Power in Her Words, A Labyrinth Drabble
(This story is based around the idea implied by the movie that the world of the Labyrinth reflects/is influenced by Sarah's personal life and the things she surrounds herself with - just look at her room in the beginning of the movie and you'll see little bits of the Labyrinth everywhere!)
There was power in her words.
It took so long for her to realize.
By the time she did, it was too late.
She had already created the world, the Labyrinth, the goblins, and their King.
Every time she played dress-up in the park, every time a misfit toy was added to her room, every time she recited lines to her reflection in the mirror another piece was added to the maze and another creature dropped into its woods.
Her imagination knew no bounds, and she couldn't keep her ideas in her head; they flowed forth from her mouth and flew in the air and everyone who knew her knew what a fanciful girl she was.
But she didn't always smile, and sometimes her eyes held anger and frustration, and so her imaginings became darker and wilder the more she dreamt.
She never knew though how much she had created. She had no idea how everything molded and twisted to her will.
She couldn't know that the slightest word could change an entire land.
If she had known, she never would have made her near fatal mistake of wishing her crying baby brother away to the goblins.
Because once she had wished it, it could not be withdrawn.
Once she spoke her dreams aloud, they were more binding than iron.
And so it was that once she said the Goblin King had fallen in love with her, there was no power in any world that could make it not so.
He had been molded and shaped over the years, taking on aspects of people she had met, things that attracted her, as well as the qualities that frightened and excited her.
He was used to the role of the mysterious fantasy villain that she so often set him in during her play time; the role of 'love interest' was one he had not expected.
So when she ran his Labyrinth and bested his tricks, he wondered why he was being so lenient – why he allowed her companions and short cuts, and why he constantly offered her dreams.
Part of it was that he loved her, and yearned for her to see him as something more than a villain.
But warring with that was the desire to stay in control – to not be so pushed and pulled by the whims of a young girl. To show through his cunning that he could exist on his own, that he was more than just a figment of her mind… that the creation could overcome its creator.
He had almost succeeded.
In so many instances he had her right where he wanted: he was in control, he had the power, he could kill her if he wished.
But he could never wish that.
Because what she said was true:
He had no power over her.
After she left he thought he was done; that she would let go of her dreams and erase them all like so many young people her age.
He was more than surprised to be called back to her house, to see his minions (her friends) cavorting around in her room.
She had spoken aloud that she needed them, all of them, and there was nothing they could do but obey.
After not too long a while she discovered her power, and tried with all her might to keep from changing anything else; but that world couldn't stagnate, and she was incapable of stemming her imagination.
So that world grew and grew, and she was a part of it without physically being there, and all the while the Goblin King watched her grow and watched his kingdom flourish, and the more mature she became, the more complicated his mind became also.
She understood things better now; understood that there was a darkness to all light, and the shades of gray between were not necessarily bad.
They were something to explore.
Eventually she invited him back, giving him a purpose as she had given the others: to help her grow and mature yet also be full of magic and wonder; to become the kind of woman she had always wanted to be.
He only loved her more and more the longer she held onto him.
She had shaped him, molded him, given him power over his dominion and himself… but never power over her.
She granted him an independence of thought, a dangerous charisma, and a beating heart that drummed with a rhythm he hoped she could understand.
She didn't need power over him, because he gave her that power willingly.
He didn't need power over her, because she would one day give him her heart of her own free will.
And with her words they would never, could never, be parted.
*Author's Note:
It's meant to be disjointed and sort of 'train of thought', so I apologize if it doesn't make perfect sense. You kind of have to really know the movie to understand the... vagueness.
But anyways, this is one of the ways I can see Jareth and Sarah actually coming together as a couple later in life... I really love them as a pairing, but they're really hard to make work and still stay in character. I kind of... took some liberties and extrapolated with Jareth in this anyways because we really don't know what he did after the events of the movie... though if you read the "Return to Labyrinth" manga you might have an idea, but I prefer to take that as a 'possibility' rather than fact.