your skin, your flesh, is a container for that burning. Know that this is you. Your power. Your fire."

Sarah could feel it. Flames writhing just under her skin, swirling at the tips of her fingers and toes, crawling up the line of her back and dancing across her scalp. She was the fire. In her mind's eye she was a feminine silhouette crafted from iridescent ebony flames. Colors flickered through her darkness like jewels scattered across black velvet. A shimmer of violet. A hint of emerald. A whisper of azure. Her skin was just a mask; this is what she was. "I am dark fire," she whispered.

"Yes," the shadows agreed. "You have Seen the truth of yourself. Now, feel the cords emerging from that fire. Find the ties that bind us to you."

Sarah reached out with her senses, allowing herself to feel them. Thick cords of flame and shadow stretched out from what she now knew to be herself. She touched the strongest of them and she could feel Marvok on the other side. "This one binds us together," she told him. She touched another. "Azu." Her mental fingertips brushed a third. "Nessos." She kept searching, feeling the connections. She found a fourth and fifth, different from both those that linked her to the shadow goblins and from each other. "What…"

"Not now, Champion," the darkness told her. "Those are for another time. Focus on the cords that bind you to us…to me."

Sarah felt herself nod as she turned back to the cord that anchored Marvok to her. She could feel him on the other end, waiting. She grasped the cord gently with hands of flame. He would know that she had.

"Now form a thought that you wish for me to hear and cast it along that cord. Know that it will find its way to me."

"Thank you," she focused on the thought and sent it as instructed.

"You are welcome, Champion." Marvok said. "It will get easier with practice."

Sarah opened her eyes and blinked at him. If she focused, she could still see the binding between them and the ebon flames beneath her pale skin. "It should have been difficult to See that way, shouldn't it? You helped me."

Marvok gave a single slow nod. "Seeing the truth of oneself is challenging even for the well-trained." He shrugged. "Even amongst the Fae, some never master it. You are perceptive. You would have Seen in time. Sadly, time is a luxury we do not possess. If you are ever to take your rightful place as the Champion of the Labyrinth, you must survive the trials ahead. This form of Sight will help you greatly to gain control of your power. The blood binding allowed me to grant you the use of my perception. Now, you will be able to See on your own."

Sarah considered this. A question filled her mind. "I wasn't always dark fire was I? I used to be bright."

Marvok gave her a look that was almost remorseful. "No, Champion. You were not always dark. In binding yourself to us, the shadows have become a part of you. I had warned the Labyrinth of this. Though in truth, your energy was transformed far more than I had imagined it would be. This may be a result of your mortality. Human natures are more subject to change than those of the Fae. The brilliant colors of your inner self still shine, but the base nature of your power will never again be a thing of light."

Sarah looked into Marvok's glowing eyes. "Don't. Don't pity me. That girl wouldn't have survived. This one will."

Marvok laughed, the sound managed to be both vicious and kind. "Of that, Champion, I have no doubt."