If a tornado and an earthquake had both hit the basement at once, it couldn't be more of a mess than it was now, Sarah thought, balancing a cardboard box on one hip and reaching for another with her free hand. She cursed herself for being a sentimental pack rat. Smirking, she looked around the room. Her eyes passed over old play programs, photographs from high school and college, books and papers, ticket stubs and greeting cards. Each memento was a small piece of her self. She couldn't get rid of any of it any more than she could lose the dreamy memories she had of a childhood spent with creatures from another world.

            Oh yes, Sarah remembered the Labyrinth. How could she not? With the ugly, smelly creatures called goblins, and her loyal companions contrasting with the gloom and shadow of the maze. Oh, and the Goblin King himself, of course, frightening and yet intoxicating at the same time. How many lonely nights she had spent cursing the fact that she had been only a child when the only person in the universe who she was sure of had offered her what she most wanted in life. When she was 16, she had been sure that she had wanted to live in a fairy tale more than anything else in the world. Even after saving her little brother, she had defied the goblin king, played a part in her own fairy tale, and thrown the king's own game back in his face. All she had wanted was a fairy tale, and she had given all that up for pride and self satisfaction. Now, after facing the harsh realities of the real world, she would have settled for someone who would be there, someone who would love her unconditionally. Sarah laughed bitterly, remembering how silly she had been. What she wouldn't give for a chance to obtain the dreams she had now.

            Sarah's mind jumped back to the task at hand as the box she was carrying started to slip toward her feet. She adjusted her weight to save the package, but in doing so she toppled another pile of boxes, sending dust and keepsakes flying across the cement floor. She grabbed for the toppling pile, and lost her balance, landing bottom first amid her childhood treasures. She fought the urge to scream in frustration, and instead started laughing. She collapsed on the toppled pile, shaking her head. What I wouldn't give for some helping hands right now, she chuckled to herself.

----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----

            Jareth was taking a morning stroll through his labyrinth. He was frustrated, and though he was out of his castle and breathing fresh air, the gloomy condition of the maze did little to improve his mood. He kicked a stray goblin that was fighting with a chicken. He was temporarily amused when the creature went flying through the air and became lodged in a chimney pipe, but his laughter faded and then he was back where he started from. He watched a nearby wall change from a solid mass of brick into an opening surrounded by trees and vines. A creature sitting on a post caught his attention. It was some kind of bird, with orange and red plumage, that almost resembled some kind of a hat. Shaking his head, he was about to discount it and continue his wandering, when the creature spoke.

            "Could I interest your majesty in some of our merchandise?" the bird crooned. Jareth stepped closer to the animal and saw that it had a blanket on the wall in front of it with some miscellaneous trinkets covering it.

            "What have we here?" he picked up a small, silver object from the blanket and looked at it closely. The initials SW were carved into the face.

            "Ah, his majesty has good taste," the bird creature warbled. "That ring belonged to a mortal girl who happened through the labyrinth six years ago. She was in fact a queen in the Aboveground, it is said; with a huge army and hundreds of servants. I'll let you have it for eight gold coins, a bargain, really," Jareth smirked at the fabrication, but could not take his eyes off the ring. It had belonged to Sarah, he could feel it. And it was just the thing to lift his bad mood. He cackled and stared at the bird.

            "How bout I take this ring and I let you keep swindling those who travel through my labyrinth without throwing you into the bog of stench?" His voice began to ring with authority, and he felt himself becoming the Jareth of before. The bird shrank away from the intimidating presence of the king, and he stuttered to himself.

            "Of course, your majesty, wonderful idea…" Jareth, no longer paying attention, was taking huge strides toward his castle. It was a good thing for the bird that he was, for the cursing that followed would certainly have earned him a visit in the bog of eternal stench.