Disclaimer again: I don't own anything that is the Labyrinth, in the Labyrinth, or related to the Labyrinth save maybe an OC or two. MAYBE.
Rain came pouring down on the early evening. Sarah walked quickly, a small lump in her throat as she pulled out the small notebook from her purse once more. Carefully leaning her umbrella forwards, she stared at the line she'd written just after she'd woken up that morning.
He'll come back. He'll take you back there. Watch what you say.
She couldn't believe it. She had been fully aware of what she had been writing, images of her dream flashing before her eyes as she read it again, but Sarah couldn't believe it. Sarah didn't want to believe it.
Sarah didn't want to go back to the Labyrinth. She didn't want the Goblin King to steal her away like he had taken Toby.
With a sigh, Sarah chastised herself and put the book away. It was her fault that Toby had been taken. She had wished him away in a bout of stupid teenage angst and selfishness. And she had done her part in winning Toby back.
The street became familiar with the same old Victorian houses of her childhood, and Sarah couldn't help but smile when she came up to her old block and saw that the lights were on.
As Sarah came up the porch, she heard Toby yelling excitedly, "Sarah's here! Sarah's here!" and Irene trying desperately to calm him down. Sarah smiled and shook her head as she shook off her umbrella before placing it by the door, ringing the doorbell on her way up.
Soon, Sarah's father opened the door, smiling.
"Hi Dad," said Sarah, smiling in return. It felt a little forced, what with everything going on in her head, but she didn't let it falter.
"Sarah, it's so good to see you!" Robert said in return, taking his daughter into his arms for a hug and a quick kiss on the cheek. "How have you been?"
"Okay, working two jobs, but okay," Sarah smile drooped slightly as she looked past her father and saw Irene.
"Hello Irene," the younger woman said a bit stiffly.
"Hello Sarah," Irene's smile was just a little quirk of the lips, but it was a politely tense smile.
They walked into a slightly forced hug and Irene immediately whispered, "Keep your socks on and don't show him, okay? I don't want him getting ideas."
"I know, I know," Sarah muttered back before they separated, drawing their forced smiles back on.
The night Sarah turned eighteen, she snuck out of the house and over to a tattoo parlor with one of her friends that had already turned eighteen. Sarah came home that night to find her father waiting in her room for her and was forced to explain the bandages to him. He then told Irene and she had insisted that as soon as Sarah was out of high school and had a job and place to live, she had to leave the house.
During that time, Irene had created several rules to keep little three year old Toby from finding out about what tattoos were and thinking they were a good idea. First, Sarah had to only wear t-shirts, socks on at all times, and Irene had to approve of any and all pants, shorts, or skirts when they went shopping.
Now, Sarah was only allowed to visit on holidays, birthdays, important family events, and to occasionally babysit Toby when Robert and Irene wanted to have a nice night out; like tonight.
"Sarah!" Toby shouted, running out from the kitchen before leaping into Sarah's arms.
Laughing, Sarah shook off the thoughts and lowered her brother so that his feet were on the ground.
"Hey, little man, have you been good?"
"Yup!" He confirmed, earning a raised eyebrow from his mother. Seeing his mothers face, he immediately became more sheepish. However he didn't admit to anything.
A wry smile crept across Sarah's lips and she shook her head.
"Got caught with your hand in the cookie jar, did you?" Sarah asked, earning surprised looks from everyone else in the room before her father began to laugh.
"That's exactly what happened," Robert snickered, trying to temper his smile as his wife gave him a disapproving look.
The old clock in the hall began to chime, signaling that it was five and Robert and Irene quickly said their goodbyes, telling Sarah about what they had in the house for her to cook for Toby's dinner and headed out the door. Irene threw one last warning over her shoulder in the door, telling them both to be good and obey her rules.
As soon as Sarah saw their car turned the corner, Sarah turned to Toby and they exchanged sly grins before she bolted after him and he ran, screaming in delight.
[2]
Sarah and Toby went a little crazy, running around the house for about 10 minutes before Toby ran off to build a fort and they then pretended Sarah was the invading forces storming his castle with her army of stuffed bears from her childhood bedroom to rescue the brave Sir Lancelot that she claimed Toby held hostage.
When Sarah and her bear army lost, Sarah made her dramatic death and laid perfectly still with her tongue sticking out for a full two minutes while Toby paraded around the living room, happily the Champion of the Pillow War before she launched a sneak attack and threw him over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
Not long after, the siblings settled down and Sarah began asking about Toby's school, friends, and everything else he was doing.
They just talked for a while before Toby got bored and Sarah flicked on the TV for Toby to watch cartoons while she got started on dinner.
