Fooled Heart

A/N: First, thank you all for reading! Whether you enjoy the story so far or completely despise it, thank you for reading this far. I assure you, there is a reason for everything written so far.



As usual, I kindly request you read and review!



Fooled Heart



Chapter 10: Home Again



To her surprise, Sarah woke in her own bed. She relished in the feeling of her familiar blue plaid flannel bedsheets. She sighed deeply. 'A dream,' she thought, 'But it couldn't have all been a dream. It felt so real.'



She looked across the small bedroom to the pop-up trundle bed along the other wall. Toby's face was turned to her. His mouth was half open and squished against the pillow. Sarah smiled to herself.



'Maybe it was all a dream,' she thought. She sat up and rubbed the back of her head, feeling for a bump. Nothing. Sarah looked down at her clothes; she was dressed in an oversize t-shirt and a pair of shorts that had previously been a too long pair of sweatpants. She swung her legs to the side of the bed, rubbing her toes against the dated carpet.



Sarah stood and made her way to the bathroom. 'It could be a trick,' she thought as she grabbed her toothbrush from the shelf above the sink. The bathroom, like the rest of her apartment, was small but comfortable. The tiles were definitely from decades before and the wallpaper was peeling, but the room was bright and clean. Sarah squeezed a pea-sized dollop of toothpaste onto her toothbrush.



Sarah looked up into the mirror above the shelf, expecting to see the Goblin King's wicked but handsome face. She saw nothing but her own face and a pair of towels hanging on the wall behind her. She continued to brush her teeth, stopping every so often to spit into the sink. Sarah finished and rinsed her brush and placed it back on the shelf. She let the water run and rinsed the sink.



'If it is a trick, what would his goal be? When I ran the Labyrinth, he put me to sleep to waste time so I couldn't finish. What could he be up to now?' Sarah thought, looking again into the mirror. 'Or could it have actually been a genuine dream. After all, I didn't seem myself. But the other dream...is it possible to have a dream within a dream. I need to know what is going on. I need an idea of what to do. I need-'



Sarah stopped thinking, suddenly remembering something very important. "Hoggle," she spoke loudly, locking the door to the bathroom and looking directly into the mirror. "Hoggle, I need you." Sarah waited a few moments, staring into the mirror. "Hoggle, I need you!" she repeated forcefully. She placed her hands on either side of the mirror and stared at it, waiting.



"Sarah!" Hoggle exclaimed. Sarah turned around to look at the wrinkled dwarf. "What's wrong, Sarah? Yous usually don't call for me until night," he said, looking around the small bathroom.



"It's a long story, Hoggle. I'm not exactly sure what is going on," Sarah said, sitting on the closed toilet lid. "One minute I'm back in the Underground, and the next I'm waking back up in bed."



"Yous was in the Underground and didn't come see me?" Hoggle asked, with a hint of jealousy in his voice.



"I don't even know if I was actually there or not. I can't tell if it was a dream or if I was really there," Sarah said.



"Well, tell me what happened when yous was there," Hoggle said.



"Well, it started when Toby wished himself to the Goblin King," Sarah began.



"That's impossible! Only the youngin's family can wish them away," Hoggle retorted.



Sarah eyed him and continued, "And Jareth took him. I had the choice to either go too or forget my brother."



"Even more impossible! Ya can't goes to the Underground unless wished there," Hoggle said stiffly, "Your story sounds fishy."



"I know, Hoggle. So many things just don't add up, but it seemed so real," Sarah protested. "And there was something happening in the Underground. Some sort of monsters were returning-"



"The Lieete," Hoggle spoke.



Sarah eyed him suspiciously. She knew the name; she remembered Jareth and Dimonis talking about it.



"I'm getting more confused, Hoggle! I remember Jareth and Dimonis talking about it, but its strange because I wasn't even in the room. I don't know what is happening!" Sarah said, rubbing her temples with her head hung low.



"Dimonis? Sarah, sometin's wrong," the dwarf said. "Dimonis was banished from the Goblin Kingdom fifty years ago."



"What? Why?" Sarah asked, thinking about the polite, handsome man she had met in her dream.



"He drove many to kill themselves," Hoggle said, leaning against the side of the bath tub. "He interfered in people's dreams and scrambled things around. I thinks that's what's happenin to you."



"But why?" Sarah asked.



"What else happened in this dream?"



"Well, Jareth claimed Toby as his heir. I was made their servant. And Jareth, he was horrible!" Sarah said, standing up and pacing the small room. "And I couldn't do anything about it! My body just wouldn't let me!"



"Its dream interference, alright," Hoggle said.



"But what can I do, Hoggle? For all I know, this is part of it too!" Sarah exclaimed.



"Sarah, there's only one thing I can think of," Hoggle said slowly.



"No," Sarah said, staring at her small friend.



"Sarah, its the only way yous can be safe!" Hoggle exclaimed. "Dimonis can't get at you in the Goblin Kingdom."



"But I can't," Sarah said sternly. She looked up when a knock sounded on the door. She looked back to where Hoggle had been standing and saw nothing. The knock came again, louder.



"Sarah, I have to pee!" Toby squealed. Sarah threw the door open, Toby sliding past her, and walked out.



The door closed and Sarah stared down the hallway, noticing Hoggle at the end of the hall. "Just ask," Hoggle said. "All your brother hasta do is wish you away."



"But what about Toby? He'll be here by himself. I just can't leave him," Sarah said, walking toward Hoggle.



"Hoggle, are you sure there isn't any other way?" Sarah asked quietly.



"No other way for a human, Sarah," Hoggle said.



"Isn't there any other way, Hoggle? I can't just leave him here," Sarah repeated.



"He's the only one who can bring you through," Hoggle stated.



"Sarah, what's going on?" Toby asked as he left the bathroom, tripping over his long pajama pants. Sarah jumped and turned to the boy, noticing Hoggle disappear. Sarah looked in silence at her brother, thinking things over.



"Nothing, Toby," Sarah said, walking back to her bedroom and ruffling the boy's hair on the way. "There's some Pop Tarts on the counter. I have to make an important call."



"Ok, Sarah," Toby said, heading toward the kitchen.



Sarah entered her room, closing the door behind her. She dressed quickly in a button down shirt and jeans and combed through her hair. She went to the vanity table nestled in the far corner of the room and sat in the small stool. 'I hope this works,' she thought.



"Jareth," Sarah said, looking into the mirror, "I need you. Please help."