A/N: Good ol' conflict...

In a matter of seconds, Jareth and Arkus reappeared in the empty throne room.

The Goblin King stormed away from his unwanted guest the second he felt the stone floor under his feet. Planting himself firmly upon his horned throne, he fixed the Fey Ambassador with a heated glare.

"Here me now, Arkus." He warned ominously. "If the Fey Council is entertaining any notions of harming Sarah Williams, so help me, I'll-"

"Oh don't be ridiculous, your majesty." The brunette said dismissively, brushing imaginary dust off his shoulder. "Your little human is of no real consequence to us. No matter what the nature of your relationship is."

"Then what do you want?" Jareth growled. "The sooner I address it, the sooner you'll leave. Out with it!"

"So impatient, your majesty." Arkus chided lightly. "It's most unbecoming, but very well. I was sent by the Fey Council to make sure everything was in order."

"What do you mean?"

"Apparently, our astronomers noticed some acute disturbances in the sky three days ago." He explained. "Disturbances that were over your region."

Jareth's eyes narrowed.

"Naturally, the council was…curious." Arkus smirked haughtily. "After all, it's not like you to show off that particular skill. So I came to see if I could ascertain a reason for the display, and thanks to one of your vermin, I believe I have the answer. The council will be pleased to see that there is nothing to worry about and that their suspicion was correct."

"What suspicion?"

The Ambassador paced the empty throne room.

"Well, when I told the council about your new citizen, they all agreed that her name was quite familiar. Sarah Williams. A little digging in the archives and our memories were refreshed. The Labyrinth's Champion. The only champion…in its thirteen hundred years of existence."

He peered at the Goblin King darkly.

"Now that seemed rather odd. In all that time, no otherhuman ever won your Labyrinth? The council was convinced that there was more to this story, as was I. So, I did a little investigating this past week, and just look what I found."

He then reached into the inside pocket of his coat and withdrew a small, red leather book.

The color drained from Jareth's face.

The Labyrinth!

"Where did you get that?" He demanded sharply.

"Why from Miss Williams's house, of course." Arkus said with mock innocence. "I traveled to the Aboveground to see if there was anything unusual about this insignificant girl that was able to beat your Labyrinth with such ease. Of course, it was rather difficult, seeing as how she no longer exists in accordance with human reality, but as you can see, I managed rather well."

He opened the book and started lazily turning the pages.

"It was buried in a dusty old box of scripts in the attic."

Jareth's stomach quaked at the thought of Arkus being anywhere near Sarah's family. Even though he knew the fey were legally bound by Underground law not to harm humans in the Aboveground, the image frightened him nonetheless.

"I believe her biological mother was an actress, wasn't she?" Arkus continued. "She collected scripts as a hobby then. Of course, she and Sarah's father are still divorced, I guess the box was just left behind and forgotten."

"Quite a fascinating little item, I must admit. A tehta, isn't it?" He asked, sardonically. "Such a mysterious thing. They form through unconscious will when one encounters a human of personal significance. Then they enter said human's life through natural, logical means."

"I suppose, since it's even written as a play, I can safely assume that Sarah's mother gave her this book. How sweet. I suppose she must have found it in some second-hand book store or something, it doesn't matter. It was destined to find Sarah, and it found her, when she existed. Since it's a magical object, it wasn't effected by the alteration of reality. It just sat in Linda Williams's possession, never to come in contact with the girl it was made for. You should be more careful about covering your tracks, but I digress."

"So it seems Miss Williams had a bit of an unfair advantage: a practical guidebook given to her by fate. At first, I was rather confused, until I came across this."

He stopped on a certain page and quoted the passage in an arrogant voice:

"But what no one knew, was that the King of the Goblins had fallen in love with the girl, and he had given her certain powers."

The muscles in Jareth's jaw clenched tight.

"It all made perfect sense, at that point." Arkus stated triumphantly. "Those powers. You gave her the tehta, and you helped her win, didn't you? I even understand she made friends during her challenge. Now how is that possible? Everything in the Labyrinth is supposed to deter the runner. The last monologue gave me the final clue."

He skipped to the end of the play.

"Give me the child. Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City to take back the child that you have stolen. For my will is as strong as yours and my kingdom is as great. You have no power over me."

He snapped the book shut and chuckled tauntingly.

"My, my Jareth. You deliberately painted yourself as the villain for her, to suit her childish 'adventure fantasy'. I'm sure you were quite brilliant at it, since villainy come so naturally to you."

Jareth glowered heavily at him.

