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A quiet clanking resounded in the house as the crystal orb she'd set on a stand for Christmas, and left up, fell yet again and bounced, rolling across the floor for the third time that day. This had been going on for weeks, since she'd brought it home, but it'd become more frequent as time had passed.

"You'd think that he'd possessed you," she sighed, scooping the orb up again, careful to avoid even thinking HIS name. Ever since that fateful day running the Labyrinth, she'd not dared to whisper his name and tried not to ever think of him, not that she had really been all that successful in that endeavour.

Her small cottage was all she needed now, well that and her computer. The intervening decade had been great for her, especially once she realized she could move on and live her own life the way she wanted. The vanity she'd sat at and talked with her friends through had stayed at her father's when she moved out... at least until the week previously it had.

"Irene wants to turn your old room in to an office, Sarah. She asked me to bring this by," her father had said.

The book had still lain in the drawer, just as it had since the time she'd returned home, a decade ago, Toby safely with her. They hadn't even bothered to check if there was anything in it, just packed it in to a truck with a few boxes of her other belongings and brought it down. She'd set the vanity in the living room and covered it with a sheet that very night. She'd not spoken to her friends in seven years, not since she had left for university, at least not really. They'd talked briefly when she would visit home, but nothing like the first three years, when Didymus, Hoggle and Ludo saw her through terrible breakups and the typicality of high school drama. When she'd found the book in the drawer, she had decided that maybe, just maybe it had been punished enough hiding away, a thought she thought laughable, and put it on the bookcase in her bedroom, next to some of her favourite books.

Sarah had covered the vanity because she wasn't sure what to say about the last three years of absolutely no contact. Sure, she had heartachingly missed her friends, but she wasn't sure she was ready to face him again, or the idea of him for that matter.

Crossing the room to the kitchen, she could hear the soft thud of fabric falling and landing on itself. That was the problem with magical items… minds of their own. Peeking out, she could see the heavy tablecloth she'd used to cover the vanity on the floor, and the Labyrinth shimmering to life behind it in the mirror.

Sighing, she put the kettle on her little stove and grabbed a tea bag from the box, opening it and dropping it into the mug she had waiting on the counter. While she waited for the whistle, she hid from the mirror's view in the tiny kitchen, instead of bustling about the house doing little jobs like she normally would.

"Sawah? SAWAH?" she could hear Ludo crying mournfully from the mirror.

Paralyzed with indecision, she peered around the corner, not letting the people standing in the mirror catch view of her. She could see Ludo and Sir Didymus looking out into her living room.

"I say, my Lady, are thoust there?"

Sarah leaned back against the counter and turned the near-whistling kettle off, sighing. Her hands were trembling as she poured the water over the bag of Earl Grey tea, staring at the water slowly becoming darker and darker. Finally, the yelling in the mirror became too much, Ludo was causing a ruckus in frustration, Didymus was politely yelling, as though there was any other way he COULD speak but politely. She pitched the teabag, dropped in a few sugar cubes and a splash of cream, before stepping back in to the living room. In the mirror, Ludo and Sir Didymus's faces lit in joy.

"My Lady! We had feared the worst! You were gone so long…"

"About that… it's not that. Well. Firstly, I didn't move back to my dad's after university, and secondly, I've been… trying to…" she whispered looking sadly at the mirror, before turning away, trying not to break her friend's hearts if she did start crying.

"Trying to what, my Lady?"

"Trying to decide if the risk of HIM finally finding me again was worth it," Sarah sighed again, as she was constantly doing anymore, as she sank into a plush overstuffed chair that sat across from the vanity mirror her friends stood in.

"Sawah fwiend!" Ludo cried mournfully again, sensing her hurt.

"I love you too Ludo. I just… odd things have been happening. I found this great crystal ball at a Christmas shoppe, with a lovely little pedestal, and it's like it has a mind of its own. Bouncing all over the place like his did. You know how much care I went to to make sure he didn't know when we were all talking."

A concerned look crossed over Didymus's face. "But you are alright my Lady?"

