For those of you just joining me, this is a sequel to Trapped In A Nightmare, so I suggest you read that first.
For the rest of you, keep in mind that this is a sequel to a sequel and therefore even further removed from the movie. Most of it, besides the characters in the film, is my own creation. Anything from the movie is the sole property of Jim Henson; I do not own the rights to the Labyrinth or it's original characters (sadly).
That being said, read on! I hope you enjoy it.
For seven long years, the Labyrinth lay defeated yet without a queen. The victor had returned home, unaware neither of her significance nor the chaos she left in her wake. The defeated Goblin King festered in bitterness, growing resentment in his heart like a weed—his thoughts turned ever toward his beloved conqueror, torn between rancor and desire.
Meanwhile, the Underground grew restless. Rumors of the Goblin King's defeat circled far and wide, reaching even the ears of the Court of the Wise—the assembly of retired Kings and Queens who had left their thrones to the care of their children in order to live a more secluded and restful life on the boundary of the Underground kingdoms. Summoning Jareth, they demanded an explanation, to which he merely shrugged and snidely criticized the goblins for their tale-telling ways. Few believed the roguish king's attempts to obfuscate, but without proof, they were forced to watch him exit the assembly room with a jaunty step and mischievous sparkle in his icy blue mismatched eyes.
Slowly but surely, the tongues stopped wagging and interest in the Goblin King's business waned. He secluded himself from the rest of the Underground, choosing instead to wallow alternately in self-pity and blame. Yet under the surface, a tempest roiled waiting only to be allowed release in order to deluge the entire Underground in its torrents. It was as if the entire realm waited with bated breath, watching and waiting for the straw to finally break the camel's back and let loose a landslide of buried emotion.
Then one day, a small tow-headed boy no older than eight mistakenly uttered the words that had changed his own life seven years previous. The unwanted child—painstakingly won back from the clutches of the capricious king—brought his own fate to bear on his once-thoughtless sister. He unwittingly wished upon her the same fate she had knowingly wished upon him: he wished the goblins would take her away. And they did. Gleefully and triumphantly, the defeated Goblin King was reunited with his former victor, but this time, she was his prisoner. Torn between his deep love for her and his bitterness at her flippant rejection of his heart and hand, the Goblin King sought revenge in petty mockery and arrogant scorn. He masked his pain with hate and his longing with cold derision.
However, her will was as strong as his and her kingdom as great and though he had great power of her destiny in his land, she refused to be treated as one of his minions. The girl who had defeated the king those seven years ago had grown into a mature woman, yet she was still capable of spite. Flinging words like arrows at the arrogant king, she shunned his castle in order to seek help from her old friends. She hoped to relay a message to her brother in the Aboveground; she needed his help to get home.
Burdened with sorrow over his careless words, the young boy sought to make amends for what he had done and to win back his sister from the power of a man he only knew as the Goblin King. He remembered nothing of his own time in the Labyrinth years ago and knew only what his sister had briefly told him in the short minutes before his irrevocable utterance of the fateful words: "I wish the goblins would come and take you away right now."
But Sarah's friends were not idle; retrieving from her the tome that had once absorbed her thoughts and fantasy, they relayed the book and its import to the child, that he might use it to bring Sarah back home. Thus it was that Toby, the only child to escape the Labyrinth started out on an adventurous journey to return to that fearful place in order to rescue his beloved sister. Though losing his friends along the way, he made new ones who helped him overcome many of the tricks the Goblin King's Labyrinth contained. However, even his new friends could not win him the victory his sister won and he was captured by the goblins before he could reach his goal.
In the meanwhile, the once-victorious Sarah herself traveled the labyrinth, but this time the quest revealed more knowledge than thrills. From the industrious and hospitable worms she learned the history of the Underground, but was unable to comprehend wherein the Labyrinth fit. Moving on, she met the neighboring king—a charming, yet dangerous King who had once been close friends with Jareth, the Goblin King. But she did not long remain a guest there, for she was soon kidnapped by Jareth's most virulent enemy: Junia of the broken heart.
