These things are all formulaic, anyway, so I'll start with the
standard formula - the disclaimer! ahem Disclaimer - None of
these characters belong to me. If they did, you can be damn sure the
movie wouldn't have been rated PG. I have a dirty mind, especially
when it comes to fine young men in feminine-ish clothing
(coughcoughVelvet Goldmine, toocoughcough), and I'm not ashamed
to admit it; I'll stoop so low as to write Muppet-Smut. That's
right. But I have a lot of company in that department...

Sarah sighed unevenly and hugged herself, begging relief from
the exhaustion that swept over her. The adrenaline that had
sustained her for the past thirteen hours was now wearing off and
leaving her in a state of bewildered and addled fatigue. She had
collapsed on her bed, satisfied that Toby was safe, that she was
free, that it had happened, really, or that maybe it hadn't... She
could no longer fight the urge to sleep, though, and her need to
contemplate the events of the day provided poor competition to the
inviting release of sleep.

The sound of muffled scratching at her window was what
finally woke her, hours later, in the twilight between night and
dawn. Sarah rolled lazily off her bed and walked to the window,
prepared to shoo away whatever branches had disturbed her slumber.
Nothing presented itself, however. She opened the window to a
pleasant breeze, and inhaled deeply. The cold air was comforting in
light of the dark and oppressively hot atmosphere of the Goblin
City. The moon was appropriately full and iridescent, almost purple
in the dim light of the rising sun. She closed her eyes and rested
her weight on the windowsill, breathing deeply and feeling so
emotionally satiated that she didn't notice the continued, low
scratching.

The shatter of glass behind her startled Sarah, and she
whirled around and gasped. Fragments of her mirror lay blanketing
her floor, puddling the ceiling in sharp triangles on the carpet.
She instinctively drew her hands to her face and huddled down towards
the ground, protecting herself from the shower of glass and swooping
of feathers. She lowered an arm a moment later; the barn owl settled
and raked its talons across her desk chair.

"No!" she managed to squeak out, not believing, but still
fearful. "I won! I played by your rules and I won!" Sarah wailed,
sounding as though she needed to convince herself of the fact more
than her intruder.

The owl cocked its head and glided it back and forth,
rhythmically, honing in on her voice. Gracefully, it drew its two
mottled wings back and flapped them together, once, powerfully, and
resumed its usual form.

It smirked.

The familiar form, the evil smile that played across his
lips... Sarah was unable to deny it now. Fair or not, rules or not,
Jareth wasn't done playing the game.

"You've no right!" She yelled, standing fully erect now, and
balling her fists in rage. "I won!" she repeated, and slammed a
fist into the wall behind her.

"Oh, Sarah," he half-sighed; the same smirk on his face
played tortuously in his voice. "You've only won one match. The
game is by no means over." He took a step forward and gazed at her,
piteously.

"No..." she pleaded, unable to gather enough resolve to move.

"Now, now, Sarah" he began, taking another step, then
another, leisurely towards her. "It was just a misunderstanding.
But, the rules are the rules. One match, one person. You've only
played once. It wouldn't be fair if I let you and your brother go
when you've only played one round, now would it?

Sarah could only search his face earnestly, hoping for a way
out.
Here the King smirked again. "Now, you must play a match for
your life. If you win, you're free, just as your brother. But..." he
hissed ominously, "need I remind you that I hate loosing? That I'm
determined not to loose... Especially now that you're the stakes?" His
pursed his thin lips and arched an eyebrow, as if to emphasize the
true meaning behind the words. A second later, a silvery orb danced
over his fingers, mesmerizing the girl and lulling her into a
hypnotic stupor.

"Take it" he whispered into her ear as he laid the globe into
her hands. "It's my gift to you... Just an ordinary globe... But if you
hold it just right, my queen, it will show you your dreams."

Sarah awoke disoriented and stiff. Unfamiliar surroundings
soon made themselves horrifically clear as the muted sound of
thirteen clock chimes reverberated through the room. Terrified, she
sprung up and looked around. She had been carefully laid on an
immense bed, far more luxurious than anything she would expect a
goblin king to own. ...She had determined that much, that she was most
assuredly in the goblin king's castle, but beyond that she had no
idea why she was there, or what Jareth was demanding of her.

No sooner had she begun to contemplate these questions,
though, than a soft knock echoed through the stone room and she found
herself, almost involuntarily, bidding the visitor to come in.

Jareth opened the heavy iron door and strutted in with a
flourish. "Good to see you're finally up" he said contritely.

Sarah still stood obdurate, a new strength beginning to glow
in her eyes. "You have no power over me, I know that" she asserted,
infusing her voice with as much courage as she could muster.

"Oh?" he replied, amused. "I have no power over you?" he
stood just a foot away now and leaned forward, lessening the distance
between their faces even further. Sarah jerked back, and Jareth
tapped her shoulder with his cane.

"No, little girl, I have no power over you..." He began to circle her
now, letting each footfall sound, heavy and ominous, caging her in.

