Chapter Seven

But A Dream Within A Dream

"You are not wrong, who deem

That my days have been a dream;

Yet if hope has flown away

In a night, or in a day,

In a vision, or in none,

Is it therefore less than gone?

All that we see or seem

Is but a dream within a dream."

-Excerpt from a poem by Edgar Allen Poe

*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*

The first thing that Sarah was aware of when she awoke was of the agonizing headache that felt as though she had been hit over the head with a sack of bricks the size of Ludo.

Sarah groaned and rubbed her temples, trying in vain to alleviate some of the pain that wracked her throbbing head. She sat up groggily with a little difficulty and cracked her eyes open a slit. She hastily closed them as the golden light that permeated her room assaulted her senses, making her head throb once more with pain. She opened her eyes again, slowly letting them adjust to the bright morning light that streamed in through the high windows.

Sarah blinked uncomprehendingly a few times, bemused by her unfamiliar surroundings.

She was sitting on a bed furnished with lots of pillows and soft blankets in a room with walls made of a strange yellowish-looking stone, which echoed the golden sky, clearly visible through the tall windows lining the room.

Sarah's heart plummeted and her eyes snapped wide open, searching the room wildly as she realized where she was. She clambered hastily off of the bed and dashed over to one of the windows. Her suspicions were confirmed as she looked with dread upon the Goblin City that lay just on the other side of a wall of yellowed stone, and the Labyrinth that twisted and undulated beyond, disappearing into the misty distance.

Sarah closed her eyes, rubbing them hard for a moment, muttering to herself.

"It's just a dream, a terrible, unwelcome dream!"

Sarah peeked out of one eye hopefully, only to see that her view had stubbornly stayed as it was, much to her dismay.

"No," she whispered, passing a hand absent-mindedly over her brow in a half-hearted attempt to soothe her aching head, "It's not possible…how did I get h-…"

She trailed off as she remembered her last conversation, and with whom it had been with and about what it had been about.

Well, my dear, do you know what it is that I wish?

Sarah swore acidly under her breath, unwelcome memories rushing back to greet her.

I wish that the goblins would come an take you away…right now.

Sarah brought her fist down upon on the stone windowsill.

Rage, fear, and disbelief coursed through Sarah's being, robbing her of her senses and blinding her to her better judgment.

"Damn you, Jareth…" she hissed through clenched teeth, nursing her bruised hand.

She spun quickly on her heel and stalked from the room, throwing the door to the hallway open with a bang that echoed loudly down the stone corridor.

Sarah had absolutely no idea where she was going and she didn't care. She turned this way and that up and down corridors, ascending and descending stairs as she pleased, know that eventually she would have to end up at her desired destination.

Descending a flight of wide stairs sometime later, Sarah finally saw before her a set of heavy wooden doors, carved with gothically grotesque faces and inlaid with bright copper.

A taught, tense grin stretched over Sarah's face as she saw the carvings, and hoping that her hunch was right, strode up to the doors and pushed hard, willing them to creak open.

Sarah strode angrily forward, looking around her to take in her surroundings—yes, she'd found it, the throne room, looking just as it had been all those years ago when she'd saved Toby from him.

She spared a cursory glance at the vacant throne before scanning the room once more.

Empty.

"Damn" said Sarah aloud to the room, screwing up her courage before her fury-fueled bravado left her.

"GOBLIN KING!" she bellowed, startling a black chicken from it's hiding place behind an ale barrel, who clucked angrily in protest before fleeing impetously out the window.

"GOBLIN KING. GET IN HERE! WE HAVE A SCORE TO SETTLE, YOU AND I!"

"And what would that be, precious?" asked a coolly calm voice from behind her.

Sarah squawked, not unlike the chicken she'd startled not a minute before, and whirled around to behold the smugly arrogant Goblin King, who lounged lazily on the throne that had been vacant only moments ago.

Muttering a low, harried curse, Sarah gathered her scattered nerves around her, hastily fortifying her mental barriers, and trying not to look as though she'd meant to stagger back a few pages on purpose, and that she'd meant to almost fall into the nest of pillows that were arranged haphazardly in the depression that situated itself in the center of the room. She'd certainly not almost done any of this because the Goblin King had given her a fright. Definitely not.

Willing to steady her wildly thumping heart and frazzled nerves, Sarah stiffened her spine and raised her head to look down her nose at Jareth, which was quite a feat as he was lounging above her on the dais that held his throne.

"Sarah" purred Jareth by way of greeting, nodding his head regally.

"Goblin King" growled Sarah in return, raising her nose higher, now in full ice queen mode.

