Disclaimer: The world of Labyrinth and all its characters belongs to the late, great Jim Henson. I'm just having fun, and 'wishing' a certain Goblin King really did belong to me

A/N Yeah for snow days! It meant I could finish this chapter much sooner than I hoped. It's a bit shorter than the others thus far, but I liked where it ended. Let's hear it for the return of GK in all his cruel, arrogant glory!

Chapter 3

Return of the Goblin King

I was surprised to realize I'd fallen asleep as I opened my eyes to a darkened room. A glance at the microwave clock told me it was well after seven, meaning I'd dozed away the better part of an hour. I stretched stiffly from the couch and tried to catch my bearings, placing a hand to my chest as another surge of uncomfortable heat roiled under my skin. Maybe I'd pulled a muscle? Either that or I was going to have to invest in some Rolaids and stat.

The room had a slightly ominous feeling to it in the early hours of evening, almost as if someone was watching me. I shivered slightly at the cold rush along my spine and reached over to turn on the lamp plugged in by the bed, before digging into the nearest box to begin the long process of unpacking.

I'd just finished unwrapping my set of crystal figurines when a streak of lightning flashed across the sky so near the building that I felt the hairs on my neck stand up and the smell of ozone seemed to crackle through the air. I pushed aside the curtain of my new, dusty window and observed thick clouds blanketing the fading rays of twilight in tones of deep purple and gray. The night felt alive and nearly sinister. It was enough to make one believe magic was real and darkest dreams were possible.

I jumped and dropped the delicate statue I was still holding in my hand as a boom of thunder shook the entire building. A split-second later, the power cut off. "Shit!" I squeaked, my pulse beating wildly in my throat. I closed my eyes and focused on calming my breathing before laughing softly at my fright. "Talk about an adrenalin rush," I muttered, stepping carefully around the broken glass towards my dresser. Luckily, I had already unpacked one of my candles. It was my favorite. It smelled like jasmine and sandalwood – exotic and spicy – just like…him.

With slightly shaking fingers, I lit a match and tried to ignite the small wick. It flickered brightly for a moment before snuffing out in a sudden breeze. A shadow loomed on the wall before me with an outline of wide shoulders.

I spun quickly on my heels and had to grab onto the dresser to keep from dropping to the floor in shock. I gasped loudly, my eyes frantically searching over his imposing figure. He wore the same black goblin armor he'd worn on our first meeting - that first in a series of impossible dreams - his wild blonde hair and long black cape fluttering from the breeze of the now open window.

"You act so surprised," he stated, moving into the room and circling me while keeping his fists clenched at his hips. "It has been a long time, Sarah." His voice positively dripped with his arrogance, and a cocky smirk graced his lips. It was too dark to see his eyes well, though I could never forget their unnaturalness, or the intensity in which they conveyed his expressions. He was exactly as I remembered. This was certainly the most realistic dream I'd had in a long while.

"I must still be sleeping," I mumbled to myself. The room tilted, and my knees felt unsteady. I realized I was about five seconds from passing out in shock. This couldn't be real. I tore my startled gaze from him to notice I was still in my dingy apartment, and I could clearly hear the traffic on the street below. Definitely not the normal atmosphere of my Goblin King dreams.

"How I have missed you, precious," he took my hand in his and brought it to his lips. "These years have served you well. You are the very image of beauty. At last we can be together." His smile spread across his face.

"You're not real," I said flatly, trying to deny the ever-increasing press of reality. I pulled my hand from his and fled to the opposite side of the room.

"I assure you, I am very real." I jumped. His voice came from directly behind me. I hadn't even seen him move. I turned my head a fraction to see his disarming face mere inches from my own. His breath was hot on my cheek. I tried to step away, but one of his gloved hands wrapped around my waist and held me against him. My pulse pounded so forcefully I was sure he must have been able to feel it through his own body.

"It is time, Sarah," he spoke firmly.

"Time for what?" I asked, desperately trying to keep my voice steady.

