"I don't feel comfortable with this, Jareth," Sarah said as Jareth paced past the throne, in front of her.

"Sarah, now is not the time for this. The girl is within the city, making her way to the castle as we speak."

Jareth flicked his wrist and a crystal appeared out of thin air. Within the crystal was the image of Danica and Bob navigating the streets of the city and dodging drunk goblins.

Sarah stepped into Jareths path and gently took his hands in hers, coaxing the crystal from his grip and placing it aside on the armrest of the throne. "What has gotten you so worked up? You've never asked me to help with these things, and never do you stress so much about it."

"This one is different Sarah, I can feel it. This girl holds more threat to us than you might think."

"Nothing can be that bad as long as we're together."

"One of the dark fae has set his sights on her... She's your relative Sarah, the same blood runs through her veins as through yours. Who knows what monstrosities the dark fae will do to you."

Sarah smiled softly at him, kissing him, "Rumplestiltskin has assured me that no harm will come to our little one."

"You know how well he spins words. He makes unpleasant things shine with a tint of gold..." Jareth said, pressing Sarah's hands to his cheeks, "What has he said about you?"

"We'll be fine."

Jareth closed his eyes and sighed deeply before he nodded his head. "I'm having all of the more capable goblins guard you. You are not to leave this castle."

JRJRJR

Danica rushed through the thistle field and laughed in delight as she trailed her fingers through the thistle. Bob was running next to her, whooping with delight, although Danica had a feeling that he didn't even know why they were happy.

She smiled to herself, gloating in the back of her mind, because she had completed Jareth's maze before the time ran out, and she still had hours to spare.

JRJRJR

She knew Jareth hated it when she did it but when she heard the crying she couldn't stop herself from looking in on the little twins. They were scared and clutched each other as if they were afraid to lose the other if they let go.

"Hey," Sarah said, making sure to speak softly and warmly to them.

The children looked up at her with large watery eyes before the girl started backing away with her brother in tow.

"I'm not going to hurt you," she said, "I promise." She held her hand in the air before crossing her heart.

"Who are you?" the boy asked, holding a little fist up as if to threaten her back.

"I'm Sarah," she said and slowly sat down on her knees in front of them.

"I'm Matthew, and this is..." His sister pulled hard on his shirt, almost unbalancing.

"Don't talk to strangers."

Matthew turned to glare at his sister, sticking out his tongue. "You can't tell me what to do, Paisley."

Paisley swung her fist at him and barely missed contact. "I'm telling mom." They stared at each other for a moment before they sniffled again and soon started crying again.

"Do you miss your mother?"

Matthew nodded before wiping at his eyes with his fists.

"How about I tell you a story? It's a story about a girl and a goblin king..."

JRJR

The gates to the Goblin City stood wide open and Danica eyed the large mechanical thing suspiciously, just waiting for it to move, but it didn't. It was as dead as the stone wall it was leaning against.

"You actually mades it?" Hoggle said from where he was sitting on an upturned crate.

"Yeah," Danica shrugged, "I did." She eyed Hoggle before she made to move past but she stopped and turned back to him, "How did you get here so fast?"

"Twelve hours aint fast, it's a long time."

"Twelve? It's only been ten..." Danica said with a frown.

"No, it's been twelve. Looks, the clock says so," Hoggle said and pointed one stubby finger at a clock hanging against a windowsill, just above their heads.

"Oh, no. I better hurry. Bye, Hoggle," Danica cried and rushed up the cobbled street, toward the castle.

JRJRJR

Jareth smirked as he watched the clock tick faster and faster until the arms of the clock were twirling without pause around the face of the clock. He knew that Sarah would object had she known what he was doing but some things were hard to resist.

He wanted nothing more to allow the time to run out completely but as the ruler and rightful king of the Labyrinth it was his sole responsibility to make sure that every contestant had a fair shot at reaching the castle. In his mind it was only fair to subtract a few hours from her total since she had more help than even Sarah had had when she ran the Labyrinth.

The clock finally stopped, indicating proudly on its face that little Danica had only an hour left. An hour to reach the castle, find Jareth in the maze of stairs and confront him with the right words.

With a smile Jareth conjured up a crystal ball and the image of Sarah fumbling to remember the right words appeared within. No one had won the Labyrinth since Sarah. They either gave up before they made it far into the Labyrinth or they didn't even bother to try. Jareth had to admit that it was refreshing to see someone else try so hard, even if the girl had dark magic (and not just Rumplestiltskin's magic) following her around.