[2]
Sarah presented dinner to Toby at the table and he quickly began to inhale his food, but she warned him that if he ate too fast, he'd get a stomachache and then no dessert. This caused Toby's eyes to bulge and he started chewing instead of just swallowing
As they ate, Toby and Sarah chatted a little about his life before she changed the subject suddenly.
"Hey Tobes, do you remember some of those stories I told you when you were little?" Sarah asked, looking him in the eye. He nodded.
"O'course I rmember," the boy answered with a mouthful of food.
Sarah raised an eyebrow, causing him to roll his eyes and swallow.
"Do you remember the one about the Goblin King and the Labyrinth?" Sarah asked tentatively. This was the moment of truth.
"Not really," he said, picking at his vegetables. "I just remember the song he sang to the baby."
Sarah's brow furrowed. There hadn't been any song in the book. Which meant that not only had the Goblin King sung to Toby, but he remembered that night, if only just a little.
With a heavy sigh, Sarah prepared what she had to say.
"Well, the story basically went that a young girl wished away her baby brother in a fit of jealousy and the Goblin King took the baby," Sarah explained, not meeting Toby's eyes, unnerving him. "The Goblin King offered to let her get the baby back, but only if she could make it through the Labyrinth and defeat him, which she only managed to do in the nick of time."
"You forgot something," Toby said, causing Sarah's eyes to snap up to his eyes. At her questioning look, he said, "You forgot that the Goblin King was in love with the girl and that he tried to make her an offer before she left, right?"
Sarah gave him a sad smile.
"That was part of the story," Sarah concurred. Then she took a deep breath. "The truth is, though, that part was only a story… but when I was fifteen I… I said the words and wished you away. I lived the story and I'm so, so sorry."
Toby looked surprised for a second before he said, "You wished me away?"
"Yes and it was a terrible mistake, but I got you back," Sarah explained in a rush, scared that Toby was going to hate her. "I defeated the Labyrinth and–"
"What happened to the Goblin King?"
"What?" Sarah was baffled. Toby seemed completely calm, only curious.
"What happened to the Goblin King after you defeated him?" Toby asked again.
"I-I don't know," Sarah said, her thoughts scattered in a strange mess. "I never bothered to find out."
Toby made a little "hm" noise as he took another bite of food and chewed thoughtfully. His eyes glazed over a little as he stared into space, lost in this thoughts a little.
"So he didn't try to make you an offer?" Toby questioned.
"Actually, he did," Sarah explained. "More than once, but things aren't what they appear in that place. He was trying to trick me into giving you up. I refused his offer and got you back."
"Then the Goblin King didn't love you?" Toby's brow furrowed into an expression that reminded Sarah of Robert when he was trying to make a difficult decision.
"Of course not, Tobes. He didn't even know me. And I was just a child. He couldn't have been in love with me."
Toby's face scrunched up even more and he put more food in his mouth, eating slowly. Sarah began eating again as well, trying to quell the unease building inside of her.
[2]
Sarah and Toby had barely spoken a word to each other since dinner, partly because they had settled into the couch with ice creak and watched Disney's Robin Hood on VHS.
After they had finished their ice cream, Sarah cleaned up the kitchen while Toby finished the movie and once they were both done, Sarah set the movie to rewind and took Toby upstairs to tuck him into bed.
As she sat next to his bed and was wishing him a good night, Toby suddenly spoke again.
"Sarah?"
"Yes, Tobes?"
"I think the Goblin King really did love the girl – I mean you," the boy said, looking Sarah in the eyes. He said with so much certainty and Sarah almost shuddered.
"We've been over this, Toby," Sarah explained, trying to remain calm. "He couldn't have loved me when he didn't even know me."
"But I was thinking," Toby said in a rush, "in fairy-tales, they usually fall in love at first sight, right? He wasn't human right? So maybe he was a fairy and falling in love at first sight isn't so strange!"
Sarah's hands were trembling slightly, but she didn't let it show on her face.
"Things don't work like that, kiddo," said Sarah, shaking her head slightly. He started to argue again, but Sarah stopped him. "I'm sorry, but I just can't believe that he loved me. I'm done talking about this and you need to go to sleep, understood?"
An angry pout crossed Toby's face.
"Promise you'll wake me up when you leave?"
"Only if Irene doesn't stop me."
With that, Sarah leaned forwards and kissed Toby on the forehead.
"Goodnight little man."
"Goodnight Sarah."
As Sarah flicked off the light, she said one small, sad sentence under her breath. "Good bye Toby."
[2]
Sarah stepped into her old bedroom and looked around. The room remained mostly unchanged since the last time she'd been there, which always surprised her as she always expected Irene to have taken the room apart and turn it into a sewing room or something. Sarah suspected her father was behind that, but she'd never asked.