He sighed impatiently. "To return to the Underground, of course."

"Wait, what?" I spun to face him, my voice filled with indignation. "I'm not going anywhere with you!"

"Is that so? What makes you think you have a choice in the matter?"

"I didn't summon you."

"Didn't you?" He cocked his head and regarded me with mock amusement.

"But...but you can't just come and take people…that's not how it works!" I spoke in rush punctuated by the even more frantic beating of my pulse.

"It is when they belong to me." He stepped forward, eyes blazing with some kind of heated promise.

"Excuse me?"

"You know very well what I speak of. This was the price you paid to have your brother returned safely." He crossed his arms and glared at me much like a teacher looks at an unruly student.

"But…but I won!" I sputtered, sounding more like a petulant child by the second.

"Did you? Well, I suppose in a way, we both won."

My mind refused to make sense of what he was saying. I did the only thing I could think of, deciding to play along and act my part. "I don't recall trading my freedom in the process."

"You didn't. You accepted your dreams," he smiled.

"You think my dreams involve you and the Goblin City?" I spoke harshly.

A shadow flashed through his eyes. If I didn't know better, I'd say he was hurt by my words, but his careful mask of superiority returned before I could think much on the matter. "Don't they? Tell me, Sarah. What do you dream about?"

I tried really, really hard not to blush. I swear I did. Sometimes trying isn't enough.

Unfortunately, my traitorous body's response seemed to please him. His lips twitched knowingly and he moved closer. A crystal appeared in his hand. I watched, mesmerized, as he made it roll across his fingers. The scene was eerily familiar. "No." I said flatly.

His voice dropped to a whisper so seductive it made my blood hum. "But my dear, I haven't offered you anything…yet."

I backed away from him until I felt my bed hit the back of my knees. I was seconds away from either dragging him down to the sheets with me or crying out in terror. Six years ago it had killed part of my soul to tuck away my childhood fantasies, and now the literal King of all of them was standing in front of me, claiming I belonged to him. I was really losing it this time.

"You really don't remember, do you?" He mused, though disappointment lingered in his eyes.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," I lied. For in fact, as he stood wielding his crystal, I did remember the dream that had sent my life in an entirely different direction with painful clarity. I remembered the crushing realization that my deepest, darkest desires were the stuff of make-believe and that once upon a time he had offered them to me in exchange for my brother. I had turned him down, hadn't I?

He stiffened ever-so-slightly and his eyes glazed over as if his thoughts were suddenly taken someplace else. A strange ripple of glittering dust seemed to resonate around him.

"What's going on?" I asked somewhat cautiously.

"Nothing to concern yourself with. Now, where were we?" He stalked towards me slowly. I had no choice but to sink down onto my mattress with him towering over me like the king he was.

He was so beautiful. I wanted so badly to reach out to him and pull him down beside me, but I couldn't. That thought alone should've been enough to convince me this was no dream. I'd never seen the point to deny myself before, why start now? I closed my eyes, hoping that by removing him from my field of vision, I'd regain the power I'd so desperately been trying to hold over my fantasies. "You're not real…" I repeated, my voice barely more than a whisper. Strangely, my continued denial made the uncomfortable pressure in my chest burn hotter.

"Enough of this nonsense!" Strong fingers grasped my chin and yanked my head up to meet his stare. "I warned you once not to defy me. What's done is done. I don't want to be cruel with you anymore, Sarah. It's not supposed to be this way."

"I'm so sorry to disappoint, Your Majesty."

"You would do well to remember your place, precious thing," his voice hissed in warning.

His term of endearment jabbed through my memory with all the comfort of a paper cut doused in alcohol. I leaned very close to him, steeling my gaze and speaking through clenched teeth, "All I remember is that I hate you!" I spat. "You stole my brother, sent me on a wild goose chase through the Labyrinth, adding plenty of nasty little surprises along the way, drugged me, and all for what?"

