I would like to point out first, that I do not own the Labyrinth or even The Lion, the witch, and the Wardrobe. If I did I would be rich and famous, and I am neither of those things. Second I also want to say that I was a bit nervous writing this. I promise I am not trying to steal anyone else's idea if someone else has written this already. I'm not going to include any other characters in this story from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe because this is Labyrinth fanfiction. This is not a cross-over and it's not going to have much in common with the book. I also don't own any of these characters.
Please enjoy! :)
The Goblin King, the Labyrinth, and the Wardrobe
The shop keepers bell chimed an entry of a small curious family, instantly alerting an old woman at the back of the small antique store. The old woman limped her way to the front desk, carrying all of her weight on a cane that looked to be as ancient as herself. Her long silver hair was stringy, and her clothes resembled that of a gypsies. She looked at the customers and squinted through her small glasses. The family wore curious expression as they explored the dusty antique shop.
A young woman with the family caught her eye. The girl looked out of place next to the others with dark hair and a pale complexion, as the rest of the family had either light brown or blonde hair. Her eyes looked around in wonder at all the shiny objects, and occasionally she would reach towards them and pick them up, inspecting them. The dark-haired girl had an eager look as she spotted an object upon one of the many wooden shelves along the walls of the building.
The young woman eventually made her way to the front desk and smiled kindly.
"Are you looking for something, darling?" The old woman said, and the young girl nodded.
"Actually, yes. I just moved into an apartment complex down the road, and I was looking for a furniture store nearby. Do you know of any?" She clasped her hands in front of her politely.
"Ah," The old woman looked up in thought, "Yes, which apartment complex did you move into?"
"I, uh, it's called Reflection Apartments."
"Yes, darling if you took the main road a furniture store should be just down the street. You most likely passed it on your way here."
"Oh," The girl smiled sheepishly, "Yeah, I don't really know my way around this part of town."
The old woman smiled politely.
"Sarah!" A young boyish voice called from the back of the store, "Look what I found!"
"Excuse me one second." The girl said before turning and making her way towards the young voice.
Leaning against her cane, the old woman curiously made her way towards the young boy's voice as well. There should not be anything at the back of the store, she hadn't had any other shipments besides what was in the front. Slowly, she made her way through the shelves filled with random objects and came upon the girl and her family standing at the end of the store.
The objects at the back of the store were dusty and there was not much clutter. Usually, the donated stuff is stored at the back before a place can be cleared for it. But the old woman knew that they hadn't gotten any newly donated objects for quite a while, hence why the only things there were usually just random dusty objects that no one had ever deemed interesting.
A young boy stood out among the family. He looked to be around ten or eleven, and he smiled brightly at the dark-haired young girl. The ancient woman could only assume that they were siblings. Two people stood beside him, most likely his parents. Between them, a large wardrobe stood, that seem to look as if it was placed with the intention of grabbing your focus. It stood tall and beautiful, and the young boy next to it had his hands gesturing towards it proudly.
"Check it out, Sarah! It will go perfectly with your new bedroom set!" He beamed, obviously happy to have all the attention on him. The old woman frowned, she did not remember ever getting that item in her store, but her memory has not been so great recently.
"I don't know Toby, it looks too big…" Sarah said staring at the large wardrobe that seemed to almost tower over them.
"Oh, Sarah, this thing must be a century old at least!" A light-haired woman said in excitement as she motioned towards the wardrobe. The woman bore no resemblance to Sarah, but was probably old enough to be her mother.
"I sure does look like it has a history," The man next to woman said. "Sarah, if you want it, we could get it for you. We told you we would help you with getting all set up."
This must be the father, the ancient woman thought, but she remained in contemplative silence. She could have sworn she had never seen that wardrobe in the back of the store until today. Surely, she would have remembered a donation as large as that. She smirked as the image of a man hauling the large wardrobe into her store without her knowing entered her mind.
"How much is it?" Sarah turned and startled the old woman out of her quizzical thoughts. She hadn't thought that the family had sensed her presence since they had not acknowledged her until now.
"This old thing?" The old woman questioned, and she limped her way to the wardrobe. It was a beauty, wood carvings and dark cherry wood, but it had countless chippings and cracks on it to signal it's age. "I'd say a hundred."
"Really?" Sarah asked, incredulously.
"Bah," the old woman scoffed, "This thing is taking too much room as it is. It's most likely as ancient as I am. Consider it a welcome gift."
"Oh, man. Thank you so much!" The young girls face lighted up. The old woman smiled, and laugh lines on her face became prominent.
"It sure was loved by somebody…" Sarah said to herself as she pressed her fingers over the chippings in the dark wood of the wardrobe. She liked to imagine that it had a huge adventurous history. Maybe it had seen joy-filled days of romance or forbidden love, it's owners had passed it on through generations to each of their loved children, or even had been a safe hiding spot during a dark time.
She stood in an empty room, the only piece of furniture that currently occupied it was the large wardrobe. Luckily, it hadn't taken up as much room as she had thought that it would, but it was large enough to fit around three people inside with room for standing.
