This story is rated T because Sarah ended up being a bit of a potty-mouth early on.

So, I'll admit right from the get-go that a Beauty and the Beast-themed Labyrinth fanfiction isn't all that original. In fact, the reason why I started to write this is because I read one such fic, and even though it was fairly decent, I found it to be… um… lacking, I guess you could say?

So, rather than wallow in my disappointments of the rather poorly-written bad ending, I decided that I'd just write my own.

This will have more themes from some of the older retellings of the tale, although there might be a few Disney references thrown in for good measure. Because Disney's version is still my favorite, even after all this time.

Also, because I know that it's going to cause a little bit of confusion, but since the Labyrinth wiki cites that Return to Labyrinth is canon, I will be using the canon name of Irene for the step-mother (who in the film was unnamed) over the fan-chosen name of Karen. I don't know why the fandom collectively decided that her name was Karen, but alright. (Although personally, if a character is unnamed, I usually tend to go with the name of the actor who played them, and I would have named her Shelley. But, that's just me.)

This has not been proofread, so if you spot any glaring errors, please let me know.

Prologue

"I just don't know what we're going to do."

"Shh, please dad, keep your voice down," Sarah Williams insisted. "Irene has only just put Toby to sleep. He's been having a hard enough time in school without having to worry about the fact that not only have you lost your job, but we're this close to losing the house, too." Sarah held her thumb and index finger a small increment apart.

Irene heaved a sigh, and ran a hand through her hair in frustration. Robert gave both his wife and his daughter an intense, morose look. "I worked hard to give you all a very comfortable life. But now, that's all falling apart."

"It'll be okay, dear," Irene whispered. She reached across the table and gently lay her hand on top of her husband's. "We'll just sell the house; we'll downsize. I can start to look for a job."

"Yeah. I'll get a job, too, dad," Sarah said.

"Sarah, you're only a year away from graduating," Robert said. "I don't want you to put off finishing, because then you never will."

"Dad, I don't think that you fully understand how grave that the situation is."

"Dammit, Sarah, I don't want you to ruin your life just because I managed to screw everything up for the rest of us!" Robert hissed at his only daughter.

"Dad, I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I just sat by and did nothing while my family got turned out onto the street. I'll start looking for a job tomorrow, and there's nothing that you can do to stop me."

Chapter 1

The Williams family didn't think that they would have made it out from under their bad mortgage without somehow ending up living on the streets. But, after selling off most of their things and drastically downsizing, they found that, even though they missed the comforts that Robert's large salary as a defense lawyer had provided, they were able to get by.

But that doesn't mean that they all liked it.

"I miss my video games," Toby whined for what seemed like the hundredth time that rainy, Sunday afternoon.

"Shh, darling, come and play cards with me," Irene said as she shuffled the deck of cards.

"I'm tired of cards. I want to watch TV."

"We don't have a TV anymore, honey," Irene reminded her son.

"Well, not having video games sucks, but it's even worse not to even own a TV!" Toby exclaimed.

"Toby Conrad Williams!" Irene exclaimed. "Where in the world did you learn such foul language? Go to your room!" With a pout, the five year old turned from the room and marched slowly down the hall to the room that he shared with Sarah. Irene heaved a massive sigh and buried her head in her hands out of frustration.

"It'll be okay, Irene," Sarah said, although she wasn't quite certain if she even believed the words that came from her mouth. The two women sat at the table for a long while; Irene with her head still in her hands, and Sarah staring blankly out the window. The only noise that came from inside the house was the muffled sound of Robert talking in his bedroom.

Then, "Who's dad talking to?" Sarah asked, her voice low as if she was afraid of talking in a normal voice.

"I don't know, dear," Irene said with a sigh. She looked up at her step-daughter. "All he said was that it was important, and that he didn't want to be disturbed."

"Do you think that it could be a client?" Sarah asked. Her voice was flat, but Irene noted a hint of excitement in the young woman's eyes.

