A/N:

I have never written anything for the Labyrinth fandom before, in fact I was never really a part of the fandom. I just took an interest in it yesterday while watching Labyrinth in honor of David Bowie!

I hope I can write a satisfying story, I simply wasn't satisfied with what the movie gave us (as I'm sure we all feel). Gawd Jareth is hot...

Anyhow, tell me what you think and I hope you can enjoy it!

-Liliedove

Sarah Williams lightly dabbed her cheeks with a champagne powder brush. Replacing it with a wand mascara, she leaned forward over the sink counter, cursing only a second later when water began stretching across the bodice of her floral dress. A knock came at the door.

"Sarah? Are you almost done in there?"

It was Terry. Sighing in frustration, she looked at the door. "Just another minute!"

"You better hurry up, Jeremy and Todd are going to leave us behind!" Terry said in an agitated tone.

Glancing up at the mirror while shuffling through the bag, she pulled out a stick of pink matte lipstick. "I told you, just another minute!" Tracing the edges of her lips before rubbing then together lightly, she tucked a stray strand of permed hair behind her ear. Terry glared at her with her arms crossed as Sarah opened the women's room door. "See? Don't be so impatient," Sarah said as she stuffed her makeup bag into her small shoulder purse.

Terry began taking the school hall in strides while Sarah attempted to keep up behind her in pumps. "Look, this is our last school event before graduating! I don't want to miss the whole thing while you gawk at yourself in the mirror!"

"I do not gawk at myself!" Sarah snapped.

"Sure you don't. Just like you don't talk to those imaginary creatures of yours. Trolls were they?"

"Goblins, not trolls. But I haven't had anything to do with that since freshman year!" Sarah said defiantly.

"Whatever you say, Sarah." Terry sighed. "Let's just get out to the parking lot. Jeremy is driving his dad's car tonight."

The sour spirit between the two quickly disappeared as soon as the boys pulled around the corner in a bright red four-door sedan. With Terry sitting in the passenger seat beside Jeremy, Sarah slid next to Todd in the back. Giggling all the way to the Grand Henderson Hotel, the street lights began turning on one by one. Students were already filtering through the large arching doors by the time they had parked and pulled out their tickets.

"You see?" Sarah said smugly. "If we had been here sooner, we'd have had to wait in line to get in."

"Yeah but there probably won't be any empty tables left now." Terry grumbled.

"Ladies, ladies!" Todd said with a smile. "Let's enjoy our night, shall we?"

When they entered the ball room, the sound of chatter filled their ears. To hear one another, one would have to lean in closely. Sitting at a table in the back corner, the boys left them to go to the drink table. "Terry," Sarah said once they were out of ear shot.

"What?"

"Don't you think they cleaned up well?" She said with a raised brow.

Terry blushed when she looked at Jeremy's back. "Yes, they did."

"Do you think he'll kiss you?"

Terry's blonde mass of hair swooshed around her face as she quickly looked at Sarah in horror. "Shh!" She pleaded. "Don't say such embarrassing things!"

"Oh, c'mon! I see the way he looks at you! I can promise you one thing, he'll do it before the last dance. Or perhaps during the last dance, that would be the most romantic."

"Jeremy and I haven't known each other very long." She said as she played with her frizzed bangs. "If anyone is going to be kissed, it's going to be you, not me."

"ME?" Sarah said in shock. "Do you really think so?"

"Oh please! I'm surprised it hasn't happened yet." Terry said with a swat of her hand. "Haven't you two been seeing each other since last summer vacation? It's almost been a year, hasn't it?"

"Todd is just very modest. He wants the moment to be right. You never know, maybe he's waiting until marriage." Sarah said as a matter of fact. "I'm sure it'll happen someday. He does hold my hand, you know!"

Terry rolled her eyes. "Well, with that mentality maybe he'll even propose to you. He's going away to university, isn't he? It'll be an awful distance between you. If the Senior Spring Ball isn't the right moment, I don't think there ever will be one." As Sarah opened her mouth to retort, the boys returned to the table with glasses of punch.

The evening went by quickly, filled with fancy foods and fumbled dancing. As the end of the night neared, the couples split off to their own corners. Sarah led Todd by the hand out to the terrace overlooking a beautifully lit fountain. "Tonight has been so much fun!" She exclaimed.

"Yeah, it's... it's been interesting." Todd said with smile and a slight nod.

Sarah turned back from leaning on the railing. "What's wrong?" She said with a frown.

Tod shrugged his shoulders as he put his hands in his pockets. "Nothing! Why would you think something's wrong?"

Sarah drew closer to him, wrapping her hands around his arm. "Well, you just don't seem excited."

"I'm just a bit tired is all." He said as he looked at the fountain.

"Oh, well... Okay."

