Well here's my longest chapter yet!! And two chapters in one day! I feel bad for not updating in so long, but this helps make up for it. I really hope the time skips aren't bothering anyone and if they are I'll be sure to do my best to work on that. -quirkybooks

Losing the Game

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Sarah, quickly entered, the stables, glad to be out of the harsh storm that continued to brew outside. Wrapping her shawl tighter around her, she made her way to Lancelot's stall, being careful to hold her lantern steady.

A shiver ran down her back, as rain pounded on the roof above. It didn't sound like the storm was going to let up for awhile. She was glad for the sanctuary and privacy the stables provided. She was thinking of making a trip to the Underground.

Both mama and papa knew she'd probably spend her afternoon waiting out the storm here. And the chances of either of them coming to check on her were slim to none. If they did and were unable to find her she could always come up with some excuse and say she decided to seek shelter in one of the woodsheds or something like that. Though, she was certain it wouldn't come to that.

Sarah hung the lantern from the wooden peg in Lancelot's stall and dropped her shawl on the hook below it. The lantern provided enough light to allow her to see as she brushed and fed him. While she did so she told him of her many adventures in the Underground. Every now and then he would neigh or whine in response, as if urging her to go on.

After she finished the horse's maintenance she went to one of the empty stalls, the straw in it was fresh and clean. She laid down in the straw and inhaled deeply, she'd always loved the smell of fresh straw. It was warm and reminded her of spring.

She yawned and stretched, in a few more minutes she'd surely be asleep. Perhaps, she'd take a quick nap then visit the Underground. She really wanted to see Jareth. Just thinking about him caused her to turn red. He was like no man she'd ever known; he constantly gave her gifts, he teased her relentlessly, and he talked to her, really talked to her. Most men Sarah had met, didn't care to hear her thoughts and opinions on important matters, but Jareth often confided in her about his kingdom and personal life. It made her feel special. Not to mention he was very clever, he always made her laugh, and under his 'tough guy' demeanor he really was rather sweet.

"Oh, I sound like a love sick puppy." She cried out. Though it was fun to make believe and pretend Jareth felt the same way, she was certain he didn't. Why would he? He was a King from a magical realm and she was nothing but a peasant girl from the Aboveground. What could she offer him that would compare to anything he offered her?

Even now, she sometimes felt guilty when he gifted her things and taught her about his world. She sometimes gave hime odd little things from the Aboveground and tried to tell him stories of her world. And while he always seemed fascinated and listened to her words carefully, she couldn't help but wish she had more to offer.

A noise from the other end of the stable caused her to bolt upright into a sitting position. Her thoughts of Jareth disappeared and were replaced by a cold fear. She tried to calm herself, but her imagination was getting the best of her. Soon she was picturing some evil beast, biding its time and waiting for some unknowing prey to step into its grasp.

"You're being silly," she spoke aloud to herself, shaking her head. It was probably just a mouse and the storm had heightened her nerves. There was a clatter as an old bucket toppled over. Sarah screamed.

Lancelot looked at her, neighing softly, as if to reassure her. She took a deep breath, attempting to calm herself.

"You're right Lancelot, I shouldn't be afraid." She stood up, casting her fears aside. Reaching up she grabbed the lantern from its peg. Gripping it tightly she shuffled towards the noises.

She started laughing when she reached the other end, carefully she knelt down and the set the lantern on the ground beside her. In front of her sat a tiny kitten, curled in a ball and drenched with rain water.

It looked to be about 8 weeks old and had white fur with a few gray spots. Though it was hard to tell in the poor lighting.

"You scared me half to death you rotten thing." Hesitantly, she reached towards it. She yanked her arm back as it hissed at her and slashed one of its legs wildly into the air, in an attempt to scratch her.

"Oh, you poor thing. You're scared. I promise I won't hurt you." This time moving more slowly, she held her hand out to it again. Tentatively, it took a step forward and sniffed, before jumping back.

Sarah's heart ached for the poor thing. It must've been so scared. She looked around the stable in hopes of seeing something the kitten might like to eat but there was nothing.

She thought about trying to go to the house to get it something to eat, but a particularly loud clap of thunder put an immediate stop to that idea. Not to mention her parents would be angry and consider the kitten a waste of perfectly good food. Her mama had a distaste for cats, and if her mother disliked something they all disliked it.

