The lavishness of the ball seeped through the opening door. Could there be anything more grander? Sarah had been to many parties in her life but none of them came anywhere to the glamour of this one. Chandeliers were gloriously suspended from the ceiling illuminating the dancers who gracefully paraded across the floor. They wore magnificent regal costumes as they intimately serenaded their partners. Everyone wore masks and costumes making it harder for Sarah to spot Jareth. She darted her eyes around every corner of the room but there was no sign of him.

"We'll look this way Sarah" said Hoggle, as her friends made their way through the crowd.

Sarah made her way forward trying not to disturb any of the dancers. The dancers turned their nose up at her whenever they saw her which made her feel even more uncomfortable about the way she was dressed. She felt like an ugly duckling in a flock of beautiful swans with her modern day jeans and black halter neck top. In the real world she would have looked a treat but in the Labyrinth she looked incompatible. Still, to her unawareness the beauty and innocence of her visage outshined every single one of the dancers in the room. For many of them, behind the masks, were much older and much uglier. Sarah looked at the dancers with awe and envy. She wished she could wear a beautiful dress like the female dancers and have Jareth serenade her like he did five years ago. Only this time Sarah would welcome his words and finish the night that was left incomplete all that time ago.

She bustled through the dancers trying to find him, but as she knew from the last time. Jareth was a hard man to pin down. The only thing she could really do was stay in one spot, in hope that he would find her, so she stood out of the way against a back wall as her eyes continued to search the room.

Eventually a man came behind her and put his arms intimately around her waist while kissing her neck. Sarah delightfully jumped around ready to leap in the arms of her true love, but was truly disappointed when she saw it was Devon that so warmly greeted her. His devilish smile and rude manner made Sarah realise just why she ended their relationship. No matter how nice he could be, his evil streak always seemed to overpower him.

"Hey Sarah" he said scornfully.

"Devon what are you doing here" she said in the most disinterested voice.

"I was invited. You do remember that I am fay don't you." he said patronisingly.

"How could I forget" she said recalling how earlier he almost killed her.

"Hey, let's just forget about earlier" he said. "Come on, you still owe me a dance."

He grabbed Sarah's hand and put in on his shoulder as he tried to hurl her around the dance floor.

"Get off me" she said as she pulled away.

"Oh whatever, I forgot how boring you could be" said Devon as he walked off, moving on to the next poor woman who he harassed.

Sarah took no interest in what Devon was doing as she finally found who she was looking for. Jareth stood their chatting and smiling. Sarah smiled as she watched his charming persona leak through the atmosphere. There was no doubt that she wanted to be with this man. It seemed like all the other creatures and fay's worshipped him. They surrounded him as he charmed them with his jokes and words. Sarah noticed that his main attention was being given to a beautiful woman who was grasping hold of his arm. Sarah oozed with jealousy as he whispered words in her ear which seemed to make her laugh. But she knew that he was only with the woman to take his mind off her. Jareth took the woman by the waist and started dancing with her. Sarah knew that she had to day something now before he disappeared again.
"Jareth!" she shouted, and looked around realising that half the room had heard her.

"Sarah?" Jareth said surprised to see her as he stopped dancing. "What are you doing here, you should be back home where you belong."

"But I don't belong there" she said. "I belong here…in the Labyrinth. And I've known that my whole life. I was just too stupid to realise."

"Sarah…" he sighed. "You don't belong here, the only reason you think you do is because of me. Do you really think that your silly little red book was given to you by destiny. Of course not, I bestowed that book upon you like a curse. So that one day you will wish to come to the Labyrinth, and you'd depend on it like it was the only thing that mattered in your life. So you do not want to be here, you do not need to be here and you certainly do not BELONG HERE!"

Jareth turned back to the dancer he was with and grabbed her round the waist to continue dancing. Sarah was shocked by what he had just said, but she didn't care. For she had done many bad things in the past just as Jareth had done. But none of it mattered now. All that mattered was Sarah loved Jareth and she knew he felt the same way.

She walked after him and pulled his arm off the dancer.