What Terry had said earlier played over in Sarah's mind. She looked up at Todd's handsome face. She couldn't believe that they had been together for nearly a year. Her eyes then traveled down to his lips. She bit her lower lip, then dropping her gaze. It was silent between them for a while. She rested her head on his shoulder as he sighed, then looking up at his lips again. It was about time, wasn't it?

Todd glanced at her. "What?"

"You're quite shy, aren't you?" She said with a coy smile.

He laughed with a raised eyebrow. "Shy? What do you mean by that?"

"You know!" She said with a slap to his shoulder.

He shrugged back. "What was that for?"

Sarah rolled her eyes. "You really are clueless, aren't you?" Sighing, she then looked deep into his eyes. "Well, now a days I suppose women can be the one's to initiate too." Leaning up on her tippy toes, she closed her eyes right before she reached his lips. But her lips met with nothing, and when she opened her eyes she was greeted with Todd's alarmed expression as he stepped back. Pursing her lips, Sarah's face contorted. "Why won't you kiss me!"

"Why should I?"

"Why should you?" Sarah gasped in disbelief. "Todd Walker! We've been dating for nearly a year!"

Todd took a couple steps away, pulling at locks of his hair at the nap of his neck. "I don't see what that has to do with it. It's my decision, isn't it?"

Sarah's face and neck became beat red as she turned away. "I suppose I assumed things then." Her emotions rushed at her like a raging river, tears involuntarily bursting through the seams of her eyes. She quickly wiped them, refusing to look back at Todd. She wanted nothing more than to go home that very instant.

Todd softened his voice. "Look, I'm sorry Sarah. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."

"'I'm going back to the ball room. Maybe Terry and Jeremy came back." Without waiting for a response, she rushed back into the hotel, her hands going up to wipe her eyes again. "I will not cry!" She said under her breath.

The table was empty when she returned. Throwing her hands up, she turned to see that Todd was shortly behind her. She sat in her seat, taking her purse in her lap. Todd hesitantly sat down beside her, not saying a word. As the minutes slowly ticked by, Todd got up and went up to the buffet table.

"This night is a disaster." Sarah murmured to herself as she glanced at him.

Terry and Jeremy soon returned, smiling broadly towards one another. "Sarah! Where'd Todd go?"

Sarah looked at her shoes. "He's getting more food."

Terry and Jeremy began talking about rugby, a sport Sarah didn't take much of a liking to. After tapping her foot and fiddling with the zipper of her purse for what seemed to be an eternity, she finally couldn't take it anymore and stood. "Where are you going?"Terry asked

"I'm sorry, I'm not feeling well." Sarah said. "I think I'm going to go home now."

"Now? All by yourself? But it's dark out already!" Terry exclaimed.

"I'll be fine, my house is only a few minutes away from here. I'll see you at school on Monday."

"Sarah!" Terry called after her as she quickly left the room without looking back.

Throwing off her pumps as she entered the parking lot, she picked them up by the stem as she began to run towards home. The porch light was lit for her, and as she went through the door she ran into her step-mother.

"You're home earlier than I thought!" She exclaimed. Sarah walked past her without a word, fearing that the tears she had been holding back would come pouring out the moment she said anything. "Well? How was it, did you have fun? Sarah?"

"Not now." She moaned as she climbed the stairs up to her room. As soon a she closed the door, she threw herself on her bed and began to sob. There was a knock on the door.

"Sarah? Are you alright?" Came her step-mother's concerned voice.

"I'm fine, I just need some time alone." She said in as normal a voice she could muster. With her head filled with mucus, it must not have been too convincing, but her mother decided to let her be.

As soon as she knew she was alone again, Sarah cradled a pillow in her arms as she buried her face in it. Why did Todd reject her? Did he secretly hate her? The more she thought about it, the more confused and upset she became.

"Sarah? Why are you crying?" A small voice said from outside her door. The handle turned, and in came her little brother.

"Toby, what did I say about knocking?" She scolded.

Toby walked up to the side of the bed silently, then climbing up next to her. "Mom told Dad that you were crying. Why are you crying? Did you get a cut?"

Sarah clenched her teeth. "Why can't she just mind her own business!" She growled. She then let out a deep sigh, wiping the tears away. "You see Toby? I'm not crying. I'm okay now. Why don't you go play with your toys?"

"Will you play with me?" He asked.

She shook her head. "Not now, Toby. I just need to rest. I'm tired."

"Oh, okay." Toby said as he slid off the side of the bed. He then ran out of the room. Standing, Sarah went over to the door and closed it. She could never get any privacy, could she? Walking over to her vanity, she sat heavily and gazed at her swollen eyes and nose. It was times like these that she wished she could call on them. But she couldn't.

