CURSE OF THE LABRYNTH
Disclaimer: THE ONLY THING I CLAIM TO OWN IS THE INSANE IDEA THAT FORMED THIS STORY. EVERYTHING ELSE IS BORROWED FROM RESPECTIVE OWNERS.
LABYRINTH, (THE TRANSCRIPT - IN PART)
"You have understood nothing," Jareth told her. "You have answered none of the Labyrinth's riddles. You don't even know what the questions were."
"That wasn't our bargain."
Jareth threw back his head and laughed. "There, just as I told you. You have understood nothing."
* x* x* x* x* x* x* x*x *x *
Sarah's lips were parted. "Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City --"
"Listen!" said a goblin, one of a nest in a dark corner of the castle.
Jareth was retreating step by step up a staircase behind the archway.
Sarah continued to advance, into the archway. "-- to take back the child you have stolen," she repeated. "For my will is as strong as yours --" Sarah took another step. "-- and my kingdom as great --"
"She's going to say it," a goblin hissed.
"She's going to say the words," gabbled another, agitatedly.
* x* x* x* x* x* x* x*x *x *
The stairs behind Jareth were descending now, and he backed slowly down them as Sarah stood above him. "I ask so little," he said, spinning the crystal. "Just believe in me, and you can have everything you want ... everything you have ever dreamed of ... your dreams, Sarah ..."
She was frowning, and had halted her advance. "... and my kingdom as great ...," she said. "Damn!"
A goblin shook his head decisively. "That's not it. Never."
"Shhh!" said another.
Sarah's fists were clenched white. She was thinking frantically. What were her right words?
Jareth took a step toward her. He needed her belief in him. "Just fear me and love me," he told her in a gentle voice, "and do as I say, and I ... I will be your slave." He stretched his hand out toward her, and took another step back up the stairs. Jareth's fingers were close to Sarah's face.
She stood where she was, and swallowed. "Kingdom as great ...," she muttered, " ... kingdom as great ..." She saw the crystal spinning in his fingers, and felt on her lips the warmth of his outstretched hand. She gasped, and, from some inspired recess of her mind, the words came out, blurted out.
"You have no power over me."
"No!" Jareth screamed.
"No!" the goblins exclaimed, astounded.
A clock began to strike.
Jareth tossed the crystal ball up into the air, where it hovered, a bubble. Sarah looked at it, and saw Jareth's face, distorted, on the shifting, iridescent surface. Gently, it drifted down toward her. She reached out fascinated fingers for it and, as she touched the bubble with her fingertips, it burst. A mist of water atoms floated down the air toward Jareth. But Jareth had disappeared. She heard his voice, for a
last time, moaning, "Sarah ... Sarah ..."
His empty cloak was settling onto the ground. A beam of light picked out a little cloud of dust motes rising from it.
The clock continued to strike.
With a last, slow flutter, the cloak lay still. From beneath it, as the clock struck for the twelfth time, a white owl flew out and circled over Sarah.
Tears were trickling down her cheeks.
The white owl was still flapping above her, but in other respects the scene had changed. She was standing on the staircase of her home, and it was dark outside. She raised her eyes to look at the owl. It circled her for a last time, found an open window, and flew out into the night.
* x* x* x* x* x* x* x*x *x *
Outside the dark window, the white owl had been perched with his claws hooked on a branch, an effigy of watching and waiting. Now he swooped away over the park, on silent velvet wings, up toward the full moon. Nobody saw him, white in the moonlight, black against the stars.
And here the story continues…..
CURSE OF THE LABRYNTH
Chapter One
"Brian," Sarah greeted with enthusiasm. "I'm glad you called," she continued, giving him a hug. "I was starting to think you dumped me!" She laughed.
"No," He chuckled, returning her affection. "I've just been so busy with this new job I'm lucky I have time to piss."
"Good to know I'm on the list with bodily functions," she laughed, linking her arm through his as they started following the path into the park.
