Once again, I borrow from Return to Labyrinth, this time with Moppet. This really is starting to turn into a redo of Return to Labyrinth, isn't it? But, you know... with more love for Sarah, and less creepy Jareth/Toby... whatever.

In a sleep-filled fog, Jareth reached for Sarah. But when his fingers touched nothing but cool blankets, he awoke fully and sat up. The lights in the room came to life, and Jareth looked around. No Sarah in sight.

A little panicked now, Jareth jumped out of bed and a dressing gown flew onto him as he did so. He went over to the wardrobe and saw that only her lavender dressing gown was missing, so maybe she hadn't been gone for too long. Jareth tried to swallow his rising panic, but it was hard, because, no matter how well that Sarah had been the past couple of weeks, wandering around alone in his castle could set her off again. He needed to find her to make sure that she wasn't having another seizure somewhere.

Jareth conjured up a crystal and skipped back to the point when they went to sleep earlier that night. After a couple minutes of watching them sleep, he saw Sarah get out of bed, pull her dressing gown on, and then she walked out the door into the hall and simply vanished.

"What?" Jareth whispered with confusion. He watched the scene again, and no… she just vanished. She didn't go out the doorway and leave the castle (as far as Jareth could tell), she literally walked out of the door and Jareth's spell stopped working at that point.

Now in full-on panic mode, and with good reason, too, Jareth teleported himself directly to his mother's castle, right in the middle of her bedroom. "Mother! We have an emergency on our hands!" Jareth boomed.

"Jar… what…?" Amael whispered as she sat up in bed. Jareth strode over to her bedside and thrust the viewing crystal in her hands. Amael watched the scene, and then watched it a couple more times just to be sure that she'd seen it correctly the first time. "This is bad. This is very bad."

Sarah jerked awake, and instantly felt exceptionally vulnerable and cold. Very, very cold. Her breath misted out in front of her, even from her nose. She pushed herself up into a sitting position and looked around. There was a very thick mist that prevented Sarah from seeing more than a few feet in front of her, but from what she could see, she didn't like it at all. Thick vines curled up pieces of once-beautiful pottery and statues, and blossomed dark flowers that were larger than Sarah's head.

A crow landed in a dead tree that Sarah could barely see the outline of through the fog, and let out a horrifying caw. Sarah scrambled to her feet so that she wouldn't be caught sitting on the ground, and then wrapped her arms around herself as she shivered violently.

"Hello?" Sarah called out softly. If something had rustled or made any sort of sound, it would have been reassuring to the woman. But thus far, since she'd awoken, the only sound was that of her breathing and the crow. "Hello?" she called out, a bit louder this time. Still no sound. And not even an echo— her voice felt flat to her ears.

For a lack of anything better to do, Sarah decided that she'd go over to the tree with the crow. It only appeared to be a few feet away, after all, and it's not like she was getting any warmer just by standing around. She carefully picked her way around the plants, which she quickly realized had very sharp-looking thorns that were as long as Sarah's pinky and as thick as her thumb. Although the statues and planters were beyond destroyed, and the vines seemed to grow nearly everywhere, the path that Sarah walked along was clear.

"Hello?" Sarah called out again after she'd walked several paces. The crow only let out a loud caw and flew away. Sarah watched the dark bird against the white mist until she couldn't see it anymore. Then, she returned her attention back to the tree that it had landed on. As far as she could tell from her immediate surroundings (although it was more than a little difficult to tell), it was the tallest thing around.

After carefully walking along the path for several minutes, Sarah reached the tree. It had been creep enough through the mist, but now that she was close enough to actually see it, it looked like it was the stuff of nightmares. But then again, so was the rest of everything else. "Hello?" Sarah called out again, but with little hope. There was nobody else around.

Sarah turned around and tried to figure out which way that she'd come from; it all looked the same after a while. One decapitated cupid statue pretty much looked the same as any other.

There was something that Sarah needed to remember…

She furrowed her brow and paced slowly in front of the tree.

…But what?

