I'm sooooo sorry it took so long to get this out.
I feel awful :(
I also feel as though nobody's gonna want to read this...
Oh well...
For those of you who stuck around, Thank-You!!
****
Sarah and Gus shielded their eyes as they stumbled into the open air and bright sunlight.
"Thank God that's over." breathed Gus. "Hey Sarah, thanks a lot for helping me out in there. I really did think it was Charlene."
"Who's Charlene anyway?" Gus's cheeks coloured slightly.
"Oh, she's a girl I really liked back home. I asked her on a date once, she turned me down in front of all my friends." Gus scratched the back of his head. "Really rather embarrassing when you think about it. I'm not even sure why I'm telling you this, I guess I like you." There was a bit of an awkward silence. "As a friend I mean." he added belatedly. "Well, um, we'd better get going, we have quite a bit of distance to cover, and not nearly enough time to cover it in."
****
Garred stalked back into his throne room and sat down with a scowl on his face. He withdrew a crystal from within the folds of his cloak and gazed into it intently. Granny Sarah took this as a good sign.
"She's getting much too close." Garred growled to his Father. Jareth walked over and glanced into the crystal.
"If she's getting too close," remarked Jareth with a wave of a black gloved hand, "then simply send her back to the beginning."
"But-" began Granny Sarah.
"Yes I know." snapped Garred. "That's not fair. That's not what I meant anyway. She's getting far too close to that Gus. She was concerned about him at the Goblin Ball."
"She was at the Goblin Ball?" asked Sarah in concern.
"Yes she was." Garred smirked. "She kissed me too, but that has nothing to do with anything. She was worried for the boy Gus when she couldn't even remember her own name."
"She kissed you?" shrieked Sarah.
"Yes she did. Now stay out of it and stop interrupting me!"
"Excuse me! She's my Granddaughter and I deserve to know what's happening to her." Garred grinned. "Fine then. I'll tell you. She found her way to the Goblin Ball by failing to solve a simple riddle. Then she danced with me, told me she loved me and kissed me. Quite passionately I might add." Garred winked at Sarah, who stared in shock. "Then she ran away and took the Gus boy with her. Then she told me she loved me again."
"But she was under the influence of the ball! She wouldn't have kissed you otherwise, let alone told you she loved you." Garred chuckled mirthlessly.
"Ah Sarah. The funny part is, you're wrong. She may have been under the influence the first time she told me, but not the second."
"But... that's not..." Garred flew from the room in a rush of black cloak.
"I'm going to go do something about that Gus boy."
****
"Oh Sarah, Sarah…" whispered Jareth as he walked behind the chair where Granny Sarah sat. "Sarah, Sarah, my little Sarah."
"What is it Jareth?" she asked in an icy tone. Mischief danced in his mismatched eyes.
"Will you dance with me Sarah?"
"What? No! I will not dance with you Jareth."
Sarah looked up from her crossed arms to see people dancing all around her. She looked in a large crystal mirror next to her to see she was wearing a very familiar dress with puffed sleeves, covered in sequins. The mirror distorted her features slightly, but she could see clearly enough to see she was young again.
"Jareth…" she spoke weakly. "Why are you torturing me?" A pair of hands on her shoulders surprised you.
"Because I enjoy it." He whispered in her ear. No sooner had she turned around, he'd disappeared.
"I'll not play this scene out again!" she protested, sitting down in the middle of the dance floor. The dancers evaporated in wisps of smoke leaving her sitting back in the chair in her old clothes again.
"You're no fun luv." She was startled again. Jareth was now kneeling to her left. She looked away.
"Do you think I want to be here? In case you do not know, the answer is No, Jareth. I want to go home with my Granddaughter. I wish this awful place would just be destroyed forever."
"There is a way to destroy it you know." He said, now leaning against a doorframe on the other side of the great hall.
"How then, Oh great one, would I do so?" she scoffed. He walked away through the door.
"All you have to do," he whispered in her ear, "is open this." He dangled a delicate black bottle decorated with silver filigree and white jewels in front of her face. She looked back, trying to see the door he'd come through, but there was none. She made a grab for the bottle but Jareth pulled it back away. Granny Sarah got up.
"Give it to me." She said in a determined voice. "Right now." Jareth chuckled.
"If only you'd been so willing the first time you came here." Sarah blushed.
"You know what I mean Jareth. Give me the bottle."
"I should warn you, inside this bottle is Itsumademo-Kage. Once it is unleashed it will consume everything and everyone in the realm of Labyrinth until there is nothing left. Starting with this room and me and you."
"Give me the bottle."
"How can you be so sure that your little Sarah will escape the shadow's wrath?"
