AN: This is my first official story. It will be slow, and I'm in need to reviews. Let me know please.
Disclaimer: I own nothing, everything belongs to Jim Henson. If I did own Labyrinth, Jareth and Sarah would be canon. Just saying.
Chapter 1 - A Boy and His Wish
"Not for another month Tobes."
"But your birthday is tomorrow! Can't your teachers let you come home?"
Laughter crackled in the phone.
"I'm serious, Sarah." The little boy's voice bordered on a whine. "I want you home."
The girl sighed. "I know Toby. I want to go home too, but that's just not how college works."
His room was silent for a moment, the sound of her breathing reached his ears and he missed her even more. It wasn't fair that Sarah wasn't home more often. It just wasn't fair.
"Then I hate college." He said stubbornly, a pout on his lips.
She laughed again, the sound ringing throughout his room, making him smile despite himself. Her laugh did that.
"You'll be singing a different tune later in life, Toby."
"Psh, yeah right." School was only fun because he got to see his friends. Sarah had said that she'd had to make new friends when she got to college. Making friends was easy but when you went somewhere so new and unknown, Toby thought it would be nice to have people you knew. Something to make school fun. And her school didn't even let her go home for her birthday! Not fun at all.
The day Sarah had left for college, Toby had waited by the living room window for her to come home that night with Merlin curled up on the floor next to him. But the sun had gone down and Toby had started yawning before his dad had told him Sarah wasn't coming back for a few months. Of course, Toby had cried. Being he was only five-and-a-half years old, it made sense for him to cry.
But now that he was the ripe old age of seven, he looked down on little cry babies. Not that he was a bully or anything. No. Bullies were mean. And everyone always said Toby was such a behaved little child, a perfect angel. Despite not crying every time he missed Sarah, he still called her late at night, when he was sure his parents were sleeping, just to be sure she was okay.
"Sarah?" he said quietly.
"Yeah?"
"Will you tell me a story?"
There was the expected silence on the other end of the phone. Despite how often, how polite or even how sweetly he asked, Sarah had never told him a story.
"Ugh, I'm sorry honey, I don't really know any," she lied.
Toby always knew when she lied. She always called him honey. When Toby had asked why Sarah doesn't tell him stories, their dad had looked confused. He said that Sarah was always writing things down. At Toby's down-hearted face, Robert Williams had tried to play it off as her doing her homework, followed by urging Toby to go play outside.
But Toby had never forgotten that conversation with his dad. He would sometimes stare out the window at school (during math most of the time) and wonder if it was something to do with him. That, maybe he just wasn't someone you told stories too. Maybe he was a bad listener or had a bad imagination. But no. When his parents told him to do his chores, he always did them. And when he was reading a book, he always pictured what was happening in his head rather than what the pictures in the book showed him.
Did Sarah not love him enough to tell him stories? He had asked himself this question multiple times and came up with the same answer: No. Sarah was the best big sister around. His friends always complained about how bossy or mean their sisters were. Sarah was nothing like that. If she got mad at him, she never yelled or spanked him, she just gave him a look with an eyebrow raised and he immediately behaved.
So why didn't she tell him stories if she would willingly steal cookies with him late at night?
Then a thought had come to him. Maybe he should tell her a story. He had jumped up and down in excitement at his brilliant thinking until his happiness was crushed beneath what felt like that big metal thing that always crushed the Coyote chasing the Roadrunner on his cartoons.
So, he had come up with a plan. A plan that, if he had been the Coyote and Sarah the Roadrunner, he'd have caught her in his trap.
"Well, I know one. Can I tell you a story?" He had to stop himself from giggling as she agreed.
He took a breath. "Once upon a time, there was a princess. And she-"
"Princess? I never knew you liked princess stories." He could hear the amusement in her voice.
"Hush. I'm telling a story. My teacher says it's rude to talk when someone is telling a story cause then the story gets forgotten and the magic is lost."
"Magic? What kind of teacher do you have?" She laughed.
"Hey, my new teacher is awesome! He doesn't make math boring and he tells stories. Something you've never done for me." Whoops.
The phone was silent on her end.
"I'm sorry Sarah. I didn't mean it," Toby said miserably. Now he knew who the Coyote felt. His plan had been perfect. And then he had messed it all up.
She sighed, her breath making the phone crackle.
