Fairer Tales Chapter 14: Crashes and Burns, a labyrinth fanfic

Hey guys! It's definitely been a while since my last update! Between life, school, and work, I've had a lot on my plate, and of course I didn't want to put out a chapter that felt rushed. That was some days ago, but that aside, since it's Spring Break and I finally have some time I decided to get it up here and get it done. SO... without any more blabbing here is the new chapter! Hope you all enjoy it!

"What have you done!?" A voice called from somewhere. Where? Alice wasn't sure.

The last clear coherent thought Alice remembered having was realizing she'd climbed into bed with Willis's necklace still on, how Gigi would fuss at her for falling asleep with something around her neck, and that she should probably get up before she completely passed out and place it on her nightstand. However, that had not taken place; comparing the sensation that had overcome her to a wave would have made it less alarming, no this had been more like a freight train of intense fatigue that had made her hand cease reaching for the nightstand light, dropping like a dead moose to the mattress. The most alarming thing had been the brief moment of the sense of the inability to move before she'd been completely consumed by the need to sleep.

That was the sensation that threatened to not relinquish its hold of her now as she lay… here. Her whole being felt like lead, her lids even refused to open; keeping calm was the only option, though it wasn't going very well for her at the moment. She attempted to gather her thoughts or something, anything to take her mind off of her simply laying here dead limbs.

Here?

Where was here anyway? The more she tried to focus on things, the more the sense of dead weight seemed to recede. Okay then Alice, where are we? As she asked herself she realized her shoulder felt sore, as did her hip, whatever she was laying on, it wasn't her mattress and it was nowhere near being soft like one. Maybe she'd simply fallen out of bed in the middle of the night? Perhaps from another weird dream that she wouldn't remember upon waking? Oh God, I hope I'm not screaming, I hope I'm not waking up the house with that again.

So she was on the floor, well a floor? Her floor had carpet, this floor had none and felt, rough? Like stone tiles? What the heck did I roll down the stairs and end up in the kitchen? The heavy sensation was fading more and more as she tried to think, but having clear thoughts was becoming harder and harder with all that noise. Noise? No, someone was arguing, it didn't sound like Gigi and Conall, she'd never heard them argue before, no these voices were different, both male, and she hadn't heard them before, they were the ones arguing. Well, if arguing was what you could call it, it would have been more accurate to say that one person was arguing while the other simply wasn't going to hear any of it or at least grace any of the questions with a response of more than a few words laced with a starched sense of ambivalence.

"What have you done- Have you even thought about what you've done Jareth?" Jareth? Now why did that name sound even vaguely familiar? Finally Alice's attempts to move were being rewarded, though sluggish she was able to shift her arms slowly until they weren't by her sides but closer to her center. She was going to stand up. This was going to happen whether the rest of her was ready or not. Her eyelids dragged themselves open slow as you please as she began her attempt to move vertically. Unbeknownst to her the voices had hushed at the first notice of her movements; as Alice sat herself upright she was railroaded once again by an overbearing sensation, this time of immense dizziness. Okay , well, looks like standing will just have to wait.

Everything before her swam in a sea of sepia tones, the two figures before her, dark colored ameba wriggling right along with everything else.

Jareth was surprised to see her revive so quickly, it wasn't uncommon for those who were wished away to spend weeks in a deep magic induced sleep before they finally stirred, depending on the amount of magic used to bring them and other such circumstances. The fact that she was moving mere moments after being brought underground was rather curious indeed. A fact that complicated things, he thought as his face became an unreadable mask; he hadn't planned on introducing her to her new surroundings in the middle of his throne room, a far more controllable venue would have been devised of course, but that, as it seemed, couldn't be help now.

If he were to be completely honest with himself, somewhere deep down in the recesses of his conscience Jareth could admit that he probably should have felt guilty for the rather selfish silver lining that had started taking root in the back of his mind. Though he'd never admit it, he knew Derrick had been right when in his previous appeals to Jareth's better judgment he had mentioned the practice of taking, forcing women from the Above in to the Underground was long ago considered out dated and rather barbaric. They both knew that it still happened, on the rarest of occasions, from time to time, one from the Above maybe 'convinced' Underground; a simple spell here, some conning words there, trickery and cunning was the real name of the game. So the fact that he no longer had to worry about finding a way to trick her in to willingly coming with him below, well that had worked in his favor. But another part of him, a rather large part for that matter, was more than furious at the fact that it had to be this way that she had come to be in his possession.

As her eyes finally came into focus, Alice locked eyes with the figure closest to her. Tall and darkly dressed, from the angle at which she now sat, he seemed almost too tall, impossibly tall. Most of his figure was hidden behind a dark cloak that flowed seamlessly from his shoulders down to the floor, his fair skin and hair a sharp contrast to the nocturnal color scheme he'd donned. Their gaze never broke as he approached; kneeling before her, he brought his face close, his gaze burning into hers and then he spoke.

