Chapter One:
The Past is in the Past
It was the beginning of summer at the Williams household, and although the sun shone altogether too brightly and grass had begun to turn brown from the lack of rain, there were still trees outside and a shaded porch to sit upon. An aging sheepdog waited patiently under the tree, brown eyes searching the surrounding areas for a sign of his humans' return. At the slightest sign of danger, he was prepared to bark and let whoever it was- mailman or passing by pedestrian alike- that he meant business when it came to protecting his home.
"Cannnnn you feelll, the loveee tonightttt~" The crooning off-key voice of Sarah's father had her just about in stitches as they drove her back from the airport.
"No- dad please-" Sarah gasped out between laughs and pressing a button on the car's radio to change the station.
"Awe come on Sarah, Toby loves that song." Her father chuckled good naturedly as yet another love song came on the radio.
"It's only because he loves Lion King. I got him the poster for his birthday." Sarah smiled fiddling with the radio again, changing the music to Don't Turn Around and causing her to shake her head as her father started to sing again.
"Don't turn around 'cause you're gonna see my heart brea-"
"No." Sarah said switching it again. She bit her lip and glanced to her dad, "You'd think that people would've had enough of silly love songs."
"I look around me and I see it isn't so~" Her dad crooned with a grin and she just giggled. "Why don't you just put in that tape?" Her dad said nodding to the cassette player in her lap, causing Sarah to grin and pop it out and into the player suddenly blasting the voice of David Bowie through the car mid-song.
"-like Dolphins, like dolphins could swim.." Sarah sings along and causing her dad to chuckle.
"Oh so you can sing to the radio but I can't?" He asked teasingly and she just grinned.
The bird was in the tree again, a great tawny owl he had been unable to run off with his 'ferocious' barking and snapping as he had with the other neighborhood cats and pigeons alike, but that didn't matter at that particular moment. He knew the owl was not like the other animals in the neighborhood, but then again neither was he. He was a war veteran—and an infamous one at that. More than once he had run off during battle, but he had never ever failed to protect who he was assigned to protect. By running and hiding however, he had cause those he was protecting to follow him to safety and the blow to his honorable name was always worth it.
The collar around his neck itched with sweat and the electricity of an oncoming lightning storm. The tag named him Merlin, a fine name as far as he was concerned, but not quite as fine as his true one, the name he only allowed the use of in the Underground. The familiar sound of a car came down the street and his ears perked as he saw it. Karen opened the front door with a squeak that he wished they would oil and suddenly the bony hug of a growing boy squished him as the car pulled into the driveway.
"Be careful Toby, you'll squish him." Sarah said getting out of the car, although giving the dog just as much of a squeeze as he had. Eight years had passed since she had last been whisked away to the underground, and she had graduated high school and traveled to college to become a theater major—with a minor in fantasy literature. She had her own apartment in New York, yes, but it was Toby's birthday this week and she had flown out to visit him and her dad.
And Karen.
It was a shame they had never managed to get onto better terms with each other really, but with an 'overactive imagination like Sarah's' it simply 'isn't healthy' and 'causes Toby to have bad dreams'. This was untrue of course; when she asked Toby about the nightmares, he always described them with an air of awe and wonder she knew that were in fact, dreams. And he wasn't the only one with the dreams about a castle and maze, about crystals and music and laughter. The staircases that did not obey the laws of physics. Chickens and goblins and owls.
No, Karen was not able to stay on good terms with Sarah with that dangerous 'imagination'.
But this week Sarah was determined not to let that small fact effect the week ahead; she was here for Toby. She unlatched the leash to free Merlin from the overheating yard and went inside with her bag and Toby holding her hand. The house hadn't really changed at all.
Well, there were more toys about, toys for a nine-year old, and a few of the things that had gotten hidden away in her closet eight years ago had made a reappearance. Making her way to the stairs, she almost stepped on her old desk labyrinth. She shook her head tiptoeing her way to safety.
"Now Toby I thought I asked you to pick up your toys a half hour ago." Came Karen's chastising voice, and Toby hung his head, still scratching under Merlin's chin absentmindedly.
"Sorry momma." Toby sulked, almost looking truly sorry. Sarah smiled slightly, knowing he just wanted to get help putting them away if not managing to not put them away at all. She walked over and knelt next to him.
"I'll help you put them away then we can go and play with them in my room, alright?" Sarah bargained, causing the young boy to grin, and she noted Karen's grateful smile as she headed back into the kitchen, where Sarah could smell something delicious cooking. They cleaned up the mess and headed upstairs with the box of toys, Toby chatting excitedly about a story he very much wanted to play out with the bears.
