My oh My It's been a very long time since I wrote anything about our characters. It just got a little overwhelming and of course life intervened and said. "Nope you are not going to finish that right now, you have other things to do first"…. So with that being said…. I will apologize for the delay. I'm Sorry! (Don't sue me)

As you may have seen often, I don't own the characters in this story. (Even Rourick cause I am very sure now that he IS using his evil Djinn magick on me…. I have been seeing some very detailed visions of what he looks like in my dreams, and honestly it's a bit unnerving. HE'S HOT!) I will do my best not to paint the vivid pictures Rourick is sending me, instead I will continue this story (of which the characters or the story line it came from is not mine) as I see it in my mind….. Disclaimer done…..so don't sue me.

If for some reason my granny texts you, don't sue me. I know we all hate to hear about her gout foot, and the awful tint of blue her hair has become. But I have put up with it, and so will you, just because she is my granny, don't sue me. Sue her! Lol. No really. I mean it.

And now your feature presentation

-7-

Rourick felt the unease in the air. Something didn't feel right. It's the same nagging feeling you get when you know you are completely alone and yet you just know someone is watching you… This was the exact feeling he felt now. If he hadn't been pulling the dead weight of Jareth's body he would have sworn it was him coming back to life and torture him even more with his existence. The shore was still a good few miles away and he was taking his time swimming back. It's not easy to swim with two arms when one of them was full of a dead body. Rourick was a genie and didn't have the use of legs. The mist that kept him propelled on the ground, was obsolete here in the water, and was now replaced with legs that he knew nothing about. The legs floated in the water as dead to him as the body he pulled. Rourick thought of Sarah and how she was faring. The girl had lost the will to live when she seen Jareth drown in the water. The images he had fed her through her magick mirror had deteriorated her will power even further. He had originally hoped that she would kill herself. But Sarah was a fighter, no matter what the circumstances she found herself in. He knew that she would eventually die of a broken heart. Especially the moment her baby was born, and disappeared from her arms forever.

Rourick felt bad for Sarah. She was after all just stuck in the middle of all the crazy mess around her. But so had his beloved. Dawnlei was a sweet and gentle Fae, who never asked to be thrown into the middle of a war. She only wanted to be left alone to love the man she knew as her soul mate. Now her Soul Mate was nearing the end of his revenge against the man who destroyed that true love all those many years ago. A sharp jerk pulled him under the water and at the same time snapped his mind back into the soggy cold reality. Something had grabbed onto his leg. He looked at the foreign limb and seen a small hand firmly attached to it. Using his legs for the first time he tried to kick the hand off of him. The motion did cause the hand to loosen its grip some but it stayed in place. The motion also propelled him a tad further in the water than he had been. Apparently you needed to kick with your legs to swim faster through the water. The hand prevented him from continuing to swim as it pulled him back into the water. Pulling both him and Jareth's body into the murky depths with fast long strides. Long flowing purple hair floated in Rourick's face obscuring his vision of the water. He pushed and kicked to regain the surface of the water, but the hand was pulling him where it wanted him to go.

Another hand, larger in girth and stronger in muscle grabbed the Djinn's free arm. With the hair obscuring his vision completely Rourick panicked at the newcomer and what it wanted with him. The two beings fought over Rourick pulling him as hard as each could. He felt his limbs as they were pulled out of their sockets, and stretched to the point of ripping off. Jareth had been unaffected so far. These two beings were fighting over him! A large bright light pierced the water causing it to hum with electricity, and increase slightly in temperature. It was gone as suddenly as it had come. The light has caused the larger hand let go momentarily of Rourick. He felt it frantically grasped towards his legs trying to gain a hold of him once more. Rourick moved his legs just out of reach as the being came into his sight. For one second only, Rourick stared into the eyes of the Minotaur, before it turned and kicked to the surface and away from Rourick, Jareth and the other creature. Rourick began to lose consciousness as the air left his lungs. He had lost his grip on Jareth's body long ago and didn't really care if he ever found it again. He would just finish the labyrinth to get out if he had to if he could only get some air first.