It had been five years since that frightful night in the labyrinth. Sarah had found Toby sleeping contentedly in his crib, had said goodbye to the friends she had made in the Underground, and had cried herself to sleep for weeks afterward over a broken heart she knew wasn't hers.
Her dealings with Jareth had forced her to grow up when she hadn't been ready to. She had thrown away all the useless fanciful junk she had cluttering her room; only keeping certain keepsakes of her mother and specific trinkets for nostalgic purposes.
The sudden turn around in her behavior and maturity had made her parents' heads spin, but they had seemed pleased with the changes that had ensued. She had finished high school and gone on to college, collecting a few friends along the way. Gone were the lonely days of solitude and fantasy with only one small reminder that constantly followed her.
"Sarah, I'm not sure taking this job was such a good idea," he confided.
"Why? What are you talking about? You've already been promoted after only five months of working there."
"I know, and I love it, I really do, but… I just feel like I'm drowning. I never have any time for … anything!" he stressed, raking his hand through his sandy blonde hair. "I honest to god don't know how you do it. You have a full time job plus your classes. You go to the reading club every Wednesday night, you volunteer at the 'Y' every Sunday, and you have a high grade point average on top of everything."
"I only have three classes, Brian," she countered pleasantly, "and the work I do at the publisher's company doesn't restrict me to a desk. I can edit the publications from most anywhere at anytime as long as I get them finished by their deadline dates."
"Still," Brian contradicted. "How do you manage your time so damn good?"
"So damn well, actually." She laughed, looking over at him slyly. He smiled back at her as she finished. "I don't know, I just figure that time doesn't stand still for anyone. I do what I have to and get things done."
Brian stopped and turned her to face him, taking both her hands in his. "Sarah," he started, looking apprehensive. He opened his mouth to say something, changed his mind and closed it, only to open it again. "God, I have no idea how to even start this."
"Try the beginning," Sarah offered, already having a feeling she knew what was forthcoming.
"I'd be so lost without you," he stated, his green eyes fixed on her intently. "You have been my best friend for almost three years and you know that I love you, but…"
'Here it comes,' Sarah thought, 'why am I not surprised.'
She smiled sweetly at him and squeezed his hands with hers. "I think I know what you're trying to say, and it's okay. We can just go back to being friends if that's what you want."
"You're not mad?" Sarah shook her head with a patient smile. "You're not hurt or anything, are you? Cause I swear the last thing I'd want to do is hurt you."
"You'd hurt me more by not being honest with me, Brian," she explained calmly. "We said we'd try dating and see what happened. We've done that and I don't regret it, but lets be honest, we're really not what either of us is looking for."
"But we did have fun, right?" he said with a sly grin.
"Oh, we definitely had lots of that." She grinned back at him.
They both laughed and Brian leaned forward to touch her forehead with his. "I do love you, you know," he said sincerely. "You really are my best friend."
"Same here, Brian," she replied, widening her eyes jokingly to stare into his, causing them both to start laughing again.
Turning to head back to the entrance of the park, Brian paused to look over at the trees. Sarah followed his line of sight.
"I thought I saw…" Brian started hesitantly. "Yep, there he is. It amazes me how that bird finds you no matter where you're at."
Sarah's eyes instantly landed on the white owl that Brian was referring to. "Yea, well, that's what I get for taking pity on him when he was wounded."
"It's okay," Brian chuckled, taking her hand again as they walked along. "I got used to your 'pet' a long time ago."
* x* x* x* x* x* x* x*x *x *
The impending storm had cut Sarah and Brian's night together short. The concert they had waited months to attend had been held outdoors and was canceled immediately when lightening streaked the skies close to the stage.
Deciding to simply call it a night, Sarah and Brian had went their own ways but agreed to have lunch together later in the week.
The rain started pouring down steadily as Sarah pulled into her driveway. Rushing from the car to the front door, she slipped the key into the lock and pushed the door open just as the sound of fluttering wings came up behind her.
She instinctively ducked as the white owl flew over her head and into the house. He landed on the banister at the foot of the stairs and turned his head to glare at her with mismatched eyes, fluffing his wet feathers irritably.
