Disclaimer: I do not now, nor have I ever owned the story the Labyrinth. *sniffles*
In a kingdom far away there lived a beautiful princess. Life wasn't easy for the young princess, for her wicked stepmother treated her like a slave. But what no one knew was that the king of the goblins had fallen in love with the princess and had given her certain powers. The princess knew that if she wished it, the king would keep her brother in his castle forever and ever and turn him into a goblin. So one night when the princess could take the burden no longer, she called to the goblin king for help. The king of the goblins granted the princess her wish and took the baby to his castle at the center of a vast labyrinth. Too late the princess realized her mistake and she loved her brother, and so she pleaded with the king to return him. The goblin king did not have it in his heart to refuse the princess, for he still loved her a great deal. He gave her thirteen hours to solve his labyrinth before her baby brother became one of them forever. Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered she fought her way to the castle beyond the goblin city to take back the child that he had stolen. The goblin king offered the princess her hearts every desire if only she would bow to him. But her will was as strong and her kingdom as great. He had no power over her. The princess returned home with her brother, and had learned that words and desires have power, and should not be taken for granted.
"Sarah? Where are you hiding?" Robert called.
"In here dad." Replied his daughter from her bedroom closet.
"What are you doing in there?" asked her father.
"Oh I just fell in an oubliette and was trying to find the way out when my friend Hoggle was just about to open a hidden door." She stated matter of factly.
"Hog—who?" asked a very confused Robert.
"H-O-G-G-L-E" stated Sarah. "He's only one of my best friends in the whole underground." She explained.
" Oh, your reading that story again. When will you give it a rest huh Sarah?" Robert asked. "You need to go outside and play with some real friends."
"The people in the underground are my real friends dad." Said Sarah stubbornly.
"OK, well your going to be late for school. Oh and Sarah remember you need to stay at the neighbors house after school today, I'm going to be out with Karen tonight." Said Robert.
"Again?" asked Sarah. "Haven't you spent enough time with her yet? Can't I just stay at home, I'm almost 14!" replied Sarah.
"Fine, just lock the door." Her father said, not in the mood to argue. "Oh and try to stay out of trouble at school today won't you?"
"It's not my fault nobody likes me." Said Sarah.
"Just don't talk about that silly book today, and maybe you will make some friends." Robert said.
"Its not a silly book, it's the most interesting and magical, and amazing book I've ever read." She stated. "And mom gave it to me before she left, so its very special to me." She concluded.
Robert, however, had already left for work. Sarah quickly changed out of her princess costume and grabbed an apple for breakfast and ran out the door for the bus. She forgot her school books, but she had her favorite old red book, the Labyrinth, in her hand so she didn't care.
While Sarah was in her homeroom ignoring the teasing of the students, and the dull voice of the teacher calling for order she thought about when she first received her favorite book.
She was only 8 and had just found out that her parents were getting a divorce. Her mother, Linda, was packing to leave her old life behind and go after her dream of acting. Sarah sat on the bed and watched her with tears in her eyes. Linda tried to pack as quickly as possible so she didn't have to deal with a crying child. She reached into the closet to get the last of her belongings, when a small red bound leather book fell onto her head.
"Ouch, what the…" Linda cried while rubbing her head. She looked down and found the old forgotten book lying on the floor. She picked it up and was going to throw it out when Sarah burst into a fresh set of tears.
"But I don't want you to go!" Sarah cried.
Linda gave a large sigh and turned to her daughter.
"Sarah, we've been through this already. I have to go to become what I've always dreamed, an actress. I can't stay here with you and your father and let my talent waste away. I deserve more than this. I deserve to be happy don't I?" She told her now hysterical daughter.
"Oh stop that!" She said sternly. "Here why don't you read a story to get your mind on something else." She said while handing the little red book to Sarah.
"What is this book about?" Sarah asked while trying to breath as normally as she could.
"I don't know, I never read it." Her mother replied. "It was given to me by some traveling gypsy a long time ago, she said it would give me stregnth in my times of need. I don't need it, because I'm strong enough, but it looks like you could use it so go read it, and for heaven's sake stop crying." Said an exasperated Linda. She turned back to the closet and finished packing.
