I humbly welcome you to my first fan fiction story ever! As it is my first story, I hope that you will SPAM it with many reviews so that I may improve upon my writing, or simply bask in the glory of your praise. (if you do happen to praise it...)
I decided to write this story after I watched a music video of "The Labyrinth." I had actually watched the MV before I watched the actual movie, and so I had a totally different concept of what the plot would be like. Don't get me wrong I do like the original movie a lot, but I just never got my original depiction of it out of my head. And so I have decided to type it out so that all you LOVING, KIND, and GENTLE readers of fan fiction may enjoy it. I assure you it was my pleasure to write it, and I HUMBLY request that you intoxicate yourself with the awesomeness that is Labyrinth. xP
"Tilting her head back Sarah spotted Toby. He was sitting near the top of the labyrinth, and she was at the bottom. Immediately she began running up flight after flight of stairs; but the winding, twisted staircases allowed no definite affirmation that she was headed in the right direction.
'Toby, Toby!' she cried out in joyful desperation as she watched his image enlarge, affirming that she was somehow or other getting closer to her goal. Her breath became ragged, and her limbs insisted that she rest after having endured not only the journey through the exterior labyrinth, but now the interior one as well.
'Have pity on yourself!' they seemed to cry, but the cries fell on deaf ears; for Sarah's focus was completely and utterly on Toby.
At long last Toby was sitting just across from her; they were separated by a mere three to four feet of empty space. But she felt it, more then knew, that if she attempted the jump she would not land on the opposite side. Sarah looked down into the empty space and saw the bottom, or the top, or the side, or whatever the twisted dimension claimed the space to be, but did not believe in it. She was afraid, and yet, as she looked across the gap, there was Toby, just in front of her; just out of reach. By simply stretching her arm out to its full length she was already capable of reaching halfway across the gap.
And so with a deep intake of breath she resigned herself to take the leap. Hoping as she did so that her gut feeling was wrong. But at this point she knew Jareth's world well enough, and as she jumped, she was not altogether surprised when she felt herself not soaring across the space, but falling into an abyss as the labyrinth seemed to crumble about her.
As if paying a tribute to Lewis Carroll, the ruins of the labyrinth began floating as she did. Her descension to solid ground was slow, and her landing was soft.
As she touched ground, her eyes began scanning the surroundings for any clues as to where she now was, and stopped as they fell on Jareth.
He slowly emerged from a darkened archway and began moving toward Sarah. His white cloak gently swayed to his steps and his eyes, one blue and one brown, were fastened on Sarah's own hazel-green ones. Yet she stood her ground, and returned his stare with one equally as scalding. Hers brimming with a fire and defiance drawn from every pore of her soul; accumulated throughout the many dangers she had faced and trials she had overcome. She thus commenced her demand.
'Give me the child,' she commanded.
'Sarah, beware; I have been generous up until now. I can be cruel.'
'Generous?' she scoffed, 'what have you done that is generous?'
'Everything!' he proclaimed vehemently, 'everything you have wanted I have done. You asked that the child be taken, I took him. You cowered before me, I was frightening.'
He paused then for a mere second, and then with a sweep of his arms across the abyss he continued, 'I have reordered time, I have turned the world upside down, and I have done it all for you! ...I'm exhausted from living up to your expectations…isn't that generous?'
Sarah was silent for a moment, and then began reciting, '…through dangers untold, and hardships unnumbered, I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City. My will is as strong as yours, and my king-'
'Stop! …wait,' he exclaimed; as from the air he drew forth a crystal ball, and held it before her eyes. 'Look Sarah, look what I'm offering you! Your dreams!'
She paused for a moment, but then continued on, '…and my kingdom as great-'
'I ask for so little,' he cried, 'just let me rule you! And you can have everything that you want.'
His words caused her to lose her focus and she stopped reciting, shortly afterward however she began again. But his words had fulfilled their purpose, she had lost her concentration.
'…my kingdom as great… Damn! I never remember that line!' She became flustered as she puzzled over the line; and Jareth seeing an opportunity took advantage of her frustration.
'Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave!' he implored, but his proclamation only seemed to cause Sarah to think harder as she attempted to remember the line.