Trying to force memories that wouldn't come was giving her a headache, so she stopped trying to think so much about what was beyond her mental grasp. Instead, she sat down at the base of the tree and leaned back against it. Although it was beyond creepy looking because it was half-burnt on top of being completely dead, it was the only thing around that wasn't covered in those lethal-looking vines.

"What did you do to Sarah?!" Jareth roared as he burst into Mizumi's castle.

"And what exactly makes you think that I've anything to do with your little human play-thing?" Mizumi said rather boredly. She was lounging almost lazily on her throne, and her daughters were sitting at her feet. But as Jareth stormed up the steps to get to where Mizumi sat, Moulin and Drumlin stood, as if to protect their mother. "No, darlings, Jareth just wants to play."

"Play?" Jareth said through clenched teeth as he came to a stop in front of the blue-haired beauty. He reached down, roughly grabbed Mizumi by the overly-ornate collar of her dress, and easily lifted Mizumi up, so that her feet dangled a couple of inches above the ground. "Tell me, Mizumi, are you having fun yet? Because I'm having a fucking ball." Mizumi let out a strangled cough and wrapped her hands around the wrist that bore her up into the air.

"Jareth, stop," Amael said with disinterest in the doorway. "Although killing her would be rather satisfactory, she won't be able to tell you where she's spirited Sarah off to." Jareth sneered up at Mizumi for a second before he tossed her away from him. She crumpled to the ground in a heap like a rag-doll, and her daughters ran to her side.

"Are you alright?" Moulin whispered as she and Drumlin helped Mizumi to her feet.

"I don't know why you think that I've taken your precious little Sarah," Mizumi started as she got unsteadily to her feet. She wiped her mouth off with the back of her hand, and then pushed both of her daughters away as they tried to help her. "But everybody knows by now what a sham of an engagement that you've got. Although the stories are rather… varied about why you're going through with this, there are also the stories going around about how Sarah keeps having massive seizures." Mizumi gave a little sarcastic laugh at the look of surprise that flashed across Jareth's face for the briefest of seconds before he schooled his features into a look of pure anger. "What? Like you've never had servants listen in on private conversations and then blab about it to the next person who comes along. Nothing is every really private, Jareth. Nothing."

"I don't care what you think that you've heard or know about my relationship with Sarah, but my love for her is very real. And if I find out that you've hurt her, I will make you wish that I'd killed you now," Jareth spat at her.

"And as I've stated before, what makes you think that I've anything to do with Sarah?" Mizumi said. She sat back down, but she couldn't hide the way that her hands shook.

"You're kidding, right?" Jareth said with annoyance. "The way that you, not only barged into my castle, unannounced, but also how you kept insisting that you had urgent business to talk with me about yesterday."

"Then I guess that you don't want to see this, then," Mizumi said. A letter appeared between her index and middle finger. She turned the thick paper this way and that, and Jareth saw the broken, red seal on the back. Jareth gave Mizumi an annoyed look and went to snatch the letter from her, but Mizumi pulled her hand back quickly and the letter vanished. "Ah-ah-ah, Jareth. I was more than willing to give you the information yesterday, but not now… not after how completely rude that you've been towards me."

Jareth took a deep breath in through his nose, and Amael could practically hear her youngest counting to ten in his mind before he exhaled slowly. "What do you want, Mizumi?"

"An apology would be nice. After all, I have nothing to do with any of this nonsense."

"Right now, you are the exact opposite of being trustworthy, Mizumi."

Mizumi considered his words for several minutes. "Hm, perhaps you are right, Jareth. Maybe I should try to prove myself to you, and then demand your apology." The letter appeared between her fingers again, and she handed it to Jareth.

First, Jareth examined the seal; he didn't know it, but there were a lot of different clans that popped up in an attempt to make a name for themselves, so that didn't really mean anything. The letter started out with pleasantries— Mizumi apparently knew the letter writer, or at least, the writer knew Mizumi, for they asked about Moulin and Drumlin by name, and then about how "the thing with the roses" went.

