Hey! I apologize for taking this down on y'all… I'm reposting it in the hopes that I'm more satisfied with it. (:

All right. Well. This story is based on the 1986 film The Labyrinth, with a few tweaks and some DeadRunway and KH flair (:

Basically, this is how it goes: Namine Cross lives with her father, stepmother, and twin sister Kairi. She's a musician, an actress, and an artist. Her family is terrible to her, they don't understand her and they don't want to. Her stepmother and sister call her a freak, her father is oblivious to the verbal abuse she goes through. The abuse leads her to desperate measures… Measures that shouldn't even work, because they're something that shouldn't be real. What is a 16 year old girl to do when her favorite character from her favorite book comes to grant a wish that should never have been uttered?

Well. That was kind of a crappy summary. But I digress.

*ahem*

I own nothing. I do not claim to own anything. I am disclaiming this with all my heart. Seriously. I only own like… most of the plot. Not even all of it. And I don't own any characters… which is sad. ):

Anyway. HERE WE GO.

Chapter One: It Starts With a Wish

When we're children, we believe that the world is a place of magic. We see fairies and dragons everywhere. Our bedrooms and backyards become battlefields or enchanted castles. Children see the world as adults wish they could. Everything is full of hope and dreams are reality.

But then we grow up.

As we get older, we discover things that we wish had stayed in the dark. Our hearts get broken, we are betrayed, childhood friends scorn us, and we figure out that daddy is not the king we thought he was. Our sisters are not our best friends, and we discover that wicked stepmothers are very, very real.

My name is Namine Cross. I'm 16 years old, a wintery blonde with light blue eyes and ivory skin. My room is decorated in white, silver, and black. There are fairytales and Disney movies stacked haphazardly on my bookshelves, and posters from Broadway shows and my favorite bands cover my walls. Next to my bedside table, there's a music box that my mother gave me before she left. It's a little gazebo type thing, and it has a blonde girl in a silvery white ball gown inside it. When you wind it up, the girl twirls in loopy circles while a waltz plays.

Sometimes I feel like that girl. Like no matter what I want, I have to twirl when someone else winds me up. Like I have no control of my own life. I just keep twirling and twirling, and there's nothing I can do about it.

It freaking sucks. Kind of like the rest of my life.

My family just moved here this summer. It took me about a week to get unpacked, but it also gave me an excuse to lock myself in my room so I didn't have to put up with anyone. I promise this isn't normal teenage angsty I-hate-my-life-my-parents-are-terrible-it's-not-fair shit. This is real.

I live with my stepmother, twin sister, and father. I don't think it's possible for anyone to be anything less like their family.

My sister, Kairi, was the most beautiful girl at our school back home in Radiant Gardens. (Which I don't understand seeing as we look almost exactly alike, minus the hair and eye color differences. But moving on.) She was a cheerleader, and she had all the guys eating out of the palm of her hand. She has this gorgeous shoulder-length cranberry hair, and her eyes are so blue they're almost purple. Her skin is ivory, like mine, and is flawless. She's the embodiment of the perfect daughter when our parents are looking: sweet girl, stellar grades, obedient and respectful. But when they turn away… She's the perfect bitch.

My dad's name is Walter. He's a great husband. A workaholic, never notices anything that doesn't have something to do with Kairi or my stepmother. The one time he noticed me was when I started wearing makeup. He looked at me when I sat down at the kitchen table, and tears filled up his eyes. "You look like your mother." was all he said. And then he went back to his newspaper, and he didn't look at me again.

Shauna is the stepmother. She's the perfect wife. Pretty with peachy skin and apple cheeks, red haired just like Kairi. Her eyes are poison green… at least I think so. Daddy compares that green to grass and Granny Smith apples. She wears sundresses all summer, heels all year, and she flaunts her wedding band like nobody's business. She thinks I'm a freak because I'm an introvert. I probably haven't helped that image much seeing as I haven't spoken to anyone since we moved.

I think I have every right though. They moved me from my home, my friends, my band, I had an art show coming up, a good job, and a boy that I was about to get the guts up and tell him I liked him. Atlanta was my home; I'd been born and raised there. I loved that city. Then, one day I came home from band practice and Shauna was standing at the door with my father, waiting for me.

I'd set my guitar down and looked at them warily. They were normally still at work when I got home. Or they'd taken Kairi out somewhere and left me home. They happened to do that a lot. "What's up?" I'd asked, walking to the fridge for a Mountain Dew.

"We're moving." Shauna said briskly. "To Los Angeles."

I spit out my Dew. "What? Why?"

"Better job opportunities for Walter." Shauna clarified. She straightened my father's tie. "Isn't that right, honey?" she smiled sickly. She kissed his cheek. "Now be a good girl and go pack." Her order had a hidden "or else" in it, and was loaded with a little more than her usual amount of venom.

"Does Kai know about this?" I asked, my fist clenching and unclenching.

"Of course. Kairi suggested it."

I laughed humorlessly. "Of course she did." I said.

