Disclaimer: The characters and plot of the Labyrinth belongs to someone other than me, I still don't have any idea who exactly. But obviously, it's not me. I'm not making any money from writing this fiction.
Chapter 7: Shiny Maze
"So after we get out of here, we should almost be there?" Sera asked. Fluffyball let out a string of happy sounds, none of which Rover or Sera could understand.
"It says yes. Just after the maze ahead. It's a shortcut, but no one ever uses it,"
"Why not?" Rover asked suspiciously. Fluffyball glared at Rover, who was maintaining a respectable, safe distance from the lethal ball of fluff. It made a few noises.
"Apparently it's too shiny," Cap said, looking confused.
"Ooh, shiny!" Sera said, eyes sparkling.
"I-I guess if it's shiny it won't be scary..." Rover muttered.
"Oobmyaa!" Fluffyball responded. Cap didn't quite understand this, but it sounded cheerful, so he didn't pay it much mind.
He should have.
"...Huh," Sera said, as Fluffyball squirmed in her arms excitedly. Rover couldn't even whimper, he just stared with his jaw open and tongue lolling out.
"Oobmyaa," Cap repeated dumbly.
Before them were millions of their own reflections. No matter where they looked, they found their eyes staring back at them. It was a maze. A maze of mirrors.
"...How are we going to do this?" Sera asked.
"Oobmyaa rtea!" Fluffyball jumped from her arms and bounced away.
"Wait, Fluffy!" Sera said, running after the FlufferBuster.
"No, Sera!"
Three things happened at once. Sera slammed into a mirror, having been chasing Fluffyball's reflection, Cap collided with another mirror, having been chasing Sera's reflection, and Rover bolted away in fear – eventually hitting into a mirror because he couldn't see where he was going.
"Cap! Cap?" Sera yelled, rubbing her aching forehead.
"Sera!" Cap grunted as he hit against another mirror. "Sera, where are you?"
"We're gonna dieeee," Rover moaned.
And all over the place, they could hear Fluffyball's sounds. It was like it was bouncing about everywhere, making noises that echoed. They could hear Fluffyball's noises coming from every direction.
"Cap! Fluffyball! Rover!" Sera was starting to really get worried. She'd see a reflection of her companion, break out in a relieved smile, try and reach out to them only to feel nothing but a smooth, hard surface. Not to mention continuously hitting against these very painful surfaces. She was starting to feel light-headed – she was so confused her head was starting to hurt.
Suddenly, someone emerged from the mirror, and she screamed. She spun around to try and escape but in her attempt tripped over her own feet instead.
"Sera?!" Cap yelled. She couldn't say anything. She was literally frozen in fear. He was small, a child, she guessed. He had the facial features of one. His hair was as unruly as the Goblin King's, and it reached his waist. He was dressed in simple breeches and a shirt. No shoes or coat. He smiled and reached out to Sera.
She was so afraid she couldn't even blink. His hand cupped her cheek, and he smiled. His smile went all the way up to his dark eyes. She couldn't hear anything else. It's like her ears had toned out everything, including the voice of her companions as they frantically searched for her.
I've missed you, Sarah. She thought he'd spoken to her, but he hadn't even opened his mouth. The voice reverberated in her head, as if he had spoken right into her mind.
Her eyes began to hurt. She'd reached the end of her limit – she blinked. When she opened her eyes, he was gone.
She looked around. He had vanished into thin air. Had she imagined it all?
The voices of her friends finally reached her and she began her search all over again, dismissing the encounter as a hallucination.
"Cap, where are you?!"
"Sera! Sera, you're okay?"
She breathed a sigh of relief when she caught sight of him. "Don't worry, Cap, I'm-" she cut off as she slammed into her mirror. She growled in annoyance. These bloody mirrors were starting to get on her nerves.
Finally she came to a solution – she'll try and break the mirrors. She took a deep breath. "Hold on guys, I think I can do something!"
"Sera, no!" Cap said. He already knew that any ideas she'd had would be bad.
"Haiyah!" Sera yelled, and headbutted the mirror. With a gurgle, she went down.
"Sera!" She could hear echoes of her name from all her companions, but she couldn't respond to them. She was quickly losing consciousness.
"Uggghhhh," Ralph groaned, cradling his face with his palms. Why him? Why his sister?
Jareth said nothing. He passed the crystal ball to Toby without a word. Toby watched him, saying nothing, as Jareth crossed to the weirdest window Ralph had ever seen and sat at the sill. Ralph lifted his head, and both watched the Goblin King as he released crystal balls out of the window, and they floated away like bubbles. Out towards the labyrinth.