"If your son loves her, he'll save her." Jareth laughed.
"Are you really willing to forfeit both your and your Granddaughter's lives on a guess?"
"I- well-" Sarah took a deep breath. "I know she loves him too. Why else would she have followed him this far?"
Jareth stared deep into Sarah's determined eyes.
"The Labyrinth has destroyed to many lives. Had we met under different circumstance, Sarah, would you have cared for me?"
"Yes..." she whispered. Sarah looked down at her hands. The wrinkles were gone. "Jareth...?"
"Yes luv?"
"Let's make sure no more lives are ruined."
"Of course luv." Jareth leaned down and kissed Sarah tenderly as he removed the stopper from the little black bottle.
****
Sarah and Gus were walking down the cobblestone path to the Goblin City when a hand reached out and pulled Sarah aside. Another hand muffled her scream as she watched Gus walk on down the path, oblivious to the fact that she'd disappeared. The hands turned Sarah to face their owner.
"Listen to me Sarah!" Spoke Gus. Sarah's eyes opened wide, and she struggled to speak, but the hand was still clamped over her mouth. "That fellow over there isn't Gus! He isn't me, I mean. A short while back down the road, I found myself in the middle of the bush." Sarah stared, breathing heavily. "Now if I take the hand away from your mouth, do you promise me you won't scream?" She nodded her head vigorously. He withdrew his hand.
"How can you prove you're you?"
"I dunno. How do you want me to?"
"I don't know either, I just really can't trust you!" he thought for a moment.
"I didn't want to go in the bronze doors because I was afraid of the nippers." He admitted. "Will that do? Just please trust me." There was a look of pleading in his grey-green eyes. Sarah then realized that she'd never noticed that about him before. He wore a black shirt, which was presently torn, and jeans, which may have once been blue, but were now covered in dirt and blood.
"Oh! You're bloody." She exclaimed. "Are you hurt?"
"It's nothing… I was attacked by goblins in the woods when I appeared there."
Sarah peeled back the bottom of his jeans, making him wince. The cut was bleeding still, and it looked fairly deep. The edges of the wound were coloured slightly green.
"I thought at first it could have been poisoned, but I haven't felt any effects."
"Hmmm. Gus, I have something to tell you… You know how there was a crash and you went back to the beginning?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"That was completely my fault." Genuine shock and confusion came onto the boy's face.
"What?! That was your fault?? You- you- idiot!!" Sarah laughed. Gus looked about ready to choke her.
"Okay. Now I know you're you. That was definitely a real reaction. But what do we do about Gus-who-isn't-Gus up there? He hasn't noticed that I'm gone yet." The two heard a familiar laughter in the trees behind them.
"Yes I have." Said Gus-who-wasn't-Gus. A malicious glint shone in his bright blue eyes. He walked around behind a great oak, and when he came around the other side, he was Garred. "You caught up more quickly then I thought little boy." Gus fumed. He then threw his head back proudly.
"I'll never be defeated by you. These challenges are all so easy. I was attacked by more of your little goblins, but I fought them off using nothing but my fencing technique and a stick. I am the best fencer London England has ever seen." Garred smiled.
"So you fence, do you?" Sarah looked around her in awe. They were suddenly in an arena, the crowd full of thousands of cheering goblins. The two men had rapiers in their hands.
"I, Gustav Andrew Dalwood, challenge you," began Gus, "to a duel for the Lady Sarah."
"Conditions being?"
"The only condition is that we fight to the death." Stated Gus.
"No!" cried Sarah. "You don't know the powers he has! He's going to kill you Gus!"
"En garde, Goblin King!" Gus held his sword at the ready.
"Anytime, boy." The two fighters circled each other cautiously, eyeing each other's movements. Garred made the first charge, thrusting for the neck, Gus dodged easily and scratched the King's right cheek with the tip of his rapier.
"Aha! First blood!" he cried triumphantly. "Soon to be your last."
Garred turned and thrust again, but Gus parried with ease.
"So you take up the offensive, eh?" Suddenly, a look of anguish contorted the young fencer's features. He sank to the ground in pain. The cut on his leg had reopened and was bleeding, but that wasn't real issue that troubled him. The cut was swollen to about twice its normal size.
"Ah. I see the poison has begun its course. It will slowly paralyse every part of you, starting with the first afflicted area, and as it goes, it will feel as though you're on fire."
Garred chuckled to the boy on the ground. "That's not even the best part. You won't be able to move a muscle, but through this entire pain, you'll be kept alive. The last thing it affects is the heart. When your heart stops, you die. There is no cure."
"H- how long until that happens?"
