DISCLAIMER - I don't own Sarah or Jareth or the Labyrinth (unfortunately) they belong to Jim Henson & Co, and I'm definitely not making a profit from this
All other NPC's are a figment of my own imagination.
It was once more dark when Sarah awoke, with a slow burning anger nestled against her heart. He was being ridiculous, worse he was being stubborn. She had so many questions she wanted to ask him, so many things she wanted to say and yet he seemed to deliberately avoid her, even going so far as to leave his own kingdom.
"Foolish." She muttered as she put on a robe and tied her hair out of her face. Her sketchbook was nowhere to be seen, though her pencils lay on the dresser in an even line. What she really needed, was a map. Hoggle had told her it wasn't possible, but she knew somewhere Jareth would have one or more. He seemed to hold a fascination of all sorts of curiosities relating to his Labyrinth she had discovered on her exploration of the castle, so the thought of him not possessing maps of his kingdom seemed silly. Even if they only showed the basic outline of the Labyrinth rather than its fickle pathways.
Muttering to herself she took a lamp and trudged through the hallways and down the grand staircase, not seeing any trace of her sketchbook on the way past where she had fainted before. She put the nagging unease in her heart out of her mind, walking on through the castle til she reached the large set of carved doors she had firmly closed the first day she had come exploring. Taking a deep breath she opened them once more and headed into the gloom of the library.
Automatically she noted that things had been moved. His glasses were gone, along with the empty bottle of wine and glass, though the book remained, abandoned. She picked it up, curious to know what had held his attention and was disappointed to find it was written in a language she couldn't even recognise. She began her search at the far end of the chaotic shelving, looking for rolled documents or anything hanging in the dusty, dirty frames on the walls for anything that remotely looked like a map. She didn't know how long she spent searching, she did know how many times she had hit her head, dropped books on her feet and scratched her legs on protruding objects in the clutter along the way though.
Anyetta found her crawling around on the floor picking up scattered leaves from a binder that had disintegrated in her hands.
"What on.."
"Don't ask." Sarah replied frowning.
"You look like you just survived a hurricane."
"I feel like that too." Sarah groused clambering to her feet and placing the papers back on a pile.
"What are you looking for?"
"A map."
"A map?" It was Anyetta's turn to frown.
"Of the Labyrinth. I need a map."
"Well you won't find one in here."
"So there is a map then."
"There is, but I won't tell you where it is. He would kill me, and I'm already walking a rather fine line letting you loose in the castle."
Sarah sighed, trying to dust herself off to no avail.
"So it is in his study then. In the east wing."
"I didn't say that!" Anyetta yelped shaking her hands in dismay and denial. "Sarah, please don't try going up there. You will find yourself in an Oubliette for the rest of your life."
"We'll see." She replied stubbornly, despite the fact that the thought of venturing into the one part of the castle she had never been, into his own domain made her really rather nervous.
"Come, it is really late, you must rest." Anyetta said drawing Sarah from the library, using her magic as she did so to remove the dust and stains from Sarah's dress and face. Sarah allowed herself to be distracted, following Anyetta meekly back to her rooms, saying goodnight as the fay woman walked away down the corridor. She stayed in her rooms only as long as it took her to use the loo and wash her hands. Her mind was churning and she hoped talking to Hoggle and Tilly would help.
She threw her silk robe over her shorts and top and smiled as she saw a new sketchbook on the dresser alongside her pencils. She picked them up and made her way back through the silent castle into the garden. It took her a few moments to reorient herself as she stepped out from the doorway into the rose scented paths, noticing as she did so the roses began to glow more as she walked by them, lighting her way.
In the center where the large comfortable summer lounger sat surrounded by sweet smelling roses, and draped with a large comforter Sarah took some time to light some of the candles and lamps she had "borrowed" from around the castle to light the area enough so she could sit and sketch, waiting for Hoggle and Tilly.
The images came unbidden to her hand as soon as she placed her pencil on the first page of the new sketchbook, goblins and small creatures took shape without a moments thought, images of the Labyrinth in its high summer swathe of gold and copper colours and deep umbers and greens ranged their way across the crisp pages taking her back to what now seemed fond memories. The ballroom scene floated across her mind like one of his crystal balls, and the feeling of loss and bewilderment as she had forgotten everything came back to her with a sharp intake of breath. Was that how he felt now? His memories gone, confusion and anger with the emptiness. Her brain stopped the movements of her hand as her pencil stilled on the page. Screeching to an almighty halt as she found herself facing an undeniable truth that she should have seen a long time ago.