"It's fine, honey." He flinched. It wasn't fine. It will never be fine because he had really hurt her this time. All because of some teacher he won't even see after this year was over.
They were silent for a while. Hurt and guilt on Toby's side, remorse and unnamed fear on Sarah's.
"Do you still want to tell me a story Toby?" She quietly asked.
"If you want to," he said meekly.
A little breath of laughter. "I promise not to interrupt this time."
And that was Sarah, always trying to bridge any gap that sprang up between them, no matter who's fault it was.
"You swear?"
"Cross my heart and hope to-" she began.
"No!" He yelled. He jumped at his own voice and listened to make sure his parents were still sleeping. When he was sure all was still he breathed a sigh of relief. Close one.
"No? Toby it's just a saying. I don't want to die," Sarah reassured. "Now, come on, tell me the story. You'll have to promise yourself not to interrupt at this rate."
Toby wrinkled his nose. "Ha-ha."
He cleared his throat and took another breath. Dad always did that when he was going to tell a story. His teacher always smiled crookedly, as if there was a secret he knew about stories that no one else could know.
"Once upon a time, there was a princess. And she was the most beautiful princess in the entire world. You could say she was like Snow White, because she had hair dark as night and lips red as a rose. But she didn't sing songs or talk to birds. Yet you couldn't look at her and not think she was the fairest. Even more fairest than Snow White, Sarah."
"You mean 'even fairer' Tobes."
"Oh, right. Well, this princess was very beautiful. So beautiful, her parents sent her off to live in a tower guarded by fierce dragons. They didn't want anyone to steal her away from them. But in doing this mean thing, they forced her from them on their own.
"The dragons were many, their fire was hot, and they loved nothing more than to listen to the princess play her instruments and chase away suit-oars. What's a suit-oar, Sarah?"
"Hmm? Oh! It's a prince who wants to marry the princess." Her voice was soft and dreamy. "Well, it's not always a prince. Just a man who loves the princess and wishes to marry her. And it's pronounced suit-er."
"Oh…I guess that makes sense. You still play the piano, right?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"Well, whenever I think about this story, I always picture the princess as you because you don't sing but you were in band and Mom and Dad forced you to go to college," Toby's tone was very matter of fact. Sarah had never said she had wanted to go to college, just that that was what she had to do.
She laughed. "They didn't force me to go. I chose to."
Toby hummed in disbelief and Sarah laughed again. He smiled and cleared his throat once more, adjusting the phone against his hot ear.
"The dragons, who loved treasure and anything beautiful, fell in love with the princess themselves and cherished her company. But the princess was not happy. She wanted to explore the world, not be locked away from it. Besides, she had a little brother back home that she missed very, very much."
Sarah made a humming noise in agreement. Toby smiled.
"So, the princess waited and waited. She didn't want the dragons to die, for they were her only friends in the tower. But she knew that the only way to be free, was for the dragons to either let her go or be killed. The thought made her sad and she became con-flick-ed."
"Conflicted," Sarah offered.
"Thank you. Right, conflicted. She started to send away food, not taking a bite herself. The dragons became worried. They asked what was wrong and if they could do anything to help. The princess replied by begging them to let her go. The dragons breathed fire into the sky. They didn't want their brightest jewel to leave them. The princess was their precious. They offered her jewels and silks and dreams to make her stay."
He heard Sarah make an odd chocking sound.
"Are you alright, Sarah?" He frowned.
"It's nothing Tobes. Just a funny thought about homework."
"Oh. Okay. The dragons offered many things to make their jewel stay. But the princess refused them all. Soon, the dragons were so worried, even they forgot to eat too. The princess had known this would happen and prayed for her rescuer.
"And sure enough, out of the woods came a white horse, bright beneath the forest's nighttime. A prince was riding the horse. His hair as golden as sunlight and his crown heavy with precious gems.
"When the dragons saw this handsome prince, they flew towards him. But the prince saw them coming and he could also see how weak they were. One by one, he fought them until only one was left. This dragon had eyes has blue as the sky and was the princess's favorite. She begged the prince not to kill him. The prince talked with the dragon and they agreed that if the dragon would fly the prince and princess back to his palace in the place of his now dead horse, the dragon would live.
"This dragon was young and loved the princess dearly. He bowed his head and the prince climbed on. The dragon flew up to the princess's window and she jumped happily onto the back of her favorite dragon to greet her prince. They flew off over the forest which had seemed so large from her tower but was behind them quicker than a blink. She arrived at his castle and his strange peasants. The end."
