Disclaimer: You all know the drill… I hope... If you don't, then you are stupid and should be shot. Haha. Just kidding! I don't want any of my readers killed even if they are complete morons! ; ) Labyrinth not mine.

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Labyrinth: the Dream Never Ends

By: Eriksleadinglady

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Chapter 5: And you always want a reason why

Sarah woke up the next morning, the sun shining in her eyes, taking her out of her sleep. She stretched her hands up above her head, sighing contently. The previous night had been informational, at best, having learned about Jouegh and the depth of the issues at hand. It was worrying to know that there was someone out there with that much power trying to gain control. She knew that there were some happenings like that Aboveground, but here, in the Underground, the people had magick and other powers that no one even believed in up top. She wondered what would happen if Jouegh did gain all that power. She cringed at the thought; he really would be unstoppable.

Swinging her feet over the edge of the bed, Sarah got up and walked over to the vanity. Her hair was a piled mess and her clothes were all rumpled. Grabbing a change of clothes, a pair of blue jeans and a plain white tee, she went over the bathroom and got into the luxurious bath like she had the previous day. This time, however, she prepared for herself a nice, warm bubble bath.

After only maybe fifteen minutes, while she was humming, she heard some footsteps behind her.

"Like the bath?" the voice said.

Sarah screamed as she grabbed as many bubbles as she could to cover herself. Luckily, there were enough to suffice. She turned her head around to look at Jareth, who was crouched on the floor, giving her a toothy grin.

"What are you doing in here?" she asked as she felt a blush rise to her cheeks at the way he was looking at her – eyes twinkling brightly and a mischievous grin on his face.

He shrugged. "You didn't answer your door. Naturally, I got worried," he finished with a twinkle in his eyes.

"Humph," she responded as she turned back to her bath and away from him. "Well, since you're in here, would you mind grabbing my towel?"

She heard Jareth rise to his feet behind her. "Certainly."

After he had grabbed the towel, she watched as he walked back over to her and placed the towel on his fingertips, offering it out to her. Sarah reached up to grab it, but found that it was out of her reach, unless, of course, she stood up.

"Jareth," she said harshly, "give me that towel."

He smirked delightedly. "You only have to grab it."

"I can't," she responded through clenched teeth, as she once more tried to reach it, but still couldn't.

"Just a little higher…" Jareth mocked.

As Sarah continued to try and grab at the towel multiple times, she said, "Stop teasing me Jareth! I want that towel!" At last she was successful and she grabbed the towel just as Jareth decided to lower it a bit. With a triumphant look in her face, Sarah delicately rose from the bath, careful to make sure that she instantly covered herself so that Jareth couldn't see anything. Once that was completed, she flashed a smile over at Jareth.

"There. Nothing to see here now."

Jareth bowed before her as he gestured to the door. "My lady."

With the smile still on her face, Sarah gladly headed to the door, her new clothes in hand. Once inside her own room, she stood in a corner as she waited for Jareth to come out. When he never did, however, Sarah went back to the bathroom and peaked her head inside, where she saw Jareth just standing there, looking at the giant mirror.

"Um, Jareth?" she called. Jareth immediately looked over at her, but did not move. "Could you maybe leave the room, so I can change?"

Jareth stared at her a moment before he turned his attention back to the mirror. "I'll just wait in here."

Sarah only rolled her eyes as she went back into her room, closing the bathroom door behind her. "He is so vain…" she whispered under her breath as she began to change clothes. Once she was done, she once more opened up the door to the bathroom and called for Jareth, who in mere moments, appeared before a fully dressed Sarah.

"So what do you want?" Sarah asked at last.

With a twinkle in his eye, he offered his arm out to her. "Care to go for a walk?"

0o0o000oo0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

They both walked out to the gardens that surrounded the castle. Jareth told her that these were his own personal gardens, and that only a select few were ever allowed in here. He showed her many things: the roses, the vineyards, the statues, and the many other assortments of plants that adorned his garden.

"And this…" Jareth said as they approached a tiny water fountain, "is the Fountain of Youth."

