Whoohoo!
Next chapter out already! It's a record! I'm home sick!
X.X
I discovered there were about a bajillion typos in the last chapter, so, oops, I'm sorry, but too lazy to re-upload the damn thing so, use your imaginations people! You know how it's really supposed to be! Figure it out!
And as for the whole blank page at the end (my sister notified me of that ^^;) my computer just does that. Even if I get rid of the blank at the end, it does it anyway.
Enjoy.
****
Sarah approached the outer wall of the Labyrinth and started to walk around the edge, looking for a door. After about five minutes she sat down and began to pout.
"Why does nothing work out for me? Why??" she smashed the wall behind her in frustration. The wall behind her fell in with a loud band and a cloud of dust.
"Oh... that worked out okay..." Sarah looked in through the opening she'd made. "I guess it's safe. Ha. As safe as the Labyrinth can be." she walked in through the entrance cautiously and when she'd decided nothing was going to fall from above or give away from below she began to walk.
"It's just like the other Labyrinth. This pathway doesn't end. But wait! In the book, she just walked through the wall! Sarah turned to face the wall and grinned in triumph.
"Ha! See Garred! This isn't that hard!" She walked into the wall, and bruising both knees, fell backwards on her butt onto the ground only to discover the wall had indeed been solid. Garred's laughter floated through the corridor.
"Okay! I get the point! It's not the same!" Sarah picked herself up and brushed the dirt off of her pyjama pants. "That laugh is really staring to get annoying." she grumbled to herself. "I guess I have no other option but to walk." She continued down the never-ending corridor. All of a sudden, a large red blur flew past her making her hair fly into her face and her loose pyjamas flap in the wind it had caused. Then a slower blue blur flew past her. She saw that these blurs were connected to the wall.
"What the-" another even slower yellow blur flew past, slow enough this time that she could see that it had been a door.
"Yes!" she cried "Now I just have to catch one!"
The doors had been getting slower by progression. She waited in a ready stance until a green door flew by. She grabbed the handle and held on for dear life. The door dragged her around the corner on her heels and back the way she'd come. She realized the door was locked, and it wasn't really taking her anywhere except back to where she'd started.
"Oh no." she said to herself as she passed her entrance to the Labyrinth, but the door kept going, and it was speeding up. The bottom of her slippers were near ruined from being dragged through the rubble on the floor. Then, as suddenly as the door had come by, it stopped sending her flying onto a rather wet and mouldy log. She stood up and saw that the green door had stopped next to the other doors she'd seen earlier. A purple door appeared and thunked into place next to the others which was followed by an orange door. She waited a few minutes, but no more doors came. She wiped off her slime covered pants and tried her best to compose herself.
"You could have at least let me get dressed!" there was no laughter this time. "Hmm. I guess Garred has better things to be doing then watch me." still no answer.
"Okay, he's gone. Now which door? There's no pattern to this at all!" she opened the red door, there was nothing but brick behind it.
"Oh crap. Please let these things lead somewhere!" she opened the yellow door, just more mouldy brick. She opened all the doors in succession, but there was just wall.
"Things aren't always what they seem, right? Maybe I'm not opening them right, like I didn't ask the right questions, I'm just not opening the right doors." Then she saw the connection. "Yes! Now I get it!"
She opened the red door, then the blue door, and when she opened the purple door, it was indeed and open door leading to what seemed a giant hedge maze.
"In your face Garred!!" she walked through the door, and then discovered that there was no ground beneath her, and fell.
****
"Oh come Garred, that was hardly necessary."
"Father, leave me alone. She's mine to play with."
"Yes, of course." Jareth walked away from his son who was gazing intently into a crystal. Jareth walked over to Granny Sarah who was sitting in a chair with her arms crossed, glaring at Jareth.
"You remember me, don't you Sarah?"
"How can I forget? You kidnapped my brother and sent me through an awful Labyrinth. Then, then I destroyed you Jareth, do you remember that?" Jareth's eyes clouded over.
