Disclaimer: See Chapter 1
Memory Lane
Chapter 3
In one instant, they had gone from Sarah's room to another place entirely. Sarah looked around in a daze. There was a huge and elegant four-poster bed that took up much of the space in the bedroom. The walls were made of stone and there were very ornate rugs covering the ground. There were two large mirrors surrounding an elaborate wooden armoire, and one giant window off to the side.
Sarah slowly walked to the window and gasped at what she saw outside. It was a perfect view of the Labyrinth and the surrounding lands. It was summer, the middle of the day, and at this height the wind was cool and comforting. She knew instantly that she was in Jareth's castle.
She placed a shaky hand on the wall beside the window as she looked outside. There were so many conflicting emotions filling her up. Her eyes filled with tears. She was so happy to see it again, so happy to be here in this place.
"Sarah," Jareth called to her.
That's when her stomach dropped. In her desperation to make it here, she had given him all the power.
She turned to face him, and couldn't help but sniffle as she did so. A look of concern flickered across Jareth's face, but was soon replaced with an authoritarian one.
"I had forgotten just how beautiful it was," Sarah said, her voice almost a whisper.
"Thank you," Jareth said as his eye-lids drooped a little. He looked genuinely complimented.
He strode elegantly over to the bed and then held out a hand for her. The sight of him doing that made her breath hitch and her stomach fill with butterflies.
"What do you want?" She asked.
"I want you to come to me," He said.
"Why? Why by the bed?" She asked, a slight tremor in her voice.
"I can't very well enter your mind while you're awake." He said.
"I don't want to do this," Sarah said, trying to make her voice sound as strong as she could.
"I'm afraid you don't have a choice, precious." Jareth said and then made a motion with his hand for her to come.
Sarah suddenly felt the wind kick up behind her, and she was pushed by it over to Jareth.
"Don't do that!" She cried once she was standing right beside him. He simply chuckled at her.
"I'm happy to see that you haven't lost your strong will. What a pity that you no longer have any power to back it up." He said.
Sarah clenched her fists and scowled at the happy Goblin King.
"Now lay down," He said.
Sarah took a deep breath and got into the bed, which was very soft and comfortable. She lay down on her back, staring up at the Goblin King.
"What now?" She asked.
"Shh," Jareth hushed her and then swept his hand down her face. She instantly fell asleep.
Sarah awoke standing. She instantly recognized this place as the dark oubliette which she had fallen in during her first journey. Just as she was about to take a step, Hoggle and, to her great surprise, she herself walked by.
"What?" She said aloud.
"This is your memory," Jareth said as he appeared behind her.
Sarah gasped and turned to him.
"My memory?" She asked.
Off in the distance she could hear a rockface wall groan,
"Don't go on!"
Then another,
"Go back while you still can! This is not the way! Take heed, and go no further. Beware! Beware!"
Sarah stood in shock and watched as Hoggle explained to a much younger version of herself that these were the false alarms, and that she would see more of them when she was on the right track.
"Did these ever fool people?" Sarah asked, motioning to the rock face as she jogged to keep up with Hoggle and the younger version of herself.
"Many times," Jareth replied coolly.
A crystal rolled past them then, and Sarah knew exactly what it was. She laughed as the crystal followed right behind her younger self, suddenly giddy over reliving her favorite memories.
"That's you!" She said happily to Jareth, whose look of irritation instantly brought her down a peg.
An older version of Jareth, though one that still looked exactly the same as the current, appeared behind Hoggle and Younger Sarah.
"What have we here?" Memory Jareth said to the two.
"Ah, nothing," Hoggle said.
"Nothing? Nothing?" Memory Jareth said and then swept around to show himself.
"Your majesty! What a nice surprise!" Hoggle said, looking suddenly very scared and nervous.
"Hello, Hedgewart." Memory Jareth said to him.
"Hogwart," Younger Sarah corrected him.
"Hoggle," Hoggle said, correcting them both.
"You seemed so surprised that Hoggle was helping me. When other people ran your Labyrinth, didn't they ask any of the creatures for advice?" Older Sarah asked, turning back to the current Goblin King.
