Author's note: I recently decided to restart this story. It has been almost 8 years since I first started this story and yet it is almost constantly on my mind. I left most of the original story as it was, just corrected a few things, although it still is far from perfect. I just didn't want to mess with it too much and ruin what I thought was a pretty good beginning (even with grammar screw ups :P )

Please enjoy and give feedback!

Disclaimer: I don't own the Labyrinth or any characters from it! (Unfortunately)

"What story would you like me to tell tonight," Sarah asked Toby as she tucked him into his race car bed.

"A new one... about goblins!" He cried enthusiastically, beaming up at Sarah with a wide smile.

Her jaw almost dropped to the floor when she heard his request. "G-Goblins? Um, why would you want to hear a story about them?"

"Is that ok?" There was a look of confusion on Toby's face, Sarah never questioned his story choice before. Usually as soon as he told her what he wanted to hear about she would dive right in, using her wonderful imagination to create a story so colorful it almost seemed real. "Puh-lease, Sawah... I really want to hear a story about goblins!"

"Ok, well once upon a time there lived a little prince in the castle beyond the Goblin City. He loved to play with the goblins that live in and around the castle, he especially loved to explore the labyrinth (a giant kind of maze) that surrounded the kingdom. One day he was playing hide and seek in the garden part of the maze with his friends Nok, Caoron, and Fig. He ran along the long twisting walls of bushes until he came upon a huge stone door. Thinking that this would be the perfect hiding place, the prince pushed the door open and stepped inside. Instead of his foot hitting the ground it hit air and the prince began to fall down a deep, dark pit called an oubliette."

The Goblin King's eyes shot open at the sound of Sarah's voice floating softly to him. He had not heard her beautiful voice in nearly 5 human years, but he recognized it immediately.

Curious, he sat up in his bed and conjured a crystal. "Show me the girl," he all but whispered, afraid that one of the noisy goblins would hear him. He held his breath as the image of a brunette girl (no, a woman) siting on the edge of a young flaxen haired boy's oddly shaped bed came into view. She was talking to the boy as he lay tucked tightly underneath a black and white checkered comforter.

The king listened carefully as Sarah spoke, hanging on to her every word.

"The prince was very scared and tried calling for help. But, all he heard in return was the echoes of his own voice bouncing off of the darkened walls. Realizing that no one could hear him, the prince began to explore the room, hoping that he could find something to help him escape.

He used his magic to make a small crystal appear (a trick his father had just taught him) and used it as a source of light. The prince began to walk around the little room, feeling the walls, hoping to find anything, a handle, a lever, even just a crack in the surface of the wall. As he made his way around the room he came upon a small raggedy cot. Tired, he sat down on the little bed, letting his feet swing back and forth.

He suddenly felt his foot his something underneath the cot. He hopped off the bed and looked underneath, finding a blanket that covered a long wooden plank. At first the prince felt a wave of disappointment come over him as he began to stand up, but then he remembered; nothing is ever what it seems to be, at least not in his kingdom.

He reached under the bed and began to tug and tug at the board until it came free. It was a small plain door with a handle on each side. Now why in the world was there a door underneath the cot?"

Toby smiled from ear to ear, "It's the way out! Like Gopher's hole when Pooh was stuck in the bubble!"

Jareth's eyes widened when he heard the story Sarah was telling. How did she know his story? No one could have possibly told her, he hadn't even told his parents about it when he finally did escape.

When she asked Toby about the door he let out a little laugh. "Smart boy, just like his sister," he whispered with a grin.

"The prince lifted the door carefully and placed it against the wall. He stared at it for a minute wondering if it really could be the way out. Still thinking to himself that nothing is what it seems, he slowly put his hand and the handle and opened the door. Can you guess what happened, Toby?" Sarah asked with a soft smile.

"He found the way out" Toby cried.

Sarah laughed, "Good guess, but no. When he pulled on the handle, the door swung open, and piles and piles of mops and brooms fell on him." They both laughed hard.

"By now the prince started thinking that he would never be able to escape the oubliette. Then he notice that now the door was shut in the opposite direction. Taking a deep breath he reach out for the handle again. He peered through the doorway and guess what he found?"

"The way out!" Toby cried.

Sarah smiled at her little brother, "Not only did he find the way out, but when he climbed through the door he found himself in the castle's throne room! He ran straight to his father, climbed in his lap and gave him a big hug. He never did tell anyone what had happened though, afraid that they would make fun of him." She winked at Toby, " The end!"

"That can't be the end, Sawah! I'm not even sleepy!" Toby stuck out his bottom lip in a pout.

