The Prince

By: I Agree

I in no way shape or form own Labyrinth or its characters. I am a mere storywriter who enjoys twisting up the lives of fictional characters to suit her vicarious romantic and squee-moment needs.

Chapter 4: All that Remains

Two hours. Just about two hours walking and running and jogging through the ruined maze and she was getting nowhere. Neither hide nor bleached hair of Jareth anywhere, no little worm, no dwarf, no truthful or lying doors. There was nothing left in here, nothing else!

Resisting the urge to scream and shout and kick the ground like a child throwing a temper tantrum, Sarah paced back and forth in agitation. She'd figured with the Labyrinth being in the condition it was she would have been able to find the way out more easily. It obviously wasn't moving anymore and the walls were basically rubble at her feet. All she needed to do was to walk a near direct line to the castle, stepping over the walls in her way. This should have been a cakewalk.

'It's a piece of cake.'

She cringed, wiping a hand over her eyes in her frustration. Oh it was cake alright, and it had stones and glass and petulant Goblin King vindictiveness in it. What other reason did he have to do this but revenge? Instead of getting closer to the castle that she was walking directly towards, she didn't seem to get an inch nearer to it. Whatever was happening with this place it was definitely the work of Jareth.

With a heaving sigh, Sarah leaned back against a crumbling wall and looked down at her filthy, hurting feet. Of course, she was more than likely taking it for granted that there was nothing else in here. In fact she was pretty sure she was. It couldn't be possible that there was nothing left in the Labyrinth, something had to be there. Like the two doors. The two doors were the way out of the Labyrinth, and it wouldn't be smart to remove an exit, would it?

Unless she was taking it for granted that there had to be something in here.

Stupid Labyrinth logic.

Running her nails over her scalp, Sarah glanced up and down the hall she was in, wondering what she should do next. There really was no absolute reason to get to the Goblin City or the Castle Beyond Said City this time. Sure Jareth might be there, but odds were he was still somewhere close by laughing his little royal butt off at her. Heck, he was probably plotting something devious and getting some nasty creature to set on her. To be fair he hadn't done it before, but at this point she was irritated enough with him to accuse him of doing something so cruel.

And as if she'd summoned it with a mere thought, Sarah heard a gusty grunt from around the corner.

Eyes wide, she jerked away from the wall and stumbled a step away from the sound. Almost immediately she rolled her eyes at her own stupidity, forcing herself to relax. Why was she being so stupid now? The last time she'd heard something disturbing around the corner of the Labyrinth it'd turned out to be her good friend Ludo. It was just the Labyrinth again, its condition playing games with her mind.

Steeling her nerves, the young woman ran her hands over the front of her cami and took one last look behind her. She tiptoed to the edge of the wall and peeked around the corner, breath held in her lungs.

The sight of an old, familiar figure slowly walking along the way made her nerves disappear completely. The Wiseman.

Much excited at seeing something alive in the desolate maze, Sarah hopped out from behind her cover and nearly skipped to the strange creature. "Hello!"

The birdhat squawked immediately and turned too look at her, its big eyes on her instantly. The old man, however, was much slower, leisurely turning and gazing with tired eyes.

"Oh, it's you again," the bird said, its irritating voice sounding highly irritated.

Her smile didn't waver one bit, "Yes, hi! I'm so glad to see you!"

"Ah," said the Wiseman on a heavy breath, his tone still utterly fascinated that she was there, "the young woman again."

"Lost again I see," Bird observed, cocking its head to the side.

She nodded, "I know, but I think I'll be fine this time around. Maybe." She flashed them a wry smile, "What I really want to know is what's happening around here. Why is the Labyrinth like this?"

"Why is the Labyrinth like this?" Wiseman repeated slowly. Briefly he looked around, as if reacquainting himself with his surroundings, "Because this is the way it is, of course."

She chewed on her bottom lip, biting back the need to tell the withered creature that he'd told her nothing. Again. Really, such blunt honesty would more than likely stop his heart. Instead she nodded, "Can you tell me how it got this way?"

"Well," he paused and looked up to the bird attached to him, not seeming to know what to say.

"No," it finished in a matter-of-fact manner.

