Sarah moaned as she slept, and being uncomfortable, the girl turned over to lay on her right side. Her hands turned into small clenched fists as she clung to the blankets that covered her. A cold sweat had settled on her forehead and she shivered involuntarily. Sarah had been having vicious nightmares almost ceaselessly since Jareth had sung her to sleep in the Meadow Room. Something was wrong. . . Something her sleeping mind couldn't seem to comprehend. . . And slowly a unknown feel began to spread throughout her body. A foreign fear slowly beginning to well up inside her chest, trying to form into a scream but not quite managing it. Never before had a something in a dream state been so vibrant. Not even the dreams she had seen in Jareth's crystals could compare.

The nightmare was horrible. It felt too solid and alive to be only a dream. It had to be real. How else could she feel this scared and helpless?

The dream's structure was familiar. Something was chasing her through a dark cave, and there was no light or sense of direction to be had. But despite this, Sarah somehow knew where she was supposed to go. "Almost there," a voice inside her chanted anxiously. "Almost safe."

Sarah's legs cried out in protest as she ran faster than before, making her trip slightly before she caught herself and kept going. But because of her momentary decline of speed, the thing caught up with her. She could feel the creature's hot and repugnant breath on the back of her neck, an unforgiving sign that she wasn't going to be able to escape. Sarah sensing the end, pushed herself far past her regular limit of speed, but it still wasn't enough. The beast lunged at her back, and Sarah screamed as it tackled her to the ground. She was so close to being free from the darkness, she couldn't let it win now! She couldn't give up now! She couldn't let this thing kill her!

Sarah struggled against the large, hairy, seven fingered hands that now held her throat in a vice-like grip, but it was no use. The monster was too strong to overcome by force alone, and she had no weapon at her disposal. Beginning to panic as her air dwindled away and she began to slip into unconsciousness, the young woman grabbed at the hands, trying to pry them loose from her throat. But the creature didn't even flinch at her attacks; her hands simply bounced off the rock hard skin and caused instant bruises on her already sore knuckles.

"I'm going to die here," the young woman thought frantically, when it didn't let go. "After all I've been through, I'm going to die in a nasty cave with a hairy goblin beast sitting on top of my chest!"

Sarah gasped one last time, taking the very last of her air supply into her lungs and the monster watched her. The thing studied her with large reddish-gold eyes and huffed in triumph as it watched its victim strangle to death. Never had it's selected prey been so easy to catch. Never before had the beast's adversary surrendered without a fight. But this one mortal, was powerless and weak. So the beast continued to strangle the human and observed with sadistic pleasure. So much for a challenge.

Sarah looked into the thing's eyes, shaking in fear as her air began to completely slip away and cried as she saw her own death showed in the beast's eyes. Once she had stopped breathing, it would defile her body and then eat her, piece by piece, so that there was nothing left. There was no remorse, no pity, nothing but ruthless conviction shining in those evil eyes. This was the end.

Sarah closed her eyes then, not wanting to see any more, and became resolved in her demise. So she waited for it. But at the moment when she thought her oxygen would run out, a soft voice penetrated her mind and called to her.

"Sarah," the voice said firmly. "Come to me."

Sarah's eyes opened as the voice addressed her and immediately let go of the monster's hands to pleadingly reach out with her own; trying to find the person speaking to her within the darkness.

"Fight it," the voice commanded her in a calming tone. "Use the power within you. Summon your strongest memories and manipulate them to your advantage."

"I can't," Sarah screamed back in her mind. "The beast blocks all of my happiness! All of my good memories are gone!"

"It cannot block love," the voice replied patiently before going silent, leaving Sarah alone with the beast once more.

The young woman frantically tried to think of a memory and found herself remembering Toby's last birthday party. Toby's birthday had occurred exactly two months after her adventures in the Labyrinth. The girl remembered this because she had kept a calendar so that she could recall the exact dates.

Sarah focused on all the details of that night: the way Toby had giggled when she picked him up, the smile that hadn't left his toddler countenance, and the way she had kissed his soft, baby fat cheeks after he had gotten cake smeared all over his face. She remembered the cute little light blue onesie he had worn and the handsome little shoes to match.

Sarah fought to hold the image of her baby brother, and let it consume her mind's eye. It was hard to do being lightheaded and choked to the point of death, but somehow she managed. And as the imagine fully settled, the young woman felt as if she was vibrating as she focused even harder on the mental picture. And her efforts paid off. For when she looked up into the monster's large golden red orbs, with her bright green ones, she no longer saw the scene of her death. All she could see reflected on the shiny surface was Toby as he giggled happily and hugged Lancelot the old stuffed bear.

Sarah smiled gratefully and whispered his name as a silent tear fell from her pale cheek and slid down the length of her face, landing where the beast's hands squeezed her throat. The second that the tear touched the creature's skin it recoiled with a loud growl of pain. Where the tear drop had fallen, a small burn mark appeared in-between it's knuckles in the shape of the droplet, the skin beneath the hairy exterior becoming a pale white color instead of it's darker hue.

