Sarah and Jareth's son is born, but what they didn't expect was that he would turn out like Jareth's father. Their son Sireth tries to take over the Labyrinth and the only way to save him is to let him do just that. Can this darker mirror image of Jareth really overcome the darkness inside him and at what cost?
Disclaimer:
All Labyrinth related themes and characters belong to Jim Henson Productions etc. and are not mine. All songs belong to David Bowie. Both are used for fan-fiction purposes only and with the utmost respect.
Thanks to all who worked on and off the camera to make Labyrinth a treasured fantasy film for so many, including me.
Songs used (in order of appearance):
"Tonight" written by David Bowie and Iggy Pop
"Blackout" written by David Bowie
"Golden Years" written by David Bowie
"Because You're Young" written by David Bowie
"Cat People (Putting Out Fire) written by David Bowie
"The Wedding Song" written by David Bowie
Some songs may be slightly altered from their original version to make more sense with the story.
Note: Follows "The Return of Jareth" and "The Unfolding Truth".
THE DARKER MIRROR IMAGE (2004)
By: Genni Stanfer
Chapter 1
Sarah lay on Jareth's huge canopy bed, covered in sweat and screaming with pain. Jareth stood nearby with his back to her. It was the first time he had ever showed signs of age. His eyes were dull, his face looked drawn and his hair had turned rather translucent. Each scream made him tear himself apart. It drove him mad. He couldn't take it. Though he knew right from the start that this would happen. He hated himself for putting her through such torture, but he went through it too for she was a part of him and if she suffered so did he. Any pain she felt he felt as well.
Sarah was pregnant, had been from that first night after their wedding. Yes, of course it's true that labour is painful, but that is a normal baby. This child possessed magic abilities so the pregnancy is quickened to only nine days. This rapid growth causes great pain for the mother also the magic creates a greater link between the parent and child, enhancing the fear and pain. Jareth had tried for hours to comfort her but it would do no good. No power he possessed could ease this birth. He thought of his mother and thought that she must have wanted to die when she was giving birth to him, for his father had sped up her pregnancy to just 24 hours. He went cold at the thought of what his father had done. He knew it would be hours yet before the child was born. There was nothing he could do and he couldn't bear to watch her.
He heard Sarah scream out his name. He rushed to her side though he almost couldn't tell if she had called him or cursed him. "The baby's coming!" There was no doctor present. Not just because there really wasn't one in the Labyrinth, but because there would be nothing a doctor could do to help anyway. Sarah grabbed Jareth's hand and pushed. He was sure she must have crushed his fingers but didn't care, for he knew that he could heal it afterwards, and he felt that he deserved it anyway.
After some time the child was born. It was a boy. They had decided on the name Sireth for him. Sarah was so relieved and so tired that she barely got a chance to look at him before she fell asleep. Jareth healed his hand then held the baby in his arms. He gazed at it in wonder. He had actually helped create this new life. Already the child gazed up at him knowingly. His right eye was green like Sarah's but his left eye was a dark cloudy blue the same as Jareth's left eye. Jareth shuddered at what his own mismatched eyes meant, of who he was a part of.
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A year had past since the birth of Jareth and Sarah's baby boy, Sireth. Jareth's mother, Mary, was now living in the Labyrinth. She had met an Elf in the village and preferred to stay with him as apposed to the Castle, but she often visited and babysat Sireth. They taught him the ways of magic. For a child of one year he was surprisingly intelligent. He used the crystals to make wishes, create rattles and other toys. Or he would create a large bubble and climb on it to float out of his crib. Sarah caught him and tried to scold him, but she never had the heart and neither did Jareth.
One night Sireth floated up and grabbed one of the crystal ornaments that decorated his parent's bedroom. He knocked it to the floor and it shattered into millions of tiny pieces. Sarah and Jareth bolted up. Sireth was in his crib and the ornament lay smashed on the other side of the room. Sireth giggled, but there was something about that laugh that sent a chill down Sarah's spine.
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Sireth was now five years old and was becoming more than Sarah could handle, even Jareth was having trouble controlling him. Sometimes Sarah would ask her friends to watch him. Thankfully he didn't misbehave for them. Hoggle would complain when she asked him but she thought that he rather liked taking him under his wing. Sir Didymus liked telling him stories about how he helped Sarah save her brother from Jareth and how she saved Jareth from himself. Sireth seemed extremely interested in finding out more about his parents.