So now, I'm here. No matter how much fighting I did and no matter how much I cried, we left everyone. Now we were in some Victorian style blue house with a bunch of rich ass brats who thought they ran the shit.

Story of my life.

XxIt'.

I lay in my bed, propping my feet up on the wall, and having my head hanging down off the bed. I was reading, something I loved to do. You read, and then you're not here anymore. You're somewhere else, somewhere better.

Or somewhere worse. Depends on the story, I suppose.

With my story, it was somewhere worse and better at the same time. The Labyrinth was my absolute FAVORITE book. Danger, hot dangerous guys, dangerous friends, it was amazing.

Basically, the plot line was this: A girl hated her family. She always had to stay home and take care of her selfish little brother. Her stepmother was cruel, and her father was oblivious. (sound familiar?) No one knew what she knew, though. The Goblin King had fallen in love with her and given her certain powers. One night, after a long day of housework and putting up with her hateful family, the goblins came to her in a dream and coaxed her into saying the words that would take away the baby forever. When she woke up, she was saying the words. The baby was gone, and the Goblin King was in her room, laughing at her.

It's pretty damn good.

I was disturbed from my reading by a loud knocking at the door.

"Yeah?" I called back, sitting up.

Someone fumbled with my doorknob, and a few moments later Kairi stumbled in. She looked like hell. Her hair was a mess, her dress was hiked up and the neckline was pulled down low. She was missing an earring and a shoe, I could smell vodka and absinthe on her from my bed.

"H-heeyyyy, Nammm." She slurred, stumbling towards me. "Whatchaa do-doing?"

"Reading." I said, rolling my eyes. My parents were out for the night, again. We'd been here a week, and already Kairi'd found some friends to party with and some guy to hook up with, judging by the state of her clothes.

"Youu reading that shtupid goblin book?" she asked. Her voice got higher at the end of each sentence.

"Yeah." I said, rolling away from her. "Leave."

"Ishh my housee, Nammmiiii. I'mma stay heeere." She tried to sit down on my bed, but missed and landed in the floor.

I rolled my eyes. "Look at you. You can't even stand. Go to bed."

"Don't tell me whaat to dooo."

"Kairi. I'm serious. Go to bed."

She struggled to stand. She got to her hands and knees and then crawled my way, inching herself up on my bed. "Why you're not fun?" she asked. She smelled like alcohol and weed.

"Because I don't wanna be here, and because you're all up in my space." I shoved her off the bed. "Leave."

"You're suuuch a baaaby, Manime!" She said, pushing herself back up.

"Look at you, Kairi. You can't even say my name right you're so drunk. Go make some coffee, take a cold shower." (A/N: That whole "Manime" thing was actually my dyslexia kicking in… But it worked out nicely! :D)

"You're a baaabyy! No one likesss youuu. You're FREAK. No one likes you. You're shtupid, you'll never get a boyyyfriendd. I hate youuu. Daddy hates youuu. He makes excuses for youuu. But me and Shhaauuna know what's right. You're a freak." She said hotly, getting all up in my face.

I got out of bed and stood up. "Shut up." I said, jerking her to her feet and pulling her to the door.

She cackled. "What you gonna do, Namiiii? Call the goblins on me?" She swiped her hands across my bookshelf, knocking over movies and a snow globe from Disneyland.

"Kairi!" I cried, dropping her arm.

She walked back to my bed and picked up The Labyrinth. "Thisss?" she hissed, waving it at me. "Thiss is JUNK. Make believe, Namiiii. FAKE." She threw it across the room.

"Stop it!" I yelled.

She picked up my music box. "Mom's NOT coming baaack, Namii. Stop holding onto thish shtuff." She shook it at me, rattling the little blonde dancer in her gazebo. "GROW UP!" She shrieked, and then threw the music box.

"No!" I yelled, throwing my arms out to catch it.

It landed in a heap in the middle of my floor, broken. The dancer's limbs lay at odd angles, and the music was playing quietly.

"Get out!" I yelled, grabbing my sister's arms and throwing her out of my room.

"Whatcha gonna do, Nami?" she sang. "Get the Goblin King on me? Call the goblins to take me away? Take my ass to the labyrinth? Huh?" she cackled as I pushed her out.

"Get out. Leave me alone." I said, slamming the door.

She laughed at me. "They're not real!" she yelled through my door. "Just make believe!"

I listened to her footsteps go down the hallway, and listened to her singing. Her voice seemed to fill the whole house. I knew from experience that she would keep singing until she passed out. And would be another hour or so before she did that.

I rushed to my bed and curled up in the middle. The music box was still playing but I couldn't hear it over Kairi.

All I wanted was to be left alone. To be back home in Atlanta. To have my real mother back. I curled up in a tighter ball and whispered, "I wish the goblins would come take you away. Right now."

And just like that… Kairi's singing stopped.

You like? I like this version of the first chapter better. It makes Namine seem a little tougher, and it makes Kairi look like more of a bitch. Alright, well review dears!

Thanks!

Love,

Runway