Mostly clean of knick-knacks and toys, Sarah's room was the most changed in the house. All her old dress up costumes she had donated to her high school drama department as a parting gift. Most of her personal things were in New York now as well, but a small black box sat on the old vanity with no card or other such decorations. She dismissed it for the time being, and went to her closet to retrieve the bears that Toby had been talking about. There was a knock on the doorframe to which both Toby and Sarah replied, 'come in', still engrossed in the story being slowly enfolded.
"You forgot this in the car." Sarah's father said, holding up a they had listened to in the car. "I rewound it for you."
"Thank you dad." Sarah smiled, standing and retrieving the music-giving device that had allowed her to lose herself on the plane ride over. Her father simply waved a hand, as if to say 'it's nothing' and tousled Toby's hair before heading back downstairs, and she could hear him singing 'Can You Feel the Love Tonight' again and heard the giggles of Karen from the kitchen which made her smile a bit. She popped the tape back into her walkman and held up one head phone to her ear, hearing the smooth voice of David Bowie come through.
"Though nothing, nothing will keep us together,
We can beat them, forever and ever..."
She pressed the stop button again and set it on her vanity along with the black box to resume play with Toby until dinner came, tawny owl residing outside the window still watching; waiting.
"I don't see what's wrong with peaches. You used to love peaches when you were a little girl." Karen said to Sarah the next afternoon as she rolled out a ball of pie crust on the floured counter. Sarah was reluctantly peeling and cutting peaches and apples for pies.
"I had a bad experience with a bad peach when I was fifteen remember." Sarah huffed causing a frown from Karen. Every time she'd tried to eat a peach or anything peach flavored, it always took her back to the Labyrinth, and memories of him. The Crystal Ballroom and that beautiful dress. But it had all been a trick to make her lose time, she could've lost Toby. It was the guilt that kept her from eating peaches really, the kind that made her stomach turn and nauseate with the stress of that guilt.
"Yes, a worm or something. But these are fine. Not all peaches are bad." Karen rationalized putting the crust in a pie tin. Sarah got down two bowls to mix up the pie fillings in. "Toby specifically asked for a peach pie instead of a cake this year."
"Well that's great but I just don't like them." Sarah replied, ending the discussion. She put the peaches in one bowl and the apples in the other then got out brown sugar, cinnamon, and butter. Karen rolled out the other ball of dough.
"Can you please help with watching the boys tonight?" Karen asked coolly, changing the topic of discussion. "We have seven coming over and four of them are spending the night." Sarah sighed.
"Yes. Fine, I will help with the boys." She replied bringing over the bowls of pie filling. They situated the cut up fruits in the pie crusts and then topped them, lattice crust for the apple and a plain crust with shapes cut out from a cookie cutter for the peach. She put a pie bird into each, not so much for functionality purposes but rather for appearances.
They placed the pies into the oven.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR TOBY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!"
Toby grinned blowing out the nine candles that Sarah had stuck into the peach pie, and seven other eight and nine year old boys started chattering, some singing the extra 'and many more on channel four, roller skates on channel eight', one or two doing the classic 'you look like a monkey, and you smell like one too'. All things she could remember as a classic part of her childhood experience. Times may have changed, but little kids sure hadn't.
Well, maybe not little kids. Toby came up to her shoulder now, and she was sure that with his parent's height he'd at least match her if not surpass her in height in just a few years. For just a moment though she could remember him as he was when he was a baby, before she decided that she wasn't going to let her selfishness get in the way of her protecting him. He was positively beaming, getting the first slice of pie along with some ice cream. The boisterousness of the party stilled as the boys ate rather than talked. Sarah got up with her dad to retrieve presents.
"Looks like he has enough presents to have all his dreams come true." Her father joked, causing Sarah to look at him oddly for his strange choice of words before he went off to Toby to try to get in his 'pinch to grow an inch' that she could remember he'd always do when they were little.
"I've brought you a gift." He'd said.
"What is it?"
"It's a crystal; nothing more."
Sarah shook her head slightly, trying to think about something else. Think about how excited Toby will be to play with his new toys with his friends.
"But if you turn it this way, and look into it, it will show you your dreams."
They brought over the gifts for Toby just as the pie and ice cream were finished up. Karen and her father had gotten him a new bike. He'd also gotten a Walkman like she had and some tapes, a board game, a few video games, a new baseball mitt and ball, and several action figures and comics. Sarah gave a copy of Labyrinth along with his poster from Lion King. She wasn't sure why, but she felt like he deserved to know about it.
