Disclaimer: I do not presume to say that I own any of the characters herein or the movie they derive from. 'The Labyrinth' is a true work and mine is only a humble fiction that feeds from it.
Warning: Vampire themes.
Author's Note: This started as a one-shot and degenerated into something longer. It's written in answer to a challenge in a forum.
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When the threat came, Sarah was ready for it.
She was alone in the park, waiting. She'd felt this pull for weeks on end. Sleepless nights and interminable days- they all flowed into one big, breathless moment of anticipation.
Not like there were dreams, oh no. No dreams as far as she could tell. She slept very soundly most nights. Apart from Wednesday but then she'd had a lot on her mind wondering about all of this.
Oh, she'd been waiting.
And it couldn't be too long. Sarah grudgingly admitted that she had an overdeveloped sense of the dramatic, but she knew this- he wasn't finished yet.
She'd steadied herself, naturally; it had taken all her strength of mind not to melt into a quivering heap of 'why' and 'what did I ever do'. Sarah wasn't going to melt into a quivering heap for anyone, let alone That Person. She wouldn't allow it. She had her pride! And she'd never be able to look herself in the mirror again if he showed up and she gulped at him like some petrified goldfish.
She'd been very careful with her words. She hadn't wished anyone or anything anywhere if she could help it. Well, maybe Mrs. Maynard, but seriously, the old bat was forever complaining to Karen about Merlin. As if Merlin would ever deign to dig in her garden- with all those weeds and grubs he'd probably catch something awful if he tried.
She was even nice to Karen! It was a feat and one she felt quite proud of. Karen with all her sugar-coated, painstaking politeness and her unimaginative, monotonous droning. Honestly! The way she talked, Sarah was almost expecting herself to waste away of consumption because she didn't get asked out on dates.
"Poor me," she sighed sarcastically, "No one wants me. I'm nobody's child. Ha!"
When she looked up, the owl was there. Hunched in the weak sunlight and ruffled by wind, but undeniably there. Staring right at her.
For a moment she got the crazy notion that he would appear right there in the park. But he wouldn't, surely. It was too public. Anyone would see and that was usually where the worry ended. Because if 'anyone' saw… Sarah wasn't sure what would happen.
She forced herself to look down, to keep playing with Merlin's shaggy hair. Scratch behind his ear… ruffle the top of his head… pet down his back… scratch behind his ear… ruffle the top of his head… pet down his back… scratch… ruffle… pet… ruffle… pet… pet… ruffle… scratch…
Sarah looked up and the owl was gone.
It was vaguely disturbing. She hadn't heard it come or go. But then she'd been busy concentrating on her little dilemma.
Or big dilemma, depending on what mood he appeared in.
She'd run his labyrinth, though, and she'd won. He'd told her it was dangerous- he'd tricked her, charmed her, threatened her- but she'd won. She just had to keep reminding herself of that fact.
He had no power over her.
When six o' clock came she rose slowly to her feet, clapping her hands and calling to her dog. Merlin bounded up with a bark, ready to lope patiently at her heels as she made the usual dash home at the usual time of much-too-late. It was tradition. Sarah liked traditions. She kept them as strictly as possible.
She ate popcorn every time she went to the cinema. Thanksgiving meant turkey dinners. And Lancelot was the last person she said good night to when she went to sleep.
Lancelot had been the last.
Sarah still wasn't sure about Toby. He cried too much. When he wasn't crying he was feeding or sleeping. Mostly he cried. Logically she knew he was still a baby and he was doing what was natural to babies. It was logical. But she wanted a playmate! Someone to have adventures with!
Like her Mom had done with her.
"The pirates are after us, Merlin," she muttered, jogging faster across the street, "See that light there? We have to make it there! An old, wise man lives there and he'll help us."
She paused at the gate of the Mackenzies' garden, staring at the statue with wide green eyes. "Please, Sir," she began, "We need your help. It's urgent!"
Merlin sat down and waited.