Sarah walked out of the room, the tears on her face just starting to dry and flopped on her bed. She got up only to look out of the window to watch her mother leave in a taxi. She didn't know if she would ever see her again, and while clutching the book to her chest, she told herself she didn't care.
"Sarah Williams!" a harsh voice brought her out of her thoughts. "Did you hear anything that I said?" said a now red faced teacher.
"No, not really." Said Sarah, not really caring if she got into trouble or not.
"Why am I not surprised" sighed the teacher. "Just go to the study hall and I will send someone in with your homework assignments. If your not going to learn from my vast knowledge you can teach yourself, by yourself." He said.
It seems like this teacher had finally had enough of Sarah's wandering mind. It wasn't like anything he said got through to her anyway. Why did she have to read any of the books this silly old English teacher assigned, all she ever needed was her red leather book with gold lettering, the Labyrinth.
Sarah sat in study hall all day, she didn't bother going to the caferteria for lunch, and only left for a couple of bathroom breaks. Any time a teacher would look in on her she appeared to be imersed in school work, but of course Sarah was reading the Labyrinth. She had a notebook out and would draw characters she believed lived in the underground, and would fill page upon page about each creature. She knew more about the labyrinth denizens than any civilization on earth. She was so busy that she completely missed the final bell and if it weren't for the janitor coming around locking up classrooms she might have stayed there all night. Sarah, obviously, missed her bus, so she walked home still thinking about her beloved story. When she finally made it to her house she was beyond hungry, and immediately went to the fridge to see what was edible.
After a less than satisfying dinner, Sarah went to her room and ignoring her school work, opened her beloved book. She was completely in tune with the realm that the labyrinth was a part of and its inhabitants that she knew them all by name. At one point, she couldn't remember exactly when, she started talking to them (at least she pretended to talk to them). She was in the middle of a conversation with the dwarf named Hoggle when she heard her dad open the front door.
"Sarah… Sarah are you awake?" her father called.
"Yes, I'm just finishing up something. Whats up?" she called back.
"Could you come downstairs for a minute?" Robert requested.
The first thing Sarah noticed when she came down the stairs was her dad wearing a goofy grin, and her. Sarah came face to face with the woman that kept her father away from her, the woman that requested that she stay at home when her father went out. The same woman that, even though this was their first meeting, Sarah knew she did not like, Karen.
"Sarah I have some wonderful news." Her father started out. "I asked Karen to marry me tonight and she has accepted! Isn't that wonderful?" Her father said.
"Sure dad that's great." Sarah said with little enthusiasm.
"We want to get married as soon as possible, so we are thinking of maybe taking a trip to Las Vegas. We decided on this weekend didn't we Robert? Oh it will be a quick trip, no need for you to miss school so we have already made arrangements for you to be supervised by the neighbor." Karen went on and on about how wonderful this is and how excited she was to have found such a wonderful man. Sarah noticed that after basically telling her she was not welcome to her own father's wedding she was all but invisible to the both of them. She went back upstairs and left them to their 'happy' planning.
"Can you believe he is marrying that horrible woman Hoggle? I mean I just met her and she already has me written out of my father's life." Sarah said to her mirror. She felt completely unwanted and started seeking solace in her 'friends' and their life in the underground.
If anyone thought she was obsessed with her book before, they were terribly mistaken. Sarah now was never seen without some form of costume or prop that had to do with the labyrinth. She even started making stuffed animals to look like her favorite characters. She bought a stuffed fox and sewed a old fashioned knights outfit and made it look like her brave and chivalrous Sir Didymus. She made an animated fiery out of scrap material with buttons for eyes. She made a replica of the labyrinth itself, and even found a poster of the Escher room, that just felt like it belonged in the wondrous underground. She even took a ceramics course at a nearby hobby store and made the image of the goblin king. Her entire room was devoted to the labyrinth.
Exactly 9 months after they were married Robert and Karen had a baby boy they named Toby. Sarah, who was up to this point ignored as much as possible, was suddenly a person of intrest. They needed Sarah now, at least in the evenings when they wanted to go out without the hassles of children, to be the babysitter of Toby. Sarah hated this. She tried to rebell by staying out longer and longer at the nearby park, where she acted out scenes from her beloved book.