The older woman heaved a sigh; it wouldn't do to get Sarah's hopes up. "Nobody wants to hire your father as a lawyer anymore. Not after…" She broke off. It didn't need to be said, because all of the words had come out right when it had happened. They were all trying to put what they dubbed "The Incident" behind them; after all, dwelling on it and casting blame wouldn't get Robert either his job or clients back, so what was the point?

The phone in the kitchen clicked as Robert hung up the phone in his bedroom. A moment later, he came into the kitchen, all smiles. "Good afternoon. How are my two favorite women?" he asked.

"What was that about, dad?" Sarah asked.

"I've got some pretty good news," Robert told them.

"You're getting your job back?" Irene guessed.

"Yes!" Robert exclaimed.

"Honey! That's fantastic!" Irene gasped. She gave out a shout of glee as she jumped to her feet, and then she threw her arms around her husband.

"Well, nothing is settled yet, but Mr. Loughlin wants to see me first thing tomorrow morning," Robert said.

Robert told his family the details of what he and his former boss had talked about on the phone for close to ten minutes about.

"This is great, dad!" Toby said once his father was finished. "Being poor-"

"Toby!" Irene said sharply.

"I don't like being poor," the youngest Williams finished. "Can we get a TV?"

"Mr. Loughlin did mention a large bonus, so I think that it can be arranged!" Robert said with a hearty laugh. "But, a trip into town wouldn't be completed without buying presents for my two favorite women."

"Well, it has been a while since you last bought me any jewelry…" Irene said wistfully. Both of them missed the look of disdain on Sarah's face.

"Yes, of course. I would love nothing more than to be able to spoil you, Irene," Robert told his wife gently. Robert had been holding his wife's hand on top of the table, but then he leaned over and kissed her.

"Ew, gross," Toby said with a scowl. Sarah only just rolled her eyes.

"And what about you, Sarah?" Robert asked.

"I don't want anything," Sarah insisted.

"Don't be silly, Sarah. You've worked harder than the rest of us," Robert said. "You gave up your education and a chance at a much better future in order to help us." Sarah's face darkened; much like "The Incident", Sarah's education was something that they didn't like to bring up. "So of course I have to get you something."

Sarah sat for a long moment and contemplated this. If she didn't say anything, then her father might feel obligated to buy her something… something expensive and probably something that she didn't want or need. Like jewelry.

"I just… I just want a rose," Sarah said simply.

"A rose?" Toby exclaimed with surprise.

"Yes. I miss being able to buy flowers now that we're not in the city anymore," Sarah explained. "I just want a rose." There. It wasn't expensive, and while it would be beautiful for a few days, it would soon whither and die, and then Sarah could just throw it out.

"Fine. A rose for my sweet daughter," Robert agreed.

So the next morning, even before Irene had Toby ready for school, Robert kissed his wife, gave Sarah a hug, and set off into the city to try and see about getting his job back.

"I hope that everything goes okay," Sarah said as she watched her father's car pull away from the house.

"Don't be silly; Mr. Loughlin loved your father when he worked for him," Irene said. "Why would you say such a thing?"

"I don't know… I…" Absently, Sarah turned away from the window and rubbed her arms, as if she was chilled.

The meeting had not gone as Robert had hoped. In fact, he was even more depressed now than he had been after "The Incident". He didn't want to go home and give his family the troubling news. He'd taken his time in going over to the side of town where his family now lived, going as slow as possible on the surface streets, but then as he got closer to his home, he started to meander down streets that he'd never been down before, in the hopes of just wasting time.

After a while, it started to get dark, and then an exceptionally thick fog rolled in. Robert had dimmed his lights, but it was no use; he could barely see a foot in front of his car. As he crawled along, he thought about turning around to just head back into the city to stay the night there. But, as he recalled the past half hour, he realized that it would be nearly impossible, because he'd gotten himself lost on purpose. There was no way that he'd be able to find a street that he was familiar with, so he decided that he might as well just press forward.