Then…

As far as the entire Sarah situation goes, I'll admit that it is rather disheartening to hear about how things are progressing. Like you mentioned in an earlier letter, it was rather disturbing what he asked you for, and I can't say that I was overly surprised about how that entire situation resolved itself, I also can't say that I'm not overly surprised that things have turned out like this, either. However, I do believe that I have a solution for us that would suit all of our needs perfectly. After all, isn't this what you've always wanted?

The letter ended on much of the same note that it began on, and without any further mention of Sarah. After Jareth reread the entire letter, and then read the short paragraph a third time, he began to puzzle the meaning.

Obviously, the mysterious letter writer (who had only signed off with an overly ornate H), was talking about Jareth. And there was only one thing that Jareth had ever asked Mizumi for. And that alone was enough to make his blood boil, since she'd sworn an oath to never discuss what had happened. Even the aftermath.

Of course, like how Jareth had exploited the loophole in Sarah's wish in order to join her in the Aboveworld, Fae were exceptionally well-known for finding the tiniest bit of wiggle room and making it into a massive hole. And obviously, Mizumi had found a loophole in her oath with him.

But that was besides the point at the moment. Jareth's embarrassing moment with Mizumi was nothing in comparison to the fact that Sarah was missing, and it appeared as though this mysterious H had something to do with not only that, but her blocked memories as well.

"This doesn't exactly exonerate you, Mizumi," Jareth said with annoyance. "And in fact, it makes you look a bit like an accomplice. Especially since you also apparently told this person about Moppet."

"Do you honestly think that your silly little ablation has anything to do with this?" Mizumi asked and waved her hand in a dismissive manor.

"I didn't until you brought her up," Jareth said.

"Moppet doesn't have anything to do with any of this," Mizumi whispered as she leaned forward to rest her hands on the top of her knees. "The last I'd heard of her, she was slumming around in your kingdom's dump because you'd kicked her out from your castle." Mizumi paused for a moment. "But, on the other hand, don't you think that Moppet would want to get even with you? After all, you're the only reason why she exists, and you couldn't even extend to her a basic kindness."

"This still doesn't exonerate either you nor Moppet," Jareth said. "I'm taking this letter, and don't think that this is the end of this discussion."

"You'll be back with my apology after you've found your discarded toy," Mizumi said as Jareth walked away. Once Jareth and Amael were outside of the castle, they transported themselves back to Jareth's office.

"What was she talking about? Who's Moppet?" Amael asked.

"Something that I'm embarrassed about, quite frankly," Jareth said as he ran a frustrated hand through his hair. "It may not be the best lead, but it's all that we've got right now. I'm going to go and find her." He handed his mother the letter. "Try and figure out who that seal belongs to while I'm gone."

"I'll ask around," Amael said as she looked at it closer under the light of a candle.

Sarah was walking around in the hopes of finding something. Another person or maybe even a tiny clue about where she was. Since the paths were very clearly defined, she stuck to them in the hopes of not becoming too hopelessly lost. Not like she wasn't already lost, but she didn't want to become even more lost in the process.

After about half an hour after she'd left the big tree, Sarah thought that she saw somebody moving through the mist. "Hello?" she called out. And although she got no response, when she got closer, she saw that it was obviously another person. "Hello!" she called out again, and tried to wave her hand in order to get their attention.

But when Sarah raised her hand, so did the other person. And when Sarah raised her other arm, so did the other person. Sarah walked through the mist until she saw that it was indeed her reflection, pale against transparent glass. It was pitch-black on the other side, and even when Sarah cupped her face against the ice-cold glass, she still couldn't see anything.

Sarah took a couple of steps back from the glass surface to examine it as a whole. It appeared to be slightly curved, from what she could tell, although it was a little hard to see for very far, as it was still quite misty. Sarah craned her neck back to try and see how high up that it went, but couldn't see any sort of top.

She walked back up to the glass again and started to bang her fists on it. "Let me out! Let me out!" she said with each hit of her fists. But after several minutes of this, the only thing that Sarah ended up with was some sore hands. She sat down on the ground with her back resting against the glass.

A memory came to her, then. A woman with bright red hair and mismatched eyes. Sarah had broken something, but the woman didn't seem angry or even mildly annoyed at Sarah's actions, which confused Sarah. "Focus on nothing but the task at hand," the woman said.

