Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing Labyrinth related. Zero. Zip. Nada. ;)

Alrighty, chapter nine has finally arrived, and with it, a whole bunch of brownies!

Mucho shoutouts to my beautiful and lovely reviewers: F. 78, Georgina, Guest, shm429, Kami74, A Gumshoe, black-heart-green-eyes, Jeni27, The Queen of Water, PugLover830, fanaticallyFictitious, and Honoria Granger! You guys make me so happy! Baskets of steaming hot brownies for you all!

I would also like to shoutout to these wonderful people: dragongarcia, ShadoMarked, Ember2010, PoisonIvy533, xFictionalMenRTheRealThingx, and Shadow Shauwna! For all oof you, I have tirelessly baked a beautiful brownie for your eating pleasure XD

Last, but certainly not least, I would like to thank all those who took time out of their busy day to read my story! Pick up a bag of brownie mix!

Chapter 9: It's Further Than You Think

"Princess, you're not going to like this..."

Casting a worried glance about the orchard, Sarah felt the cold tendrils of uneasiness flow through her veins. Focusing once more on the Goblin King, Sarah began to grow impatient with his aversion to answering her question.

"Jareth, just spit it out already! You're making me nervous. Whatever it is, I can take it." she said with false bravado.

Raising his eyebrows, Jareth seemed to size his champion up.

What was he preparing himself for? Never had Sarah seen him so unsure of what to say. He took a deep breath, and Sarah pulled her attention back to what he was about to say.

"Sarah, remember in the ballroom and how we kissed?"

How could she forget? Her first kiss and secret fantasy had been fulfilled at the same time in that ballroom. Somehow during that kiss, her heart had shifted, and everything in the world that she cared for seemed to be insignificant. It wasn't until the kiss was broken that she had remembered why she was there.

"Yes." Sarah answered, blushing furiously at the memory.

"Afterwards, you asked me whether or not it had been 'a big deal', and the answer to that question is yes, it affects the both of us greatly." Jareth's eyes softened towards her as he continued. "A kiss like the one we shared carries its own brand of magic. When I granted your wish to leave, I felt pain like I had never before experienced...the pain from you leaving my side."

Sarah stared at him in disbelief. "So that means what exactly? We can't ever be apart?"

The beautiful Goblin King raised a corner of his mouth in a small smile. "It means that fate has bound us together. In the Underground, things have a way of not always being what they seem to be."

Sarah mulled this new, startling information over. She should be mad, right? If he hadn't kissed her, she wouldn't be having these feelings for him!

The traitorous voice in the back of her mind taunted, 'Yeah, but you enjoyed it.'

Oh she didn't know what to feel right now! How could someone be feeling sad, scared, confused, frustrated, excited, happy, nervous, angry, and hopeful all at once without bursting?

"So, let me get this straight. If I leave you..or if you leave me...for any reason, it'll feel like knives are being plunged into our skull again? That doesn't make any sense!"

"Sarah. Think. I've already given you the answer."

Melodies from being in the ballroom ran though Sarah's mind at his words, and suddenly she thought she understood what he meant.

"As the pain sweeps through, makes no sense for you, every thrill is gone, wasn't too much fun at all." Sarah murmured quietly.

"Ah, you're forgetting the most important part." He spoke softly as he continued. "But I'll be there for you, as the world falls down."

Meanwhile...

In a distant section of the forest, a small fire flickered in the breeze. Dusk was approaching quickly, and the once sparkling trees now grew dull with the waning light.

Creatures were scattered around the fire, their once flamboyant red hair matted and brown with dirt. Some were missing limbs, but that was nothing new to them.

Once upon a time, their forest had been evergreen. Once upon a time, they had had no problems. It wasn't until that girl with the immovable head came and destroyed everything, that their section of the Labyrinth had begun to fall into ruin.

The leader sat closest to the fire. Proud of his gang for ambushing the King, his mouth was set in a vicious snarl as he thought about what to do next. The Goblin King wouldn't be waking up from that piece of fruit anytime soon, and they still had to figure out a way to reverse the damage done to the forest.

Hearing a rustle from the bushes, the leader's head swiveled towards the noise. A head rolled out from the undergrowth and began to address him.

"Boss, you know the ears we scattered throughout the Labyrinth?"

"Yes, what about them." he replied.

"One of them is picking up voices from the peach orchard. It seems that the King is awake..."

Eyes widening angrily at this bit of news, the leader egged his follower to continue.

"..and the girl is with him."

Smiling manically, the leader spoke.

"Good. Our first priority is the King, only he has enough magic to save the trees."

"And what about the girl?"

"When we snatch her up we'll throw her into the oubliette with the fox, dwarf, and the orange oaf. Then, we can finally take off her head."

Back in the orchard...

Sarah nearly melted at his sweet words. She wanted to let herself love him, but she was scared. Ugh. How could one look from him make her feel so vulnerable?

Lost in each others gazes, neither of them noticed the stray vines winding their way through the grass.

Sarah broke eye contact first. She was about to take a step closer, when her feet were yanked out from under her, and she was being dragged forcefully through the dense trees.

"Jareth!"

Looking back, she saw a multitude of vines snaking their way up Jareth's body, binding him.

Flipping her body over so that she was lying on her stomach and not her back, Sarah began to claw at the ground. Slowly, she started to feel a low ache in the back of her mind. A tear leaked out the corner of her eye as she anticipated the mind-numbing pain. Trying to turn over onto her back so that she could at least see where she was going, her head whacked into a gnarled tree and blissfully, Sarah blacked out.

Okay, so that was chapter nine! I know that I didn't really get to what I had wanted to, but I felt like this chapter needed to be written before I actually got into specific parts of the Labyrinth. Hopefully you all liked this! Next chapter is definitely going to be Jareth's POV (at least part of it). Please please please PLEASE review and let me know what you thought! You have no idea how much I appreciate them! ;)