"Well, it's a damn shame you don't have thumbs to hold an umbrella, isn't it, Jareth?" she quipped as she closed the door and walked past him into the kitchen.
He screeched at her loudly, ruffling his feathers to let her know he was pissed for being locked out of the house, then flew into the kitchen to land on the back of a chair.
After her experience in the Labyrinth Sarah had found that her stepmother, Karen, really wasn't that bad of a person after all. In fact she was quite loving and generous and had bought Sarah a small two bedroom house as a graduation present. It was only fifteen minutes away from the college Sarah had chosen to attend.
"I hope you found your own food," she told him. "I didn't have time to stop by the pet store for more mice."
The owl opened his beak at her, his eyes glaring angrily. Sarah half laughed at the mental image of Jareth hissing at her to 'not defy him!' when he had been in human form. She went over to the cellar door and opened it.
"I'm sure there's some downstairs for you to catch, Jareth. You know they always come through the broken window when it rains."
With another dissatisfied screech he took flight towards the open doorway to the cellar, making sure to fly past Sarah close enough to make her jump back from his wing.
"And you wonder why I lock you out!" she yelled down at him and slammed the door closed.
She turned to raid the fridge hoping she still had something left over that she could just heat up quickly. She really wasn't all that hungry but had to eat something none the less. She grabbed the dish of spaghetti from the top shelf, unwrapped the tin foil from it and tossed it into the microwave. Grabbing a couple of bread sticks she sat down at the small table while her food heated up.
She jumped slightly at the sound of something being knocked over in the cellar, most likely the box of books Karen had dropped off a week ago. She took another bite off a bread stick and chewed thoughtfully while ignoring the little squeaks and fluttering of wings that filtered into the kitchen.
It was her fault that Jareth was cursed like this and she knew it. He had told her, just before she had turned his world upside down, that "she had understood nothing", and he had been right. Somehow she had cheated the labyrinth. She hadn't been asked any questions in order to answer or understand anything, and that wasn't her fault.
She'd fought her way through the labyrinth, she had defied everything Jareth had thrown at her, she had made it to the castle, and she had rescued her little brother. That's what the challenge had been. That was what she had succeeded in doing.
She had no idea that there were consequences on Jareth's part until she had noticed the snow white owl outside her window the next morning. She had known immediately that it was Jareth. His mismatched eyes had glared at her with hatred through the closed window.
He had swooped down at her, screeching at her with his talons open to claw at her whenever she had left the house. Though he had never harmed her, she knew that he had wanted to. Then one morning Karen had shot him with a twenty-two rifle as he swooped out of the tree in front of their house.
Sarah felt a part of her die as she watched him fall to the ground, helplessly flapping around on the lawn. He shrieked in pain, his eyes looking at her for help as Karen raised the rifle for another shot.
To this day Sarah wasn't sure what happened next. She remembered yelling for Karen to not shoot him again as she ran to the fallen bird. She remembered dropping to her knees before him and grabbing him into her arms to protect him from more harm. His right wing was completely blood stained when she wrapped him into the bottom half of her t-shirt.
She heard Karen yelling for her to not touch it and get back, but she didn't listen. She carried him into the house, at Karen's horror, and took him to the small bathroom, locking the door after her.
Sarah unwrapped her blood stained shirt from around him, then, gently eased him into the oval sink. He simply stared at her as the tears poured from her eyes to drop onto his blood splattered feathers.
She remembered talking to him, asking him why he would risk being hurt like this as she turned on the water in the tub and took a warm washcloth back to him. She never gave it a second thought that he simply laid there, a wounded animal on his back in a sink with a bloody wing. He made a small noise when she pressed the cloth to his wound but otherwise allowed her to help him unhindered.
The pounding at the bathroom door would always be in Sarah's memory. The screaming to get that wild animal out of the house. The demand for her to open the door or else.
