A/N Okay so, this is my first Labyrinth fic and I've been working on it for a while but there is still a lot to go! I haven't written much so far so you will have to bear with me regarding updates, plus am at university so I kinda need to put my work before this but we'll see. Any suggestions etc are appreciated. Enjoy!
Forever You
Three years on and Sarah Williams is still plagued with thoughts of her time in the Labyrinth. Yet, as her memories begin to fade she cannot help but question her sanity and wonder if the events in the Underground actually happened at all. Jareth, on the other hand simply watches on, counting down the hours until he can finally make the champion of the Labyrinth his.
CHAPTER ONE
"Give me the child," the words fell effortlessly from her lips, a line spoken a thousand times before.
"Sarah, beware, I have been generous until now, but I can be cruel."
"Generous? She asked, incredulous and her tone bitter "What have you done that was generous?"
"Everything!" He snapped. "Everything that you wanted I have done. You asked that the child be taken; I took him. You cowered before me; I was frightening." Moving closer, he drew her attention to the thirteen-hour clock floating in the air beside them. "I have reordered time, I have turned the world upside down, and I have done it all for you! I am exhausted from living up to your expectations. Isn't that generous?"
Her comeback became lost in her throat as she realised he was right, of course he was. He had only done these things because she had asked, if not demanded them from him. But she could not falter, not even for a second – Toby needed her. Closing her mind, Sarah continued almost robotically with the monologue, determined to come out of this the victor.
"Through dangers untold, and hardships unnumbered, I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City. For my will is as strong as yours -"
"Stop!" Jareth demanded, holding his hand out to her. "Look at what I can give you." A crystal ball appeared in his outstretched hand. "Your dreams."
" – and my kingdom is great."
"I ask for so little, just let me rule you and you can have everything that you want"
"My kingdom is great..." Sarah's heart began to sink as she once more struggled to remember the final line. But there was no book to check this time, and there was everything to lose. "Damn, I can never remember that line"
The Goblin King's eyes flashed with glee at the sight of the young girl struggling before him. He was so close.
"Just fear me, love me," the Goblin King spoke softly, only the slightest trace of desperation hidden in his voice "do as I say, and I will be your slave."
"My kingdom is great...my kingdom is great..." Toby was slipping away from her, her baby brother was to be lost forever and it was all her fault. She needed more time, more control, more power.
Power.
And for the final time, Sarah's deep brown eyes locked with Jareth's manic mismatched pair, a weak smile of triumph emerging on her lips. She had won.
"You have no power over me."
"Sarah, are you even listening to me?"
Rousing slowly from her stupor, it took nearly another thirty seconds before Sarah realised her stepmother's annoyed words were directed at her. This wouldn't be the first time she had unintentionally ignored her and it would not be the last.
"Sorry, sorry," she garbled apologetically, hoping her eyes showed sincerity. "What were you saying?"
"I was asking you whether you'd given any thought to what you want to do for your birthday next week Sarah, but quite clearly your thoughts are elsewhere"
Pausing for a second, Sarah's mind worked quickly in order to come up with a half decent answer to give to the woman before her. Unfortunately, it came up short.
"Oh..I, er..not yet, no."
Sighing loudly, Karen Williams turned away from her spacey stepdaughter to return to the half kneaded dough waiting for her on the opposite kitchen counter. She knew Sarah was a bright girl with a "good head on her shoulders" as her husband had mentioned once but she still could not help but feel exhausted with frustration at her lack of organisation and her reluctance to pay attention.
Karen had been present in Sarah's life for nearly ten years now but there was still an element of awkwardness between them and no matter how hard she had tried, Karen and Sarah had never really bonded.
Like two positive ends of a magnet, Karen thought bitterly. What had confused her more is that in the past three years Sarah had really come into her own, lost the brattish attitude and had matured substantially. She was to be an adult in a mere matter of days yet still Karen knew they both could not come to accept each other as friends, just simply tolerating each other for the sake of Robert, Sarah's father. Frowning, Karen turned back to Sarah, flour snaking up her arms, threatening to soil her pink sweater.