Suddenly, the most wonderful idea popped into her head. She went back to Lancelot's stall to retrieve her shawl, when she returned to the kitten she hastily wrapped the shawl around it. The kitten struggled to get free but after a moment Sarah was able to get it to calm at least a little bit. Holding the hissing kitten to her chest she winced as it dug its sharp nails into her skin.

"Oh, hopefully after you get warmed up and fed you will calm down a little." Sarah disappeared into a cloud of glitter. The spot she'd just been standing in was now empty. Lancelot huffed and closed his large eyes.

Sarah arrived in the Goblin City, hoping the goblins wouldn't frighten the poor kitten any. She'd never seen any sign of cats or kittens in the Underground. It'd be the perfect gift for Jareth. She held the kitten closer to her, it had relaxed a great deal, enjoying the warmth of her body heat and the shawl. She thought it might've been sleeping, but didn't want to risk disturbing it to check.

She made her way through the city and headed to the castle. Goblins around the city stopped and waved at her, a few even began following her. They'd taken a liking to Sarah and she still couldn't decide if it was a blessing or a curse.

"What's you holdin' Boss Lady?" A goblin asked in a wheezy voice. Sarah smiled, it was Pugz. He was one of Sarah's favorites. He was very small, even for a goblin, but he was incredibly tough. At least he seemed to think he was. He liked to follow her around a lot and always asked a great many questions. He reminded her of one her younger siblings.

"It's a kitten." She replied. To her shock, Spugz let out a terrified shout.

"Bossy, I protect you." Spugz lunged upwards, towards the sleeping kitten, but he fell short and face planted into the dirt.

"Spugz, what's wrong?" Sarah knew the goblins were pretty indestructible so she didn't worry about his physical well-being. But she wanted to know what about the cat had scared him so much.

"Cats bad. No worries, I protect you Lady Boss." He said, while standing and struggling to unsheathe his sword. Sarah had to hold back her giggles.

"It's okay Spugz. Cats aren't bad, they're friends." The small goblin stopped struggling with his sword and stared at Sarah dumbfounded. Before she could react he ran away, waving his arms about wildly.

"Lady Bossy been possessed by mind control cat. Boss Lady is mind control cat. Run. Hide. Cat Lady Boss gonna gets us all."

The goblins in the surrounding area dropped what they were doing and panicked. Running to their houses and screaming about the "evil cat lady boss." The cat awoken and scared by the commotion scratched at Sarah and squirmed in her arms. Despite her pain, she did her best to hold onto the cat. She had a feeling if the cat got free, she'd have a much bigger issue on her hands.

In a matter of seconds, Sarah stood alone in the city, which was now eerily silent. The kitten still seemed frightened, but had at least stopped trying to get free. Instead it had opted for growling at her. It was utterly adorable.

Though, she was still baffled by the goblins' outburst and fear of cats, she made her way to the castle. She couldn't wait until she reached the throne room; so she'd finally be able to set the poor cat down and hopefully find it something to eat.

She walked through the castle, which due to the lack of goblins, was a lot more peaceful than usual. Jareth, was probably in his office and had no idea all of his goblins were currently in hiding. Or that she was there for that matter. Though, he did have an odd way of showing up whenever she was in the Underground. Sarah shook her head, she'd think of Jareth later. For now she'd just focus on the kitten.

She could hear an alarm bell ringing and scoffed. "And all because they're scared of you," she cooed to the kitten, who was still covered almost completely by her shawl. She pushed the doors to the throne room open, and quickly sat the kitten down in the pit in the middle of the room.

The pit had a few blankets and pillows in it, Jareth usually laid the wished away children there to rest. Sarah grimaced, the thought of the wished away greatly upset her. Who could wish away an innocent little babe? Sure, from time to time her little siblings annoyed her, but to wish them away? She could never!

The kitten began struggling from underneath the shawl. Sarah giggled as she watched it, just as she was about to help it, the kitten broke free and tumbled into the open. Now that the kitten was all dried off it's fur had fluffed up quite a bit. It looked like a giant cotton ball, except for the few spots of gray on its front paws, right ear and tail.