The sound of the castle doors opening reached Jareth's ears, and he smiled grimly into the crystal as the image of Sarah faded away to show the unsure girl ease past open doorway towards the stair-maze.

He had asked the goblins to make themselves scarce in preparation for Danica's arrival. It wouldn't have bode well if she got distracted, or got scared off.

With a deep breath, Jareth started to count down in his head. Just as he reached zero, the girl appeared in the doorway.

JRJRJR

Danica was confused as she eased the castle doors open. No one was there. Wasn't the Goblin King supposed to confront her, and refuse to hand her siblings over?

Shrugging off her unease she followed along the hall that led past several doorways until she reached the one on the end of the hall. She eased inside and looked up to see the Goblin King sitting comfortably on what looked to be upside down stairs.

"Ok, I made it all the way here... I want my siblings back now," Danica said, crossing her arms for effect.

"Oh, but I can give you so much more in exchange for them. I can make your dreams come true. I can give you the world."

Danica huffed as Jareth extended another crystal towards her. "You already offered, and I already refused. I didn't make it all the way here just so that you can try and bribe me again. I want Matthew and Paisley."

The Goblin King sighed and pushed himself off of the stairs only to tumble down into what looked like an abyss. Danica eased forward and gazed down into the never-ending hole.

"Please don't tell me this is how the story ends..." Danica mumbled.

She heard the sound of footsteps overhead and looked up to find Jareth walking calmly up the upside-down staircase, humming a tune to himself. He disappeared over the edge of it and reappeared on another staircase.

Danica ran along the topside of the stairs until she reached where she believed the Goblin King to be. She stared down and almost tumbled over as she scrambled back when he swung around to appear on the same level as she was.

"I've been generous, Danica. But I can also be cruel," he conjured another crystal, held it up for Danica's inspection, before he threw it to the stairs on the other side. The crystal bounced up the stairs and came to land in Matthew and Paisley's outstretched hands.

Danica took off past Jareth and rushed towards her siblings, only to find that they had appeared on another spot. She glared at Jareth, who stood still and watched with a grim expression.

She reaced back down a set of stairs, and found that Matthew and Paisley were wrestling just a few feet away. She rushed towards them, but as soon as she touched them they disappeared and in their place a thousand small crystals appeared. The crystals scattered and bounced through the room, pushing Danica back until she fell off the edge of the stairs.

The feeling of falling ceased and Danica opened her eyes to find Jareth standing before her with an odd expression on his face.

"I have done all that you have asked of me," he said, "I took your siblings when you told me to..."

"And now I want them back."

"I've been generous, Danica. Don't give me cause to be cruel," he growled, "Bow to me now, leave without your siblings and I could make you rich beyond your wildest dreams, I can make all of your dreams come true..."

"I did what you asked," Danica answered back, "I ran your stupid Labyrinth and I reached your stupid castle. Now give me my siblings back!"

A giggle sounded to her right, and she whirled towards it. Rumple was sitting cross-legged against a staircase.

"You didn't read the book did you?" Rumple giggled.

"I never got to finish it..."

Jareth took a step closer to Rumple, raising a finger in warning. Rumple ignored his, "The magic words are in the last part of the book." With a giggle he disappeared.

Danica frowned before she pulled the book from her pocket and started to scan through the last few pages. She looked up at Jareth to find him scowling at her, "'My kingdom is great'?"

"Danica... I could give you your dreams, I could be your slave. Just desist..."

"Nope... Um, 'My will is as strong as yours'?" Danica said hopefully and looked up.

"No dream is too farfetched," Jareth said. He seemed to be more panicked.

"Aha, I found it, 'You have no power over me!'" Danica said, smiling in triumph.

JRJRJR

The world around her started to fade away and she closed her eyes to lessen the dizziness that overtook her. When she opened her eyes again she found Matthew and Paisley sound asleep at the foot of her bed, curled into one another.

She looked around her room and found everything in its place. The little red book was placed neatly on her bedside table, and her nightlight was turned on.

Danica eased out of her bed and raced into the kitchen to find her mom and dad talking. They stopped and looked up at her with smiles.

"You've missed your cake, Danny," her father said, "You were so tired that by the time we went to look if you had killed the twins and took off, you were all three fast asleep. We saved you a slice."

Danica smiled happily and kissed her parents goodnight and went to bed. Before she reached her room she heard her mother whisper to her father.

"You don't think she did what your sister did after she had read the book, Toby?"

"I don't think it matters anyway," he said, "The kids are all safely at home."