A/N: Wow, I'm back! :P This is a story I've been working on for ages, and as of yet it's still incomplete, but I just couldn't wait any longer to post a couple of chapters. For those of you who have come since I last wrote a story, this is a sequel to a line of stories I wrote ages ago. For the best effect, I suggest you read "Say The Words" and "When Words Aren't Enough"...in addition to the stories I collaborated on with my friend (you can find her stories under the pen name SkItZoFrEaK). Yes, it's a lot to read! X_X I think you'll be able to understand this without the aid of those stories, but you'll appreciate some of the minor details a lot more if you DO read them! :) I'm working on rewriting STW and WWAE, because I wrote them so long ago and am not really all that satisfied with them anymore. Isn't that the way things go?? Anyway, I really hope you like this story. I've tried my best to make it interesting! ;)
Disclaimer: This is so common that nobody reads these anymore. ;) Nonetheless, not a single one of the characters appearing in this chapter belongs to me. Jareth, Sarah, Toby, and the whole 'Labyrinth' crew belong to Jim Henson and all of those folks. This is a nonprofit organization. :P
* * *
Prologue
I want a real adventure.
Not that The Nightmares weren't scary or anything, but I mean, I didn't even really get to do anything! The fight was over before anything exciting happened!
And besides, that was years ago.
Sarah gets to have adventures every day…she even LIVES with goblins 'n stuff! And what do I get? "Toby, clean your room!" "Toby, eat your vegetables!" "Toby, if I hear you've stuffed that boy in his locker one more time…" I mean, come on! What's a guy supposed to do with his life after he's fought monsters? Eat his vegetables?? Yeah, right.
I keep asking Sarah if I can come live with her, but she always says no. Actually, it's her husband, that Jareth guy. You'd think with the way he kidnapped me and all that he'd WANT me to stay, but he's always like, "No, stay here, you're annoying." Okay, I guess he's never really said THAT, but he might as well! I've heard him talking to Sarah when he thinks I can't hear. Jerk. He might live in a cool place, but I don't like him at all.
"Toby?"
Giving a startled twitch, Toby scrambled frantically to hide the lurid green notebook set wide open on his desk. Nobody knew that he kept a journal -- it was too close to being a diary, and if anyone knew that Toby Williams wrote in a diary he'd never get over the shame of it. But a person had to get his feelings out somehow, didn't he? Sarah would understand. Of course, Sarah was too far away to talk to…
"Toby, are you alright in there?"
Karen always got worried if her son didn't answer her immediately after her summons. Usually, she just barged right into the room, but Toby had had the presence of mind to turn the lock before pulling out his journal. The last person he wanted to discover his secret was his own mother.
"Yeah Mom, I'm fine," he called back. After making sure that no one could possibly find the notebook, he stood up and went to unlock the door. Karen Williams stood tall and forbidding in the hallway beyond.
"Why did you have your door locked?" she demanded. "I was afraid you'd hanged yourself. With the way kids are nowadays…"
Toby scowled in irritation. "Mom, I'm not gonna kill myself, okay? Yeesh!"
"Well, I know you've been acting rather strangely lately, and you won't tell me what's wrong, so I worry…"
She always worried. If Toby came home later than he should, she worried that he'd been kidnapped (it was a good thing she hadn't been home that night when Jareth took him). If he scratched himself while outside playing, she worried that he might've broken a bone or gotten some sort of exotic and incurable infection. All this worrying alone was enough to make Toby go crazy, and she wondered why he wouldn't tell her what was wrong? Not that she'd believe me anyway, he thought, and besides, Sarah made me promise to never tell.
"Anyway," Karen continued, "dinner's almost ready, so wash up and come downstairs, okay?"
"Yup." Toby slid past his mother and walked down the hall toward the bathroom. Not even two minutes later, the doorbell rang.
"Sarah!" Toby heard his father exclaim. "How good to see you!"
Then came his mother's voice. "Sarah! You didn't even tell us you were coming! I'd have cleaned up the house, and set another place for dinner…!"
That was all Toby heard before he was barreling down the stairs. Once at the bottom, he hurled himself at his sister and hugged her. "Hi, Sarah!"
