Disclaimer: I do not own any characters from the movie Labyrinth. The Labyrinth characters and events in the movies belong to Jim Henson, may he rest in peace as his legacy lives on through all of us. I seek to make no profit from this venture and I promise to return everything back the way I found it.
A Champion's Prize
Story by Jessica Arbuckle (Jessi, Princess of Impatience)
June - undetermined, 2005
Chapter One, The Old Box…
The moonlight shone into an apartment filled with partially unpacked boxes. In the midst of all of it sat Sarah, rifling through boxes and stuffing packing products into a large trash bag. She turned to a small box next to her and paused. Unlike many of the others, this one was dusty and appeared to have been packed years ago. It was marked, in bold black marker, 'Childhood.' She stood up from the floor, working the kinks out of hr neck and back before she picked up the box and headed in the direction of her bedroom to put it in the closet. She would look at it later, she had too many other boxes to unpack.
She walked through the apartment, a gift from her parents for her 21st birthday a week ago. She had teased them, saying they were trying to get rid of her, but she knew they were simply trying to give her a place of her own now that she was finished with school and looking for a job. She had not accepted any money for college, preferring instead to work for what her scholarships had not covered, and they had begged her to take this place. She had relented by only allowing them to make the first year of rent payments while she job-hunted. She went into the bedroom, the one room that was completely free of boxes and already decorated. She had spent the afternoon getting this room completely ready after they had finished moving the boxes and her family had left.
As she reached up to place it on the shelf in her closet, something pricked at her mind, a fragment of a memory of what was in this box. Instead of placing it on the shelf, she sat down on the floor, the box in her lap. As the tape was old, it peeled away easily. Opening the lid, she found many childhood toys and memorabilia she had long since placed away from her mentally and physically.
She pulled out several stuffed animals and figures before coming to a small leather book with the words 'The Labyrinth' embossed on the front. She opened it to where its ribbon bookmark lay and looked down at the page.
"Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, I have fought my way here, to the castle beyond the Goblin City, to bring back the child that you have stolen…" she read out loud, and then paused, gasping. She dropped the book as images and memories assaulted her mind - Toby taken away by her selfish wish, meeting her dear friends, facing the Goblin King. For over five years she had no dreams or memories of the Labyrinth, at least any that she could remember, until now. At first, the shock was almost overwhelming, that she could have forgotten, that she had made herself forget.
She had pushed all of it, the good and the bad, down in her mind, buried it and forced herself to forget all the things that had happened to her, things she had brought on by wishing Toby away. At first, she hadn't want to, but she was unable to move beyond that point in her life until she had. She had been too obsessed with the place, wanting to go back, to see all her friends, to even see him. At barely sixteen, she had thought to grow up meant to leave all childish things behind. She hadn't considered that perhaps it wasn't necessary to forget and leave behind those childish things that were very real, that perhaps they were a vital part of her.
Now, to her extreme regret, she realized that all of what she had gone through was indeed very much a part of her that she had been foolish to try and forget. It had shaped who she had become. She was different now than she was before that night. Instead of selfish and spoiled, she was now wiser, kinder and compassionate. And she had grown up, in every sense of the word. She had even had relationships that had sprung from her newly awakened ability to truly see what was going on around her instead of what she wanted to see. Yet, something had held her back from accepting her last boyfriend's proposal, from sleeping with him or the others and from even letting them get close to her heart or body. Now she knew what it was.
It was him – Jareth the Goblin King, baby snatcher and fantasy come true. The memories of him were the strongest and for a moment she wondered how she had ever allowed herself to forget him, to forget the way he spoke in that soft accented voice that could sound cold or amused or even gentle, to forget the way he looked, his wild frost blonde hair framing a face that contained the most gorgeous mouth and incredible eyes. Eyes that were mismatched, one a crystal blue and the other a fluctuation of green and hazel, eyes that had burned with fiery anger and even softened in what she had once girlishly believed was love.
And that was when she realized the truth. She loved him and only him. Although she had forced her conscious mind to forget, her subconscious and heart had not. She almost laughed at herself at how ridiculous that sounded, to love someone she had only just remembered. Perhaps, though, that was why she had fought so hard to forget.
The ache of sitting in this position for almost an entire evening, then repeating it again now, sprung her from her thoughts and she set the box on the floor, reaching once more for the book. She stood and walked to her bed and sat, stretching out as she slowly stroked the cover of the well-loved little book. She traced the title on the cover as she whispered, "Jareth, if only I knew how you felt about me."
She felt the book grow warm under her fingers and she sat up straight, almost dropping it. A strange voice, at the same time like the sound of the wind through the trees and like the sound of thunder in a storm, whispered in her mind faintly but soon grew loud enough for her to understand.
"Champion of the Labyrinth, at last you have called. You have taken much longer than was expected. Is this wish what you desire for solving the Labyrinth?"
'What, now I'm hearing things?' she thought. What a perfect addition to this night.
The strange voice laughed – at least that is what the noise it had uttered sounded like to Sarah. "Know this, my champion. I am the essence of eternal magic, the true protector and overseer of the Labyrinth. The Labyrinth is both a part of, yet also separate from, the kingdom of the line that rules the goblins. They care for the Labyrinth and are given use of its magic to complete their task. In order to finish your game with the current ruler, you had to solve the Labyrinth, which few have ever done. But know this - solving the Labyrinth has awakened magic you hold deep within you, which has allowed you to call to me and once allowed you to call to the ruler of the Goblin Kingdom. As you have solved the Labyrinth, and possess the magic to call to me, you will receive your prize. And now I ask you again. Is this wish what you desire for solving the Labyrinth?"
Sarah's mind reeled at the thoughts in her head. She had magic. More than that, a voice from the Labyrinth was offering her anything she desired to wish for on the night she had discovered her heart's true desire.
"Yes, that is exactly what I want," she said out loud to the empty room.
"Then sleep now, oh champion, as I show you the desires of the heart of Jareth, King of the Goblins."
Sarah lay back against the pillows, closing her eyes. As she drifted off to sleep, she heard the voice once more.
"And may we meet again soon," the voice whispered, sounding almost amused.
a/n: Please R/R, I would just adore it!