Sarah's eyes hardened into cold pools of ice. They reflected in the owl's wide orbs as he watched her. She took the warm cloth and wrapped his wing with it, gently picked him up and tucked him once more into the folds of her shirt before opening the bathroom door.
She met Karen's eyes with cold determination and told her in no uncertain terms that she was going to drive them to the vet right now. She walked past her step mother as the woman simply mumbled about getting her keys and she'd be right out.
The vet cleaned the owl's wing and bandaged it, giving Sarah pills to feed the bird twice a day for ten days to avoid infection. "Just place it inside his food," the doctor told her. 'Right,' she thought, 'you try to feed a bird a pill when he understands everything that is going on.' She glanced at the owl and bit her lip at the knowing glare he was giving her. 'Try it,' that glare stated.
As it turned out he didn't give her any trouble what so ever while she nursed him back to health, including swallowing the pills, with or without the food. Karen was even nice enough to let Sarah keep him in a crate in the garage.
After he healed, the owl took to following her wherever she went. Then after she moved into her own house, he invited himself inside whenever it pleased him to do so. Over the years Sarah learned to just accept that he was always around and didn't think twice about talking to him as though he were still human.
The sound of the microwave brought Sarah back to the present. She rose from her chair, got her food and placed it on the table just as Jareth started screeching from the other side of the closed door.
"Too bad," she told him, sitting down before her plate. "You can wait until I'm done eating."
Before she took her first bite, however, she heard the small cooing sounds and his feathers rubbing against the back of the door.
"Won't work, Jareth," she said, popping a forkful of spaghetti in her mouth.
The sounds didn't stop, the cooing alone was enough to touch a soft spot within her, but added to the feathers rubbing against the door… she couldn't stand it.
Pushing her chair back she stood and stalked over to open the door. "I hate when you do that!" she chastised as he flew past her to land on the table. "And don't you dare… Jareth!"
He landed on the table by her plate and took a noodle of spaghetti before she could stop him. Flying up to land on top of the fridge he looked back at her with innocent eyes, the string of spaghetti dangling in his beak.
"You've been getting a bit out of hand lately, Mister," she grumbled irritably, sitting back down to eat her dinner.
He screeched at her with annoyance until she turned to look at him.
"What? When you stop acting like a common barn owl, I'll stop calling you by common titles."
He glared at her silently as he swallowed down his piece of spaghetti.
* x* x* x* x* x* x* x*x *x *
A low cooing noise interrupted Sarah's peaceful sleep. Reluctantly opening her eyes, she rolled onto her back to see the silhouetted form of an owl perched above her head on the headboard. Raising herself to a half sitting position, she craned her neck back to glare at him.
"What the hell are you doing?" she asked incredulously.
One blue eye popped open to focus on her.
"What the hell is wrong with you?"
The brown eye popped open to look at her innocently.
"Don't give me that look," she continued, getting up on her knees. "I don't know where you've been sleeping for the past five years, but you're not going to start sleeping in my bedroom!"
He glared at her so intensely that his eyes almost crossed.
She took hold of him with both hands, ignoring his indignant squawk, lifted him from the headboard and shimmied herself to stand on the floor. Walking out into the hallway she looked from left to right before deciding to place him on the banister at the top of the stairs.
"Good night, Jareth," she stated firmly and went back to her room.
She heard the flutter of wings as she climbed back in bed, listened for a minute, then shrugged when she didn't hear anything after that. Laying down once more and getting comfortable she heard the sound of tapping coming from the hallway. She lifted her head to look just as Jareth came into view at the doorway, walking along the hardwood floor.
"Jareth!" she exclaimed.
He stopped in mid stride, turned his head around almost backwards to look at her and hooted in a questioning manner.
"What the hell is wrong with you?"
He tilted his already backwards head to the side, making him look absolutely grotesque.
"Please don't do that, it's very disturbing."
He cooed and turned his head forward before continuing along the hallway.
Sarah flopped back into her pillows, slapping herself in the forehead in exasperation. She had no idea why he was acting so strange lately and he didn't seem to be forthcoming with even trying to make her understand. She seriously hoped it was simply a phase and he'd get bored with it very soon.
