A/N: Hello boys and girls! Thank you to everyone who reviewed, I loved hearing your thoughts and ideas! I do a little dance of joy everytime I get a review XP. As for the chapter, not so sure it came out so well but if you all like it, I'm satisfied :3. And now, without further ado, I would like to present this Jareth-centric chapter as apology for my insanely inconsistent updates.

The labyrinth was a curious thing. At times it could be as finicky and spoiled as a house cat while other times it could be aggravating and tricky or amiable and helpful. It had a mind and a will of its own but all the same it aimed to please. So when it had heard little Sarah's request for makeup, even up in the castle as she was, it couldn't help but grant it. And Sarah walked out of the closet, goblins in tow, to find a mountain of cosmetics spread across the room. Her jaw dropped at the sight but she soon got over the initial shock and began whooping happily. She reached for two tubes of lipstick, popped off the caps, and rolled them all the way out. One was a bright crimson red and the other a creamy toffee. She grinned like a deranged squirrel and turned to the goblins, lipsticks wielded like weapons.

"Who's first?"

The goblins exchanged a look of horror and fear and then scattered in an attempt to escape. But they were no match for her six year old reflexes. Especially not when dressed and drowning in seven feet of fabric. She cornered two of the goblins and smeared the lipstick across their mouths. It ended up more on their cheeks than on their actual lips but she gave a grin of approval anyway. Satisfied, she left them to chase another onto the bed. The goblin ended up covered in crimson color. She made her way around the room until every goblin had either red or tan lipstick caked all over their chins. Trading the abused tubes for palettes of eye shadow, she turned on the goblins and said, "Could you guys just sit still please?"

Much to her surprise and pleasure, they obliged. Whether it was due to a realization that resistance was futile and escape highly improbable or due to something else entirely she didn't really know but they all flopped onto the ground and waited for her to make them up.

"Good goblins." She giggled, skipping up to them. She worked her way down the line, coloring in eyelids with blues, yellows, browns, greens and every color in between. She gave them buckets of compliments and they actually started getting into it. They modeled for her and each other, put on a runway show (in which the goblins struck their sexiest poses and Sarah almost suffocated giggling), and danced with each other as though they were at the ball they were dressed for. Their shrieking laughter was what got Jareth's attention. He'd been on his way to the kitchens, to check on the progress of things, when he'd heard the cackling coming from one of the spare bedrooms. He opened the door and his eyebrows disappeared into his hairline. On the floor, in a heap of cosmetics and crumpled fabric, were half a dozen goblins, desperately trying to catch their breath.

"Should I let you try to explain or is it straight to the bog?" he asked, his arms crossing over his chest. The laughter died a swift death.

Out of the silence came an excited, "Bog?"

Jareth cocked his head as Sarah dug her way out of the pile of fabric and goblin parts. "Ah, so this was your doing?"

The girl twiddled her thumbs guiltily, refusing to meet his gaze. "Well, I wanted them to be pretty."

His hard expression cracked as a smirk spread across his lips. Eyes glittering with mirth, he addressed the goblins. "You couldn't even escape one little girl?"

They floundered for excuses, arms wagging with frenzy. From the jumble of shouted words, he picked out a few that sounded like 'smart', 'fast' and 'witch'. He rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Really Sarah, if you wanted a ball all you had to do was ask."

"Really? Can I have one? Pleeeeeeaaaaaaase?"

She had latched herself onto his leg and was gazing up at him with her bottom lip pushed out, pleadingly. He pinched the bridge of his nose briefly before reaching down and detaching her and her clenched fists from his breeches. "I'll consider it if you promise to behave."

"Sure, sure, I promise!" she said, nodding vigorously.

He chuckled softly. He was sure that trying to keep Sarah out of trouble was like trying to keep goblins away from ale. They were bound to find some eventually.

"Egg! There's gonna be a ball!"

Jareth watched the dragon slink through the air out of the closet to land on Sarah's shoulder. He yawned widely, his little purple tongue sticking out with the effort, and blinked sleepily.

"Making friends?"

The dragon fluttered his wings sheepishly at his king's question before snorting a smoke ring.

"Yup." Sarah said with a smile. She reached up and rubbed lightly at his scales, in response to which the dragon stiffened.

Jareth laughed under his breath. "Glad to hear it. Now, Sarah," She stared up at him, wide-eyed. "Our dear Pilla is likely worried off her head about you by now, don't you think?"

She opened her mouth to reply but promptly closed it. Chewing on her bottom lip and refusing to meet his gaze, she nodded.

"Then why don't we have our lovely friends here escort you back to the kitchens so that Pilla can stop worrying and they can get back to work." Over her head, he narrowed his eyes at the group of goblins that had finally managed to untangle themselves and stand. One brave soul raised a pudgy hand and asked, "Like this?"

The goblin indicated his and his companions' dresses but instantly knew he'd said the wrong thing when a sharp-toothed smile spread across their king's features. "Why of course. You want all your chums to see how lovely you all look, don't you?"

"Y-yes yer majesty." They all stammered in unison, sights trained on the floor. Sarah pressed a hand to her mouth to muffle her giggles. His smile easing back into an amused smirk, Jareth chuckled softly and swept his arm towards the door.

"Well go on," he said, "You can't expect our guest to wander the castle alone in search of the kitchens. Especially not while dear Pilla is so distraught over her disappearance."

The goblins all exchanged a fearful glance, each knowing full well how potent Pilla's wrath could be. One by one, they wobbled in their heels toward the door, ushering Sarah along. She glanced back and waved at Jareth who gave a small albeit embellished bow in return. He watched the goblins lead the girl down the hall, a certain dragon slithering restlessly through the air above them and trailing a small stream of smoke, before heading in the opposite direction toward his room. Taking long strides, he was safe behind closed doors in a matter of minutes. He slumped against the door and pressed a hand over his eyes. It started soft, a low chuckling, barely audible, but it grew quickly, turning into rich peals of laughter before moving on to outright hysterical cackling. Burned into his brain, and bearing an obscene amount of hilarity, was the image of the goblins dressed to the nines and Sarah looking quite pleased with herself. He stumbled forward like some sort of drunk and, falling heavily against his desk, pounded the surface with his fist as his raucous laughter echoed throughout the room. The fit lasted a good ten minutes but eventually he calmed down enough to realize his lungs were screaming. He sucked in some much needed air and released it as a long sigh, his shoulders shaking from a few leftover sniggers. He slumped into his chair and wiped at his eyes before noticing his cheeks were wet. For a moment, he became as still as stone, not quite believing. He'd laughed so hard he'd cried. This fact was enough to induce another, much softer, bout of laughter. He couldn't even remember the last time he'd laughed himself to tears. When he finally came down from his hilarity high, he wiped the tear tracks from his face and pulled a crystal out of thin air. It darkened as he peered inside and a moment later he could see Pilla squeezing Sarah so tightly the girl had gone red in the face. All around them, goblins were absolutely cracking up at the group in evening wear. When Pilla finally released the girl, who swayed slightly until she found her balance, and turned to scold the dolled up goblins, the rest started to cackle harder. That is until the tall goblin turned her wicked eye on them and pulled something from her apron. As he watched them scatter at the sight of her wooden spoon, a few diving behind Sarah to hide, the king could feel the beginnings of laughter tickling his throat. However, before it could develop into yet another full blown fit, he hurled the crystal across the room where it shattered against the wall, turning into a spray of water upon impact. Jareth leaned back in his chair, propping his boots up on the desk. There was something infinitely curious about this little girl wreaking havoc throughout his castle. It seemed almost a waste to turn her into a goblin. Curious indeed.