Third Time Lucky
by JR Godwin
Rating: M
Disclaimer: I don't own Labyrinth and I'm making no money off of this.

1.

When Sarah saw him again, she was struck by how short he was. But no, she'd grown taller. Jareth waited for her on the path to the dorms, dressed in a demure suit, a stark oddity to the college students who flowed around him in confusion, the way a boulder parts the river.

"You!" Sarah hissed. "You have no power over me!"

"I recall asking to be your slave, not the inverse." His smile unfurled across his face and stretched like a cat. "You never forbade my own servitude. I obey the letter of the law, dearest, if not the spirit."

Son of a ...

The man was too damn smart for his own good. If he was a man. Which Sarah had decided long ago that he wasn't, no matter that he overwhelmed a room with pheromones. She'd been painfully young then, and hadn't understood the full extent of what he'd wanted. Now she was 18, and his desire back then was so obvious. Hindsight left her feeling stupid.

How was I supposed to know? she thought furiously. He kidnapped my brother. I was fourteen!

Sarah also saw for the first time how out of place he was. The world felt solid and made sense, from the backpack pulling at her shoulders to the kids throwing frisbee nearby on the green. It felt like a well oiled machine where all the pieces fit seamlessly together.

In contrast, Jareth didn't make sense at all. Although he looked real, and students walked around him grumbling, Sarah got the impression he might vanish into the wind at a moment's notice, as if this reality couldn't keep a solid grip on him. His teeth were too long, and his gaze resembled mismatched buttons pulled from a drawer more than eyes, and his body was as crooked as his smile.

That smile deepened as she stared at him, dumbfounded by his admission. "Cat got your tongue?" he asked, and he started to reach for her on reflex but then clearly thought better of it.

"I don't want a Goblin King as a pet," she spat. "Go home, Jareth."

He scoffed. "I said servitude, Sarah, not domesticity. But I'm not surprised you don't know the difference."

She looked at him then, really looked, which surprised the both of them. She supposed Jareth had expected her to argue, or perhaps even beg. Instead she said, "I won Toby back and defeated you, Goblin King. You have no place here. Go home. Your home, in the Labyrinth, just so we're clear."

She was surprised at how calm she sounded, and how unafraid she felt. She knew who she was, and he couldn't change that.

"Shame," Jareth murmured. He looked like a dog denied a ball, and then he was gone.

To be continued