I'm bad… really bad. I have no explanation that can justify why I haven't written this sooner. I'm truly and utterly sorry, it was wrong of me and I hope that it won't happen again.

I'll do my best to prevent that.

And, just incase, Chapter 5 has been rewritten to my absolute liking. I hope you like it as well.

And, also, for those of you reading Slow Burn (not many probably), it's not going to be updated for a very long time, because sadly, I have lost where I was going with it. But give me time, I will think of it again, it's just there, just waiting for me to grasp it. So, I'll fix it and update it when this story is over.

Hopefully this story will be complete before the middle of August.

P.S. I could just squeeze the life out of China Girl (Marie-Cris) for being honest about this chapter. It is mediocre and I hope some of you who do review will give me suggestions.

I'm just SO happy she was honest with me that I'm just dancing in my seat!

She rocks!

--------------

Y'falmus's mist form grazed the stone steps that lead to the double doors that his mistress had promised would be there. It lay, just as his mistress said, deep within the castle walls. His eyes appeared out of the mist to take notice of the many locks that adorned the large double wooden doors, all of which, including the door itself, seemed to be covered in cobwebs.

His mistress was once again right.

He was not as lucky as he was fortunate… smart. He had taken the Feeder's Well, which had a small burrow that leaded off it. It had taken him almost two days to traverse through the entire uncharted passage, one time having to go to his natural abilities limit when thinning out to mist. It happened about half way through, when he had noticed that the burrow had collapsed due to the Labyrinths' constant change many miles up above and out of its magical perimeter.

He stretched his mist form into the thinnest line he could possibly make, almost thin enough where, once he reached the other side of the wall, that it had taken him hours to reassemble himself. He had prayed that the book was still intact.

Now, with a malicious smile that showed jagged teeth glowing in front of a black void, he stretched himself not quite as thin as he had down in the burrow, he didn't need to be that thin.

He thanked his mistress as he tested keyhole after keyhole, finding that the keyholes led to different rooms, just as his mistress said. Finally, he found the library at the top most keyhole that lay in the corner, and seeped through without a seconds hesitation…

And he found himself on the roof of the highest tower.

---------

Sarah had been awake for some time, her back propped up against the stack of pillows that seemed to engulf almost all around her. She didn't feel good, and she was disturbed, greatly so.

She didn't have a single dream, but she always had dreams when she slept, even though she couldn't remember half of them most of the time.

Her blue-gray eyes seemed dull as she sat there, thinking of nothing-in particular. Even though she knew where she was, she couldn't quite care about the situation. She couldn't form a decent question or thought in her head. All she could do was feel.

And that disturbed her as well.

"Hello Sarah."

Sarah looked up to find the Goblin King, or, she thought it was the Goblin King, standing in the doorway leading to her room. He looked completely different from when she last saw him. Dark brown hair tickling his shoulders and the conservative dressing that men wore in the late 1800s' clothed his figure. No riding crop, no boots, no tights (which she would later be thankful for) and no eighties rocker hair.

He was just a man… or so he seemed.

She didn't say hello.

Jareth cast his gaze to the floor before letting his eyes drift back to her. "I know you must be feeling… odd," he said simply as he walked into her room only to stand five feet from her bed. "I want you to know that I'm sorry for your current state of being. It is my fault, you should know," he said as he clasped weathered hands in front of him.

He looked at her, and all she did was stare right back at him. She didn't feel that she had anything to say, he was already stating the obvious.

Jareth cast his gaze once more to the floor and let his lips crack open. "You'll be feeling this way for a few more hours. I thought I'd keep your family busy until then. I'm sure you don't want them to see you this way, after everything," he said slowly as he looked her up in down in a completely platonic way.

"I would answer the questions I know you'll be wondering, but, you really won't pay any attention to me. That's why I brought this." he pulled out a small thin book from nowhere, walked the five feet to her bead, and carefully placed it on her lap.

"It's a book specifically designed for people in your state in mind. It has no words, just images," he said as he turned around and walked to the door leading to the hall.

Sarah looked at the book with a plain face, grazing the cover with soft alabaster fingers.

"Oh, and Sarah." he said to catch her attention, his left hand lingering on the doorframe as he turned a bit to look at her. She looked up at him with a straight face. "I'm truly sorry," he said with all the sincerity that one could muster in one's voice. He dropped his hand from the doorway, letting it grasp the handle of her door. He closed the door with a soft click, leaving her to explore the images in the book.

"When can we see Sarah?" Joe asked as Jareth came walking in the throne room.

Jareth slowed his walk, studying the man before he continued into the room.

"You're daughter is, in a sense, sick. She'll be fine; she just needs a few hours to herself and to rest. I think that might be impossible for her if she has four people hovering around her constantly." Jareth said quickly as he passed Toby, Rye and their mother. Both children and mother were busy playing some silly game in the pit. He walked to large window, ignoring the man who was walking up to him.

"You're explanation wasn't good enough, not for me." Joe said quietly, without menace in his tone, but in its stead was the tone of zero tolerance.

"I can't tell you things I don't know." Jareth said quietly, never taking his gaze from the horizon. His blue eyes sparkled as he listened to the Labyrinth.