With a heavy feeling in her chest, Sarah approached the vanity. It still held the picture of her mother and her then lover Jeremy on the mirror and a figurine (resembling a certain Goblin King) that Sarah knew she had dropped in the trashcan every time she was here, yet always made it's way back onto the surface with several old toys and trinkets that Sarah either had no use for or didn't want anymore
Carefully, Sarah eased herself into the old chair and leaned over the surface of the vanity, gazing into the mirror, hoping to see something other than herself before muttering, "Hoggle, I need you."
She waited with baited breath, carefully inspecting the room behind her in the reflective surface, but nothing happened. One minute passed, then ten, and still nothing happened. No Hoggle. Sarah tried again with Sir Didymus and Ludo, and even the Old Wiseman, the Worm, and Ambrosius, Sir Didymus' canine steed.
After an hour sitting at her vanity and nothing happening, Sarah let out a sigh. She couldn't talk to them for some reason, but she had known it would be like this.
Her mind went to the dream that she'd had the night before and could feel the weight in her chest growing with each passing minute.
Sarah was standing in the middle of a room made of tan stones. It was circular, with a small pit in the middle that housed drunk, sleeping goblins and a few black chickens. Behind the pit was a throne that curved in an elegant, gothic-fantasy style. Behind her there was a small window that looked out over the Labyrinth and Goblin City.
Her hair and clothes were soaked, her faces flushed and her chest rapidly rising, desperately looking for a way out. It was all written on her face. This couldn't be happening. This just couldn't be happening.
Sarah darted towards the door that she suspected she had come in through seven years ago, but she before she could reach it, HE appeared.
He looked the same after seven years. A man in his prime, wild blond hair sticking up in a giant puffball of floof, a trademark smirk on his lips, and his mismatched eyes gazing down at her. He wore his Goblin King armor, blacks and royal blues from head to toe, black leather knee-high boots and gloves, and a black breastplate with what Sarah suspected was his seal engraved into it.
"Ah-ah, Sarah-mine," the man taunted, waggling his finger at her. "You're not getting away this time."
"Y-you can't keep me here!" Sarah argued back. "I demand you send me home immediately Goblin King! You have no power over me!"
She saw the Goblin King flinch slightly, but shivered slightly as his eyes racked their way up her form.
"Send me home now!" She demanded again, setting her face in cold rage.
Suddenly, the Goblin King was in her face staring her down, grabbing her chin with one gloved hand.
"Sorry, little girl," he warned, what little humor he'd had before was gone. "But that's not how this works. You belong to me now."
"I belong to no one!" Sarah argued, shoving his hand away before pushing him. "Least of all you! I am not property and you cannot keep me here, no matter what you and your giant ego might thi–"
The Goblin King cut her off in an instant, grabbing her roughly by both wrists and pinning her against a wall that had formerly been across from her. As Sarah cried out in pain, the man pressed his lips to her, shocking her into fear and silence.
A moment later, he pulled away and smirked.
"You do belong to me," he stated. "Whether you like it or not."
Before he could say another word, Sarah's knee collided with his unprotected crotch and ran as soon as his grip had slackened, heading out the closest door.
Sarah felt hands trembling. She didn't want that to happen. She couldn't let that happen. If this dream were anything like the others she'd had over the last seven years, dreams that always seemed to come true if she didn't interfere, then there would be major consequences if she tried to stop it.
With a deep, shuddering breath, Sarah stood, pushing away from her vanity, and left her childhood bedroom, silently praying this wasn't the last time she'd get to see it again.
As soon as she flicked the light off, a crack of thunder echoed through the house with a flash of lightning, causing Sarah to jump and start rushing through the house to make sure all the windows and doors were locked so no pesky owls tried to get in.
[2]
When Robert and Irene finally got home, Sarah had calmed down and was busy counting between the rolling thunders.
Robert apologized almost immediately, having borrowed Sarah's umbrella and accidentally left it at the restaurant. Sarah merely sighed and told him it was fine. Sarah didn't bother to ask if she could say goodbye to Toby, she already knew that Irene would say no, and she didn't want to wake him unnecessarily.
Sarah bid them her farewells. She tried not to sound cryptic as she said them, but she could see a look of concern on her fathers face.
On the porch, away from Irene's eyes, Robert checked on Sarah, asking if everything was alright, but she assured him that everything was fine. She promised to see him again soon, gave him a kiss on the cheek, and ran out into the rain, heading towards her bus stop, hoping to get to the shelter before the bus did or she got soaked to the bone.
[2]
Hey guys, did some editing. Once again, looking for a beta and I will be updating once a week, always on monday evenings (or tuesday mornings depending on your timezone). Seriously, though, if you would like to be my beta, I would really appreciate it, or if you know someone who COULD be my beta, that would be fantastic. It would be better if I could get one before next monday so they could help edit chapter three (I actually have up to chapter seven written).
As always, thanks for reviews, follows, and favorites.