Juncture
Chapter 1: Departure
Never a night did pass without a fleeting thought of what could have been.
Never a breath did release between lips without a name being too close behind.
Never a face did shape without its very features being compared to another.
Never did the mortal girl brush her fingers along her mirror without shivering.
Never did the fae wake in the morning peacefully without dreaming of that girl's eyes, mind, and body.
And never, ever, did the Labyrinth settle its stones and traps without silently screaming that something was stolen from it.
Yet in the empty walls the castle stood upon, a king sat within his throne and manipulated the very boundaries of time, reality, and everything in between so his beloved would never face hardships.
In his grasps, she obliviously went through the same scenario repeatedly until all was well and she was safe. For time and fate were her own enemies and he would be her glorified knight pulling the strings behind this fairy tale.
This was the fate spun from selfish desires.
This was the fate forced by careless whispers and pleas and demands.
How gracious. How cruel.
Déjà vu. A phrase never seemed to fit her life more perfectly as of late. It was an odd sensation, Sarah mused. Even a simple walk down the street to reach a small café filled her senses with bewilderment as her head whipped side to side. She was anticipating something, yet that something never came. A woman walking by her would seem so familiar but somehow also a stranger all at once.
Anytime the mind replays a memory, that memory is never quite the same compared to the actual event. Pieces will be added on naturally; where a person titled their head in the memory, they never did in reality. However, for Sarah it was as if she was living a fragment that once happened but things were not being added onto it. No, things were missing. Things that should have happened but never did occur.
This sensation would leave Sarah puzzled for hours if she allowed herself to fully ponder it. Hours would tick by, classes would eventually blur, and Sarah would find herself in her bed at the end of the day unfulfilled.
Her peers would tell her to explore off the campus; things were stressing her out, according to them. When she did not relent, neither did they. Spring break was approaching fast. Why not spend that time relaxing with her family? Sarah was not the crazy party type, so this suggestion from them appealed easily to her.
"You guys just want to get rid of me," Sarah teased, laughing. "I just know it!"
Her roommate, Charlotte, laughed easily with her. "Oh, of course. I cannot bear to be with you any longer!" There was mock seriousness and a wink of a brown eye.
Sarah giggled to herself as she continued to pack her suitcase. Charlotte, among her other friends, were leaving for Daytona Beach. Again, they suggested for Sarah a vacation with loved ones that wouldn't be bathed in alcohol and sticky sand, and Sarah did not hesitate to agree. In her three years attending university in hopes of reaching a degree in child psychology, she acquired loyal companionships that sought only the best for her. When they realized Sarah was spending most of her time in the clouds, they were quick to try and bring her down. What better solution than the family she kept in framed portraits so close to her bedside?
"I think spending some time with Toby is what I'm looking forward to the most." Sarah said, attempting to close her luggage. When it did not close, she huffed. She turned around and jumped backwards onto the suitcase where she was now positioned in a sitting matter upon it. When the case closed under her weight with a click, she grinned.
"Nice, Sarah. Ever the resourceful one." Charlotte said, an eyebrow raised and a smile tugging at her lips. "If you didn't over pack—no, not even over pack! If you packed neatly and correctly, you'd have no problem," she closed her own suitcase with ease. "Like so."
"Oh, hush! I pack just fine, thank you." Sarah mumbled, though amusement was still evident. She crossed her arms and blew a strand of hair from her face. "It's hardly fair that you grew up with traveling constantly!"
"I wonder what your basis for comparison is." Charlotte sighed, her hands on her hips.
Sarah's fingers tightened their grip and dug into her own arms. "What was that?"
"I said," Charlotte sighed out again, "that moving all the time was hardly in my control!"
Sarah's grip on herself lessened but her mouth remained dry. She was sure she heard different yet familiar words reign from her friend's mouth, even if they made no sense to the topic at hand.
"Right…" Sarah trailed off, biting her bottom lip slightly.
"Well, everything is packed and ready to go." Charlotte said, smiling. She patted her suitcase for emphasis.
"Have fun, okay? Bring me back a souvenir!" Sarah bubbled, quickly returning to her usual self.
"Duh, of course. What kind of friend would I be if I didn't?" Charlotte walked over to Sarah and gave her roommate a tight hug.
"Get the time you need, Sar. You've been walking 'round this campus lately like there's just one too many things going on in that head of yours." Charlotte said softly, concern lightly evident.
"Don't get sappy on me, Charlotte. I'm not on my death bed. Just…distracted is all." Sarah reassured her friend, patting her back before leaning away from the embrace. "I'll be one-hundred percent before you guys get back. Promise!"
Charlotte grinned, grabbed her luggage, and walked to the door. Before she turned the doorknob, she turned back to Sarah.
"Good."
With that, the door opened and closed behind her, leaving Sarah to her thoughts before she finally grabbed her own luggage and headed to leave.
No one heard the desperate cries, the angry shouts, and the broken groaning.
No one, of course, besides Jareth.
The Labyrinth's wails vibrated deep within his very being, shaking his bones and emptying his lungs. These moments were brief but painful.
Sometimes the pain nearly brought him to his knees but he'd fight to remain standing. The suffering of the Labyrinth was not physical, but mental. The sickening emptiness that the structure felt wrapped around Jareth's own feelings of dread and increased the agony tenfold. This sensation of seemingly perpetual morose was enough to bring any man to his knees and beg for it to stop.
Jareth, however, was no regular man and he prided himself on that. He was fae, he was the Goblin King. He would not allow her to reduce him to any less.
At least, he tried desperately to remain as sturdy as the very stone of his beloved Labyrinth. But, if the Labyrinth's stone was cracking under loss, how did Jareth plan to remain planted on his own two feet?
It was his fault that the labyrinth was in such disarray. When she won, when she became the first champion, the Labyrinth instantly adored her. It gifted her, without her knowing, the power of wishing. So happiness could be found with the right words if she so deemed it.
Jareth's love had been sparked from the beginning of her journey, but grew intense by the end of it. When he realized that the Labyrinth, the very structure that remained attached to his being forever, felt the same…why, his love became all consuming.
"Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave," Jareth had cooed, had begged.
Her lips opened, yet the wrong words fell from them.
"You have no power over me."
With the throw of the crystal that held her very dreams, he screamed in silent rejection. However, at least to his ears in that moment, the Labyrinth's wails of agony and loss were loud and clear.
Thus marking the first day of many more that the structure reveled in pain. Its pain nearly matched Jareth's own.
Nearly.
Something had to be done before his kingdom crumbled upon itself. He needed the adhesive that would repair all wounds.
He needed her.
"Sarah…" He whispered, looking over his chamber's balcony to gaze out upon the maze that wept to him constantly.
AN: Yikes, my first Labyrinth project! I'm very excited for it and I hope everyone enjoys it. I have a good portion of it already completed, so with a little encouragement (-looks to the review button sheepishly-) I'd love to continue it! Also sorry about the random OC, she won't really have a major role.