AN: Uhh…first Labyrinth fic! Yeaahhh! Okay, so I totally don't know how this is going to turn out…and I guess it might be OOC. Hm…well, you be the judge of that!
Disclaimer: I don't own Labyrinth.
How the Tables have Turned
Prologue
Peter Pan Syndrome and Karma
After five years, the very idea of the Labyrinth seemed blasphemous to Sarah Williams. It was impossible to take a dwarf, orange beast…thing, a fox-squirrel hybrid who rode a dog with an uncanny resemblance to what was once her own dog, seriously. As far as she was concerned, they were figments of her imagination, long lost to a childhood she had realized she needed to leave behind. In the real world, at age twenty, she couldn't simply walk up to someone and say she fought through a labyrinth (the Labyrinth) in order to get back her baby brother. And she certainly couldn't say a Goblin King had snatched him away.
If she were five, the story would be cute.
Twenty?
Not so much…
But no matter how many times she convinced and scolded herself that the Labyrinth was simply a dream, Sarah would always find herself waking up with the Underground fresh in her thoughts. It was annoying at how persistent her fifteen year old mind tried to take over.
One of these days, I will wake up, and find myself in a nice, padded room. And with that, Sarah would wake up with the intent to make some coffee and start her day.
Yawning, she pushed aside the warm covers of her bed and strode across the room to go into the kitchen when the sight of a book caught her attention. Frowning, she realized it was the fantasy book she had picked up from the library last Thursday.
It was a funny cycle…she'd always (attempt) to convince herself that she didn't believe in silly things like magic, dragons, and unicorns and the like, but somehow, someway…she ended up contradicting herself. Not to mention the poster shamelessly tacked on her wall of a rather fanciful looking meadow chalked with figures like fairies, unicorns and other miscellaneous things.
She was beginning to think she was suffering a severe case of Peter Pan Syndrome with a side dish of denial.
--
In the Underground, things couldn't be better.
Goblins were pulling slingshots at unsuspecting (or perhaps suspecting) chickens, feathers were flying all over the place, a child was crying, and Jareth certainly wouldn't blame him. One of his uglier goblins was attempting to hold the child who promptly fell into a fit of screams, desperately trying to get the thing away from him. Sighing, Jareth kicked away the ugly goblin, hoisting the child into his lap.
He would never forgive the bastards for failing to leave out the bit where he was a part-time babysitter.
But at the very least, the child had stopped crying bringing some much needed relief to his ears.
Glancing at the clock, he noticed only four hours had passed, and the stupid girl just got past the worm. He was seriously considering just going in there himself and escorting her to the castle. Forget the Bog of Stench threats and oubliettes; they just weren't worth it.
At least Sarah could pick up the pace a little…And then he frowned. Sarah…that girl definitely was on his hate list. Then again, there wasn't ever really a time where he had liked someone…well…he did like (love?) Sarah…of course, that was in past tense. Take note of the 'did', will you? In any case, after she had gotten a lucky break (defeated) him in the Labyrinth, all traces of mushy-good-type-words faded from his description of her. If someone were to ask him to describe Sarah in three words, it would be: Crusher, Destroyer, and downright Rude.
None of those words applied to him of course.
But Jareth was humble enough to let bygones be bygones.
Sighing again, something he found himself doing quite often, Jareth promptly dropped the child into a less atrocious looking goblin.
"Don't throw it at the chickens, will you?"
The goblin blinked with a glassy-eyed look before looking at the child in wonderment.
He figured that'd be the closest thing he was getting to a yes.
Boots clicking against the hard floor, he promptly vanished and reappeared in front of a stunned-looking girl.
"Gah! You again!"
He gave her a cold look.
"You are far stupider than I thought. It's been four hours and thirteen minutes, and you're just barely in the Labyrinth."
The girl blinked. And…?
"You know what?" Jareth suddenly exclaimed, feeling a fast-approaching headache. "Give me your arm."
"No!" The girl retaliated, backing away while clutching her arm.
"Don't be difficult!" He snapped.
"I'm not!" She wailed, feeling thoroughly confused. "Just give me back my baby cousin! He must be terrified!"
You have no idea…Jareth thought darkly.
"Look, you want your baby cousin, and I, quite frankly, don't," he paused, taking a look at the terrified girl, "so it would be simply marvelous if you just cooperated!"
"O-Okay…" the girl replied hesitantly.
"Good." He smirked, grabbing her arm and both reappeared in the throne room. The girl wrinkled her nose in disgust as a chicken flew by, a goblin not too far behind it cackling maniacally. Her eyes landed on the child crawling on the floor, green eyes amused by a goblin that had its head stuck underneath a metal bowl.
"Chris!" She ran over towards the child, quickly picking him up.
She turned around, facing the Goblin King who looked rather annoyed.
"That's it? I beat you in all technicalities..."
Jareth let a dark smile spread across his lips. "Oh really? The fact that I helped you had nothing to do with it?"
The girl glared, her mouth ready to say something when Jareth smoothly interrupted. "You hardly won. I was having a bad day and you were far too slow, so I took pity on you, and your cousin for having to depend on such slow help."
"What, that's not fa –"
"Off with you," Jareth mumbled, waving his hand.
The girl and the child soon disappeared, leaving Jareth alone with the goblins.
Truly a wonderful day in the Underground…
Dropping himself into his throne, Jareth lazily slung one leg over the armrest, examining his gloved fingers. A few goblins prodded the booted foot hanging over the edge, earning a quick, nearly reflexive kick from Jareth. They ran off cackling with glee, only to collide with each other in a few seconds. He almost regretted so rashly sending the girl away…games were usually fun, but as of late, he wasn't really up to it anymore. It was such a bland, repetitive cycle.
Suddenly, a loud crash captured the Goblin King's attention, and he slowly drew himself up into a sitting position.
"Get off me!" A young woman snapped, kicking a goblin off of her leg. "I just got this dress, and I'll be damned if you ruin it!"
Jareth frowned, watching the woman stride over to Jareth, a smile slapped onto her face. She had long black hair, and odd-looking greenish blue eyes that seemed to be brimming with mischief in a scary way. She gave a short curtsy, almost mocking him, and that didn't sit too well on his ego.
"Who are you?"
She looked up, a smirk on her pale face.
"I'm a little thing called Karma."
AN: This is just a prologue, so yeah…kind of short I guess. Tell me what you think?