The other creature pulled Rourick and Jareth up out of the water and onto a small island that mysteriously appeared in the lake. "I have gathered all the magickal wards to bring us this piece of land to secure your safety" She said. Rourick was speechless he was staring at the most beautiful mermaid. This creature he thought to be extinct was here rescuing him for some unknown reason. "Thank You" he gasped between gulps of air. "I didn't do it for you!" She replied angrily. She went over to the prone body of Jareth. "No" cried Rourick hoping to force her to away from the body. Glaring at him the mermaid stayed calm. "If you want I can send you back into the waters where the Minotaur is being distracted by my fellow merpeople." She glared at him waiting for a response. "Jareth is dead, just leave him be" Rourick said trying to make sense to the mermaid. On land her magnificent body glistened in the sun showing her toned arms and long sculpted legs. She was a distraction herself, and knew it. "Come here" she purred to the Djinn. Mesmerized by her silky voice and her glittering body he leaned towards her. *SMACK* was the last thing he expected. The mermaid had pulled her hand as far back as she could and slapped him with the hard back part of her hand across the full front of his face! Rourick reeled from the hit, and fell face down into the sand. "Now if you are done bitching" She yelled into his face "You would see that Jareth is still partially alive. He may have stopped breathing but his life essence is still in his body. As a mermaid I can sense this." Rourick felt his stomach lurch at the thought of Jareth being alive even if it was just barely. The primitive roar that erupted from him sounded as if it came from the Minotaur. "Bring him back to life and I will kill you" he threatened. The mermaid became sullen and looked towards the water "I'm afraid I am already dead." She said "The other merfolk are defenseless right now from the minotaur who is famished from centuries of being forced to sleep. He is eating each and every one of my family as we speak and I will be next as soon as I go back into the water". Rourick suddenly felt bad for the girl. "I can hear their screams right now" she said in a whisper which quickly turned to a feral shrieking. "I have every available magick to the merpeople protecting this island so I will be damned if I let their deaths go to waste in vain." She was determined to bring Jareth back to life for whatever reason Rourick could fathom. She placed her hand on Jareth's chest and Rourick watched as it began to rise and fall. Water spurted out of the Goblin Kings mouth, as he fought to breathe. "The life essence only needs a little jump start to push it back into the soul." She said weakly "This is what keeps a being alive no matter what species they be" she said to no in particular. She looked at Rourick "I see your life essence is not attached to your soul completely. This only means that your other half of your soul; your soul mate has perished taking that part of your life essence with them" she was genuinely saddened for him. To lose your soul mate is like losing a part of yourself. Except for beings in the underworld it truly is the case. The mermaid walked up to Rourick distracting him further from the weak Goblin King. "I will give you one last gift, before I die." She said. And with that she kissed Rourick full on the lips. "The part of you that was lost can be found again" she said. I have given you my life essence to attach to your soul so that you may be whole again to love and find a soul mate". The life in her emerald eyes began to fade, and they turned black as her lifeless body fell backwards into the water which churned and frothed as it consumed her body leaving only a red glare on the surface of the water. The Minotaur ate the dead body greedily as it regained its true strength from its long forced hibernation.

Rourick glared at Jareth who sat on the sand absorbing the scene in front of him. Even though he didn't fully know what was going on around him, he knew that the Minotaur was the least of his worries at the present moment. Rourick felt stirrings inside him that he had not felt since his love had been lost to him all those years ago. The turmoil inside his soul was nothing he felt compared to the hate that still rested in his heart towards Jareth. "You killed her" he said. Jareth's heart leaped in his chest. His mind raced to the conclusion that Sarah was dead. "I loved her, I would never kill her" he cried. Rourick was furious "you never loved her; you only squashed her like the little bug she was to you." Rourick cried out. "She was my whole world and yet she was just a block in your political path!" Jareth was stunned. He truly had no idea what Rourick was talking about. What did his politics have to do with Sarah? "She was the Princess you had to dispose of in order to get your throne. She was nothing more to you, but she was my whole world" cried Rourick. Jareth was so relieved to hear Sarah was possibly still alive that he didn't register the words fully, nor notice Rourick lunge at him. Rourick's hands went around Jareth's neck. A bolt of lightning struck them sending them apart. It didn't harm them, but only separated them. "Blasted labyrinth: I still can't kill you" Rourick said angrily. "But I WILL beat you at your own game"