Eventually she turned back to him. "He says that we're almost at the safety zone. Come on, Merlin! There's no time to sleep! Adventurers never sleep and we have the secret treasure."
She wasn't looking where she was going. Only running, dark hair whipping into her face as she ducked behind someone's house and looked back to call Merlin.
Hard hands caught her up and she yelped as she toppled.
Fortunately, someone's body was in the way.
Unfortunately, someone's body was in the way.
Sarah felt the grip tighten on her arms as she stared up in fright at that face she knew from a childhood past. "Oh, no."
"Oh, yes. Why the hurry, Sarah?" He grinned down at her, lowering his hands finally and taking a courteous step back. "Was it the unicorns chasing the mane-thief? Or the pirates again?"
She gasped, the breath knocked out of her. "How do you know?"
"I've watched you. I thought we both knew that." He folded his arms and the smile seemed to melt away. And then he just looked at her, feral and tense and so awfully controlled! How did he manage to keep himself so controlled?
It could only be one thing- "It's not over, is it?" Sarah asked, still panting slightly.
He shook his head and had the pleasure of seeing her look momentarily desperate. "Fear nothing. I won't send you back to the Labyrinth."
Sarah was relieved. She could feel it slacken her muscles and unknot the lump in her throat. "I'm not scared of the Labyrinth," she said bravely.
"Oh?" He looked almost amused at the show. "And why is that?"
"I beat you the last time."
His lip curled. "You beat the Labyrinth, little girl. You haven't beaten me. And I am far more dangerous."
Sarah had nothing to say to that. She knew what she wanted to say. She wanted to tell him to leave her alone and she wanted to tell him that she didn't want to see him again. She wanted to tell him that he'd done quite enough, thank you very much, and she was done with him and his Labyrinth and his painfully revealing games.
"I'm going home," she said bluntly, "Don't you come near me again."
She almost made it past him. She prayed all the while that she walked towards him, all the while as she drew level with him. She was almost past him! And he grabbed her wrist and spun her around.
"You are coming with me," he told her.
"What? Why!"
"Because it is the way of things."
"No, it's not! This isn't how the story goes! You have no power over me and I demand that you let me go."
"Hardly." He held on even tighter as he conjured up a crystal and dropped it at their feet, his grip still trapping her.
A bare flash of light and she just knew that tingle on her lips. The smell of the air in her nostrils. "Let me go," she seethed.
One hard yank and he considerately let her go.
She sank back into the wall, cradling her hurt wrist. She stared at it for a while, imagining the bruises that would form. While she was at it, she imagined the sheer panic her Dad would get into if Merlin turned up at home without her. They'd be wild, worrying about her and fearing for her safety.
They'd never even find her trail because she was with a fairytale gone wrong, with the villainous Prince Charming, in a land where the magic was constructed to hurt.
She intended to look up with just the right mixture of stern determination and proud sufferance. That was how they did it in the movies. It was the only way to look, anyhow, to show him that she wasn't going to be pushed around again.
He could abuse her, beat her, torture her but she…
Sarah stopped there.
Sarah stopped there and looked around at pure disaster- walls that caved and collapsed; withered plants and blackened stone; at a haze of smoke in the strange sky.
"Get up. It's not safe to stay here anymore."
Sarah did as she was commanded. She was too surprised to do otherwise. She even followed him as closely as she could when he strode to the doors that hung creaking on their hinges.
Jareth clicked his tongue but went in without comment, steering right. He walked, waited, watched and then swung right again and took a left.
Sarah blinked her eyes. "But the worm," she blurted.
"What worm?"
"The worm."
"You are not making sense."
"I tried to go left. The worm said never go left," Sarah explained, pointing down the twining passages, "Never go that way. That's a direct quote. He even repeated it."
"Whether he repeated it or not, it is the best way to go. If you keep going this way, you go straight to the Castle. Perhaps make sure of your directions next time."
He stalked away without another word. Very clearly in no mood for polite conversation.
Sarah hesitated less than a second but followed anyway. There was nowhere else to go but forward. She'd learned that at least in the Labyrinth.