"Oh, you're adorable." The kitten had begun chasing its own tail, jumping wildly into the air in an attempt to catch it. "I'll bet you're hungry too," she felt a little uneasy about leaving the kitten alone. Who knew what the goblins would do if they saw it? But she didn't think the kitten would be too pleased if she tried to pick it up again. "I suppose you'll be fine for a moment or two while I go to the kitchen."

She glanced around the empty throne room, before leaving for the kitchen.

A few goblins hid in the walls of the throne room, watching from cracks or holes in the wall. Lady Boss had been put under the cats spell and it was up to them to save her. One goblin had said they should get the king, but all the other goblins had hit him for that.

A fat goblin spoke up, "Kingsly says if we be messing with him we's be gettin' bogged, you remembers?"

The other goblins shuddered at the thought, though they weren't clean creatures and they preferred messy things, they all despised the bog. It was the most grotesque place imaginable, even to a goblin.

So the goblins had taken things into their own hands. They loved Sarah and wanted to protect her, they wouldn't let anything harm her. Not even a cat, even though they were all deathly afraid of it. When Sarah left the throne room they all froze in fear. Now would be the best time to end the wretched beast.

"Well? Who's be goings out there?" The same fat goblin from earlier asked. His name was Bleebo and he held a high rank among the goblins, for he won three belching contests in a row. Thus, most the other goblins listened to his word like the law.

The group of goblins only looked at each other dumbly. None of them wanted to leave the safety of their hiding place. Finally, a voice spoke, it was Spugz.

"I's guess I'd be goin," the other goblins cheered. "For Bossy Lady." He shouted and ran out of a whole in the wall. He tripped over himself, sprawling across the floor with a pained yelp.

The goblins watched and booed loudly. "Well one of you's be needin' to go now," Bleebo looked at the other goblins expectantly. Before they had to choose who to send to 'certain death,' they started cheering. Spugz had gotten back up and unsheathed his sword. He held it up menacingly, though it was nothing more than a wooden stick with a rounded end. It closely resembled a child's toy, Jareth didn't trust the goblins with actual weapons.

Spugz ran forward and leapt above the pit, holding his sword so it pointed downwards. If he'd planned it correctly he would land right on top of the beast and his sword would cut right through it.

But of course Spugz's attack had been a little off and he landed two feet to the cat's left. The kitten batted his paw at the goblin, causing him to shriek so loudly it echoed all throughout the castle.

The other goblins watched in horror as Spugzs was repeatedly tossed into the air. Soon enough his shrieks turned into little gasps, the a final breath of air as the kitten held Spugz's limp body in its mouth.

The goblins stared solemnly at each other. A few had tears welling in their eyes. A goblins death was a great and terrible thing. They were pretty indestructible and aged very slowly, so the kingdom could go 100's of years without losing a single goblin. The goblins began to cry, loud sobs wracked their bodies.

"Oh, not Spugz. Hes was the mostest loyal and bestest chicken rider out of us alls." Bleebo fell over and snot bubbled from his nose. "Why hims? It should've been me's," he wailed miserably pounding his arms and feet on the floor.

Sarah rushed into the throne room. It was empty except for the cat, but that didn't explain the loud sobs she heard from inside the room. She carefully looked around the room, trying to find where the horrid noises were coming from. It took her a moment but she realized they were coming from the walls.

"Goblins,' she snorted, rolling her eyes. "Here, kitty kitty. I've brought you a treat. The kitten turned to face her, it already held something in its mouth. "Spugz, Sarah spluttered. "Drop him," the kitten now more interested in the food Sarah held, dropped the goblin and ran to her side. Spugz fell with a dull thud. Sarah set the dish down and rushed to the little goblin's aid. He was still breathing perfectly fine and he didn't appear to have any injuries. And Sarah seriously doubted a small kitten could do anything to harm a goblin. She'd seen the goblins go through far worse and fair far better.

"Spugz?." She knelt by him and lifted him gently into her arms. He half opened one eye then quickly closed it. "Spugz," this time he only stuck his tongue out in response. "Spugz, get up. You're perfectly fine." Sarah spoke softly to the dramatic goblin. This time he opened both his eyes.

"No I's dead." He let his head drop lightly and slowed his breathing.