Sarah smiled a little at his concern. "Yes, Sir Didymus, I am alright. Just didn't go home after I finished my degree, moved a couple of hours away and took a great job. Like really great. Mom would be proud, if she'd ever take five minutes from being the great Lynda Williams on Broadway… Hey. Where's Hoggle? You never show up without him."

"Ah, well my Lady, there is a new runner in the Labyrinth, he wished away his young daughter in a fit of frustration. Well. It's a pair of runners actually. An oddly unprecedented situation. The mother was there too, they both tried to stop His Majesty."

"At least that means he won't show up here," Sarah chirped cheerfully.

"Things have been different since you left my Lady. He's tried to be less harsh. Rare still is the actual completion of the Labyrinth, however. You still hold that distinction."

"Thirteen hours isn't exactly a long time to finish that, you know," Sarah's voice was starting to echo the whines and protestations of a decade previous.

"My lady, you do know that tomorrow marks ten years exactly since you defeated His Majesty and safely returned your brother to your parents."

"Yes, Didymus, I do," her voice was a whisper as she held the mug of tea closer to her face to sip. Staring semi-dreamily past her friends, she could make out the Castle beyond the Goblin City in the background, and couldn't help her thoughts from floating back to Jareth himself, wondering how he actually was. Shaking her head to clear the cobwebs and stop the train of thought, she looked back at her friends.

"Hey guys, I have some more work to finish tonight, say we meet tomorrow, with Hoggle, of course, and celebrate my defeat of the Labyrinth, like we used to?"

"Of course my Lady! We shall tell him when this challenge is over."

"Perfect. How much time to they have?"

"Ten and a half hours."

"They're not going to make it. Have they even made it past the outer wall?"

"No, my Lady."

"Right, well. Tomorrow."

"Of course, my Lady."

"Bye Sawah-fwiend!" Ludo grumbled, happy that Sarah was back.

The Labyrinth shimmered from her view. It was too bad for that couple she thought, but they had made a rash decision about their child. She had done the same, all those years ago, and did come perilously near to failing and losing Toby forever, just by proxy of her being an impetuous and contrary teenager. Arguing with the Goblin King and losing hours didn't help her cause at that time.

"Well, Sar, it looks like you're back for a bit," she whispered to herself. The crystal on her fireplace mantle clouded briefly and cleared, all without her noticing, she'd already turned away from it and headed back into her home office.

Back in his castle, Jareth was loosely draped over his throne, a spattering of crystal orbs floating and showing various things from around the Underground. The pair of runners, a true rarity, were no closer to breaking past the outer ring. The Labyrinth had judged them instantly, and found they should not recover their lost child, and was routing them in circles. The young girl would be better off in the care of the denizens of the underground. A small wave of his hand shifted the crystals around, and one with the rock caller and the knight from the Bog talking to a mirror became the forefront one. He sat up slightly, his eyebrows arched, a hopeful look on his face. Could his Champion have returned after quite an absence?

Moving faster, he flipped to the crystal he'd sent Aboveground for her to find. She may have blocked his magic directly, but he still knew the area she'd lived in, and sure enough, there was his Precious, a cup of tea pulled to her as she sat and spoke with his subjects.

"How you still turn my world, you precious precious thing," he sighed, gazing at the orb longingly.

She would be his queen, oh yes. A decade after her defeat of him and he still pined for her. Her shocking jade eyes had pierced him thoroughly. A frustrated wave and the crystal cleared. He didn't have time to be pining and brooding over her like some lovelorn lost teenager, he had a kingdom to run and unworthy parents to deal with.

Turning his attention back to his runners, he found his mind drifting back to the peach dream he'd given her, and how her weight and form had felt perfect in the few moment he'd had holding her.

"Dammit Jareth!" he hissed at himself, standing and walking to one of the windows.

"Sian!" he bellowed, his voice at its most terrifying.

"Yes, your Majesty," his trusted adviser appeared, as if from nowhere.

"I have some business to attend to after this couple fails at their run. I'll be heading Aboveground for a short time."