"Hello, Toby," Sarah laughed, returning the embrace. "How are you?"
They began walking to the kitchen as Toby regaled his sister with tales of his school adventures. Karen rolled her eyes and grimaced at some of the stories, but Sarah laughed at every one. That was another reason why Toby liked his sister so much; she always enjoyed hearing his stories. His father always listened with tolerant attentiveness, but it was obvious he wasn't really interested. Karen never even stayed silent long enough to let Toby finish before she began her scolding. And half of the things that he said weren't true anyway!
Somehow, Toby had inherited his older half-sister's taste for theatrics. He didn't love the theatre as she did, but if he had, he would have made a terrific actor. His stories were often exaggerated, true, but he put so much movement and emotion into each of them that one couldn't help being drawn into the tale. And he was still young; many of his older relatives guessed that he'd be an actor eventually, if he kept up his storytelling habits.
With Karen around, the possibility was very slim. "That will be enough," she said at last, in that tone of voice that meant an end to all fun. Toby trailed off glumly and flopped down in his seat at the dinner table, and Sarah smiled at him sympathetically. She was the only one who understood…
* * * *
"Toby, please don't start that again."
Okay, maybe she really didn't understand after all.
"C'mon, Sarah!" he whined. "You hardly visit at all anymore! And I haven't visited you in like…YEARS! Why'd you come tonight, anyway?"
"Because I missed you and felt like seeing you. And it's been two years, if that," Sarah corrected him. "If you want to visit the Underground so much, all you have to do is wish for it. Remember how you got there the last time?"
"Yeah, and I fell down in that hole," Toby retorted. "If Hoggish, or whatever his name was, hadn't found me…I could've died!"
His sister laughed, eyes shining with amusement. Toby wasn't sure how she could be amused when he was feeling desperate. "I'm sorry," she said after several moments. "I know you're getting frustrated -- Karen's getting worse with her worrying, I think." Toby gave an emphatic nod to that statement. "I promise you, any time you decide to come for a visit, we'll welcome you openly."
"Why can't I come now?" Toby persisted. Sarah sighed.
"Because there's a lot going on, and it wouldn't be the best time to have visitors." As though hearing some message that was only for her ears, Sarah stood up and smiled apologetically at her brother. "I have to go now," she announced. "Tell Dad and Karen I said bye, okay?"
"Yeah," Toby replied sullenly. "See ya later, Sarah."
Part of him wanted to just walk out of his room and leave Sarah to disappear on her own, but he always loved watching her transport herself back to the Underground. Plucking a smooth crystal sphere from thin air, she tossed it up above her head. The crystal enlarged rapidly until it was big enough to fit her inside, and as it floated back down to the ground, light as a bubble, it surrounded her. Then both crystal and Sarah disappeared from the room.
After a few moments, Toby pushed himself up from his chair and went to his parents' room to tell them that Sarah had left. Karen, no doubt, would be upset at the abrupt departure…she'd probably start ranting about manners and etiquette and all sorts of other things that Toby really just didn't care about. As he approached the door to their room, though, he discovered that his mother was already talking about those things.
"Robert, you know I love seeing Sarah just as much as you do, but this showing up unannounced has got to stop! What if she comes at an inopportune time? And how can she afford to travel back and forth from England so much?" Robert Williams gave an answer that was too low to hear, and then Karen's shrill voice continued, "Just showing up on someone's doorstep is rude! Imagine what sort of manners she's teaching Toby by doing that! I have to say that I wish the same thing would happen to her, just one time. Then maybe she'd understand why I always get so impatient with her!"
Slowly, a bright and devious smile began to form on Toby's face. It was rude to just show up at a person's house unannounced? And his mother wanted Sarah to get a taste of her own medicine? That could easily happen…and he knew for a fact that Sarah was going to be busy. Hadn't she said so herself?
Racing back to his room, Toby shut the door and turned the lock once more. All he had to do was wish…Well, hopefully things would turn out the way he planned this time! He flopped down on his bed and squeezed his eyes shut.
