*Warning: extreme violence.*

(Warning: The sentence above was sarcastic.)

"Here's we goes! Boggle's cabin." Gus lazily motioned to the tiny structure.

The 'cabin' was made out of several boulders leaning against each other with a blanket-like material draped over them. An asymmetrical broken and splintery piece of wood was shoved in the opening between two of the boulders. On further inspection, the doorknob appeared to be fashioned out of plastic. It was multiple colors and looked as if Hoggle had melded together a few cheap bracelets into a knob.

Sarah reached to knock and pulled her hand back with a sharp gasp. White throbbing pain shot through her arm. The wood had scraped her hand. A thin line of red rose across the tops of her fingers. She tried to pick out a few splinters but was only half successful.

"Man, that is a nasty piece of door," Gus supplied helpfully.

"Yeah." Sarah rubbed her hand on her pants, knowing it would scab over later. "Nothing to worry about," she said with her usual cheery demeanor.

"Kingy not like that," one of the lesser intelligent goblins commented. A few others nodded with him.

Sarah probably shouldn't have let the entire population of the Goblin City travel with her, but they wouldn't leave when she'd ducked through hidden entrances in the labyrinth. She'd only wanted Gus to come along, but Wiznic seemed to be good at tracking her and he brought the whole parade with him.

"Why would he care?"

"Lady hurt," another goblin chipped in. They all nodded. "Kingy said not to let lady hurt."

Sarah frowned, part of her chest felt weighed down at that revelation, and yet it was a softer emotion. Then her scowl deepened with another thought. "Well, I don't see why he cares. When I beat the labyrinth I came out with much worse scrapes than this. Half of them were from his direct influence, too. Setting the cleaners on me, dumping us into the bog-"

The goblins gasped. "He dumped you into the bog?" Wiznic said, then scratched his head. He sniffed in her direction. "But - but lady don't smell bad."

"Near the bog, I meant. He dumped me near the bog." Sarah's eyes widened. "Oh, and let's not forget that giant killing machine that almost beheaded me! Do you guys see my point yet?"

They nodded and looked like chastised children. A few shrugged. One scratched his backside.

Sarah sighed. "No… I still don't think you do," she said quietly. They were goblins after all. All that was mentioned was just an average day for them. Heck, Sarah thought, half of them walk around with pillows tied to their butts in case they get too close to the King's feet.

"Hoggle? Are you home?" She turned back to the door.

Just as she was preparing to knock again, her bottom lip drawn between her teeth and her hand hesitantly raised to the alarmingly splintered door, the entrance to the cabin swung open.

"S-Sarah?" A familiar gruff voice said.

Hoggle stood before her with a perplexed scowl and a metal bat raised above his head. He dropped his arms down when he recognized the pretty young woman before him.

Sarah rolled back on her heels.

"Woah, Hoggle. It's just me." Sarah raised her hands.

One of his hands left the bat and he adjusted the cap that sat atop his slowly balding head. He'd been losing hair for about a century now.

The dwarf took a step back and studied the group before him. His dear friend Sarah stood with a swarm of goblins surrounding her. Hoggle's eyes widened.

Oh no, he thought, the king had finally come for them.

"Rrrr, don'ts worry Sarah. I's got you!" Hoggle lifted the bat once again, his eyes training on the ugly faces of the green beasts that had his cabin and his friend surrounded. "Gets back, you. You all can tell that rat where to stick it."

He charged forward.

"Hoggle," Sarah cried. She swung around as he ran past her into the crowd. "No, they're friends. Hoggle," he ignored her.

"That rat ain't taking us today." He punted a goblin ten feet up into the air. The goblin cheered and raised his hands.

Sarah watched, shocked, as another goblin flew above the treeline. Then as another green creature went flying over the garden that landscaped Hoggle's cabin. Each goblin cried out with joy. Some even lined up in front of Hoggle with beaming smiles. He was oblivious to the goblins obvious delight.

"How is this on me?" Sarah asked herself. She looked around, stumped.

"That's right, take that," Hoggle taunted them.

Another goblin sailed through the air. "Look, no hands!" it boasted and did jazz hands as he passed by Sarah's head.

"Hoggle," Sarah tried to get his attention. She stepped up behind him. Sarah grabbed him by his shoulders, dodging the chaotic swings of his bat as she did so. "Hoggle, stop it. They're friends." She shook him.

Hoggle paused mid-swing. "Friends?" He croaked.

"Yes, friends. They are helping me."