Karen gave a slight disapproving look, but it softened when Toby turned ecstatic. Plays weren't exactly the ideal gift for a nine rambunctious nine year old boy with a wild imagination, but he was happy.
After a while three of the boys left while Toby and the remaining four played with his new and old toys in the backyard, making up stories and playing catch alike. Sarah sat on the back porch and kept an eye on them. She read over the play she wanted to audition for when she got back to New York, listening to her tapes with one half of the headphones moved off of her ear so she could still hear the boys somewhat. After five years of living in New York, she'd learned to multitask and weed out what sounds were important and what weren't.
David Bowie came on again, the same song as earlier. His voice seemed familiar but she couldn't place where she'd heard it before. To her, he was a faceless singer, a name and music. She'd never actually seen what he looked like, and if she had she'd know exactly who he reminded her of.
"I, I will be king.
And you, you will be queen."
She jumped as a stray throw sent the baseball her way, knocking the script out of her hands and the eerie familiarity of the words from her thoughts. Just love me, do as I say and I will be your slave. Toby ran over and said a quick 'sorry' before going back to his friends.
If she had been fifteen still, she probably would've said 'it's not fair' that she had to watch them. But, it was fair. She understood that now. When she was in high school, most of the day Karen had to deal with Toby and everything it took to run a household during the day, and deal with a fifteen year old girl who was still grieving a distant mother and dealing with puberty to boot. To be honest, considering she wasn't going out with friends or on dates, she would've probably been hanging out with Toby even if Karen and her dad stayed home.
She'd grown up, and after the Labyrinth she didn't mind taking care of Toby at all.
"Goodnight Sarah." Toby said hugging her. He and his friends were staying in the living room tonight so they'd have space to sleep.
"Goodnight." Sarah said ruffling his hair. She smiled as he went to lay down and went upstairs to her room, sitting down at her vanity after changing into pajamas. She brushed out her hair and looked at the box again, humming.
She set down the hairbrush and took off the lid of the box. There was a sort of fine dark blue material with specks of silver wrapped around an object. As she picked it up she saw a note at the bottom of the box, reading simply; 'Sorry to be late for your birthday.' The object was surprising light, as though it were made of air, but it had a definite weight in a way that was unexplainable.
She furrowed her eyebrows and unwrapped the object to reveal a crystal ball, causing her eyes to go big. It was exactly like the one the Goblin King had offered her nearly eight years ago.
"This is not a gift for an ordinary girl."
She bit her lip and looked into the crystal, surprised at what she saw. Looking into the crystal, Sarah was surprised to find that she did not see her dreams. But then again, that wasn't true. She could vaguely remember what she saw and recognized them as dreams, but the dreams of a child, when she was only five or six years old.
She was looking at the Castle Beyond the Goblin City.
But not as it was when she last saw it; things seemed brighter and happier, albeit covered with a film of confusion. Coming into focus, she saw someone whom she hadn't spoken with in a few years; her mother. Yes, it was definitely her mother, with dark brown waves very much like her own, but she was so much younger. These weren't her dreams, were they?
"Why am I seeing this?" Sarah wondered aloud, just above a whisper. Outside the window, thunder rolled like a timpani of the gods, causing her to jump and look outside just in time to see a flash of lightning across the sky bringing a soft rain shower along with it. Was it an answer to her question? No, that's silly to think about she rationalized. I'm thinking too much like an English Major, trying to make the weather become a part of my own personal horror story.
That had been something that always bothered Sarah- the fact that her life seemed altogether too much like it was being written rather than lived. Her parent's divorce, her father's remarriage, the Labyrinth, her becoming a moderately successful actress and working towards directing. Everything made it seem like she was going through back-story rather than life. She was undergoing character development. And this crystal was just the icing on the cake. Or the ice cream on the peach pie... She would get a crystal when she'd just given her last reminder of that night to her brother, like something bigger making sure that she didn't forget about the Labyrinth yet.
It wasn't done with her yet.
Going over to sit on her bed, Sarah held the crystal up to the light of the window, trying to decide what exactly it was she was seeing. Thunder rolled once more and she focused on her mother and the Labyrinth. Questions filled her mind and for a moment she hoped that perhaps she could see into her mother's mind, discover why she was in the Labyrinth... Why she had left them.
There had to be a reason.
Lightning struck and the crystal lit up, sending her into a daydream much as the peach had so many years ago, but so very different the before and placing herself inside the memories of her mother.
