Disclaimer: Labyrinth does not belong to me. It belongs to Jim Henson, George Lucas, Brian Froud, David Bowie, etc.

Author's Note: Here it is, the second half of Chapter 3. To avoid confusion, think of it as a fun size Chapter 4! Thanks so much for the reviews, follows, and favorites! I appreciate them all very much. Please read and review!

"An Explanation"

It was familiar, dancing with him, and agonizingly so. Of all of Sarah's adventures in the Labyrinth, the masked ball still confused her the most. What had he been playing at? For a moment, Sarah's teenage self had indulged wholly in the fantasy, allowing the king to sweep her off her feet. For a moment I believed he loved me, she thought. It had been a trick of course, she had realized as she grew older, a simple game to keep her off track. That fact, however, had not prevented her from fantasizing about it for a few years afterword in gratuitous detail. Now here she was, living it again. Jareth was not ballroom dancing this time, he was moving like a human, slow, box –like steps that the other partners were doing, humming along to the song. She was having trouble not breathing too deeply. Her body seemed to betray her mind and craved as much of his magical scent as it could inhale.

"So, what made you crash the party?" Sarah asked in his ear.

She could feel his shark-like smile against her cheek before she saw it. "I fancied a walk."

"You walked here? Jareth, you're supposed to be resting," Sarah scolded, drawing back slightly to look him over. He was standing straighter than ever and all his facial injuries were gone.

"I have rested," he said, "and my strength is nearly back."

Sarah shook her head with a frown. "I don't want you to hurt yourself."

Although he looked clearly exasperated, Sarah could see from the new spring in his step that he was pleased with her concern.

"You do seem to be feeling better," she admitted as he twirled her out and caught her. His large, warm hand splayed over the small of her back, pressing her closer.

"Oh, yes, very much so," he replied just as the song ended.

Derrick drifted awkwardly back to their side once again, waiting for a chance to cut in.

"Sarah?" he asked as she stepped away from Jareth.

"Oh, sorry Derrick," she said. "I forgot to introduce you two."

"That's okay," Derrick said, moving to shake Jareth's hand. "I'm Derrick, Derrick Grant, Sarah's fiancé. I didn't see you earlier."

"I'm Jareth, a friend of Sarah's," he said, clasping Derrick's hand with a visibly firm grip. Well don't break him, Goblin King, Sarah scolded mentally and gave Jareth a pointed look. "I'm sorry, I was rather late."

"No man, I understand," Derrick said and rumpled his hair. His attempts at looking comfortable with this stranger were failing. "Traffic's a nightmare."

"Indeed," Jareth answered in a cold voice. He tilted his head and studied the other man. "Do you mind if I keep her for one more dance? We have a lot of catching up to do."

"Oh, yeah, go ahead," Derrick said, speaking to Sarah instead of Jareth. "I need to finish talking to Michael about Hong Kong anyway, it's an important deal and I promised I would detail the statistic errors for him."

Jareth glared at him as the next song swelled and placed a possessive hand at her waist.

Sarah gave Jareth a reproachful look, he needed to control himself. Derrick leaned down and kissed her cheek as a new song began, slightly faster than the first. "I'll find you later, Sarah."

"Okay," she replied, but she was looking at Jareth. He pulled her close, swaying her gently with the music. His face buried in her hair for a moment, Sarah shivered. She pushed against his chest lightly. Jareth may be awakening some odd and wonderful feelings when he behaved that way, but it made her feel too confused. There was still so much she didn't know. Adding a fiancé to the mix certainly did not make things any easier. He drew back and kept a better distance, but his rakish smile seemed to suggest that he knew she had liked it. What is he playing at? Sarah thought. No matter what had transpired in the last day, she still didn't think she could trust him.

"Oh, Sarah," Karen's voice called. She danced into view on Robert's arm.

"Who's this?" her father asked, looking over the strange man dancing so closely with his daughter.

"This is Jareth," she said, wracking her brain for a good answer. "He's a friend; I've known him for a long time now."