On one such evening, when it started to rain, Sarah went home to once again be forced to babysit. Toby was now a crying 11 month old and Sarah was 15. She was tired of always being taken advantage of and somewhat wished she could just be ignored again. She cared for Toby, but she was so full of resentment towards the little baby that he should get so much love and devotion from not one but both parents, that she made a hasty wish.
"I wish the goblins would come and take you away, Right Now."
Everything happened so quickly and, like the princess of her loved story, Sarah had defeated the Goblin King and gotten her baby brother back.
Sarah woke up and found herself on the living room couch. She guessed she dreamed it all.
"Toby?!" Sarah all but shouted and ran upstairs to her brothers crib. Toby lay fast asleep and completely safe.
"I guess it was just a wonderful dream." Sarah said quietly to herself as she walked to her room.
"Oh if only it could have been real." She lamented.
The years go by and Sarah dreams of the labyrinth every night. Each dream felt more real than the night before and Sarah found herself becoming more and more excited for darkness to fall, so she could dream. Her dreams seemed to revolve around a certain fair haired goblin king. She dreamt that they walked through the castle beyond the goblin city, spent time in the vast gardens, spent hours in silent companionship in the enormous library reading, or just sitting and talking. Each time she dreamt of the underground it seemed more solid, to the point that the bricks felt rough like sandpaper when she ran her hands along them.
On the eve of her 21st birthday Sarah readied herself for bed. She brushed her hair and teeth, then tidied up her small apartment (where she lived alone), put on her pajamas and got into bed. That night Sarah had the most realistic dream about the labyrinth, more real than any other dream she had ever had. She dreamt that she was walking along the stone section of the labyrinth letting her fingertips drag along the rough wall. She wasn't in a hurry, or even going anywhere in-particular, she just walked and enjoyed the various sights and sounds of the underground. She continued walking around the corner and almost ran into Jareth, the Goblin King.
"Oh my gosh, you scared me!" sarah gasped while clutching her heart.
"My apologies precious, that was not my intention." Jareth said with a small smirk. "I didn't know exactly where you would be visiting this evening and thought I would check here first."
"Yeah right, you always know just where I am in the labyrinth."Sarah pointed out.
"How very perceptive of you Sarah, mine. It is my kingdom after all, what kind of king would I be if I didn't know what was going on in my own kingdom." Jareth stated very smoothly.
"Ok whats going on here?" sarah asked him.
"Whatever do you mean?" Jareth said, trying to look misunderstood. "have I ever done anything to merit such distrust from you Sarah sweet?"
"I just mean that you usually are not this forthcoming with anything, I usually have to trick you into answering something or figure it out for myself." Sarah said.
"I am the king here and I do not get 'tricked' as you so kindly put it. Furthermore I tell you the answer to whatever question you ask, it is not my fault if you do not understand the answer." Jareth replied.
"It would be a lot easier to understand the answer if they werent so cryptic. You make everything sound like riddles or you just talk around the subject matter of the question. Its like you don't want me to know some things about you!" Sarah almost screamed.
"I most humbly ask for your forgiveness then Sarah, if in any way I have offended you. It was not my intentions to come here and cause you any distress. It is not in my nature to give in easily and there is no enjoyment in giving a 'simple' answer to your various inquiries. I find it more productive to let your wondrous mind to obtain the answers for yourself." Jareth calmly stated.
"What are you talking about?!?" Sarah asked. She was starting to lose her temper with him, and when she did she usually woke up. She did not want to wake up yet, but as she tried to calm down everything around her started to get hazy.
"I had hoped to have a more constructive conversation with you tonight Sarah, but it seems that was not meant to be. I will just have to give you the information that you seem to have overlooked another way." Jareth said.
"What are you talking about, what inforamtion?" Sarah asked while desperatly trying to shake her head to clear the increasing haze.
"Its very important that you come to realize……" Jareth was still talking when Sarah felt herself being pulled back into reality.
Sarah woke up with a jolt. She was furious with herself that she couldn't keep her temper in check. She thought she had gained better control over her temper since her teen years, it was just that man! He always seemed to bait her into an argument. She was just about to get up and get something to drink when she noticed something twinkling at the foot of her bed. She slowly reached out and picked up a perfect crystal sphere. She marveled at the clarity of it and realized that it was one of Jareth's crystals. She looked back down at her bed and saw a note that was written in beautiful script. It read:
My dear Sarah,
It was most unfortunate our previous conversation was cut short. Your temper is legendary here, it is such a pity that it is continuously wasted on my behalf. I am quite sure that you have a lot of questions. I will do my best to answer what I can of them, but most of the answers you already know, even if you do not realize it. The only place this conversation can take place is in the underground. To come here you have but to call. You know the right words.