"How can I forget?" There was a momentary silence.
"How is it you haven't changed Jareth? You look the same as the last time I saw you."
"I was wondering when you would ask that. My son granted me some of my old powers. But they are nothing close to being what they were before. I have my old appearance, but I'm just as old as you are, most likely older. How would you like that Sarah? To be young again?" Jareth swept a hand over Sarah, and as he held up a mirror she saw that she looked exactly as she had when she was fifteen. She ran her hand through her long brown hair in amazement.
"I... it's..." Her face suddenly returned to Granny Sarah's. Jareth threw the mirror across the room. It hit the ground and shattered into a million pieces before evaporating.
"But I'll not grant you that." he said venomously. "If you had said yes to me, so many things could have been different. You could have been young forever." Sarah sat it shock, playing with the end of her brittle grey hair. Then she regained her composure.
"If I had to redo that day, I would do the same thing that I did last time. My brother was worth it. I don't know why you've pulled my Granddaughter into all this, but please, just let her go." Jareth smiled and adjusted his black cape on his shoulders.
"I have had no hand in this. Revenge is sweet, but none of this was my idea." he pointed over to his son. "He's quite smitten by your little Sarah. He'll do everything in his power to make her his forever." She watched Garred gaze into the crystal with a look of utter adoration on his face.
"Did you ever care for me that way Jareth?"
"Once, but I began to lose interest in you as the Labyrinth went on. You had better hope that Garred does not lose interest in your little Sarah. He's not as lenient I was." The previous Goblin King smiled as he walked back over to Garred to watch the crystal.
"My, my." he whispered to his son as he watched the younger Sarah pound the walls of the oubliette and swear. "You've chosen quite a little fighter. I believe her temper is what may do her in though."
Tears welled up in Granny Sarah's eyes as she watched her Granddaughter fight for her life.
"Perhaps I should pay her a visit soon." Garred picked up his crystal and left the room in a great rush of blood-red cloak.
"Now Sarah, you can only imagine what he's going to do to her. Maybe it's more dangerous if he doesn't lose interest in her." he mused, and then left Granny Sarah alone with her thoughts.
****
"There's got to be some way out of here, that just how it works. There's always a way out, it's just usually well hidden, that's all." Sarah had been searching the walls, floor and even the ceiling of this small darkened room for a way out for what seemed like ages.
"That's it!!" she yelled kicking the wall. "I can't stand this stupid shitty place! It's too God damned hard!! It was easier for my Grandma! It isn't-"
"Fair?" a voice behind her asked. Sarah turned around to face Garred who stood in black pants and a blood-red cloak with a raised collar, making him seem the epitome of the dangers of the Labyrinth. "I really am getting tired of hearing that Sarah. What's the matter? You can't find you way out of my oubliette?"
"No," she answered through clenched teeth. "I can't." He walked closer to her and brushed a stray strand of brown hair away from her deep brown eyes.
"Or is it that you just won't?"
"I can't!" she yelled, backing away from the Goblin King. "It's all so stupid! As soon as I think I'm getting somewhere, I find myself stuck in a hole in the ground!"
"What else is wrong?" he asked sincerely. Sarah raised her eyebrows at the King so high they threatened to disappear into her hairline completely. She frowned again.
"Why should you care? You're the one who stuck me here! I mean, just look at me! I'm covered in mould and dirt, and... and hell! I'm wearing only my pyjamas!"
"Do all the people from your world complain and swear as much as you?" Sarah reddened.
"Probably not." she mumbled. "Now can you just leave me alone so I can get to the castle and get-" Sarah looked around to see she was back in the open air, out of the oubliette, and Garred was gone. "-my Gramma back?" she finished belatedly. She looked down to see herself wearing a pair of baggy black jeans, black running shoes and a blood-red tank top. "Oh great," she muttered "now we're colour coordinated." she cringed. "But I won't complain, because anything is better then what I was wearing before." Sarah spotted the Goblin City in the distance. "I'm on my way Gramma."