Robert stuck out a hand which Jareth shook. It was a notably kinder handshake than he'd dealt Derrick.

"Pleasure to meet you," Jareth said.

"Where did you two meet?" Karen asked and studied Jareth as if she could discern an answer by staring hard enough.

"He used to, um, help me watch Toby once in a while," she said and immediately cringed, waiting for the lecture that was sure to come.

"Yes, but only on one occasion," Jareth finished.

Sarah saw her father and stepmother exchange glances, processing the worrying information. Luckily, one of Robert's college friends called out, "Hey, Rob! I have those photos from our vacation in Prague, come and see."

"We'll talk to you later, Sarah dear," Karen said, her voice exposing the concern she was feeling for her son being watched by a stranger. Yes, a lecture was most certainly coming soon.

Jareth took Sarah's hand and pulled her into a dance again. She tried not to look confused as he danced her out of earshot from the other partners, to the very edge of the party near the twinkle lit trees. The lights bathed the Goblin King in golden glow and Sarah was sure that she hadn't seen him look so well since they arrived. Jareth looked around carefully, as if making sure that no one was listening, leaned down and whispered, "I will tell you anything you wish to know, right now."

"Now?" Sarah asked. "Here?"

"Yes," he whispered. Sarah could tell that he was searching the party with wary eyes. "But it must be tonight, Sarah. Do you understand?"

"I do," she said. The urgency in his voice was making her tremble. "So you'll tell me anything?"

"I will," he answered. He still was not meeting her eyes. Now his gaze darted through the trees around them and Sarah had the impression he was listening for something.

"Will you tell me everything?" Sarah breathed, allowing herself to hope that he would.

"Yes," he said. Jareth danced Sarah further away from the throng of party goers, moving slow and dreamlike, and over to one of the old bridges, far from the crowd and across the water.

They stopped the dance, but Jareth still held her hand, pulling her behind him onto the old stone structure. Sarah had to chide herself inwardly for feeling so wistful. This was almost like a childhood fantasy come to life.

"Can anyone hear us here?" Jareth asked sharply, his eyes darting, shattering her thoughts.

"I don't think so, humans don't hear as well as you do," Sarah said.

He smiled in a self satisfied way and said, "Yes, your kind is severely lacking in auditory proficiency, the likes of which I cannot imagine, but I thought it best to check. I don't know who I can trust."

"What do you mean?" Sarah asked, ignoring his jab and superior tone. She had waited too long for this to focus on his lighthearted insults.

"The Labyrinth has been infiltrated," he said plainly. He was trying to hide any emotion that he felt for the Labyrinth, but Sarah saw it for just a moment, flickering behind his eyes.

"Infiltrated?" she asked, feeling oddly cold in the May night air.

Jareth leaned back against the bridge, resting on his elbows. The wind played with his shortened hair, making Sarah's breath catch. It was not fair that he should be so beautiful.

"I don't know how I didn't notice," he began, his brow furrowed. "I should have noticed..."

Sarah frowned, he was evading explanation. "You said you would tell me everything," she said.

"And I will. It all began several years ago, in your time. I would receive reports of citizens not behaving like themselves, strange occurrences, and accidents. But this was the border land country, barely anyone lives out there. It's all brushy scrub and wasteland and these were isolated incidents. I wrote it off as nothing."

Sarah shivered at the ominous words. "Then what happened?" she prodded.

"After a few years, I began to get the same reports from the outer edges of the Labyrinth and found that a sick, pungent magic was being used, but I could not identify it. It wasn't until it spread like a plague to the Goblin City that I realized what had happened."

He was almost shaking, every muscle tensed. Sarah placed a hand on his arm, but he pulled away slightly, she dropped it. "What happened, Jareth? Tell me."

"We call them changelings," he said as if the word were a bad taste in his mouth. "The goblins coined the name, they heard it from a wished away Irish child with a penchant for jabbering."

Sarah wrinkled her brow. "After the creatures that replace children in fairy tales?"