"Do you know where you are?" at this distance Alice noticed how sharp and refined the features of his face were, but something seemed off about the whole thing, too well put together, too sharp, too defined, unnaturally so. She said nothing in return, simply giving a slow shake of the head for her response.

"You're in the Castle beyond the Goblin City, my castle." He stated as he rose. He extended his hand towards her. "Stand up."

Alice looked at the gloved hand before her, the blank stare on her face would have made one think she'd never seen a hand before, but at that moment the thought of standing seemed so ridiculous, especially with the myriad of thoughts setting off alarm bells at the back of her mind. Castle beyond the Goblin City? Why did this sound so familiar? Turing her gaze back to his, she shook her head again, managing to croak a rather feeble sounding, "I can't."

But the man before her obviously wasn't satisfied with that as an answer, for he leaned forward, and taking hold of her hand proceeded to pull her to her feet. Alice had been somewhat right however, whatever consolation that gave, as her legs buckled beneath her, causing him to release her hand and steady her in his arms. She should have been made uncomfortable by this, but his shifting arms had caused more of his cloak to open, revealing his torso, but more importantly, a pendant that hung from his neck. The design of it seemed familiar as well, which only served to add to the cacophony inside of her skull. She couldn't stop staring at it, why did that blasted thing seem so familiar?

"Do you know who I am?" His voice broke through the thoughts vying for her attention just long enough for her to tear her eyes away from the pendant and bring them to his face again.

"I…" Dear God the mess inside her head! It was starting to become too much. She could barely form a sentence or heck an actual thought aside from the ones running rampant in her head. Her mind was desperately trying to make sense of … of… something. Of everything.

"I am the Goblin King," He started, as her brain was still grasping for those final straws. "And I rule over the Goblin City here at the center of my Labyrinth."

Labyrinth. Labyrinth? Labyrinth!? Her mind had finally found the thing it was looking for as all the thoughts began to cease their whooshing about and began to settle into a nice little stack within her brain.

The Labyrinth, that book, that book I read was called the Labyrinth. 'The castle beyond the Goblin City, at the center of the Labyrinth', that's what it had said in the book. That made sense, the scenes were piecing themselves back together based on what she had read. The Goblin King, named… what? Jareth? Yes, Jareth, so he's the Goblin King? That had explained the pendant, there had been an illustration of it in the book. Wait, what did he do, in the story? He ruled the city and … and … What else was it, this was important she knew what else was there? 'Return the child which you've stolen'… The child! The little boy from the story, the Goblin King had taken him, and brought him to his castle and kept him there for most of the story. He'd taken him because… because… Everything within her mind was screaming at her to remember, yearning for her to remember, she just had to, because if she didn't, oh God if she didn't. Jareth had taken the child because of Sarah… because Sarah had… wished him away.

"Wished away?" came the barely audible mumble from Alice's mouth. Jareth had watched as her brow had furrowed with thought, with confusion, and now it seemed that just as the last touches of magic were leaving her body, an epiphany had sparked, causing her head to snap up, meeting his eyes once again.

"Wished away?" She said again, this time louder her brows knitted together with uncertainty. Suddenly she lurched backwards, wiggling her way out of his arms, away from him, landing with gracelessly on her butt on the stone floor. "No."

"You've figured it out then? Yes, you were wished-"

"No!" Jareth was not the only one taken aback by her outburst, though Jareth was able to keep his features schooled, Derrick stood there dumbfounded; he couldn't think of the last time someone had raised their voice towards Jareth, other than himself of course, and in his cousin's current state he wasn't how sure his temper would handle it.

"Look," Jareth began, picking at a seam on one of his gloves. "I realize that this must be hard for you to understand. But what you must come to realize is-"

"No!" This time it came out more like a hiss. Derrick watched as this Alice squared her shoulders, stiffened her spine and locked eyes with his cousin. He'd seen looks like this a hundred times over with Jareth, it screamed stubborn.

"You're wrong."

"I assure you, you'll find, I'm not."

As Alice sat there on the cold floor, staring down this strange man before her, claiming to be the Goblin King, her mind began to whir again. This couldn't be real, it had to be another messed up dream, like that first one she had, the one about the Beldam. She tried to focus, but it was no use.

So tired. Tired wasn't even close, exhausted was more like it, the thought occurred to her as she began rubbing her face in agitation. She was so tired with everything, these messed up dreams, life at school, dealing with Principal Whitaker and Abigail. And now, she was dreaming of being wished away? She knew she had an overactive imagination, and sometimes it did effect her sleep, but she had read that book weeks ago, so what sense did it make for it to be affecting her now.

Wished away? Who would even bother to wish me away? Who'd waste a wish on me? Wait a minute…

"Who?"

"Pardon?" Slight curiousity was still peaking Jareth's interest, as he observed her. Her body was still struggling against the hold of the magic around her, but there was something deeper going on with this girl.

