This is my first Labyrinth fanfic and it's for my friend Jo, who asked me to write it after we watched the movie and went to a Labyrinth themed party.

WARNING: There is small bit of domestic abuse in the first part of the chapter, so I am sorry you have to read it, but it is part of the plot for a little bit. It won't feature in the story at all after the first chapter, I promise, though mentions of it made be made.

I do not own the Labyrinth or any of its characters. That honor goes to Jim Henson.

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There are always moments in your life where you make a decision and it completely changes the course of your entire life. Reading a worn red book that your mother left you, for instance and choosing to believe in the creatures in it. Wishing away your baby brother because you were frustrated with your life and then choosing to win him back from the Goblin King who took him. Sarah Williams was about to have another one of those moments in her life.

The day had honestly started out like any other day of her life, Sarah went to work, picked up groceries for dinner on the way home, then tidied up the apartment while dinner was cooking, often talking to Ripley. Ripley was a tiny goblin who showed up on the end of Sarah's bed one night after she had defeated the Labyrinth and after hearing how the other goblins picked on him, hadn't had the heart to send back to the Goblin Kingdom. So he stayed with her, through the rest of high school, through college and her string of messy breakups. Sarah was always grateful that Ripley was around after her most recent boyfriend had broken up with her. The eight inch high goblin could always make her feel better, always reminding her that there were always more men out there. And that a certain Goblin King was still sitting in his castle. Sarah always ignored that bit of advice. Ripley had been encouraging her more and more lately to call on Jareth, ever since she had gotten involved with her latest boyfriend- Mark.

Mark was, in short, an abusive bastard. Sarah had tried to leave him once, just once. The bruises she got was nothing compared to the fright she felt when he threatened to go after her family, Toby in particular. To keep Mark happy Sarah learned to tread lightly and attempted perfection in the smallest things. Impossible of course, as the marks on her arms would show.

Today though, Sarah made the decision to buy a David Bowie CD she didn't yet own and put it on while she cleaned the living room. She had found David Bowie several months after saving Toby from the Labyrinth and fell in love with his voice. She told herself that just because he sounded almost like the Goblin King when he sang had nothing to do with her love of his songs.

I could escape this feeling, with my china girl
I feel a wreck without my, little china girl
I hear her heart beating, loud as thunder
Saw the stars crashing

I'm a mess without my, little china girl
Wake up mornings where's my, little china girl
I hear hearts beating, loud as thunder
I saw the stars crashing down

Sarah couldn't help but dance around the room with her feather duster in one hand, the other occasionally flipping her long hair over one shoulder. Ripley was also doing his version of dancing on the coffee table, which looked like, in Sarah's opinion, he was having a seizure. Laughing as she spun around, Sarah completely forgot about the chicken in the oven, too focused on the song.

My little china girl
You shouldn't mess with me
I'll ruin everything you are
I'll give you television
I'll give you eyes of blue
I'll give you men who want to rule the world

Sarah stopped dancing and tilted her head at the stereo, the verse hitting a little too close to her memories of the Goblin King. He had warned her as well, in the same tone of voice once. The small connection she made from the song to the King was apparently enough to invite memories of his wild hair and smirking face into her mind. Images of his tight pants and leather gloves caused a shiver to go down her spin, while the thought of his riding crop forced her to bite down on her lower lip. She was sure he would know how to use it correctly. Before that scene could make its way into her head, the front door slammed open and Sarah was startled out of her daydreaming. Green eyes widened with fright as she caught sight of an obviously irked Mark coupled with the smell of burning food. A sound slipped out of her mouth as she turned and ran into the kitchen, grabbing a towel to cover her hand as she yanked the burnt chicken and its pan out of the oven. A whimper came out as she felt a large hand drop down and grab one of her wrists, which she struggled against as soon as she realized it was trying to press her bare hand against the hot pan.

Though she struggled as hard as she could, Sarah just was no match for Mark's strength and a scream tore from her lips as she felt the hot pan against her flesh. Her hand was held there for several seconds before Mark allowed her to tear it away, and a smirk was easily visible on his face when she whirled around to look at him. Almost without thinking about it, her unblistered hand came up and made contact with his cheek, causing the smirk to vanish. An incredibly pissed off expression replaced it before Mark's hand came up and grabbed Sarah by the neck. Her hand gripped at his wrist, nails digging in as she tried to pry it off so she could breathe. As her vision started to darken she noticed two things. Ripley's panicked expression and the fact the Mark was pushing her face towards the burning pan.