Jareth
Sarah pinched herself, just to make sure. She had never had actual contact with any of the underground denizens before, no matter how real the dream seemed. She rolled the crystal around in her hands and stared at the note. It seemed real enough, but she looked around her room just to make sure it wasn't some prank. She didn't remember telling anyone about her dreams, and this dream just ended. There is no way the note and crystal came from anyone but the Goblin King. Sarah jumped out of bed and quickly changed her clothes to something more appropriate for visiting royalty. (Ah who was she kidding, she just wanted to look her best for Jareth.) She brushed her hair and teeth, and put on some light makeup. She ran around her small apartment and made sure that everything was in its proper place, because she didn't know when she would be back. When Sarah was satisfied that everything was in order she took a deep breath to calm her nerves and thought of the words that would take her to the underground.
Sarah took one more look at her apartment and then said in, what she hopped was a strong, clear voice:
"I wish the goblins would take me to the castle in the center of the labyrinth to speak to the Goblin King."
The air around her blew and the room seemed to turn hazy. It seemed to just slowly melt away until she saw the familiar gray stone with the subtle specks of glitter in them, she was in the underground. She took a deep breath of the clean air that appeared to tingle her throat, like she was breathing in magic, and looked straight in front of her to the Goblin King in the flesh.
Jareth looked at her with a satisfied smirk on his lips. He stood tall and regal and appeared to be very proud of his place as King in the goblin city. Just as Sarah was about to question him about how this has all happened, Jareth motioned for her to have a seat next to him. As he did so a small, comfortable looking chair appeared next to his throne. It was much smaller than his, but Sarah had the impression it was a throne nonetheless.
As she walked to have a seat Jareth spoke first.
"I am pleased you have accepted my offer to come here Sarah. I did not know if you would trust me, or yourself enough to make the journey."
Sarah looked taken aback at how clearly he had spoken, and the walls seemed to resonate with his voice. She could not remember any dream that made him seem so solid, so regal, so real. It was like she was looking at him for the first time. She saw every detail of him from her memory magnified 10 times over. His eyes, that she always believed to be 2 different colors, brown and blue, were actually the same color. She noticed that they were both blue, but one of his pupils was more dilated than the other one. She noticed his eyebrows were not just make-up, like she believed them to be on their first meeting, but that they actually grew in that up swept motion above his eyes. His clothes looked to be made of the finest velvets and silks, and were just as formfitting as she had first thought. His hair, however, was so airy and appeared so light that she suspected it wasn't hair at all, at least not human hair.
As Sarah looked at him with awe he spoke again.
"I see your eyes have finally been opened after all of these years. I know you have many questions, but I would like to ask one of you first."
Sarah, still at a loss for words, simply nodded.
"Do I meet the expectations you had of me?" Jareth asked simply.
Sarah, suddenly able to compose her thoughts enough to speak said, "I think you have greatly exceeded them your Majesty."
"Why so formal precious? Its Jareth to you and only you." He said with a growing smirk.
"Sorry your Mag... Jareth, but I'm just having a little trouble taking everything in. I mean is this all REAL?" Sarah managed to say.
Jareth seemed to radiate pride, like a professor did when his student finally grasps the concept of his lessons.
"Yes my dear Sarah, thanks to you it is all very real."
Many questions were swirling around in Sarah's head, but the only one to leave her lips was, "How?"
"That my dear is the one question I myself am not entirely sure of. I will, however, tell you what I have come to believe." Jareth started out. "I believe that because of your glorious and powerful imagination you, my stunning Sarah, have given us all life. You have somehow caused the ancient magic to come together and form every living and nonliving entity here in the underground. It is because of you that it thrives with diverse life and continues to grow and change. Sarah, you have caused an entire realm to exist, and if that was not a miracle of itself, you caused them to gain consciousness and live. Each creature has their own free will and from the very start have lived their life as they wanted to. Even the very Labyrinth can change its walls of its own free will. You, my dear, precious Sarah, are amazing!" Jareth said.