"Who did it? You said I was wished away, who did it?" her tone was still one of disbelief, but now a sliver of apathy was beginning to creep its way into her words.

"I bet it was Abigail." She muttered mostly to herself, laughing at the irony of someone who openly mocked her for her reading of fairy tales to actually believe in them themselves.

"No, it was your guardian." Jareth stated rather dismissively, his outward expression hiding his inner disdain for the woman.

"My guardian?" Alice's musings screeched to a halt. "What did you say?"

"It was your guardian who wished you away-"

"Gigi?!"

"I don't much care for being continuously interrupted." But the warning in both his look and tone were lost on Alice as a wave of new emotions surged forth.

"Gigi? You expect me to believe that Gigi would do this?" The look on his face, clearly answered yes. "You're wrong."

"As I've said before, I'm not."

"Gigi would never, she's the one who told me all sorts of stories about 'The Goblin King' and things like that, she saw me with the book. Wish me away? There's no way she would do something like that."

"I don't know what relationship you think you had with this Gigi, but obviously it was not nearly as close of one as you would appear to think. She's the one who wished you away. You can't change that."

"You're lying."

"I'm doing no such-"

"You're lying! It's not true-"

"I suggest you watch your tone, for you'll not get away with it for much longer." His voice was low, his eyes dark, the warning more obvious now. The room felt colder as he focused his gaze on hers, sizing her up, his eyes baring down; even his body language had changed, no longer was he standing there with a casual indifference, now it would appear that there was something dangerous lying just beneath the cool collected surface.

"You'll find I'm not lying. Your precious Gigi, she is the one who wished you away, and the sooner you accept that, the better off you'll be."

Alice said nothing in response, she refused to look at the man in front of her. The thought that Gigi would ever, could ever do something like this, wish her away, was ridiculous; this was the woman who brought her home from the hospital after everything had happened, this was the woman who had nearly punched out a nurse who'd claimed Alice's first round of night terrors was just a child looking for attention, this was the woman who had sat with her almost every night these last few to make sure she got a to sleep. Why would a woman who'd be willing to do all that, simply give her away? It didn't make any sense, it just couldn't be true.

Just off to her left something moved in the corner of her eye. Turning she watched as a small whirlwind of glitter began to form, growing ever larger, finally ending in a crescendo topped with a flash and an explosion of glitter. In its wake stood an older woman, looking as though she'd just been roused from bed.

"Jareth, Derrick, is it really necessary to rouse me at this late hour to mediate one of your …" Her voice trailed off as she spied Alice on the floor just a few feet away from her.

"This is Nanny, she'll be taking care of you." Turning to the older woman, Jareth continued. "Nanny this is Alice, would you please take her upstairs, her room is waiting."

"You're surely not going to put her with the rest of the children are you?"

"Nanny, her room is waiting for her upstairs. You'll find it rather easily. Please take her there." With that Jareth said no more. Nanny's eyes found Derricks, and the gaze he returned any of the questions she may have had. Turning to the girl, she gave her a quick once over, well, at least Jareth was consistent, she was definitely pretty.

"Come with me child, I'll take you to your room."

"I can't. I-" but she didn't finish. Nanny, understanding almost instantly, stooped down, circling her arm around the girl and under her right arm, straightening bringing them both to their feet. Nanny waited as Alice teetered momentarily attempting to no lean on the older woman, trying her best to steady herself on her own.

"Come now with all that, don't bother worrying about leaning on me, come now, come on." Alice stared down at the woman next to her, the only thought going through her mind was that she was going to crush this woman, the first misstep, they'd both tip over and she'd crush this poor woman. But she was stronger than she seemed, as she held her sturdy, her arm firmly wrapped around Alice's waist.

"Good night your Majesty, Derrick." How Nanny managed a curtsy while still holding Alice was beyond her, but as the woman turned to lead them both out of the throne room, Alice cast a glance over her shoulder towards the Goblin King. His words about Gigi still fresh in her mind. He was wrong, but it wouldn't matter, if this, if all of this was real, she wouldn't be here long enough for him to realize it.

