Disclaimer: I own nothing. I just like to play with the characters for a wee bit.

Guys, we're getting close to the end. ISN'T THIS EXCITING

"Sarah? Sarah, darling, are you awake?"

She didn't want to open her eyes. This was the second time that day she'd been woken up, and she was really tired of this disconcerted feeling of how in the world did she get here.

And that's when she realized.

She was home.

"Dad? Irene?" She rose from the bed - her bed - and raced downstairs to greet her parents. Just coming in from a fun night out. She tackled her dad first. Then stopped a beat. Before finally hugging Irene too. "I'm so glad to see you both. Did you have a fun time? Tell me all about it."

"Well, yes, dear, it was lovely," Irene answered first, looking only slightly surprised. "We went out to this charming restaurant before heading to the theater. I had a salad, of course, but Robert said the steak was good. Though why he still eats red meat, I don't know. Then, the movie. Oh! The movie..." She rattled on, apparently thrilled to have a chance to brag about their marvelous evening out.

And Sarah listened. Even though she had absolutely no interest in the movie or the random details Irene deemed worthy to mention. Her father disappeared into the bedroom to change while she and Irene settled in the family room on one of the couches. When Robert finally emerged, hesitantly mentioning the time (what, like one in the morning is really that late?), Irene chimed in agreement and shooed Sarah off to bed.

Apparently she needed her beauty sleep. Whatever. She had enough time to catch up with them tomorrow. As she trudged up the stairs to her room, the bedroom next to hers caught her off guard. I mean, it made sense. Toby wasn't here; Jareth had been able to drop her off right when she left. Of course, it wouldn't be Toby's room.

Oddly enough, though, it looked like a playroom. Now, apart from a case of her stuffed animals hung up in the center, bookshelves lined the walls. A few toys were scattered across the floor. Some she recognized, but most she just remembered wanting them so badly but Irene (and her father, of course, because they were one and made decisions together, of course) had refused to buy them. She shut the door and hesitated only slightly before going into her own room.

She did not like being an only child.

So now he was stuck with the brat and no Sarah. He couldn't even turn the boy into a goblin, and Toby did not seem to know how to get through the day without crying or screeching or...pooping. He didn't know any magic for potty training children, but he supposed learning such information was worth the risk of running into that annoying dwarf.

Poofing in, he happily discovered that said scribe must be taking a break. Using a finding spell, he located the book he needed (entitled Children's Behaviors and the Magicks Needed to Circumvent Them; the dwarf loved his freakishly long titles) and poofed back out before Ronald Ruel (even his name was pretentious) returned.

Sarah, the Queen of the Labyrinth, laid on her bed and moped. She'd forgotten about school. It sucked, but in a different way. Her friends seemed almost superficial, and she struggled to find something of interest to talk about. Which ticked her off because it was yet another thing that had changed.

Or rather, a new difference she noticed since she had changed.

And it felt odd being here. Felt pointless learning about things that no longer mattered to her. Plus, she'd far rather be planting flowers in the Labyrinth or finding out more about her own abilities. But instead she was studying algebra and failing chemistry. Not to mention excluding herself from her friends.

Home sucked less. It was so weird without Toby. She missed having to stay home to take care of him, and she hated that no one remembered, but all that would change once she found out to right her wrong.

Which meant more studying. She flopped backwards on her bed for a beat. Acting like she had time to daydream.

Then she got up, switched on her lamp, and took out the next volume of Ronald Ruel's carefully scripted Rules of the Goblin King: A Brief Summary Section II.

The magic wasn't working. He didn't know if his abilities had gotten weaker or if Toby was somehow immune.

Neither conclusion was very encouraging.

Which, understandably so, irked him further. So he supposed it was time to visit the library again.

The dwarf was there this time. Sitting in his chair. Smug.

"What did you do?" The King took no time for niceties. He lifted the book with one gloved finger. "Did you forge this, Reginald?"

"That wasn't even close to my name, sire," The dwarf bowed in greeting, ever polite. "And I would never intentionally forge a book. I am offended."

The little twerp did look a tad upset but what else... "Then what am I doing wrong? Toby is definitely not potty-trained."

"Admitting you're wrong? My, my, Sarah's had quite an influence on you-"

Jareth growled impatiently. A warning.

The dwarf made a valiant effort to hid his smirk. "Flip to that last page, will you?" The King did so. "Oh, dear, see? That's the problem with magic. As you can see here, there's this disclaimer at the bottom of the page. 'As the previously mentioned magicks are supposed to be worked on human babies, a final reminder: human children are especially unpredictable; these spells may not be effective.' Isn't that unfortunate?"

One of these days, Jareth was going to bog this useless scribe. "Why didn't you put that on the first page of the 5,492nd-page volume?"

It had been a month, and she'd only read through about half the books she'd brought with her. A whole month wasted. No Toby. No Jareth.

She chatted with Hoggle, Ludo, and Sir Didymus twice via her mirror, but she felt guilty enough wasting time at school. Free time was a joke; her mother (Irene made such a big deal the other day, and Sarah found she didn't mind anymore. Even though she would always remember her first mom.) worried that she was working too much on school. Which would be problematic when her parents received her report card in a few weeks.

She'd talk her way out of that one when she came to it. Hopefully.

Hopefully, she wouldn't still be here anymore. Hopefully, she could find a way to get Toby back. She finished scanning the rest of the tome on her desk before slamming it in frustration. Dust puffed out, and a few books tipped over on the bookshelf nailed into the wall above her desk. Coughing slightly, she stood up to straighten her shelf. And that's when she spotted it.

A tiny, red novel. Perhaps this time...she could finally remember the words.