This is a fanfiction I made years ago that never really got finished cause life happened. So, I decided to rewrite it, and flesh it out a bit (a lot). I can't promise regular updates, but I can promise it will get finished.

I obviously don't own the rights to The Labyrinth, or the characters belonging to it. All I claim right to is my imagination.

Chapter One: The End, or The Beginning

"I'll miss you, Sarah."

Feeling small chubby arms holding her tight, Sarah couldn't help but smile through her tears. She ruffled the untidy blonde hair of her little brother, who released his firm hold on her a little to look up at her with big sad grey eyes.

"Can't you come with us?" he begged, for the umpteenth time.

"I wish I could, Toby." She clutched him tighter to her, as she gazed out at the sea of boxes that had once been her home.

"But why?" the boy persisted, sure that he'd get an answer eventually if only he asked enough times. This was a trick he had learnt from his mother, on whom this technique always worked when it came to the subjects of sweets.

"It's complicated, sweetheart. I'll explain it to you when you get older, okay?

"But Imma go to school soon. I'm older now!" he exclaimed, presenting an admirably irresistible pout to his sister, who couldn't help laughing a little. "But, Sarah… It won't be the same without your stories."

"I know. I'll miss telling them too." She sighed. Then, she crouched down and put her hands on his shoulders. "Listen, Toby. Sometimes in life we find ourselves in situations that aren't good, and that can't be avoided. But no matter how much we might want to, we can't change the past. All we can do is to see the good in the situation, and make the best of it. After all, complaining only makes matters worse, because you keep reminding yourself of all the bad. After all, complaining never did Hoggle any good, right?"

Toby let out a spontaneous laugh at the mention of one of his favourite characters.

"He was pretty silly, wasn't he?"

"He was," Sarah replied, laughing also. "But, once he stopped complaining, he realized that even though he was afraid, he was brave enough to help his friends and defeat the goblin king, right?"

"And save the prince!" Toby exclaimed happily.

An annoyed sigh came from the doorway behind them. Sarah turned around, only to see her stepmother.

"If you two don't mind, we could use some help with the boxes." Toby was out the door in a second, carrying a big box of toys while shouting at his father to look at how strong he was.

"Sarah…" Another sigh. "We've talked about this. He's growing too old for such stories. He'll be a school boy in a few months, and he doesn't need this kind of stuff and nonsense. He needs stories he learns something from, not just fairytales."

Sarah longed for the power to tell her that he was a child, not just a future adult. She wished she could make her understand that even though a story doesn't teach you how to spell A-P-P-L-E, or that 2+2=4, that doesn't necessarily mean you can't learn anything from it. However, she knew it would be of no use to try. She had tried before, but it is impossible to tell someone something when they only hear your words, instead of listening. So, she only responded with a sigh of her own, and continued moving boxes.

A few hours later they were off, leaving a waving Sarah in the driveway of an empty house. Adjusting her backpack, and hoisting a gym bag onto her shoulder, she took one last long look at the house, and then turned away. Taking the handle of her suitcase, she started walking.

"Time to go, Merlin."

Merlin was sitting on the lawn, looking up at the big house. He let out a soft whimper, before getting up and trudging after her. Bending down to pet him, Sarah sighed. In fact, she sighed several times as they walked on, with nothing to interrupt her thoughts but the perpetual sound of rolling wheels. Her father's words were still ringing in her ears.

"You can't hold on to these childish dreams forever. You need a real job and a proper education, not these fairytales. Writing is not a real job, and you can't sustain a good life on a writer's income. You're 22. It's time to grow up, you can't live here forever. Perhaps your stepmother is right. It might do you some good to be on your own, make you see the realistic side of the world."

Talk about getting pushed out of the nest… As if getting a job with no previous work experience was the easiest thing on earth. And so what if she wanted to be an author? What else was she supposed to do with all the stories in her head? Why give up on her dreams if doing so would make her unhappy? Certainly not worth getting kicked out over. Of course, she didn't get kicked out. She was only forced to move out, with no place to live and very little money , while her family moved to England, which was at least one expensive plane ticket away…

Secretly, Sarah had her suspicions about her stepmother's involvement in her present predicament. She doubted her father would have had any objections to her following her dreams if it weren't for the fact that her stepmother disliked the "corrupting" influence she had on her little brother. Liking fairytales was one thing, but she made him believe in them. Oh, the horror! Sarah sighed, yet again. She didn't think her stepmother was a bad person, really. She was only rather selfish. She would do anything for those who belonged to her, as long as she thought it in their best interest (which did not always mean it actually was), but Sarah had never really belonged to her. They were very different people, opposite side of the scale. Sarah wanted Toby to be independent and creative, his mother expected him to fit in and be smart.

So lost in her own thoughts, was she, that she had neither awareness of where she was going or how long she had been walking. She had no place to go, and nothing to do but think. Some part of her hoped that if she thought long enough, she'd come up with a solution. She had been in worse situations before after all. Well, only the one, but still. Her walking and thinking came to a very sudden stop. There was a splash, and the unmistakable feeling of water slowly filling a shoe. Confused, Sarah blinked and forced herself back to reality. She was almost impressed by what she found. She was standing at the edge of a lake, actually standing with one foot in it. Not just any lake either, but her lake, in her park. She'd always called it that, after that day when everything changed. The lake was glimmering in the evening sunlight, looking like it was made of liquid gold. Chuckling a little at her own absentmindedness, she took a step back.

Looking at her reflection in the water, Sarah sighed one big sigh, and determined it to be her last, for the day at least. 6 years… It was strange to think it had been so long. While she had stopped talking to her strange friends over the years, she had never stopped believing in the reality of her adventure. It had happened, although no one knew it. Forced into adulthood, she had been forced to let them go, but…

"I… need you. All of you. Now more than ever."

She didn't know what she expected, wasn't sure if anything would happen at all.

"I just want a place to call home…"

The water seemed to shake, the reflection being rippled by tiny waves. Sarah frowned.

"How strange."

When the shaking stopped, the ruin behind Sarah reflected in the water had changed. In its place was a majestic and bizarre castle, lit by an orange sky. It was strangely familiar too, which is the last thing Sarah remembers thinking before the world started spinning, and the castle seemed to get closer and closer.