A long golden, stone spiral stairway, a window so high up a wall that it could reveal just a peek at the deep night sky and nothing else, sconces full of flames lighting the way, a large heavy wooden door, a latch turning, a glorious room. All of these things Alice noticed. All of these things were cataloged within the deep recesses of her mind, but these details didn't matter so much. What mattered were the images her mind was currently cataloging, labeling and scanning to memory, recording for later, for when she'd need them, all the while Nanny was scurrying around preparing the room for use, pulling back covers on the rather large bed before hunting for more suitable night clothes for Alice to wear.
Unaware of Nanny's musings and polite small talk, Alice let a question bubble up out of her mouth.
"So that is the Labyrinth?" Nanny ceased in her scrounging around to turn towards the young human girl that her king had become so infatuated with. The girl called Alice stood peering out of the bedroom window, in asking her question her eyes never left the scene beyond.
"Yes, that would be the Labyrinth."
"Does all of it come up this close to the castle?" Alice queried as her eyes continued to document the various things before her.
"Not in all places. Some of the gardens blend into it, some paths don't come anywhere near here, another still, the ones the runners usually take leads right up to the gates. It's a right proper maze, as it should be."
"Where do the runners start?"
"Oh all in the same place. There's a hill just outside at the beginning of the Labyrinth, marked with a dead tree, just on the edge, that's where they all begin."
"Marked with a dead tree huh?" Alice pondered a little louder than she had intended. At this Nanny stopped completely and turned to the girl who had yet to move from the window.
"Oh no. No. I know what you're thinking and never was an idea more foolish."
"I'm not thinking-" but Nanny stopped her before she could even form the lie. Taking her hand Nanny turned Alice away from the window, breaking her purposeful gaze and locked eyes with her.
"I know what you're thinking, don't deny it, you know I'm right, and you can just go ahead and get that crazy idea out of your head and just forget about it. Attempting to find your way out of the Labyrinth is foolhardy if you don't know the way, and just plain foolish to attempt so at night. That place is riddled with dangers that you can't even begin to image. The runners? They're marked so that the other, more dangerous creatures will leave them be, on top of that they're on a set track, a path that will, if they were to succeed, send them straight to the castle, eventually. You running out there with no knowledge of where you're headed or what you're in for, is just going to end up getting you hurt, lost, or worse killed. There are parts of the Labyrinth that no runner is meant to see, that no being, especially human, should go into alone.
"I can only imagine that you're not happy to be here, most aren't, but your runner didn't make it darling, and unfortunately that means you have to stay. I know it will be hard to adjust to this but it's just something that must be done now, it can't be helped. Now come here, away from the window, and ready for bed." Nanny pulled out a lovely off white night dress out of a drawer of an armoire and handed it to Alice.
"Here now, why don't you put this on, it may be a little warmer than what you're wearing."
"No, no thank you," Alice pulled at the hem of the large shirt she wore, giving a brief peek of the shorts underneath as she bunched the shirt in her hands. "I'd rather keeps these if that's alright."
"No bother, I understand. You can keep those as long as you like, I'll make sure to tell the others not to take them off after your bath in the morning." Alice silently nodded, climbing into bed to appease Nanny. The older woman pulled the covers up nice and snug, and with a wave of her hand the lights were snuffed and she quietly exited the room.
As Alice lay there she held her breath waiting to see, hoping she wouldn't hear the sound of a bolt sealing her within the room, luckily it never came. However she continued to lay there, huddled under the covers, waiting, waiting for the sound within the hall, outside of her window, all of those sounds to calm down, to quiet down, to give her some sort of signal that it was safe to go through with her plan. But the longer she stayed there the more sound came from beyond the window; as if every creature knew she was waiting for her chance and decided that they needed to come out at this time and stall her plans. She knew she couldn't wait for long though, eventually, she knew she'd get hungry, and knowing the stories she'd been told, some from her parents, some from Gigi, some from books, eating food from this world would immediately seal off any chances that she had of getting home. Because that's where she was headed; despite Nanny's warnings, though kind they had been, she didn't belong here and she wasn't just going to lay down and take it, settle in and forget about her life back home, her friends, her family, no that wasn't an option.
Quietly she shoved back the covers and crept from the bed, stopping by the window to gorge her mind one more time on the expanse of the Labyrinth and the path she'd chosen to take. Below her window she could make out an entrance to the massive maze, it looked like it might have lead off into a garden space, but if she took the right turns then it'd take her exactly where she needed to go. The rest would be memory and a little bit of luck.
Leaning out of the window slightly Alice peered down to the ground below. She was too high up to manage scurrying out the window and down, she guessed maybe she was at a minimum three stories up, farther up than the roof of the Gigi and Conall's house which she had, much to Gigi's shagrin, had managed multiple times just fine. No, she'd want to be a little bit closer to the ground first before she even considered climbing out of a window, but as she remembered back down the way Nanny had brought her, no such lower windows came to mind.

Somewhere a bell tolled, bringing Alice out of her daze. She didn't have time for this, she needed to get moving, now. Taking a deep breath she made her way in the dark over to the bedroom door, and with a grounded push managed to crack the door enough to take in the hallway. Venturing her head farther out of the door, she took in her surroundings and found nothing. The hall was deserted. Perfect.

Closing the door silently behind her, Alice started on her way. Careful to walk on the balls of her feet, sure to make as little noise as possible, she made her way back down the hall and crept down the spiraling stone stairs, she came to a fork and made her way left, remembering the way the halls curved and swayed from where Nanny had brought her through. She came to a landing and stood, perplexed. The hall diverged again, but this time held a problem. Going to the right would lead her back to the throne room, a place where she was certain she'd be found out instantly; going to the left would lead her who knows where and the last thing she wanted to do was be discovered wandering throughout the castle, completely and hopelessly lost. Voices and shadows caught her attention, they made her decision for her. The left it was. She slipped around the bend just as the shadows began to shift in size as they grew closer; she didn't wait to see them however, though she did wonder what a real goblin looked like, she couldn't risk everything, just to have a look-see.