Sarah was silent for a moment. "Wait. That's it? Where's the happy ending?"
Toby shrugged, even though Sarah couldn't see him through the phone. What a weird thing that would be. Seeing through a phone, as if.
"My teacher never said they lived happy after. He always just said the end."
"Hmph. I should have a word with him. What's a story without a happy ending?" She seemed really irritated. That was odd.
"Well, when a girl in my class asked the same thing, he said life. What's that supposed to mean, Sarah?" That answer had actually confused him. When he had brought it up to his dad, Robert had merely placed a hand on his should and said he'd understand when he was older. Worst excuse to give a kid. Ever.
She huffed. It sounded like amusement but there was an edge to it that Toby didn't understand.
"It means, that life isn't always a happy ending. I guess your teacher isn't that dim witted, though how he expects six year olds to understand is beyond me."
"Hey! I'm seven!"
"Oh, are you now?" She teased, laughter in her voice.
"So, so," he said eagerly. "Did you like it?"
"Of course! Maybe you should be a teacher and tell stories too, Tobes."
"Blech! No! Mr. Rex says he had to do a lot of school to be a teacher. You know what that means Sarah?"
"That your teacher is a dinosaur?"
"No. It means that he's spent his whole life in school! I would hate it!" He whined.
Her laugh rang through the phone. "Is your teacher's name really Rex?"
"Yeah." He grinned. That had to be the coolest name ever. Better than Williams by far.
"Is he old?"
He frowned, a wrinkle formed in between his eyebrows. "No. Why?"
"Hmmm. Just curious." She sounded like she was on the verge of laughter. At him or his teacher, he didn't know but Toby felt the need to defend him.
"Mr. Rex isn't old. He's not young like you but he looks about the same age as Dad, which doesn't make him that old, right? And he doesn't even have a gray hair where Dad has a lot. So there!" he said pertinently.
"Oh yeah? How do you know he doesn't dye it? Men can do that too, ya know." She said snidely.
He blew a raspberry at the phone, not caring that his spit got all over the receiver. "His hair is blonde, just like mine. And the top of his head looks nothing like Mom's just before she goes to get hers dyed." It was never said that Toby wasn't observant.
She snorted. "She still dyes her hair? She should just leave off."
Toby was about to reply when a yawn almost snapped his jaw off. At least, that's what it felt like. And, sadly, Sarah heard him through the phone though he tried to cover it up as best he could. Whenever he started yawning, Sarah would try to get him to go to bed…after a while.
"Ah-ha! Toby, how late is it there?"
"Ugh…eleven?" He winced. He really hadn't meant to stay up so late but his parents hadn't gone to bed as early as they usually do and he had had to sneak back downstairs to grab the phone after they were asleep. And then talking with Sarah always made him forget the time.
"Toby," she beseeched. "It's a school night. Even I can't tell you its okay to call me this late."
He pouted. "But it's your birthday tomorrow. If I didn't call you, I wouldn't be the first one."
Ever since Toby's fifth birthday, Sarah and Toby had made it a rule that they would call the other the first chance they got on the others' birthday. They would write down what time one of them had called (Sarah was first since Toby's birthday was in May) and then they would compare Toby's time to see who had managed to get up early enough to call. Toby usually won this game because Sarah was such a lousy morning person. And this year, Toby wanted to push the stakes a little. Sarah's time had been at three a.m. this year and Toby couldn't bear it if he lost. He'd never hear the end of it.
Sarah huffed a laugh. "You can't miss sleep just for me, Tobes. School is important. Besides, what would the dinosaur think? I thought you were a good little student?"
"I'm the best! Well…except in math. Math is evil," Toby complained.
"Hear hear!"
Toby laughed, his little giggles making Sarah smile, their magic just a powerful as her own.
"So you're planning on winning again are you?" She teased.
"Duh! I even told Mr. Rex my plan," Toby said proudly, puffing out his chest.
"Oh, really? And your teacher was perfectly fine with you staying up to ungodly hours of the night to call your sister?" Sarah hummed disbelievingly. "I find that hard to imagine."
"Well," Toby thought. "He's not like other teachers. Other teachers don't tell as many stories as he do. And he's really confusing. Like, his ending for the story. No happy ending…."