"About three weeks. But you won't live that long, because I'm going to kill you right now." The crowd cheered as Garred raised his sword to behead the boy. As the blade descended, Gus rolled out of its way. He stood up shakily and held out his own weapon.
"I- I'll never b- be defeated by you." And on the last word, Gus ran himself through and fell to the ground in a heap.
"No!" cried Sarah, leaping from the stands and running over to Gus. She pulled the fallen fighter onto her lap. "Gus? Why did you do that?" He chuckled quietly, but then stopped as he began to choke on his own blood.
"I was d- dead anyway."
"But… He could have been bluffing!" she said in weak protest and the arena faded from around them. They were back on the road.
"Not ab- bout the him k- killing me part Sarah. It's b- better this way."
"But Gus-"
"Shhh." He whispered, putting a finger to her lips. He smiled. "I liked you b- better then Charlene y- you know." All expression fell from his face as his eyelids fluttered slightly as his head lolled to the side.
"Gus?" she whispered quietly. "Gus?" Sarah's lower lip trembled as she slid Gus from her lap and stood up unsteadily to face Garred.
"Why did you do this Garred?"
"I didn't want any competition." Sarah trembled with rage.
"Any competition?! What makes you think I liked him as anything more then a friend? What makes you think that I could love a man who killed my friend?"
The Goblin King faltered.
"I- you don't admire me?" Sarah's brown eyes were hard.
"No."
"Not in the least?"
"No."
"Well I can't bring him back. That boy was doomed because of the poison, you know. It wasn't my plan to have him attacked. There was no way he would have lived anyway."
"I can't trust you." She stated simply.
"Sarah, please. Just let me love you. I- I'll do anything! You know I can! I'll give you the stars if you want them!" Garred began to look desperate.
"Pretty words for a murderer."
"I didn't plan on killing him! He's the one who stated the conditions, not me!"
"You were going to behead him."
"Don't you think that would have been a kindness Sarah? He was going to suffer. Even I can't cure that poison once it's in someone's system. A quick and painless death was the best he could have asked for at the moment." Tears began to spill down Sarah's cheeks as she realized what he said was true. "Would you have let him suffer Sarah?"
"I- I-" she began sobbing uncontrollably. "He was my only friend in this place."
"I know Sarah." Garred held her in his arms, as she buried her face in his chest and nestled closer to him, finding her greatest enemy her only comfort now. He ran his hands through her soft hair. "Shhhh. It's okay Sarah. It'll all be okay." Sarah stopped crying and pulled away in embarrassment.
"I shouldn't be letting you comfort me."
"Just please let me love you Sarah." Pleaded the Goblin King.
"I-I-" Sarah was but off by a loud rumbling. It was coming from the castle. Garred swung around. The castle had turned completely black, and the black was spreading. He paled.
"Oh no, no, no! What have you done Father??"
"What is it?"
"My Father has released the Itsumademo-Kage."
"The what?"
"Translated, it roughly means 'forever-shadow'. It's an evil spirit that was housed in the recesses of the castle. My Father has released it."
"But what will it do?" Garred looked grim.
"It will eventually destroy the Labyrinth." Sarah was shocked to imagine the beauty of the Labyrinth all gone. Sure, it was dangerous, but there were so many lovely places. The castle was already gone.
"Oh my God! My Grandmother was in the castle! Is she..."
"I'm afraid so Sarah. We had better get going. We have about fifteen minutes before it reaches where we are now and about five hours before it catches us." Garred held out his hand. "Sarah, take my hand. I can bring you to a safe place."
"No!" she cried, turning away and running towards the castle. "I have to save my Grandmother!"
"Sarah! Don't go!"
****
Sarah ran down the path towards the castle.
"I'm coming Gramma!" cried Sarah with tears in her eyes. Garred appeared in front of her so abruptly she ran straight into him. She would have fallen over excepting Garred had taken her by the shoulders.
"Listen to me! Your Grandmother is gone! There's no saving her now! Let's go Sarah."
"No!" she screeched in denial. "She can't be!" Sarah pulled away and ran down the path. She had to stop when she saw a dark wave rising in the distance. It was a wall of black skeletons, shrieking in agony. Sarah watched in the distance as one screaming goblin was torn to shreds by the vicious Forever-Shadow. It spread across the horizon. There would be no escape now.
Sarah turned and ran back down the path. She choked back sobs as she ran for her life. She cried for her Grandmother, and for her own foolishness. She knew she would soon be no more. Sarah knew she couldn't keep up this pace forever. Her breathing was becoming increasingly short. Eventually she had to stop. She sat on the cold cobblestone pathway staring at the giant Shadow that hurtled towards her, never slowing.