Twisted by an unquenchable fire of animosity, the woman attacked Sarah with Fury-like rage. Though she was nearly destroyed by it, Jareth would not allow his beloved to be consumed by the deadly flames of Junia's wrath. Awakened now to the harsh reality of his continuing love for his conqueror, Jareth painstakingly nursed her back to health, only to be met with the lash of Sarah's rapier-like tongue. Both bloodied by the darts of their perceived opponent's brutal accusations, they fell into a meditative truce, broken only by the shining innocence of a child's keen perceptions. Toby's capture in the Labyrinth proved providential; the child who had been instrumental in bringing Sarah to Jareth's Labyrinth again proved uniquely suited to break down the barriers keeping the ill-fated couple apart.
As each became more aware of each other's feelings, an deeper, richer love blossomed in their hearts. Where it had once been born of fantasy and illusory expectations, Jareth's view of his beloved took root in the reality of her multi-faceted character. She was no longer a child, nor was she a figment of his ardent imagination. She was the flesh-and-blood woman with whom he longed to share his life. Yet, he doubted her newly awakened affection for him. When it became clear that her victory would be brought once again before the Court, he balked. She did not know that her victory had been the same as her betrothal. Jareth knew and feared once again that she would either reject him or be forced to submit to a life of discontent and brooding hatred as his Queen. He tried to send away his beloved in order to face the brunt of their accusations by himself. He sacrificed himself for her.
But fate would not allow so noble a sacrifice to persist. Sarah and Jareth were brought to the Court to be held accountable for their actions, little knowing that the feared condemnation would turn to joyous reunion. Sarah learned that her defeat of the Labyrinth had earned her the right to be wed to Jareth; her prize of her victory had not merely been the return of her baby brother, for she had also acquired a crown and a husband. Though dazzled, Sarah rehearsed the events of the past seven years, growing ever more aware of Jareth's own love for her and, in turn, her unconscious desire and love for him. The Labyrinth had persistently clung to her memory as she grew beyond the childish fantasies of her teenage years. But it was not only the Labyrinth that haunted her—usually in nightmarish form. For the Labyrinth was but a projection and representation of the King himself. Though she had feared him; she realized he alone of all the men in the world truly captivated her heart, body and soul. She loved him.
An exultant reunion of the lovers melted into the sad departure of Sarah's precocious brother. He was sent home with no memory of his adventures, leaving Sarah to explain her mysterious betrothal to a nameless and subsequent departure to a bewildered family.
In truth, Jareth had not forgotten his once-adopted child and heir. Unwilling to grieve his beloved Sarah and reject the child who had once so captured his playful spirit, Jareth returned the boy's memory and allowed him a glimpse of the happiness his sister had found in the Underground, as his bride.
The joining of Jareth, Goblin King and Lord of the Labyrinth to Sarah Williams, human from the Aboveground and Conqueror of the Labyrinth was an event brilliantly imprinted on the minds of all the Kings and Queens of the Underground, for never had there been such a jubilant, dazzling and resplendent bonding ceremony as was celebrated for the Goblin King and his Queen. For many, it was as if the rapturous couple had transcended their reality into another, brighter and fairer one. They tread the path between the stars while the Underground watched, envious of their wondrous love.
From Above, Toby watched the celebrations through the crystal orb Jareth had gifted him. So it was that Toby alone of all the humans of the Aboveground witnessed the joining of his sister, Sarah Williams, to the Goblin King Jareth. It was an event he would never forget though it was never his to remember.
Little did he or the Goblin King know that this one small act of pure kindness would devastate the Underground, bringing it to the brink of utter desolation and upheaval so swiftly upon the heels of the joyous events. For, unknown to the boy, it was this one act that fomented rebellion within the Court's own ranks and precipitated the Age of Chaos. Such a trifling thing it was for Jareth to undo the Court's forced amnesia and all for the sake of a boy's love for his sister and hers for him. Impending disaster was further from the boy's thoughts than the thought that he could have once again brought sorrow and pain into his sister's heart. Nor did the boy imagine the suffering encroaching fast upon his sister and her beloved king as he sat transfixed by the spinning colors and faces in the opalescent orb. But one can hardly blame the boy. He was, after all, an innocent bystander to impudent revels of a mischievous king and the dark machinations of a malevolent force long ignored.
——Excerpt from "The Travails of the Goblin Queen," Appendixed to the Annals of the Court of the Wise by Asenath, Court Scribe, in the year 7534, Age of Restoration
Happy beginning everyone! I hope this is sufficiently 'grabbing' to keep you all interested. Con-crit is welcome and please leave a review, if you have the time and inclination. Let me know what you think so far.