"I suppose that may be right, but these creatures are all the more horrible," he said. "The changelings are living shadows. They take possession of things filled with life, particularly beings who hold magical energy, and consume them, replacing them and assuming their shape. My kingdom is full of ideal prey. I did not see what was happening until it was too late."

Sarah's mouth went dry as horror washed over her and she nearly retched. "What about Hoggle, Sir Didymus, and Ludo?"

"I don't know. Some took refuge in the forest, but they've been fighting a losing battle, warring with beings that look like former friends. Can you imagine that kind of confusion, Sarah? I don't know if their rebellion has lasted."

Sarah covered her face and choked on a sob. She did not want him to see her cry. He reached out a tentative hand and brushed her hair away from her face. It was the lightest of touches, the kind of touch that asks for permission, but brought comfort.

"The changelings have not acted alone," Jareth said, breathing in sharply with anger. Sarah was almost afraid of him for a moment when she saw the pure loathing on his face. "They have a leader, they call him the Consciousness."

Sarah could not face Jareth yet. She wiped frantically at her eyes and asked him, "Is it one of them?"

"Yes," he said. "But he believes that he isn't because of his superior abilities. He is their chosen sovereign and their chosen god, they obey his every whim and now he sits in my throne."

"He hurt you, didn't he?" Sarah asked, fury she had not known she possessed burned within her. Very lightly, she rested her hand on the slash in his side over his clothing, "He did this."

"Yes," Jareth admitted, his eyes narrowing. "When I am at full strength I shall do far worse to him."

Sarah shivered involuntarily at his words and withdrew her hand to cross her arms.

"Do you know how to beat them?" she asked.

"I believe I do, yes," Jareth answered cryptically, now staring into the dark water beneath them.

Sarah expected him to say more, but he was silent.

"Why did you really come here, Jareth? I know this wasn't an accident that you ended up flying through my bedroom window, of all people's," Sarah said pointedly. "Why are you here?"

Instead of speaking, Jareth's face contorted into a petulant frown. Sarah whipped around and saw Derrick standing at the end of the bridge. What had he heard?

"Hey, babe," he said a bit awkwardly, shifting foot to foot. "Your dad was wondering where you were, he sent me to look for you."

"Okay, I'll be right there," Sarah said.

"Meet me back in your room," Jareth whispered in her ear, turning and walking away swiftly, in the direction of the trees.

"Jareth!" Sarah called after him, but he already disappeared into the darkness. She swore and kicked the stone of the old bridge. She had gotten so close to hearing the whole story.

"Come on," Derrick said, ignoring her outburst and pulling Sarah behind him back into the party.

Sarah knew that her family would likely spend a lot longer out in the park, at least until the bartender needed to leave. She was too impatient for that. While Derrick pulled her alongside him back into the crowd, Sarah knew what she had to do.

"Hey, Derrick?" she asked as they began dancing once more.

"Yeah babe?"

"My head hurts, I feel like I'm coming down with something," she said, trying her best to make her face match her words.

"You wanna go back to the house?" he asked, his eyebrows knotting in concern.

"Yeah, but you can stay, I mean, my dad still wants to talk to you about that deal in Hong Kong," she replied.

"You sure?" he asked and she knew just how much he wanted to. She nodded vigorously, impatient. Sarah saw Derrick's demeanor brighten a bit. "Yeah, okay," he said, giving her a quick kiss. "Feel better."

She slipped away after congratulating her father and Karen one more time and said goodbye to Toby. Once she was out of sight of the party she began to run back to the house. Her shoes were slowing her down; Sarah kicked them off and carried them. She continued racing through neighboring yards, avoiding decorative gnomes and gardening tools on old Mrs. Harris's lawn before running up the street. I feel like I'm fifteen again, she thought as her bare feet slapped grass then pavement. She could not get to the house fast enough and fumbled with her key. By the time she had run up the stairs and shut her bedroom door, she was completely breathless.

"Jareth?" she asked and frowned. "Jareth…" she said again, flipping on her light.

The room was empty and the Goblin King was nowhere to be found.