Author's Note: Well, here I am again, writing fanfiction. It's been quite a while since my last delve into the fanfiction world, atleast the writing side of it, but I just could not help myself. My formatting is probably horribly off, so I apologize. Updates will be extremely few and far between as well, please read my page for reasons why. Constructive criticism is welcomed; it's been so long since I watched Labyrinth, but I've been missing Bowie quite a bit lately&decided to honor one of my favourite films he did. Thank-you for reading, I do hope you enjoy! ~VV

Chapter 1:
Of Memories Remembered and Knowledge Gained

Every step carried her closer to her destination. She couldn't wipe the smile off her face. Weaving down alleys, she ran her fingers over the stone work. She half expected some unknown creature to pop out from a corner, maybe even the Worm, offering to take her to meet the missus. But no.

This was not the Labyrinth, and she shut those thoughts down almost as soon as they began, as much as she missed her old friends and guides.

No, this was her usual weekend adventure to another dusty, rarely-traveled bookshop.

Sarah loved books, almost as much as she loved performing. Working for a publishing company, she didn't often get to perform much anymore; small plays here and there with the local theater company. But, she was still surrounded by books. And on the weekends, she made regular trips to the small bookshops that may hold rarer treasures than their commercial counterparts.

Sarah spotted her destination, the old-fashioned wooden sign hanging from a pole over the sidewalk only slightly faded. A large glass front and beautiful stained-glass door welcomed her. The sign proclaimed it to be "The Book Nook", the sign on the door saying "Open". Sarah pulled open the door, a bell above it giving a high-pitched jingling. She breathed deep, enjoying the smell of old paper and dust.

"Well hello there! You're my first customer today, anything I can help you with, my dear?" a stooped old woman had appeared from behind a curtain behind the cash register. She smiled a crooked-toothed smile, and Sarah grinned back. Small book store owners could be some of the most interesting people.

"Just browsing right now, but I'm sure I'll find something here! You have quite a bit of merchandise." Sarah replied, looking around. All three walls infront of her were covered in shelves bursting with books, and a few loose papers. There were smaller wooden shelving units on the store floor, also filled with books, with worn, dark leather chairs sitting haphazardly in spaces that could hold them, and a small door on the back wall that probably lead to an alley.

"Alright m'dear, just holler if you need me!" the woman began fidgeting with what looked like rings in the glass display the register sat on. Sarah smiled. She had found many a small trinket in these tiny bookstores.

The shelving on the floor looked newer than the wall's shelves, so Sarah drifted to the wall to the left of her, trailing an index finger over their slightly faded spines with her head tilted slightly to read the titles. Some books, of course, didn't have titles on the spines, and it was her rule that she would pull the book out to see what it was only if it looked older. A lot of new books were just that- new books, missing their jackets.

Sarah's mind started to drift a little, knowing that important titles would jump out at her if she saw them. She wondered how Toby was doing, reminding herself to call later. While she hadn't grown close to Karen in the way some step-mothers and their step-children did, Sarah had grown out of her immature, petty ways. It was wonderful to see her father so happy, and Karen was always good for advice or a chat. Sarah hadn't made many friends in University, which suited her just fine. She believed her time in the Labyrinth had changed her in a number of ways, and her fierce independence was just one of them.

'The Labyrinth,' she thought, 'I wonder how Hoggle is? And Ludo. Sir Didymus and Ambrosius too.. and J-'

"No." Sarah said aloud, pausing in her slow path along the shelves.

"Did you say something, deary?" the old woman called from her place behind the register, looking concerned.

"Oh, no, sorry. Just.. thinking aloud!" Sarah called with a smile over her shoulder at the woman, and with her finger still on the book she left off at, she turned back to the shelf infront of her. Another reason she didn't make many friends- she was prone to outbursts of inner thoughts, usually having to do with a certain Goblin King and her need to drive him from her mind. The dreams were bad enough and couldn't be helped, she didn't need to have him in her waking mind too.

Shaking her head a bit, Sarah refocused, then frowned.