* x* x* x* x* x* x* x*x *x *
Sarah slowly walked through the library, running her fingers along the bindings as she went. The place was huge and had books that she'd never heard of before. Picking an aisle to wander down next, she heard a book fall to the floor behind her. Thinking she had somehow bumped one off its shelf, she turned around to find nothing on the floor. Nothing was out of place. With furrowed brows she turned back in the direction she was heading when a sudden shrill screeching blared in her ears.
Bolting upright in bed, she was faced with a screeching owl flapping his wings over her as he swooped down then up and circled around the room for another assault.
"Dammit, Jareth!" she shouted at him angrily. "I swear to…"
The owl swooped down over her side table and grabbed her alarm clock in his claws, dropping it on her lap as he whooshed overhead. Picking it up, she looked at the face and made a screeching noise of her own as she scrambled from the bed.
"Shit! I'm late!"
Sarah broke her own record of showering, getting dressed, throwing her hair into a pony tail, slapping on a bit of make up and stampeding down the stairs all within twenty minutes. She grabbed her purse, books, and the portfolio with the scripts she had read before turning for the door.
Jareth was perched on the banister at the bottom of the stairs near the front door, holding her car keys in his beak. She grabbed them without thinking and was halfway out the door when she stopped dead in her tracks. She turned around cautiously to look back at him, a sudden uneasy feeling coming over her.
"Since when have you become so helpful?" she whispered.
He made a muddled hooting noise, ruffled his feathers then turned his head the other way indignantly.
"Thank you, Jareth," she said in a quiet voice.
The owl spun his head around to face her once more, blinked one eye, then opened his wings to take flight through the door before he got locked inside.
* x* x* x* x* x* x* x*x *x *
Sarah and Brian met at a café downtown where you could sit outside to eat. Having already ordered, they caught each other up on the last few days. Sarah kept Jareth's odd behavior as of late to herself, while Brian talked about wanting to join a gym but that he didn't have the time.
Their food was served but before either of them could touch any of it a ruffle of white feathers dropped from the sky to land directly on the table in front of Brian's plate.
"Sarah, what's he doing?" Brian questioned cautiously, pushing his chair back away from the huge white owl. The owl stepped closer to Brian's plate intimidatingly.
"Jareth," Sarah sing sang is name.
He turned his head to look at her.
"What the hell are you doing?" she asked in the same tone.
He turned his attention back to Brian, took another step closer to his plate, hooted loudly, jumped up with wings flapping, grabbed the Rubin sandwich from the plate and flew off high above the heads of everyone in the café.
"Son of a bitch!" Brian yelled, jumping to his feet, but it was too late.
The owl had already flown over the building and was out of sight.
"Sarah, dammit, what the fuck is wrong with that thing? Since when does he get that close?"
"He's been acting a little weird lately," she answered behind her hand, finding it hard for some reason to keep a straight face. "I'm going to do some research on owls, maybe it's a phase they go through."
"A phase?" Brian asked incredulously. "It just stole my lunch right off my plate, Sarah. That's dangerous coming from a bird that size. I think you should call someone, game control or someone, and have them catch him and take him away."
"I don't have to be that dramatic, Brian. It was only a damn sandwich. He's never done anything to make me think he'd hurt me, or anyone else for that matter."
"Here, take my sandwich if you're going to be such an ass about it." She shoved the plate across the table towards him.
"Do you hear yourself?" He threw his hands in the air dramatically. "You're getting defensive over a wild animal that just got way too close."
"And you're overreacting when the poor thing only wanted food," she said, putting her hands on her hips. "He's seen you with me many times over the years, Brian. I don't think it was as random as you think."
"That makes him even more dangerous, Sarah. Don't you see that?" he stressed, leaning on the table. "He's gotten used to being close to people. What if he goes after a child with a sandwich? Then what?"
Sarah took a deep breath before answering. "I'll check into the behavioral habits of owls, and I promise that if he does anything like this again, I'll call the game commission or whoever. Okay?"