Using the last of her breath she managed to whisper, almost inaudibly, "I wish the Goblin King would take me away, right now."

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Jareth was sitting at the top of his tower, spinning dreams into crystals when he felt it. The barely there tug that had been occurring for years. It was so commonplace anymore though, that he ignored it. When it first started occurring, he had been worried. It felt as though he was being pulled, but didn't know where. An unsettling feeling for the Goblin King to be sure. The feeling of the tugging was comforting at times, always on the edge of being familiar to the King. Settling back against the wall, Jareth continued to spin dreams into his crystals to later send up to mortals in the Aboveground. He had spinning a pretty dream about pixies when suddenly the tugging sensation sharpened and he knew. He knew exactly who had been tugging at him over the years. A wave of feelings that was half longing and half irritation crashed over him before he heard it, clear as a bell and as loud as if he had been standing in front of her when she uttered it.

"I wish the Goblin King would come and take me away, right now."

With a smirk at the invitation, Jareth dropped the dream and teleported himself straight to Sarah. The sight he was greeted with was not one he had expected. Sarah looking desperate for him, perhaps. Or shocked that he wishes still worked. But not Sarah unconscious, being held roughly by a man while a goblin stood near her screaming its little fool head off. The man looked shocked by Jareth's sudden appearance and pulled Sarah against his chest, causing the king's eyes to narrow. The little goblin to the opportunity to wave his hands and capture Jareth's attention.

"Kingy! The bad man be hurting Sarah! Trying to burn her all up!"

Mismatched eyes whipped back to the man holding Sarah, fury obvious in them and one glove hand raised up. A simple snap of his fingers sent the mortal flying back into the wall, sending out a cloud of plaster dust while Jareth went and picked up Sarah, who had fallen to the ground. Her eyes were half open and she smiled faintly at him before tucking her face against his neck. A small smile formed on the king's lips as he held the woman tighter, but disappeared once he set eyes on the small goblin again.

"And what are you doing here?" he asked in a cold tone.

"Ripley been living with Sarah since she be leaving Kingy's labyrinth! Sarah be saying I could stay with her for always if I's be wanting to!" the creature told him proudly, a smile on its face.

One eyebrow arched up as Jareth looked between the goblin and the woman in his arms, and his eyes took on an amused glint. "What a curious girl you are, Sarah."

Glancing at the goblin, Jareth sighed and motioned him over, "I'm taking her back with me, so if you're coming, let's go."

The goblin squealed with happiness and launched itself off of the counter and onto Sarah, clingy tightly to her shirt. Rolling his eyes at the goblin, Jareth teleported them back to his kingdom, straight into his bedroom. After placing Sarah down on his bed, the Goblin King ran a gloved hand through his wild hair.

"You are always a surprise, Sarah."

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When Sarah woke up it was to a blinding pain in her hand and the sight of Ripley standing on her stomach with what looked like a letter opener held in his hands like a sword. She smiled briefly at the sight before turning her gaze to her hand and grimacing at the blistered mess her palm was.

"What a bastard," she muttered, scaring Ripley into falling off his perch.

"Aaah! Oh Sarah! You's be awake now," the little goblin yelled while wrapping his arms around her uninjured hand. "I was worried!"

"I'll be fine, Ripley. I just…need a phone to call the cops on Mark," Sarah said as she looked around, finally noticing she was not in her bedroom… or in any room of her apartment. A quiet sense of dread filled her as she noticed the lavish decorations about the room and the many paintings on the wall of what looked like places in… the Labyrinth. "Ripley… where am I?"

"We be back in the Labyrinth! Sarah wished for Kingy to come get her right now and Kingy came! Used his magickes to send bad Mark through the wall before he be saving Sarah!" The little goblin was very excited and thrust his letter opener sword a few times to punctuate his reply.

"Fuck," Sarah muttered and dropped her head down into her uninjured hand, eyes slipping closed only to snap back open when she heard a chuckle and a familiar voice drawl out from across the room.

"Such language, dear Sarah."

