Yes, it's a new fandom, and a new penname! I used to be Tawnybmw, who wrote exclusively for Escaflowne. However, I outgrew the old name and have become shamelessly addicted to Labyrinth. I can repeat the entire movie almost by heart. It's sad, and I am very proud of it.
But, with a new fandom, I also have to deal with new characters. So, if this is incredibly out of character, or the characters just aren't strong enough, please let me know! I love constructive feedback!
Anyway, it's been a while, and I'm glad to be back on the fanfiction wagon.
Thanks for reading!
Mirra
The crowd was larger than normal, couples mulling about and chatting and flirting and waiting; but they were only half of the number in the room. The rest, Sarah was sure, remained invisible to all but her.
Goblins were underfoot, picking on anyone stupid enough to not mind them. Across the room, they tripped an elegant elf, snagging his heeled boot mid-step and giving an almighty yank. They pulled the hair of a girl in a sparkling dress, making her look the other way while another pushed her drink precariously close to the bar's lip. She knocked it over when she turned back around.
The others were far more humanoid, though this made them more dangerous. Their truth was hidden, instead covered in a glamour that sparkled dimly in Sarah's peripheral vision. If she let her eyes loose focus, the room seemed to dance with their magic. They were a glittering mob of sharp teeth and secretive eyes, charm and cruelty. It was their nature, hidden in the low light of the bar and surrounded by humans that didn't know any better.
A goblin with tusks for teeth and a body like a leather beach ball was busy meddling with their equipment on stage: flipping switches back and forth and turning knobs in random directions. Sarah smiled, dropping her toothpick to ping off of his pot-covered head. He looked up at her with small eyes and paled, most weren't used to being found out by a human with Sight. He harrumphed and moved off, grumbling towards the center of the room to find something else to break.
There was a tap at her shoulder, sending her spinning to face a familiar face with blue eyes and red, curly hair. "Nervous?" Rebecca grinned, and Sarah was reminded of something not so pretty and not so nice at her friend's white, toothy smile. But it was faded and covered; only half what it would be from a true Other.
Sarah wanted to say, "Yes," and then, "This is silly, and I need to study, and I don't want to be here, and…." And her excuses were all just as silly as her friends asking her to sing in their band. They were all art majors, half of them working at the bar they were playing. It was only temporary, and she needed the practice in front of the crowds for the next school musical. But none of that mattered, because Rebecca was giving that not-so-nice-sparkly-smile and pulling her along with the rest of the band.
There were more of them than she thought, but that didn't seem to stop Rebecca, who started to talk to the crowd as she hooked up her guitar. The drummer gave an experimental few thumps, a piano chord struck, high and sweet and very well practiced. The bassist was hooking up, making his last adjustment, and Sarah realized that it was too late to back out because they had everyone's attention. The lights on the stage turned everyone into a dark mass with no clear distinction between its members. Some were glittering and their movements were eye catching, but the lights blocked out most of it and they all became an indistinguishable group of bodies. Sarah cleared her throat and tried her best to nod at Rebecca to introduce them while ignoring her shaking hands at the same time.
Their first song was something to get the crowd excited, something catchy and fun and almost meaningless lyrically. It got her blood pumping, her adrenaline flowing. It made it easier to belt out lyrics and smile and laugh and joke and-
Something caught her eye, something that sparkled a little brighter than the rest. But it vanished and Sarah felt sick, and had to concentrate on not chocking on the lyrics. They seemed to just keep going, pouring from her mouth and lilting pleasantly without her help.
She bounced a bit and closed her eyes. It kept the sparkle out, kept the eyes from seeing in. But eventually she had to see again, and the bright sparkle was closer this time and more towards the center. It was pale and tall and glittering brighter than the rest as if to mock her, but again it was gone.
The next song was less meaningless, but still loud and still catchy. She was easing into it, feeling the rhythm seep into her pores and settle in, far deeper than the sparkling eyes could ever see. She could almost ignore the glitter, the blinding shine. It was just like acting, she thought. If you give up enough, it will simply take over, and you can sit back and watch the show from far away.
But, as they kept going, Sarah found that she could not completely let go. No, the brightest sparkle wouldn't let her. It kept moving, closer and then further, slower then faster. It was never enough to actually see.
It was with a start, then, that when Sarah saw the sparkle, just bellow her feet, she met the eyes of someone familiar in the crowd of pleased, and tipsy, bar-goers. A pair of very real, very sparkly, very mismatched eyes. He was smiling like the rest of them, all glitter and not-so-nice-ness, but there was something beneath his curiosity. Something that flickered behind his eyes and made him shine more than the others that made her think of something softer. Something that had left her feeling empty for almost thirteen years now.
But she didn't have time to stop or stutter. The beat was changing, the piano lifting from heavy to light, and something was snapping, twisting, yanking and clicking into place. Her eyes closed, but this time it wasn't to block out the shine. She could feel the beat in her body, in her skull as the words came from deep within her ribcage. When she opened her eyes, he was still there, still watching.
