Disclaimer: I do not own Labyrinth or Jim Henson or David Bowie...blah, blah, blah...

A/N: Another story idea exploring a peculiar concept of Jareth and his connection to Sarah.

"Guys, is everything okay?"

Sarah cocked an eyebrow at her three Labyrinth friends sitting on her bedroom floor. It had been exactly one week since her victory and Hoggle, Sir Didymus and Ludo were, once again, visiting her late at night and playing board games.

At first, everything seemed just fine; hey'd come, hang out for a few hours, and then leave for the Underground.

But for the last few days, she'd begun to notice strange little things: Bags of exhaustion grew under their eyes. They seemed nervous and jumpy. And each time she saw them, their clothes and fur were getting filthier and filthier; like they hadn't been washing.

"Of course, Sarah." Hoggle muttered, avoiding eye-contact. "We're all fine."

"Indeed, we are, my l-lady!" Sir Didymus concurred with a slight cough. "N-never better."

Ludo scratched his ear.

"You three have been acting weird for the past couple of days and it's getting worse all the time." Sarah pressed, not in the east bit fooled by their nonchalance. "What's going on?"

"Nothing." The dwarf insisted. His grip on the Monopoly shoe piece tightened.

"Hoggle." Sarah's voice rang with warning.

"It is just that there have been some…problems at home, my lady." Sir Didymus said hesitantly.

"But it's nothing you need to worry about, Sarah!" Hoggle grumbled forcefully, eyeing the knight.

"What kind of problems?" The girl asked curiously.

"Bad weather." Sir Didymus explained ominously. "Lots of earthquakes. Mysterious fires. All signs of-"

"Of nothing!" Hoggle snarled. "They're just a coincidence! Everyone's jumping to-"

"Hoggle, shush!" Sarah scolded. "Go on, Sir Didymus. Signs of what?"

"The re-return of…of…Silence the great dragon."

Sarah blinked at her friend.

"What?"

"Long before the Labyrinth," the noble goblin began, "the Underground was a dry, barren wasteland. The great dragon, Silence, roamed the desert hills, devouring the goblins in droves. That was why we started to steal wished away children, my lady. To renew our ever-dwindling population. Silence was finally subdued and locked away in a tomb where he has slept for thirteen hundred years."

"Why is he called Silence?" Sarah asked carefully, feeling a sliver of dread roll down her back.

"Because that is what he brings, my lady." The knight replied. "When voices are at the height of their panic, he destroys all. And now he has awoken. The signs are exactly the same as when he reigned before. Children are wished away so rarely now, we haven't a chance against him."

"Wait, how did Silence get sealed up in the first place?"

"His majesty sealed him away, my lady."

"You mean Jareth?" Her tone was slightly stunned. "Well then, can't he just do it again?"

The knight shook his head.

"I'm afraid not, my lady. The king's power has significantly weakened since your triumph. I fear that the great dragon senses the chink and is now on the rise."

"There must be something we can do." She urged. "How exactly did he seal the dragon away?"

A long and uncomfortable pause ensued.

"To answer that, my lady," Sir Didymus finally spoke, "we must tell you the truth about his majesty's presence in our world."

"Now why on earth does she need to know that?" Hoggle suddenly demanded.

Fed up with the dwarf's interruptions, Sarah reached over and swiped her friend's jewelry pack again.

"Since you're so determined to keep me out of the loop, why don't you tell the story, Hoggle?"

"No way!"

"Fine." The teenager shrugged.

"There's a nice little pawn shop I can hawk these at tomorrow. I've been wanting a new bike." She teased, shaking the gems over his head.

"Alright! Alright! I'll tell you the damn story!" The dwarf huffed, snatching back his rightful property. "When Silence ruled over the Underground, there came a time when our population was so low, even the wished away children-turned-goblins wasn't enough to sustain us. We were a breath from extinction. So…as a last resort, we…cast a spell."

Sarah's stomach quaked at the way Ludo and Sir Didymus seemed to bow their heads in shame.

"Go on."

"Goblins have little magic to begin with," Her friend said, "it took every last ounce of our collective strength, but we did it. We summoned a warlock."

"A warlock?" She echoed in wonder. "Jareth's a…warlock?"

"Yeah." Hoggle sighed. "Warlocks and witches are the only beings powerful enough to take on a dragon. But there's no other dragon like Silence. He can only be restrained, never killed. Jareth came from a world called the Innerground. You see, there are three worlds that exist: the Aboveground where the humans live, the Underground where goblins and dragons and fairies and ogres live, and the Innerground where the witches and warlocks live. When we summoned Jareth, he defeated Silence as if it were child's-play…but the reward for his heroism was…tragic."

Sarah bit her lip.

"Why?"

"…Our summoning spell was permanent, my lady." Sir Didymus answered contritely. "His majesty was forever trapped in our world."

It was as if her whole body went numb.

"What?!"

"The rules of travel between the worlds are somewhat complicated." Hoggle went on. "Those that come from the Inner and Undergrounds can go to the Aboveground, but only if they are specifically summoned or in disguise. Those that come from the Underground lack the power to travel to the Innerground, but we can be summoned there, and those from the Innerground can come to the Underground if, again, they are properly summoned. Understand?"

She nodded slowly.

"If anyone from the Inner or Underground is summoned," the dwarf continued, "they are forbidden to leave until the contract between the wisher and the summoned is complete. When we summoned Jareth, we asked that he protect us from Silence. If he left, his magic would go with him and we would all be in danger again. So you see…he can never leave our world cuz, as I mentioned before, Silence is immortal. Our contract with Jareth can never be completed."

"What is worse," Sir Didymus added, "is that his own kind now considers him lost. He cannot return and no one from his world can come to him unless we call them, which, with our pathetically small amount of magic, is so perilously difficult, the practice is generally considered impossible anyhow. "

"Can't he summon them himself?" Sarah asked anxiously.

The fox shook his head.

"It is impossible to summon from your own world."

"We tried to soften the blow as best we could." Hoggle grunted. "In exchange for his service and as payment for his…imprisonment in our world, we offered to make him our king. Naturally, he accepted and the first few years of his reign were brutal. He was…understandably furious. But, some good came of it. He had us build the Labyrinth and moderate the amount of children we took from the Aboveground. He made a game out of the wished-away children. I guess as a way to amuse himself. And that's how it's been for the last thirteen hundred years."

A/N: Thoughts? Questions? Concerns? Love?