"He doesn't know, but I do." She whispered to herself in horror.
"Doesn't know what?" Hoggle asked stumping around the corner with a frown on his face that vanished as Sarah swooped on him and hugged him tightly.
"Everything!" Sarah exclaimed. "Thats the problem! Thats the answer that I've been staring at but not seeing for so long!"
"You're making no sense." Hoggle sighed pushing her back to the lounger to sit down. He climbed onto a stool and watched her thoughtfully.
"No, it all makes sense! Like the door guards, one telling the truth and one lying. I see now. All of it Hoggle. God I'm so stupid!" Sarah groaned holding her head in her hands.
"Wheres Tilly?" She asked after a moment looking back up at Hoggle.
"Gone." Hoggle said abruptly.
"Gone? What do you mean gone?"
"To her family. Shes scared Sarah. Gave me the key to the door and left. She said she was sorry, and hoped that you could make everything better. We're all scared." He added looking sad.
"Hoggle, I promise I can fix this, and I know how. Or at least I think I do. I've been so stupid, do you see?"
"I don't see and I wish you'd explain."
"All my life, I've been waiting for him. I haven't even realised it, but I have. I always wanted to be the princess rescued by the dashing prince. The harshly treated stepdaughter rescued by a king. The stupid stupid adult looking for love in all the wrong places, waiting for him, and I don't know why but its always been him,.." She paused in her explanation then shook her head. "But this time, I won't find him standing on my balcony staring at me with those eyes of his. I won't find him in the Labyrinth, because he doesn't know. He doesn't know any of my dreams, or any of his dreams, or any of the memories that I have of the Labyrinth. Hes lost, without a way back. Like when I ate the peach." She sighed and wrung her hands together in agitation as she stood up and paced the green lawn under the arbour.
"I've always been waiting to be rescued, like now. Even now I am still waiting for him to come and rescue me from this. So its me who is the idiot. I have to stop being the victim, the powerless one and fight for what I want for a change. I have to take control…" She stopped mid stride and looked up at the castle in the darkness.
"I have to read that letter, and find that bloody map." She frowned and resumed her pacing.
"You're not thinking of trying to get into his study are you? If he finds you he will kill you or worse."
"Whats worse than being dead?"
"Being alive and smelling like the bog." Hoggle said pointedly.
"He can't bog me if the bog doesn't currently exist." Sarah said sticking her tongue out at him.
"No kissing me to find out if thats true or not." Hoggle muttered as she laughed for the first time in a while.
"Can you wait for me?"
"You're going to go up there now?"
"I've run out of time Hoggle, its now or never. You will wait for me, won't you?" She turned and knelt before her friend showing him the scar and threads of red leading to her heart.
"Haven't I always?"
"You have, thank you." She hugged him tightly. "Then I just need to find out what it is I have to fix." She frowned again.
"I usually find going back to the beginning to the first thing I broke helps." Hoggle said shrugging and climbing down from his stool.
"The first thing I broke.." Sarah whispered. "...or the most important thing I broke…" She clapped her hands together in excitement.
"Hoggle you are genius, and I love you dearly! I will be back as soon as I can, then I need you to take me to a place in the Labyrinth."
"What?! I ain't takin you nowhere, you know what happened last time." He shouted after her as she ran away towards the castle.
Her heart and hand were throbbing in time with each other by the time she had run back through the castle towards the entrance to the east wing. She had no idea where his study would be, but she suspected higher up. The first rooms she checked were all as disused and dusty as the ones elsewhere in the castle so she dismissed them and started up a more frequently used passage to another stairwell. Up and up she climbed not seeing any other passages or levels or doors to check until she reached what could only be the top most stories of the easternmost tower. She paused to catch her wheezing breath and looked up to find Anyetta staring down at her, furious.
"I told you not to come up here. You have broken your promise to me."
"I have to, don't you see? I have to read his letter, I have to have that map Anyetta, and you have to help me, because he can't save us this time." Sarah said in earnest.
"What? I won't, I would be betraying him. You go back to your rooms right this instant."
"No. I can't do that." They stared at each other defiantly.
"You know I am right. I need your help, to save the Labyrinth, to save him. Don't you see?"
"I don't see, and if they find out I have helped you…"
"They?" Sarahs sharp question startled Anyetta.
"Nothing, it doesn't matter."