"Just tell me what the rules are... so I can play your game and win
again by your rules," she added in a small voice.

Jareth stopped circling her now and stood in profile in front of
her. "Well, Miss Sarah, if that's all you want to know, I can tell
you the answer easily enough." The King now turned and faced Sarah
fully, leaning towards her and drawing his warm tongue slowly up the
side of her neck and sucking lightly on her earlobe.

"Yes, easily enough," he stopped to whisper into her ear. "You have
until the clock strikes thirteen again to escape from my castle... and
from me."

Sarah stood for a moment, letting the sensation envelop her.
She was in a state of shock; Jareth's maniacal labyrinth, she could
handle, but Jareth himself? It was so tempting... so tempting just to
close her eyes, tilt her head back, and give Jareth full access to
her delicate neck, let the soft but demanding kisses linger there,
then travel, travel further down, whispering across her shoulder,
fanning down lower, over her breast while his hands...
09
"Oh, God!" Sarah gasped, and with an amazing force of
willpower, she opened her eyes and drew cold fingertips to her
burning forehead.

Too late, though, too late. The crimson blush of arousal had
spread now from her cheeks to her lips to her ivory neck... A fact
that did not escape the King's notice.

Jareth cocked his head and took a step back, surveying his
effect over her. When he finally spoke, he drew a finger gingerly to
his chin. "Sarah," he began, then took another step back and stood
authoritatively, "when you leave this chamber, you will have a
choice. First, you may go left. This staircase leads directly to my
chambers, and a future of immortality as my queen." Here he stopped
to indicate the direction with a delicately gloved hand. "Or," he
began again, his tone suddenly far more sinister, "you may to right.
This leads directly to the goblins' inner sanctum, where perils
untold await you - or anyone - who wishes to leave my castle without
my consent." A familiar smirk now crept into his expression as he
reveled in his sadism.

Not sure of what to say, Sarah simply nodded and took a deep
breath.

For a moment, neither spoke.

"Oh, and Sarah... You made the wrong decision once already. I
wouldn't let it happen again if I were you." And with that, the King
turned on his heels and disappeared from the room in a flurry of
capes and tassels.

The door remained open after his departure, and Sarah gazed
out if for a moment. Not yet courageous enough to venture outside,
she returned to her bed and picked up the small globe that rested on
her pillow. She raised it in front of her face on delicate
fingertips and looked into it.

...Nothing.

She rotated it and looked again, but the orb refused to
divulge the dream.

"This thing doesn't even work!" she said, disgusted. Still,
she clutched it firmly in her hand as she took her first cautious
steps outside the room.

The castle was eerily quiet; its walls were cool and dank.
Sarah took a few tentative steps forward and looked over the
railing. The walkway seemed to be suspended midway between the
ground floor and the roof of the castle, but looking down all Sarah
saw was a great black abyss. A dungeon; the goblin's inner sanctum.
Above, the view was no different. The walls stretched upwards,
uninterrupted, until they merged with one another in muddled
blackness. Her window-less room offered no alternative, either, and
Sarah was forced to decide, right or left.

Right, or left. She looked left. The staircase spiraled
upwards, but the two torches on either side of the door were not
enough to illuminate its final destination. The path to the right
lead almost directly downwards. Either way, she was journeying into
ominous darkness.

But, she thought with resolve, it doesn't matter what is down
that staircase. That is my only option. Even if I die trying to
escape, I must at least try.

She loosened a torch from its finding and held it out in
front of her. Sweeping the downward staircase with light, she
proceeded slowly. A suddenly flurry of bats' wings, or what sounded
to Sarah like bats' wings, caused her to jump back, startled, and
grab the railing. She clung to it and swept the torch back and forth
again, but saw nothing, save the Spartan walls and dreary cobwebs of
a long-neglected stairwell. She walked faster now, sweeping the
torch furiously. She cared not for what awaited her at the end of
the staircase, so long as it, and Jareth, were far behind her.

Her feet touched the spongy, moss-ridden floor just a few
minutes later. ...No goblins. ...No goblins? This was supposed to be
the goblins' inner sanctum, so where were Jareth's subjects? One
lonely torch sputtered against the far wall, and Sarah could see
several more extinguished ones lining the room. Carefully she lit
each one, until the room glowed red and gold and the torches cast
long shadows on the walls.
The room was empty. Just the torches and a few stray rocks.
Against the far wall was a heavy, iron-studded door, but no sound
emanated from behind it.

"That's odd..." she pondered aloud. "That door must lead to
the goblins' room, but... they don't seem to be making any noise, and
they're normally such boisterous creatures..."
09
She turned around and looked back up the staircase, then back
into the room. The room where she stood was still empty, the room
behind the great wooden door still silent. Cautiously, she crept up
to the door and touched it. It was unlatched, and swung slightly
even under her delicate touch.

