A/N: Hey, everyone, I've returned. ;)

Jareth, it appeared, had left a few aspects of the former Labyrinth bleed into the setting of the new Labyrinth. Sarah and her friends – Ludo and Sir Didymus had agreed to walk with them just in case, Sir Didymus had said, "the valiant, heroic talents of true knights were needed" – were navigating a large hedge maze that reminded Sarah very much of the one she'd first met Ludo in. The difference, though, was while that maze had been beautifully manicured and appealing; the one that the party of six were trying to escape at the moment was not, in any way, to be described as "beautiful."

The hedges themselves were a dark, poisonous-looking green and wrapped in grayish-looking vines brandishing large, two-inch-long thorns as well as curious pinkish-orange flowers. The flowers probably would've been considered attractive, if not for the fact that they emitted a horrid smell that caused everyone in the group to find different ways of shielding their noses from the stench. That is to say everyone, of course, except Sir Didymus, who walked along without a clue as to why his friends were making such odd expressions.

"How long have we been walking," Toby whined, his voice made extra nasal due to the fingers clenching his nose closed.

"Only a few hours," Sarah said. She didn't add that Toby had spent most of that time atop Ludo's shoulders, and had only gotten down to inspect a thorny flower more closely about twenty minutes ago, so he really wasn't the one who should've been complaining.

"Actually, My Lady, we have been walking since long before daybreak and it is now well past noon," Sir Didymus offered. "That is to say, not that I am feeling especially fatigued – oh, no! I could, of course, walk until my very paws are numb and bleeding, until the Labyrinth as well as the world has met its end! But… Perhaps the others, who are not as… strategically trained in their conservation of energy, perhaps they would like to lie down for a short rest before continuing onwards?"

From the sound of the dog-knight's panting, Sarah had a feeling that the one who was truly on Didymus's mind as being in need of a rest was the knight himself, so she let out a sigh concealed by a smile and looked around the horrible maze for a suitable place where they could sleep. Honestly, she didn't like the idea of sleeping surrounded by the disgusting "perfume" of the flowers and she started to weigh her options.

Everyone stopped to assess the situation. Sarah turned to look at Thilly who, like Sarah had done, had removed her apron to use as a makeshift scarf in order to block off her nose from the smell. Her large, watery eyes turned to focus on Sarah, and when they did they told her that the Changeling's above-average sense of smell was causing her some serious pain. She was looking very ill and her breathing was coming in short, shallow gasps to avoid taking in too much of the smell.

"Let's get out of this maze first," Sarah said. "We'll all be able to sleep better when we have some fresh air to breathe."

They hadn't left the maze a moment too soon, as Thilly's condition quickly worsened. The usually waxy, greenish skin of the young Changeling had turned a dry, ashen grey. Her eyes were bloodshot and watering profusely, and though she took in a deep breath once they left the radius of the hedge maze's odor, the breath ended in a series of racking coughs that caused Sarah some concern. Luckily, a canopy of large-leafed plants shaded a particular section of the Labyrinth that was perfect for a short nap to regain some strength, and everyone moved towards it.

Just before they all settled down, Hoggle turned to Sarah, "Is we sure that Jareth ain't gonna find us if we stay in a place too long?"

Sarah frowned, "Even if he does, he won't do anything."

"What'ya mean by that?"

"I think I've figured Jareth out," Sarah said. "He'd rather try and use his head to convince someone to do what he wants than force them physically. He'd find better satisfaction in getting me to turn back on my own than he would in capturing us and shipping us back to the castle to be locked in the dungeon…" Their encounter the previous night had told Sarah that. Jareth had an opportunity to cast a magic spell, use that crystal of his to capture every single one of them in the night and he hadn't. He'd, once again, tried to persuade Sarah into giving up – with words, warnings, and, Sarah thought bitterly, romantics.

"If ya says so," Hoggle replied, pulling a blanket over his shoulders. "I trust ya, Sarah."

Smiling, Sarah made sure that Thilly was fast asleep and breathing at a decent pace before she settled down herself. The color hadn't returned to the girl's skin and she still went into coughing fits at odd intervals. Sarah figured that the pacing of their journey combined with far too long a time spent in a place where Thilly just couldn't breathe had cause her friend to become ill, and Sarah couldn't help feeling a little guilty about that. Had she'd left Thilly behind, the maid would've continued a life of blind servitude, but at least she would have been healthy. From what Sarah had gathered, Changelings simply did not get sick during their stay in the castle. They probably wouldn't even have a word for it.