Sarah marched towards the castle for what seemed like hours, but she didn't seem to be getting any closer at all. She scanned the horizon for the castle which seemed to be going farther away at each step she took. She turned around to look behind, and bumped straight into a black haired guy that looked about her age. She screamed in surprise and then fell over backwards.
"Here. Let me help you up." The boy reached down and pulled Sarah up by the wrists who was still kind of shocked that there were others in the Labyrinth.
"Are you from, Earth?" she asked. The boy stared at her like what she said made no sense.
"Where else would I be from if I'm stuck in this stupid place? I'm actually from jolly old England." he spoke dryly. "Why are you here?"
"That's what I was going to ask you." The boy blushed.
"It's really rather stupid actually. I was reading Labyrinth and mocking the Goblin King. Then he actually showed up and I dared him to take me to the Labyrinth and let me solve it because it looked so simple. So he did. Not too long ago, I was almost there, and there was this huge crash, and then I was almost back at the beginning again. How about you?"
"I asked the King to take me here. He kind of likes me." The boy stared in disbelief and slapped his palm to his forehead.
"Oy. And I thought I was in a load of trouble. Do you have thirteen hours?"
"Yeah. You?"
"I did, though I shouldn't have much time left now. But the last clock after the crash told me that I have most of my time back. It must be because you showed up."
"Guess so. My name's Sarah. So what's yours?"
"Gus," he shook her hand. "Nice to meet you. We'd better get going though, we'll be out of time before we know it." Sarah started to walk towards the castle, the way she'd been going before she'd run into Gus.
"Don't go that way, it'll get you nowhere." Gus pointed to a castle on the opposite horizon. "That's the one we need to go to." Sarah started off after Gus, but then stopped.
"How can I trust you? I just met you. You could be some goblin in disguise for all I know."
"Maybe I am." Sarah stopped walking.
"Why would you even say that if you want to gain my trust?"
"Keep your knickers on girl. I was only joking. Come on, let's go."
"I don't know." He turned to face her.
"You're so pathetic. Don't you want company at all? Two heads are better then one Sarah."
"Yeah, but, you could be Garred in disguise!"
"Didn't you say the fellow fancies you? Wouldn't I be all coming on to you if I was him?"
"I guess so, maybe."
"Now let's go, the clock is ticking." Sarah paused, but then decided it might be best to have some company.
"Alright. I'll go with you."
"Good." he said aloud, but then whispered to himself so that Sarah couldn't hear,
"If that Goblin King chap is fond of her, this could make my trip to the castle a lot easier."
Garred watched from the topmost branches of a great oak as the two companions walked beneath him.
"If you get too close boy, I'll make sure you never reach the castle alive."
****
"We're going in circles Gus. We've gone past that set of bronze doors three times now."
"I told you, they're not the same doors."
"Yes they are, watch." Sarah pulled out a branch of a nearby hedge and jammed it between the doors. When she reached into the hedge, it had reopened one of her cuts from the owl.
"You're bleeding Sarah." said Gus with some concern in his voice. Sarah eyed him suspiciously.
"I know. Now walk with me." They walked completely straight until they came to a set of bronze doors with a branch jammed in between. "See?"
"Alright. So they're the same doors."
"Why don't we go into them?"
"Last time I went into those, there was a crowd of little goblins with nippers. They chased me for I don't know how long." Sarah sighed.
"Yes, but everything has changed, and besides, you can see the castle clearly from beyond those doors. We can't go back, because our entrance has disappeared." Gus swayed from side to side slightly, contemplating.
"Alright." he threw open the large bronze doors. There was an open space with several more doors at the end.
"See? No nippers." she announced triumphantly.
"Yeah, yeah." Gus strode over to the doors and was about to open one when Sarah stopped him.