"I assure you, you're not." Sarah tried not to laugh at the goblin's antics.

He lifted his head, "Yes I's is." He dropped his head and closed his eyes again.

"No, you're not." She argued. Spugz remained silent. Sarah sighed aloud, "Well, I suppose if Spugz really is dead he won't mind if i feed him to the cat." She moved as if she were about to place him in the cats now empty food dish.

"I's nots dead. I alive!" Spugz shot up and ran away from Sarah.

"Spugz! Sarah said, acting shocked. "You're alive."

The other goblins forgot their fears and ran out from their hiding places. "Spugz," they cheered. Their excitement was interrupted by Sarah's demanding voice.

"What exactly are you guys up to? You weren't trying to hurt the kitty were you?" She held Spugz's discarded sword and looked at the goblins pointedly.

The room was silent for a minute, "Wells Lady Boss, we goblins be knowins cats are no goods. And we gots to protects you," Bleebo looked at her shyly.

It had taken quite a bit of time and a lot of patience but Sarah had finally convinced the goblins the cat was a friend. The only way Sarah was able to convince them was by telling them she'd tamed the wild beast and she'd taken away all its evil powers.

The goblins oohed and ahhed at her story. They'd never known Bossy Lady could be so brave and strong. It made them love her even more. Though they were still quite frightened by the menacing beast, they agreed not to do anything to harm the cat.

Now, Sarah watched the goblins who had started taking turns daring each other to touch the kitten. Sometimes, the cat would scratch or hiss at them, but it only seemed to excite the goblins even more. They'd found the cats bites and scratches tickled.

The kitten looked very tired so Sarah shooed the goblins away, telling them they could stay in the throne room, but they had to stop their games, so the kitten could sleep.

"Well, what should we name the thing?"

The goblins got very excited about getting to help in the naming process. They wanted to help pick the perfect name. They both feared and admired the cat and it should have a name that represented that.

"I knows. I knows." Flam, a dark gray goblin with horns jumped up and down. "We's call the cat King. Cause we's be scared of King." Sarah held her stomach and laughed she had a feeling Jareth wouldn't be too pleased with this particular name. But she wasn't about to suggest something else. All the goblins had began chanting "King" over and over again.

"Alright, alright," she said, still laughing. "King, it is." The goblins clapped and hooted, there was surely going to be a celebration in the 'new' King's honor later tonight.

Jareth, was walking through the oddly empty Goblin City when he heard the shouts coming from the castle. He'd inwardly cringed, the goblins were probably in there, either fighting or celebrating. Both of which would create a huge mess in his castle. It'd been a long day, he had to fix a few things within in the Labyrinth. Which could be quite tricky, especially since the Labyrinth seemed to be angry at him for some reason. Jareth reckoned, the maze's temperament challenged even his own.

It'd taken hours and lots of energy to fix the issues and still he'd only temporarily fixed them. He'd have to spend more time trying to find permanent solutions. So, a goblin mess was one of the last things he wanted to deal with.

He could sense Sarah's presence, which greatly improved his mood. He'd earlier thought he noticed her power enter the Underground realm, but he'd been too distracted to tell for sure. Part of him had hoped she'd come and find him, not that she even knew where he was to begin with, and he'd also made her promise not to enter the Labyrinth. The Labyrinth seemed very interested in her. And he was certain if she went in, he'd be powerless to helping her; if anything were to happen. And he was unsure if her powers would work within the Labyrinth's walls. He shuddered just thinking about it.

The Labyrinth was very angry about his decision to keep Sarah from it. But it'd just have to get over it or tell him what it wanted with the girl; and the Labyrinth, so far, was refusing to do either.

Jareth, hurried to the castle. Hoping to stop the goblins before they created too much chaos and eager to see Sarah. Her presence had grown stronger with each step closer to the castle. He only hoped the goblins weren't terrorizing her the way they liked to do to most visitors. Surprisingly, the goblins had taken an immediate shine to her and he had forbid them from doing anything to upset her, so he doubted they'd purposely do anything to hurt her. But, goblins were simple minded creatures and he still feared they might inadvertently cause her harm.