Sarah's eyes widened. "You mean… it actually exists?"

Jareth couldn't help but laugh at her ignorance. "Of course it exists!"

"But why do you have it if you are immortal?" continued Sarah, who was unfazed by the laughter.

"Well we couldn't very well put it Aboveground, now could we? You mortals would abuse the poor thing."

"I suppose that is true…" Sarah responded grudgingly. Then she turned away from the fountain, and looked farther down the hedges, wondering what else was out there. While looking, she saw a glinting in the distance a little ways down. She squinted her eyes as she tried to discern what it was. Slowly, she began to walk towards it, curiosity dragging her to do it like always. She wound her way through many towering hedges, trying to make it to the glinting object.

Jareth followed Sarah through the garden, curious as to what had caught her attention so fully. He too saw the glinting, but couldn't quite remember what it was. There were so many objects in his garden, that he often lost track of which object was where. So he contented himself to just follow Sarah to whatever lay ahead.

Now, as Sarah was still blindly moving through the garden, she thought that she knew what she saw, but was mildly afraid to find it. This situation seemed all too familiar to her, greatly reminding her of the dream that she had had on multiple occasions. She kept going and going, until finally she found the object. When she saw it, her breath caught in her throat.

There it was: the tiny little silver and gold tree that had haunted her dreams. Cautiously, she approached it, unsure if it would enlarge and attack her with its limbs. Behind her, Jareth too stared at the tree with mild interest. He had seen it before, but never on this scale, or so close.

Once Sarah was about a foot away from the tree, she turned around to Jareth. "What is it?" she asked, her voice anxious.

Jareth shook his head. "I can't say. I have seen it before, but never at this size."

"Is it regularly extremely large?" she wondered, although she guessed that she knew the answer.

He nodded.

Sarah closed her eyes; her worst fears had been realized. She turned back around, and knelt down next to the tree. Reaching her hand out, she touched the tree ever so slightly, just like in her dream; but this time, it was not hot at all, just a regular, room temperature.

"Funny," she whispered to herself. "It is usually so hot…"

"You have seen this before?" Jareth questioned, which caused Sarah to jump, for she had nearly forgotten that he was there.

"Y-Yes."

"But how?"

"In my dreams…" she replied as she still stared at the silver and gold item.

"Your dreams?" repeated Jareth, his voice commanding her that she tell him all about it.

Sarah nodded. "Yes, in my dream, I am searching for something. I see a glinting the distance, just like I did now, and then I run towards it. I find this tree, and when I touch it, it is burning hot. Then, the ground rumbles and the sky turns red. All the while, the tree enlarges into an enormous size and a face forms in the front. Then it attacks me and I can't escape… That's where I wake up."

Jareth's eyes narrowed, thinking about what this could possibly mean. What she described as the large tree, minus the face, was exactly what was in the middle of the forest, here in the Labyrinth. It was a giant silver and gold tree. Of course, Jareth knew what this was, nearly everyone did, but what this meant, this tiny little tree before him now, he had no clue. And Sarah's dream? That troubled him even more.

He knew that in order to get to the bottom of this, he would need to visit his library, or maybe even possibly an old friend.

"Sarah," he said. "I think it best that we go back to my castle now."

He watched as Sarah rose to her feet, never taking her eyes off the tree. She stood there for a little longer before she turned around and faced him. "Alright, let's go."

The walk back to the castle was taken in near silence, both of them thinking about what they had just seen. Sarah was distraught, but at the same time, curious as to why the tree was actually real. She had always just dismissed it as a silly dream concocted from her time spent here in the Labyrinth. The Labyrinth never really scared her, at least not like the tree had. The Labyrinth intrigued her and challenged her, but she never really viewed it as a harmful being. The tree, on the other hand, she viewed as a very dangerous thing to mess with. Even in her dream, when the tree scratched at her, she felt as though she could actually feel the pain as she would in real life.

