Good evening all.

This is the first piece of Fanfiction I have ever posted online. This story is an experiment, and I am not beginning with a clearly defined end in mind--only characters, plot, and an idea of where these characters will end up in the end. I apologize if my style throws you off--trust me, as of right now, you're not really supposed to understand fully what is going on. Feel free to guess, however. ^^

Now, I should also say that this is not going to conform to what several of you may expect to find in a Labyrinth fic. That's all I'm saying for now.

Also, I hate to kill speculation here, but I am afraid that The Creature is not anyone you know. Yes, that's right--the first chapter is actually not recognizable as a piece of Labyrinth fanfiction. Deal. You may, however, make as many guesses as you wish as to the Creature's relation to the story...^_^

Please, please, please review. I may not really feel like continuing this if you don't. Trust me--I have a lot on my plate...finding a better title for this fic, for example....anyway! Let us begin.

(...And yeah. The opening is short. Sorry. Also--I don't own Labyrinth and I'm not making profit. So there.)

The rain was as beautiful as a broken body of glass.

Carefully, silently, he observed the collision of the tiny droplets against the cold, cobbled street. He watched the rainbows in one of them curve and blink when it dropped and broke. He saw it collide with the asphalt. He saw the pieces split apart and retreat. He saw the rainbows die.

The rainwater rushed against and around the creature's cheek, trying and failing to pull his strands of dark hair along with it into the nearby sewer. The Creature scowled at the sewer grate as the water fell into the gargling hole in the sidewalk. The current was like knife that was frozen in time, constantly echoing the tingling pain that accompanies the very first moments of a wound. The Creature tried to search himself for the will to get up, to rise from the trodden street, to remove its head from the grime-infested runoff that his temple was immersed in.

He couldn't find it.

He shivered, tried to keep his teeth from chattering, and closed his eyes.

How he wished he could be like the rain. How he wished that, when he fell against the cobblestones, his shattering form would give way to countless progeny leaping higher than their parent's body. He wished he were not like the glass, where when the parent fell, its offspring jutted out with sharp and biting edges. He wished he could simply be like a drop of water that erupted into many smaller drops upon impact, instead of like a glass globe that fell and shattered, leaving angry shards waiting about.

But wishes could only be made in whole glass, whole globes, and they—they were only a fantasy.

Worse, that glass had to be circular, a never-ending geometric shape that demanded an infinity that he could not give.

Finally, the Creature stirred. He blinked its blue eyes and turned onto its back. Although glad to remove his numb cheek from the icy current of street-water, the asphalt was harsh against his spine. He had hoped to spot stars above, maybe a moon and a few planets, but all it saw were gray, jeering clouds, blades of rain falling at his face, and one leafless tree-branch on which a pigeon huddled despairingly.

I could perch up there with you, the Creature thought to the pigeon, whose feathers turned in the wind. Our bodies will keep each other warm and safe. His fingers curled into his palms, and he shuddered when the wind blew. I will in a minute. Don't worry, I will join you in a minute.

The Creature closed his aching eyes.

He did not move.