"Oh well." she whispered weakly. "It was fun while it lasted."
A crystal fell from the sky and landed in her lap. Garred stood in front of her.
"Take this crystal, you can wish yourself home." yelled Garred over the great wind caused by the Shadow "It's too late to get us both away now." Sarah got to her feet.
"But Garred-!" Garred flung his arms around Sarah, protecting her in his cloak from the Shadow as it struck.
Garred screamed in pain as he slowly disintegrated.
****
Sarah awoke to find herself lying in an open field. There was nothing around for miles.
"Garred?" Her voice echoed across the empty moor. "Garred?" Sarah looked down to see the crystal in her lap. "I want to go home." she whispered to it. The world went black. Sarah felt herself lying on something soft. She stood up cautiously and groped around in the darkness until she found her bedroom light. Sarah looked down to see herself wearing her pyjamas once more.
"Was it just a dream?" she wondered. She looked down at the bed. There amongst the blankets, was the crystal. "It couldn't have been! Oh Gramma!" Sarah ran to her Grandmother's room. It was empty and dark. "No! Oh no, no!" Sarah fell to the floor where she hugged her knees and wept for all she'd lost. Her Grandmother, her friend, her ignorance that all was fair in the world. But what else could she do?
Suddenly, a bright light shone from the hallway, it was coming from her room.
"Not again!" Sarah ran back to the room to find the balcony doors open. She ran out to find a man with wild blonde hair dressed in black lying on the ground.
"Garred? Garred!" Sarah shook the man awake. The man sat up and looked around, quite puzzled.
"Where am I?"
"Oh Garred! You're alright! You saved me!" Sarah flung her arms around his neck with no embarrassment this time.
"Oh my... I suppose my name is Garred then." Sarah now looked puzzled.
"Of course it is. You saved me!"
"I did? From what?" Sarah helped the man up from the ground where he had been sitting.
"From the Shadow. You..." Sarah trailed off.
'He doesn't remember... Wait, there's something about his eyes...'
Garred's eyes, which had been a piercing and unkind blue, were now just a regular blue. The soft colour, opposing its original harshness, actually suited his face quite well. There was something else gone from his eyes as well, something Sarah couldn't define, yet she knew had existed once.
"You don't remember me Garred?" Garred stared blankly.
"Frankly, no. I have no idea who I am, let alone who you are." Sarah smiled.
"Well then let's start over." she shook his hand. "My name is Sarah."
"I guess my name is Garred." he chuckled. His blue eyes smiled down at her. Sarah gasped.
'Oh my God... I know what it is... he's lost his immortality...'
"What is it Sarah?"
"I... you've lost your immorality..." Garred raised an eyebrow.
"Alright..." There was an awkward silence. "Sarah?"
"Yes?"
"Do you believe in love at first sight?" Sarah smiled.
"I've heard that one so many times." Garred laughed softly as took Sarah's hands, entwining his fingers in hers. Sarah's voice had lowered to a whisper.
"I do believe though." Garred smiled. Not a cold, cruel, calculating smirk, but a real smile. A smile just for Sarah.
"Then kiss me Sarah." he whispered back. Garred leaned closer to Sarah as she reached up and kissed him tenderly.
****
Two white owls are roosting in a nearby tree. The first almost smiles with its one brown eye and one blue upon the second, which has two brown eyes. The owls take off and slowly fade away into the night sky until they are nothing but a transparent wind through the dark trees of the street.
~*End*~
Thank-you to all those people who reviewed my fic.
I hope you liked the ending. I was in the mood for fluff ^^
Besides, I haven't given a story a happy ending for a while!
Thanks again, I'd love your feedback.
Or just e-mail me
I love to talk to new people! Especially about Labyrinth! There are so few people who like Labyrinth it seems, or even know what it is... ^^;
***Contest!***
I don't think I've seen a Laby contest... Hmm...
Topic: A GUY stumbling into the Labyrinth under unusual circumstance. Not the usual going after a loved one deal. If you want, you can give him one friend.
Medium: Well, duh. A story. Nothing longer then, let's say, 3 chapters?
One Other Component: (chose one or more)
~One interesting friend must be made in the Labyrinth and/or
~One wicked-ass flashback showing a dark past must be included and/or
~Romance of some sort (up to you who, the sidekick, someone from the Labyrinth, etc.)
Criteria: I'm looking for originality. I know there's a lot of really great authors out there, I just wanted to see if you'd rise to the challenge and write something outside the bounds of boring fics. Can you think outside the box? Then show me you can!
Deadline: To be decided. It'll be in the next chapter of 'Ash, Betrayal and Bloodlust'
Thanks again,
Planeswalker
I feel awful :(
I also feel as though nobody's gonna want to read this...