Jareth looked around the island and seen that it was moving towards the shoreline. The mermaids who still survived were pushing them to safety. The merqueen appread before them as she hovered above the water in a hologram. "Jareth, go forth, and win this labyrinth. There is much at stake and it's all riding on your shoulders. Just know that we can't be there to help you any further." "Thank you I can't repay your kindness" he said weakly. "You will once you win and we are allowed back with the other creatures of the underground" she said with a knowing smile as she evaporated into the water spray from the waves. Rourick's head snapped back to the goblin King. Had he heard that right? Jareth had made an agreement to let the Merpeople back into the undergrounds masses just to be saved? The Djinn were once an endangered species all because of the Merpeople. He wasn't going to allow that to happen again. He really did have so much riding on his winning this labyrinth! Jareth's thoughts were following the same wave length as Rourick's. He had so much riding on his shoulders to win this Labyrinth. The Merpeople, his royal position, his Fae status, the life of his child, and his love for Sarah.

All they could do was stare at each other with hate until they reached the shoreline. There they would go their separate ways as each one battled the Labyrinth's obstacles, Battled the Minotaur, and Battled each other to be the one who was crowned the Labyrinth's Champion.

In a dark alley a man's patience was wearing thin. He was only here for the money, he could care less about the girl and what had happened to her, hell he was so high that day that it had taken him a few weeks to actually determine what had happened had really actually happened and that it wasn't just one of his drug induced "trips". He knew the reward would grow and he was right, they had just posted it up to one hundred fifty thousand dollars for any information leading to the whereabouts of Sarah and her unborn child. The police officer who had started the case had been reassigned once the FBI stepped in, but he couldn't get over the nagging feeling that the step mother had something to do with the girl's disappearance. She had been looked into one multiple occasions but nothing ever came out of it. He did his own investigation to find Sarah when he had the time. For some reason this girl's disappearance really got to him, and he had to see it through to the end no matter what it may be. This informant had called him on his work line, so he hoped that no one else had heard the information the man had given him as a teaser to get him to make the arrangements for the meeting. He had watched the man in the alley for an hour now, and he seemed genuinely aggravated, which was a good sign; whatever he had to say was important enough that he waited for the officer even though it was apparent that he was in desperate need for a fix. Stepping out of the shadows he went to hear what the tweaker had to say. "Dude. I have been waiting for like FOREVER!" the druggie said. "I had to follow up on other tips. Lots of people want that reward money and so far everything is coming out bumpkus for the truth" Officer Sims said. "Well I seen it actually happen but you won't believe me." The user said. "I was in the alley beside the house sleeping off one of my benders when I heard yelling. I looked in the window expecting the lady of the house to come out and threaten me with you guys, but I seen her kicking and screaming a young girl on the floor." Sims wrote everything down as fast as he could, So far what he was hearing, he believed. He had such a bad feeling about that woman, and now it seemed he was correct. "That's when things got all wonky" continued the man "She was saying something about wanting the girl to be gone, and then all of a sudden the room like filled up with smoke and glitter and the girl was gone, but like a man was there, like magic". Sims raised his eyebrows at the dirty man, now things were getting a little weird "So that was the last time you seen the girl?" the man nodded his head "Tell me about the man" Sims asked. "He was tall with long white blond hair that was all spiky and stuff, he had makeup on but not like a drag queen, and he was wearing a leather vest and pants. He had on a puffy pirate shirt like the one Jerry wore, and a cape that like was so long it touched the floor." Sims just stared at the tweaker. The magician routine was a first in the many attempts these con artists had come up with to get that money, but it wasn't going to work on him." The tweaker took the officers silence as a cue to continue "Well he talked all Britishey and he told the lady that he would grant her whatever she wanted in exchange for the girl." This sounded believable to Sims and he just took the first part of the users drug story as a drug induced dream embellishment. The jittery man continued. It was obvious he was getting into his story telling. "I was totally floored when she said she wanted the girl gone but she wanted the baby instead!" Sims was seeing red. This sounded like a regular case of abduction till delivery. Usually in these cases the mother was killed so she couldn't go after her baby. The only Strange thing to Sims was why Karen would want two babies. It was obvious that the step mother was not faking a pregnancy, so she must have made the deal before she found out she was expecting herself. Unless her child does not come out alive because of the complications she can pass off the other baby as her own. "Thank you" Said Sims, "The reward money will be cleared for distribution once this information has been looked into and is found creditable." The tweakers eyes lit up and his mouth started salivating visibly. He sobered up for a second and looked at the officer grimly "One other thing dude, The man disappeared the same way he came. I would be carefully messing with a man who can turn himself into a cloud of glitter." With those last words the tweaker turned and left, excited to finally get his fix. Sims just stared at the retreating man. Sims felt back for that man he obviously believed that the abductor was magical. Aside from the pity he felt for the delusional man, Sims had a new strong lead on Sarah, and it all lead back to Karen which made him burn with fury.