"Shhhh, Toby I hear your mom coming and it's way past your bedtime! I'll tell you another story tomorrow, ok?"

Toby smiled and gave her a big hug! "I love you Sarah!"

Sarah gave him a peck on the cheek and headed toward the door, "Night, Toby."

"Night," he replied with a yawn.

She opened the door and flipped the light switch.

"Sarah?"

She turned to face her little brother with a smile, "Yeah, Toby?"

"Did the prince in the story become a king?"

"Yes, he did."

"Is he the king from my dreams."

Sarah's smile quickly faded, "What dreams?"

"The one with the big maze and the blonde man... Jareth."

Sarah froze in shock for a second. "I don't know Toby, it's just a story. And it's time for bed, ok." She turned quickly and headed to her room, a million questions in her head. How on earth did he still remember the Goblin King? In fact, where did that story come from in the first place?

Sarah reached her room and fell onto her bed, staring at the ceiling deep in thought. Before long she drifted off to a very restless sleep, dreaming of goblins, peaches, and a king.

Jareth watched as she finished the story and head to her room. He kept watch long after she had fallen into a fitful sleep. He touched the crystal gently, trying to comfort her and whispered, "Good night my sweet Sarah, I shall see you soon."

She was surrounded by figures in black all with their backs turned toward her. The world seemed foggy and everything around her was spinning slowly, just enough to make her sick to her stomach.

Feeling panicky she began to approach the people in the room, patting them on the shoulder, trying to inquire where she was and how she got here. Every shrugged her off, turning even further away every time she came close. Finally, frustrated and nauseated she began screaming.

At the sound of her scream everyone in the room turned around, but instead of human faces, there was nothing but darkness and cold red eyes staring at her. They began to close in on her, reaching for her with sharp clawed hands. In a panic she screamed the only name that could come to her mind, the only person she knew could save her.

"Jareth."

The Goblin King was still watching Sarah sleep when he heard her call his name. It wasn't the type of voice you would her someone mutter in their sleep. This was a scream.

No sooner had the words left her mouth he was standing in her room, rushing to her bedside. Her body was thrashing and tears were streaming down her cheeks as she began to whimper his name again.

"Jareth... Help me... Please."

He did the only thing he could think of and took her into his arms, slowly caressing her hair as he sang to her.

"There's such a sad love/ deep in your eyes/ a kind of pale jewel/ open and closed/ within your eyes/ I'll place the sky/ within your eyes"

As he held her she began to calm, her tears stopped, and her breath became even. Jareth cast a small spell on her to give her sweet dreams and kissed her forehead, barely noticing her begin to wake.

Sarah woke with a jolt. She was covered with sweat and tears stained her face and she wiped both away as she got up from the bed to get a drink of water. She had never had a nightmare so real, so horrible, her body shook just thinking about it.

"No more stories about goblins," she said to herself . She settled back into bed and drifted off into a peaceful dreamless sleep, never noticing the unblinking eyes of the snow white barn owl perched outside of her window.

The next day Sarah decided to take a run to clear her mind. She started as soon as she shut the front door behind her and didn't stop until her body felt like it was going to collapse. Trying to steady herself, she stood in the middle of the old stone bridge in the middle of the park overlooking the cool waters of the stream that ran underneath. It was nearing dark and the park was empty except for a few people slowing making their way to wherever it was they were going. The sun set made the world around her glow orange and a breeze blew gently all around her.

Sarah placed her elbows on the cool stone railing of the bridge and put her head in her hands. Her thoughts began to return to the night before.

How on earth could Toby remember the Goblin King. He was so young when she…

The wind began to pick up speed as the sun disappeared behind the trees. Shivering Sarah stood up and slowly started walking home.

Sarah

She turned around quickly at the sound of her name, her eyes searching her surroundings. No one was there. Confused, she began her walk home again, this time with just a little more speed. She was almost out of the park when she heard her name again. The voice sounded so familiar, but when she peeked over her shoulder...No one. Frightened, Sarah began to jog toward the park entrance, trying her best to remain calm. That is until she saw it...

There on the gate post in front of her sat a barn owl, his eyes focused intently on her.

She couldn't remove her gaze from the lovely creature as she began to slowly walk toward him, lifting her hand cautiously.

She moved her feet as if walking on glass, afraid that the slightest movement would make him disappear. She was only a foot away when...

Ding, dong, ding, dong.

The bell at the church began to right loudly, scaring Sarah and snapping her put of her trance. She blinked trying to clear her thoughts and glanced back in the direction of the owl.

He was gone.

Disappointed, Sarah began to jog home trying to beat the dark.

