Disclaimer: I, unfortunately, do not own Labyrinth, the characters such as goblins and Jareth, oubliettes, the Labyrinth itself, or any part of it.

Claimer: I DO, however, own Aora, her little sister, their personalities, and the other characters/obstacles that I have come up with. More details in later chapters.

Yes, yet anoter minor change. xp Aren't I wonderful? Sorry...this is why I'm hesitant about posting...

Random Quote!

It's not quite paradise

It just looks like home

Not quite paradise

We are not alone

It'll be alright

Though it's not quite

Paradise

-song from Titan A.E. soundtrack

Chapter One

Jareth inwardly sighed. He had been traversing a lot lately. Frankly, he was a bit tired. It was times like these he was agonizingly aware of his growing lines. But even with all the action, he was still restless, still lacking something. He had tried to figure out what it was, went on with life. Well, the life that he knew. That's why he kept himself busy, why he would think of new tricks and schemes; but it didn't seem to help. He would always be disappointed when someone dared to challenge them. At times though, like now, he would find himself thinking back to a certain girl who had overcome all he'd thrown at her. Taunting him with those eyes that infuriated him so, but yet… Give it time, he mused; all in good time….

A bubble then appeared and whispered to him. He stood up, ridding his mind of her. It was time to prepare for another addition.

Aora was walking home from one job to another. The difference would be that instead of stocking up shelf after shelf and pricing various items to be sold, she would be watching her little sister. She wore regular jeans with a green shirt trimmed with a light teal color. The robe-like sleeves hung loosely on her arms, and around her waist was tied a black jacket. Her back-length midnight-black 'waves' bobbed in time with her step.

Suddenly, a bookstore caught her eye to her far left on the other side of the street. She turned and, seeing the oncoming light red, dashed across the street and inside. She looked around and wondered what she might be able to afford with what little money she carried with her. She appraised the bookshop with her green eyes, then approached a free-standing bookshelf, which stood just above her shoulders. On the top, almost at eye level, was a small script-looking book. It looked a bit old, but still held its regality. She lifted her hand and brushed over the slightly worn cover. She thought she could feel… something radiating from it; drawing her in… "May I help you?" Aora blinked and drew back quickly. She had unconsciously been starting to lean forward. "May I help you?" The woman's voice asked again, maybe containing t he slightest twitch of worry. Aora turned to look at the woman behind the register. "Oh; I was just looking at this book," She paused to look at the name, "Labyrinth." "Oh." The woman's voice instantly changed, and now held slight annoyance, as if it wasn't worth her time. Aora picked up the little book, looking for the price. She didn't want to be late getting back home; especially for stopping at a bookstore. Her affinity for books was well known, and was one of the reasons she tried to not carry too much money with her. She knew the book would be good enough to buy before reading the summary. If it even had one anyway. She couldn't seem to find a price, though. "Um, excuse me, but-" "It's five bucks." The lady said before she could finish, using the same uninterested tone as before. Aora quickly handed over a $10 and waited for change. "Thank you for your purchase; I should warn you though. You won't get a refund when you bring it back." Aora looked at her quizzically, but was already putting the change in her purse. "Is it that bad?" "I don't know; I've just heard it's cursed." "Well, I don't think a book itself can be cursed;" Aora said as she threw the book in a long with the money, "it just depends on what you do with it." And with that she left the quaint shop, running back across the street, a car narrowly missing her. She shrugged on the black jacket that, after a few years, was still a little big on her. A chilly breeze was starting up. She smiled silently, happy with her purchase, and not wanting to wait to crack the 'cursed' book open.