'…my kingdom as great, my kingdom as great…' Suddenly, her eyes lighted up, and as she looked Jareth straight in the eyes, she said, 'you have no power over me!'
Jareth's expression of disappointment was obvious; however he had lost his hold over Sarah, and was forced to not only return her to her home, but also rewind all the time that she had spent in the Goblin City and the Labyrinth. It was as if she had never left the house, as if her all her adventures and heroic deeds had never happened.
She was back in Toby's room, leaning over the crib. And as she looked down at Toby's peacefully sleeping face, she smiled. For she knew that everything she had gained: the lessons, the friends, the excitement, they would forever be etched in her memory; her constant companion. The End…"
Sarah remained seated at her desk as she continued to stare at the last page of the book with its mere paragraph of text. Her hand was on the back cover, but she didn't want to close it. Closing it would mean that it was over, that the adventure had truly ended, and that she was admitting it.
She sat for a few more moments, but then with a sigh, consisting both of contentment and disappointment, reluctantly closed the book.
She then tilted her head back, her eyes shut as she faced the ceiling, and began running through the lines that she had just read in her head; mouthing out the words as she did.
Suddenly, she opened her eyes and got up from her chair. With an exaggerated sweep of her arm she faced her bed and began reciting, "Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City." She paused as she turned toward her dresser and continued, "My will is as strong as yours and my kingdom as great! You have no power over m-," but she never finished the sentence, because at that moment, her bedroom door swung in and the figure of her stepmother stepped into view.
"Sarah, your father and I will be leaving now and I just wanted to let you know that we'll be back late tonight...oh, oh I'm sorry have I interrupted something?"
Sarah knew that her stepmother had meant no harm by her intrusion, but she simply could not get past the fact that her stepmother had walked in on one of her most precious moments. She felt violated and embarrassed, which soon became evident through both her appearance and her actions as in that moment, her face reddened over and she began yelling at her stepmother.
"I've told you countless times that I don't want you entering my room; especially without knocking first!" Sarah exclaimed
"Well I'm sorry, but I-"
"No! Don't be sorry just don't ever come into my room ever again!"
Sarah's harsh works thus sparked an anger in her stepmother, fueled by a contempt for being unjustly accused of a crime she had not committed.
"Do not talk to me in that tone young lady! I am your mother and-"
"No! No, you are not my mother!" Sarah shouted, "In fact it's because of you that she will never get back together with my dad, because you keep pretending to be in love with him, and pretending to be his wife and pretending to be my mom!"
"Well at least I'm not pretending that I can act!" Her stepmother retorted, and regretted immediately afterwards.
The room became deathly quiet, and Sarah's face, already as red as it possibly could be, became redder still upon hearing her stepmother's words.
She quickly spun away from her stepmother and faced her bed; with only the back of her reddened ears betraying her escalated emotions.
"Get out…" she said in a quiet anger.
"Sarah I-I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to-"
"I said get out! Leave me alone, I never want to see you again!"
After this last outburst the room resumed its tomb-like quiet. The stepmother stood in the doorway for a few more seconds, and then with a sigh shut the door. As she did so Sarah ran to her bed and collapsed onto it. Her fingers dug into the comforter so hard that they nearly tore holes on its surface as she buried her face deep into the depths of her feather pillow and began to cry.
"This is all wrong…it's all wrong…It's not…I'm not meant to be like this!" She cried. Her tears began a large moist stain on the pillow cover that slowly spread across the surface, eventually enveloping her face in a wet circle.
She continued crying for a short while longer, and then she clamped her arms tightly around the pillow and began wiping away the tears that still remained on her eyes. As she did so a protruding feather stem cut across her eyelid, and she gave a cry as she felt the sudden pain.
Overcome by a sudden uncontrollable rage, she flung the pillow across the room.
"Damn it! Why is everything messing with me today!?" She screamed.
She watched as the pillow landed, and saw that it had landed on her desk where the book was.
As if in a trance, she suddenly quieted; and getting up from her bed, walked over to her desk and picked up the book. She stroked the cover, and then began flipping through the pages until she found what she had been searching for. In a strong murmur she began reciting, hesitantly, as if she were afraid of the outcome of what she was about to do.
"I-I wish the goblins would come and ta-take me away…right now."