"I wish…I wish I could show up right on Sarah's front doorstep, like Mom said! I wish, I wish, I--"
The floor -- and everything else, for that matter -- disappeared from around him. Toby remembered this part from the last time he'd wished himself to the Underground. Not that it was any less scary than it had been before (after all, he was falling through space), but he didn't panic as he had the first time. Things were going just as they were supposed to, and soon he'd be grinning at Sarah and Jareth's shocked faces…
Had he not found himself landing hard in a place that was totally foreign to him.
Disclaimer: This is so common that nobody reads these anymore. ;) Nonetheless, not a single one of the characters appearing in this chapter belongs to me. Jareth, Sarah, Toby, and the whole 'Labyrinth' crew belong to Jim Henson and all of those folks. This is a nonprofit organization. :P
Prologue
I want a real adventure.
Not that The Nightmares weren't scary or anything, but I mean, I didn't even really get to do anything! The fight was over before anything exciting happened!
And besides, that was years ago.
Sarah gets to have adventures every day…she even LIVES with goblins 'n stuff! And what do I get? "Toby, clean your room!" "Toby, eat your vegetables!" "Toby, if I hear you've stuffed that boy in his locker one more time…" I mean, come on! What's a guy supposed to do with his life after he's fought monsters? Eat his vegetables?? Yeah, right.
I keep asking Sarah if I can come live with her, but she always says no. Actually, it's her husband, that Jareth guy. You'd think with the way he kidnapped me and all that he'd WANT me to stay, but he's always like, "No, stay here, you're annoying." Okay, I guess he's never really said THAT, but he might as well! I've heard him talking to Sarah when he thinks I can't hear. Jerk. He might live in a cool place, but I don't like him at all.
"Toby?"
Giving a startled twitch, Toby scrambled frantically to hide the lurid green notebook set wide open on his desk. Nobody knew that he kept a journal -- it was too close to being a diary, and if anyone knew that Toby Williams wrote in a diary he'd never get over the shame of it. But a person had to get his feelings out somehow, didn't he? Sarah would understand. Of course, Sarah was too far away to talk to…
"Toby, are you alright in there?"
Karen always got worried if her son didn't answer her immediately after her summons. Usually, she just barged right into the room, but Toby had had the presence of mind to turn the lock before pulling out his journal. The last person he wanted to discover his secret was his own mother.
"Yeah Mom, I'm fine," he called back. After making sure that no one could possibly find the notebook, he stood up and went to unlock the door. Karen Williams stood tall and forbidding in the hallway beyond.
"Why did you have your door locked?" she demanded. "I was afraid you'd hanged yourself. With the way kids are nowadays…"
Toby scowled in irritation. "Mom, I'm not gonna kill myself, okay? Yeesh!"
"Well, I know you've been acting rather strangely lately, and you won't tell me what's wrong, so I worry…"
She always worried. If Toby came home later than he should, she worried that he'd been kidnapped (it was a good thing she hadn't been home that night when Jareth took him). If he scratched himself while outside playing, she worried that he might've broken a bone or gotten some sort of exotic and incurable infection. All this worrying alone was enough to make Toby go crazy, and she wondered why he wouldn't tell her what was wrong? Not that she'd believe me anyway, he thought, and besides, Sarah made me promise to never tell.
"Anyway," Karen continued, "dinner's almost ready, so wash up and come downstairs, okay?"
"Yup." Toby slid past his mother and walked down the hall toward the bathroom. Not even two minutes later, the doorbell rang.
"Sarah!" Toby heard his father exclaim. "How good to see you!"
Then came his mother's voice. "Sarah! You didn't even tell us you were coming! I'd have cleaned up the house, and set another place for dinner…!"
That was all Toby heard before he was barreling down the stairs. Once at the bottom, he hurled himself at his sister and hugged her. "Hi, Sarah!"
"Hello, Toby," Sarah laughed, returning the embrace. "How are you?"
They began walking to the kitchen as Toby regaled his sister with tales of his school adventures. Karen rolled her eyes and grimaced at some of the stories, but Sarah laughed at every one. That was another reason why Toby liked his sister so much; she always enjoyed hearing his stories. His father always listened with tolerant attentiveness, but it was obvious he wasn't really interested. Karen never even stayed silent long enough to let Toby finish before she began her scolding. And half of the things that he said weren't true anyway!