"Well, you don't have much time left Sarah so don't forget."
An awkward pause followed as Sarah bit back a sarcastic comment, feeling that she would perhaps be crossing a line. She couldn't blame her stepmum for trying to help her, it was thoughtful but she just wasn't as fussed about everything as she was. Seconds passed in silence before the phone rang in the hall, its shrillness distracting the both of them. Hastily washing her hands, Karen went to leave the room but stopped just short of exiting through the white wooden door. Her tone was far more serious than before, not scolding or annoyed like before but almost one of concern. Sarah couldn't be sure.
"You really need to get your head out of the clouds, you spend half your time up there nowadays. No good will come of it, you know."
"Yes, Karen." she sighed, defeated but she was already alone in the room, her words heard by no one.
As she sat in silence, her mind reverted back to before she was interrupted - what had she been thinking about? Images of a blonde haired man with mismatched eyes and a manic smile swirled around in her head.
What was his name again?
Three years ago, Sarah Williams had defeated the Labyrinth, saving her baby brother and gained some valuable friends along the way, however she had been more than glad to find herself returned to her room once more.
For months after she had stayed in contact with her friends, letting them know how her day at school went or what her plans were or what she had chatted to her mother about on the phone during the rare occasions she got in touch.
However, as the time passed and schoolwork mounting, Sarah's chats with Hoggle, Ludo and Sir Didymus became less and less frequent. Her excuses were always that she was too busy right now or she'd do it later –but later never came.
And then one day, sat at her dresser applying makeup for a party, a memory stirred in the back of her mind. She had used this mirror for something other than her reflection...but what? But Sarah did not give it another thought and simply left for the evening.
With her only real evidence that her adventure in the Labyrinth existing now gone, her memory began to fade rapidly too. She had now come to accept that whatever she could remember was simply the broken fragments of an unusual dream and she'd gain little from trying to remember it.
However, whenever she found herself zoning out at school or home, her mind wandered involuntarily back to this strange dream, thoughts of a labyrinth, her brother and a strange man dancing through her vision. Surely it was not normal to dwell on a dream that she had experienced three years ago? Most people could not remember their dreams from the night before, let alone years ago. Her thoughts were interrupted by her stepmother returning into the room.
"Sarah, that was Stevie. She said she and Helena will be here to pick you up for shopping in half an hour."
Her tone was non-chalant as she resumed her bread making on the other side of the kitchen, somehow oblivious to Sarah's expression of disbelief.
"Why didn't you let me speak to her?"
"Because I know what you're like when you start gossiping away to your girlfriends, you are on the phone for hours on end and its getting expensive."
She turned away from her once more whilst Sarah silently fumed, her gaze boring into the back of her head. Sarah rarely phoned her friends and if they phoned her at all she would keep the conversations short in a bid to avoid any awkward silences. Karen was far too controlling for her liking.
Rising from her seat at the kitchen counter, Sarah left the room without another word and headed towards her room to prepare herself for the impending shopping trip. A few hours out of the house would do her good, a distraction from my imagination, she thought.
"What do you think of this one? Too revealing? Or not revealing enough?"
Several hours of walking round a shopping mall and trying on countless dresses had finally defeated Sarah and a simple head nod was all she could muster in response to the stupid question. Homecoming was growing steadily closer and the time for buying a dress was running out just as quickly. Stevie, ignoring Sarah's half hearted response, stood before the large mirror posing silently before her reflection. Hot pink was definitely not her colour.
"Maybe something less..pink?" Helena interjected. Sarah was thankful she had not been the one to say it. Pouting, Stevie returned to the changing room, the swish of the curtain loud in the empty store. Rolling her eyes, Helena resumed her absent minded browsing through the near-by sale rail, speaking over her shoulder as Sarah continued to lounge.
"It's alright for you, you've already got your dress."
Technically, she did. However it was not one of the expensive ball gowns surrounding them, but an old dress of her Mother's that her Father had never thrown out, most likely for sentimental value.