"Ha! It's so tragic it's almost amusing." The Fey Ambassador's voice dripped with harsh delight. "You played the part of the villain, yet under the façade, you wanted to be the prince. You moved behind the scenes, tipping the scales in your lady's favor, hoping she'd be grateful enough to choose you over victory."

"But she didn't choose you, did she?" He scoffed. "She rejected you and your wonders. She would rather have been a normal teenage girl in the human world than rule by your side as a queen in a world of magic and dreams. Pathetic."

"Make your point, Arkus." Jareth snapped. "You're not telling me anything new. Sarah already knows all about the tehta and the fact that I helped her."

"I see," the fey noble commented indifferently, "and did you also tell her the truth about your Labyrinth?"

Jareth flinched and Arkus's eyes brightened with cruel vigor.

"So you didn't tell her the real reason why no one has ever won your Labyrinth in thirteen hundred years?" Arkus grin wickedly. "You didn't tell her it's because the Labyrinth is impossible to beat?"

The Goblin King averted his gaze angrily as Arkus went on.

"You formed this Labyrinth to protect yourself and your goblins, as well as to give the wishers a puzzle to solve if they hoped to rescue their wished away loved ones. But because of your…special powers…the Labyrinth is much too strong to be solved by a mere human. Your Helping Hands and Riddle Doors can only do so much, but a human is still too weak to conquer such an immensely powerful creation alone, and you can't help them, because it's against the rules you set. But that all changed when she came here didn't it? That tehta and your personal feelings for her changed those rules. Suddenly, you had the freedom to help her as long as you stayed in character, even if it was all for naught."

"That isn't true!" Jareth growled. "She's here now and she's agreed to become my queen and there is not a thing you or the Fey Council can do to stop that."

"You quite mistake us, your highness," Arkus objected calmly, "the council will be quite pleased to hear of your upcoming nuptials. Even if a human is the best something like you could aspire to."

The Goblin King stood up abruptly.

"Sarah is priceless compared to any female of my species." He snarled at the Ambassador.

"We don't care who or what you marry." Arkus persisted, ignoring the outburst. "We just hope that you are being completely honest with the girl. As you know, marriage is held in high regard in the Underground."

There was a slight pause as the subtle hint sunk in.

"She knows about me." Jareth hissed through grit teeth.

"Does she?" Arkus assessed him defiantly. "Does she really?"

Ice-cold dread slid down the fey royal's spine at the knowing look Arkus gave him.

"Somehow, I doubt she knows everything." The visitor spat in a foreboding voice. "I mean, it's one thing if you don't tell her about the initially unfair stakes of the Labyrinth, but there must be no personal secrets between the two of you if you're to be happily wed."

The blonde started to tremble.

"However, there is one secret you'll never tell her. The secret of why you came here to this filthy island." Arkus's tone dropped into a deadly whisper. "Oh no, you'll never tell her that…and do you know why? Because she'd hate you if she knew. You know she would. How could she not? She'd see you for what you really are. She'd hate you like the rest of us. Like you deserve, rauko."

Jareth's heart hammered in his chest, but he managed to shake his head feebly.

"N-no, you're wrong. She l-loves me."

An evil smile slid across the other's face.

"Oh really? Has she said the words?"

The Goblin King froze and the throne room echoed with Arkus's derisive laughter.

"She-she doesn't have to say it!" Jareth insisted. "I know she-"

"No you don't." Arkus declared with finality. "Though you are an abomination, you're still a fey and you know as well as I, that when you live in a realm where one can create marvels with just the wave of a hand, words are the only certainty. You know you'll never be sure unless she says the right words. It's in your nature, and if she's going to live here, it'll have to become her nature as well."

The strength in Jareth's legs gave out and he sunk back down onto the throne, his expression helpless.

"So what will you do now, your majesty?" The representative sneered. "Stay selfishly silent and marry the human you claim to love with a veil of lies between you? Or tell her the truth and lose her again, and this time, really earn her hate?"

The Goblin King stared at the floor. His hands clenched into fists and his sharp teeth sank into his lower lip, drawing blood.

Arkus straightened his coat proudly.

"As I said before," he concluded snidely, "I thank the stars I'm not you."

Satisfied, he vanished in a glittery mist.

Jareth's head fell into his hands as a raging storm of panic and despair welled up inside of him.

What am I going to do?

His shoulders quivered and a crystal-clear teardrop hit the dirty stone floor at his feet.

A/N: Uh-oh! The tension's rising!

It is getting close to finals time at school, so updates are going to be kind of tricky, but if I get enough reviews, I'll get another chapter posted before the end of this week! Promise!