As Sarah and Jareth watched their son climb up Ludo's back from the bedroom balcony, Sarah turned and spoke quietly to her husband. "I'm worried Jareth. Sireth is really beginning to scare me. When he breaks something or does something else bad he has this look in his eyes like he knows what he's done and that he's done it on purpose. Each time he laughs it doesn't make me happy. It sounds . . . evil . . . Jareth, I can't take it any longer. We've got to do something."
Jareth was silent for a moment. He didn't recognize her. She used to astonish him with her strength and lack of fear. "What can we do, Sarah? He knows how to use the crystals. He can call on them anytime he wants. He knows how to fade and appear somewhere else –"
"He's only five years old! Your powers must be stronger than his!"
"Yes, but what will you have me do? Lock him up?"
"I don't know Jareth!" She turned away from him so he wouldn't see the tears welling up in her eyes. But he saw how her shoulders shook. He went over to her. "Shhh, I'm sorry." He held her in his arms and whispered softly in her ear. "It's alright, don't worry I'll talk to him and everything will be fine."
"Sireth, tell me what is troubling you so."
"What do you mean father? Nothing is troubling me."
"Then why do you keep doing such terrible things. You are really beginning to frighten your mother." A smile crossed Sireth's face then that made Jareth's blood turn cold. He now stood threateningly over his son and used a forceful tone. "Sireth if you do not straighten out and start behaving there are going to be some serious consequences, and I mean it." Jareth left but his son didn't really believe that he would do anything. Just the same though Sireth laid off for a while and Sarah relaxed. But when he was seven he did something awful.
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Sireth was out with Hoggle, Sir Didymus, his steed, and Ludo in the Forbidden Forest. "Now Sireth, let me tell you about the time when I was faced with a hundred goblins. Only my trusty steed, Ambrosias, and I could fight this evil horde of creatures . . ." Sir Didymus was telling another one of his heroic and greatly exaggerated stories.
Sireth was bored. He decided that it would be funny to play a little joke on them by using his magic to disappear. ". . . when it looked as if all hope was lost do you know what happened then?" Sir Didymus turned around when Sireth didn't answer. He gasped Sireth was gone. "Prince Sireth!" he called.
Ludo swung his big head around and searched. "Sireth?" When it was evident that he was nowhere to be found they began to really worry.
"Oh, dear, my fair lady will be frantic if she finds that I've lost her young prince! Not to mention what the King will do!"
Sireth sat up in a tree, giggling to himself. He was hungry and noticed the big, perfectly round, black coloured berries in the tree. He ate some and then some more. He reappeared laughing hysterically. Sir Didymus gasped.
"He's eaten the berries!" Hoggle cried.
Sireth disappeared, but reappeared back at the castle, leaving the others to continue their search for him. He startled Sarah by his sudden appearance and wild laughter. It was time for his bed but he refused to go. Sarah tried to get him to go to bed. She wished that Jareth were here, but he was elsewhere in the Labyrinth. Charged by a new energy, Sireth ran around his parent's bedroom and began jumping on the bed. The berries brought out an evil energy in anyone who ate them. But the energy had to be in the person to begin with. The berries only unlocked it. Thankfully the effects were only temporary.
"Get to bed now!" Sarah yelled at him.
Sireth stopped and stared at her for a moment. "No!"
"If you don't get to bed now you won't be able to use your magic for a month."
"You can't make me." Sarah reached to grab him. "No!" he screamed. "You can't make me." Sireth formed a crystal and changed it into a shard. He hurled it at his mother, right at her heart.
Sarah screamed. Jareth now in the castle heard her and quickly appeared in front of her. He deflected the shard and it struck a mirror which shattered at the impact. Jareth's eyes burned with blue fire.
Sireth had never seen him so angry before. He ran and cowered in a corner of the room. Jareth came and stood over him. He didn't touch Sireth. He didn't need to.
"Sireth! What did you think you were doing? You've gone much too far. I don't know what we're going to do with you. But I promise you this; if you ever try to hurt your mother again you will be very sorry you did. Understand?" Sireth didn't answer. "Answer me! Do you understand?"
"Yes father."
"Now get to bed."
Sireth went to his room. He lay in the darkness, thinking about what had happened. He wasn't sorry he'd done it. But hatred began to build inside of him. He hated feeling weak, hated being told what to do. Even though he had never seen his father use any great power, Sireth wasn't stupid, he knew that he stood no chance against the Goblin King. Or at least not yet . . .