For a long time, the only sign that he was progressing was the flashes of the road stripes, but then those eventually ended, and then so did the road. "Now I think that I really am lost," Robert whispered to himself as his car bumped along the dirt path. A second later, and he hit the brakes just as his headlights bounced off of a golden gate. "What the…?" Robert left the car running as he got out and went closer to inspect the gate. As he approached, the gates swung open, and Robert tried to look at the grounds, but it was too foggy to see much of anything.

For a lack of anyplace better to go, Robert gave a shrug and went back to his car. He carefully drove up the long, curved driveway— he thought that he spotted a fountain off to his left, but couldn't be sure— before the large and foreboding house appeared out from the fog. As soon as Robert saw the house, he hit the brakes and then turned his car off. He didn't want to accidentally hit some part of the house and end up having to pay possibly millions of dollars to the irate home-owner.

"If this could even be called a home," Robert whispered to himself as he walked closer to the house. It was difficult to tell how tall that it was, because after the second story or so, everything just vanished into the mist, but it was very obvious that the house was exceptionally old.

Robert walked up wide and sweeping steps that lead to a massive wooden door, which was decorated with ornate carvings. He would have loved to examine them closer, if it weren't for the fact that it was late and he was becoming very cold. Robert raised his hand to knock at the door, but they swung open with an ominous creak before he could so much as touch the wood.

"Hello?" Robert called out as he stepped inside. The room beyond, although old, dusty, and more than a little run down, still looked exceptionally beautiful with black marble floors and grey stone walls. Robert could just make out the shape of what must have once been a grand, sweeping staircase several yards into the house, and a dusty and broken crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling.

The room was dark, lit only by a burning, flickering light that came from a room a few feet from the door. As Robert walked in, he passed darkened doorways, and paused for a moment as he passed one, certain that he heard whispered voices from beyond. "Hello? Is anybody here?" he called out. The voices became silent, and Robert walked on, towards the room with the light.

The room in question was a formal sitting room. It seemed more like it was some sort of movie set than anything, but the crackling fire that burned in the fireplace looked exceptionally inviting. As Robert carefully walked into the room, he cast a wary eye around, wondering if the homeowner was seated before the fire in the wing-backed chair. But no, the chair was empty.

"I suppose that it wouldn't hurt to sit for a moment," Robert whispered to himself as he sunk down into the plush chair. Despite how worn and old everything in the room looked, he'd expected for the chair to have the musty smell of dust and old age. But, it smelt like… "Sugar and freshly cut grass?" Robert mused out loud. "No no. That…" He broke off with a loud yawn. "…right." He closed his eyes, his head dropped forward onto his chest, and a moment later, he was fast asleep.

Robert was awoken some time later by a loud boom of a grandfather clock. He jerked awake, and looked around— the fire was mostly embers by now, but it was enough for the man to see by. A light flicked on from a room that lead from the formal sitting room that Robert was in. He pushed himself up, and went to investigate.

Although Robert was fairly certain that there had not been another way in or out of the room, he also admitted to himself that he hadn't been paying too much attention to anything but the fire, and then the chair. The room that was lit up was a formal dining room. Like the rest of the house that Robert had seen, it probably had once been exceptionally grand, but had fallen to disrepair and was in dire need of a good cleaning.

But, the glittering but broken crystal chandelier and golden floor and walls were not what most captured Robert's attention: it was the impressive spread of food upon the table. It seemed to be much more than one man could ever hope to eat by himself, but there was only one chair, and one place setting set out. "Hello?" Robert called out as he approached the table. Again, he received no reply.

He sat down and as he started to eat, he felt a wave of regret and guilt that his family wasn't here to enjoy the most delicious and wonderful food that he'd had in an exceptionally long time.