"Where did you say you bought it from again?"
"I didn't buy it. My Grandmother bought it for me and sent it from England" Sarah replied. She knew her friends would talk her out of wearing second hand, so the lie was born.
Finally sick of sitting down, Sarah rose from her position and began to walk aimlessly around the store, her eyes raking up and down the princess style dresses trying to imagine herself in one of them – but failing. She had always felt plain, which was made even more painstakingly obvious when compared to her closest friends. Stevie, tall and blonde looked more like a Barbie doll than a teenage girl but the male attention seemed to be non-stop. Although quite intelligent, she could not resist a high pitched giggle and a 'goo goo eye' expression when a good looking boy paid interest, something Sarah truly despised.
Helena, on the other hand, was the other end of the spectrum. Small and petite, she sported ginger curls which she constantly wore up, framing her pale face. She had been bullied through middle school for being a red head, but after puberty had kicked in, the ginger worked to her advantage. Gone was the awkward, freckled girl and instead remained an auburn beauty. Sarah was not fat and Sarah was not ugly, but compared to her companions, she may as well have been.
Sighing, she turned a corner and her gaze fell upon the shoes before she noticed a dress she had not seen when they had first arrived. Displayed before her was a bright white hooped ball gown, embellished with beautiful clear and amber stones. The sleeves were puffed at the elbow, almost resembling butterfly wings and narrowed down until they reached the cuffs. Under the harsh store lights, it seemed to glitter, a silver sheen woven into the material. As Sarah's jaw fell open further, a memory stirred – she had worn this dress before.
"I've worn this before."
"Can I help you, madam?"
Taken by surprise, Sarah turned to see a store clerk looking at her intently, unsure by Sarah's vacant expression. She knew what she was about to say would sound crazy, but her voice had already begun to speak before she could give it another thought.
"This dress – I've worn it before."
"Perhaps a similar dress madam, this is a brand new design."
"Brand new? This is the newest fashion? It looks disgusting."
As Stevie's voice joined the conversation, Sarah could not help but resent her. This dress was beyond beautiful, it had once made her feel like royalty.
"I mean, look at the sleeves! It looks like that dress from that children's film with the mermaid in it. Why would you wear that?"
"Because it's beautiful, that's why," Sarah bit back, throwing a glare to her 'friend'. "And I'll have you know, I wore that when I –"She stopped. When did she wear it?
Seconds passed in silence before the sales clerk , one eyebrow raised in scepticism, spoke.
"Like I said madam, you must have worn something similar – it's a brand new design"
"No really, I ha-"
And with that, she turned around and left.
Why did I just do that?
"Sarah? Are you ok?" Helena reached out to touch her, her face concerned. Sarah's outburst was not normal behaviour. She forced a weak smile out of confusion and embarrassment before replying.
"I'm fine, just tired I guess." she lied "I think I'm gonna go home."
"You sure you don't want to eat with us first? You look a little pale."
Sarah was grateful for Helena's concern, she was truly a lovely person. Unlike someone else she could mention who had now resumed her shopping, unaffected by what just happened.
"No, I'll be fine – really. Go choose a dress and tell me all about it tomorrow, okay?"
It was near dark by the time Sarah had left the mall and begun the long walk home but it did not worry her, being scared of the dark was a childish trait that she had discarded many years ago. As she walked, her mind began to reply the events in the dress shop. She clearly had never worn that dress before if it was brand new, so what on earth possessed her to say it?
But she could see herself in it, clear as anything, looking beautiful. Her long, chestnut hair was backcombed and silver vines and leaves intertwined themselves perfectly amongst the curls. Ornate silver earrings hung from her ears and a lavishly jewelled necklace rested flawlessly around her neck. And of course, the dress on her was picture perfect, as if it had been made just for her. But it hadn't because it was displayed for all to see back in the shopping mall. She may had ridden herself of the childish fear of the dark, but clearly not her over active imagination.
A faraway hoot of an owl shook her from her thoughts and she broke into a run as the last glimmers of sunlight disappeared in the distance.