His heart beat quickened as he realized he'd soon be with Sarah. He wasn't sure when it happened but he was completely in love with her. Though, he wouldn't admit it to anyone and he had a hard time admitting it to himself even. What started as infatuation and curiosity, ended with something much more strong and powerful. He'd felt drawn to her, from the very first night he saw her, but he had assumed it was because of his boredom and she could be a new and shiny plaything, for his amusement.

But the more time he spent with the more he realized he felt a much deeper connection to her. He'd been trying everything to win her heart, but his attempts had been fruitless, so far. He sighed, and pushed open the doors to the castle.

It was clear the noise was coming from the throne room and that seemed to be be where Sarah was too. He wondered what could possibly be going on in there, her laughter could be heard over the goblin's shouts. It was music to his ears, the most melodious song, he'd ever known. He smiled, taking it in, he could listen to her giggles of delight forever and it wouldn't feel like long at all.

He stood before the throne room doors, trying to decide how best to enter the throne room. Sarah made him nervous and he wanted to look his best. He decided to take a threatening approach, at first, at least until the goblins left and they could be alone.

He slammed the doors open. Sarah sat smiling on the edge of the pit in the center of the room and the goblins surrounded her. They all froze momentarily, Sarah quickly stood while a few of the goblins scurried off.

"Goblin King." She curtsied, and glanced up at him. When there eyes met, her smile widened. He couldn't help grinning back at her. Her dark hair had been pulled back into a bun, but it looked like it was about to fall out. Jareth, wished desperately it would. He found he rather liked her hair down. It made her look angelic.

"Lady Sarah," he bowed. "To what do I owe the pleasure?" He asked while rising.

"I've brought you a gift." Her eyes grew excited and her cheeks turned pink. The Goblin King watched her with an amused expression on his face. She felt awkward under his gaze, she nervously cleared her throat. "Close your eyes and hold out your hands," she demanded.

Jareth, thought about arguing he loved to see Sarah riled up. She always looked fierce and demanding, she was strong willed and he found it was rather alluring. But he was too curious to see what it was that she had brought him, so he did as he was told.

"Good," she shuffled about the throne room and a few seconds later she placed something warm, fluffy, and alive in his gloved hands. "Open," he looked down, he was now holding a white and gray kitten. He'd never been a huge fan of pets, but when he glanced up at Sarah, he knew there was no telling her that. "Well?" She was carefully watching him, trying to guess his reaction.

"I've always wanted a cat, it might be able to help get rid of some of the pests in the castle." He spoke try to sound merry and bright. He held the kitten up, inspecting it. It was a little cute and he supposed it might be nice to have something besides the goblins to keep him up company.

Sarah looked very pleased, which made him appreciate the kitten even more. "The goblins do seem to be rather of scared of him. That's why they decided to name him King, after you," she giggled and scratched between the kitten's ears.

He looked at the cat again, and a scowl replaced his grin. "Sarah? Did you think to check to see if this kitten is a boy or girl, before naming it?"

Sarah stood feeling slightly confused before she realized. "Oh," she whispered, before breaking into a fit of laughter. Stopping only when she noticed Jareth was glaring at her. "I'm sorry," she looked like she was going to burst, from holding back her laughter.

Jareth gently sat the cat down and stepped closer to Sarah. His face was stony and hard to read.

"I'm glad you find it so amusing, Precious," his voice was laced with anger. He moved even closer to her and watched in pure delight, as she shivered and her breathing deepened.

Words evaded her, as she tried to think of a response, whenever he was close to her, her thoughts became muddled. She inhaled, he smelled of leather, peaches, and something else, she couldn't name. Part of her wished to be even closer to him, held in his arms, and maybe even kissed by him. Her face was on fire and she had to remind herself none of this was proper. If her mama or papa found out she'd spent most of her time with a man and unaccompanied by a chaperone, they'd skin her alive. Even, if said man was a magical goblin king.

"I'm sorry, Jareth," she spoke, in a timid voice.

Oh, how he loved when she said his name. It thrilled him. Well for that matter everything she did thrilled him. He longed to kiss her. But not yet, they were still playing a game, after all. And when their lips locked for the first time, he vowed not to be the one making the first move.

"You could always re-name the cat. I'm sure you can think of a more fitting name than King." Sarah, said hesitantly.

"I'm afraid my dear, it's too late for that. The goblins would never allow it."