Before long, he began to get full, and, despite his little nap in front of the fire earlier, Robert felt himself grow exhausted. As if reading his emotions, the lights in the dining room dimmed, and a flickering light appeared at the other end of the hall. Although a bit hesitant to allow himself to be lead further into the house by unseen forces, Robert got up and went to investigate.

The room beyond was only just a grey stone staircase that lead up; the light came from up there, so that's where Robert went. Upstairs, Robert found himself in a slightly drafty hallway that was made of the same grey stone as the staircase had been. There were heavy-looking, wooden doors on either side of the hallway, and it appeared to go on forever. But the first door, directly across from the stairs, was open, and it was where the light was coming from.

Robert walked closer, and peered inside the room— it was a simple bedroom, with a four-poster bed, a night stand, and a wardrobe. There was a single, flickering candle that sat on the night stand. "Strange— the light seemed much brighter when I was in the dining room," Robert mused to himself as he walked into the room. There was a small, stained glass window opposite the door, and Robert crossed the room in order to look outside. But, there wasn't much to see beyond the oppressive fog, so he turned back and examined the bed.

"Well, no harm has come to me thus far, and it's probably not very safe for me to drive in the fog while I'm this exhausted. I'll just get some rest and leave first thing in the morning." Robert first pulled off his shoes, which he put by the side of the bed, and then he pulled off his belt, and pulled the things out from his pockets, which he placed on the night stand. Then, he blew out the candle, lay back on the bed, and was soon fast asleep.

The next morning, bright sunlight streamed in through the stained glass window and woke Robert up. As he grabbed his things, he took a closer look at the room. The natural, bright light made the things in the room seem in much better condition than they had been in the night before. Of course, they weren't overly ornate, like he'd expected them to be, but they also weren't bad to look at, either. Before Robert left the room, he looked at the stained glass window. Maybe he'd been too focused on trying to see outside the night before, but he was certain that the decorative image in the window hadn't been a white owl perched in a tree.

Outside the room, the hallway that had seemed nearly endless the night before really didn't look that long. It was funny what a lack of light and an over-exhausted mind could do to people. Robert went downstairs, and found that the dining room was just as it had been last night, with the exception that the roasted turkey and potatoes had been replaced with pancakes and hardboiled eggs. There was still only one chair and one place set at the table.

After a hearty breakfast, Robert made his way through the sitting room, through the front hall, and then he went outside. As he walked down the steps that would take him to his car that was a few feet from the house, he spotted several ornately cut rose bushes that offered a rainbow of flower colors. Robert remembered what Sarah had asked for and walked past his car to the bushes. He couldn't get Irene a piece of jewelry or Toby a TV, but at least he might be able to return his daughter the one thing that she'd asked for.

The first bush at the end of the drive was filled with the most beautiful rose buds that Robert had ever seen. Not a single dead leaf or browning bud was to be found on the bush. Robert scanned the flowers, and then gently plucked the largest flower that the bush had to offer.

"And what exactly do you think that you're doing?" a soft but oddly terrifying voice asked from behind Robert as soon as he'd picked the flower. The man that stood before Robert was the strangest person that he had ever seen before. The man's blond hair was exceptionally wild, like he'd tried to tame it with static electricity. He wore a glittery, black coat over exceptionally tight, black pants, and had on black leather boots, and finished the look off with some black leather gloves. But it was his face that was the most strange— oddly beautiful, yet at the same time, oddly horrifying. His eyes were two different colors, and were rimmed with blue and white make up, and his mouth was set into an exceptionally angry scowl.

"I… uh…" Robert stammered.

"I have allowed you to stay in my home, I let you eat my food and sleep in one of my beds. And how do you repay me?" the strange man asks. His voice is dangerously low.

"It's for my daughter," Robert offered, and then winced at his poor excuse. "While my wife and son asked for silly things… things that I cannot bring to them, my Sarah only asked for one thing: a rose."

"Your… daughter?" the man questioned. The cruel mask on his face slipped for a second and was replaced with a look that Robert could not name.