"Your Majesty… if I can be blunt… I know she's always been there in your mind, but do you really…"

"She WILL be my queen, Sian. Gods know the rest of the court is getting sick of watching me reject the presented ladies. I will woo her, and I will have her."

"Yes, your Majesty. What shall I tell any courtiers that appear?"
"That I'm busy," Jareth growled, hitting the wall beside him for emphasis, only hard enough to punctuate his sentence.

Ten years it had been since that slip of a girl had enraptured him, outwitted him, told him that he wouldn't win, and did beat him at his own game. Ten years he'd spent haunted by the memory of her in his arms.

Looking out the window, he sighed. "I would move the stars for you, Sarah, forever."

The remaining hours the runners had left passed quickly, and they did not succeed, as he'd already known would be the case. Tossing an orb in the air, he let it shift him to the Aboveground and quickly took his favoured form of a barn owl.

Soaring through the air, he quickly located her cottage, and landed in a tree just outside her office window, staring into the lit room where she was working. His heart swelled just being this close to her again after so many years thinking about her, wanting her. It would take time and patience, not something he was particularly known for in the court circles, but he would have her, heart and soul.

Sarah's head was bent in close to a computer screen, and he couldn't quite tell what she was working on. Suddenly her head jerked up and peered out the window, as though she knew he was watching her. He watched her shake her head and turn back to the computer. Seeing his opportunity, he took that moment to fly down to the ground, shift back to his normal form, and summon a bouquet. The monstrosity was a testament to his feelings for her: calla lilies (magnificent beauty), pink carnations (that he would never forget her), ivy geraniums (asking her hand for the next time they were able to dance), honeysuckle (generous and devoted affection), blue hyacinths (constancy), maiden blush roses (if she loved him back, she would find out more), fern fronds (sincerity), white clover (think of me), purple hyacinths (I am sorry), and a single four leaf clover (be mine) buried inside. His mother's teaching on the language of flowers had not been lost on him over the years. Setting the flowers down, he summoned to him a card with his owl on the front, as well as his favourite fountain pen. Sharp, swift writing appeared as he rapidly scrawled in the card.

My Precious,

I am truly sorry for any anguish I have caused you these last ten years. I would still reorder time, and move the stars for you. If you so choose, meet me in the cafe in your little town, tomorrow.

Always,

J.

Nestling the card in to the flowers, he set them on her doorstep, knocked, and returned to the Underground to watch her through the orb in her home.

Sarah looked up from her hi-resolution laptop screen she'd been checking image rendering on. This game was going to be beautiful, they'd put so much work in to the user experience of it. A chill ran the length of her spine, as though she was being watched. Turning to look out the window, she saw nothing out of the ordinary and shook her head, turning back to the screen.

Her eyes were growing weary again, and she sat back rubbing her temples.

"You're just overworking yourself again, silly. That feeling was just because you need to go to bed. You're 95% done with the checks, and everything looks great," she mumbled, pushing her chair back.

Then she heard the orb fall and clink, rolling across the floor again. Walking in to the living room, it was laying next to the vanity again. As she bent to grab it, she heard a knock on her front door and froze. Panic began to set in. It was late… late enough that no one should have been there. Leaving the orb for the time, she walked over and opened the door to a massive bouquet, laying on the step, and a card nestled in.

"Shit," she whispered, picking the flowers up. "Who the hell could these be from? And how could they have gotten them here at this hour?"

Shutting the door, she pulled the card and went to get her lone vase from the kitchen. She'd never really had a use for it, aside from the day she'd moved in, when Irene had brought it over full of her favourite flowers: a bundle of white lilac, mourning brides, phalaeonophis orchids, lavender, and multicolored tulips. Sarah had smiled at that memory, it showed her parents cared for her happiness. Once she'd set the new bundle of flowers in the vase, she found the four leaf clover buried inside and gently rubbed it. She could feel the magic emanating from that one small piece of plant.

A small fear gripped her as she opened the card. His words were something she'd not expected to read, at least not those words themselves. Card still in hand she ran to the vanity.