"Yea," he answered, finally reseating himself. "At least you're thinking about it seriously."
"I was only kidding about giving you my sandwich, by the way. Hand that back to me, will ya?" she said in a lighter tone, reaching for the plate again.
"How about we split it?" He grin slyly. "I have to be back at work in fifteen minutes."
"Fine. But I get the pickles," she conceded playfully.
* x* x* x* x* x* x* x*x *x *
Sarah glanced up into the tree in front of her house as she got out of her car. She didn't see the white owl where he normally perched while waiting for her to return home, but she knew he was nearby. Unlocking the front door, she pushed it open wide and stepped back.
"I know you're there, Jareth," she said calmly into the semi darkness. "Please come inside."
A few seconds later she heard the fluttering of wings before the familiar form swooped down from the tree and glided into the house to perch on the banister. He turned his head around backwards as she walked in behind him and closing the door firmly.
"What the hell were you thinking, pulling a stunt like that?" she asked with more control than she thought she had, her hand still resting on the closed door.
"Brian is now convinced that you're some horrific threat to society, not to mention every small child within a five mile radius." She moved away from the door to stand in front of him, meeting his gaze at eye level as he glared at her from the banister.
"I know it's bullshit, Jareth. You don't have to glare at me as though I'm addled." She placed her keys, bag and books on the end table. "But he's right about one thing; you've gotten too used to being around me out in public." She shrugged off her jacket and hung it in the closet.
"I don't think you realize how intimidating you still are. Even as an owl, you're a bird of prey, and a very sizable one at that." She crossed her arms. "But just because I'm used to you, doesn't mean everyone else would be so tolerant of you flying around their heads."
She turned with a tired sigh and walked into the kitchen. The owl followed her and perched on top of the fridge to watch as she moved around getting herself something to eat.
"Personally, and I do mean this literally, Jareth," she stressed, looking at him pointedly. "Just between you and me, I thought it was funny to see the look on his face when you made off with his sandwich." She smirked when he hooted in response. But her humor faded, leaving a somber expression in its place.
"I don't know how to protect you if someone calls the game commission, Jareth," she continued, turning to poke holes in the frozen dinner she had taken from the freezer. "You freaked out quite a few people today."
The fork in her right hand clanked on the counter top as she slammed it down. She bowed her head, her hair just long enough to cover the sides of her face. With a controlled intake of breath she raised her head and met his watchful gaze.
"You can't fly around like that." Her eyes teared up slightly. "They'll hurt you, put you in a cage." Her voice cracked at that last statement and she turned her head quickly. The thought of him being taken away, being treated like a common animal, hurt more than she wanted to admit.
She'd gotten used to him always being with her. She liked talking to him, knowing that he understood every word. How he ruffled his feathers and squawked at her when he was irritated. How he cooed when he wanted to suck up. He didn't deserve living like this but there was nothing she could do about it, except keep him with her and take care of him for as long as need be.
He flew across the room to land on the counter. Strutting over to where she stood he took the liberty to stand on her frozen dinner and looked up at her in an upside down fashion to see her face.
She turned away to wipe her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt. She kept telling herself that this was 'Jareth, the Goblin King' she was getting all upset about. Only that reasoning had stopped working a long time ago.
She turned back around to face him, her eyes shifting slightly from one watchful orb to the other.
He stared back at her unblinkingly.
"Sometimes I wish that…"
He suddenly emitted an ear piercing screech, his feathers all puffed out and wings spread wide.
It startled her enough to make her jump back from him a few feet. She stared at him for a minute, her hand over her heart as she caught her breath.
"I'm sorry. Wrong choice of words. I was merely going to share a desire for you to be able to speak to me sometimes."
* x* x* x* x* x* x* x*x *x *
"Did you hear that?" One goblin whispered to another in the darkness.
"No, what?" the other answered.
"She said, 'I wish…'"
"Did she say the words?" a third goblin asked.
"Shhh!"