"Yes," Robert agreed. "Sarah." At the mention of his daughter's name, the strange look on the man's face was replaced with a smile, but it was anything but kind, and sent a shiver of fear up Robert's spine.

"It would be most unkind of me to let a man not deliver such a beautiful flower to his daughter," the man said. "But I'm afraid that I can't just let you go after harming my rose bush. If you do not return back here in 24 hours, I will come to fetch you. And the punishment of your crime will be for you to spend the rest of your life in an oubliette." The man stalked closer to Robert until Robert was pressed up against the rose bush, and the strange man was right in his face. "Do I make myself clear?"

Robert could only nod in fear. A second later, the man vanished. Robert scrambled to his car, and quickly peeled away from the foreboding house. The gate swung open as Robert approached, which was just as well, because he was more than willing to crash through the overly ornate, golden gate in his haste to leave the strange place behind.

There was a stretch of unpaved road, but the second that the ornate wall and gate had vanished from the rear-view mirrors, the road became paved. Robert recognized the main road that the neighborhood he lived on, and as he turned the corner, he looked behind him and could not see a single sign of the strange place that he had come from.

It was bizarre, because Robert had explored the area of his neighborhood plenty of times, and he'd never seen the strange house, or even the unpaved road, before.

Within minutes, Robert pulled into the driveway of his home, and Irene, Toby, and Sarah ran out to greet him. "Where were you?" Irene asked as soon as Robert had opened the car door. "We were all so worried."

Robert picked the rose that had caused him so much trouble and silently walked inside. Once there, he presented the flower to Sarah. "Have I got a story to tell you." They sat around the dining room table and listened as Robert described what had happened with his former boss, Mr. Loughlin, his winding journey home, his trip through the fog, and his over-night stay at the massive, old house.

But after Robert described the rose bushes that lined the driveway, he paused in his narration. "What happened next, dad?" Toby urged.

"There was… this man. He was the most peculiar man that I've ever seen before," Robert started. "He's a little hard to describe, and I'm not even quite certain if you'd believe me anyway. I've sat across from and next to men who have murdered men, women, and children in cold blood, but I've never felt the amount of fear with serial killers that I have with this man." Robert proceeded to tell his family what the man had said, and what he had promised should Robert not return.

"Oh honey, don't be absurd," Irene said with a hesitant laugh. "You almost had us fooled until that last part."

"I'm telling you that this was all real! I went into the house, I ate the food, and I slept in the bed! Look at this flower! This is real!" Robert insisted. He looked to Sarah, who was running her fingers lightly along the silky petals of the rose. "Sarah! You believe me, don't you?" Sarah was always reading some fairy tale novel or another; she was the one who told Toby fantastic tales of fairies and princesses who were rescued by dashing princes and whatnot.

"I don't doubt for a second that you stumbled into a fairy realm, dad," Sarah said carefully. Her eyes never left the flower in front of her. Irene snorted derisively.

"Come on, Sarah. You're too old to believe in that stuff anymore," she told her step-daughter.

Sarah ignored Irene and looked to her father. "Dad, if you don't go back there, then I'm afraid of what this guy might do to you. Being dropped into an oubliette might be the least of your problems."

"You're right. I can't have this guy show up on our doorstep and start threatening my family. I have to go back there," Robert said.

"Robert!" Irene exclaimed. "You can't be serious! I don't care to delve into the reasons why you had some… hallucination, but I won't have you just run off and abandon your family like that!"

"And if some psychotic man shows up at our house and starts threatening me? What if he starts threatening you three?"

Irene opened her mouth to respond, but Sarah started to talk first. "No, dad. Irene's right; you can't just up and leave like that. What about Toby? You can't expect for him to grow up without his father." She gave her father a stern glare from across the table.

"We'll just call the pol-" Irene started, but Sarah interrupted her.

"Which is why I'll go and take your place."

"Sarah, you can't!" Robert protested loudly.

"I won't allow you to go off like that either, young lady!" Irene exclaimed.