"So thoughtful of you to visit my humble abode," said Jareth in a gesture that was most likely supposed to resemble all the courtesy of a gracious host, but instead came off as kingly egoism with an undercurrent of gleeful triumph.

He stood up then, dwarfing Sarah even more so from his position on the dais. He smirked down at Sarah, who returned his glance with a furious glare.

Sarah almost let fear overcome her at the moment but quickly reined it in and replaced her mask of cold fury before swiftly ascending the few steps, closing the distance between her and the Goblin King.

"Send me home" Sarah bit out, not letting her furious gaze stray from his.

"You are home, Sarah," replied Jareth, calmly returning her glare.

"Don't play coy, Goblin King," said Sarah testily, edging a shade closer to Jareth, as if trying in vain to intimidate him. "Send me home. Now."

Jareth looked down appraisingly at Sarah for a moment, choosing his next words carefully.

"Oh, Sarah," said Jareth archly, smiling a wicked smile at her, "I am never playing, not when you are concerned."

"You are a completely unmitigated ass, Goblin King. You know that, right?" replied Sarah, her sweet tone barely masking the venom beneath.

"I am flattered that you think so highly of me my dear" said the Goblin King with all the airs of mocking graciousness. "Truly, your sincerity and flair with words is so refreshing. It is a step up from the conversations that the goblins keep insisting on inflicting upon me. A small step, mind you..."

Jareth grinned rougishly at Sarah, as if hoping to get a rise out of her, and finished with:

"…but a step, none the less."

Sarah heaved an exhasperated sigh that betrayed her weakening will to deal with smug Fae kings-turned kidnappers.

"Are you done yet?" asked Sarah in a weary tone, still laced with annoyance.

"Not even close," replied Jareth easily, sitting gracefully back upon his throne.

He slid over slightly so that there was a small space next to him on the seat, and he patted it, saying:

"Have a seat, Sarah."

Sarah snorted, throwing Jareth a contemptuous look, raising an eyebrow disdainfully as Jareth kept patting the seat next to him, a look of puppy-dog innocence plastered liberally on his face.

"I'd rather stand" said Sarah regally, with all the dignified airs of a queen.

"Our talk is going to be a long one, I have a feeling, and I think you would get tired of standing for so long. Come. Sit by me."

"I'll stand, thank you" Sarah ground out, struggling to maintain her composure.

Jareth rolled his eyes and sighed in a most un-kingly-like manner.

"Still the drama queen, are we, my dear?"

He waved his hand suddenly and a wooden chair dropped out of thin air just behind Sarah and knocked her bodily on the back of the knees, causing her to fall into the chair with a flustered thump. Sarah's eyes snapped to Jareth, fury blazing just beneath their green depths. She gathered her bruised pride around her like a mantle and sat up straight in her chair as if she'd completely meant to sit on it in the manner that she had. She gazed imperiously at Jareth, as if commanding him to speak with her look.

However, Jareth contented himself to stare placidly back at Sarah, stolidly refusing to give in to her bullying, a slight sly smirk on his face the whole while.

This deliberate action on Jareth's part only served to incense Sarah further. After all she'd been through, how dare that smug arrogant bastard defy her?

Sarah broke her own silence, speaking first.

"Send me home, Goblin King" Sarah said once again, sound a bit to herself like a broken record.

"I am afraid that I cannot do that," replied the Goblin King in a sticky-sweet tone that made it all too clear that he was not sorry at all about this fact.

"Why the hell not?" asked Sarah acidly, almost spitting in her vehemence.

"Don't you remember?" asked Jareth almost gleefully, supercilious delight flooding his tone. "You were wished away! Wished away by me, to me. You are mine!"

Jareth practically crowed these words with delight and long-awaited triumph. Sarah scowled at him, unimpressed.

"You did what?" Sarah asked, frost liberally icing each of her words.

"Oh my dear Sarah, you did not really think that you could defeat me, defy me , once so long ago and that you could be rid of me forever, did you? If you did," he paused, shrugging unconcernedly, "well then, think again. No magic words to free you this time, no screaming babes to rescue, no motley crew of miscreant friends to show you the way through my Labyrinth…"

"So I get to run the Labyrinth to win my freedom?" interrupted Sarah desperately, her eyes snapping to Jareth's as if she was trying to read the truth from within their fae depths.

"No" said Jareth flatly, his roguish cheer quashed momentarily by the question. However, he soon recovered. "I was the one who did the wishing, remember? I choose your fate either way."

"I suppose I couldn't persuade you to run the Labyrinth instead of choosing your dreams or whatever the other option may be, and let me go home, could I?" asked Sarah cautiously, feeling that she already knew the eventual answer to her question, and that she wouldn't like it at all.

