No one kill me… please! I've decide to take a break from YuGiOh for a bit in order to clear my head and breath some new life into my muse. I just discovered Labyrinth and fell in love with the characters almost instantly. (Mostly Jareth)

Special Author Note: I don't think I make it clear enough, but Sarah in in 8th grade in this chapter, and I am also starting from the beginning and changing the actual story as I go.

Labyrinth: A Different Kind of Story

Saved By An Owl

Everyone, as children, dream and think in fairy tales. They believe the stories that many an adult scoff at. Only they can see the creatures that hide in shadows and deal in magic. Only children can run with fairies, play with sprites, and giggle with goblins, but this was not always so.

At one time adults had a respectful fear of all things magical. They knew not to enter the woods on the longest and shortest days of the year, for that was when fairies and elves danced and sang and humans would go mad at the sound of their united voices. They understood that goblins would steal children if they weren't carful. Humans respected and feared the magical creatures that they shared the world with, but as time moved on mortals began to forget about magic. The more they discovered and invented the less they believed in magic and the less that they saw of the fair folk for magical creatures do not like the iron that humans are so fond of and it can even be poisonous to them.

As humans belief waned, as did the power of magic and the hold that the various magical beings had on this world and they fled to a place known only as the Underground. A safe haven where they could preserve their magic and wait for time where they could live freely among the mortals once again.

-oOOo-

Sarah ate her lunch in relative solitude in the school cafeteria. She wasn't completely alone, there were others around, but no one sat by her or tried to make conversation. The girl probably wouldn't have noticed even if they did. She was so absorbed in her book that she didn't realize a group a girls were approaching with wicked grins plastered upon their faces.

"Hey, Sarah. Mind if we sit here?" The obvious leader of the group asked and leaned over the table to stare Sarah in the eye. The girls following her giggled and surrounded the table.

Sarah looked up slowly from her book. "I don't mind, Heather" She answered simply and went back to reading.

Heather smirked and quickly snatched the book from Sarah's hands. The small volume was made of brown leather that was faded and cracked with wear and use.

"You always sit here alone, reading your silly books." She waved it in front of Sarah's face. "What is it this time?"

"Can I have my book back, please?" Sarah asked impatiently. Heather sneered.

"Not until you tell me what your reading." The other girls giggled at their leader for reasons unknown to Sarah, but she had a feeling she wasn't going to like it.

"It's called 'Grimm's Fairy Tales'."

Heathers sneer turned into a full out grin. "Did you hear that girls? It's fairy tales." She flipped the book open with mild disinterest and leafed through the pages carelessly. "I don't know why you read this crap. Don't you know that fairy tales aren't true?"

Sarah felt her face heat with embarrassment. She DID believe in fairy tales, but that wasn't something she liked other people to know. She had lost many friends due to being more interested in stories and magic then boys and clothes. "Can I please have it back now?"

Heather sighed dramatically. "I suppose I could give it back to you," She stopped speaking as the bell rang, letting everyone know that lunch was over. "but I'm going to be late for class. Why don't you meet me behind the school after class?" She laughed and strolled away, surrounded by her followers.

Sarah sat at the table a bit longer, trying to hold in tears. Every day was like this. She had been tormented and teased ever since the start of Jr. high. Just because she was a bit different. Just because she like reading and fairy tales more than make-up and gossip. Just because she refused to be like everyone else. She was an outcast.

By the time school let out Sarah had composed herself. She hadn't finished reading all the stories in her book and had been forced to stop while Cinderella was still at the ball with the prince. Sarah knew very well that the story couldn't possibly end there, it was too nice an ending for a Grimm fairy tale, and she was very eager to find out how the story ended. She had to get that book back, besides it was a gift from her late grandmother.

She came to the back of the school and saw Heather and her friends gathered around one of the large oaks at the edge of the grounds. She held up Sarah's book and waved it around.

Heather spoke once she drew near. "I'm surprised you came."

Sarah tried not to let her emotions show, but she wasn't sure it was working. "I want my book."

"I know, but it wouldn't be any fun if I just handed it over. Answer something for me first."

Sarah was apprehensive. Heather was known for being mean and spiteful to people she didn't like. "What do you want to know?"

"Do you really believe in fairy tales?"

Sarah stared directly into Heathers eyes, she knew what would happen if she answered honestly. Sarah took a deep breath readied her nerves. "I do."

Heathers laughed. "Is that so?"

Sarah nodded.

"So you honestly believe in magic and creatures no one can see?" She asked, but there was no curiosity in her eyes. Only cold fury.

"Yes."

Heather opened the book to the middle and held it by one page. "Would you still believe if I ripped you precious book to shreds?"

Sara's eyes widened. She hadn't anticipated this. "Don't!" She gasped and reached out to grab the book, but the other girls had moved when she wasn't looking and had surrounded her and Heather. Two of them grabbed her arms from behind and held her in place.

"I wonder if your fairy tale will come true and a prince will ride up on a white horse and save you." Heather said as she ripped the pages from Sarah's book one by one and dropped them on the ground. She stomped each page into the dirt as they fell to the ground. It had rained earlier in the morning and the ground was still quite muddy. Every single page of the book was now dirty and wet to the point of being irreparable.

Sarah bit her lip and fell to her knees and tried her hardest not to cry, but she was very close to losing that internal battle.

"Hmm… That prince of yours didn't come. Maybe we need to do something else." The look in Heathers eyes as she said this made Sarah tremble.

Heather snapped her fingers and Sarah was suddenly shoved into the muddy ground. The girls crowded around her and laughed as they smashed handfuls of mud and leaves into her hair and clothes. They gradually became bolder and started pulling her hair and ripping her clothes.

Sarah fought at first, but there were at least ten of them and only one of her. Eventually Sarah stopped struggling and just went limp and cried.

Heather stopped the abuse with another snap. "So Sarah? Still believe in fairy tales? Where's you prince now?"

"He will come." She answered as she sobbed.

Heathers scowl turned into fury. "What is wrong with you! Fairy tales aren't real! Get out of your fantasy land and into real life!"

Sarah slowly pushed herself to a sitting position. "They are real. You can't see them because you don't believe."

"LIAR!" Heather screamed and kicked Sarah in the side repeatedly. The other girls joined in shortly.

Sarah whimpered at a particularly vicious kick that connected with her head, causing her vision to swim. She could feel herself losing her hold on consciousness, but her will stayed strong. "No matter… what you do… to me… I will always…. Believe…"

At that moment a loud, inhuman screech was heard from somewhere above. Sarah could hear the screaming of the girls and their footsteps as they hurried away. She slowly opening her eyes and sitting on a branch just above her head was a white barn owl. It gave a soft hoot and regarded her with strangely intelligent eyes.

Suddenly she felt as if those girls had never attacked her. She was sitting against the tree with no mud smeared in her hair and absolutely no pain.

Sarah quickly checked herself over and found no bruises where she thought she should have them, her clothes were even repaired.

She quickly looked to the owl again, but it had already took off and as the creature circled overhead, it dropped something. A small red book fell right in Sarah's lap. It was covered in bright red leather with golden letters across the top that simply said, 'Labyrinth'.

Sarah watched the owl fly away and she felt something inside her. It was warm and tingly and it spread through her body and made her feel more safe then she had ever felt before. She knew that owl had done something to her, but what that something was, she didn't know.