"Whoops," Hoggle said. He dropped the bat.

Wiznic blinked, having been knocked flat on the ground. He adjusted his glasses. One of the lenses was missing, the other one cracked.

Gus had a droopy mouth and a stern scowl on his face.

However, the other goblins looked energized and in a good mood.

"How'd you get here, Sarah?"

"Well," Sarah said. "I'm not quite sure but I think the Goblin King somehow convinced Toby to wish me away. I'm trying to get back home while he's still busy. I'd rather not wait thirteen hours because I don't want to give him any leverage. Do you know how I can get back Aboveground?"

Hoggle perked up. "It just so happens I do." His smiled dropped. He wrung his hands together. "Only, the rat will be sure to bog me for this," Hoggle said.

Sarah shook her head. "If he saw how you handled that bat back there, I think he'd be a bit too intimidated," she said.

"R-really? That good, eh?"

"Yeahs, I thinks I have a co - a concus- a cushion." Wiznic rubbed his head.

Sarah nodded in agreement. "It was that good," she said. "You're very brave."

The dwarf blushed. "Wells then. Let me shows you the way. Come on in."

Hoggle waved at her to follow him as he led them inside his cabin. She ducked as she entered the small hole between the boulders. A group of curious goblins followed.

Some were limping.

The Goblin King strolled into his throne room, boot heels clicking on the floor, and eyed the rambunctious lot with a steeled coolness.

"Where is the girl?" He asked. His black lined eyes flashed when the goblins dropped what they were doing and hesitantly shrugged.

"Was here - now gone," one said and mimicked a 'peekaboo' motion with his hands and face.

A second goblin chipped in, "Dunno where she is now." They all laughed.

"Enough," Jareth said.

The room fell silent as their laughs were cut off by the sudden feeling of tension.

He stalked forward and grabbed the nearest goblin by the collar of his shirt. Jareth lifted the squirming creature up.

"Did she leave with anyone?"

The goblin gulped. At least, as best he could when the collar of his shirt was quickly cutting off his air supply.

"Y-Yes. Gus, Sir. Sire... Yourmajesty." He began shaking. "And that other goblin Wiznic." A bit of drool fell from the goblin's quivering lips.

"-Wisdom," Jareth corrected and dropped the goblin with disgust. His upper lip curled.

The goblin landed with an 'oomph' on the floor.

"Find her," he said to the room. They blinked. His nostrils flared. "I should not have to say anymore," Jareth said and his words hung dangerously in the air.

They dropped what they were doing and scrambled around the room in panicked movements. Some goblins looked under the throne, some rushed out of the castle to investigate the Goblin City, and some picked their way through the piles of clothes and abandoned plates that covered the grungy floor.

"Your majesty," a goblin hurried into the room. "The portrait is done and is ready to be presented for the ball."

"Very well," Jareth said. "I assume the lady has been appropriately compensated for her quick work?"

"Yessir..."

The Goblin King's face darkened.

The goblin let out an 'eep'. He stumbled over his next words. "I - I mean, your majesty."

Jareth refrained from commenting. He dismissed the goblin with a simple nod, ignoring the sigh of relief from him. They had spent far too much time Aboveground. The goblins were becoming lax in the proper etiquette of the Underground. The goblins will have to conveniently be 'busy' on the days that Sarah hosted a movie night for them.

It wouldn't be long before they begin to profess their belief in total anarchy, Jareth thought darkly.

Jareth left the room with a stoic expression on his sharp features.

"So, you need a ways out, eh?" He hobbled over to a tiny wooden table.

Sarah stood hunching over to carefully avoid hitting her head on the low ceiling.

She took in the room around her. It was a quaint little thing. Hoggle stood near a wood stove that radiated heat and poured warmth into the room. There was a wooden stool near the table and three matching chairs sat around it. In front of the furnace were two plush chairs with a few blankets sitting on top for added cushion. They appeared to have been stuffed with something other than cotton. Hay perhaps.

It looked much larger inside than it had looked on the outside. Magic perhaps. No normal human would have imagined there being room for a cozy house between a few stacked boulders.

"Yes," she said with her jaw set stubbornly. "I'm not going to stay here for thirteen hours doing nothing while the King prances around and gets his portrait taken."

"Portrait taken, eh? 'Bout time for that. Been awhile," Hoggle said.

The floor and the walls around them were dirt. In the corner of the room was a broom with a dustpan. She thought of Hoggle sweeping the dirt floors and resisted against cracking an amused smile. There were three tunnels carved out of the walls around the room. Sarah assumed they were hallways and must lead to a few bedrooms, a bathroom, and a kitchen.

