~(singsong)...Alison....Alison...my dear, beloved Alison. Do you remember me?

Jareth...I....I do remember you...at least I think I do. Please give me some sort of reason why you made me forget, please! I beg you, please! You don't know how torturous it has been for me to try and remember you!

~You left my company not long ago dearest Alison, do you remember?

No! Because of youI don't remember! I know you were the one who made me forget! Why did you want me to forget?!

~Because your darling sister would have ruined everything had she known you'd been here with me all this time.

What? No, I was in the Navy! I was in London!

~You were....after you left me. You left by a decision made on your own, a foolish one, which caused me to do something I deeply regret.

And what was that?

~Erase your memory of me...my world...our life.

And you regret that?

~Such a pity....You'll remember soon enough my darling....I know you will.

Jareth?! Jareth! JARETH!

Alison opened her eyes to find that she was still standing under the showerhead, the water falling on her now freezing cold. She shut it off, stepped out and wrapped both her body and hair in towels. Running her hand across the fog-covered mirror she sighed, "What have you done to me?" Out of the corner of her eye she could have sworn she'd seen a barn owl, but those never came around here.

"Alison? You done?" her father's voice came from the other side of the door.

She rolled her eyes, "Yes I'm done!"

"Then could you come out of there I need to shower, Irene and I are going out can you watch Sarah and Toby?"

"Ugh, why do you think I'm here?! To be your personal babysitter!? I came here to see you and Sarah not take care of some stepson I barely know! Now it seems the only person happy to see me is Sarah!"

She flung the door open to come face-to-face with her shocked father, "Ali,"

"DON'T you dare call me Ali, you don't deserve to." Alison stormed past him into her sister's room, shutting the door and locking it behind her. Sarah had been lounging on her bed, reading The Labyrinth, when Alison came in.

"Everything OK?"

No answer. Alison grabbed her duffle bag and tossed it onto the bed, taking out a pair of pajamas that had been folded neatly beside a more formal uniform, a bag of dog treats, and, to Sarah's shock, four or five guns. "Ali!"

The blonde looked at her, "They're mandatory, Sarah. I'm in Law Enforcement and Security, don't you think I may need a gun?"

"Yeah, but five?!"

Alison put on her pajamas and took out each gun one by one, then took out a gun cleaning kit, "Each one has special value to me. I very rarely use any of them besides this one," she held up a standard .9mm.

Sarah smiled, now sitting cross-legged on the bed with her sister, "You tell me about the guns, I wanna do your hair, please?!"

Her older sister chuckled with a kind smile, "OK, nothing crazy though."

The young girl searched through the large bag to find a brush, then ran over to her vanity and grabbed a couple of hair elastics and some shine, hair creme, and detangler. "Stay still,"

Alison laughed, "I have to clean my guns!"

"But I thought you said you've only used that one?"

"Just because I've barely used them doesn't mean they don't get dirty. And I've fired each one at least three times."

"How about that one?"

Alison smiled, "That's a .32mm, revolver. It's my backup gun just in case I lose my .9mm or someone takes it." She snapped out the cylinder, which Sarah could see held six bullets, and watched as her sister began the meticulous job of cleaning, while her own work was focused on brushing the golden waves her sister had kept secure in a bun without a single flyaway.

The older of the two sisters could tell that Sarah was intrigued with the firearms she was showing her, and if their father had seen any of this he would have thrown a fit, Irene probably would have fainted.

"What's that one?"

"That is a .45mm semi automatic handgun, I very rarely use it because in my opinion it's overkill."

"And that one?"

"Can you wait 'til I finish cleaning my .9 and my .32?" Alison smiled at her sister's interest, but she was far too pushy.

"There, done with your hair, now you can tell me your story."

The blonde winced. Damn, she'd been trying to avoid that by getting Sarah into a conversation about the handguns, but she was sure now that there was no dancing around it.

"OK, lemme get these put away and then I'll tell you," she took out the gun's boxes and placed each one inside of it's own case, stacking them neatly on the floor. "A long time ago, when you were about Toby's age, maybe a bit younger, mom gave me that book," she pointed to The Labyrinth.

I had been reading it to you, trying to get you to fall asleep, but it was no use. All you would do was wail and cry and whine, so, without even thinking, I wished that the goblins would take you away. And just like that," she snapped her finger, "you disappeared from my lap."

Sarah was shocked, "You wished me away to the Labyrinth?!"