Underneath her index finger, a bright red cover practically shone. The book was slim, with no title on the spine. Sarah stared, unsure of why this book caught her attention, only that it caused a strange feeling to come over her, as if she was forgetting something. It broke her rule to do so, but she pulled it out to examine the cover.

It was blank.

"Strange." Sarah said quietly, thinking 'Maybe it's a notebook?'

"Ah, we've had that one for quite a while! No one has ever picked it up. Curious little thing, most of it's pages are blank! No title anywhere that I could see either, but it's quite an interesting book." the old woman had made her way to Sarah, staring at the book in her hands.

"If I'm being honest, I just want it to have a home. I'm not entirely sure where it came from either, just that it appeared in the back room quite some years ago. I'd be willing to give it to you, but only if you promise to tell your friends about the dusty old bookstore and the kindly old woman who runs it." the woman winked, and Sarah laughed.

"Are you sure? I'd feel awful if it would put you out any money." Sarah said, hugging the book to her chest.

"Oh, it's no trouble! Like I said, it deserves a home. Just to be certain it's the book for you, sit down and take a little read of it. I usually ask all my patrons to do the same, don't want a book going home only to be returned." the woman made her way back behind the register as Sarah settled down in a chair, placing the book in her lap.

She stared down at the cover, feeling both excited and nervous for reasons she would not let herself think of, not just yet. She ran her thumb down the side of the book, and delicately, as if it would fall apart, lifted the cover, then gingerly flipped the blank opening pages where there should have been a title and author, copyright notices and publishing licenses, book contents and dedications. Finally coming to a page with words, she began to read, and stopped remembering to breathe.

"The Goblin King sat upon his throne, mis-matched eyes closed, while the distant sound of crumbling stone could be heard faintly on the breeze carried in through the many windows of his impressive throne room. Tufts of his white blonde, spun-candy hair drifted lazily about his face, the rest of it fluffed up as usual, but so much more ragged than ever before. He sat with a knee bent, foot resting on the seat, his chin in hand with bent elbow on one arm of the throne. Not a Goblin was to be found, for the Goblin King was in a tremendously terrible mood, had been in a terrible mood for much longer than was usual. He was very angry. He was immensely troubled. He was peculiarly pensive. He pondered and lamented his poor Labyrinth. He had always been a force to be reckoned with, that mighty Goblin King, but his power could not fix the crumbling walls of all that he ruled; nor could his power fix the crumbling walls of his stone-cold heart, but this he did not see for he did not think much of his heart these days, or had ever at all before or after Her.
So there, the Goblin King did not see the answer that was quite clearly inside of him."

Spots appeared in Sarah's vision, and if she had not been sitting she would have crumpled to her knees. Drawing in a large breath of air as if surfacing from a lake, she blinked back tears she didn't realize had formed in her eyes.

"Something is wrong. So wrong." she said in a shaking exhale, drawing the confused stare of the elderly book store owner.

"Alright there, dear? You're sheet-white! Is that book that bad? There wasn't much in there when I peeked at it, just something about a goblin king all in a tizzy."

"Uh, no, I'm- I'm fine. It's just, what, uhm, what exactly did the book say when you read it, if you can recall?" Sarah asked, and the older woman's brow furrowed at the unusual question.

"Oh, let's see. A king of goblins had just been bested by a young girl, and he was in some sort of rage! And his heart that had been thawing was hardening anew, while his labyrinth was suffering the consequences.. There were only those few paragraphs of course, this must have been nearly a decade ago or so. It seemed like a sequel to another book, but I've never come across the first. Has... has the book changed?" The woman gave Sarah a strange look, as if she was suddenly considering the possibility that the girl infront of her was mentally unstable.

"No, no it's just.. I had the first book, the one this is a sequel to, when I was a child. I never thought... I never thought there would be a sequel."

The woman's concern left her face, and she gave Sarah a sympathetic smile, eyes shining.

"Well, then that's that. You simply must keep it, it must have been waiting for you all along!"

Sarah gave her a shakey smile, "Yes. Yes it must have been."

Author's Note (again): There it is. The first chapter. I have a loose idea of where this is going, different snippets already typed out, but like I said, it will be spotty updating, and long waits inbetween, so please bare with me, I'll write when I can! ~VV