"You idiot! You don't just open doors in this place! Look, there's even inscriptions on them."
The door Gus had almost opened read 'As the world falls'.
"I'm betting that's the Goblin ball. That's just wasted time."
The second door read. simply, 'Smell'.
"That has to be the bog. There's no way in hell I'm going in there."
The third read 'Asking the right questions'.
"That's going to be the very beginning of the Labyrinth.
The fourth read 'Everything I've done'.
"That's going to be the castle." She opened the door. "Come on Gus." As the door closed behind them, the dust fell away from the inscription that had been above all four doors:
Let last be first and first be last and the two centre be opposite themselves.
"I'll see you soon Sarah." a voice whispered on the breeze.
****
Sarah walked into a grand room with silken tapestries hanging from the walls. All around were people laughing and dancing to soft music in goblin masks. She was now wearing a long flowing gown that shone between deep red and black in the light. Her long brown hair was piled on top of her head in curls and held back with a black glimmering tiara set with a single ruby.
"Gus? Where are you?" she called halfheartedly. "Who's Gus?" she wondered to herself.
She wandered through the crowds not really caring where she went. "Where am I?" she backed into a stranger and looked up to meet his piercing blue eyes. He was wearing a red tailcoat and black pants, and high polished black boots.
"Will you dance Sarah?" she took his hands and just stared at him, trying to remember who he was. 'His arms feel so familiar' she thought 'but why?'
"Oh, so my name is Sarah. I know you from somewhere, don't I?" the stranger smiled.
"No, I don't think so. Sarah, do you believe in love at first site?"
"I've heard that one so many times." The stranger laughed as they waltzed around the dance floor. "I do believe though." she gazed adoringly into his bright blue eyes.
"Then kiss me Sarah." Sarah leaned in and kissed the stranger until she had to break away for air. 'Why does it all seem so familiar?' she wondered.
"Who are you?"
"What if Jareth had a son?" she frowned.
"Why does that name seem so familiar? Why does everything seem so familiar to me? Do you know who Gus is?"
"You're always full of questions, aren't you?"
"Why do you answer my questions with questions?"
"How can you speak in answers when you don't know them all?" he whispered in her ear. Her opened wide as she remembered everything.
"Damn you Garred!" he smiled devilishly.
"Ah, welcome back Sarah." She pulled away from the Goblin King ran, looking for Gus.
"Gus! Where are you?" She found Gus dancing with a woman who had long red hair.
"Why hullo young lady." he said in a faraway voice. "Look! It's Charlene! I haven't seen her since, since, a long time you know." Sarah pulled Gus away from the woman. "No need to be jealous. If you wanted to dance, you should have just said so." Sarah looked around wildly for a way out. She saw a door at the far end of the room and pulled Gus along by the wrist.
"What are you doing? Are you mad? We can't leave! This place is perfect! I won't leave Charlene!" Sarah pointed to the clock on the wall that read eleven.
"Two hours you idiot!!" A veil seemed to lift from Gus's eyes.
"What the bloody hell?! Why am I all dressed up? Why are you holding my wrist? We only have to hours left!" Gus led the way to the door and flung it wide. All the lights in the place went out and people started screaming as they walked into the black. Sarah turned back for a moment to see Garred with a sad look on his face.
"Don't you believe Sarah?" he called to her through the open door.
Sarah turned away and slammed the door behind her.
"Yes..." she whispered to herself. "I do..."
****
That's all for this chapter folks.
Please don't hate me and hunt me down and shoot me!!
Steph in the distance: NYAAAAAAAAAAH?!
The next chapter should be out pretty soon, I realized that even though I can't upload the next chapter until Monday, I still might find time to work on it while camping.
Again, thanks for reading, thanks for the reviews, please review this chapter too.
Next chapter, Sarah reaches the Goblin city. Is Gus as trustworthy as he seems?
Maybe...
Heh heh heh.
~Planeswalker