The conversation went silent.
Now that he thought about it, Mr. Rex didn't act like a teacher at all. He picked favorites for starters. Toby was always called on to help Mr. Rex with things; whether it was to pick a story or make up something and add to the story. He taught class, yes, but actually did it at a pace that everyone liked. As if he knew how much or how little to teach at a time instead of going really slow or breezing right on through.
And he didn't have pictures at this desk neither. Most teachers he had seen had at least one picture of their family. Mr. Rex didn't have a single frame to show his life outside of school. No wife or kids to see. Maybe that meant he didn't have any and was looking for some? Jenny's mom was always staying a few minutes late after pick-up to talk to him. Toby had always felt bad for Jenny because she didn't have a dad.
"Hey, Sarah?" He had just had a thought.
"Yeah Tobes?"
"Do you want a happy ever after?"
"…Yes. Don't you?"
"Happy ever afters are for princesses and princes. And Mr. Rex said your name means princess. So," Toby scrunched his face as he tried to make his mouth say what his head was trying to piece together. Like those dumb puzzles he always had trouble with. "So, since you're a princess, locked away in your college, don't you want the prince to come take you away?"
"Depends on what his palace is like. I don't want to live in a rundown castle, now do I?"
"Well, Mr. Rex said the prince's castle was very large and it was in the middle of some kind of maze. He used a really big word that started with an 'l'." Toby scratched his head. What was that word?
"A labyrinth?" Sarah's voice sounded funny. Like she didn't have enough air.
"Yeah!" Toby said brightly. "You're so smart Sarah. Mr. Rex also said that the prince had funny little people he ruled over. Kind of like dwarfs, except a lot dumber and uglier. Goblins! That's what they were called. Now I remember," Toby beamed. He loved it when Mr. Rex went into detail about his stories, as if he was there personally. "Would that castle sound nice, or what? Living in a big, big castle with little people? I wonder if they ride little mini horses too."
"Dogs," she gasped.
"What?"
"They-they ride dogs."
"How do you know, Sarah? I only just told you the story."
"Yeah…yeah you're right. Sorry," she apologized.
"Do you want to live in a castle like that Sarah?" he said meekly. Why was Sarah acting so funny?
"No," she said, surprising him. "I most definitely do not want to live in a castle like that."
"What?" Toby gasped. "You love castles! You went to visit one this summer. And that one didn't even have a maze!"
"I don't care. I don't like lab-mazes. I don't want that castle. And I don't want that prince either." She bit out.
Toby stayed silent. Why was she so mad? Was this why she didn't like stories? Because she found one tiny thing to dislike and that made the whole story bad?
Toby suddenly felt like he wanted to cry. He had only wanted to tell her a story to get her to tell him one, so that they could talk longer before her birthday came. And now she was clearly saying she didn't like it. It was his favorite.
"I wish you did like the prince, so that you could have a happy after," he sniffed.
"Oh, Toby. I didn't mean-"
"You know what Mr. Rex also said? He said that if a dragon had only wished the princess away to the goblins that none of the dragons would have died and they would have been welcomed to his castle. And then the princess would have a happy after. I wish you could have a happy after. I wish the goblins would take you away."
"Tob-!"
Click.
Toby looked at the phone and sighed.
Lost Connection.
"Phooey," he said. Toby looked at the clock and smiled. "I win, Sarah."
Twelve o'clock flashed in red.
Toby jumped up and did a little dance before running downstairs and putting the phone back in its cradle when Sarah didn't call back right away.
'Must have forgotten to charge her phone again.' He thought. Shrugging, he made his way back upstairs and went to bed. He didn't hear the sound of flapping wings when he turned off the lights.
The next morning dawned bright and early. The sun found its way through blue curtains and splayed itself upon the bed of a tiny seven year old boy who was fast asleep.
If someone had been sitting in the oak tree outside the double-paned window and had managed to gaze through the tiny sliver between the curtains, they'd see a room that hadn't been repainted since the parents of the house had learned they were having a baby boy. The walls were baby blue with little bears stenciled in and the carpet was dyed a darker blue with rugs in the shape of cars. Toys littered the floor and the bookcase had a total of three books and all other space was taken up by all manner of things boys collect; cars, rocks, gum, and even a bag of multi-colored sand.
But the most notable thing in the room wasn't on shelves or underneath the bed, but on the bed itself. The boy.
