A/N: I own no one except Stephan, and even he somehow became a part of the fabric of Labyrinth over the years, so I guess I don't even own him anymore….. it was time to come back to Labyrinth… it's been too long… I couldn't imagine writing anything else after the news this week... RIP my dear Goblin King... thank you for teaching us it was OK to be different, to embrace the strange.

Under A Crystal Moon

by Caillean

Chapter One: Once Upon a Time

The dark attic had a strange haze about it, light from a small dormer window reflecting off of clouds of dust floating in the air. Cassandra sneezed. The woman beside her smiled as she reached down and picked up another dust cloth, shaking more of the mites into the air.

"I know it's pretty bad, but once we air it out, I think you might find some nice pieces up here. The previous owners sold it as is, so who knows what we might find, Cass. I know how much you love vintage things." She took in the piles of furniture and boxes and sighed. "It is strange how they just left it all here, but I suppose they wanted to start fresh somewhere else."

"You make it sound like this was a murder house or something." Cassandra mumbled before forcing a smile for her aunt. "Why don't you go back to your unpacking, and I'll look around here for awhile. You're right, maybe there is some cool stuff up here." She forced herself not to flinch as the older woman placed a hand lightly on her shoulder before turning and climbing back down the ladder stairs.

I'll probably die from inhaling all this dust, but at least I'll be out of her hair, the young woman thought. Cassandra walked across the old wooden floor searching for a clear spot to sit. An impossible task, to be certain. She pulled a sheet off what turned out to be an armchair, and she sat down, a puff of grey sending her into a sneezing fit once more.

This whole move had been a mistake. Why was it, three years after the accident Aunt Ruby decided they had to move away? Things had started to get back to normal.

Almost.

Either way, Cassandra wasn't looking forward to adjusting to a new environment, not in her senior year, certainly. She dragged the toe of her boot, drawing lines in the thick layer of neglect. Everything seemed to be going wrong now. Why couldn't something good happen to her for once in her life? Ever since the fire, Ruby had guarded her as close as a secret. It got worse every passing year. Never allowed to go out with her friends, what few of them she had left.

Aunt Ruby's reasoning was flimsy at best.

You should be studying.

Cassandra had already been accepted into two good universities, her grades were fine, if not perfect.

When you're eighteen you can do whatever you want.

Six months away. "Might as well be years at this rate." Tears were threatening to fall again. She shut her eyes tight and held them back. Curling up in the armchair, Cassandra felt a strange comfort from the old musty smell surrounding it.

Shifting slightly she felt something hard beneath her thigh. Cassandra reached under herself and felt along the sides of the seat cushion.

There.

She pulled out a small book, no more than a half inch thick with a tan leather cover. In the lower right hand corner, she felt embossed letters. S.W.

"Williams?" Cassandra wondered as she opened the cover. On the first page was an elaborate sketch of a maze, quite intricate. "A labyrinth." She mouthed the word without thinking, slowly tracing it with a finger, trying to find her way to the center but quickly becoming lost. She turned her gaze to the inside cover.

"Sarah Williams, November 8th, 1986." Twenty years ago. Intrigued, she turned the pages and began to read:

"I know if I don't write everything down now I may forget it all. Every single thing about my journey into the Goblin King's kingdom I can recall at this moment, but I know how quickly things can change. So I found this book. Mom gave it to me the year before she passed away. I never had a reason to use it. Never, until now."

Goblin King? So much for a journal. Sara must have used this to write down ideas for a story:

"…as he disappeared I heard his voice echo in the wind. 'Such a pity.' At that time, I had to agree with him. I didn't want to enter the maze and rescue my brother, but I knew it was the right thing to do. The only thing. I hardened myself to the task and began my descent down the hill…"

"... we made our way through the bog, with Sir Didymus as our fearless leader. We grew hungry. I realized I had never seen anything that could remotely pass for food here. Hoggle offered me a peach. The second I took a bite he ran off, muttering something about 'Jareth'. I knew even before I fell that I had been drugged..."

Cassandra looked up. Good lord, what time was it? The light from the window was fading into a russet sunset. Almost six. Reluctantly, she got up and put the book down. Turning, she made her way back downstairs, thoughts of fantastical creatures and the seemingly devilish Goblin King swimming through her mind.