When they finally got back into the castle, Sarah was dismissed to go back into her bedroom. At first, she had objected, saying that she wanted to know what he was going to do, but he refused to tell her and sent her to her bedroom, where he locked her in. After being locked in, Sarah had banged on the door, demanding to be let out this instant, but she heard no replies on the other side. Finally submitting to her situation, Sarah went over to the bed and slumped down in it wondering what the Goblin King had gone off to do.

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Once Jareth had locked Sarah in her room (which he did so that she would stay out of his way; he needed to think), he had vanished into thin air and then reappeared in his library. These libraries were his own personal ones, which he had used on multiple occasions. Now, he needed them in order to sort out this issue with Sarah.

Never before had the Labyrinth contacted someone in such a personal way. The tree in her dream, at least the enlarged one, was the Labyrinth. It was here, in the center of the forest, as that same tree, which was the area of all magical power. This was what had worried Jareth. The Labyrinth tree never entered anyone's dreams before; actually, it had never even associated itself with anyone. Jareth could guess that it had tried to contact Sarah, although it seemed as though it was attacking her. Since the Labyrinth had a primitive mind, it could not understand how to correctly talk with someone. So it had resorted back to its instincts and came at her as though it were attacking. At least, this is what Jareth assumed had happened.

In the library, Jareth pulled out a book about the ancient magicks and the Labyrinth, skimming through it to find the answers. He opened up the page to the History of the Labyrinth.

"The Labyrinth is an age old creature, whose magical power surpasses all. It is unsure as to when the Labyrinth came about, but it is certain that it was even before time, before all magic…"

Jareth turned to the next page. He didn't care about when the Labyrinth first came; he only wanted to know about contacts and run-ins with the Labyrinth. And if he were lucky, he would find information about dreams or prophesies.

"The source of the magical power of the Labyrinth is the giant silver and gold tree, shown on the left. This tree is the center of the Labyrinth magi, and is viewed to be its 'mind', in a sense. It is unknown whether or not the tree can interact with others; no cases have been reported.

"There is, however, a prophecy about what will happen when the Labyrinth does interact with another. This prophecy has the Labyrinth interacting with a human, so in many cases, the prophecy has been disregarded and discontinued in many books."

Jareth slammed the book shut. How could it mention the myth and then not even say what it was? His anger was growing by the second, and if he did not find that myth soon, he pitied the goblin that ran in to him next. Shoving the book back into its place, Jareth pulled out another book, which might actually explain the myth, titled Myths and Other Human Tales. Jareth turned to the pages headlined "Labyrinthine Tales."

"The Labyrinth is a giant mythical place, where faeries and other creatures reside. Its ruler is known as the Goblin King, who is fabled to take little children who are wished away and turn them into goblins. The person who wished away the child is given the opportunity to run the Labyrinth and make it to the Goblin King's castle. None, however, have ever completed the maze.

"There is a prophecy, though, that talks about the first human defeating the Labyrinth. Or rather the first human the Labyrinth helps him or her to the castle. This is that prophecy:

"The Labyrinth is an enormous entity the holds all magical power, and is ruled by a goblin King. When a child is wished away, they are taken here, where their 'special someone' is given the chance to save them. No one has ever completed this, except for one: a human girl. It is said that this girl who defeats the Labyrinth will be a certain link for power. What this power is, is unknown. But, it is said that she will be given aid, as well as access to unfathomable power. The only information about this power is this riddle:

Through the body, the whispers come

It travels through the dying one

Defeating it once, becoming it twice

The mortal will be the device

"That is all that is known."

It was then that Jareth knew that Sarah was this 'mortal'. However, he also knew that this would cause great trouble, as well as placing Sarah in deep danger. But what worried Jareth the most was that the riddle made no sense, and that even he did not know what he should do. What was the Labyrinth trying to accomplish?

After he placed the book away, he vanished into thin air and then reappeared in Sarah bedroom, where she was sitting on the bed, looking angry and rather bored.

When Sarah saw him, her eyes glared as she stood up and placed a rough finger on his chest. "You!" she said coldly as she shoved him with that one finger.

"Me…" Jareth said confusedly. Just where was this going?

"You locked me in here!" accused Sarah harshly.