The little boy scrunched his face as the light tried to pry open his eyelids to welcome the new day. He turned over and the light could only touch his tousled blonde curls, turning them a burnt gold.
He had planned on sleeping longer, maybe just five minutes, when a knocking on his door forced him to open one sky blue eye.
"Mmhhm?"
"Toby, time to get up," Ellen Williams poked her head into the doorway. "Breakfast is waiting for you on the table."
Toby huffed and buried his head in the pillow.
"Come on, you have school today. Up, up." She closed the door with a snap.
Toby sighed and contemplated lying there for a few more minutes. Maybe staying up so late hadn't been such a good idea. Drat.
With much groaning and mumbling, Toby managed to get out of bed and into relatively clean clothes. Making his way downstairs, he rubbed his eyes, not noticing the pictures that he passed everyday. As he sat down to his bowl of cereal, he looked at the phone.
No New Messages
"That's weird," Toby said around the crunchy o's in his mouth. Even if Sarah let her phone die, she'd always call back in the morning. Without fail, she would call. But Toby had slept in today and there was still no call.
"What's weird son?" Robert asked around his newspaper.
"Sarah didn't call back," he said half-heartedly. Maybe she had slept in again. That made him smile. Oh he most definitely won this time.
"Sarah who, darling?" Ellen asked, sipping her morning tea as if afraid she'd burn herself when she made sure it had stopped steaming before she ever picked it up. The same routine every day, over and over again. Except now. Now something was different. Something wasn't right. Maybe they were joking.
"Sarah, my sister," Toby urged. "Duh."
Robert placed his newspaper down. He and Ellen exchanged looks.
"Toby," His father said slowly. "You don't have a sister. Your mother and I have been trying, and we are sorry you don't any siblings to play with, but that's the way life works out sometimes."
Toby blinked. He blinked again just to be sure this wasn't a dream. He even pinched himself but aside from a red mark on this forearm, nothing changed. Robert's eyes were confused behind his glasses, the sun glinting back from one of the lenses, making him look half-blind. Ellen merely looked from Robert to Toby as if watching a tennis match, their conversation the ball.
"Dad, what are you talking about?" Toby asked incredulously. "Sarah. Sarah Williams. She's twenty-one and you're first kid. Although, not with Mom, obviously," Toby said quickly at the look on Ellen's face. "You were married before and then Sarah's mom went…somewhere and you took care of Sarah on your own until you met Mom and then you guys had me." He finished proudly.
Ellen's eyes were big and white. "Sweetie, your dad was never married to anyone else. He-"
"Oh, well, I guess Sarah never actually said you guys had married. I just thought that if you love someone, you marry them and have kids." He smiled innocently.
"Robert…?" Ellen was at a total loss. What was Toby talking about? Why was he saying such far-fetched tales?
"I know, I know darling," Robert said tersly. "Son, today isn't April Fools, you can stop with the tricks and jokes."
"But I'm not-"
"I know your mother and I should probably take this with a grain of salt and laugh it off. But this is a serious accusation. You are telling us that I have a daughter out of wedlock with another woman when I've been with your mother, faithfully and dutifully. I have never had another child nor have I met another woman who I would wish to have one with besides your mother." Ellen placed a hand on his, a warm smile hiding the confusion but with a look back at Toby, the uncertainty was back anew.
"But-but I'm telling the truth! Today is Sarah's birthday! Just look at the calendar, you wrote it down a few-" He stopped. There, on the calendar, where it should have said 'Sarah's 21st Birthday' in red pen, was a blank square. But it was the same calendar from yesterday, the same writing for Ellen and Robert's weekend date this Friday, every curve and scratch exactly the same. It was almost has if someone had just erased today's note and left everything the way it was. But you couldn't erase pen completely. There were always markings. Toby didn't see any.
"Wha-? But that's-that can't be…." Toby sputtered in disbelief.
"Honey," Ellen said softly, placing a hand on his shoulder. "You must have had a very realistic dream last night. That was just wishful thinking." She rubbed his back soothingly but Toby sat ramrod straight.
Wishful…wish….
And all of a sudden, Toby Samson Williams was struck with the idea that wishes could come true – at a very wicked price.
And Toby is now awakened to the fact that fairy tales have a dark side. Sorry Tobes. So, what did you all think? Reviewing means love and ignorance means neglect. :D
Toodles.