She found herself at another set of stairs, a short one, that veered off again to the left and narrowed. As she reached the point of considering turning back, Alice came upon a saving grace, a window, large enough, but most importantly close enough to see out of with ease. Leaning out she found herself directly across from the entrance to the Labyrinth that she had chosen from the bedroom window; it was a straight shot, albeit her current position was still a story up, but it could have been worse. Voices once again interrupted her thoughts; panic began to set in as the voices came from both ends of the halls, cutting off any chance of escape, well almost any chance. Hurriedly Alice glanced back out of the window, before slinging herself over the windowsill, legs dangling willy nilly for a moment before catching hold of the wall in front of her. Working her toes into the cracks of the stone bricks, Alice latched on for dear life hoping that her fingers would hold, wishing that she had taken an extra second or two to consider how exactly she was going to hang off the side of building before she had actually done it.

Yes well, you know Alice, better planning next time, because there are so many castles at home that you could have practiced on! She snipped at the absurdity of the situation in her mind as she heard the voices converge above her. Alice didn't dare look up, or even try for that matter, she was convinced that the slightest move would upset her balance and would send her crashing to the ground below in a heap, then where would she be? Well stuck here for one. Shaking her head to be rid of her own sarcastic mental remarks, Alice continued to listen to the voices above her, none sounded alarmed or hurried, it seemed that her disappearance was still unnoticed, or at least it hadn't spread far enough to cause too much trouble.

A strange sensation called Alice's attention back from the window above her to her foot on the wall. A soft tickling feeling was creeping up her leg; squinting into the dark shadow she tried to make out what it was, the moment she did, she wished she hadn't. Crawling out of the crack, across her foot and now slowly marching its way up her leg, was the largest roach Alice was sure she'd ever seen. There were few things she couldn't stand in the world, roaches being one of them, and this one appeared to be the mother of all roaches, and it was on her leg and steadily advancing. Attempting to keep calm, she let her right leg drop from the wall and gave a slight shake, hoping to dislodge the disgusting thing, all this served to do was convince it to keep moving up her leg, just faster. Alice wiggled her torso hoping that might send it back the other direction, maybe if she got it on her leg again she could smash it on the wall. But it just kept coming. Large puffs of air weren't helping either, her arms were straining under all of the extra wiggling, the urge to scream was kicking at the back of her throat, the only way this could get any worse...

Alice wasn't sure when she'd closed her eyes, maybe it was when she'd felt that first foot on her neck, it seemed like she'd been hanging under the window for a millenia, time seemed to drag on until she felt the first faint feather light touches on her cheek. She wasn't sure when she'd started holding her breath either, but her lungs were burning, set to burst any minute given the chance. Risking a glance with her left eye, Alice slowly peaked, only to be greeted by two long antennae tapping ever so lightly on her cheek.

She didn't remember falling.

She was under the window one second, on the ground the next; on the ground rubbing her face with her hands like a mad woman, rubbing them in the dirt only to bring them back to her face and scrub her skin with the grit of the earth beneath her. It had been on her face! It had touched her face! Her leg had been bearable, her stomach terrorizing, her neck torture, but her face, no, no no no no!

Alice froze, remembering where she was and what she was doing. Looking back up at the window it seemed no one had noticed her graceless decent to the ground; looking around it appeared no one had noticed her mad dance on the ground, scouring her face with grit and sand to rid her skin of the sensation of those tiny disgusting feet. All was still, no sirens, no shouting, no nothing. Taking one last hesitant glance at her surroundings, Alice bolted for the opening, legs pumping heart racing, running, one thing on her mind. Home. If she could make it to that hill, that hill marked with the dead tree, she could make it home.

Unseen eyes noticed her approach, filled with curiosity, they watched this stranger filled with ambition enter the great maze. This girl was curious, curious indeed.

The first turns and bends seemed to have passed in mere seconds, but now as Alice found herself deeper into the maze she found it harder to recall the vast number of turns that had faded into the dark that she had studied from the window. She stopped for only a moment, to let her mind riffle through the catalogued information before darting off again.

Oh how it felt to run, she hadn't run in a long time. Hadn't needed to. The rides with Willis had been enough to ease her mind, put her at rest, and give her the freedom that she had been looking for, that she had needed from the mental pressures around her. The steady pounding of the balls of her feet against the earth beneath them, the pendant Willis gave her, still hanging around her neck setting the rhythm as it thumped steadily against her chest, arms pumping, breath sweeping in and out; if it weren't for the fact that she were running for her life, she'd be enjoying this so much right now. The feeling of almost flying, of near weightlessness as she jumped over and darted around things in her path, if it weren't for the reason why she was running, she'd be savoring the feeling a little more than she was right now.

