Disclaimer: I do not own or profess to own or to have written the story Labyrinth or any song lyrics found within this fanfic. Those are the gorgeous creations of minds much greater than mine!

All was silent, all was still in the Labyrinth. Fragments of staircases and walls of the Escher Room hung in mid-air as though they weighed nothing at all… as if they were only gossamer and wishes. Around was the darkness of infinity, sparkling with all the billions of possibilities in every breath of wind, fluttering wing and young girl’s choice.

Sarah Williams stood in front of the Goblin King. She had, with great confidence begun the final words of the play. How easily they had come to mind; her role as the leading lady in all of this drama had not been hard to take on. It had almost been fun- she had no fear and she had never really had any. She knew that it would be fine because that was how all the stories ended. The good guys always won. All throughout the Labyrinth nothing bad had truly happened; someone had always come to her rescue. And now she would say the words which would give her supreme power. She could see it in Jareth’s eyes, the fear, the desperation as he watched her, warily holding out his crystal, offering up all her dreams.

The clock behind them ticked away the final seconds and Sarah faltered for a moment, trying to remember what those last words were. “Damn…I can never remember…”

“You…you have…you…” she stammered looking into his eyes. Ohmygodohmygod I can’t remember! It was there on the tip of her tongue, but she glanced fatally at the clock and froze. It was like the horrible moment while writing a test when the answer is there but the teacher says: ‘Put down your pencils…’ And that was how it happened. She watched the clock tick off the final second and realized with disbelief that the words had not come to her, that it wasn’t going to go her way after all.

Jareth too had been frozen; it was obvious that he felt he was going to lose and when he heard that final tick and the gears of the clock shifting into the first loud “bong” he realized with disbelief that he had won. His unnatural eyes had widened with almost insane glee. He threw back his head and laughed and laughed as the clock went through its measures.

“The child is mine!” he cried, revealing wickedly sharp teeth. All around them the world changed and once again Sarah found herself standing outside the gates of the Labyrinth. Gold sand shifted under her feet and she stood blinking in the bright light of a late afternoon. Jareth was before her and Toby was firmly tucked in his arms. All of the Goblin King’s fear and uncertainty were replaced by his usual arrogance. Sarah could see that in his great vanity he was once again differently clothed. He looked beautiful and terrible and now Sarah was the one, who for the first time; felt real fear.

A cool wind blew her hair from her face as tears threatened. She couldn’t have lost! It was simply not possible and certainly not fair. She had done everything right! She had even refused to let that poisoned peach change what she knew she had to do despite the strong feeling of attraction she had when Jareth had looked at her with an intent that even she, innocent as she was, could not misunderstand. The ballroom had been her greatest challenge and she had won. She had refused that world; she had been a good girl, focused, always putting Toby first. How could this have happened?

When the first feelings of disbelief had vanished Sarah had lunged unthinkingly for Toby, almost white hot with anger. What her plan was even she didn’t know: take the baby and run? Where to she didn’t know; apparently she was still in this strange world.

Jareth had side-stepped her easily, laughing again. “Naughty, naughty,” he tsked holding Toby away. “It’s time for us to say good-bye to your sister, I think,” he murmured to the baby snuggling in his arms.

“No wait…” she cried understanding that at any moment Jareth would expel her from the Labyrinth sending her home without her brother.

“Wait? You’ve had your chance, Sarah.” His eyes narrowed menacingly. “I offered you everything.” And she could hear those words that he left unsaid ‘even myself’. Of course this would have been a blow to his pride; she knew he was furious and if he could, he would punish her in many ways for rejecting him.

But she simply could not go home without Toby. She was desperate. Of course, this was all her fault. She had wished Toby away and now because of her, the brother she now realized she loved would become a twisted, demented creature with mischief and malice in his heart forever. No! She couldn’t allow that to happen. What she was about to say surprised her, but she was proud of herself; she knew she was doing the right thing.

“Please, take me instead…I’ll…I’ll do whatever you want.” She swallowed hard, “I’ll become a goblin instead of him.”

Jareth was quiet for a long while. The only sounds were the wind blowing in the dry trees, the branches scratching the crumbling, ageless walls of the labyrinth and the cooing of her brother as he tugged Jareth’s wispy hair. She bowed her head so she was unable to see his eyes.

“One soul for another?” he said at last, as though this had always been his intention. “Is this what you offer, Sarah? Your soul for his?” He had known she would do this, hadn’t he…

She looked up, as though looking at the very devil himself, and perhaps she was. “Yes…” she whispered knowing he would accept.

“Do you realize that what I offered before was offered freely because of my regard for you: your dreams, an eternity of beauty and all that you desired. Those were gifts. But now you offer yourself. That is an altogether different matter. You do understand that don’t you?”

She looked at him and for a moment all of the wickedness was gone from those unsettling eyes replaced by the need to make her understand exactly what she was offering to him. She nodded, miserably. His thin lips curved slightly.

“You do know that instead of me being your slave, you will be mine? I will own you body and soul.” She kept her eyes on Toby, clenching her jaw to keep the tears from slipping out. It will be worth it, it will be worth it, it will be…

“And, I hope you fully understand that your self-sacrifice,” he sneered at the words, “will give you no clemency, anywhere.” She looked up startled, of course she had hoped, but Jareth seemed to know how her mind worked and she lowered her eyes, flushing. She nodded reluctantly.

The Goblin King walked around her, jogging the baby in his arms. She could feel him measuring up the trade.

“But Toby must be returned home, unharmed and you can never touch him again!” she cried, angry, desperate to control some aspect of the very bad situation.

“Yesss,” he agreed looking at the baby and cuddling him. “Home he will go.”

“What…what will happen to me? Will my parents worry?” she faltered. She could see her mother and father’s eyes, how devastated they would be, thinking that she had been kidnapped, or murdered. She would cause so much worry; pain.

Jareth smiled; a feral kind of grin. “It will be as if you had never been born.”

Sarah set her chin, looking long and hard at Toby, knowing it would be her last look. “Agreed.”

And in the blink of an eye, and with a glittering swirl of the Goblin King’s cloak she found herself within the castle walls once again.

A/N -Great thanks to Betas: Tinker-Bell-Greenleaf, Blackroseflame and Late March you were excellent! More to come.