August 7th, 1977.
Monday.
3;00pm.
The William's Household.
Linda Williams was having a very bad, rotten, stressful day.
It had begun with her six year old calling home at two in the morning from a friend's house because she was scared of the lightning storm that had raged outside. The rain had drenched the entire neighborhood, and when Sarah went outside that morning to run in puddles, Linda had slipped in the grass and become covered in mud.
Her husband had been called into work on his day off, and because she had Sarah to look after, Linda had been unable to go to an audition and lost a chance at much needed work, and her agent flaked on her again.
But this was the absolute worst part of the day.
Sarah had begged that she read her The Labyrinth again. She had read it countless times and over the past few weeks it had just made her more and more annoyed, reading of goblins and princes when she knew that in reality, you never got the prince.
Just the goblin.
Well, that wasn't completely true. But it was a sad fact that Linda had to admit that she had fallen out of love with her husband almost completely. and maybe that was part of what had set her off; the stress of monotony had just become too much.
As Sarah asked her questions and interrupted and tried to come up with songs for the play, Linda had snapped.
"Sometimes I wish the goblins would come and take you away, Right now."
The words had been meant to be powerless, taken right out of the play. But when Sarah's eyes went big and scared, and the thunder began again abruptly, Linda took her eyes from her daughter for perhaps a second as the windows blew open to reveal a large hawk as she screamed in alarm.
She had wished her daughter away and the only way to get her back was to run the Labyrinth.
Sarah's view shifted, she was her mother, she was herself as a child, she was laying on her old bed crystal in hand.
In the throne room in the Castle Beyond the Goblin City.
Sarah cried in fear for her mother. It was her biggest dream and worst nightmare, to be taken into the Castle and to be surrounded by goblins and mean fairies and most threatening of all, the Goblin King himself. But, a soothing voice sung to her calmly, and after a few minutes of realizing that she was not being harmed, Sarah calmed down enough to look up at the man who sang so softly to her. The first thing that registered to her was that he was old.
His face was lined faintly and had soft creases when he smiled to the little girl who sat with him. His hair had once been ebony, with the sheen of a raven's wing reflecting blue and purple and green as the light hit it, and she could've sworn that she saw one or two feathers poked into the long tendrils that escaped a short braid. His face was lightly bearded and framed with ears that held a slight point. Silver had begun to slip through around his hairline and ears, but with a crown of braided silver matching the hair it made him look all the more regal. His eyes were a deep blue. The same blue as Jareth's.
"What is your name, child?" He questioned after a moment,
"Sarah Williams." Sarah replied after a moment, stumbling over her last name a bit. He nodded thoughtfully, and waved his hand to magic a crystal into existence. Sarah cooed in awe, amazed at the display. An image of her mother running through the maze appeared before her,
"Your mother has more passion than most others have that run my Labyrinth." He stated thoughtfully. "She may win the Labyrinth after all. It would be a good time for her to do so quickly, as other matters are becoming more pressing." He had added the last part mostly to himself. For some reason Sarah was struck with the consideration that maybe those who traversed the Labyrinth gave it power.
Sarah looked up at him confused. "What's your name?" she asked shyly. Her curious nature had never wavered even in the face of danger.
"My name is Ezequiel." The Goblin King said, and before she could try to mispronounce his name he continued, "I am the Goblin King. However, you may call me Zee."
Sarah nodded, having the ability to pronounce one syllable much easier than many so confusing as Ezequiel, A goblin entered, running through with a moderate sized staff that was decorated with jewels, Sarah realized that Zee held one of the same general make. A young boy, perhaps twelve years old in appearance ran in after the goblin, shouting for him to return it in an attempt to be menacing, Zee chuckled slightly as the boy with white blond hair tackled the goblin to the ground to get back the staff.
"Jareth. Be careful." Zee stated solemnly to the boy, causing him to jump slightly and look to the Goblin King and the young Sarah sitting with him. He went over to the pair and murmured a 'sorry' before getting distracted by the crystal in the King's hand.
"Is there someone running?" He asked, dusting off and straightening his clothing.
"Yes. A good one." Zee replied looking into the crystal once more.
"Good."
In the tunnel of arms and hands. Linda.
"Up or Down?"
It was a very simple question and Linda needed to answer before they changed their minds. If they had minds that is; they were after all many many hands in a tunnel. How many seemingly simple questions had she answered throughout her life?
Will you marry me? Are you really quitting your job to become an actress? Are you going to keep the baby? Do you want a trim or a full cut? Do you trust me?