"Sarah," Karen entered the room looking worn out, flyaway hairs stood out of her tight updo. "Could you entertain your brother for a few hours while Richard and I help the movers with your stuff?"
"Yeah, sure." Sarah replied, hearing the young boy's countless questions sounding from the other room.
"Thank god. Richard gave him way too much candy on the way here, and he's practically bouncing off walls. We tried to put him to work, but he would not stay on task." Karen gave Sarah a wary smile, the secret desperation in her eyes noticeable by Sarah.
"I got him." Sarah smiled, she knew how to keep him off their hands. She had been babysitting him, after all, for around ten years.
There was a snickering coming from the hallway bathroom...
The young woman stopped in curiosity, before she quietly turned to face the closed door. Her face showed confusion for a second, brows furrowing, then she gave a mischievous smirk in recognition.
Opening the door slowly to not alert the intruder, Sarah walked cautiously into the white, small and bare bathroom. The door creaked slightly as she slowly pushed it open, and Sarah scrunched her eyes closed hoping the sound had not warned the snickering creature to her presence. The creature, however, continued it's chortling, completely unaware.
The dark-haired woman walked on her tip-toes to the drawn shower curtain. The curtain was shaking slightly, as if whatever was behind it was trying to control it's movements, but it was failing miserably. A slight shadow from behind the curtain showed the creature slightly hunched over. Sarah smirked with a knowing smile that said, I've got you now.
She casually reached her hand out to the shower curtain and grabbed onto it with a fierce grip.
Whatever was behind the curtain seemed to sense this movement, and the shadow tensed. It ceased it's snickering in anticipation and it's movements went still. All was quiet, the clutter-less bathroom seemed to wait in silence for the next moment.
Sarah drew in a deep breath, gathering her courage. She bit her lip, and her grip on the curtain increased as she made up her mind. If she was going to do this; she was going to do this right.
Her knuckles began to whiten, and with all her strength she flung it open with as much speed she could muster.
"Found you!" Sarah roared as the shower curtain flung open, exposing the tiny creature.
"Aw, man. I was doing so well." It whined with obvious disappointment in it's voice.
"Yeah, if you count snickering loudly the whole time you're hiding as 'doing well'" Sarah teased, raising a dark eyebrow.
The creature itself was not quite a creature, but a tiny human boy. The young boy only came up to Sarah's chest, had a head full of bright blonde hair and was currently sticking his tongue out at Sarah. She rolled her eyes dramatically.
"It's your turn to hide now, Sarah!" He yelled excitedly, and Sarah covered her ears quickly as the empty bathroom walls echoed.
"Alright, alright. Calm down Tobes. 10 seconds, right?" She asked, suddenly becoming as excited as the young boy.
"Right," He squeezed his blue eyes closed, " Ready? Ten-"
Sarah bolted out the bathroom door, running through the apartment and scanning where to hide next. She had already hidden in a few empty boxes, as well as the pantry and behind the couch. He was sure to find her there if she tried to again. She looked around the living room, and politely stepped out of the way of a mover man setting down a large box that was titled 'Bedroom Closet'. Then she remembered, the wardrobe.
"Six, five-" Toby's voice carried on from inside the echoing bathroom.
She ran as fast as she could into the empty master bedroom and flung open the wardrobe doors. Never should someone say that the William's family doesn't take Hide and Seek seriously. Sarah jumped inside and swung the doors closed. She calmed her breathing and peered through the space between the wardrobe doors.
"Ready or not, here I come!" Toby's voice called from the hallway bathroom.
Five minutes later Sarah was beginning to believe Toby had given up, but then her bedroom door swung open. Through the space between the wardrobe doors, Sarah looked at Toby quietly as he gazed proudly upon the wardrobe, no doubt he was already gloating in the fact that he had found her. As he hurriedly made his way across the room Sarah backed up in slight panic, and in her haste she fell backwards, but was met with no wall.
She was shocked to find that instead of the back of the wardrobe catching her fall, she continued falling backwards until she lay on the ground.
"Ouch." She groaned and realized during her fall she had closed her eyes. When she opened them she was greeted with an unexpected sight. There is a sky above me, Sarah noticed first. Then she noticed that dust was floating in the air from where she had landed, and she looked around at where she lay. Sitting up, she saw the back-end of the wardrobe in front of her, but the back wall was absent and she could see inside it. Sarah looked around and noted that she was on top of a hill, and a lone tree stood next to her. It was a familiar sight, but for a split second she could not pin-point why.
She stood up, and waited for her legs to steady, for they suddenly seemed weak. When they steadied, she looked up and gasped. She stared in awe and slight terror at the familiar sight. It was the Labyrinth.
She was in the Labyrinth.
This idea suddenly came to me a few weeks ago, and I decided to finally start writing. Tell me what you think about it? Constructive criticism is appreciated, just no plain rude comments. Thanks for reading. :)