"I do not know," purred Jareth silkily, leaning forward on his throne, "Can you? Do try. Persuade me, Sarah."

Sarah eyed the Goblin King warily, desperately wishing that she'd held her tongue and not provoked Jareth into treading gleefully into the dangerous waters she suddenly found herself drowning in. She shrunk back slightly in her chair, away from Jareth's predatory leer.

"I'd rather not." Sarah replied airily, hurriedly attempting to backtrack once more.

"Such a pity," sighed Jareth, settling comfortably back into his throne, casting his legs unconcernedly over the arms of his seat.

Sarah let out a near-silent breath of shaky relief that was very nearly cut short by a sharp look sent her way by none other than the Goblin King.

"Well then," observed Jareth in a solemn tone, pensively flicking a smudge of non-existent dirt off of his immaculate jacket sleeve, "I suppose that means that I shall turn down my own offer to run my Labyrinth to win your freedom."

Sarah's heart sank straight to her toes. She could almost hear the sound of her prison doors clanging shut, the lock clunking into position with a dreadful finality.

Jareth smiled at Sarah, an action that she had come to fear and loathe beyond all reason as of late.

"Sarah Williams, once Champion of the Labyrinth, welcome to the Underground, to my castle beyond the Goblin City. Your new home for the rest of forever."

"…forever?" echoed Sarah dully, anger, terror, and persistent disbelief flooding her head and heart.

Jareth stood fluidly and took the few steps to stand before Sarah, offering a gloved hand as if to help her up.

"Not long at all," he murmured, "and all that."

Sarah stared at Jareth for all of two seconds, a multitude of emotions flashing across her face, before it settled on incredulous animosity. She stood abruptly, fiercely knocking Jareth's proffered hand as she hastened out of the room, forcing the great wooden doors to the throne room shut behind her. Sarah collapsed back on the doors once they were closed, allowing the hot, angry tears she'd been suppressing to well up in her eyes. She bit her lip to smother her soft sobs, bringing her fist down on the door with a muted thud.

"Damn you, Jareth" Sarah breathed as she got up off of the door, making her way blindly down the corridor, not caring which way she went, nor of her destination.

Up and down she climbed, twisting left and right, just wanting to get away.

When Sarah was good and properly lost, she dropped down dejectedly onto a stone bench ensconced beneath a grimy window that looked high over the castle grounds, the Goblin City a dirty smudge on the horizon. Sarah shook her head dejectedly. This place was playing tricks with her sense of perception, even after so short a time. Another thing the Goblin King had conjured up to torment her, no doubt. It just wasn't fa—no. Life wasn't fair, why should the Underground be any different?

Sarah didn't know for how long she sat there, staring out the window without really seeing, trying to make sense of the tangled thoughts that raced around in the confines of her mind.

She was so preoccupied with her own musings that she did not notice the tall, silent figure slip out of the shadows until it was too late.

The Goblin King looked upon the Champion of his Labyrinth with a look that could have possibly been described as pity had it not been masked almost immediately by a look of indifferent nonchalance.

Sarah looked at the approaching figure, scowled, and then returned to looking out the window, intensely trying to ignore the crux of all her woes as he drew nearer.

"Go away" said Sarah, her voice low and devoid of inflection.

Jareth sighed.

"Are you done sulking?"

Sarah continued to stolidly ignore Jareth, unwilling to admit defeat by acknowledging that he was, in fact, a real being, and that yes, she was in the Underground, and unfortunately, it didn't look like any of these facts were going to change in any time soon. Her will may be as strong as his, but at that moment, Sarah felt as though all the fight had gone out of her. She was tired, she'd gone through several shocks in the past few hours, and she was tired of dealing with the unfathomable Goblin King.

Jareth looked at her, scrutinizing, before speaking again.

"Follow me."

And so Sarah, feeling completely helpless and defeated, rose shakily from the seat and followed her greatest foe, feeling quite as though she had fallen into a hideous nightmare.

*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*

AN: Ciao! I'm finally back! Sorry for not getting this chapter up in May. I got a bad case of writers block, and real life got in the way! As well as series 6 of Doctor Who. And Takarazuka. Well, better late than never, eh? I'm hoping to get the next chapter up perhaps at the end of the month or the beginning of the next. I had a wonderful semester in Italy, and even though it was incredibly fun, I'm glad to be back!

Anyways, please read and review! It really makes my day! Thanks so everyone who has already reviewed, and added me to their various favorites and alerts lists!

Disclaimer: Labyrinth and its characters do not belong to me. Quotes from the movie belong to Henson, Froud, and Lucas. Quotes from the novelization belong to A.C.H. Smith.