"Sorry," from the look on her face it was obvious she was not sorry at all. She feigned a frown but by the twinkle it her eyes it was easy to tell it was fake.

"I suppose, I will forgive you under one condition. Join me for dinner tonight."

"It would be my honor." It'd been a long time since Sarah had a private dinner with Jareth. Usually, if she ate in the Underground she was accompanied by a great many or at some sort of celebration. She enjoyed these dinners but nothing beat the dinners she and Jareth shared alone. She felt giddy and nervous for that night.

"Well then, Precious, now that that's settled I must be on my way. I have some paperwork that must be done." He started to walk away, but stopped at Sarah's urgent voice.

"Wait!" Her face grew slightly pink. "I mean, must you do it now? I was hoping to see you, I really… uh wanted to talk to you about something. Maybe I could join you and help you?" Her cheeks were flaming. Oh, goodness. I sound like such a fool. I should've just kept quiet, she thought to herself, feeling rather embarrassed.

Doing his best to keep his voice even and cool, Jareth responded. "Well, I suppose if you had something you wanted to discuss. And if you want to help that's just fine, but I must warn you it's boring and tedious work."

In reality Jareth knew he'd probably be getting very little work done, Sarah could be very distracting without even meaning to be. But he wasn't going to turn down a chance to spend time with, especially not when she seemed so eager. And he could always have one of his advisors do the paperwork for him.

"I'll be right there. I just want a moment to freshen up." She beamed up at him. She was still her her plain gown from home and she wanted to change into something a little prettier.

"I'll see soon then." With that Jareth disappeared in a flurry of glitter.

Sarah quickly transported herself into her room inside the castle. It had been another of Jareth's great many gifts to her. He wanted to provide her with a place to relax and have some privacy whenever she entered his realm.

The room was filled with books, baubles, flowers, and a great deal of other things that had been given to her. She wanted nothing more than to bring them all home with her but they'd create a lot of suspicion so they had to stay here, in the Underground.

Sarah who had been practicing her magic with King Oberon was able to easily change herself into a simple green gown. It was classy but still showed a fare bit of skin.

She was unsure if she should wear something like this, sure she'd seen plenty of women here with little to nothing on. (She found Fae didn't always see the importance in clothes.) But it was still not the type of thing she'd normally wear. Her shoulders were left bare and the low neckline left her cleavage slightly exposed. It was really quite modest, but Sarah was nervous about what Jareth would think. Perhaps, she'd bring a shawl to wrap around herself.

After another moment of fretting over her reflection and how she would wear her hair -she decided to leave it down- she left for Jareth's office.

Sarah sat in the chair across from Jareth's. She has her nose practically shoved in a book that contained a list of rules and etiquette of the Underground. Jareth found it rather amusing that she was so willing to learn anything about his world. Sometimes she'd visit and they'd spend hours talking about his culture. And he always liked hearing about her world and life too, it was really quite fascinating.

He was having an increasingly hard time paying attention to his work. Sarah looked absolutely ravishing in the gown she wore and he'd admit his thoughts were becoming less and less pure. He tried to sort through a stack of mail, most of it invitations to events he didn't care about; but one from his parents caught his eye. He opens the envelope and scanned the letters contents.

"Sarah."

"Hmm." She lifted her eyes from her book, smiling at him. Every time, she smiled at him like that he felt like he might stop breathing.

Shaking his head he responded, "It seems my mother and father want to throw a feast in honor of your birthday. You'll be 17 correct?" He laughed thinking back to when he was only 17.

"Yes. And what's so funny," she asked eyeing him suspicious and suddenly feeling self-conscious."

"Oh, I was just thinking back to when I was 17, so long ago. There's a big difference between 17 and 100. By my worlds standards I was only a baby at 17."

"You don't look much older than 17 though. Maybe 20 at the most." Sarah felt he even more self-conscious now. What was he trying to say? That she was only a baby? and he some old man that was far too old for her?

"Well, yes. As you know time moves very differently here. While in your world I'd be archaic at 100, in my world I'm still practically a child. But if I had to guess I'd say based off my appearance it'd be assumed I was around 20 in your world."

"That's not that big of a difference is it? I mean 17 and 20." She was looking at him shyly.