Oh well...
For those of you who stuck around, Thank-You!!
****
Sarah and Gus shielded their eyes as they stumbled into the open air and bright sunlight.
"Thank God that's over." breathed Gus. "Hey Sarah, thanks a lot for helping me out in there. I really did think it was Charlene."
"Who's Charlene anyway?" Gus's cheeks coloured slightly.
"Oh, she's a girl I really liked back home. I asked her on a date once, she turned me down in front of all my friends." Gus scratched the back of his head. "Really rather embarrassing when you think about it. I'm not even sure why I'm telling you this, I guess I like you." There was a bit of an awkward silence. "As a friend I mean." he added belatedly. "Well, um, we'd better get going, we have quite a bit of distance to cover, and not nearly enough time to cover it in."
****
Garred stalked back into his throne room and sat down with a scowl on his face. He withdrew a crystal from within the folds of his cloak and gazed into it intently. Granny Sarah took this as a good sign.
"She's getting much too close." Garred growled to his Father. Jareth walked over and glanced into the crystal.
"If she's getting too close," remarked Jareth with a wave of a black gloved hand, "then simply send her back to the beginning."
"But-" began Granny Sarah.
"Yes I know." snapped Garred. "That's not fair. That's not what I meant anyway. She's getting far too close to that Gus. She was concerned about him at the Goblin Ball."
"She was at the Goblin Ball?" asked Sarah in concern.
"Yes she was." Garred smirked. "She kissed me too, but that has nothing to do with anything. She was worried for the boy Gus when she couldn't even remember her own name."
"She kissed you?" shrieked Sarah.
"Yes she did. Now stay out of it and stop interrupting me!"
"Excuse me! She's my Granddaughter and I deserve to know what's happening to her." Garred grinned. "Fine then. I'll tell you. She found her way to the Goblin Ball by failing to solve a simple riddle. Then she danced with me, told me she loved me and kissed me. Quite passionately I might add." Garred winked at Sarah, who stared in shock. "Then she ran away and took the Gus boy with her. Then she told me she loved me again."
"But she was under the influence of the ball! She wouldn't have kissed you otherwise, let alone told you she loved you." Garred chuckled mirthlessly.
"Ah Sarah. The funny part is, you're wrong. She may have been under the influence the first time she told me, but not the second."
"But... that's not..." Garred flew from the room in a rush of black cloak.
"I'm going to go do something about that Gus boy."
****
"Oh Sarah, Sarah…" whispered Jareth as he walked behind the chair where Granny Sarah sat. "Sarah, Sarah, my little Sarah."
"What is it Jareth?" she asked in an icy tone. Mischief danced in his mismatched eyes.
"Will you dance with me Sarah?"
"What? No! I will not dance with you Jareth."
Sarah looked up from her crossed arms to see people dancing all around her. She looked in a large crystal mirror next to her to see she was wearing a very familiar dress with puffed sleeves, covered in sequins. The mirror distorted her features slightly, but she could see clearly enough to see she was young again.
"Jareth…" she spoke weakly. "Why are you torturing me?" A pair of hands on her shoulders surprised you.
"Because I enjoy it." He whispered in her ear. No sooner had she turned around, he'd disappeared.
"I'll not play this scene out again!" she protested, sitting down in the middle of the dance floor. The dancers evaporated in wisps of smoke leaving her sitting back in the chair in her old clothes again.
"You're no fun luv." She was startled again. Jareth was now kneeling to her left. She looked away.
"Do you think I want to be here? In case you do not know, the answer is No, Jareth. I want to go home with my Granddaughter. I wish this awful place would just be destroyed forever."
"There is a way to destroy it you know." He said, now leaning against a doorframe on the other side of the great hall.
"How then, Oh great one, would I do so?" she scoffed. He walked away through the door.
"All you have to do," he whispered in her ear, "is open this." He dangled a delicate black bottle decorated with silver filigree and white jewels in front of her face. She looked back, trying to see the door he'd come through, but there was none. She made a grab for the bottle but Jareth pulled it back away. Granny Sarah got up.
"Give it to me." She said in a determined voice. "Right now." Jareth chuckled.
"If only you'd been so willing the first time you came here." Sarah blushed.
"You know what I mean Jareth. Give me the bottle."
"I should warn you, inside this bottle is Itsumademo-Kage. Once it is unleashed it will consume everything and everyone in the realm of Labyrinth until there is nothing left. Starting with this room and me and you."
"Give me the bottle."
"How can you be so sure that your little Sarah will escape the shadow's wrath?"
