A/N: Hey guys I'm back with another chapter. It's a smaller one but it's still a good chapter. (At least in my opinion.) My muse is being so good. She has given me another idea for a One-shot. ^_^
Elizabeth glares. "Unchain me please."
*Snorts* "Not a chance in hell, we still have to finish this story."
Elizabeth whines. "I promise I'll be good. I won't try to run again honest"
"See that you don't, Hello Jasmine. I trust everything is in order. That there are no more problems." Jareth glares at the muse making her shrink back into a corner. I grin at the Fae king mischievously. "Nope. Everything's going great! Second chapter is up and running and another fanfic is on the way."
"Great..Great.. Great tra,la,la. If this were the case, and it's not, I would have made an appearance by now. How is that great?"
I glare at the insufferable fae. "Now you listen here you, you, you...Glittery Goblin Git! I will NOT be bullied by some insufferable King. I am the writer here and if you piss me off I swear I will give you cute kitty ears and a tail!"
Jareth takes a step back and grins impishly. "Well I see that everything is fine here so I'll be leaving now. Carry on." A puff of glitter and the next thing he's gone. I growl low "Carry on indeed. Insufferable MAN!" I storm off looking for my baseball bat.
Elizabeth snickers "No one can piss her off like Jareth can. Well since they're both gone I guess it's left to me to do the disclaimer."
Elizabeth stands up and clears her throat. With a clear and strong voice she says "We do not own the Labyrinth, or any of its characters. We do, however, own Maya. She is ours. Enjoy the chapter."
Chapter 2: The Dream Man and A Saving Grace
Maya watched with a sad gaze as Sarah headed up to her room. Gazing down at Toby she offered him a small smile. "Shall we practice before your ma..." She was silenced with the little boys piercing glare. "Sorry Toby, I forgot. Shall we practice before Karen gets home. You know she is going to be in a foul mood when she does."
He nodded and headed for the door without a word. The little boy hated Karen with a passion that was shocking for such a young child. As they headed out to the back yard and Toby took his stance, Maya was reminded again that things are not what they seem with him. For one, he possessed a strong sense of right and wrong. He was never disobedient unless with Karen. He always seemed to be older than his age when around others.
He bordered on cold to anyone but Sarah. Around her he acted like a normal everyday child. It was mystifying at the drastic difference. The child was too young to have such a serious mask. He refused to even talk to Karen and he rarely talked to her even. Yet with Sarah, he was an open book. Always smiles and sunshine. Never a frown. It was obvious to anyone with a brain that the child loved Sarah as much as he hated the one who gave birth to him.
Maya moved to correct his stance without a word. When Toby found out that Sarah was learning to defend herself, he had been insistent that he needed to learn as well.
She asked him why and he replied with a serious gaze, "I want to be able to protect mama."
With that said, her heart completely melted, and she began his training. It was to be a surprise for Sarah when he was ready. He made her promise to keep his secret for now.
The boy was smart and had already mastered three kata's. He was as good as she was at them, if not better. She remembered when she had first started training. It was right after she met that wolf and when she still dreamed.
*flashback*
She ran through the woods as fast as her small legs could carry her. She had to get as far away from that place as possible before he came back. That man would never beat her again. Not if she had any say. She stumbled a little as she stopped in a clearing to catch her breath. Panting hard, her knees hit the ground, giving out from the force of the run.
As she moved to lie on the ground for a minute, to give her body a much-needed rest, she heard a low growl coming from her right through a patch of trees. Normally she would have heeded the warning, but ever intuitive, she picked up on a note of pain in that growl. Slowly and shakily she climbed to her feet and winced at the pain shooting through her legs as they protested her weight. Stumbling through the trees, she saw a large dog lying on the ground near some bushes. She spied a pool of blood on the ground and it looked to be caught in something. She moved quietly toward it until *crack* She cursed her luck. She would step on the only stick in the grove. It growled low and vicious as it spied her creeping toward it. As she crept closer the dog growled louder.
