[A/N at end of chapter.]

Chapter 6:

Memory

"Ah, Jareth, Sarah. So good to see you again."

Waking suddenly, Sarah could feel her heart pound heavily in her chest as she looked around the dimly lit outlines of her bedroom within her apartment, she sat up in a way that almost certainly had caused the head-rush she was feeling. Taking deep, ragged breaths, she looked around and fumbled with one hand to reach towards her bedside table lamp and to click the small switch into the 'on' position- an action that she immediately regretted as the light nearly blinded her still drowsy eyes and sent her already anxious heart into overdrive.

Looking around, she tried desperately to gather her thoughts and to steady her own breathing, forcing herself to take a steady intake of in- then out.

But how had she gotten here? She felt a strange sense of deja-vu, now twice waking in a bed she had no memory of having fallen asleep in. But this seemed almost…. Like it made more sense overall. How much of what had happened had been true? Had she drunk any wine last night that could've caused this sort of lapse of strange dreams taking over reality? She wasn't sure.

Glancing around, she was glad to have not accidentally have knocked the little clock radio from her bedside table in her fumbling to reach her lamp, and the bright red light of the numbers told her that it was about 4:52 am, which explained why it was so terribly dark here and yet just barely visible. Having finally settled, she wondered what there was to do, leaning back against the headboard of her bed and looking into the dark corners of the room, daring for something to jump out of the shadows next to her dresser. As she stood up, deciding she wouldn't get any more sleep, she caught the standing mirror in the corner just right to meet the illusion of a lens flare and to see herself, a mess of hair and drowsy appearance.

"Run, Sarah!" He was already casting a greater light spell in the direction of the hooded figure even as they began to cast and the hood fell backwards, revealing something more terrifying than Sarah ever could have been prepared for.

"-But why- what is going on!" She begged, eyes wide as she tried to cast a spell to assist him.

"I can't explain it to you if you're dead!" Jareth replied as he pushed her backwards, back towards the safety of the Labyrinth, and causing her to stumble slightly-

Wavering, Sarah put a hand out for the support of the wall, steadying herself.

This was not normal.

"Why can't I remember the face?" She asked aloud, flipping on the light switch of the room and opening the door into the remainder of her apartment. "How the hell did I even get here? If it wasn't a dream…" Why she was speaking out loud, she wouldn't have been able to explain. She needed to know if it were a dream.

And that was when she realized- the Crystal. Surely that had been real?

"Go! I won't tell you again-" The darkness was growing behind him. He couldn't afford to keep his eyes on her, and for a brief second she wondered what made him care.

Her living room was much as she had left it before. Opened David Bowie poster, half eaten Chinese food, mysterious journal, suitcase three quarters unpacked. Sitting on the couch, she rifled through the few toiletries that she had left in it, feeling through for something smooth and round- a ha! Her hand grasped the cold shape of the solid glass sphere, altogether heavier and lighter than she expected. Now.

Why had she been searching for this again?

The longer that Sarah was awake, the more and more that her memories faded, and she closed her eyes for a brief moment, trying to remember what she had been experiencing before waking up.

The fear in his eyes told more than words ever could have, and shaking her head, Sarah ran.

"Crystal. Keeper of dreams." Sarah said with uncertainty, before reaffirming herself. She tried again, tried really believing this time. "Crystal. Please. Show me my dreams."

But that was not the way of the magic the sphere possessed.

And Sarah saw herself, perhaps as she was but only a year ago, in the Labyrinth in a way that she had not expected. Her hair was a bit shorter then, cut to her jawline- a style she ended up not caring for and quite happily had grown out again. But this Sarah was clearly her past. As the present consciousness that was Sarah settled into understanding the terms of reality, she let herself relive what was most certainly the memory of many dreams...

The nights of the Labyrinth were soft with a warmth like the early summers of her childhood home, the skies a soft and fading deep orange like a never ending sunset. She knew it was a dream, but she did not care, because here she was, in the very place that had been plaguing her thoughts for years upon years. A smile danced across her face in a way that it hadn't in several months- she had finally returned here, and she hadn't even had to wish away anyone to do it.