She gave them up when she decided it was time to grow up. No more Labyrinth. Everyone had told her that she was too entirely immersed in her fantasies, and after her trip to the Labyrinth three years ago she realized that she needed to get a grip on her life. Her real life. No more taking things for granted.

She sniffled, rubbing her nose against her wrist before resting her head on her hand. She had thought things were going great. She was getting good grades in school, she had a boyfriend, and she was about to graduate. She was becoming an adult! But now this! What was going to happen between her and Todd now?

She felt empty and alone. Who could she talk to? Terry was still at the hotel, and the friends that didn't go to the ball would already be asleep and it would be rude to ring them. She tapped her forehead against the vanity.

"Wouldn't it be nice just to talk to you guys again? Just for once? Maybe you've forgotten about me. I wouldn't blame you." She said quietly. It had been so long since she had called them by name, that it took her a few moments to remember them right. "There are Sir Didymus, and his faithful steed Ambrosius, and Ludo! Oh Ludo, I could use a hug from you right now! And then there was silly old Hoggle." She closed her sore eyes, soon beginning to doze off.

"Sarah, Sarah! Sarah! Wake up!"

Sarah sat up startled, looking around in confusion as she tried determining who was calling her. "Who's there? Hello?"

"Over here!" She looked in her mirror. Standing beside her bed was a short, ugly little creature with a leathery face and cheap jewelry hanging from every loop in his clothing.

Sarah quickly turned to see him with her own eyes. "Hoggle! Is that really you? Oh Hoggle!" She cried, running to hug him. The creature struggled for a moment, murmuring that he didn't like touching reunions or any touching at all, but eventually he gave in to her cradling. "Oh Hoggle! It's awful! I'm hurting so badly right now!"

"Well that's unfortunate, but you aren't the only one hurting."

"Todd refused my kiss!"

"Oh, well then I suppose he doesn't like touching either... Ah! But Sarah I cannot forget! Sarah we need your help!" He said as he squirmed out of her tight grasp.

Sarah wiped a stray tear from her face. "What do you mean, you need my help?"

"I mean that we need your help! The Labyrinth! It's in trouble!" He said with arms wide. Sarah frowned as he continued. "It's the reason why no one has been able to come when you've called!"

"I don't know what you mean." She hadn't remembered trying to call them over the past two years she swore she wouldn't.

"The Goblin King! He disappeared! And now, now everything is changing! It's horrid! Sarah, only you can save us!" He pulled a round object out of his pocket. "I've been trying to contact you with one of this Majesty's last crystal balls, and it took until now for it to actually work. It has already been so long, we need to hurry, or it may be too late!"

"I don't understand Hoggle, what's changing? Why did that King disappear?"

Hoggle shook his head. "It's too much to explain, you would never understand. Just come with me." Grabbing her hand, he placed it on top of the ball. In a blink of an eye, they were suddenly in a place long lost in Sarah's memories: the Goblin King's Castle.

They stood before an empty throne covered in a white film of dust. Webs were strewn over every corner. "This place... I remember it now. Yes! The castle! Why is empty?"

"Hmm? Oh yes, yes it has been for a long time now. Not many people can get this far into the Labyrinth anymore. It's dangerous out there!"

Sarah tilted her head. "I thought it was always dangerous."

Hoggles eyes grew wide for a moment before a patronizing expression came over his face. He huffed. "You thought it was dangerous then? That was child's play! Now that his Majesty is gone, there's no order! No laws! No direction! And the miasma, it's getting everywhere! The castle is the only place now that it cannot penetrate!"

Sarah noticed the sound of a deep rumbling coming from a distance. She slowly approached the King's over looking window where the rumblings grew louder. Placing her hands on the wide ledge, she gasped, leaning closer. The Labyrinth was covered in a thick, dark smog all the way up to the walls of the Goblin City. The walls were contorting, shifting, switching, continuously with no rest. With each movement, a puff of the dark matter rose high into the air, then spreading.

"So Ludo, and the others... They're out there? In... In that, smoke is it?" She whispered.

"I'm afraid so." He said as he took off his cap. "Not many can find their way out of the miasma at this point. It was just my luck that I made it here."

"Where's the King?" She asked.

"How should I know!" Hoggle scoffed. "That's what I brought you here for, isn't it?"

Sarah turned with a frown. "Me? How could I find the King if you can't?"

"Because the King doesn't want to be found. So only you can find him, isn't that obvious?"

"Why do you think that? ...Because he loved me? But that was so long ago! How do you know I can find him? ...I'm not even sure if I want to see him again." She added.

"Trust me," Hoggle said as he placed his hat back on his head while walking away. "Just shout about this boyfriend of yours, and I'm sure he'll show up in no time at all. Now Come on! We don't have all day! You haven't seen the half of it!"