Sarah stood still with her mouth slightly agape. She had no idea she had that kind of power, it was exciting and a little unnerving. What if she had misused it during her troubled times and created something horrible in the underground, something that could have destroyed everything before she knew it was real. She started to shake, and was grateful that the seat provided was soft, for she lost all feeling in her legs and 'plopped' down on the cushion.
Jareth looked at her from his own throne and watched as various emotions flitted across her face. Right as he was about to ask her if she was alright Sarah spoke.
"I can hardly believe I am the one responsible for creating this amazing place. I could have made things go so badly, I could have destroyed everything in one errant thought. I don't know if I can handle being responsible for maintaining this place, I might ,I might..." Sarah was getting close to going hysterical.
"SARAH" Jareth's voice boomed in and caught Sarah by surprise, "Take a deep breath, and calm yourself. You have no need to worry about any of that." He Said. "The ancient magic I spoke of has been keeping this place safe, and has been satisfied by your creations and has stopped the development of any other things. So, even if you wanted to you can not destroy this place, or put anything else in it."
Sarah let out a huge sigh and slumped down in the semi throne. "Thank goodness, I would have gone mad if I knowingly had to prevent myself from imagining for the fear of messing this magical place up."
Suddenly she sat back up straight and Jareth knew she had finally grasped the most important fact that she had, until now, just accepted.
"Jareth, I remember every creature and every place I ever imagined, but you. I remember reading the story of the Labyrinth as a child and that's where I first, I guess you can say, met you." Sarah stated. " If you didn't come from my mind like everything else, where did you come from?"
"Ah, now that my dear Sarah, is the most important question of all." Jareth said with a twinkle in his eye. "It is true that you did not believe me into existence, I have been living for centuries. I am fey, I have my own powers and abilities at my disposal." Jareth went on."Although, with my seemingly limitless magic, I could not have made any of what you see before you."
Sarah let the fact that he was centuries old sink in, the fact that he was of another race didn't seem to phase her (a fact that Jareth seemed relieved of). She then spoke "But where did you live before this place?"
Jareth smiled and continued on with his story. "I lived most of my life above ground, it wasn't until people started to become afraid of magic that I lived the majority of my life in the form of an owl. I grew tired of living in hiding and longed for a place where me and others of my kind could live in peace, without the troubles that were caused by narrow-minded simpletons. It was at that time that I conjured the story The Labyrinth. I left it with the only people who were accepting of me and my kind, gypsies. I instructed them to give the book to the person they thought would do the most good with it. I did not go into detail as to what the book was for or of the importance of it. It went from parent to child for decades before it was finally given to your mother. I could not begin to fathom why the book was given to Linda. I'm sorry to say that for all of your mothers many talents, her imagination and faith are not among them." Jareth said the last sentence in a bit of a chuckle.
"I thought the book would become lost until she gave it to you." Jareth said. "From the moment the first words from that book left your lips I could feel the magic around me stirring. I knew my book had finally come into the right hands." Jareth paused there to let Sarah catch up. When he was satisfied she was following the story with no questions he continued.
"It wasn't until you started imagining your own creatures that the ancient magic started to come together and form the first bit of land that would become the underground. Bit by bit I watched the underground grow and saw the beings that have come to call it home spring into existence. It was then that I had the sudden overwhelming need to see who the wondrous person that made it happen. I let the pull of magic direct me to the person who was creating my home. It was then that I came upon a small park and by a charming stone bridge an even smaller female child. I watched as you read and reread my book, never seeming to tire of it. Suddenly you smiled and spun around completely immersed in the magic that is the Labyrinth. It was then that I knew you were the right person to continue building the underground. At that time I gave you certain powers, and since then all of the underground has flourished because of your belief in it." Jareth concluded with a small smile.
"But what no one knew was that the king of the goblins had fallen in love with the girl, and had given her certain powers." Sarah whispered to herself.
Jareth heard her and his smile grew, he cleared his throat and said "Yes, well that was an unexpected but most welcome addition made by you shortly there after."
Sarah blushed. She then asked "So is that part true too?"
Jareth looked slightly embarrassed, (and that was saying something for the confident goblin king) and said "It is."
