Disclaimer: I do not own the Labyrinth.

Chapter 1

Shrill screams permeated the once still night air. Chaos reigned and the quiet street burst into pandemonium as the harsh search lights swept over the ground. All around, people's faces were mere shadows, but even in the dark, one could easily see their faces twisted in terrible grimaces of terror and desperation, the shock glaring in their wide eyes. People from all walks of life fled the buildings and into the dark shelters which loomed over them like a lion's maw.

And with them, ran a girl of fifteen, her brilliant jade eyes dark and intent, as she grimly accepted the inevitable: The war was finally upon them.

Bombs left such huge craters of silence in the town, that night. In the shelter underground, the layers of earth that stood guard as sentinels between the terrified people and the hell that was going on above them for the less fortunate ones that did not manage to get to the shelters on time.

But still, it could not stop them from hearing the screaming. The crying. The crack of gunshots. The whirr of engines. The wailing of sirens. A stream of sounds that never seemed to end.

The hoard of people cowered closer together in the dark, seeking reassurance from the physical contact they gave each other. Families hugged, babies and young children cried, not understanding what was happening, even as their parents tried to hush them.

At the very back of the shelter, at one of the corners, a family of four huddled. Their faces were that of those trapped in nightmares – knowing that they were there but could not wake. The young girl held a little boy in her arms, crooning gently to him as he cried, tears leaving glittering tracks down his too-perfect face. She swept his blond her back, gently rocking him as the tears seemed to slow. Beside the pair, sat a couple, hands intertwined as they witnessed the open display of affection between brother and sister, garnering a tender look upon their faces.

All through the long, dark night, those lucky enough to avoid the start of the war sat in the dark, faces still as stone, sitting quietly as they waited for the first light of dawn to greet them.

oOo

It had been five months ago, but Sarah had never forgotten how it had all started. All this chaos, all this war and bloodshed… All these deaths. It wasn't only the bad guys who were dying like in the movies. This was not one of her many fairytales anymore – it was real. It was war. And her town had lost. They belonged to the enemy.

Her house, thankfully, was in the part of the town that had not been largely affected. It gave her comfort that she, at least, had a stable point in her life – had a real home to go to at the end of each day. Sarah's gaze wandered to where her vanity stood, and a feeling of wistfulness slipped through her heart, a small smile tugging at her lips as she remembered that night.

Everyone had been here. Hoggle… Ludo… Sir Didymus… The goblins and so many others. They had an awesome time, not worrying about anything, but just having fun.

Sighing, Sarah stretched, getting slowly out of her bed as she moved to the mirror, staring at her reflection in rumpled clothing. The last months had been hard, and all the warring had left her hard and jaded, with no more romantic illusions about the world around her.

But still… The dreamer part of her could not be wholly tamed. Sarah tentatively stretched out a trembling hand, fingertips grazing the surface of the mirror, the cool surface unyielding beneath her fingers.

"Hoggle?" she whispered quietly, voice timidly hopeful as she stared intently into its depths. "Ludo? Sir Didymus?"

A moment passed. Then two. They did not appear.

Sarah felt, more than saw, her mouth twisting up in slight bitterness, her eyes clouded with sudden tears. Why was she even crying? It had only been for a day, that marvelous dream. Magic did not exist in the real world.

It was just a dream.

Defeated, Sarah dropped her hand, angrily wiping her eyes dry with the back of her hand as she reached over to grab a hair tie and pulled up her hair in a messy ponytail, pushing the memory determinedly to the back of her mind.

Sarah spared a quick glance at her clock, gasping at the time.

"Oh shit!"

Grabbing her satchel, the teen whirled around, ponytail snapping as she fled out of the room, down the stairs and threw it onto an empty chair at the dining table.

"Good morning Sarah," her father greeted, a smile on his face as he watched her, discarding the newspaper.

Sarah looked up at him, raising an eyebrow mockingly as she darted a significant glance at the newspaper. The headlines screamed, Seattle bombed- Hundreds dead.

"It is?" she asked, sarcasm evident in her voice, nodding at the newspaper. "I hadn't noticed."

She saw her father's face drop, and a pang of guilt ran through her. Before she could apologise, Karen's voice sounded out behind her.

"Sarah Williams! I'm shocked at your attitude. And drop that look young lady," she warned, motioning to the scowl creeping up on Sarah's face.