Alice slowed as she entered another clearing in the maze, letting her mind once again catch up to the rest of her, when something caught her eye. She wasn't sure what it was, a flicker of light, a soft glow, dancing just at the corner of her eye. Turning she saw it hovering maybe two, three feet away, and it was slowly being joined by others. Alice found herself advancing towards the small lights, she wasn't sure why, but she just wanted to be closer, they had to be something, lights didn't just float around in the air like that. Did they?

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." A voice shot through the haze in her mind bringing her back to the here and now. Pivoting, Alice found before her a small girl, smiling up at her, but there was something about this little girl's eyes though.

"Who are you?"

"I wouldn't mess with them if I were you." She repeated pointing over Alice's shoulder, towards the lights. "Nasty little things, on a good day they'll just lead off the wrong way, on a bad day, well let's just say it's not pretty. Of course, that all depends on if you're a runner or not." Alice felt the hairs stand up on the back of her neck as the girl cut her sly eyes towards her.

"And you and I both know you're not."

"You're going to tell aren't you?" Alice managed after swallowing hard. It couldn't be that all of her hard work would be for nothing? This would be where she'd be turned back, this is where she'd be stopped and made to return, to be trapped here forever?

The girl said nothing, simply gave a sly smile, before turning on her heel and taking off.

"Wait! Come back!" Maybe later if she looked back on it she might have thought, like most, that running off after a strange child was a foolhardy idea, but there was just something about this sly little thing, that had stopped for but a moment to keep her from who knows what.

"Wait! I just want to know- Wait!" No matter how much Alice called after her the girl didn't cease. How is she running so fast? A question that kept coming up as the girl managed to stay just out of reach of Alice. Every turn, once Alice rounded a corner she would just barely catch a glimpse of the girl heading around another, giggling all the while. She couldn't have been more than seven or eight, at least that's what she looked, how were her little legs keeping her so far out of reach? For a moment the thought occurred to her that the girl maybe leading her off somewhere, like the lights had tried to, maybe somewhere worse, but with every twist and turn she found herself trying harder and harder still to keep pace with the elusive little tyke.

Finally Alice's lungs could bear it no more, they burned and ached, awaking the sensation of fatigue in the rest of her limbs; she had to stop, if for just a moment, she needed to stop and catch her breath. Hands on her knees, she sucked in air trying to calm herself, her whole body was shaking, a low growl cut out from her stomach, when was it when she'd last eaten? 8? 9? What time was it now? Standing up, her hands still shaking, Alice took in her surroundings and found herself on what appeared, to be the edge of a wooded space of the Labyrinth, massive trees standing like silent sentries, impending, looming over her and everything else around her. To her back, the stoney moss covered walls that she had just run through, farther back still, the castle beyond the Goblin city, so distant now, almost like a bad dream.

"You're not too far now." The voice came again, and Alice turned, to find the girl standing beside her, watching her with those peculiar eyes. The girl shifted from foot to foot, not with any urgency but with that childlike inability to hold absolutely still.

"Straight on through the woods, stick to the path, it will lead you to the hill that will take you home."

"Thank you... Why did you-"

"You should get going." The girl stated, turning her odd gaze to the goblin castle. Her stare seemed more distant though, as if she were looking at the goings on within the castle walls as opposed to just the castle itself.

"He's just discovered you missing, and he's not too pleased." She added with a mischievous grin. Alice began to question how this child could possibly know, when a great rumbling shook the whole Labyrinth, upsetting the very ground where she stood as well as her confidence, to its very core. Birds awoken from their nighttime beds scattered into the sky, and she could hear the light scurrying of smaller animals as they dove for safety. Alice didn't wait to see if the girl was alright, she didn't wait for the ground to stop, her adrenaline spiked and she turned, bolting into the forest daring not to cast a glance back, fear growing at what might appear there.

The child watched her as she went, disappearing amongst the dark wood, a grin plastered on her face all the while.

"Well well well, this is going to be fun indeed."

Run.

It was all she could think to do. Feet pounding, heart racing, run. It wasn't the same as before, no, now panic had overwhelmed her very being, panic laced with fear. And it was throwing her off. Her arms swatted madly at low branches that took swipes at her face and grabbed at her hair. Her feet seemed to find every hole or upturned root, she'd fallen twice already and had lost count of how many times she'd stumbled in her frantic attempt to escape the sense of impending dread bearing down on her. She didn't dare stop. Catching her breath wasn't important anymore, she could breath when she'd found the tree, when she was home.

By something that could only be considered great luck, Alice skidded to an abrupt halt just before her mad run sent her over a perilously steep decline. The sound of her heartbeat was crashing in her ears, as small rocks loosened by her bare feet tumbled down the hillside. But her frantic gaze found what she was looking for; not far off in the distance over a few remaining walls, some last twists and turns, sat a cluster of sweeping hills, one in particular caped with a large dead tree. Alice had never thought in her life that the sight of some dead tree would have threatened to bring tears to her eyes. But low and behold she could feel them welling up as she stood there.