"You're the glue that's held this family together this past year," Robert went on.

"Dad, even though your meeting with Mr. Loughlin didn't go exactly as you'd hoped, there is still a slight chance that he will rehire you. And you've got to be here for Irene and Toby. I… I'll be okay. I've… I've had some first-had experience with Fae before."

"What?" Irene whispered. "Sarah? What are you talking about?"

"The Goblin King," Toby whispered. All eyes were on the young boy. "I remember. I thought that it was just a dream that I'd had, brought on by the stories that you tell me, Sarah. But… was all real, wasn't it?" He looked to his older sister with wide, blue eyes that, despite the fact that he was only 5 years old, his eyes looked like they had seen too much.

"Yes," Sarah said simply, and offered no further information. Toby nodded, as if it answered a lot of things. Irene looked between her son and step-daughter with a look that was half aghast, half confused. Robert simply just looked depressed. Finally, "Look, I'm not going to tell you what happened, but only tell you that I was fifteen and I was a bratty child who was more than angry with you and dad. And I took that anger out on Toby, which wasn't fair to him. But, everything worked out in the end, so it doesn't matter. And I'm going to go to this man and take your place, dad. There will be no further discussion over this." She abruptly stood and left the room.

The family was quiet for the rest of the day. Irene was both irritated and confused by what Sarah had said, although she quickly found out that Toby didn't have much to say about what had happened to him because he didn't remember it. Which was to be expected, considering the fact that he'd been one when Sarah had been fifteen.

After a tense, silent, and quick dinner, Sarah came out to the living room with a suitcase. "Sarah, no," Irene protested, but she didn't have the energy to try and fight this. It was apparent that Sarah had made up her mind, and when she did that, nothing in the world could change her mind.

"Listen, Irene," Robert whispered gently to his wife. "I don't think that we're going to be able to find this place again. And even if we do manage to, I don't think that he would seriously hurt Sarah. Especially since, not only would she be taking my place, but she's also going to him of her own free will." Irene gave him a dry look, pressed her lips together, but refrained from saying anything.

She gave Sarah a long hug, and then gave one to Robert, too. Sarah bent over and tightly wrapped her arms around Toby. "Be safe, and take care of dad and your mom, okay?" she whispered in his ear.

"Alright. I love you," the young boy whispered.

"I love you, too." Sarah stood, grabbed her bag, and walked out to her father's car; Robert followed after her.

"Erm…" Robert said, and then gave an awkward cough. "I don't know if you overheard what I said to Irene, but I'm not sure if we're going to be able to find this place. It was so close to here when I left this morning, but I'd never even seen it before."

"Trust me when I say this dad: when you're wanted by the Fae, they have a way of finding you."

As soon as they turned the corner away from their block, they were set upon by a thick fog, not unlike the one that Robert had driven through the night before. Sarah gave her father a pointed look as if to say "See? Told you so."

After a few minutes of crawling along the streets in the dense fog, the car went off road, and they soon came to the same golden gate from before. "I think that we should walk the rest of the way," Robert said as he parked the car and turned the engine off. Sarah silently agreed, and opened the back door of the car to retrieve her suitcase before she followed her dad up to the gate.

As they approached, the gate swung open, and they proceeded to walk up the long path that lead up to the house. "Is it my imagination, or is the fog getting thinner?" Robert asked after they'd been walking in silence for several minutes.

"I think it is," Sarah agreed. "Look over there; some lights." Robert looked to where she was pointing and had to agree that there were several balls of light from the direction that they were headed. Robert had been too focused on trying not to hit anything in the fog that he hadn't paid much attention to the direction of the house.

By the time that they reached the front steps, the fog was almost completely gone, and Robert looked back over his shoulder; he could clearly see the car on the other side of the now-closed gate, maybe a mile or so back.

Sarah bravely strode up to the door and, like the gate, it opened as she approached it. "Hello?" she called out in a clear voice as she stepped inside. Robert winced a little as her overly-loud voice echoed throughout the empty room.