Tightening her lips, Sarah stared resolutely at the paper, where black and white images of the dead stared back at her.

"Am I wrong?" Sarah challenged, raising her voice slightly as she jerked her chin at the photographs. "Is a morning during a war ever good?"

Silence fell, and Sarah instantly regretted her hastily spoken words.

"Karen, I –" Sarah awkwardly tried to scramble for an excuse, to apologise, but somehow, the words wouldn't come. Her pride wouldn't let her speak the words.

Karen walked over to her, placing her comforting, capable hands on Sarah's shoulders, gripping them tightly as her voice wobbled.

"It's fine, Sarah. I understand. We understand. The war hasn't been easy on any of us… It's taking a toll on you as well. I just wish…" Karen trailed off, and Sarah's face softened, losing all the edge it had gained and looking like herself before the war, before her innocence was ripped away from her.

Sarah nodded, glancing away, before fixing a wan smile on her face.

"So. I'm going out after breakfast for a while… I'll be back soon." Sarah said conversationally, eyes flickering to her parents as though to judge their expressions, which had immediately darkened with worry.

"Sweetheart, I don't think –"

"I'll be fine, Karen," Sarah said slightly exasperatedly, cutting her step-mother off. "Nothing's going to happen. I'm just going to the park, and then I'll come back. As usual."

Sarah checked the time on her watch, mentally cursing at the time.

"On second thoughts, I'll skip breakfast. See you guys later!" Adopting a cheery tone, Sarah waved to her family, kissing Toby on the head where he sat in his high chair, before walking quickly to the door and out of the house.

oOo

Sarah sat on her favourite bench in the park, adopting a lazy demeanour as she idly crossed her legs, wiping her sweaty palms on the front of her jeans. Anxious eyes swept the people passing by her over and over, as she crossed her arms. No matter how many times she had done this before, it never got any easier – or less terrifying for that matter.

Her hands trembled as a man with streaks of white in his hair sat down beside her, leaning back casually on the bench as he turned his head to look at her.

"Six", was the almost inaudible whisper that came from him. "The eagles –" he broke off, as though waiting for something.

"One-oh-four," Sarah muttered back, voice nearly breaking with relief. "Will triumph," she completed, giving him the second half of the pass code as she subtly withdrew the package from her pocket, standing up and dropping it into his waiting hand, before walking off without a backward glance.

Slowly, she felt the tension drain from her body. Sarah exhaled, walking slightly faster as she passed a group of men in green and black uniforms, guns held at alert as they scanned the surroundings.

It had been four months since Sarah had joined the Resistance as a 'middle-man'. Her job was mainly to pass messages, to help the various members to co-ordinate their efforts. It was too dangerous for the individual members to know each other personally, with the exception of a core group; hence the numbers were used as identification.

She might have been young, but then again, war and death often made people grow up much quickly – too quickly, and made them old beyond their years.

It just wasn't fair! How could this have happened? Everything was perfect – her relationship with Karen had improved by leaps and bounds after the Labyrinth-dream, and then this. It shattered all her hopes, all her dreams, like a bomb destroying everything around it.

Sarah snickered to herself, dodging a few puddles as she walked home. Well, this certainly proved her mental state. Gods, the only imagery and similes she could actually come up with these days were all related to war.

Well now, Goblin King. I certainly do have my basis for comparison now, don't I?

Unbidden an image flashed into her mind's eye – a girl, as old as herself, long hair, face twisted unrecognizably as blood seeped out of the wounds on her body. She was cold and still as death.

Flinching, Sarah pushed the memory away, as her eyes burned.

Stop it! She scolded herself, blinking back the tears that threatened to fall. It's in the past. I've got to continue, to try and fight, because I'm sure as hell not letting these bastards walk all over us after everything they've done.

Sarah pushed her shoulders back, lifting her chin in a defiant tilt as she strode forward. Hope seeped into her being, along with confidence, though it was tinged a little with despair. She looked around at the familiar sights of her town, the buildings now battered and worn, some completely demolished.

This war couldn't last forever, could it?

Sarah rounded the last corner – and immediately threw herself to the ground as gunshots cracked all around her. Terror blazed through her body, awakening her nerves and setting her body on fire as adrenaline pulsed through her.

The sound was like thunder, and Sarah crawled to her knees, trying to creep away as her breaths came in laboured gasps. Shaking, she screamed as a bullet hit the ground beside her, sending puffs of white cement into her face.