"Unfortunately they didn't have your charms," Jareth said with a sly grin as he passed her by.
"How are you enjoying my Labyrinth?" Memory Jareth asked to Younger Sarah.
As soon as the question was asked, everything went milky white for a second.
Older Sarah looked all around, confusion evident on her face.
"What was that?" She asked to the current Goblin King.
"It looks like we have our first foot note," Jareth said.
Sarah watched her younger self for a second, as the girl thought of a way to reply to the memory version Goblin King. She was staring at him, and it was obvious that at first she was scared but then quickly changed her mood to one of defiance. Older Sarah remembered that was the moment when she realized she wanted to play with the Goblin King. She didn't want to give him any satisfaction.
"What's a foot note?" Older Sarah asked as she watched the memory play itself out.
"It means you've thought of this moment several times. You've altered it in your mind." He said.
Older Sarah's eyes widened in horror then. She knew exactly how she'd altered the scene.
"Let's take a look – shall we?" Jareth said suddenly and raised his hand.
"No!" Sarah yelled just as he snapped his fingers.
The world went perfectly, blindingly white, and when things refocused they were in the same place as before, only now the scene had altered itself slightly.
Younger Sarah suddenly looked a lot more polished. Her wrinkly peasant shirt was now clean and white, and clung to her in a very alluring way. Her hair, which in reality had been frizzy and tangled due to all the running around, was now silky and tame.
"How are you enjoying my Labyrinth?" Memory Jareth asked the now more stunning Younger Sarah.
Younger Sarah did not look scared at all this time around, in fact she looked calm and relaxed. She took a purposeful step towards Memory Jareth, and got right up in his face.
"Very much," Younger Sarah said seductively.
Older Sarah took a nervous glance over at the current Goblin King, who was watching the new exchange intently.
"Stop this! This won't help you!" Older Sarah commanded the current Goblin King. He just held up a hand as if to silence her.
"How are you enjoying watching me run your Labyrinth?" Younger Sarah asked him and then laid a hand on his chest.
Older Sarah clapped her hands over her face in embarrassment. She wished she could crawl into a hole and die. Unfortunately, just because she couldn't see things anymore didn't mean they had stopped.
Memory Jareth covered Younger Sarah's hand with his and with a lustful expression began to close the distance between them.
The current Goblin King's eyes widened as he watched what was unfolding in front of him.
"I wish we could go back to my original memory," Older Sarah said in frustration.
To her great surprise, the white flash happened again.
"Then how about upping the stakes!" Memory Jareth said.
"That's not fair!" Younger, less sexy Sarah whined to him.
Older Sarah sighed in relief and fell against the wall.
"How did you do that?" Jareth shouted to her.
"I-I don't know." Older Sarah said sheepishly as Jareth stalked over to her.
"You should have no power!" He yelled at her.
"Well it turns out that I do!" Sarah yelled back, getting right in his face.
Jareth narrowed his eyes as he looked down on her.
"It's my mind, why wouldn't I have power here?" Sarah asked. Jareth seemed to consider her words, and after a few nerve-wracking moments his expression became less threatening.
"Good point," He said and took a step back. "You do continue to surprise me."
Sarah smiled triumphantly and took a step away from the wall.
Before her, the current Goblin King started to fade.
"Mind the cleaners, precious." He said before completely disappearing.
Older Sarah's eyes widened in horror and she turned to the part of the room that she had been ignoring only to find the cleaners were suddenly bearing down on her. She turned to run in the direction her younger version had, but slipped in her flimsy ballet shoes and went toppling down. She turned back in horror and shrieked just as the cleaners came upon her. She shielded her face and braced herself, but nothing happened. She opened her eyes, her whole body quaking with fear as the cleaners passed right through her as if she were a ghost.
"W-what?" She said.
She got up and turned to see the back of the cleaners, which was just two goblins peddling. She could hear the Goblin King laughing, but couldn't see him anywhere.
"That was entertaining," Jareth said. "But let's move on to something else, shall we?"