Somehow, Toby had inherited his older half-sister's taste for theatrics. He didn't love the theatre as she did, but if he had, he would have made a terrific actor. His stories were often exaggerated, true, but he put so much movement and emotion into each of them that one couldn't help being drawn into the tale. And he was still young; many of his older relatives guessed that he'd be an actor eventually, if he kept up his storytelling habits.
With Karen around, the possibility was very slim. "That will be enough," she said at last, in that tone of voice that meant an end to all fun. Toby trailed off glumly and flopped down in his seat at the dinner table, and Sarah smiled at him sympathetically. She was the only one who understood…
"Toby, please don't start that again."
Okay, maybe she really didn't understand after all.
"C'mon, Sarah!" he whined. "You hardly visit at all anymore! And I haven't visited you in like…YEARS! Why'd you come tonight, anyway?"
"Because I missed you and felt like seeing you. And it's been two years, if that," Sarah corrected him. "If you want to visit the Underground so much, all you have to do is wish for it. Remember how you got there the last time?"
"Yeah, and I fell down in that hole," Toby retorted. "If Hoggish, or whatever his name was, hadn't found me…I could've died!"
His sister laughed, eyes shining with amusement. Toby wasn't sure how she could be amused when he was feeling desperate. "I'm sorry," she said after several moments. "I know you're getting frustrated -- Karen's getting worse with her worrying, I think." Toby gave an emphatic nod to that statement. "I promise you, any time you decide to come for a visit, we'll welcome you openly."
"Why can't I come now?" Toby persisted. Sarah sighed.
"Because there's a lot going on, and it wouldn't be the best time to have visitors." As though hearing some message that was only for her ears, Sarah stood up and smiled apologetically at her brother. "I have to go now," she announced. "Tell Dad and Karen I said bye, okay?"
"Yeah," Toby replied sullenly. "See ya later, Sarah."
Part of him wanted to just walk out of his room and leave Sarah to disappear on her own, but he always loved watching her transport herself back to the Underground. Plucking a smooth crystal sphere from thin air, she tossed it up above her head. The crystal enlarged rapidly until it was big enough to fit her inside, and as it floated back down to the ground, light as a bubble, it surrounded her. Then both crystal and Sarah disappeared from the room.
After a few moments, Toby pushed himself up from his chair and went to his parents' room to tell them that Sarah had left. Karen, no doubt, would be upset at the abrupt departure…she'd probably start ranting about manners and etiquette and all sorts of other things that Toby really just didn't care about. As he approached the door to their room, though, he discovered that his mother was already talking about those things.
"Robert, you know I love seeing Sarah just as much as you do, but this showing up unannounced has got to stop! What if she comes at an inopportune time? And how can she afford to travel back and forth from England so much?" Robert Williams gave an answer that was too low to hear, and then Karen's shrill voice continued, "Just showing up on someone's doorstep is rude! Imagine what sort of manners she's teaching Toby by doing that! I have to say that I wish the same thing would happen to her, just one time. Then maybe she'd understand why I always get so impatient with her!"
Slowly, a bright and devious smile began to form on Toby's face. It was rude to just show up at a person's house unannounced? And his mother wanted Sarah to get a taste of her own medicine? That could easily happen…and he knew for a fact that Sarah was going to be busy. Hadn't she said so herself?
Racing back to his room, Toby shut the door and turned the lock once more. All he had to do was wish…Well, hopefully things would turn out the way he planned this time! He flopped down on his bed and squeezed his eyes shut.
"I wish…I wish I could show up right on Sarah's front doorstep, like Mom said! I wish, I wish, I--"
The floor -- and everything else, for that matter -- disappeared from around him. Toby remembered this part from the last time he'd wished himself to the Underground. Not that it was any less scary than it had been before (after all, he was falling through space), but he didn't panic as he had the first time. Things were going just as they were supposed to, and soon he'd be grinning at Sarah and Jareth's shocked faces…
Had he not found himself landing hard in a place that was totally foreign to him.