Behind the giant oak that stood next to the post, his heart beating rapidly, stood Jareth. He leaned against the tree, pressing his heart against his chest as if trying to silence it. As his mismatched eyes gazed in the direction Sarah went, a smile spread across his lips.

"Sarah," he whispered gently into the wind, and with a small chuckle he disappeared.

"Sarah! Wake up! It's your birthday!" Toby yelled as he ran into his sister's room. When he saw his sister was still in bed with the covers pulled over her head, he jumped up on her bed and began jumping up and down. "Wake! Up! Sarah!"

Sarah opened her eyes and smiled up at her brother. With each jump his blond curls bounced around his face, shining in the morning light.

"How come you seem more excited about my birthday than I am," she laughed pulling him into a bear hug. Toby broke free and grabbed his sister's hand trying to pull her from the bed. Sarah laughed as she got out of bed and allowed Toby to drag her down the stairs and into the kitchen

Robert and Irene Williams walked through the door of the kitchen dressed in their robes and ginning ear to ear. "Good morning," Robert said as he bowed down to kiss his daughter on the head, "Happy Birthday, Sweetie."

Toby ran to his mom and gave her a hug. "Mama, can Sarah open her presents now?" he asked with his lip stuck out in a pout.

"Of course, honey," she replied ruffling his hair. Toby didn't have to be told twice; he immediately ran back to the living room and started bringing gifts into the kitchen.

"He sure is excited!" Sarah said as her step-mother handed her a small brightly wrapped package. She carefully tore off the paper and opened the box. Inside was a beautiful charm bracelet with a small book charm attached. "Oh, this is beautiful!"

"Toby picked it out for you," her father told her as he helped her put the bracelet on. "He's been dying to tell you about his gift all week. He is so proud of himself."

Sarah glanced over at Toby and gave him a big smile. "It's just perfect, Toby! Thank you!" She clasped the bracelet around her wrist, vowing to herself to never take it off.

Later that evening, as the family was getting ready for her birthday dinner, Sarah heard a knock at her bedroom door. She crossed the room and opened the door. Irene was standing in the hallway with two small boxes in her hands.

"Hi, Sarah, I…um…I have a present for you. Can I come in?"

"Sure," Sarah said as she opened the door wide to let her step-mother in.

Irene walked past Sarah and went toward the bed and sat down. Sarah sat down beside her and waited, allowing the older woman a chance to speak.

"I know you're wondering why I didn't give this to you earlier, but I… I wasn't sure if you wanted a present from your evil step-mother," Irene gave a weak smile.

"You know I don't think of you like that anymore," Sarah said with a little smile. Sarah had stopped hating Irene a long time ago and actually had come to think of her as a mother, since she was around more than Linda, Sarah's real mother, had ever been.

Irene smiled at her step daughter, "Well, actually, this present is from when you did think of me as your evil step-mother. I just didn't think you really wanted anything from me then." She handed Sarah a box wrapped in silver paper. "Now, I think that you really need this…I just have a feeling that this is the perfect time for you to have this gift." She placed her hand over Sarah's. "Never forget who you are Sarah. You have a wonderful imagination, never let that got."

Sarah looked questioningly at Irene, and then down to the box in her hands. She slowly began unwrapping the paper, wondering why Irene had waited so long to give this to her. She opened the box and gasped. There inside the white tissue paper, was a familiar red book but, something was different about it. On its cover were gold decorations, pictures of little distorted faces inside a maze framed the book. Its title, Labyrinth, glared up at her, the gold glimmering in the light. Sarah opened the cover of the book and let out another gasp as she glanced upon the beautifully sketch picture of a castle in the distance surrounded by an enormous labyrinth.

Irene beamed at the look on Sarah's face, "I knew that you would like it. After that night of our last big fight, I took your book to one of my friends that restores and decorates books. He told me that this was a fascinating book and that he was going to sketch some pictures of 'the world inside.'"

Sarah gave Irene a hug, "Thank you so much, it's an absolutely wonderful gift!" She was touched that the woman she had once thought was evil would give her such an amazing present.

As Sarah pulled away, Irene handed her the other box. "I found it laying on the coffee table, I guess you must have missed one," she said smiling. She patted Sarah's hand and then got up and headed for the door. "Well, I let you be. I need to finish dinner. Happy Birthday, Sarah," She said as she shut the door.

Sarah looked down at the box in her hands. It wasn't wrapped in paper, but had a gold bow on top. The box was ornately carved with woodland scenes on each side. Sarah untied the bow and opened the lid. Sitting on top of a blue velvet cloth was a silver necklace with a small charm on it. Sarah lifted the necklace out of the box and studied the charm. It was a small crystal ball held in place by even smaller silver claws. She held it up to the light and saw a small red heart in the middle of the crystal.