But Sarah was exhausted, so despite her guilty thoughts she fell asleep fairly quickly. Just before she did, though, a thought struck her that Jareth would probably try again to influence Sarah's thoughts through her dreams. She wasn't disappointed.

The dream was very simple - Sarah and Jareth stood in an empty room in what Sarah knew was the castle – but the clothes that Sarah wore weren't her own. It was a long, silken-looking gown dyed a pale blue to match Jareth's suit, and though Sarah had a feeling that wearing the dress should have been strange, it felt perfectly normal. So did the small, fragile-looking tiara that rested atop her head and the familiar way that she and Jareth interacted with one another.

"I'm truly glad you decided to stay," Jareth said to her. Sarah frowned. She couldn't remember deciding that at all. "Tobias has taken quite well to his tutoring. He'll be a perfect heir in no time."

Sarah's frown deepened. She couldn't remember agreeing to any of this. It was so, so strange…

"He doesn't belong here," she blurted. "He belongs… He belongs…"

She couldn't quite recall the name of the place he belonged. She could remember a smell – acrid and smoky… No, it was smoke, but metallic. Poisonous. She could see the glimmering reflection of the world that Tobias – Toby – belonged. It was all metal and sleek surfaces, artificial everything. Monsters roamed the streets and spat oil and smog, and Sarah wondered why she thought her… son? Belonged in such a place.

"He belongs right here, with us, my queen," Jareth told her, and kissed her forehead in a loving way. He straightened her fragile, humble-looking tiara and brushed the hair from her face. "In the Underground."

But to have an Underground, Sarah thought, there would have to be an Aboveground, wouldn't there? That was the place. That was where Toby belonged.

"Earth. He belongs in Earth. On Earth," she rambled. She didn't think she was making any sense.

Jareth cupped her face in his hands and looked her in the eyes. Everything in his expression told her he was telling the truth, that he loved her and was only trying to clear things up a bit. "They wouldn't appreciate him there. Not like we do here. There, he wouldn't amount to anything , but in this world he'll be a great king one day. He'll have people that adore him and honor him, and he'll have us. To love him."

"But…" things were getting so muddled in Sarah's mind. "He doesn't belong here. He wasn't born here, he… He isn't even my son." Her eyes widened at the realization. Her brother. Toby was her brother, not her son at all, and Jareth... Jareth had…

"You stole him."

Hands moving to his side, Jareth's eyes turned angry. "I did not steal him," he seethed. "I rescued him from that damned world. That disgusting place. I brought him here, when he wanted to be here, and I brought you here to be with him. And me."

Sarah backed away from the man she knew wasn't really her husband. "You stole me, too. I don't belong here, either."

Jareth turned to her sharply, reached to clutched her hands together within his own, "No, you're definitely wrong about that. You belong here, even more than Toby does, Sarah. You knew that ever since you were very young… You made the mistake of leaving, and you regretted it."

Sarah let out a sigh. That sounded right, like nothing else had. Finally, something she knew she could cling to – a truth that fit within the puzzle of her mind almost with a little click of perfect sense in her memories. Still, she pulled her hands from Jareth's and turned away from him, backing towards the door as fast as she could without her eyes ever leaving his face.

"You still lied to me," she told him. "You tricked me, over and over and… you keep lying to me."

"I've told the truth before," and the way he said it – like a belligerent child trying to escape an accusation with a counter-cry of his own – almost made Sarah smile in a loving fondness that didn't feel quite right. His expression changed to the grim, however, and cleared any bit of good humor from Sarah's mind. "Every time I've told you to stop running, or else you'd regret it, I was telling the truth, wasn't I?"

Sarah thought. "Yes, when I was younger, you told me… You told me to turn back. I remember."

"And I've told you again, recently. I'm telling you now, Sarah. You can't go on much further than this, or you will regret it. I know you. You care more for your friends than your actions have shown-" Sarah's eyes looked to the floor in shame at that. She could remember how she treated her friends. "-and I'm telling you, if you don't stop soon, you will be sorry."

Before she could respond, Sarah was pulled from the setting by an unknown force, and the last thing she heard from that confusing, possible-world she'd been in was the sound of Jareth's voice telling her, pleading with her, to listen to him.

The first sound she heard when she returned to the world she was familiar with enough to consider real, but did not truly know, was the sound of Thilly's coughing.