"It does matter, who are THEY?" Sarah said walking up the last few stairs to stand in front of the fey woman who looked frightened for the first time.
"It doesn't matter, its nothing you need to concern yourself over. I'm sorry Sarah, but I can't help you."
"Then please step aside so I can try and fix this." Sarah held Anyetta's gaze, watching as a small war happened in the fey womans mind before she finally sighed and stood back, allowing Sarah to pass.
"If you love the Labyrinth, and if you love him, then you will help me. Where is his study?" Sarah asked once more as she paused to look back at Anyetta.
"Last room on the right." Anyetta whispered not turning to look back as she walked away down the stairs. Sarah sighed heavily, feeling her heart jump uneasily as she turned and strode down the curved corridor. Reaching the doorway she expected the door to be locked, yet the handle turned easily in her grasp and the door swung open without a sound. She stopped on the threshold, her eyes slowly adjusting to the gloom.
She had to admit, here more than anywhere in the castle she felt his presence, even though he wasn't there. She walked slowly across the room to open the heavy drapes at one of the windows to let in some light then turned and approached his desk. It was neat and orderly, with no sign of the chaos that occurred in other rooms of the castle. It reflected his personality she mused, sitting down reverently in his chair, touching the age darkened surface of the large desk, when his own hands must have rested many times previously.
There was no sign of the letter as she looked over the few piles of papers which meant it was either in a draw, or he had destroyed it, but somehow she knew he would not have done. She found it eventually, in the bottom draw underneath her missing sketchpad. She placed the sketchpad to one side and sat staring at the envelope. It was rumpled as though it had been handled frequently, but as she examined the seal, it was unbroken.
Instinctively she knew once she broke the seal he would know, and the last place she wanted to have any kind of confrontation with him was in his own domain, there was however one place she knew existed in the Labyrinth that was not created from his imagination, but her own, as long as Hoggle could take her there.
She twisted in the chair to look around the room, searching for the telltale sign of a frame or a roll of paper, finally realising it was hidden behind a drape. She stood up and pulled the drape away to reveal a most magnificent, and ancient map. It was faded and seemed to have been drawn onto some sort of pale parchment so that there were rough discoloured areas here and there. It was scored in the top corners and hung on two large metal hooks, making it easy for her to take it down from the wall and roll it up, it was delicate and slightly cumbersome as it had a habit of folding in on itself in the middle as she held onto it, but she gritted her teeth and rolled the tube tight with the belt from her dressing gown to give it some stability and fashioned a strap across her shoulder. It smelt something rather like the bog making her wrinkle her nose in distaste.
She picked the sketchbook up from the desk and slipped the letter inside then hurried back down the stairs, the rolled map banging against her back with each step.
It was the third time she found herself facing a blank empty wall where a corridor should have been that she realised the castle was somehow conspiring against her. She growled in frustration and turned back the way she had come, anger starting to bubble to the surface. She stopped short around the next corner as she stood and faced the old woman whom she had first met.
"You think you are so clever girl, but you aren't."
"Go away. I don't care who you are, you won't stop me." Sarah said as the old woman laughed. Once again in that moment Sarah noticed that the woman cast no shadow.
"What makes you think I can't stop you little mortal?"
"Because you have no power over me." Sarah didn't really expect those words to have any effect, but something flickered in those dark eyes that made her wonder, and so she took a step closer to her.
"I will find him, and I will return his memories to him if its the last thing I do. You won't stop me, because you can't. I've seen through you, and now your glamour has no effect on me. Trying to change the castle, and confuse me is pointless, because the Labyrinth itself knows I am here to save it and it will help me if I ask, I am its Champion am I not?" She paused, her heart hammering in her chest for the first time believing what Jareth had told her.
"Foolish foolish child, Champion or not. You think I am alone?"
"No, but you can tell your sisters what I have told you. This is the last time you will interfere, and the last time you will try to control Anyetta. She is loyal to him. As am I, to my dying breath and beyond, and if you haven't realised that by now…" Sarah left the statement hanging as she held her breath and walked straight through the shade. She strode on down the corridor and down another set of stairs, the castle righting itself around her.
I apologize about how long its taken me to get these final chapters out, life and other things have a bad habit of getting in the way! As usual, none of these new chapters have been beta read, so all mistakes are my own! Also, the formatting is all messed up (thanks ) Lastly, thank you to everyone who has commented and faved etc over the last however many ridiculous amount of months its been for me to finish this! They are all appreciated!