"No, it really isn't." He wished in that moment to see into her mind and know exactly what it was that she was thinking.

Jareth had their dinner sent to his office so they could have as much privacy from the goblins as possible. They could be quite troublesome, but they knew under no circumstances were they allowed to step foot into his office. It was one of the only places in the kingdom where absolute order was kept.

The meal was very delicious as all the meals Sarah had here were. Though, she wasn't quite sure what it was, it was made up of Underground vegetables and meat with a thick gravy. And of course that was accompanied by a glass of goblin wine. Which was surprisingly tasty, despite what it's name might otherwise suggest.

"Wasn't there something you wanted to discuss, Precious?"

Sarah wracked her brain trying to think of something to say, she'd only said that as an excuse to spend more time with him.

"Uhm. Yes. I was uh… wondering… why haven't I seen any cats in the Underground? Yep, that's what I wanted to discuss."

The Goblin King gave her an odd look, "Sarah if I didn't know better, I'd think you've only just come up with that. Maybe, you just wanted to spend some extra time with me." Her face turned beet red and she began staring at the wall. Causing him to burst out laughing. "My oh my, Sarah you little vixen, you."

"It's not funny, I really do want to know about the cats and why are the goblins so scared of them?" She looked rather flustered and sounded slightly hurt.

He stopped laughing at once. Turning serious, he said, "There are cats here, but not the type you know. And they're usually found only in the Shadow realm. In the Great War -long before my time, when my father was just a boy- there was a Fae who worked to overthrow the Kingdom of the Underground. He was the ruler of the Shadow realm, but he was a very greedy and evil man. He created terrible beasts and monsters out of the shadows. Perhaps you've seen them in your own world. While, they can travel freely between realms they can cause no real harm unless they have been summoned. He brought his terrible creations to the Underground and nearly caused the collapse of this entire realm. He created cats from the shadows and they were the worst of all his creations, wreaking havoc and chaos wherever they went. They can be very cunning creatures and could control those with even the strongest wills. It was a very scary time and no one knew who thy could and couldn't trust. Goblins, despite their simple nature remember those days quite well and that's why they're afraid of cats."

"So by bringing King -Jareth scowled at the cat's name- here, is that bad?"

"I suspect the cats of your realm might be very distant descendants of the ones from the Shadow realm, but I assure you they're harmless just as harmless here as they are up there."

"And what about that guy? The one who created the shadow beasts. What happened to him?"

"No one knows."

"What?" Sarah's shock sounded throughout the room. "But he could still be out there, aren't people scared?"

"My people, and the creatures of the Underground don't like to focus on the bad. We have an easy way of forgetting old wounds. Thinking too hard or for too long about anyone thing is not something people here like to do. Most like to live carefree lives, full of gossip and never ending entertainment."

"Oh." Sarah felt a great number of things all at once, but mainly she felt shame. She looked away from the Goblin king and stared at her lap. If that's how Jareth and his people thought then it was silly of her to think he could've liked her at all. He probably just considered her part of his never ending entertainment. Tears welled in her eyes and she began to cry.

"Precious, what's wrong? Are you hurt?" Jareth sounded frantic. He didn't know what could've possibly upset her so, but he want to vanquish anything that could ever cause her pain.

"I think I better go." She spoke slowly trying to keep her voice from cracking. She stood and was about to leave but Jareth grabbed her wrist.

"Wait." He stood and pulled her into his arms. Gently, using his gloved hand he lifted her chin, forcing her to look up at him. Her green eyes shone with tears and her face had grown red splotches from crying. "Oh, you Precious thing." In that moment he knew he had been wrong earlier. He would be the one making the first move, he no longer cared about his silly game. Being this close to her and holding her like this he only wanted one thing. With that he brought his lips to hers and kissed her.

It was like no kiss he'd ever had before. For Sarah it was her first kiss, but she couldn't imagine how any kiss could be better than this one. His lips tasted of peaches. Her mind was completely blank while her mouth moved to its own accord.

When they broke apart they were both a little red in the face. "Precious, whatever am I going to do with you." She laid her head on his shoulder, while wrapping her arms around his waist. They stayed like that, wrapped in each other's arms. Both feeling giddy and excited, unsure of what was to come next.