When she was three feet away she stopped and glared at the injured animal. "I'm going to help you whether you want me to or not, so shut it!" With that said the big ebony haired dog stopped growling and cocked its head to the side as if contemplating her. After a short staring contest, he snorted as if he found that she was no threat and put his head down, watching her cautiously with his icy blue eyes.
When she was about a foot away from it, she stopped again and, with as stern a voice as she could muster, she warned, "Now listen here, I know you're hurting but if you bite me I'll bite you back."
The dog snorted again. This time his head was up and his pained eyes seemed to laugh at her attempts to sound brave. Looking into his gaze, her breath caught. He WAS laughing at her. The DAMN BEAST! Growling at him she added, "Try me." With no comeback from the beast, the seven year-old walked the rest of the distance and was distraught to find one of her foster father's traps snapped closed over the paw. She growled again, her eyes flashing in rage. DAMN HIM. She thought she had gotten rid of them all. He must have bought more of the horrid things.
Looking up into his eyes, she whimpered. Without a thought to the danger, she wrapped her arms around the dog's neck and buried her face into his fur. Hugged the animal tight as she cried, her young body shaking with suppressed rage. " I am so sorry," she whimpered, bringing her face out of his fur. "I will get you out of this trap, I promise." Maya could easily read the question in the big dog's eyes.
Her gaze hardened as she glared down at the trap. "My foster-father is a hunter. I'm sorry, I got rid of all the traps, but he must have bought more." Her gaze softened as the big dog's eyes hardened "Hold on, I'll get you out."
Just as she reached for the trap, she heard dogs in the distance. Stumbling back, a look of fear crossed across her face. He was back, and had set the dogs on her. Looking down at the big dog, she knew that if he traced her here then the beast was as good as dead. With that thought in her mind, she reached down and planted her feet on one side of the trap with his paw in between her feet. Then, bending down, she grabbed hold of the other side and with all her strength, pulled.
She cringed as she felt the teeth of the trap cut into her hands, blood mixing with blood as she slowly inched open the trap. It felt like forever until the dog was finally able to pull his paw free. With a quick jerk, she was thrown to the ground as the vicious trap snapped closed once more.
*end of flashback*
Maya curled and uncurled her fingers as she felt the scarred flesh that was there. It was that day that the horrible man met his death caused by the big dog, that she later discovered, was none other than a rare black wolf. The dogs and then man had tracked her and got there quicker the she expected.
The dogs had entered the clearing with her foster-father right behind and the wolf had attacked fast and hard. He had killed the dogs neatly and with record speed and had the man's throat torn out before her foster-father had time to raise his gun. The rest was history. The wolf took off and she was found covered in blood. She spent the next ten years being shipped from foster home to foster home. However, that day began a rebellion in her that never died out.
That night a man came to her in a dream. She couldn't remember what he looked like but she would never forget the sound of his voice. He taught her to defend herself using anything as a weapon, to dance any dance, and every night for six years he had her studing survival skills, languages, myths and legends, and different cultures. Every night the man would hold her until she woke up, with a promise he would always be there.
That man lied...
The night she turned thirteen, he never showed. Not once did he appear in her dreams again. She fell into a dark depression that later turned into suppressed anger and rage. Foster care homes hadn't wanted her. After so many broken promises, she stopped believing that she was worth something. She started believing what foster care had implied. That she was unwanted... Unlovable... A demon child. Malachite had been her saving grace.
*Flashback*
Maya looked around the classroom and glared. It was the same old routine. New school, new teachers, who didn't give a rats ass about you, and new foster parents who thought you the spawn of Satan. Her cold amber eyes flickered to each face before falling back to the teachers form.
"Everyone, this is Maya. Be nice to her please, as she is a new student. Malachite, please stand up." A small bright red-haired boy stood at the back of the class. Maya's eyebrows rose.. The boy was a boy! A little boy. He couldn't have been more than 12 years old.