"If your son loves her, he'll save her." Jareth laughed.
"Are you really willing to forfeit both your and your Granddaughter's lives on a guess?"
"I- well-" Sarah took a deep breath. "I know she loves him too. Why else would she have followed him this far?"
Jareth stared deep into Sarah's determined eyes.
"The Labyrinth has destroyed to many lives. Had we met under different circumstance, Sarah, would you have cared for me?"
"Yes..." she whispered. Sarah looked down at her hands. The wrinkles were gone. "Jareth...?"
"Yes luv?"
"Let's make sure no more lives are ruined."
"Of course luv." Jareth leaned down and kissed Sarah tenderly as he removed the stopper from the little black bottle.
****
Sarah and Gus were walking down the cobblestone path to the Goblin City when a hand reached out and pulled Sarah aside. Another hand muffled her scream as she watched Gus walk on down the path, oblivious to the fact that she'd disappeared. The hands turned Sarah to face their owner.
"Listen to me Sarah!" Spoke Gus. Sarah's eyes opened wide, and she struggled to speak, but the hand was still clamped over her mouth. "That fellow over there isn't Gus! He isn't me, I mean. A short while back down the road, I found myself in the middle of the bush." Sarah stared, breathing heavily. "Now if I take the hand away from your mouth, do you promise me you won't scream?" She nodded her head vigorously. He withdrew his hand.
"How can you prove you're you?"
"I dunno. How do you want me to?"
"I don't know either, I just really can't trust you!" he thought for a moment.
"I didn't want to go in the bronze doors because I was afraid of the nippers." He admitted. "Will that do? Just please trust me." There was a look of pleading in his grey-green eyes. Sarah then realized that she'd never noticed that about him before. He wore a black shirt, which was presently torn, and jeans, which may have once been blue, but were now covered in dirt and blood.
"Oh! You're bloody." She exclaimed. "Are you hurt?"
"It's nothing… I was attacked by goblins in the woods when I appeared there."
Sarah peeled back the bottom of his jeans, making him wince. The cut was bleeding still, and it looked fairly deep. The edges of the wound were coloured slightly green.
"I thought at first it could have been poisoned, but I haven't felt any effects."
"Hmmm. Gus, I have something to tell you… You know how there was a crash and you went back to the beginning?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"That was completely my fault." Genuine shock and confusion came onto the boy's face.
"What?! That was your fault?? You- you- idiot!!" Sarah laughed. Gus looked about ready to choke her.
"Okay. Now I know you're you. That was definitely a real reaction. But what do we do about Gus-who-isn't-Gus up there? He hasn't noticed that I'm gone yet." The two heard a familiar laughter in the trees behind them.
"Yes I have." Said Gus-who-wasn't-Gus. A malicious glint shone in his bright blue eyes. He walked around behind a great oak, and when he came around the other side, he was Garred. "You caught up more quickly then I thought little boy." Gus fumed. He then threw his head back proudly.
"I'll never be defeated by you. These challenges are all so easy. I was attacked by more of your little goblins, but I fought them off using nothing but my fencing technique and a stick. I am the best fencer London England has ever seen." Garred smiled.
"So you fence, do you?" Sarah looked around her in awe. They were suddenly in an arena, the crowd full of thousands of cheering goblins. The two men had rapiers in their hands.
"I, Gustav Andrew Dalwood, challenge you," began Gus, "to a duel for the Lady Sarah."
"Conditions being?"
"The only condition is that we fight to the death." Stated Gus.
"No!" cried Sarah. "You don't know the powers he has! He's going to kill you Gus!"
"En garde, Goblin King!" Gus held his sword at the ready.
"Anytime, boy." The two fighters circled each other cautiously, eyeing each other's movements. Garred made the first charge, thrusting for the neck, Gus dodged easily and scratched the King's right cheek with the tip of his rapier.
"Aha! First blood!" he cried triumphantly. "Soon to be your last."
Garred turned and thrust again, but Gus parried with ease.
"So you take up the offensive, eh?" Suddenly, a look of anguish contorted the young fencer's features. He sank to the ground in pain. The cut on his leg had reopened and was bleeding, but that wasn't real issue that troubled him. The cut was swollen to about twice its normal size.
"Ah. I see the poison has begun its course. It will slowly paralyse every part of you, starting with the first afflicted area, and as it goes, it will feel as though you're on fire."
Garred chuckled to the boy on the ground. "That's not even the best part. You won't be able to move a muscle, but through this entire pain, you'll be kept alive. The last thing it affects is the heart. When your heart stops, you die. There is no cure."
"H- how long until that happens?"