"Jareth, I need to speak to-" Ralph and Toby's heads swiveled towards the entrance of the throne room, now relatively quiet since most of the goblins had somehow tired themselves out and were laying around the room, snoring. A man stood there, an eyebrow raised at his brother. His eyes, like Jareth, had one of blue and the other of brown, except of lighter shades. His hair was a dark brown - Kind of like dark chocolate, Ralph reflected.
The man crossed over to Ralph and Toby, and spoke in hushed tones.
"What is he doing?" He seemed to know better than to disturb Jareth, who almost seemed to be in a trance as he sat at the oddly-shaped window sill, gazing out at his kingdom.
"We have no idea. Why are you here, Eldwyn?" Toby asked.
"I came to tell Jareth that his suitors have arrived at his kingdom, and are currently in their respective rooms in this very castle. He should really meet them," Eldwyn said.
"He wouldn't right now. He has a very interesting runner at the moment," Toby said.
"Interesting how- Oh..." Eldwyn trailed off as he noticed unconscious Sera's face in the crystal ball. He knew exactly who she was – he'd peeked into enough of Jareth's crystal balls to recognize her. "Is that-"
"Jareth thinks so. I have no idea..." Toby responded. Ralph said nothing. He could almost understand all they said now. Though at the moment he was most curious about what Jareth was doing, as he sat at the window sill wordlessly, gazing out across the kingdom.
You can do this, sis. He thought to himself. Whatever it was Jareth was doing – she could conquer it.
Sera's eyes were so wide her eyeballs began to dry up and hurt. She blinked – but it didn't dispel the scene before her.
Oh God, where am I? Where is this? What was with all the masks and laughter and people... Ooh, it's a party!
She took a step forward... and paused. She looked down at the puffy skirt in shock, its was white – but seemed to shine with different colours as she moved. She was then distracted by her arms – covered in gauzy, lacey stuff, and the puffiest sleeves she had ever seen.
What the- She grabbed the sleeves, the puffiness just annoyed her. The dress felt so restricting... and was that a corset? She tried to remove the dress, and realized her hair was really heavy. She reached up and touched her hair... there was something in them. Somethings.
She looked around for a mirror, but people kept bumping into her. They were all laughing and chatting amicably, their faces hidden by masks. And among them someone was singing.
Singing something that sounded eerily familiar. She looked around for him – the man singing the song. There were all these people in the way and her dress was so heavy and restricting. Finally she grabbed onto the skirt and tore it off with one strong yank. She did the same to the sleeves. People around her gasped at her actions, she ignored them and weaved around all the bodies.
His voice felt so close now, almost like he was singing right beside her ear. But when she turned around, she saw no one... Or at least, even if there was someone, they felt wrong. It wasn't who she was looking for. She didn't know how she knew it, but she did.
My head hurts... She realized after a few seconds. The pain intensified the more attention she paid to his song, as if there was something in her head trying to burst out of her skull. She held her head with her hands, her vision was starting to blur – yet she still searched for him.
And suddenly – he was right in front of her. Singing to her. Dressed in glittery, dark blue finery. Messy blonde hair surrounding his head like some kind of carelessly weaved halo. His mismatched eyes boring into her intensely, never looking away.
"As the world falls down..." She could read the words from his lips as she stared at them, transfixed, but it hurt her head to even think about them. He offered his arms out to her, for a dance, she figured. This was followed by the most painful throb she'd had yet, and she turned away from him. She ran as far as she could. Where, she didn't know. Just away from him.
She collided with people, then forcefully shoved them away. They protested her treatment, but she didn't care. She had to escape – an illogical decision that hurt her every time she tried to make some sense of it. She needed to escape. Escape. Escape where? She spotted an exit out of the ballroom, but when she got close to it, all she saw was a distorted version of her reflection.
It was her, hair done up with ribbons, face made-up, jewelry adorning her body and wearing a ripped dress. That wasn't all though – her hair color was, well, at first she thought of it as wrong, then realized... no, it was more right than wrong. It was too right that it was wrong.
Who was that in the mirror? And why did she seem so...
"Familiar?" She wondered aloud, before another painful throb tore through her thoughts. She whimpered under the excruciating pang. And just when she thought it couldn't get any worse, she blanked out once more.
"...ra! Sera?" When she opened her eyes, she found the fairy flying beside her face, looking so concerned it made her smile.
"Hey, Cap. Wassup?" She grinned at him in a weary manner.