But still, she was smart enough to know this wasn't her fullest self, that this were a dream. But the subconscious mind of the young woman didn't bother with such silly details. "I wish I were wearing something more appropriate." She had said, looking down at her nightshirt and pajama pants. And suddenly it was- she was in a black long-sleeved blouse, long flowing and layered purple skirt, boots, and a shawl of deep emerald green wrapped around her shoulders in a way that made her grin, short hair just a bit wilder than before. Without hesitation, she walked directly into the Labyrinth, the old illusions no longer confusing her.

Sarah frowned, viewing the image of herself in the glass sphere. She could not remember ever having dreamed such a thing, wanting to set it down. Refocusing, she tried to keep herself on track. "Alright. But was I there?"

She watched her dream self travel through the Labyrinth, meeting old friends with gracious embraces and nearly crying in joy at seeing them alive and well, not under the constraints of any such test. Together, they moved quickly to the Goblin City and the Castle at the center, where she was met with much happiness by all. Now though, from her outsider perspective, she settled her eyes on Sir Avian, who looked uncertain. Who looked to the sky and whispered something, giving the present version of her a strange sense of confusion as it seemed he stared directly at her from her vantage point.

It all seemed quite similar. The dream Sarah was given explanations as to how she had found her way back. She met Jareth with a smile and the promise of forgiveness, she was given her role as the Believer easily, she started her training immediately with the understanding that one day she would play a key part in the survival of the Labyrinth. She learned quickly and became quite brilliant, and it was obvious that every night this dream Sarah slept, the real version of herself had been living entirely unaware.

Sarah- the real, present Sarah, could feel her stomach begin to twist in knots as she remembered the barest, occasional memories of dreams from months prior, and she watched for what felt like hours, suddenly wishing she had used a dream journal.

In fact, had she not bought a journal for that express purpose? Her eyes trailed to the table and there it was, the journal she hadn't recognized before but now was so clearly one she herself had bought to detail her own dreams of the Labyrinth. She nearly dropped the crystal as she realized, and gently setting it on the table the images of this other life she secretly had passed by in images and feelings, lessened by her not holding it but nevertheless still present. She picked up the journal and began to flip through it- and realized that it had a few pages torn out from the beginning, though she had not touched her own inscription on the cover- "Sarah's Dream Journal - Started June '93". In the first few pages she had loosely recounted a few days worth of dreaming, just the barest outline. The last before the torn pages, she felt her heart sink more than she had thought possible. I can't do this anymore. I have begun to feel like I have lost a part of myself to my own dreams, and I keep myself awake so I will not wake up here anymore. Going back and forth is too painful to focus on such dreams, not when real life is waiting.

Her past self had realized that she wasn't functioning. Sarah now remembered it as a short few weeks where she barely got out of bed, and was able to get away with it at the time because of the nature of her job, her life. Her best friend had shown up at her door for an intervention, and yet all that while she just wanted to sleep.

Looking back to the crystal, Sarah picked it up again and was overwhelmed by a multitude of feelings. Of love, of sadness. The dream Sarah had become their own person, had begun to search desperately for love. And had found it unwittingly in Jareth it seemed.

The fear in his eyes told more than words ever could have-

But there was more to it, another feeling there.

One of darkness.

She didn't need to watch it anymore.

"Ah, Jareth, Sarah. So good to see you again."

The face behind the hooded figure had been her own.

[A/N Hi, everyone. Well, it's been pretty much exactly 2 years since I last updated, and to be totally honest, I don't have an excuse. This chapter is a bit shorter, but seeing as I haven't written on this story for so long, I'm surprised its even as long as it is.

I lost my way in this plot for a long time, and I can assure you that the original intentions of how this story ends have changed. When trying to write this chapter two years ago, I showed it to a friend, and she told me that my last idea was too predictable.

"Who cares?" I had replied. But it turns out that I did. But tonight, at 2:24 am, I wrote this chapter in an hour and a half. And honestly? I feel happy to have written anything at all.

Goodnight, lovelies. I will not make promises that there will be a chapter soon. But I will try. - M/B]