Yes. Yes. Yes. Just a trim. Yes, I do.
When she looked back on all of her choices she wondered why she had answered as she did, always a snap judgement with almost no thought involved. And since this morning she had been asked so many more...
Did she want her daughter back and safe? Of course! Up or down?
Down didn't seem like a good idea. It was dark and she was almost completely sure that there wasn't any light. It simply didn't feel like a good way to go. The hands holding her shoulders hurt, her whole weight being held in a few painful places on her body. She knew what was up. And maybe that was what she always chose. What was familiar.
Will you marry me? Yes, I know you well. Are you going to keep the baby? Yes, it is mine. My flesh and blood. How can I not? Do you want a trim or a full cut? Just a trim, it's what I'm used to. Do you trust me? Of course I do, I know you. She believed she always chose what was familiar.
But... Are you really quitting your job to become an actress? Yes.
It hadn't been something she'd done since high school but she knew that she had always loved it so, so much. It was unfamiliar and different, and one of the best things to happen to her. She had excelled until she had to be home for Sarah. And yes... that was pretty darn great too, even if she did get on her nerves.
Up or down? Up was familiar. Down was terrifying.
"Down." She said finally as the impatient hands passed her down deep into the darkness. It was a strange darkness, not made of shadows or color. It wasn't black it was just... nothing. But even as this realization of falling into nothingness hit her she realized that the darkness was retreating as her feet hit firmly on the ground.
Maybe that was the key to the Labyrinth. Choose what isn't familiar. Take risks.
Something in Sarah made her heart ache for her mother. She felt as though she had found something she had been missing for a long time.
Within the hour she reached the castle. All too easy wasn't it? But the joy of seeing her daughter safe again filled her to the point that she didn't care that it didn't make any sense.
Ezequiel discreetly sent them home, back to happiness. Sarah hugged her father but all the memories of the day faded into bedtime stories that had never been told.
The next day, Linda took the path that had been scaring her before. She left.
That must be the reason. Sarah could tell that her mother had found an answer to a question she didn't know she had been asking, and suddenly she was looking through the mismatched eyes of a young boy with spiky hair.
"Why did it end so suddenly?" A young Jareth asked Ezequiel.
"Her choices- they changed from scared of the unknown to brave." Ezequiel said slowly. He looked to his son. "Once they realize that they need to choose a new path, a new perspective, that is when the path becomes clearer than ever."
"It doesn't make any sense!" Jareth complained. "The darkness... is it gone for now?"
"It is never gone. It hides in shadows and under beds. It is within the pages of the books we forget to read, underneath the objects that lay forgotten. It preys on co-dependence and fear. Which is why the runners are so important."
"And what if they lose?" Jareth asked quietly. "Isn't it more fun for us to win?"
"There are no winners of our Labyrinth, Jareth. If it were a maze and we had a race... then there would be winners. But our Labyrinth is special, and when it looks into the heart and soul of a runner it creates one path that they must travel through in order to learn. Do you understand?" Ezequiel questioned smiling slightly.
"No." Jareth said in a somewhat bored tone. "If it creates the path why do we help sometimes?"
"It is the role we must play to help them the most, and we must stick to our script as necessary." Ezequiel assured.
"But- what if we don't want to act like that- what if it-"
"That is how we find our caretakers Jareth." Ezequiel cut him off. "When we don't know how to act because the Labyrinth stops telling us, that is how we know that they have power here."
Sarah sat up suddenly, giving her head a rush. "What?" she asked quietly aloud, looking around to see herself. Was it a dream?
Merlin was scratching on the door to get in and she got up to let him. Peeking out the window all signs of the storm from before had disappeared. The crystal was nowhere to be seen, and though her logic screamed at her to ignore the previous visions she warily pulled her blanket over herself after getting into bed.
Merlin jumped up on the bed and Sarah smiled a bit, wondering what advice he might give her if only he could speak.
"I guess I just had a strange dream Merlin." She said softly. "Goodnight."
Internally Merlin sighed, knowing that her experience would leave her disoriented. He could see the crystal on the floor under her bed when he came in, knowing she would probably discover it in the morning. He could sense a change coming, and wondered vaguely how the rest of their friends were handling the increasing shadows back home.
Sarah grabbed her music played and turned it on, closing her eyes and trying her best to disappear into the music. As she fell asleep the song she couldn't get out of her head came on once more just as the batteries died, and Merlin's ears perked up hearing it faintly.
"We could be heroes... just for one day."
He hoped the words of the human's song could be true.