"About three weeks. But you won't live that long, because I'm going to kill you right now." The crowd cheered as Garred raised his sword to behead the boy. As the blade descended, Gus rolled out of its way. He stood up shakily and held out his own weapon.
"I- I'll never b- be defeated by you." And on the last word, Gus ran himself through and fell to the ground in a heap.
"No!" cried Sarah, leaping from the stands and running over to Gus. She pulled the fallen fighter onto her lap. "Gus? Why did you do that?" He chuckled quietly, but then stopped as he began to choke on his own blood.
"I was d- dead anyway."
"But… He could have been bluffing!" she said in weak protest and the arena faded from around them. They were back on the road.
"Not ab- bout the him k- killing me part Sarah. It's b- better this way."
"But Gus-"
"Shhh." He whispered, putting a finger to her lips. He smiled. "I liked you b- better then Charlene y- you know." All expression fell from his face as his eyelids fluttered slightly as his head lolled to the side.
"Gus?" she whispered quietly. "Gus?" Sarah's lower lip trembled as she slid Gus from her lap and stood up unsteadily to face Garred.
"Why did you do this Garred?"
"I didn't want any competition." Sarah trembled with rage.
"Any competition?! What makes you think I liked him as anything more then a friend? What makes you think that I could love a man who killed my friend?"
The Goblin King faltered.
"I- you don't admire me?" Sarah's brown eyes were hard.
"No."
"Not in the least?"
"No."
"Well I can't bring him back. That boy was doomed because of the poison, you know. It wasn't my plan to have him attacked. There was no way he would have lived anyway."
"I can't trust you." She stated simply.
"Sarah, please. Just let me love you. I- I'll do anything! You know I can! I'll give you the stars if you want them!" Garred began to look desperate.
"Pretty words for a murderer."
"I didn't plan on killing him! He's the one who stated the conditions, not me!"
"You were going to behead him."
"Don't you think that would have been a kindness Sarah? He was going to suffer. Even I can't cure that poison once it's in someone's system. A quick and painless death was the best he could have asked for at the moment." Tears began to spill down Sarah's cheeks as she realized what he said was true. "Would you have let him suffer Sarah?"
"I- I-" she began sobbing uncontrollably. "He was my only friend in this place."
"I know Sarah." Garred held her in his arms, as she buried her face in his chest and nestled closer to him, finding her greatest enemy her only comfort now. He ran his hands through her soft hair. "Shhhh. It's okay Sarah. It'll all be okay." Sarah stopped crying and pulled away in embarrassment.
"I shouldn't be letting you comfort me."
"Just please let me love you Sarah." Pleaded the Goblin King.
"I-I-" Sarah was but off by a loud rumbling. It was coming from the castle. Garred swung around. The castle had turned completely black, and the black was spreading. He paled.
"Oh no, no, no! What have you done Father??"
"What is it?"
"My Father has released the Itsumademo-Kage."
"The what?"
"Translated, it roughly means 'forever-shadow'. It's an evil spirit that was housed in the recesses of the castle. My Father has released it."
"But what will it do?" Garred looked grim.
"It will eventually destroy the Labyrinth." Sarah was shocked to imagine the beauty of the Labyrinth all gone. Sure, it was dangerous, but there were so many lovely places. The castle was already gone.
"Oh my God! My Grandmother was in the castle! Is she..."
"I'm afraid so Sarah. We had better get going. We have about fifteen minutes before it reaches where we are now and about five hours before it catches us." Garred held out his hand. "Sarah, take my hand. I can bring you to a safe place."
"No!" she cried, turning away and running towards the castle. "I have to save my Grandmother!"
"Sarah! Don't go!"
****
Sarah ran down the path towards the castle.
"I'm coming Gramma!" cried Sarah with tears in her eyes. Garred appeared in front of her so abruptly she ran straight into him. She would have fallen over excepting Garred had taken her by the shoulders.
"Listen to me! Your Grandmother is gone! There's no saving her now! Let's go Sarah."
"No!" she screeched in denial. "She can't be!" Sarah pulled away and ran down the path. She had to stop when she saw a dark wave rising in the distance. It was a wall of black skeletons, shrieking in agony. Sarah watched in the distance as one screaming goblin was torn to shreds by the vicious Forever-Shadow. It spread across the horizon. There would be no escape now.
Sarah turned and ran back down the path. She choked back sobs as she ran for her life. She cried for her Grandmother, and for her own foolishness. She knew she would soon be no more. Sarah knew she couldn't keep up this pace forever. Her breathing was becoming increasingly short. Eventually she had to stop. She sat on the cold cobblestone pathway staring at the giant Shadow that hurtled towards her, never slowing.