"Maya please take a seat next to Malachite."
*End of flashback*
Maya smiled gently. She was right. He was twelve. A twelve year-old genius in a twelfth grade class. Ironic, that she would become best friends with the shrimp. He would never leave her alone. Finally, she gave up trying to get him to leave her alone. He was stubborn and she was lonely. She had done everything possible, short of killing him or maiming him permanently. Yet, he still stuck by her side and refused to leave.
She asked him once 'why her?'. She would never forget what he had said.
His reply was "Because you needed me."
She snorted at that thought. The little bugger risked getting the snot beat out of him because he knew she needed him. Stubborn fool... He was right. They had been best friends ever since.
She did need him. He had helped her see that she wasn't alone. That her foster-parents weren't going as bad as the others, and she should give them a chance. He taught her to play and have fun again, and she taught him everything she knew on how to defend oneself. He wasn't as good as she was, and for the first time in his life he actually had to work at something. Really work. Maya snickered at that thought.
Malachite was about as clumsy as could be and was forever tripping over something. She was surprised when he told her that he wanted to become a police officer. He did too. 21 years-old and a regular Sherlock Holmes. She was really proud of him. She always felt like his big sister. Her being 26 and single was like giving the brat an endless source of jokes for him to crack at her expense.
Toby reminded her a lot of Malachite. He was stubborn and loyal to a fault. Two days to go before her job would be over. Tomorrow was graduation for Sarah and court was on the next day. Soon she would be back at her old job as a translator for major international companies all crossed the world.
*BAM*
The front door slamming open startled her out of her musings. A quick look to Toby told her that he had heard as well and he was not happy. Maya sighed as Toby and she headed back inside.
"After seeing all the evidence this court finds Karen Amanda Williams, guilty of child abuse and permanent custody is awarded to Sarah Maria Williams. Karen Williams is hear by ordered by the courts to remove herself and her belongings from Sarah Williams' house within 24 hours. This case is dismissed." The Judge proclaimed.
Sarah gave a sigh of relief. It was finally over. "MAMA!" Whirling around, she caught Toby mid-air. Glancing at Karen who was screaming at the lawyers and the officers, she caught Malachite's eye. Emerald eye's sparkled with amusement at watching him restrain Karen. 'Have fun' She mouthed. Sticking his tongue out at her in response, he held firm to the screaming woman before him.
Sarah grinned and hugged Toby closer as she turned to head home. "Feel better now that this will soon be behind you?" Maya asked. Sarah glanced at her friend and grinned.
"You bet!" Now we just have to wait for her to move out. Are you sure that it is alright with Malachite that we stay at his house while she packs her things."
Maya snickered. "Not really but that's what happens when you have friends. They invade your house when a psycho is moving out of theirs."
Sarah grinned at that. "Aww. He likes me!"
Maya rolled her eyes. Ever since the day they met, those two have gone at it. She wasn't fooled though, she knew that they both were friends. They just loved to give each other a hard time.
"Please, he was practically on the edge of his seat waiting for the judge's ruling. We both were. You know we love you."
Sarah nodded. Of course she knew. "Hey I need to stop and grab some things from the house real quick okay."
Maya frowned. "I don't think that's such a good idea Sarah. Karen could be there already."
"What she going to do? There should be a police officer there watching her. We will be fine." Sarah reasoned as she pulled into a small café. "Let's get something to eat first though. I'm starved."
Maya's glared. "You forgot to eat again didn't you."
Sarah just grinned happily.
A'N: Well I'm back. *grumbles* I misplaced my bat. Anyhow, thanks for reading and don't worry, when I'm finished with this story I will release Elizabeth. She was a bad muse and tried to run away last night. I can't leave all of you good people in Fandom hanging now can I?
Well I hope you like it. Please review.