"What's so damn interesting that you have to stare at it all the time?" Joe growled out in a frustrated tone. He ran his hand through his thick dark hair as he glanced at his family, who were glancing at him every so often.

"I'm staring at the horizon all the time because that's where she's at." Jareth said in a simple voice, nodding his head forward.

"You mean the woman that wants Sarah?"

Jareth nodded.

"So if you know where she is then why are you still here? You're just gonna wait for her to come knocking on your doorstep?" Joe had raised his voice seemingly loud enough to wake the dead from Aboveground.

"Joe…" Karen began as she quickly got to her feet.

"NO! I'm tired of waiting around here. For two days, I've done nothing but wait and wait. Waiting for Sarah to wake up, waiting for that Bara woman to come and steal my children away. To tear my life apart and take everything away. NO! I already went through that before; luckily, I managed to hang on to Sarah. Now you're telling me I can't go see her!" Joe vented as he glared at the still man before him.

"I can't leave this place, the Labyrinth, and the reasons are my own." Jareth said the last part quickly, glancing over his shoulder to stare Joe down.

"I understand where you're coming from Mr. Williams, I do. I, myself, have been down that road many a time, more than you have. I assure you, I wouldn't put you through it if I didn't have to." and Jareth left it at that.

"Joe," Karen said as she grabbed her husbands' arm when he came pacing her way. He had taken to doing that a lot recently, specifically, these past two days. "Come on, play with your children. You need to think of them first. Sarah can take care of herself, I'm sure of it. And besides," she said as she heard him sigh and watch him rub his tired brown eyes, "I trust this man." Karen whispered to Joe, her blue eyes telling him that she truly did.

Joe knew better than to argue with Karen when she trusted someone. No, it wasn't because he was married to her and had to abide by the invisible law that a husband must obey his wife, no. When his wife had that feeling that she could trust someone, even when he thought he could never, he knew to do so, because his wife was blessed with instincts that told her the truth, and she wisely listened to them. She once told him that he had the same thing, only he didn't listen, like the petulant child he could be. He nearly smirked at the memory, but the situation he and his family were in wouldn't allow it.

He only nodded and slowly sat down on the pits' edge, grinding his teeth when his knees protested with a loud crack.

---------

A pair of dark murky green-blue orbs slightly glared in oblivion, seeing something that none other in the worship chamber with her could see.

"Don't worry Grittas, your brother's doing well. So well in fact, his already in the castle." the owner of the orbs said quietly as she blinked.

A collective gasp swept through the worship room of the dilapidated construction. Bara stood on a similar balcony as the one from the main chamber that held the execution of a pair of Amphisbaena that they dare not mention by name.

"My mistress, of this news I am glad, but you need your rest." Grittas said as he hovered near his mistress.

Bara closed her now green-gray eyes, letting a small smile grace her pink lips. "Thank you for your concern Grittas, but it's nothing the Mirror can't handle." she said quietly as she sat down in a less than extravagant throne. It was, after all, a temple, even if to a Heathen God. The ways of this world were much more different from the humans' that resided in the Labyrinth.

The Labyrinth, Bara smirked. It was an odd thing, it was a prison and hell for Jareth and herself, and yet it was a gateway to absolute paradise to those who called on it. Jareth was trapped within its walls, she was held at bay from its power source from its constant shifting and deceiving twists.

She leaned back, her strength was depleting. Perhaps she should take Grittas's suggestion to rest.

"Grittas, I'm sure you know the drill by now," she said quietly as she slowly stood up and gathered her skirts. She nodded to him once as she made her way down the stone steps and to a full length mirror that cast all else's reflections and shadows, except hers.

"Have pleasant dreams my mistress." Grittas said quietly as he made his way to the main chamber.

"But of course, it is all I can do." Bara said before she stepped through the mirror.

--------

Y'falmus nearly threw the large book at the double doors. He tried all of them, all two hundred and fifty two, and he didn't once land as much as a shadow of an atom of himself in the library.

Jagged teeth grinded together in frustration as his twenty gnarled fingers clutched the book with all of his strength.

He didn't leave so much as a smudge on the book, and that was something that caught his notice. Y'falmus's eyes looked at it with veiled wondrous disbelief; his grip should've caused the book to be reduced to only small torn pieces.

He carefully opened the book, which opened to pages four hundred and thirteen, and four hundred and fourteen, which was mainly written in a language he didn't understand. But he saw a picture taking up half of the left page and instantly knew what the book was. Slowly and carefully, he closed the book and smoothed his fingers over the cover.

He had to find that library.

With renewed determination, Y'falmus continued his search for the library, and, within what seemed like a few seconds, he found himself in hovering in the vast library that belonged to his mistresses' foe.

The book quivered in his hands, and in response, he let it go, watching it flutter a bit before it swiftly made its way down an aisle off to the left.

With his mission completed, Y'falmus turned back and left the library through the same way he had come in.

It would take two more days to get back to his mistress and report, but it was well worth it. He had just successfully laid in motion the most important part of his mistresses' plan.

With a sinister grin, Y'falmus turned invisible as he swirled down the halls and through the little crack in the stone that led to the burrow he had made his way through.