A Stranger walked down the seemingly endless pathway towards an un-expecting Sarah. She looked down at the helpless figure of the petite girl curled up in the fetal position on the ground. After a while of no movement from her, the newcomer frowned and nudged Sarah's head with the tip of her boot.
Startled, Sarah sprang up into a defensive position, but let her guard down when she looked the stranger over and saw that the subject had no weapon. She was a tall figure with a wild mess of poufy curly blonde hair, and piercing blue eyes that seemed to look straight into her soul. She had an attractive face with luscious, plump red lips. She was wearing tight grey pants, black boots, black gloves, a white poet and a black leather under bust corset.
Sarah raised her chin. "Who are you?" she said, trying not to sound inferior when she saw the confidant stance of the stranger.
The girl cocked an eyebrow (with strange familiarity, Sarah thought) and started circling her with her hands on her hips. (Where had she seen that posture before?)
"My name is Hera, and I have been trapped here in this Labyrinth for 3,000 years and you are the key to my way out." Sarah caught a hint of sarcasm in her voice, and narrowed her eyes.
"What are you doing here really?" Sarah inquired.
Hera laughed a booming musical laugh, and again Sarah felt something tug at the back of her mind. Something was very familiar about this woman. She seemed fit to be called woman, although she seemed just older than Sarah.
"You're a smart doll," she said in a mocking tone. "But I do not explain my reasons to just anybody, so you will have to learn them in time." Hera smirked at the frustrated look on Sarah's face.
"Well, if you don't mind, I've got to solve this labyrinth in a little less than thirteen hours." Sarah said with a sigh and started off in the opposite direction.
"Ah, Sarah. Always taking things for granted." Hera said and she thrust her arm sideways and seemed to put her hand straight through the brick wall.
Sarah stared at the spot for a bit. "What- wha…" she stuttered as she put her hand out to find the wall much further back then she expected. "Come."Hera said with a commanding tone. She followed Hera around the corner and found herself in a completely different scene.
It was a beautiful garden, with pillars covered in vines and colorful wildflowers that seemed to overgrow the whole place. There was a mermaid fountain in the middle that had water bubbling out of its mouth and it sounded like it was singing. Hera walked down to the edge and pointed into the water so Sarah stepped forward cautiously and was startled to see a very very familiar smirk on Hera's face. She tried not to think about it and looked into the water. She saw an image of Toby, sitting on the Goblin Kings lap.
He seemed to be murmuring something to the baby then he suddenly turned and looked straight at her. She yelped and leaped back from surprise and Hera took her hand and led her back to the edge where Jareth had his full attention to her.
He looked at her with a smirk and shifted his gaze to Hera, and then he laughed as he pointed his riding crop at the clock. Suddenly she could hear his words again in her head "You have thirteen hours in which to solve the labyrinth, before your baby brother becomes one of us... forever" and she shuddered. She looked back to Jareth who was looking at Hera again with an eyebrow raised. She nodded and then the image disappeared. Suddenly the mermaid stopped singing. Sarah looked around and felt a low rumble beneath her feet as the water shot up out of the fountain.
Hera grabbed her by the wrist and yanked her toward a very small exit that she would have to crawl through. She started to question Hera about taking a bigger exit when a loud growl interrupted her thoughts. Sarah looked up through the falling water to see a giant black serpent shaking the water out of its feather-like spines. She gasped. It stopped shaking looked down at her with evil red eyes. As it lunged at her, she was suddenly forced down by Hera who had been trying to get her through small the passageway for quite some time. She crawled quickly, trying to keep up with Hera through twists and turns and forks in the tunnel until they came up an opening next to a group of small goblins that jumped up and ran away, some screaming.
"What… was… that?" Sarah asked breathlessly when she finally found her ground.
Hera was lying on the forest floor laughing uncontrollably as she wiped the dust and grime from the tunnel off of her pants. "I don't know, but that was some adventure, right?" she sat up and looked at Sarah with excitement overflowing in her eyes. "I mean, you should have seen your face when that Sejan screeched at you! You were like whooaaa!" Hera flailed her arms and legs and flopped back onto the ground. Sarah couldn't help but start laughing along with her. The goblins that had fled to the trees were now peeking back and started to giggle too.
"Well," Sarah began, "What I meant was what did Jareth look at you like that for?"
"Like what?" Hera asked, she sat up on her elbows and looked down at her thumbs.
Sarah stood up slowly and started pacing in front of Hera. "You're hiding something from me, and I'm going to find out what it is." Hera cocked an eyebrow in that annoyingly familiar way. Sarah sighed. "Well, will you at least tell me something?"
Hera stood up and Sarah realized how short she was in comparison to the mysterious girl. "What would you like to know?" she said with a solemn tone.
Sarah squinted and stood on her tip-toes to get in her face. "Why are you helping me?"
Hera suddenly laughed. "That question can be answered at a different time. What you do want to know is, 'what it is about me that is so familiar'. Am I right?" she said with a slight smirk.
Sarah was shocked. Could she read her mind? No, that was impossible. But then again, this was the Labyrinth. She lifted her chin. "And? I would like to know."
Hera smirked then she stood up to what seemed to be her full height (how could she get any taller? Sarah thought), put her hands on her hips and said with a very imperial tone, "You have thirteen hours in which to solve the labyrinth, before your baby brother becomes one of us... forever."
Sarah looked at Hera in shock. "But…. I don't understand."
Hera looked at Sarah in amusement. "Yes Sarah, I think you do. I am Princess Hera of the Goblin Realm, daughter and heir to King Jareth of the Goblin Realm." She smirked as Sarah paled. "Do you understand now?"