"What a fine little actress you are," he smirked cruelly. In that moment I realized my memories and faded dreams had never done him justice. Standing before me, his aura resplendent with his intimidating allure and power, he was very much the impenetrable Goblin King of my darkest fantasy. The look in his mismatched eyes sent a ripple of fear through my soul. He'd warned me once not to push him too far, but had I listened? I couldn't speak, could barely catch my breath, as he grasped my hands and pulled me to my feet.

"Those are fine memories indeed, if not wholly accurate." His eyes narrowed. "Fine. Enough remembering, perhaps all you really need is a little forgetting…"

Jareth's POV

Pain throbbed through my soul as she continued to deny the reality unfolding before her. I knew in some small part of me that it was only natural for her to continue to confuse what was happening now with her dreams, but her outright insistence that I was not real, and that she did not feel our connection, was more than I could stomach. Perhaps I would've forced her true feelings from her then and there, had I not been interrupted by the ill-timed summoning.

So she sat before me – the picture of wronged innocence dressed in the skin of a temptress – and flung her cruel accusations at me. It was as if we were standing in the ruins of the Chamber of Stairs once more. I knew her mortal realm would stifle her belief in magic, but I had not expected these years to relinquish the progress we had made at our last parting.

Not that it mattered. She had given herself to me with the bargain of more time, and I had agreed. Now that time was fulfilled, and she had willingly, if not consciously, taken a part of my soul within herself. We were one, never to part, and she could not deny her place by my side any longer.

I fought to control the rage swarming through my being as she genuinely cowered before me, perhaps for the first time in her young life. I did not need to see my glaring expression to realize I was just as terrifying as I'd always promised her I could be.

"Those are fine memories indeed, if not wholly accurate," I began, fighting to control my temper at her reactions and my nuisance at the call tugging my attention in a different direction. An idea which would solve both problems surfaced in my thoughts. "Fine. Enough remembering, perhaps all you really need is a little forgetting…"

Without a further word, I pulled her flush against me and tossed a crystal in the air. The room seemed to spin in circles before dissolving completely away as if it had been peeled back to reveal a new space. I felt her firm hand clench painfully around my arm in response to her abject terror at what was happening.

As quickly as it began, the sensation stopped. I released her from my arms with an unconscious flinging motion that caused her to stumble back and slam into a hard wall. I moved forward automatically to make sure I had not injured her, but stopped short at the mask of fury displayed over her beautiful face.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" She shouted.

I grinned cruelly. "Welcome home, Sarah. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have other business to attend to. I trust even you can stay out of trouble in this place. Until later, dearest." I bent to place a kiss on her cheek, forcing myself to maintain my stance of indifference as she tried to jerk her head away, but she was not fast enough to prevent my lips from meeting her skin. The flare of our joined magic resonated at the point of contact.

I allowed myself the smallest grin of triumph as I watched her cheeks flush uncontrollably, before stepping back to conjure another transport crystal.

"Wait! Where are you going? Where the hell am I? You can't leave me here!" She shouted with a mix of outrage and fear.

"Fear not, precious. You will see me again soon. Might I suggest you use this time to reflect on your past promises? I assure you, you will be quite safe here," I couldn't help but laugh at the adorable pout she wore. Changing my intent, I reformed the crystal I held and suspended it in the air above her. For the moment, it would cast a shimmering fall of silver light over the cramped space, but once I left, it would serve an entirely different purpose.

The fury melted from her expression, replaced by a look I had seen grace her face only once before. She looked as lost and broken now as she did the night I took her brother from her, before her defiance had given birth to her impressive bravado. It was almost enough to deter me from my obligation. I cursed internally as the summoning grew stronger. I had ignored it for too long and now it pulsed angrily through my body in fits of stinging waves.

I faded reluctantly from the small stone chamber with the flick of a crystal and prepared myself to appear in yet another strange nursery. I truly pitied the child that had to face me tonight.

A/N: Reviews are lovely and welcomed:)