So… yeah this is my first EVER  fanfiction. Please be kind, but please don't lie if you think that it sucks. I'm a big girl I can handle anything that you throw at me, but I don't believe in being vicious towards struggling writers who only want to improve their writing and I don't think that others should either.

-Lady of Scarlet Darkness

Disclaimer: I own nothing but myself. So this means that I did not create the Labyrinth or anything seen/mentioned in the Labyrinth. So please do not sue. You would simply waste your time and pay more to your lawyer than you would get out of me.

Onward through the fog...

Chapter One:

Six Years Later

"Good morning, New York!! It's now 6:00 and the start of a beautiful autumn morning! The air is getting cold and winters on its way but for now the sun is shining and the music is playing. So just…"

      That was all the radio got out before a slender and dainty hand slammed down on it with a strength that belied its delicate structure.

"Ugh" was all that the figure on the bed (owner of the aforementioned hand) got out before tossing the sheets over her head in order to douse the morning sunlight streaming through her window. It was threatening to wake her from her delicious slumber, and for the moment sleep was preferred over consciousness

      Fifteen minutes later the radio again exploded on, this time playing Metallica at full volume.

      Sarah bolted straight up at the shock of heavy metal being blasted in her ears at 6:15 in the morning. Heavy metal was the only thing that seemed to be able to get her out of bed at this ungodly hour. Sarah was by no means a morning person and so she suffered through it though she preferred the musical quality of classical.

      "Damn," she said turning off the radio with a tad more finesse than last time and forcing herself to get out of bed and into the shower.

      "Too…early…in the…(yawn)…morning", Sarah complained to herself with yet another yawn, as she stripped out of her oh so sexy flannel pajamas and stepped into her tiny shower.

      As always with her faulty plumbing the first spray of water was icy cold. And although every morning she cussed and complained about it, deep down she knew that she would never get it fixed because it was the only thing that truly awoke her in the morning. Soon though, the water began to warm and Sarah relaxed into the jet of the water.

      'Another wonderful day at the office to look forward to! Whoopee!' Sarah thought to herself, her mental voice laced with cynicism and sarcasm. She idly wondered what would be on today's agenda.

'Today is Monday so that means that he probably needs me to go drop off his dry cleaning,' Sarah thought with disgust. Four long and tortuous years of college she suffered through, busting her butt to get good grades, and what did she get for it? Not a damn thing. Currently she was working for Jackson and Pollock (more commonly known in the office as Jerk-off and Slime ball).  Her official job title was "organizational executive" (a fancy way of saying secretary), although personally she thought it more along the lines of "personal slave". Luckily for her she was only secretary to Pollock, he was only flaky and smarmy; Jackson on the other hand was a whole different matter. The past 3 secretaries to him quit due to his blatant sexual harassment. The secretaries had banded together and had tried to sue him, but Jackson was filthy rich and got the best lawyer money could buy. Needless to say Jackson won the case and was still free to sexually harass every woman that came his way, both in the office and on the street. Fortunately for Sarah she was hardly ever in the office, instead most of the time she was out doing the errands that Pollock should have done himself.

After only 10 minutes Sarah came out from the steam filled bathroom and out into the icy chill of her small bedroom. The frigid shock of it seeped into her veins and removed all the warm goodness that the shower had provided. She ran hurriedly to the closet and pulled out the warmest outfit that she could find. She chose a red ribbed turtleneck and black dress pants; it was warm enough for the chilly autumn air while professional enough for the office.

'Although I wonder why I even try to look professional at all, my job is nothing more than that of a glorified soccer mom with lower pay.'

She walked the hallway that led from her bedroom to her compact kitchen. The walkway was covered with pictures of family and friends, memories of a time before she left her tiny New England town for the big city life of New York. She came to New York for college; she came with dreams of stardom, of best selling books, and of love. So far all those dreams were finis or at the very least had been put on the back burner. College disillusioned her; the acting that seem so extraordinary to her small town friends was nothing short of mediocre to New York. So her dreams had shifted from award winning actress to best selling authoress. So far though every piece she had written had been rejected, but she was far too stubborn to give up on writing. Acting had always been more of her mothers dream rather than her own, but writing, that was something that was truly hers. She would be damned before giving that up. Her main focus for now though, was simply survival. Sure, she still wrote everyday. She wrote after the long and tiring hours of her meaningless job and well into the secretive hours of the night. And love…well love was a lost dream to her now.

'Some people are loved,' she thought to herself, ' and some people simply are not. I've accepted the fact that I will not, and I refuse to be bitter because of it.'