"Look, I don't care about anything that's happened in the past. I don't care about any curses or spells you have cast on me, or I don't care that I defeated you and turned you into an owl for five years. But I do know that I am not under any spell now. I feel more real and true than I have ever felt before. And I may be cursed. But it's the curse of love. And that's a curse that nobody can give or take…I love you Jareth. And I'd do anything for you. I'd fear you, love you and do as you say and still you wouldn't have to be my slave…I'll let you rule my heart. So what do you say?"

Jareth looked at Sarah's pleading eyes. All he ever wanted was for her to declare her love to him. And now she had done it. But all Jareth could feel was guilt. This girl once had a life. She had a family and friends and she was happy. But looking at her now, with such a sad love deep in her eyes. He had made her into a broken soul. A girl that once was stubborn and strong was pouring her little heart out, cowering before him. And he could either take her and love her, or set her free.

"No" he said coldly.

"What?" Sarah said as she began to cry.

Jareth turned his back to Sarah.

"I said no" he said. "I don't love you" he said sternly as he walked off with the dancer girl clutching his arm. Sarah could not see that Jareth's face was suffering from his harsh words. It clearly took courage for him to say that to a girl he really did love. Sarah watched in agony as he walked away with another woman. She really thought that he loved her. Tears flooded down her face. She couldn't stop herself from whimpering as Jareth disappeared out of her sight. Her hands shook as they covered her weepy face in an attempt to conceal any dignity she had left from the glorious dancers. It was too late. The already pointed and laughed at her. Hoggle and Sir Didymus found her and dragged her to a chair in a quiet corner so she could calm herself down.

"What 'appened" said Hoggle.

Sarah did not answer. Instead she stood up and made her way to the door as they followed. When she reached the door she decided to turn around to take one last look at the world she was going to leave behind. There was no sign of Jareth. But she did see Devon. And he was holding something. It was a knife, a very sharp knife! His face reeked with revenge as he looked around the room. Sarah knew who he was looking for.

"Oh know" she said.

Hoggle and Sir Didymus looked at each other.

"He's going to kill Jareth."

Sarah ran back into the dancehall trying to find Devon so she could stop him.

Hoggle and Sir Didymus followed as they shouted after her.

"Wait Sarah!" they shouted.

She pushed through the dancers hasitly not caring what they thought about her anymore. Jareth may not have loved her but she cared about him too much to let him get killed. There was no way she was going to let Devon kill him.

Meanwhile Jareth was still dancing with the woman he was with. The woman seemed very happy, dancing away with this handsome man, but something was troubling Jareth. He stopped with a saddened look on his face, like he had just realised something that he should have done.

"What is it" the woman asked confused.

"I do apologise Francesca but this isn't working." he said quietly.

"Why is something wrong, don't you like me" she said.

"No there is nothing wrong with you" he said. "But I am in love with someone else…and I'd be a fool to let her go."

Jareth kissed Francesca's hand before he walked off to look for Sarah.

Sarah finally found Devon. She knew that his temper was not to be messed with, so she decided that the best way to deal with him was to be sly.

"Hi Devon" she said as he turned around in surprise. "You know what, I will dance with you."

"Really!" he said gleefully as he took Sarah's hand and they paraded across the floor.

Sarah knew that Devon wasn't the brightest of fay's but she couldn't believe that he was stupid enough to fall for that.

"Sarah?" said Jareth as he stood their watching her and her ex-boyfriend dance together.

"Jareth?" she said in surprise as they stopped dancing.

"Jareth!" said Devon angrily. He walked forward towards him while putting his hand in his pocket to reach out for his knife.

"Run Jareth!" screamed Sarah. "He's gonna kill you!"

Jareth ran off.

Devon looked at Sarah.

"You bitch!" he shouted as he punched her making her fall unconscious on the floor. Everyone in the ballroom gasped.

Devon ran after Jareth with a vow to destroy him.

A/N - Ooh will Devon kill Jareth, will Jareth kill Devon. Will Sarah get to kill anyone. Will Jareth and Sarah ever finally both admit that they love each other at the same time. Or is this story doomed to the end. You'll have to wait for the next chapter to find out won't you. Updates will come soon. ---- Tell me what you think! Be honest!! But not too honest!

P.S. I'm not stupid. I did not spell masquerade wrong. It is suppose to be a blend of masquerade and massacre - did anybody get that. No? Damn it.