"Oh well." she whispered weakly. "It was fun while it lasted."
A crystal fell from the sky and landed in her lap. Garred stood in front of her.
"Take this crystal, you can wish yourself home." yelled Garred over the great wind caused by the Shadow "It's too late to get us both away now." Sarah got to her feet.
"But Garred-!" Garred flung his arms around Sarah, protecting her in his cloak from the Shadow as it struck.
Garred screamed in pain as he slowly disintegrated.
****
Sarah awoke to find herself lying in an open field. There was nothing around for miles.
"Garred?" Her voice echoed across the empty moor. "Garred?" Sarah looked down to see the crystal in her lap. "I want to go home." she whispered to it. The world went black. Sarah felt herself lying on something soft. She stood up cautiously and groped around in the darkness until she found her bedroom light. Sarah looked down to see herself wearing her pyjamas once more.
"Was it just a dream?" she wondered. She looked down at the bed. There amongst the blankets, was the crystal. "It couldn't have been! Oh Gramma!" Sarah ran to her Grandmother's room. It was empty and dark. "No! Oh no, no!" Sarah fell to the floor where she hugged her knees and wept for all she'd lost. Her Grandmother, her friend, her ignorance that all was fair in the world. But what else could she do?
Suddenly, a bright light shone from the hallway, it was coming from her room.
"Not again!" Sarah ran back to the room to find the balcony doors open. She ran out to find a man with wild blonde hair dressed in black lying on the ground.
"Garred? Garred!" Sarah shook the man awake. The man sat up and looked around, quite puzzled.
"Where am I?"
"Oh Garred! You're alright! You saved me!" Sarah flung her arms around his neck with no embarrassment this time.
"Oh my... I suppose my name is Garred then." Sarah now looked puzzled.
"Of course it is. You saved me!"
"I did? From what?" Sarah helped the man up from the ground where he had been sitting.
"From the Shadow. You..." Sarah trailed off.
'He doesn't remember... Wait, there's something about his eyes...'
Garred's eyes, which had been a piercing and unkind blue, were now just a regular blue. The soft colour, opposing its original harshness, actually suited his face quite well. There was something else gone from his eyes as well, something Sarah couldn't define, yet she knew had existed once.
"You don't remember me Garred?" Garred stared blankly.
"Frankly, no. I have no idea who I am, let alone who you are." Sarah smiled.
"Well then let's start over." she shook his hand. "My name is Sarah."
"I guess my name is Garred." he chuckled. His blue eyes smiled down at her. Sarah gasped.
'Oh my God... I know what it is... he's lost his immortality...'
"What is it Sarah?"
"I... you've lost your immorality..." Garred raised an eyebrow.
"Alright..." There was an awkward silence. "Sarah?"
"Yes?"
"Do you believe in love at first sight?" Sarah smiled.
"I've heard that one so many times." Garred laughed softly as took Sarah's hands, entwining his fingers in hers. Sarah's voice had lowered to a whisper.
"I do believe though." Garred smiled. Not a cold, cruel, calculating smirk, but a real smile. A smile just for Sarah.
"Then kiss me Sarah." he whispered back. Garred leaned closer to Sarah as she reached up and kissed him tenderly.
****
Two white owls are roosting in a nearby tree. The first almost smiles with its one brown eye and one blue upon the second, which has two brown eyes. The owls take off and slowly fade away into the night sky until they are nothing but a transparent wind through the dark trees of the street.
~*End*~
Thank-you to all those people who reviewed my fic.
I hope you liked the ending. I was in the mood for fluff ^^
Besides, I haven't given a story a happy ending for a while!
Thanks again, I'd love your feedback.
Or just e-mail me
I love to talk to new people! Especially about Labyrinth! There are so few people who like Labyrinth it seems, or even know what it is... ^^;
***Contest!***
I don't think I've seen a Laby contest... Hmm...
Topic: A GUY stumbling into the Labyrinth under unusual circumstance. Not the usual going after a loved one deal. If you want, you can give him one friend.
Medium: Well, duh. A story. Nothing longer then, let's say, 3 chapters?
One Other Component: (chose one or more)
~One interesting friend must be made in the Labyrinth and/or
~One wicked-ass flashback showing a dark past must be included and/or
~Romance of some sort (up to you who, the sidekick, someone from the Labyrinth, etc.)
Criteria: I'm looking for originality. I know there's a lot of really great authors out there, I just wanted to see if you'd rise to the challenge and write something outside the bounds of boring fics. Can you think outside the box? Then show me you can!
Deadline: To be decided. It'll be in the next chapter of 'Ash, Betrayal and Bloodlust'
Thanks again,
Planeswalker