Aora opened the door to home and dropped her key-strap right off. "Hey, I'm home!" She called out. The large staircase going upstairs loomed before her, and her mom popped her head out from the kitchen beside the staircase. "You were almost late again, Ari-dear. And pick up those keys if you don't mind." She said, hands full with earrings and purse. "I know." Aora said as she knelt, picked up the keys, and rolled her eyes. "But I'm home, aren't I?" She met her mother halfway to the doorway. "Steve's getting the car warmed up." She said as her mom fixed some final touches on her hair in the hall mirror. "Now, you sure that you will be fine with babysitting your sister for the whole weekend?" She asked for the tenth time. "Yes, we'll be fine. I have no plans; we can have a 'sister day' or something…" Or whatever it is you call it, she thought. "Alright then. Love you Ari-dear! Your sister's up in her room playing with her dolls." Her mom walked briskly out the door. She had already guessed as much when she heard the tell-tale booms and crashes of 'Barbie Battles' from above. Her sister had such a strange imagination. Aora waved as her mom and her new boyfriend drove off for a 'weekend getaway'. She closed the door and made a silent victory-punch as she came back in, heading to the kitchen to get something to eat. She briefly grabbed a bowl and poured out some goldfish crackers, also putting some in a small Ziploc bag for later. She stuffed the bag into her jacket pocket, and took the bowl upstairs, stopping by her room to drop off her schoolbag.

She headed into her sister's room. "Halt!" Said a voice trying to be deep and commanding, but not succeeding, "Who dares enter the scene of war?" "First-commander Aora, bringing provisions for the troops!" "You may enter." She sat herself down by her 4-year-old sister, avoiding the strewn legos that had once been land mines and bombs and the 'casualties' here and there. The oriental heritage that manifested itself in her family had strangely decided to skip her sister, so she was always the oddball in the family. Of course, even if she had looked 'normal', her interests would have singled her out anyway. "So, what's the fuss about this time?" "Sandy told Jenna that she couldn't play dress-up anymore because she was too old for such things. So Jenna declared war." Aora popped a goldfish in her mouth. "That seems pretty harsh." "They both apologized, though, so they're done fighting." Was the goldfish-filled reply. "I'm gonna make us some dinner in a bit; what do you want?" "Uhh…pizza!" "Take-out?" The little girl nodded enthusiastically. "Alright…" Aora said, trying to sound convincing, "but you'll miss out on some good mac&cheese…" "Mac&cheese! Mac&cheese! Mac&cheese!" She chanted, enthralled with the new option. "Ok. I'll call when it's ready." Aora said as she got up and left. Her sister grabbed another handful of goldfish and looked out the window. It was getting dark, and it looked like some ominous clouds were heading in.

It wasn't like Jareth wasn't busy enough lately. To the contrary, it seemed as if the infamous words had found new life in the months past. He passed a new goblin(a tiny boy once) as he was finding his place among his new relatives. But winning seemed not to hold quite as much thrill for him anymore, like something was missing. Of course, it may have been that people were more easily turned away now. Not many turned down his petty offers of forgetfulness. He tempted abnormally persistent ones with bits of worldly chattels. Some even bargained; usually for a thing called 'money', of which (once described to him) he could produce quite easily. Humans loved it so. Disgusted him really. Those that did hold out and entered never seemed to get very far in his Labyrinth. Which was a good thing, he reminded himself. Less bothersome complaints to listen to. Giving up was so much easier than going on. His goblin army had grown rapidly as a result. He passed by his throne, aimlessly watching the goblins' stupid antics. And thus far the increased numbers hadn't let to any smarter goblins. Yet, in the last week, callings had dropped dramatically, and so he was forced to endure longer and longer spells of waiting. He glanced down a hallway, and his eyes caught on a door for an instant. It had already been two years… But he averted his gaze quickly. No sooner had he done so than a goblin jumped up from the rock it had been situated on, shrieking. The new goblin was cackling hysterically. He had lit a small fire under the other's rock, and the pain had finally become too much to bear. The goblin had shown comprehension of a semi-complex thought. Perhaps there was a trace of hope that he'd find and heir yet. The goblin suddenly fell over backwards, landing himself almost on the fire. He ran around trying to put out the fire on his pitiful clothes. Alas, then again…

The pair had just finished their meal and were on their way back up the stairs. Aora ruffled her sister's smooth brown hair a little. "It's getting darker out; why don't you go get ready for bed?" Her sister stuck out her lower lip objectively. "But mom is gone." "Exactly; which means you have to listen to me. Now go on and clear the war zone; I'm gonna come and check it in a while and I'd like to be able to see the floor." "Who says I have to listen to you?" "I say so." Aora said, then added, emerald eyes twinkling, "And if you don't I'll send you far far away and you'll never come back."(just for effect) She sighed dejectedly and went to her room. "And that doesn't mean put them in little piles, Sarah!" Aora called back before going to her own room to read.