Sarah pushed up in a sitting position as the beast moved back from her, and smiled brightly. The young woman no longer caring where she was, or what the beast had planned. Not when she had her baby brother.

The hairy beast started moving towards the girl, rage making it rush at her, immediately going in for the kill. But the thing stopped as soon as it got close to her, and suddenly began to howl in anguish as a blinding white light shown throughout the cave.

Sarah stood up from the ground and as she did so, light flashed from fingertips and eyes. Within seconds the light had completely filled the cave and the monster backed away from her, whining pitifully before it turned around and ran. The noises it made as it left were those of absolute loathing, but it didn't stay to be blinded further. Instead it retreated to place from whence it came and disappeared from the cave completely, leaving Sarah alone in the now bright cavern.

The young woman waited until the thing had gone before she collapsed back to the cold, hard ground, exhausted.

"Thank you," she whispered aloud to the voice that had helped save her. "Thank you."

Then for the second time that day, Sarah Williams sank into unconsciousness. The weariness and strain on her body too much to be endured. But if she had stayed conscious only a few moments longer she would have seen a woman with shoulder length white hair and matching white dress appear at her side, in a flash of white light.

The woman in white ran one of her hands across Sarah's face and smiled down at her wistfully.

"It seems that Jareth has chosen his bride wisely," She said quietly, and hesitated before adding, "Again."

The Goblin King read the text in front of him impatiently, his mind refusing to focus on the line he had tried to grasp seven different times already. The old Fae-Goblinish was a hectic language at best, but trying to read and understand spells written in it, was nearly impossible. Jareth had been taught to speak, read, and write in the old dialect as well as the regular Goblinish, but he still found that the ancient texts were sometimes hard to understand, as if the meanings had changed over time. This frustrated him beyond all measure, and he had been known in past fits of rage, to throw such texts into his fireplace. Though luckily Mariya was always there in time to cast a spell to protect them so they would not burn. As always, the old nursemaid was always there in a crisis.

At the exact moment that Jareth thought of this, there was a small knock on his study door.

"My King," a motherly voice called gently, and Mariya peeked her head around the huge carved door, with a serious expression plastered to her old, wrinkled face. "You sent for me?"

Speak of the goblin and she would appear.

Jareth looked up at her, past his reading glasses and nodded. "Yes Mariya, please take a seat."

Mariya did as she was told and sat in one of the high-back chairs facing his large, oak desk. He marked his place in the old volume, took off his glasses and met her gaze. The Goblin King wasted no time in beating around the bush as he addressed the current problem. "We need to get Sarah's inner magic to respond, Mariya. If we fail to do so, she will not survive the Viviari Trial."

Mariya nodded in agreement. "What do you propose Sire?"

Jareth smiled at her widely, "Actually, I was hoping that you might have some ideas?"

Mariya thought for several moments before she threw out her first idea to come to her. "Stress. Stress has always been a good way to wake up magical gifts and powers. Make Sarah think that her life is in danger, that might make her inner magic wake up and take control."

"I already tried that," Jareth said warily while rubbing his temples with a grimace. "She almost drowned."

Mariya not missing a beat, threw out another idea. "What about manipulation through her body channels?"

"Explain," Jareth prompted with interest.

"Use her as a conductor for your own magic, Majesty," the old goblin replied. "Let her feel the elements within her, and maybe by getting a taste of the power, it will help her display her own."

Jareth nodded, before lifting an eyebrow. "Any other ideas?"

"What about-" Mariya began, but before she could say more a low cough escaped from her. It was a strange, hacking sound and Jareth looked at her with concern.

"Mariya?"

The goblin woman's eyes only grew wide in response and she gripped the sides of her chair before she started to convulse violently.

Jareth was out of his seat in a flash and was holding his old nurse on the floor, shaking her gently. "Alta," he said looking into her glazed eyes desperately, "Are you alright? What is it? What do you see?"

Mariya's hands scrambled to her throat and held onto something that wasn't there, as if some invisible man with hands of steel was choking her.

"The . . . Connection. . ." She gasped fighting against the force at her neck. "The trials. . . . Sarah's. . . . First test. . ." She was able to choke out before she couldn't talk any more. Jareth nodded to her in understanding and instantly began chanting spells under his breath. These spells would give her a continual air supply, but he wasn't sure it was going to be enough. The Goblin King chanted Sarah's name along with Mariya's, praying that she would have the extra oxygen as well.

"Is it the Katlak Beast," Jareth questioned in between incantations. Mariya nodded once and promptly continued to cough.

Then just as quickly as the coughing fit had begun, it was over, without a trace. The old goblin woman breathed the air eagerly for several long moments and smiled in awe as she looked up at Jareth, saying before losing consciousness. "A part of her has awakened."