"If you could only see the beast you've made of me
I held it in but now it seems you've set it running free
Screaming in the dark, I howl when we're apart
Drag my teeth across your chest to taste your beating heart
My fingers claw your skin, try to tear my way in
You are the moon that breaks the night for which I have to howl
My fingers claw your skin, try to tear my way in
You are the moon that breaks the night for which I have to
Howl, howl
Howl, howl"
He was smiling in a way that sparkled and darkened and made Sarah's body heat up. He was starring and she couldn't get her eyes to move away or blink or focus on anything, anything but that mouth and those not-so-nice eyes.
"Now there's no holding back, I'm making to attack
My blood is singing with your voice, I want to pour it out
The saints can't help me now, the ropes have been unbound
I hunt for you with bloody feet across the hallowed ground
Like some child possessed, the beast howls in my veins
I want to find you, tear out all of your tenderness
And howl, howl
Howl, howl"
The feeling welling up in her chest must have been great enough for him to catch, and his mismatched pupils dilated. Something inside of her came roaring forward, something that wanted the fear in his eyes but wanted to tell him that everything alright, all at the same time.
"Be careful of the curse that falls on young lovers
Starts so soft and sweet and turns them to hunters
Hunters, hunters, hunters
Hunters, hunters, hunters"
There were certain truths in the world, and more often then not they were far from pleasant. He was an Other, something that guarded it's heart under sharp teeth and sparkling eyes and questions with two answers or no answer at all. They were cunning and untrusting, for reasons that only made sense to their kind, and punished those that didn't understand. Their bodies were immortal, but their hearts were not. To break an Other's heart is to kill them, to turn them into a shadow that moves and sees but does not live.
"The fabric of your flesh, pure as a wedding dress
Until I wrap myself inside your arms I cannot rest
The saints can't help me now, the ropes have been unbound
I hunt for you with bloody feet across the hallowed ground
And howl"
A human falling in love with an Other was dangerous. They became possessive and obsessive out of self-preservation, clinging and jealous. They often killed their love, or abandoned them to save themselves. Which was worse was up to debate. A human could become addicted to their Fae lover, to their kiss and touch. Those that were abandoned would wither away to nothing, refusing to eat and howling in painful agony, while others could only watch and wait. Such a love was almost always doomed.
"Be careful of the curse that falls on young lovers
Starts so soft and sweet and turns them to hunters
A man who's pure of heart and says his prayers by night
May still become a wolf when the autumn moon is bright"
Sarah had counted herself amongst the lucky few to escape unscathed and returned home better off. She left with Tobby and her fare share of life lessons. She was even gifted beyond the crystal he had offered, coming out the other side of the Labyrinth with new friends and the ability to See. Yet, she had left with a pang in her heart, wanting for something her young mind never quite got a grasp of. But Sarah had made it out untouched by magic. Or, at least, she thought she had.
But now, with him so close and his eyes glittering so intensely, something was tearing its way through her chest. It was hungry and craving and screaming and ripping its way out with the words from her throat. That glitter behind his dazzling irises was calling her, pulling and clawing at chains she never knew were anchored so strongly into her chest. But the binding ties went in both directions, and Sarah almost froze at the fact that she could see.
"If you could only see the beast you've made of me
I held it in but now it seems you've set it running free
The saints can't help me now, the ropes have been unbound
I hunt for you with bloody feet across the hallowed ground"
He felt the same thing, the pulling and ripping, the reluctant acceptance and the demanding obsession. For so long Sarah had thought her attachment was to the place, to the magic she had been surrounded by, for that was the way of such places. They became addictive, the magic becoming a part of the starved body. It would take a person and twist them in on themselves, warp them and change them before, after a while, it completely remade them.
But, as the last words cut off and the music died, Sarah realized that she had been completely wrong. She had been stupid and ignorant and selfish and he had lether do as she pleased. He had let her go, and had risked the consequences. For her. It was such a strange thing, all mixed up and terrible and wonderful and it made the thing in her chest give a sickening twist.
She blinked, and he was gone, and Rebecca was saying goodnight and people were clapping and hollering and she was bowing and not sure what was going on anymore as Rebecca grabbed her hand and they walked off stage. There was only one thing that was clear. 'I have to find him.'
But Rebecca was leading and pulling her to the cramped room backstage where they got ready and they were supposed to meet the bar's owner for payment. But her band mates weren't in there. The bar owner's balled head wasn't in sight. Instead, there was someone sitting in on the couch on the other side of the room. Someone that sparkled.
"Jareth," The name caught in her throat, jamming up anything that was meant to come after it. To know the true name of an Other was an intimate thing. It gave her rights and powers and a claim and truth. That didn't matter, though, because he was standing up, suddenly closer than she had thought possible, as if she had called him to her. But maybe she had, and Rebbecca was chuckling and there was a definite 'click.'
There was a flash of sparkle, and suddenly he was in her personal space, backing her up into the door. Long fingers at her chin, edging their way to her cheek as the wood of the door pushed against her back and she had to look up at him because he was so close and so tall. His skin was almost shimmering and his indigo-streaked blonde hair looked like it had glitter mixed among the wild strands.
But she couldn't look closer because he was moving and his hands were shifting back into her hair and pulling just enough to make her tilt her head farther back until they were nose to nose. He was looking down at her with a look she couldn't quite understand.
The Goblin King gave a smile, one that wasn't quite nice but wasn't quite not-nice. "Hello there, little hunter."
Note:
The song used is "Howl" by Florence + The Machine. I highly recommend them!