She closed her eyes against the annoyance, shoving it away as she continued to smile. "You don't know?"

"Everything is the way it is for a reason," answered the old one assuredly, a content, self-assured smile on his face. "This is all that remains because that's just the way it is."

Until the bird spoke up again, "All that crap means he has no idea."

The look on the Wiseman's face soured as he looked up, "Shut up you."

"I'm just telling the tru-"

"She is not here to listen to your drivel-"

"Yeah, yeah," interrupted the bird on a sly sigh, "She's here to listen to yours."

"Well of course she is!" affirmed the Wiseman a second before Bird's words sunk in, "Now wait just a moment you parasitic, flightless menace-"

Knowing she was going to get nothing else from these two today, not that she got anything at all out of them, Sarah slowly began to back away. She didn't have anything to offer as payment and she suspected they would again be asking a price on the information they didn't give her. This would be the perfect time to get away of course, with them so preoccupied they wouldn't notice her escape.

And yet just as she was about to round the corner of a wall, just as she thought she was home-free, his graveled voice called out to her. Biting back a curse, Sarah looked back at him warily.

"Remember," said he, his voice more cryptic than he'd ever sounded before, "to arrive at the place you want to be all you need to do is stay where you are."

Taken aback, the young woman could only nod stiltedly under his direct, clear stare. She wasn't sure if she should listen to such an ominous declaration from him. Not when most of the things he offered to her before were basically useless to her. And yet…

Pursing her lips, she nodded one more time to the old man and walked away, out of his line of sight.

She walked for awhile as if in a trance, unseeing as she mechanically avoided debris and stepped over walls, her mind trying to break down what he had implied. What did it mean? If it meant anything, that is. His first advice to her, 'Sometimes the way forward is also the way back,' had basically turned out to be complete and utter crap (well, that wasn't entirely true, she did get home by completing the Labyrinth), the same could probably be said for this too. All she had to do was ignore it. Except… except for the expression on his face.

Sighing, Sarah looked around for a good spot, figuring it wouldn't really hurt to try what he'd said. True she wasn't exactly trying to get anywhere, just trying to make a certain little prince appear, but she didn't have anything else to do.

She chose a bit of clear space to sit in, leaning back against the wall as she brought up her knees and wrapped her arms around her legs. All at once, as she suspected would happen, she felt her muscles begin to protest the inactivity. After near constant movement for the past two hours or so the ache was already beginning.

She ignored the minor pain and merely waited. Her eyes carefully scanned her surroundings for any change, any minor abnormality that might help her. Anything at all.

And yet fairly quickly, her attention waned. It was all the same anyway, all broken stone and depressing.

She didn't know how long she sat there, staring at crumbled stone and withered weeds but it felt like forever before something happened. Or more, someone happened. One moment Sarah was looking at some cracks in the cobblestone and the next there was a pair of leather boots impeding her view. Adult-sized boots.

Her breath caught in her throat, eyes widening to seemingly impossible degrees. Slowly her eyes climbed up the length of slender leg, eyes settling only briefly on a certain area, up to a pair of annoyed and angry blue eyes.

The Goblin King stood before her in his full splendor, outfit of purely black making him stand out all the more. His gloved hands were planted firmly on his narrow hips as he looked down his nose at her. He was just as intimidating as ever and just as beautiful, the hard angles of his face and peculiarity of his eyes making it impossible for her to look away. Even in his obvious anger, eyes blazing with barely concealed rage, he was the loveliest thing she'd ever seen.

"And just what the bloody hell," he began, growling voice dripping with venom, "do you think you are doing here?"

(-TP-)

Word Count: 1,635 Date Written: 3rd – 10th January 2012

A.N. AND THE AWAITED APPEARANCE OF JARETH! Please enjoy his sexy self while he is here. THANK YOU ALL, btw, for all of the lovely reviews you've sent me. They make me smile and want to write all the more. Also I wanted to warn all the readers that I am returning to school soon (BOOOOO!) so it's going to be harder for me to write. I'm going to have a friend of mine pester me about it and I'll do the best I can! Later!

Please Regard Me Kindly,

I Agree