"Mr. Williams," said a soft voice from the shadows. The voice seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere at the same time. "I was not expecting for you to bring Sarah."

"I don't know why you're so angry about a single flower, but there's no way that I'm going to let you kidnap my father," Sarah said sternly. She stopped in the middle of the front hall and looked around as she tried to locate where the man might be.

"Ah, so you've decided to take daddy dearest's place here, have you?"

"Yes, I have," Sarah said as she spun around on the spot.

"Very well then." He sounded overly bored. "I'll give you two minutes to say your goodbyes." Robert hurried to Sarah's side.

"Are you sure that this is what you want?"

"I'll be fine, dad," Sarah told him in a whispered voice, although she wasn't even certain if she even believed herself. "You have to go and get your job back. Take care of Irene and Toby. Maybe some day, I'll be able to see you again." Robert hugged his daughter tightly, almost as if he wasn't going to let her go.

A cold blast of air blew through the hall, and Sarah pulled away from her father. "I think that that's your cue to leave."

"Alright. Be careful, Sarah. I love you."

"I love you too, dad."

Robert turned and started to walk over to the front door, but he kept turning around to look back at Sarah, who hadn't moved from where she stood in the middle of the hall. As soon as Robert walked out through the doors, they closed behind him with a massive thud, and Sarah was surrounded in darkness.

A warm and inviting light flared to life at the top of the grand staircase. Sarah gripped the handle on her suitcase tighter and slowly started to make her way up to where the light was. The stairs groaned and protested as she went, but they seemed sturdy enough. Once at the top, the light appeared on the right, bobbing and weaving as if it was being held by a drunkard.

"Hey, wait," Sarah called as she hurried to catch up to the light that was quickly vanishing down a hall. She ran past the bannisters that overlooked the front hall, and went into a darkened hallway.

The light briefly vanished before the hallway was lit with a very bright light as it spilled out from a room. Sarah went into the room and found that it wasn't just a bedroom, but a complete suite. There was a small sitting room, furnished with a red fainting sofa, a large and overly ornate writing desk. The sitting room was slightly separated from the bedroom by a half-wall, which was furnished with a very large and plush looking four-poster bed that had red velvet drapes and red velvet blankets.

As she stepped further into the bedroom area, she saw a wardrobe that matched the writing desk, and a beautiful screen panel, that hid a claw-footed bathtub in the corner.

"My dearest Sarah," said a voice from behind her that made her jump. She whirled around, and dropped her suitcase by her feet.

"You!" she hissed. "I can't believe that you'd stoop so low as to threaten my father in order to get at me again!"

Jareth simply chuckled. "I don't know what you're talking about, precious."

Sarah crossed her arms over her chest with annoyance. "You know perfectly well what I'm talking about."

"Do you like the room that I've prepared for you?"

"I'm not staying here," Sarah said coldly.

"Oh, I don't think that you'll have any choice in the matter, precious," Jareth said. He then vanished, and the door slammed shut.

"Dammit, Jareth!" Sarah swore. She jumped over to her bag and ran to the door; she tried to open it but it was locked. "Let! Me! Out!" She punctuated each word by pounding her fist onto the door.

After several minutes of this, it was obvious that he was not going to let her out of the room. She slid to the floor and started to cry with her face pressed against the rough surface of the wooden door.

Jareth watched Sarah carefully from the second that he left her quarters via a crystal. After a while, her heavy sobbing stopped, and and then he transported himself into her room. He stood over the sleeping girl for a while and just observed her. But then he bent over and gently picked the girl up and walked over to her bed, where the blankets turned down before Jareth was halfway there.

As he settled her onto the bed, she half-turned and mumbled something incoherent. "Sleep," Jareth whispered as he brushed a gloved hand over her forehead gently. Sarah's breathing evened out again as she fell back into a deeper sleep.