Toby! Dad! Karen! She shrieked silently as she stood up on shaking legs, dashing madly to her house as the gunfire continued. She heard shouts from people to stop, to get away, but she ignored them and the sounds turned to a distant roaring in her head.

They've got to… They're okay! They're just…

Dimly, through the rushing sound in her ears, she heard the screaming and panicking as people pushed past her to run in the opposite direction. Stumbling and shoving, she made her way grimly forward, eyes fixed on the white house at the corner of the street.

Suddenly, somebody screamed. A scream of pure terror and people halted, following the woman's shaking hand up to where a shiny, metal device spun through the air.

"Grenade!" Sarah shouted, diving towards the woods beside her. "Take cover!"

She watched the grenade spin through the air with a kind of horrified fascination as she struggled through the undergrowth. For a moment, as the grenade touched the ground, there was complete silence, before an explosion ripped through the air.

The force of the explosion threw her backwards, and a piece of shrapnel lodged itself into her thigh. Sarah flailed her limbs, breaking her fall with a hand, as a dull pain shot up her arm from her wrist, accompanied by a loud crunch.

A pained cry left her lips as Sarah curled into a ball, holding her injured wrist protectively against her chest. Her other hand went to her thigh, and Sarah watched with a detached horror that it came up bloody.

Toby. Karen. Daddy.

Sarah struggled to her feet, barely making it before she collapsed onto her side with a screech of pain. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she determinedly pushed herself up, half-limping, half-running towards the house through the haze of pain.

For my will is as strong as yours…

An inhumane sounding cry left her, as Sarah stopped in front of a group of people. There, in the middle, their hands still interlaced, were her parents.

A yawning chasm seemed to open up before her, as she stumbled the last few steps towards them, seeing nothing but their blood-stained faces, the tears upon them and fell on top of them, sobs racking her whole body.

"Karen! Daddy! Wake up, please! PLEASE! Don't leave me! I'm sorry… I'm sorry…" she sobbed again and again, like a mantra that could bring them back to life, as her hands desperately clutched at their clothes.

"Please… Please… Please…" she whispered, eyes clouded with tears so that she could not even see the faces of her beloved parents clearly. Her tears dropped onto their faces, onto their shirts, and Sarah dimly wondered if the age-old myth would come true: Tears could heal wounds.

And Toby…

Whipping away from them, Sarah blindly searched for the young boy. Dashing away her tears, the girl patted the ground blindly, feeling the other bodies beneath her hands, beneath her knees, finally noticing the presence of the other corpses. Panic reared its head, as bile rose up her throat at the overwhelming stench of blood and death.

Turning her head quickly to one side at the sight of all the bodies around her, Sarah vomited violently, emptying her stomach of its contents as her head spun. Her wrist burned with a fury and her thigh throbbed, causing her to retch again, even though there was nothing left in her to expel.

"Toby," Sarah whimpered, fingers searching desperately. "Toby!"

Breath hitching, she rubbed her eyes, staring determinedly around. If Toby… If he were also…

There!

Sarah crawled over to the young boy lying motionless some distance away from her parents, her injured leg dragging uselessly behind her even as she squeezed her eyes shut against the white-hot pain that flared after every move.

It was deathly quiet now, Sarah realized dispassionately. The screaming had finally stopped, and the rest of the survivors, like her, were too stunned to do anything. Not to mention, they were quite a distance away. Only death lay around her.

"Toby…" Sarah whispered numbly, her fingers grazing the fine blond hair of the young boy, now marred with crimson red. He lay on his back, eyes closed, still. Desperately, she lowered her face to his, holding still as she could, till the merest whisper of air brushed against her cheek.

Alive! But only just, she reminded herself, closing her eyes against the surge of relief and dread that threatened to overwhelm her.

Sarah looked around wildly, hoping beyond hope that a miracle would happen and that an ambulance would appear.

Something deep within her consciousness stirred.

There might not be miracles… But there is magic.

It was the only chance she had.

Closing her eyes, she imbued her voice with all the power, with all the desperation, with all the conviction she could master.

"I wish the Goblin King would come and take Toby away, right now!"

Author's note: Well? What do you think? It's my first Labyrinth fic so try not to be so harsh xD I look forward to hearing your response! Please review!