Above the wood stove was a mirror. Parts of the glass were missing and there were many scratches on its surface. Hoggle had pulled it out of a massive junk pile near the Goblin City so that he could talk to her in the safety of his abode.

He hobbled over to it. A wrinkled hand raised and touched the dirty reflective surface. "This mirror could takes you home. When we visit we travel throughs a portal. The mirror is a channel." Hoggle said. He paused. "Ya can use it to travel, but... I's can't take you through the portal. I ain't strong enough. You'll hafta find another way, Sarah," he said with a resigned tone.

"I cans make portals," a cheery voice supplied from behind them.

The two of them turned to find Gus standing happily behind them. His arms were tucked behind him and his chest was puffed out proudly. He gave them a cheeky smile.

"Kingy grant me portals powers," he said.

Hoggle scratched his forehead. "That rat gave you powers?"

"His name isn't rat - it's Jareth," Gus said with a suddenly defensive tone.

Hoggle rushed forward, covering the small goblin's mouth with a gnarled hand. "Why'd you have to go and say his name? He'll hear us."

Gus angrily pushed Hoggle's hand from his mouth. "No touchy. Everyone is always touching me," he complained. "Ands he gave me powers because I am so likable."

Sarah blinked. "Gus, you are an exceedingly hard goblin to get along with," she said in a moment of bluntness.

He beamed. "Reallys?"

"Uh, yeah."

He closed his mouth and turned his head away with a sudden shyness. Gus pawed at the wooden floor with a foot. A tinge of red warmed his green complexion.

"Sarah, the rat could be on his way right now," Hoggle said, ignoring the flattered goblin beside him.

"Well, if that's true then we have to hurry." She pushed Gus over to the mirror.

"What dids I just say about touching?" Gus said. Sarah ignored him.

"Do your magic," Sarah said. "We don't have much time."

"No ones listens to me." The goblin whined but obeyed anyway.

Gus touched the mirror, then grabbed Sarah's hand with his free one. She flinched at the feel of his sticky sweaty skin.

"When was the last time you washed… No, nevermind." Sarah looked back at the mirror. The portal shimmered and she raised her other hand to touch the cool surface of the glass.

Hoggle twitched nervously, his eyes scanning the room.

"Take me home, Gus."

He sighed. "Always so de-demanding…" Gus grumbled. "Hol' tight, lady," he said and Sarah braced herself for the travel.

The world around Sarah slowly faded out and she sucked in a breath, not sure when she'd get the chance to do so again, and held it.

"Oh, Sarah…" Jareth tsked. His sharp eyes watched the images in a crystal that spun on the tips of his fingers.

"You certainly are an amusing creature," he said.

He threw the orb up into the air.

Perhaps he couldn't get her to go to the ball - well, without blackmailing her further, but that didn't mean that things were over between them.

When one has lived for hundreds of centuries they know how to read the signs of a female's interest. They know just how fun the game can be...

She was floating.

Brown hair was splayed around and above her head. It rippled and took on a wavy appearance. Sarah blinked.

The world around her exploded in technicolor.

She was floating in a sea of bright reds, blues, yellows and every shade in between. Sarah felt like she was suspended in a canvas. Like the artist had poured a whirlpool of colors around her.

She reached out and a wave of green swirled away from her. Sarah let out the breath she had been holding.

"Cool," she said, but the sound didn't reach her ears. There was only absolute silence around her. She couldn't hear the sound of her breathing or her own heartbeat.

The world around her felt cold. Refreshingly so, compared to the heat that had been beating down on her sunburnt skin when she'd navigated her way to Hoggle's cabin.

She blinked, once again, and the stillness of the world ran out. The colors began to drift further from her. They mixed together and became an inky black. Blackness narrowed into strips of draining color that rushed past her and headed in the direction her feet were pointed. The darkness filled her vision. Soon everything was black.

She felt hollow. Alone. A trickle of anticipation made her body shiver. Here she was, stranded in a dimension with no sound. She could no longer see, but she had been able to spot Gus before, either.

Then she felt a tugging sensation. It broke her out of her thoughts.

She seemed to be heading somewhere now. The force of gravity returned. Her spine straightened and her limbs shot out. Sarah felt like she was floating down a chute.

Then as suddenly as she had vanished from Hoggle's house, she was back in reality. She abruptly fell through her childhood bedroom mirror, landing on the ground after a rough tumble over the surface of her vanity.