A squeak escaped her mouth as she turned her body towards the voice, one hand moving unconsciously to grab Ripley and push him behind her. The Goblin King raised his eyebrow at her protection of a goblin, a smirk making itself known on his face. He practically strutted across the room to the bed and dropped down next to Sarah, closer than necessary, holding up a glass bottle with a thick blue liquid inside it.

Trying to scoot away without him noticing, Sarah stared at the bottle, "What is it?"

"For your hand, I imagine it hurts quite a bit," Jareth said with an amused look in his eyes.

Watching the Goblin King warily, Sarah slowly reached out and took the bottle from his hand, then pulled out the cork. She sniffed it cautiously before glancing at Ripley, who had climbed onto her leg and was swaying in place with a smile.

"Is it safe, Ripley?" she asked. The little goblin nodded vigorously, giving Sarah the courage to use the gift from the Goblin King; who was watching their exchange with a highly amused and interested expression.

"Tell me Sarah, when exactly did you acquire one of my goblins as a companion?" Jareth questioned as Sarah poured the blue potion over her hand, startling her enough to spill some of it on the bed beneath her.

"I… he followed me home, after I beat the Labyrinth. I didn't mind him, he wasn't a troublemaker," Sarah murmured as she stared down at the small puddle of blue in her hand, "Hey, is this supposed to be doing something? I think it might be expired."

Jareth reached out and grabbed her wrist, pulling it closer to him, then rolled his eyes and used his teeth to pull off the other hand's black glove. He let the leather fall from his mouth to his lap while using his newly freed finger to start rubbing the potion into her skin. Sarah jumped slightly at his touch and tried to pull her hand back, but immediately stilled when she realized the burning pain in her hand was slowly disappearing.

"You could have just told me to rub it in," she muttered, causing Jareth's lips to twitch up into a smirk.

"Yes, I could have. However, doing it myself is much more enjoyable."

The smugness of his tone coupled with the arrogant smirk made Sarah's eye twitch and the second the blue liquid was absorbed into her skin she yanked her hand out of his grasp. Quickly standing up and moving several steps away from the bed, she completely missed the frown that turned down the Goblin King's lips.

"Look, I get that I wished myself here and I am really grateful that you saved me from my boyfriend, but I want to go home now," she said, hands resting on her hips as she turned to stare at Jareth. Sarah had to resist the urge to turn and run as the Goblin King slowly rose from the bed, cold fury filling his eyes.

"No. Stupid girl. That's not how it works. You have to have someone run the Labyrinth for you if you want to leave," Jareth took a step towards Sarah, who quickly backed away. "Even if you had someone to run it for your freedom, do you really think I would let you go back to someone who tried to kill you?"

"He wasn't… he wouldn't. He would have stopped just to prove a point and if I don't go back…" Sarah trailed off as she looked down at the ground, gathering up her courage, "If you won't let me run the Labyrinth for my freedom, you have to give someone close to me the chance to. There has to be some kind of rule saying that you can't keep people here against their will if someone is willing to run the Labyrinth."

Jareth smiled and quickly moved forward until he was looming over her, hands reaching out to grab her wrists to keep her from retreating, "So you think you know the rules of the Labyrinth? Well you're wrong. If someone wishes themselves here, they are here to stay. I do not have to give anyone the option to run for their freedom."

Sarah's face fell and she hung her head, sadness evident for Jareth to see. He sighed and released his grip on her wrists before running one hand over his face.

"I will make you a deal," he said in a reluctant tone, watching as her head raised back up and her face took on a hopeful expression.

"Your terms?"

"I will offer the chance to run for you to one human and one human only. If they decline, you stay here indefinitely. If they run but give up, you stay indefinitely. If they run but fail to make it in time, you will stay here with me, but will be allowed visits to the Aboveground for periods no longer than a week in length unless otherwise discussed when said visits occur," Jareth outlined his terms, and smiled inwardly as disbelief clearly made itself known on her face.

"You would let me go visit the aboveground if my champion failed?" she asked, something close to awe in her voice.

"I am not a monster, Sarah. Just because I have been cruel at times in the past does not mean I am always so. I will give you… thirteen hours to choose your champion. You may stay here in my bedroom until the time is up, or explore the castle. You will not find any doors that will lead you outside until after the thirteen hours are up and I come for your answer, or you find me and give me your answer early."