Confused, Sarah went to put the necklace back into the box when she noticed something sparkling underneath the velvet cloth. She moved the cloth and lifted a large crystal ball out of the box. She felt her hands begin to shake as she stared at the crystal. Panicking, she began to search through the box trying to find a tag, anything to tell her who this was from. Removing the velvet cloth, she found a small piece of paper on the bottom. She slowly unfolded the paper and read the message:

Happy birthday, Love.

We need to talk.

J.

"And then I got this package from him. Oh, here's the note that came with it," Sarah handed the note to her best friend, Alex. Sarah had called her that morning, begging her, through sobs, to come over. She needed someone to talk to, and though she had spent half the night trying to call her friends from the Labyrinth, no matter how much she begged and pleaded, no one answered.

"'We need to talk'... About what! I mean if what you're saying is true..."

"It is true Alex!" Sarah interrupted, Alex was the first person she had ever told about the Underground and she really didn't need to be made to feel like a fool right now. She began to play with the small crystal pendant that lay on her chest.

"I'm not saying that it's not. But, hon, it's been five years, why send this to you now?"

"I've been asking that myself all night..."

"What about these friends of yours? The ones that helped you through the Labyrinth? Haven't they told you anything?"

"That's just it! I've tried all night to call them and... nothing. I bet he did something to them!"

A smile began to spread over the blond girl's face, "Well, there's only one way to find out, isn't there."

Sarah jaw dropped, "You can't mean... no, I won't do it! I'm not going to call him here!"

"Sarah, there has to be a reason for him to want to talk to you! I mean, aren't you just a little bit curious?"

"No," Sarah crossed her arms as she sat on the bed. "I can't believe that you'd ever suggest that I talk to that... that man after all he put me through!"

Alex looked at her friend, she hadn't meant to make Sarah angry, "Look, Sar-Bear," she said as she placed her arm around her shoulder, "I'm sorry. But, don't you wonder, even just a little bit, about what he has to say?"

As much as Sarah wanted to say no, she knew she couldn't. Her curiosity was almost too much to bear. She looked up at her best friend and smiled.

"I knew it!" Alex squealed, "O.K. so how do we get him here?"

"What! You mean now!" Sarah felt her stomach begin to tighten.

"Yea! Come on! How do we do it?"

Sarah gulped as she walked over to the wooden box that sat on her night stand. She lifted the large crystal out of the box, surprised at how light it was. She walked back toward Alex. The words that she knew she must say were stuck in her throat. Alex wrapped her arm around her.

"Come on, Sar-bear, I'm right beside you.'

Sarah closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Come on, you can do it.

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

Alex's gripped tightened on her as both girls closed their eyes and held their breaths. After a few moments they opened their eyes.

"Nothing happen," Sarah said as she slowly breathed sigh of relief.

"Well, Sar-bear… maybe he'll come on his own time," she said patting Sarah's shoulder.

Irene's voice broke through the silence, "Alex, your mom just called! She wants you to pick up Justin from his friend's house!"

Alex gave Sarah a hug, "Well, hon, duty calls! Call me later, o.k.?"

Sarah stood in the middle of the room playing with the pendent as she watch her friend leave. When she was alone, she sat down on her bed, letting her feelings of relief and disappointment take over. She felt tears begin to form in her eyes, not knowing whether they were from feeling like a fool when he didn't come, or the strange sense of anger because she kind of wanted him to in the first place.

As she put her hands to hereyes to force away the tears, she didn't notice the sound of the door slowly shutting.

"Not sad are we, love?"

Sarah jumped at the sound of the frighteningly familiar voice. She slowly moved her hands away from her face, not knowing if she should trust her ears. Disappointment flooded her when she saw that there was no one there. She stood up and walked toward her vanity table. As she looked in the mirror she gasped when she saw the tall menacing figure behind her. She turned around quickly.

There was no one there.

The smooth voice filled her ears once again, "Now, now, love. If you want to see me... say my name."

"What if I don't want to see you? What if I wish that you would stay out of my life forever?!"

Sarah trembled as she felt a warm hand gently touch her shoulder, "If you really wanted that, then why did you call me? Say my name, Sarah, and then all you questions will be answered."

Sarah stood calmly in the middle of the room. This was the moment that she had been waiting for (and dreading) for five years. For a moment she didn't know what she wanted. Then the choice came to her, strongly calling out, screaming out at her.

"Jareth."