Karen was in the kitchen having tea to calm her nerves down. She could have sworn that the bed comforter had things crawling around under it, but when she threw back the covers the only thing that was there were her legs. Lately she had been seeing things move on their own, or completely disappear right after she set something down. She was coming apart at the seams. Toby was there the other night for a visit and she could have sworn that she seen things in the bubbles he blew from his bubble bath. A slight knock at the door made her jump as if it had been a siren. "What" she said angrily to the intruder on her porch as she swung the door open. "Sorry Mam, I am detective Sims, and I was wondering if I could have a moment of your time". Sims said as he pushed his foot into the doorway obscuring any chance she had of shutting the door. "At three in the morning?" she ground out trying to slam the door in his face. "Karen don't be rude to the nice man. He has only been trying to help us with Sarah's disappearance". Robert said behind Karen causing her to yelp in alarm and move away from the door. Sims smiled at the family patriarch, and stepped into the house. "I have had a new lead and even though it seems a little farfetched I thought I should come immediately, and when I seen the lights on I knew I had to find out now." Began Sims "The man who I met with tonight said he seen what had happened to Sarah," and with those words Karen fainted.

Sarah was miserable. Since Rourick left, time had elapsed in the underground much quicker. It had been two months since she seen Rourick and she feared she would never see him again. Each time she looked into the magick mirror she only seen lots of water. She feared that her only friend Rourick had drowned just as her beloved Jareth did. She was completely along now. She cried constantly, and had lost the determination to live. If it wasn't for the slight movements she felt in her growing abdomen, she would have jumped out of the tallest tower weeks ago. The mirror still showed a happy loving family at home, content without her. Her so called friends from the underground were still content with their lives, never wondering about what she was doing. She had no one to talk to, nothing to do but read the same books over and over, sleep and eat. She should be with Jareth fixing up the baby's room, and picking out baby names. Not sitting in the same spot each day in and out staring into space. She didn't even think about much anymore. If she thought about the baby she would then think about Karen getting to do all the things that she should rightfully be doing. She had went through all the emotions; anger, betrayal, sorrow, hope, and finally hopelessness. She was just so mad about this whole situation that was completely out of her control. Due to the magick surrounding her as the "wished away victim" she couldn't leave the castle. She couldn't make contact with anyone, unless they contacted her first. So all she could do was wait. But Being who she was, that was not an option . "I'm not going to wait forever, it's driving me crazy" she said. And got up from her perch by the window. I am going to do something about all this. I wasn't consulted about any of it and I have rights too!" She stomped to the door, and pulled the bell chain by it. This was to summon her personal maid who usually only brought her food. "Yes Mistress" was the gruff reply of the Djinn woman as she apparated into the room. "I want to speak to someone in charge. I know Rourick is off in the Labyrinth, But there has to be someone else I can talk to about what is going on here"! The Djinn woman eyed Sarah suspiciously; she didn't really have time to deal with the orders from a prisoner. Not when that prisoner had all types of creatures trying to break into the castle to "rescue her" and she along with the other servants were too busy fighting off their attacks. For the last three days the castle was pelted with boulders. Of course the prisoner wouldn't know this, as her quarters were magicked into silence both on the inside and the outside. She wouldn't even be able to see the boulders if she looked outside. "Whatever mistress wants mistress will get" the Djinn woman ground out. "I will contact one of the high council to come meet with you" but she didn't say that the council members hated meetings and usually blew them off. The prisoner would never get her meeting. This thought made the Djinn laugh and she did so quite loudly as she apparated from the room leaving a very confused Sarah behind.

"We shall come get you My Lady" called Sir Didymus up to colossal mountain that was the Djinn castle. "Ludo miss Sawah" wailed Ludo, while Hoggle wiped a tear away before it could be seen by the others. "So do I" he thought. "Very very much".