Her practical mind firmly agreed. You accepted the fact and you moved on…. end of story. Her romantic heart though, long forgotten and long buried under practicality and cynicism, sighed with regret. It refused to give up its small hope of true love…one day; but for now it was Monday and dry cleaning day to boot. Sarah poured herself a large cup of coffee and popped two pieces of toast into the toaster, before seating herself on her rickety kitchen table to read the newspaper. As she ate her toast with pineapple jelly she enjoyed the musical solitude of the sunrise through her small kitchen window.

~~~

The publishing company where she worked was in a medium sized drab grey building squashed between a deli (Roy's Deli- Home of the Best Turkey on Rye Around!) and a small antique store. The deli really did have the best turkey on rye around, although mostly everything else on the menu was inedible, and Sylvia's Antique Treasures was full of old useless junk. Sarah loved it. She spent almost every lunch hour savoring her turkey on rye while browsing through the disordered masses of junk that littered the store. Sometimes she would find something really spectacular and she would come back day after day pining for it, always hoping that it would still remain. Finally when she had saved up enough she would walk in proudly and buy that special something with her hard won money and she would cherish it all the more for the price that it had cost her. Sometimes it would cost her a new winter coat or sometimes it would cost her two weeks worth of rationing of food, but to her these special items were worth far more than materialistic comforts.

The once shining and bright morning turned dark and dismal by the time Sarah was able to take her lunch hour. Besides being dry cleaning day, it was also Pollock's wife's birthday, meaning Sarah had to spend the entire morning looking for "the perfect gift for a woman who is 46 but wants to feel like she's 26" (Pollock's exact words). How did he truly expect her to know what his wife wanted for her birthday?

     'Hell I don't even know what I want for my birthday and it's only a week away!' Sarah reflected.

After spending almost 3 hours shopping, she finally found a lovely white gold pendant necklace with a tasteless rock sized diamond in the center that she knew Mrs. Pollock would absolutely adore. The price was only twice her yearly salary.

'Must be nice', she thought to herself with a sigh, although not a sigh of envy for the necklace. She found the necklace slightly gaudy. No, she only thought how nice it would be to be able to buy something without worrying about how you were to survive until the next payday.

The already drab building of Jackson and Pollock's Publishing House seemed to fade into the dismal dreariness of the late afternoon, Sarah noted as she came out of Roy's Deli with her turkey on rye. After such an aggravating and pointless morning as hers was she deserved to spend her lunch hour idly browsing through Sylvia's, who she hadn't visited in nearly two weeks due to the encumbering workload thrust upon her by Pollock.

'I wonder what new things have come in', she thought as the door chimed as she came into the cramped store. The store smelt aged and musty, much like its owner Sylvia. Sylvia was a woman that Sarah supposed must be over 90 years old with hair as white as snow and as wispy as cotton candy.  To Sarah Sylvia was the epitome of grandmother, right down to the old lady smell that she permeated.

'Hell, she even had a bun. All grandmothers should have a bun', Sarah thought wirily.

"Hello, Sarah! Why I haven't seen you in ages, thought that you must have gotten a new stud and forgotten about your old friends!" Sylvia teasingly suggested to Sarah as she spotted the younger girl sorting through the latest shipment of junk.

"Oh Sylvia how could you think that! You know that I have no time for a stud! And besides however could I forget about you?" Sarah said gaily as she stooped down to give the older woman a hug.

"Yes, I know, I am unforgettable. It runs in the family you know," Sylvia said in a secretive stage   whisper.

Sarah chuckled and continued to browse; she knew that sooner or later Sylvia would remember something that was absolutely made for her. Sure enough before Sarah had been in the store for ten minutes the silence was shattered as Sylvia gasped in excitement.

"Oh Sarah dear I just remembered! As I was browsing through my last shipment I found something that I just know that you will love! I saw it and I just thought well if this isn't Sarah I don't know what is!" Sylvia babbled on as she dug through the closest box of junk.

She dug through several boxes before she firmly declared that 'this is the one I know it!'.  The top part of the box held several children's toys that Sylvia threw behind her without much thought. After she got past all the toys she came upon what seemed to be hundreds of books. She dug haphazardly through the books until a triumphant, "Ah Ha!".

She pulled out a small red leather bound book. The temperature of the small store seemed to drop several degrees. Sarah felt her breath quicken and her body shiver from the cold sweat that shimmered on her body.

"No…it can't be"

Sylvia didn't seem to notice anything wrong so she gave the small harmless looking book into the shaking hands of Sarah.

In gold lettering and a flowing hand read: The Labyrinth.

The world began to spin and then blacken as Sarah fell in a dead faint.

Author's Note:

Well that's Chapter One for you! I know that it wasn't very exciting but it was more of a background chapter, I mean hey it's been six years since you last saw Sarah! Well I have many special thanks to give:

To all my friends that I let read this and who gave me their hopefully honest critique.

To Arlena who was my first reviewer of all time!! Thank you so much for letting my first review be a good one!

To: Prettylittleowl, Mystdawn, Sorceress Myst, Scattered Logic (I absolutely LOVE your stories!), Heikgan, Lee (yes I swear that this is my first story or at least the first that I finished the first chappie), Draegon-fire, Terrie, JW (thank you for your compliment!), Darkmaster, Tifanimus, and Dawn, whose kind and encouraging reviews gave me the confidence to continue with the story.

And special thanks goes to Phoenix Flight for not being afraid to give me constructive criticism! I took your advice and actually printed out the story in order to correct it easier, hopefully I did better in the error department on this last Chapter!

Thank you all so much!!

May all your days be Peachy!!!

-*Lady of Scarlet Darkness*