"This is my castle, Sarah, and I may do whatever I please," he replied calmly.

Sarah huffed. "Well your hospitality needs some work! You can't just shove a guest into a room and leave her in there to wonder what's going on!"

Jareth thought about this for a moment, and then replied irritably, "I do believe I can, but if it troubles you so much, then I shall try to not do it again."

For a moment, Sarah was shocked into silence. She never expected the Goblin King to agree with her so quickly. To be frank, she expected a good argument, with yelling and shouting, but she never expected him to just… say that he wouldn't do it anymore. Pressing down her dress, she nodded her head curtly.

"Well," she said as calmly as she could. "I am glad that we got that settled." She walked back over to the bed and sat down. "But now, I would like to know where you went."

Jareth looked at her for a moment, with a faraway look in his eyes. Then he finally answered, "The library."

"Why?"

He shrugged. "Just to know what I'm dealing with."

"And what are you dealing with?"

"Just an ancient myth," he answered simply. "But I would rather not get into that right now. However, it seems to me that you have some questions pertaining to a certain brother of mine, and I shall let you ask those."

Sarah seemed a bit shocked at first that he knew what she was thinking, but once that wore off, she thought about what she wanted to ask. Before, while Jareth was away, she had many questions running through her mind. Right now, though, she forgot every single one.

"So?" asked Jareth, tearing her out of her thoughts.

She closed her eyes and thought long and hard. Then a question struck her. "The first time I was in the Labyrinth," she asked carefully, "which one of you did I deal with?"

Realization dawned in Jareth's eyes at the question he was being asked. "Ah yes, you want to know which one of us you were dealing with on the multiple occasions that we had run-ins." She nodded. "Well, I can say with perfect honesty that it was me every time, except for the breakfast." He frowned considerably. "That was my miserable twit of a brother."

Even though she had received her answer, Sarah was not satisfied. "But, when I met you before, you seemed so cruel, just like Jouegh was for the little time that I spoke with him. You two are similar in a lot of ways."

Jareth's eyes flashed briefly, but his cold mask as Goblin King was back in its place quickly enough. "The first time you came here, Sarah, your imagination took hold of you. In your books and tales, I was a villain: a mean and cruel Goblin King set out to take all the little children away and turn them into goblins. When you came here, you were expecting me to be cruel, you wanted me to be a villain, and so I was. I will admit that I am like that, in some ways, but I was only cruel because you wished me to be so."

"So when I came here," Sarah responded slowly, "how much of it was my doing?"

Jareth sighed. "Most of it. Many of your friends were morphed to fit what you needed. They are real, but they do not remember you. You changed their personalities as well in order to fit what you needed."

Sarah took a deep breath; this was nearly too much for her to handle. "If you remember me, then why do they not?"

"The characters in the Labyrinth are changed each time a new runner comes in to play the Labyrinth," Jareth explained. "Since they are taken advantage of so much, the Labyrinth makes it so that they do not remember any of the runners and what they did. But me, I have to remember, so I do not forget my job and all that I have done."

"Do any of the other "runners" ever make it to your castle?" she asked hesitantly.

"No."

Sarah narrowed her eyes. "But if they can all morph the Labyrinth into what they need, why can they not make it to Goblin City?"
Jareth laughed. "Because they are all dimwitted little children! They do not know what they need, hardly what they want! They all do not have such a vivid imagination as you do, Sarah. Not all teenage girls are able to look at reality and see what lies beyond it."

"Then what makes me so different?" Sarah asked quietly.

Jareth produced a wry smile. "You defeated me."

A/N: Yippee! Look at me go! Lol. Another chappie! Aren't you all excited? I know I am!

But I am going to be starting another Laby story soon, if any of you are interested. I think it is going to be a pretty original story… and it was inspired by true events that one of my friends did. And it made everyone really mad… but that's another story. So you all should go read it! It will be quite the ride!

So I hope you all enjoyed and I'll see you next time I update! Whenever that may be…. No just kidding! It should be pretty soon!

Much Love,

E. Ll