He glared at her. "Don't you ever do that to me again," He scolded, placing his tiny hand on her forehead.
"Sorry," She responded. Why am I bouncing? She wondered, and looked down. Rover was carrying her on his back as he walked, and his furry back felt warm against her.
"You okay, Sera?" He asked.
"Yeah... I'm fine..." She said, but this wasn't true. She could still feel a twinge of pain in her head. She ignored it. "Thanks for the ride, Rover,"
"Well... It's the least I could do. Besides, I was the only one who could follow Fluffyball. Cause I used my nose," He said. Before them, bouncing on the path, Fluffyball chirped several times, Sera didn't need a translation to understand.
"Yes, I'm fine, Fluffy," Sera smiled. Fluffyball let out a relieved meow, then bleat-meowed a few times more.
"Fluffyball says we're almost there," Cap said. Sera nodded, and took this chance to look around. It seemed like they were in a forest of some kind. Just as she was studying the leaves and branches that formed natural canopies above her head, Fluffyball made some noises, bouncing up and down excitedly.
There was a clearing up and ahead, and beyond it the Goblin Castle could be seen. It almost seemed like the branches and leaves had made way for the view of the towering castle.
"We're almost there," She realized.
"Yup. And we still have five hours to go," Cap said triumphantly, landing on her shoulder. "Just hold on, Sera. We're about to get your brother back,"
She smiled, and hugged Rover tightly. "Thanks guys,"
When Jareth finally left the sill, the three males on the throne watched him carefully, wary of causing him to snap.
"So..." Toby was the first to say anything. They'd watched Sera getting carried away by the wolf-man in the crystal ball, but they couldn't see anything else. Toby had a feeling Jareth was doing something to Sera's unconscious dream, but no matter how much magic he used Jareth continued to block him out.
"Yes?" Jareth asked with a raised eyebrow.
"What did you do?" Eldwyn asked.
"Eldwyn. What are you doing here?" Jareth asked, conveniently ignoring Eldwyn's question.
"Brother. What are you doing?" Eldwyn asked. "If she is who you want, why not just tell her?"
"Because... I do not know yet," Jareth answered softly.
"Not know what?"
"Whether it's truly her,"
"Jareth," Eldwyn ran a hand through his hair, frustrated by his brother's antics. "There are five suitors waiting for you in this castle, hoping to be your queen, and here you are chasing the ghost of a girl you didn't even profess your love to,"
"Eldwyn," Jareth growled warningly.
"No, Jareth, you are my brother and I love you. I cannot go through another century watching you regret the passing of a confession that should have happened!" Eldwyn said, getting to his feet and pacing around the throne room, agitated, almost crushing a few still-asleep goblins as he did. "No. No more. You tell me right now that this girl is the one, and I will tell your suitors to leave, as well as notify the High King and Queen that you have found your queen," Jareth opened his mouth to protest, but Eldwyn held up a hand to stop him. "Or you tell me that you're not interested in this girl, and you let her finish her run in peace, then move on and marry one of the suitors chosen for you," Eldwyn's eyes met Jareth's, and the seriousness in them was unmistakable. "Well, Jareth? Your move,"
Jareth said nothing, he met his brother's eyes and remained stubbornly tight-lipped.
Ralph and Toby looked from one to the other, wondering what will happen.
"I will..." Jareth began, and everyone else in the room – goblins notwithstanding – hung upon his very word. Jareth sighed. "I will give up on my empty hope. I will let her finish her run in peace... and I will marry one of the suitors you have chosen for me, brother. Something I appreciate you for very much, Eldwyn. Thank you,"
Jareth crossed back over to his throne. Ralph automatically made space for him, and the Goblin King strew himself over the throne in a way only he could... and resumed watching his runner.
Eldwyn never took his eyes off his brother, watching him with open-mouthed surprise. "Uh... Alright. You're welcome, I suppose," He murmured, flustered and a little mortified at his own defiance against his brother. "I guess I'll go check up on your suitors. You will visit them soon?"
"Of course," Jareth responded, waving Eldwyn away, eyes glued to the crystal ball. Eldwyn hesitated to walk to the door, throwing doubtful glances back at his brother, giving the Goblin King chances to change his mind. But Jareth remained silent.
"Jareth... is that true?" Toby asked quietly once Eldwyn was gone. "Are you really giving up on Sera being Sarah?"
"Yes," Jareth said in what almost sounded like a brisk tone... had it not had such a dead hollowness to it. Toby didn't say anything... and neither did Ralph.