Aora had started the book while walking home earlier, as she couldn't wait until later to begin. She was currently so engrossed in it that she didn't bother with time. Before she knew it, two and a half hours had already passed by in an instant. She glared at the clock, as if it should have told her that it was moving. She was closing in on the end, and she looked at the pages pathetically. But she knew she still had her sister to watch after and make sure she didn't destroy the entire house, so she regretfully closed the book; but tucked it into her jacket.

She stole quickly to Sarah's room and peeked inside. What she saw was slightly disappointing, but somewhat expected. Sarah was sitting on her bed with her shoes off, fighting to stay awake but losing. About half of the room had been cleaned up, which must have been around the time she had realized Aora wasn't coming anytime soon. She was still in her play-clothes. She also seemed to be expecting Aora to come in and make her clean better, judging by the toy gun drooping in her hands. Aora slowly opened the door and came in. Sarah lifted her head a little, her grip tightening on the plastic. Aora walked down the path that had been cleared to her sister's bed and started lifting the sheets. "I'm not gonna clean my room.." Sarah muttered weakly, moving the gun slightly. "That's fine," Aora replied smoothly, "you can finish once you've slept." "But I'm not tired." She protested as Aora picked her up a bit to move the sheets from under her to over her. Her voice had risen, but still held the uncertainty of sleepy stupor. Aora 'mm-hmm'-ed distractedly, obviously not believing her as she brought the sheets up. "I'm not!" she moaned loudly, starting to twist and squirm. "Just go to sleep…" Aora said, her voice hinting irritance. The last thing she wanted was for Sarah to launch into a fit of an inner battle of will; her body was exhausted, but she was too stubborn to admit it, even to herself. Aora slowly started moving back the way she had come. The soft rumble of distant thunder echoed. As of yet the rain hadn't reached them yet; but it would come. Sarah's complaints rose more to a cry. "I don't want to!!" Aora continued on growing more frustrated with her sister. Why couldn't she just go to sleep and leave her alone? Why did she have to make her problem the whole world's problem by screaming it out incomprehensively? Sarah hadn't quite reached that extreme yet, and Aora was hoping she would fall asleep or at least calm down. But those hopes were shattered once she turned the lights off, and Sarah's voice topped off at a high pitch that burned her ears. Aora slammed the door behind her and stood in the hall for a second. Sarah's screams muffled slightly, also lowering as her breath ran short. "I wish the goblins would come and take you away." Aora muttered. The screams came back in full force as a new breath had renewed their strength. She squeezed her eyes shut. "Right now." She breathed the words slowly.

She then began storming off to her room; but the room behind her had suddenly gone strangely quiet. Usually Sarah's tantrums lasted at least five minutes, yet not even 30 seconds had passed and the house was still. She turned around and opened the door again. It was dark. A little moonlight struggled to enter the large window by the bed, as the clouds were racing to smother it. A thought then struck her and she rushed to the bedside. The only reason she could think of why Sarah had stopped so abruptly was-

But as she threw back the sheets, her fears of finding Sarah blue in the face were immediately replaced by larger ones. Sarah wasn't there.

End Chapter

The first chapter ends! DUN DUN DUN!!!

Of course, it's not really a cliffhanger...you most likely know what's going to happen if you even know what this story is based on. Heck, it's not even really a very interesting chapter. But it's a start, and introductions are important. Sorry if it seems boring; I hope the rest will improve your outlook of this story. I really hope so. \crosses fingers/

This is one of my first attempts at an actual long-ish story. I hope it doesn't seem too monotonous; I'm trying to put in lots of detail. If not all seems right, just wait; it should 'correct' itself. (or at least make more sense) Though, if it's a typo or something, please let me know. I originally had stars(astriks or whatever they're called) and stuff to make it look nice or more interesting, but I'm finding that those don't transfer to \sad/ (the same reason I'm using \ / for actions here...)

I hope you enjoyed this chapter and will read more of my writings! Or maybe just R&R...that would be really nice! I would be so happy if you did! \puppy eyes/ ..Please??...

I have cookies...

(and muffins)

Thank you for your time!