Another monstrous quake shook the ground, this time far more violent than the one before. Her feet flew out from under her, sending her end over tea kettle down the side of the vast hill. Scraped and bruised at the bottom, Alice struggled to her feet, attempting to make heads and tails of everything, yet another terrifying tremor set her scrambling for the nearest walls. Forgetting, ignoring everything; her bruises, her cuts, the sharp pain shooting through her right leg every time her foot hit the ground and the slight limp that it gave her. All that was on her mind was the tree. As the ground below her feet changed from the dirt of the forest floor to the hard paved stone road, as trees melted into stone walls, all that was going through her mind was the tree.

If I can get to the tree I can go home. If I can just get to the tree I can go home.

The phrase became a sort of crazed mantra that repeated in her mind as she ran, desperate for her end goal.

Get through the maze, get to the tree, and I can go home.

The last turn melted away and she came to a massive gate. Under any other circumstances she never would have thought she could possibly move those massive doors, but at the moment she didn't care. Throwing her whole being behind the push, she grounded her feet and forced her sore and tired muscles into action, pressing with all of her might against the gates, her mind still holding tight to one thought that kept her going.

Through the gate, to the tree, and I can go home.

The gate finally gave way, creaking in protest as it opened, flooding the space behind her with rays of light. She wasn't sure when the sun had come up, she had been so determined, was still so determined, that she hadn't realized just how long she'd been running. None of that mattered however, when scanning the horizon had brought into sight, at her right, the dead tree not too far away.

Alice made a run for it. There was nothing but open ground between her and the salvation that lone tree was bound to give. Nothing to hide behind, nothing to duck under, nothing to hide her from view; she couldn't be more exposed, but she didn't care. The dread still snapping at her heals, that horrible feeling of what might be over her shoulder, these were the things that egged her on, these things and one more.

If I can make it to the tree I can go home.

If I can just touch the tree I can go home.

I just need to touch the tree.

The earnestness of her thoughts helped her close the gap, the sheer fact that she had made it, that in just mere moments she would be back home, back in her room, back with her friends, her family, everyone. That in just an instant all that had happened tonight after the dance, would just fade away into nothing, like a bad dream. Her hand was outstretched, her fingers yearning for the wonderfully rough sensation of bark pressed against them, the tree so achingly close; maybe it was a trick of the mind, she could almost see what appeared to be a swirling shape begin to open as her outstretched fingers came closer, a blurry image of home within. One thought and one thought only was running through her mind, If I can just touch the tree, if I can just touch the tree, if I can just touch the tree.

A sharp pain shot through her left wrist. Why? She was so close! She could see the individual nuances of the bark on the tree, the image in the swirl appeared to be sharpening in clarity. No. Why? She'd stopped moving, abruptly, she knew this and yet, and yet she couldn't bare to turn around. Turning around would make things real and she couldn't bare that yet. She couldn't bare to let the last breaths of hope die.

"Alice." The sound of her name sent a bolt up her spine, and the last vestiges of adrenaline fired through her being.

Turning, she came eye to eye with the Goblin King. His icy gaze, dark, dangerous, but most importantly warning. He held her wrist as if it had been simply nothing to capture it, much like a cat having snatched up some small unfortunate creature. She could almost hear his voice in her mind, telling her to give up this farce; but that wasn't going to happen. She wasn't ready to let go yet.

"Let go." it came softly first, and when the grip around her wrist threatened to tighten even more, it exploded out of her, "Let go!"

Putting all of her weight into it, Alice pulled back, in an attempt to free her hand, but the vice grip held fast, clamping down even harder. Gasping at the pain, Alice tried to free her hand again to no avail. Without any warning however, the grip vanished, her hand was free; with not a moments hesitation she turned grasping for the tree, when she felt something collide with her torso, just below her ribs. Looking down, stone bricks came into view, quickly other ones began appearing at random intervals all around her.

No. Alice made one last desperate lunge for the tree, but her fingers were barely able to even brush it.

"No!" The swirling portal before her blinked shut, disappearing with a sound much like a sigh. The tree sped away from her as more of the stone bricks descended all around and beneath her. The massive trees of the forest swept by below her feet, becoming a green blur, next came the vast twists and turns of the stone walls zipping off into the distance, all the way back to the entrance she had run through after she'd fallen from the window, and then up. Up, up, up she went, the land dropped below her at a terrifying speed, like traumatizing elevator ride, until everything came to an abrupt stop. She could have turned around if she had cared enough to, but she already knew what would be there, and she wasn't ready for that.

It had all been for nothing.