Sarah suddenly felt like she couldn't breath. So much had happened to her already, and she had so much to think about, but to know that the Goblin King was in love with her, now that pushed her over the edge.
Jareth saw her skin pale slightly and noticed that Sarah was indeed not breathing. He rushed to her side and pulled her into his arms. He rubbed and patted her back and spoke as calmly as he could to her. "Its alright Sarah, I know its a lot to take in at once. I don't need to know how you feel, I just thought you needed to know the entire story. Now I want you to take some deep breaths." He waited but it seemed like Sarah was still having difficulty breathing in. This started to scare Jareth, he didn't know what to do so he did the first thing he could think of, he kissed her. OK, so he intended to push some air into her lungs, and get her breathing again, but it would be a lie if he didn't acknowledge the fact that he really wanted to kiss her.
Right when Jareth was getting ready to pull away from her, Sarah came back to her senses. She felt a sudden thrill go through her at the fact that the Goblin King was not only in love with her but currently kissing her. She felt his lips lighten slightly and knew he would soon pull away from her. Her mind was racing, she knew she didn't want him to stop kissing her, but what did that mean? Did she have feelings for the charming, but sometimes insufferably arrogant King? Hadn't she always known that she had deep feelings for him? She changed the beginning of the story to make him love her for crying out loud, so she must have wanted to be in love with him, right? The pressure on her lips continued to lighten little by little and before she could answer any of her own questions she just reacted.
Before Jareth could pull away from her and break the connection their lips shared, Sarah threw her arms around his neck and pulled him closer to her to deepen the kiss.
To say that Sarah was now kissing an extremely ecstatic while confused Goblin King would be an understatement, but before things could get any further Sarah broke the kiss.
Jareth stared at an out of breath, swollen lipped Sarah with a satisfied smirk firmly in place. Sarah put her hand to her mouth and with a sudden occurrence of clarity knew exactly how she felt for the King standing in front of her. She smiled and before she could say anything Jareth spoke.
"If you are wondering if you can go home, you but have to ask. I would, however, very much like it if you would consent to stay... here...with me."
Sarah quickly thought it over. She knew what her feelings towards Jareth were, and he confessed his feelings to her earlier. She also knew that there was nothing above-ground that she would miss. Her parents hardly acknowledged her when she lived under the same roof, let alone after she moved out. Karen also made sure that once Toby was old enough to talk Sarah was kept away from him. Couldn't allow any of her influence be picked up by an impressionable child, so she didn't even have a relationship to her brother. All of this went through Sarah's mind in a fraction of a second, but it was long enough for Jareth to place a mask of indifference on.
"Of course I understand completely that you would want to go back. You have your entire life waiting for you, and you have nothing to keep you here. I thank you for making all of this happen, and I will not force you to stay..." Jareth was already trying to give her an easy way out. A way that would stop him from making a fool of himself, again, and offering her everything only to be turned down.
"Jareth, stop." Sarah said with a small smile. "I have nothing aboveground to tie me there. I always felt unwanted there, and never knew why. Now I do. I know I might sound foolish, but I think all along my place has always been here, with you, in the underground. In the short time that I have been here, I mean really here, I have felt truly happy and whole. I don't want to go back to feeling like I don't belong, and I really don't want to go back and feel like a piece of my heart was left behind."
Jareth's hopes were lifted for a brief second. Sarah continued.
"I know that nothing will ever be the same in my life. I know that because Love changes a person, and I love you Jareth. I think I always have. Since the first moment I read your book the Labyrinth I knew I belonged by your side, and I don't think I could ever forgive myself if I turned down the chance to stay with you in this magical place."
"Are you certain?" Jareth asked Sarah while holding onto both of her hands.
"I've never been more certain of anything in my life Jareth. I would love to stay here with you, if the offer still stands." Sarah said.
Jareth didn't give her an answer right away. He just swept her up in his arms and spun her around while smiling like a lunatic. He let out a warm heartfelt laugh and finally said
"Sarah you have no idea how happy you have made me!"
Sarah just giggled and knew her life would never be the same. It would only get better, for she had found her place. She found where she was wanted and felt whole, and there was nothing that could ever make her stop loving the now giddy Goblin King in front of her.
Well there you have it. My second Labyrinth story. Hope you enjoyed it, if not oh well because I enjoyed writing it.
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