Sarah's eyes widened as she looked around the room, her voice coming out in a higher than normal pitch, "Your bedroom? This is… your room?"

Smirking, Jareth nodded," None of the guest rooms were clean enough or worthy of your stay in them while you were unconscious. I will fix that in the thirteen hours I have given you."

The Goblin King turned and walked towards the door, almost reaching it before Sarah yelled out," Hey! I never got to lay out my terms of our deal!"

"So close," Jareth whispered to himself before turning back to Sarah, a smirk twisting his lips. "I was hoping you would not realize that."

"If my champion does not give up and gets here in time, you will return me to the Aboveground. With the power to call on someone to bring me back here for visits no longer than a week unless previously discussed," Sarah said with a smirk, mimicking Jareth's terms with an almost mocking tone.

"You wish to come back to the Labyrinth, Sarah?"

"To see my friends, yes. But I don't want to have to stay permanently."

Jareth's smirk widened and he quickly crossed the room, grabbing her hand in his still gloveless one. "Your terms are agreeable and now the deal is sealed. I will see you when it is time for your champion's name to be revealed."

The Goblin King then snapped his fingers and summoned his glove from the bed, then disappeared from in front of her in a shower of glitter. Sarah looked over at Ripley, who was standing on the edge of the bed, eyes wide.

"Somehow, Ripley, I feel as though I just made a very big mistake…"

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Sarah couldn't help it, the temptation was just too much for her to bear and within ten minutes of him leaving, she was in Jareth's massive closet. She browsed through the racks of clothing with interest, until she came to a familiar shimmering blue jacket. Pulling it from its hanger, Sarah held it up to the light, admiring how the light hit it. Ripley sat on her shoulder, giving the jacket a curious look.

"He wore this for me once, Ripley," she murmured quietly, pulling the jacket close to her chest.

"Shiny!" Ripley shouted and tried to grab at the jacket, which Sarah quickly moved out of his grasp. She put it back on the hanger and smoothed out a few wrinkles before leaving the closet, not wanting to know what would happen if Jareth found out a goblin had been touching his clothes.

"He said I could explore the castle, do you want to?" she asked the tiny goblin, who nodded and pointed towards the doors. Sarah smiled and headed to them, peeking out into the hallway before deciding it was safe and slipping from the room. She debated for a minute before following the nearest hallway on the right, having seen sunlight shining from it. Tall windows lined the hallway and gave a view of the Labyrinth and she paused to look out of one for several minutes.

"You know, before all I wanted to do was beat the Labyrinth as fast as possible. I don't think I ever really took the time to see how amazing it was. One would have to be incredibly clever to be able to design and walk the Labyrinth without getting lost…"

"Kingy walks in it lots! Changes parts he don't like, too! Makes more trapses for runners to fall into!" Ripley said happily.

Sarah frowned and looked at the goblin on her shoulder, an interested look expression coming over her features," Sometimes I forget that you lived here, Ripley. You must know a lot about the Labyrinth."

"Yeah, yeah! Ripley lived under the stones! Learned the tunnels to the castle and all through the gardens!"

Sarah nodded and continued on her way, an idea forming in her head. She fell into a daydreaming state and didn't pay attention to where she was walking until she was suddenly falling down a flight of stairs, a terrified shriek escaping her lips as she headed towards the bottom. When she landed in a heap at the bottom, the first thing she did was look for the little goblin who had been on her shoulder. She found him easily enough, as he was standing a few steps above her, then sighed with relief. The groaned when she realized what room she was in. The Escher room, of course.

"Brilliant, the one room I can't get out of," Sarah huffed as she laid back on the ground at the bottom of the stairs, eyes closed.

"It does take practice," said a silky voice and Sarah quickly opened her eyes to see the Goblin King standing on the ceiling above her. She quickly noticed that something was off about Jareth, but before she could open her mouth to ask, it hit her. A concerned expression, so alien on his face was clear. Sarah hated the sight of it and for unknown (Okay, she totally knew why) reasons, she wanted it to be gone instantly. So she jumped to her feet and dusted off her jeans, then ran a hand through her hair.

