Sadly, I do not own the rights to Labyrinth. That, my friends is the sole property of Jim Henson and his magical land of genius. Please R&R and be kind but honest! This is my first attempt!

She was falling. Falling through a sky littered with pieces of stone. Half-arches and broken stairwells mingled with bits of wall and pieces of doorways. She landed firmly in the midst of the ruins of what had once been a great room: an Escher room with its twisting passages and never-ending stairs. She couldn't remember what had possessed her to jump, only that she had desperately needed to reach her brother. She had to free him!

She turned and a spectral shape materialized in the only surviving archway. As he inched forward into the light, the Goblin King's brooding face froze her with fear. He wore an elaborate cape of white feathers and what looked like bones in the shape of a cowl protruded from the neck to frame his elegant face. He started toward her slowly.

"Give me the child," she demanded with more courage than she felt.

"Sarah, beware. I have been generous up until now, but I can be cruel."

"Generous?" she asked incredulously, "What have you done that's generous?"

"Everything!" He barked back fiercely, beginning to circle her, "Everything that you wanted I have done. You asked that the child be taken and I took him. You cowered before me; I was frightening." He smirked, but continued, "I have reordered time. I have turned the world upside down and I've done it all for you! I'm exhausted from living up to your expectations of me. Isn't that generous?"

While he had been speaking, Sarah had been mustering up courage inside of herself to say the lines she knew she had to say to free Toby. When he finished, she flashed him a look of fierce determination and spoke flawlessly:

"Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, I fought my way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City. My will is as strong as yours and my k—"

"Stop!" The King cut her off and raised his hand to prevent her encroaching upon him any further. "Wait. Look Sarah, look at what I'm offering you. Your dreams." A crystal materialized in his hands and he held it out to her expectantly.

Undeterred, she continued where she had left off. "And my kingdom as great."

"I ask for so little. Just let me rule you and you can have everything that you want."

"My kingdom as great…."she faltered, "Damn, I can never remember that line."

"Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave," he beckoned gently to her, his arm outstretched with the crystal ball between them. He looked longingly at her, begging her with his eyes to take the proffered gift. She continued to stumble with her lines.

"My kingdom as great….my kingdom as great…."

Then, suddenly, her mumblings were interrupted by the tolling of the bell from the great clock behind the Goblin King. The two hands pointed resolutely at the number thirteen at the top of the clockface. The bells chimed thirteen o-clock. Her time was up. She had lost.

Sarah glimpsed the King's eager face twisted to a mask of triumph, but she missed the brief look of sadness that had crossed his face as watched her crumple in despair and defeat.

"NO!!" She cried, "I can't lose. Toby! TOBYYYY!!!!!

Sarah wrenched herself awake so fast that she almost hit her head on the bunk of her roommate's bed above her. Gasping in fear and drenched in sweat, it took a moment for her to realize that it had all been a bad dream. A nightmare. It was one she'd had many times before since she came back from the Labyrinth all those years ago and every time she dreamt it, she would rush over to Toby's room to see if he was alright. Well, she lived across town now, sharing an apartment with her former college roommate while they both worked. But she promised herself—as she lay awake in her sweat-drenched bed and tried to calm her breathing—she promised herself she would go see him tomorrow, just to make sure he was OK.

Oh God, she thought, why can't I forget?