EDIT: I decided to add an prologue after establishing a rough plot outline. I really wanted to include a lot of the stuff that I had written here into the story as it progressed but for my own sake I decided to make it into an prologue. I do apologize to anybody that has already read the first chapter. Also, I have a habit of hating what I've wrote pretty much after I've submitted it. I already want to scrap the first chapter and start again. However, I won't be doing that. Instead, I may make minor edits as I add new chapters. If I do change/add anything integral to the plot I will be sure to let you know.

Do let me know what you think. I've not been in this fandom that long so If I've got any details wrong related to the canon, OOC moments, or even bad spelling and grammar please let me know ~

~ Hi, Goldenskittles here!
Thanks for checking out my story. This is my second ever FF, and my first Labyrinth fic... I really hope I don't disgrace the original too much.

I do apologize in advance for any mistakes related to the American school system, American holidays and general American terms. I'm from England, so I really have very little knowledge on how things work in the US and have been using what I know from the American tele I watched as a child.
I did try and ask around about how lessons are taught in American high schools, but I never got in-depth information about what is actually studied and how the lessons are taught.

It wouldn't feel right if I made her English... But I am looking forward to writing Jareth bits. So yes, please bare with me! :D

If you do have any information or find any mistakes please let me know! I love critique, it helps me grow strongerer.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: I don't own Jareth, Sarah or any other characters that feature in Labyrinth. I do not own any of the books mentioned throughout the story either. I may throw a couple of OC background characters in the mix though, so if I do they belong to me (But I'm not that fussed if you take them, it's your call) :D

Prologue To An Epilogue

It had been nearly three years since Sarah Williams had last confronted the Goblin King.
At the time she was but a naive child on the verge of adolescence, still unaware of what the world had to offer but at the same time aware that her world, at least, was a mundane place.
But she was a child all the same.

Even as a little girl, Sarah Williams was a dreamer who sought fulfillment through whatever she could acquire. Her room was littered with trinkets, figures and clothing which were originally gifts from her mother to get her interested in the arts. However, Sarah did not need to be swayed or convinced, she had fell in love in an instant.
From that point onwards the gaudy bits of props and costume had become her treasures, a torrent of glitter and colour and had transformed her room into an ethereal cove for all things magical. It was her haven, a place that would welcome her when she wanted to escape from her troubles.
...They were her escape.

By the age of fourteen her belief in fantasy and magic had become an integral part of her being. With age had brought a new love into her life: literature. When she was not at school or looking after her baby brother she would spent countless hours reading literature. It was not always fantasy, but anything that interested her or that she could get her hands on. Countless stories, countless tales she would read as if she was living them herself. They had filled the voids that had been created in her life and kept her having to worry about the reality she would have to face once she put the book down.
It had become a staple for her, to some extent it could have even been an obsession. Every night she would make sure to get some reading in before bed. It was a ritual that she loved to keep.
Eventually, when she could no longer keep her eyes open, she would set the book aside and take comfort in the warm embrace of sleep.

When Sarah slept she dreamed of magic.

But it was not enough. None of it was. To simply imagine something was not as good as living it. She longed to feel the scales of a dragon against her skin as she soured through the clouds. She wanted to feel the wind in her hair as she fled from an army of angry imps or hear the clashing of steal as a valiant knight fought for her honour.

It was that unwavering desire which, like a beacon had called out to him. It was if her soul was screaming for him to answer her calls. So he followed them on a whim, discovering something rather interesting.

She was a pretty young girl with chocolate-coloured hair that framed the sides of her face and fell just past the shoulders. Her eyes were beautiful too, deep pools of the clearest emerald. If he looked close enough at the crystal, he felt as if he could peer into the depths of her soul just by looking into her eyes.
Then, If It wasn't the eyes that had sold it for him it was the fact that she looked like a pristine china doll, creamy pale skin, slightly flushed cheeks and blood red lips. He was sure that a painter had applied them with the greatest of care. He was equally sure that if he touched her she might break into a thousand little pieces. She looked so delicate, but at the same time it looked as if she had already been broken. Broken, but mended and made even stronger the second time around. Even when dressed in a pair of light blue jeans and a simple t-shirt, this girl certainly had beauty on a par to any fae women.

There was something about this girl that begged him to learn more, to find out every single detail about this girls life.

He couldn't help but smirked to himself as his leather fingers dallied over the smooth surface of the crystal.
"You are definitely intriguing Sarah Williams, so much so I might have to keep a close eye on you from now on... "

The occasional glances at his crystal out of interest although necessary for him to "keep a close eye" had somehow accumulated to months of watching. That, in turn had led to longing, which eventually had become obsession.
Soon after that it became apparent that he was in love with the girl, a mortal girl none the less. But that was irrelevant, what mattered now was what he was going to do about his object of affection.
It was not yet the love that warranted intimacy. Even by his culture's standards she was but a bud, much too young to be plucked. However, he found himself wanting to show her what her heart desired, things that were beyond comprehension, beyond her wildest imagining, beyond the realms of reverie. He sought her happiness, as if it was the key to his own. To him, that was what love was and for now, that was enough. But in order to obtain such happiness he needed to construct a plan.

He planted a small red book for her to find, knowing that once she began reading she would fall so deeply in love with its contents that the story would forever occupy her thoughts, just as it forever occupied his.

He bided his time and set to distract himself with matters of the court, with proved to be difficult considering his impatient nature. But then, one day, through a slip of the tongue and an accidental wish all his waiting had paid off. He set his plans in motions, watching from the shadows and only intervening when it was deemed necessary. He had been the villain she had dreamed about and had prepared to give her everything she could possibly wish for.
He had prepared to give himself.
"Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave..."

But she had rejected him at the crucial moment, without even being aware of it. She did not realise his motivations behind this whole adventure. Her brother was no longer a prize, hadn't been a prize since the very beginning. He had played the villain for her sake, and it exhausted him. And how she repaid him? She had rejected him and had gone back to her family, when she could have been his.

And after several days of moping around the castle he realised that perhaps he had been too rash, too quick to hurry the process along. How could the girl have known that he wasn't being serious? He had been much too cryptic. Despite that, she had bested him at his own game, which proved her worthy of his affections. Sarah had been old enough to deal with the labyrinth, which he did not doubt in the slightest. However, she had not been old enough to deal with what he was offering her. He had probably scared the poor girl offering something that was beyond her comprehension.

But all in all, this was all just a minor discrepancy in the grand scheme of things.
By no means had he lost. No, the goblin king never lost.
His plans had merely taken a detour, something he would rectify once he had established his next move. But in order to make the next move, he had to wait a little longer.

So, once again he played the waiting game. He watched from the shadows as the headstrong little girl matured into the equally fiery young woman that he knew she would become. His plans were nearly set into motion, until one day when he realised something he had not accounted for, something that was being compromised as he waited for her to mature.
-Her belief.
How could he have the girl if she didn't even believe he had existed in the first place?

Sarah was getting older, her sense of realism jading her belief in the fantastical. Her adventures were becoming but a faded memory, just like the rest of her childhood. Any memory, any connections to her childhood adventures had been boxed up as and left to rot in the basement.
Her haven was now barren and boring. It was a shell of the dreams she once had.

He had a new plan; one that was sure to succeed. He knew that he had to coax Sarah into understanding what her fifteen-year-old self had been oblivious too. He needed to re-establish the belief she once had, make her understand that it hadn't been a dream.
It would be too simple to just waltz back into her life, which was an appealing alternative. No, that would just lead to forced feelings. He wanted, needed her to realise and understand.
It was a challenge that would give delicious results.

-And how he loved a challenge.