"That was fun, but I'd rather not do it again," she said as Jareth dropped from the ceiling, landing on his feet like a cat.

"I would rather you did not do that again, either. Are you injured?"

"Nah, I'm good," Sarah smiled brightly and reached over to scoop up Ripley, ignoring the twinge in the knee she had slammed on her unintended trip down the stairs. "But maybe you can show me the way out of this room? Can't make a decision if I'm too busy trying to figure a way out of here, you know."

The Goblin King frowned, but nodded regardless, one hand reaching out for her. Sarah hesitantly put her hand in his, closing her eyes as the world seemed to spin for a few seconds. When she reopened them, she realized they were in a large library. For a few seconds she simply gaped, then her brain stuttered back to life and she turned her gaze to Jareth.

"It's huge!" She exclaimed, causing a small smile to tug at the king's lips.

"Yes, I suppose it is."

"May I…?" she asked hesitantly, then grinned and moved over to one of the many shelves when he nodded. Her eyes landed on a book about magic and she pulled it out and started to slowly flip through its pages. She knew Jareth was watching her, but ignored it for a few minutes while reading the titles of different chapters. Of course when the Goblin King stares at you, you eventually have to look up at him, which Sarah did, blinking several times at the intensity of his gaze. Taking a chance, she cleared her throat, "Uhm… Your Majesty?"

Jareth blinked as well before snickering, head shaking a little at how strange it was to hear those words falling from her lips.

"Jareth."

"Right… okay. Jareth. I have some questions that I would love for you to answer."

The Goblin King instantly looked wary and rocked back on his heels, arms moving to cross over his chest as he opened his mouth to speak, "So ask them, dear Sarah."

Having been given permission, the questions seemed to burst out of Sarah like a flood, "Why are you being nice to me? Can I choose anyone to run the Labyrinth for me? If they fail am I going to be a servant or what? What happened to my friends, Hoggle, Ludo, Sir Didymus?"

Jareth smirked at her and shook his head, his posture relaxing some. "Hogwash is still outside the Labyrinth, spraying fairies as far as I know. Ludo is in the Goblin City, helping build things, and Sir Didymus is training my goblin army. As for your champion, they have to know you and have a connection with you, be it a family, friendly, or…intimate one."

The king paused for a moment before turning his gaze from her, landing on a bookshelf in the distance. "You would not be my servant, Sarah, but a guest. Free to roam my kingdom whenever you liked. Invited to balls with me when other kingdoms had them."

Sarah nodded and seemed to relax, then chuckled quietly as she realized he had ignored a question.

"And my first question…Jareth?"

The Goblin King muttered something before looking back at her, a strange expression swimming in his mismatched eyes. "I never wished to be cruel to you, Sarah. You expected an evil baby stealing Goblin King, so that was what I gave you. Though even if you had not wanted that, I would not have been nice to a runner of the Labyrinth who was trying to defeat me."

"And now?" she asked.

"Now… you are my guest and I don't have to play the cruel king. I am capable of being polite, you know."

Sarah smiled and nodded, one hand moving to brush hair behind her ear, "I'd like that. It's as I said before, I am grateful that you saved me when I asked, and if you aren't forced to act like you did the last time I was here…my stay might not be so bad."

"I am glad to hear it. Now, I shall leave you in here until the thirteen hours are up. Please try not to fall down stairs again," Jareth said with a smirk, then headed for the doors, only to be stopped by Sarah's voice calling out.

"I don't need the rest of my time. I've decided. I want my champion to be Robert Williams, my father."

Jareth frowned, but nodded and disappeared in his usual fashion, leaving behind a shimmering cloud of glitter and an amused Sarah who glanced at Ripley.

"I wonder if he buys all that glitter from a craft store…"

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Okay, first chapter of my first Labyrinth story! Hopefully this lives up to my friend's requests of a Jareth/Sarah romance! Of course I will be using the characters from the movie The Labyrinth but I will also be pulling people from Return To The Labyrinth which if you haven't read, that's okay. I know the characters I'm using from that and I'm actually planning on changing them a bit, keeping just their names and some of their personalities. I might pull my favorite lines of dialogue from Return To The Labyrinth as well, so if you are a fan, tell me if you catch them!

Also, I am searching for a beta, so if you have the time and would like to, please contact me!