The image of the woman replayed over and over in Sarah's mind, like a broken record. Sarah watched the way that the woman's thin lips, painted red, said the words again and again, at varying speeds. But, no matter how much Sarah replayed the memory in her mind, the woman's identity did not become any clearer, nor did her message.

"What is my task?" Sarah asked herself after a moment. She rubbed at her eyes with the heels of her hands, as if to clear the image of the woman from her mind. "Well, getting some answers would be nice, but that sounds oddly vague." Sarah shivered a little bit as she adjusted herself on the ground. "I suppose that it would be nice if it was maybe a little bit warmer."

So, Sarah closed her eyes and tried to think about warmth.

"Mother, this is Moppet," Jareth said.

"Oh my," Amael said with a rather disappointed sigh as she took in the young woman who stood by Jareth's side. She looked exactly like Sarah, but somebody had messed up her coloring. "I think that I understand now. But why?"

"Don't you understand after a month now, mother?" Jareth asked.

"My dear," Amael said to Moppet. "I am so sorry. Please, come here." She held out her hand towards the younger woman. Moppet looked up to Jareth and gave him a fearful, hesitant look; he gave a slow nod, and Moppet scurried across the room to Amael. The Fae Queen took Moppet's hand and lead her over to a chair by the fireplace, where Amael gestured for Moppet to sit. "So, you're Moppet?"

"Yes, that's the name that he gave me," Moppet said softly.

"And he had you created, too?"

"Yes, that's right. Of Sarah's discarded hopes and dreams of becoming a famous stage actress. She was really crushed after she was rejected from Juilliard."

"What is that? It's a school, right?"

"It's a very prestigious preforming arts school in New York," Jareth explained. Amael frowned a little at Moppet.

"And because one school rejected her, Sarah gave up on her dreams?"

"I wouldn't say so much that she gave up on them, but rather, that she was forced to face reality," Moppet explained.

"Well, we wanted to ask you about Mizumi," Amael went on.

"Yes, I know; Jareth told me on the way here," Moppet said softly. She looked down at her hands, which were weathered from living homeless in the Goblin Kingdom's dump for several years. "But I don't know why you think that I would know anything about her. She created me, shaped me from Sarah's discarded dreams, but that's it. I haven't seen her since then."

"Did Jareth tell you about why we're talking to you?"

"He mentioned something about Sarah," Moppet said softly. "But that's it." Amael quickly filled the younger girl in. "It is bad, but I don't know why you seem to think that I might be able to help," Moppet whispered. "Mizumi is not a kind woman, and but I think that she hides a lot of her vulnerability behind a shell." She cast a quick, shy look up at Jareth before she quickly looked down at her hands again.

"Yes, I'm aware," Jareth said evenly.

"Would you take a look at this, Moppet?" Amael asked gently. She produced the letter that Jareth had taken from Mizumi. "Specifically, this paragraph right here." She tapped the paragraph that mentioned Sarah and Jareth.

"I don't know who this H person is," Moppet said slowly after she'd read through the letter several times. "But they're obviously talking about putting the memory spell on Sarah. I think that whoever this might be, they did it for Mizumi, probably so that Sarah would forget about Jareth, and Mizumi could have him. But I'm wondering why?"

"What do you mean? Didn't you just give the why?" Jareth asked.

"No, but what I meant was: what's in it for H?"

"I find it rather hard to believe that Mizumi didn't have any knowledge of what happened to Sarah, either her memory or now," Jareth said.

"It's a little hard to say for certain, but I can say this one thing about her," Moppet said slowly as she stretched her fingers out in front of her. "And it's the fact that if you go around and accuse her of kidnapping Sarah, she'll never help you."

"She does have a point," Amael said to her son. "Mizumi's the only real lead that we've got at this point. If we piss her off, she probably won't help us."

"I want to go and get some more information from her," Jareth said as he turned to leave. "That is probably the first of many letters that Mizumi received."

Sarah opened her eyes and then scrambled to her feet. Was it her imagination or was it warmer than it had been a few minutes ago?