Now Sarah placed both hands on the door, and taking a deep
breath, pushed it fully open. This room, as well, was dark, and she
ventured in slowly. The door, seemingly of its own accord,
immediately slammed behind her, and the room was flooded with grayish
lunar light. She blinked against the brightness and stumbled
forward, only to snap upright at the sound of a familiar voice.

"Sarah," was all it said, but it was enough to enrage the
girl and provoke tears to pool in the corners of her eyes.

"You lied!" she cried indignantly. "You said this staircase
led to the goblins, then outside the castle!"
09
Jareth regarded her for a moment, then answered, "Did I?" He
held a goblet in his right hand, and he held it towards her
nonchalantly. "Care for a drink?"

"No! I..." she tried to collect her thoughts, but to no avail.

Still he held out the glass, though, and begged her to take
it. He waited a moment, then placed it back on the table when she
made no movement to accept it. "I told you I hate to loose," he said
simply.

"Tell me then - if I go back up the stairs, and continue up
the left, will that lead me out?"
09
Jareth smiled at her ignorance. "No, it will lead exactly
where I told you it will lead."

"Then why didn't this path lead exactly where you said it
would?" she demanded indignantly.

Jareth stared at her, slightly taken aback. "What does it
show you?" he asked after a moment.

"What does what show me?"
09
"The orb." He motioned to it with a nod of his head.

Sarah suddenly became aware that she had been carrying it the
whole time. "It didn't work. It didn't show me anything."

Jareth laughed, short, staccato and piercing. "It didn't
show you anything?" he repeated, as he drew nearer to her and looked
into the globe as well.

"It cannot know if you do not know"

"What do you mean?"

Jareth leaned over her now and ran a finger up her arm. "You
do not know what you want, and so the orb cannot know, either. And
yet..."

"And yet' what?" Sarah demanded.

"You do know." The King kissed the girl again, but this time
his lips sought hers and she relinquished them readily.
09
She closed her eyes and allowed the feelings she was
powerless to resist overwhelm her. The physical sensation of his
warm lips, his hands that clutched her shoulders and pressed her even
closer to his body... he teased her with an intimacy that she hungered
for and could no longer deny.

She admitted it all by simply calling his name.

He still held her tightly to his chest, but he lifted her off
her feet now and carried her to his bed. Wordlessly, he lay beside
her and began to feather kisses down her neck.

Sarah called his name again, imploringly, only to elicit a
sharp bite on her neck. The tingling pain sent a wave of pleasure
through her and her whole body tensed in response. Jareth, in turn,
responded, biting her again and raking his teeth across her
collarbone. She twined a hand through his hair and he stopped short,
just above her heart. He left a kiss there and set his left hand to
work on the buttons of her blouse.

Already consumed, Sarah lost her grip on the globe and it
rolled off her limp palm, skittering across the floor and coming to
rest against the far wall.

Jareth spoke; his voice was now lilting and smoothly
inviting. "Is this what you were afraid of? Is this what drove you
to go down the wrong path?"

Jareth had by now finished off the buttons, and employed his
left hand lightly stroking her body, shoulder to waist. He let his
fingers dance once over her breast and was rewarded with a soft moan
and the writhing of flesh beneath his hand.09

His voice began again, hypnotic. "No, but that couldn't have
been it. No, Sarah, it wasn't, because you did not know what you
wanted. But you know now?" He lowered his mouth over her nipple and
ran his tongue in tantalizing circles.

Sarah, heart racing, gasped for breath. She knew an answer
was the only way to end the torture and experience sweet release.

Her dulled mind groped blindly for words. "I... I want..."

She gasped again and Jareth lifted his head. The moment his
mouth left her right breast, however, his hand made contact with her
left nipple, rolling and pinching, over and over, and illuminating
the blackness behind Sarah's closed eyelids with stars once more.

"You... want?" he assisted.

Sarah's free hand clutched at his shoulder, urging him back
down.

"I want you, Jareth, I want you!" she managed to cry out all
at once.

And she surrendered to his passions, and the King was
merciful.

Sarah blinked her eyes open and was met with the steady gaze
of the Goblin King. He sat in a chair opposite the bed, swathed in
black robe, and tapping his foot idly against the chair leg. The
chimes of the clock were sounding, and he counted them aloud for her.

"Eleven... Twelve... Thirteen. The thirteenth hour is upon you
and it appears as though you've lost the game, Sarah."

Sarah sat up and contemplated the King for a minute. "I
don't understand," she said, half to herself. "You have no power
over me... And yet..."

"And yet you were powerless to resist?" Jareth suggested.

Sarah only nodded, slightly awed.

"That is because I am all you ever wished me to be, nothing
more, but nothing less. I am powerless against your will and your
true feelings, but then, so are you. You must do as I say, just as
you make me your slave..."

"That's how it is in the Labyrinth..." she whispered.

And against the far wall of the room, the translucent orb
reflected the silver light of the room and mingled with it the unseen
dreams of both the room's occupants.