Sarah laid there for a moment. Face mere inches from the floor. The carpet was rough on her skin and the remaining splinters on her fist pierced further into her skin. She tried to process the strange in-between world that she had just been in one second ago. Her mind lagging behind her body by a few seconds.

In all of her life, she had never seen anything like that. Traveling between worlds - on the rare occasion that she did - had always been abrupt but had never sent her through an acid trip-like dimension before. She supposed no two teleportations were alike...

Sarah let out a ragged breath. "Holy sh-"

She was cut off by the squeaking noise of her outraged step-mother.

"-Sarah, where have you been? And how did you get up here without us hearing you?"

Had Karen not just seen her fall through a mirror?

Sarah sat up slowly and faced the angry face of her step-mother. Her little brother stood by Karen's side, but his face was one of relief and yet a sense of fear lined his bright blue eyes.

Sarah wondered if it was concern or anxiety over a potential punishment.

She wouldn't punish him, she supposed. No one had punished her when she had wished him away - well, no one in this world, at least. She wasn't sure if she could count running the labyrinth as an actual punishment.

No, the exchange between her and the Goblin King could have better been suited by the word 'bargaining'.

"Karen, Toby, I - I…" How could she even explain this?

"You leave the house while you're supposed to be babysitting? We're paying you, you know." Karen huffed. Then leaned closer and lowered her voice as if she was sheltering Toby from her next words. "Is it a man? Are you seeing a man?"

Karen's voice was stern, but Sarah could see the excitement in her eyes. Unlike Sarah's father, Karen was ready to be a grandmother and had told Sarah so on many occasions.

"Ugh, no-"

Toby gasped and pointed to something behind Sarah. "You!"

Sarah turned and her heart skipped a beat to see that Gus had followed her through the portal. Judging by the look on her step-mother's face, it was too late to shoo him back off to the Underground.

Gus looked around then pointed at himself. "Me?"

Toby's voice raised to a falsetto that only a prepubescent boy's voice could achieve. "You're the one that told me to wish my sister away!"

"What?" Sarah turned grabbed Gus just as he began to back away.

"No touchy," he yelled. He tried to slap her hands off him.

"You little spy. You've been working against me for the Goblin King all along, haven't you?"

"I am a spy, and the Goblin King is my king, duh." He tried to twist out of Sarah's grasp but she only tightened her grip. "Newsflash, I ams a goblin." Gus managed to pull free. Sarah let him. He backed up and stomped his foot angrily.

"How could you, Gus? You realize that if the Goblin King wanted to he could've kept me Underground forever?"

Toby broke in, his voice cracking and on the verge of hysteria. "I didn't know, Sarah. I didn't. He told me to say the words and I was scared. I didn't know. I'm so sorry."

"I work for whoevers I wants to work for. And yous, lady, is high - high… high maintenance! I'm goings to work for Kingy nows," Gus said with a fierce anger. "Yous always make me do things I don't wanna do. Well, you knows what? You deals with it yourself." Gus nodded his head once and disappeared with a loud, furious, pop.

The room was silent except for a series of sniffles coming from Toby's direction.

Sarah turned back to them in time to see her step-mother fall to the floor with a dramatic faint.

Her father appeared in the doorway, a look of worry on his face. He blinked and Sarah watched as he owlishly swung his head around the room. "What happened in here?"

Sarah tried not to roll her eyes. Her father had always been a little bit oblivious to things right under his nose.

She opened her mouth but was at a loss as to what she should say.

After this I could really use a goblin and goblin monarch free vacation, she thought. Sarah tilted her head…

Maybe I'll go to Vegas.

Thank you guys for the reviews, favorites and follows! You all are too sweet. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, as well. It seems I'm in a mood where I am churning out regular chapters. Ah, being like my old self again feels nice.

Although I am decidedly a little bit more opinionated and just a tad more jaded than before. Is that called growing up?

How time changes us all...

Now, the daily wise words from Wiznic...

*Turns the camera to Wiznic*

A small goblin with bent glasses is seen cowering in the corner. Another goblin jumps into the frame only to shoo away the cameraman.

*The camera turns back to the author (who happens to be an oversized -164,000 tons - lizard)*

Ahhh, stagefright... It happens to the best of us. Oh, well. Maybe Wiznic will gift us with some of his wise words next time, hmmm? He doesn't do well under pressure.

Poor 'lil guy.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Thanks again, you guys! :)