All of that hope, all of that effort, it had all been for nothing. She'd been so close, so close to home, to Gigi, and it had all been snatched away, in the blink of an eye, it was all gone, taken, and there was nothing she could do about it. Fat tears began rolling down the sides of her face. A choked sob wracked its way out of her chest, as her body shook, as the feeling of defeat began to overwhelm her. She'd been so close. So, so close. Her legs couldn't hold her weight any longer, all of the strain they'd been through that night, they simply collapsed underneath her now. Her tired body sagged to the floor, she couldn't bare to look out the window any longer, the view only served to mock her. The sobs came harder, the taste of salt more prevalent as some of the tears that journeyed down her face found their way into her mouth. The scrapes and bruises, the tired limbs, the cuts, the hoping and wishing, it had all been for nothing.

Jareth watched, silently from the center of the room. He watched as she sagged to the floor and her shoulders shook with the violence of her sobbing. And his face showed nothing and he felt nothing. He felt no compassion, no sympathy, nothing, towards the girl before him. His temper had exploded when he'd discovered she'd managed to sneak out of the castle, and worse still when he'd realized just how deep into the Labyrinth she had gone before being detected. He looked on, hearing her cries, his mind elsewhere, thoughts tangled up in a certain one's meddlings he'd have to contend with.

"You." His presence had finally been noticed, the grey eyes on the other side of the room burning with an anger that threatened to break loose any moment.

"You. You!" her rapid advance was easily halted, a wrist in each of his hands, keeping her clawing fingers at a safe distance.

"I think we've established that I am the subject matter here. Care to continue your sentence?"

That was it.

The final straw had broken; tonight she'd endured so much, and his mocking tone was the last thing that she'd needed. Pure rage emanated from her very being, and the blaze in her eyes erupted into a roaring inferno as she fought harder to actually grab hold of the being that stood before her.

"You bastard! I hate you!" Alice finally spat, glaring at the Goblin King. "What did I ever do to you? I want to go home, send me home! Do it! NOW!"

"A wish is a wish. Whether you like it or not, that's what it is." Jareth replied, his words cold and sharp, as he pushed her back as if she weighed nothing, sending Alice stumbling back into the corner of the bed.

"Wish!? I didn't make any wish! I never asked for this, for any of it! Send me back!"

"It doesn't matter, you godmother did, what's said is said-"

"Stop saying that!"

"What would you prefer me say then, hmm?" his mocking tone was back as he advanced, stalking ever closer, his cold eyes locked on hers, until only a breath separated them.

"Would you prefer something sweeter, perhaps? You pricked your finger and fell asleep?"

"Stop it."

"That this is all just a dream and you'll wake up soon?"

"Stop it!"

"Find yourself all tucked in to your bed, 'safe and sound', with your adoring godmother waiting for you?"

"STOP IT!" it felt as if her scream shook the entire room, but all this did was push Jareth's temper close to the tipping point once more this night. His eyes narrowed as they bored into hers.

"I have warned you once about your tone this night, I have been gracious-"

"Gracious? Gracious?!" She laughed, her tone just as mocking as his. "You call this gracious? You brought me here against my will and then you go and blame it on someone else! You're nothing but a liar!" At that moment Alice felt a hand clamp around her upper arm; the Goblin King pulled her closer, to where there was no space left at all. Though her mind was racing in a panic at what could happen next, at this distance she couldn't help but notice, his eyes didn't match.

"You want to behave as though you're a prisoner?" the words slipped over his lips in such a manner that they sent a chill up and down Alice's spine, rippling her skin with goosebumps.

"Then a prisoner you'll be." Jareth shoved her away from him once more. Alice tumbled backwards, expecting to once again collide with the bed, only to feel herself continuing to fall until her back hit the wall. Glancing about the room, she watched as each piece of furniture disappeared into a sweeping cloud of smoke, as a strange wind filled the room. Gone were the dressers, wardrobe, vanity, and bed; swept up were the curtains and rugs, until nothing was left. The window shrank into just a fraction of it's size and moved higher up the wall, as the room itself began to shrink. Then just as abruptly as everything started, it ceased, the only sound to be heard was Alice's unsteady breathing.

Finally her eyes found Jareth. He stood, just as menacingly as he'd been a moment before by the door, the air about him dark and terrible.

"Welcome to your new accommodations. Sleep well, Alice." Was all he said before the door flung open, and in one fluid motion, he took one step back over the threshold, the door slamming shut before starting to shrink.

"No!" Alice charged forward but by the time she reached the door it was gone completely. Surrounded by bare stone walls, and barely any light, Alice dragged her tired body to the farthest corner from the door; sliding down the wall, Alice pulled her legs up to her chest and resting her head on her knees. Fresh tears began to well up, this time falling silently as the sun crawled higher into the sky over the Goblin Kingdom.

And that is it ladies and gentlemen, the end of the most recent chapter! INTENSE! Thank you again to all of those who have been reading, commenting, favoriting, and following! I really appreciate it! Thanks again everyone!