"Ludo! Didymus! Hoggle! Anyone! Are you there? I need you," her voice was frantic.

"Sarah?" Hoggle's voice was sleep-filled and drowsy. "What's going on?"

"I do say my lady! What is the matter?"

The friends all appeared, the living room of Hoggle's home shimmering in behind them.

"He was here. Who told him you'd spoken to me? I was avoiding you to avoid HIM!" the panic in her voice was enough to snap all of them to full awakeness and awareness. Her eyes were wild with a terror they'd never seen before at being found.

"Jareth was at your home?" Hoggle grumbled, inquisitively.

"He left a bunch of flowers and a note!"

"My Lady, perchance he wants to mend your relationship…"

"I don't HAVE a relationship with that egomaniacal, child-stealing faerie!" Sarah's voice cracked as she broke into a sobbing fit. "Today was ten years. Not tomorrow, not next week… today. I left you all because I was trying to break free from whatever it is that I still felt for him. I wanted my own life for once, not one lived in the shadow of a could-have-been from my youthful stupidity."

Sarah's careful phrasing made it sound like she'd been the Goblin King's betrothed and it had ended poorly.

"My Lady… can you show me the flowers?" Didymus was tentative in his statement, watching the sobbing, ruined woman in front of him.

"Why?"

"Because the Rat probably meant something with every single one in that bouquet," Hoggle grumped matter-of-factly, folding his arms before him, his face stone, hiding the fact that he was torn apart inside at her terror and sadness

"Sure," Sarah sniffed, her voice soft, grabbing the vase.

Didymus's jaw dropped when he saw the arrangement. "Well my Lady, he is definitely sorry, judging from the size and those purple hyacinths… and… he cares for you deeply. My Lady, why exactly are you avoiding his Majesty?"

Sarah set the vase on the end table and flopped in to her chair again, her eyes puffy, her nose slightly plugged from crying. "Because he ruined my life? I should be happy, in a relationship, looking at getting married. And all I can see is that the guys that I've dated don't live up to what he was in that damnable dream, terrifying as he was while I was running."

"I don't know that we can help in this case, my Lady," Didymus's moustache twitched lightly as he tried to come up with the words that would help.

"Sarah, as much as he terrified me back when you ran, he changed after. It can't hurt to try and talk to him once, maybe get past everything and get yourself back?" Hoggle twisted his hands nervously at even having suggested the idea. He knew how deeply Sarah's frustration with herself ran, they'd talked about it without the others around a few times.

"No. I suppose you're right Hoggle. I can't keep running forever, can I? Thanks for being here when I need you… all of you," she murmured. "I suppose I should get to sleep if I'm really going to do this. Good night… and thank you again."

The mirror shimmered back to being just a mirror, and she remembered the orb on the ground. Sighing, she knew her suspicions and jokes of it having been one of his orbs were true. She'd be better off to throw it in the trash, but a glint crossed her eyes. If he showed up, she could at least tell him to buzz off forever to his face.

"Good night to you too… J… Nine am at Liz's cafe, ok?" she said to the orb, setting it back on the pedestal, before heading to her bedroom for some much needed sleep, making sure to tightly shut the door so he couldn't intrude into her private space.

Jareth was sitting on the edge of his bed, frustratedly and nervously juggling crystals, trying to burn off some of the nervous energy he had from even having dared to get so close to her again. The he heard her voice echo from one.

"Nine am aboveground time indeed. Oh my Precious. How you do truly wound me," he chuckled softly to himself.

"Sian!" he called for his adviser again.

"Yes, your Majesty?"

"I'll be away morning time in the Aboveground. Send a missive if you urgently need me."

"Yes milord. You know I think this is a fool's folly."

"As much as I value your opinion, you'll forgive my ignoring your advice in this case," Jareth smirked, his mismatched eyes glimmering in a way the other fae hadn't seen in a decade. Maybe this actually was for the better.

"Good night, your Majesty," Sian took his leave, letting Jareth stand there, a self satisfied smirk on his face.

The Goblin King fell in to his bed and fast asleep, happily anticipating the following morning's meeting.