Alison nodded, "I didn't know what I had done, but a few minutes later, he appeared...Jareth. Offered me a crystal in exchange for you, but I declined it, demanding he give you back to me. So, he challenged me to solve his Labyrinth in,"

"Thirteen hours?"

Sapphire and emeral collided, Alison was greatful that Sarah had interrupted when she did, because Alison had forgotten what the thirteen hours were for, "Yeah, and I did. I solved it, but when I got to the castle, Jareth offered me another crystal, saying that if I were to fear him, love him, do as he said, that he would be my slave. In those few words, Sarah, he was saying that he had fallen in love with me. He told me he would send you back here if I accepted. And unlike you, who told him he had no power over you...I said yes."

Sarah was shocked, "Ali! You said yes to Jareth?!"

She sighed, "It was a long time ago in the Aboveground time, but down there it felt like I'd been away for a few months. I did go to the Navy once I returned, but I've only been in the Navy for three years, Sarah, not eight."

Alison was amazed how quickly everything came back to her, how easily she remembered. She remembered everything, everything about the Underground, everything about Jareth, and everything about them.

"What did he do? When you said yes?"

"Kept his word, sent you home, sent a note to mom and dad that I was enlisted in the Navy, being shipped off to Japan, no way to get in contact with me. I had to keep that cover so I enrolled as soon as I came Aboveground, and I ended up really enjoying it, so I stayed. But what I didn't understand was why Jareth erased my memory."

The power went out. Wind blew hard against Sarah's bedroom window, causing them to open with a loud bang.

Sarah jumped up with a scream, "Ali!"

Alison stumbled to open one of her gun boxes, pulling out her .9mm and quickly loading it, "Stay behind me Sarah!"

The barn owl that was so familiar to both of them flew into the room, quickly changing before them into a man that had burned himself into their memories.

"Hello again, Sarah...my dear, dear Alison."

Alison held her gun with expert precision, pointing it right at his head. Mismatched Caribbean blue and cobalt eyes stared at her, a smirk upon his face framed with featherlight platinum hair, sticking out at all ends.

"Don't. Move," Alison stared down the barrel of the gun right at him, anger filled her soul, but shock and joy clung to her heart.

"Alison, my love, do put that godawful thing away," Jareth held up his hands in mock surrender, which Alison did not take lightly.

"Why? Why are you here?"

"Because I thought that you would like to see me, darling. And I think that Sarah should know the entire truth, don't you?"

Sarah looked at him, "What the hell are you talking about, Jareth?"

The fae could see in his love's eyes that she was confused, she hadn't remembered all of it, or if she had, she wasn't about to let him figure it out.

"Your sister and I, Sarah, shared a very...close relationship, whilst she was in the Underground with me."

Alison cocked the gun, "Shut up."

Jareth smiled wider, she did remember, and she didn't want Sarah to know, "Why? You've told her everything else shouldn't she have the last piece of the puzzle? I did pronounce my love for your sister, Sarah, and in return, over a few hours time, she did the same. As I said before, our relationship was very close."

The young girl stared in shock at her sister, "Ali? You love him? You slept with him?!"

Alison sighed, looking at her sister, for a brief moment, then staring angrily back at her magical former lover, "Yes. A long time ago."

The Goblin King took a step forward, placing a black-gloved hand over Alison's, which were clenched around her gun, "Put it down, love. You won't hurt me, as I would never hurt you."

Tears threatened to pour down Alison's cheeks as she uncocked the gun and stuffed it safely back in its box.

"There, there, see? Alison, darling come back to the Underground with me, I need you there by my side once more."

Sarah was now very angry, "No! I just got her back and you want to take her away from me again?! No!"

Jareth straightened, turning his attention to the young brat who had turned his offer down when she had defeated him, "You denied me, Sarah, when your sister left I searched near and far for a replacement, and I figured her younger sister would be best, but you turned me down. So why should I care if you want her back?!"

Alison's attention was astute now, after all the time she'd spent with Jareth, the magic of the Underground had weaved its way into her own being, she understood Jareth in a way no one in the magical realm could. She had powers she had yet to discover, but one she had used both Under and Aboveground, was the ability to understand unspoken words, "Something's wrong in the Underground isn't there, Jareth?"

His two-tone eyes locked with hers, a sadness behind them she had never seen before, and with a sorrowful sigh he admitted, "My brother is trying to take over the entire magical realm. And he's coming after you."

To be continued...