Disclaimer: I don't own the labyrinth, but some of this story's characters are original to me. The idea for the labyrinth, however, had nothing to do with me.
Kingdom Keepers
When Sarah woke up, she was cold. She sighed. Clare would often tease her in the morning when she complained about being cold, pointing to the covers that she had kicked to the end of the bed during the night. Sarah would never dare tell her that it probably happened during one of her dreams about the labyrinth. Sitting up groggily, Sarah reached down to her feet to pull up the covers.
But she couldn't find them.
Sarah reached down again to pull up the covers. Then she realized what she was doing. She shook her head, tossing her long, dark hair into her face, trying to clear her mind. She pushed her hair back angrily, and suddenly the memory of what had happened hit her like a ton of bricks.
She jumped up, frantically searching the room for a way out, still feeling dizzy and disoriented.
"Jack! Anyone! Let me out, dammit, someone!"
"Do shut up, Sarah."
Sarah whirled around to see a man standing in the corner of the room…a man who had not been there during her search. He had dark hair and clothes that reminded her of Jareth's, only darker. He had the look of someone who was used to being in charge and didn't like being crossed. Sarah resolved to do exactly that if someone didn't explain things very soon.
"Where's Jack?" she demanded angrily.
"Why?"
"I have to murder him for this, is all. Could you arrange that?" She said, smiling grimly.
"I'd have been happy to, except I believe he's been dead for nearly three months now."
"What?" Sarah just stared at him, angry that his words could cause her such confusion. "I saw him. He brought me here." She said weakly, fearing that what the man said was nonetheless true.
"For someone who beat my Labyrinth as a child, you really are dim Sarah. I brought you here."
"Jareth?" Sarah's eyes flashed with anger.
"Thankfully not. My name is Braeden. You knew me as Jack, a pathetic little college boy who happened to be in the right place at the right time. Or the wrong place, I suppose, from his point of view. The use of his body was much appreciated. Nasty side effects for the host, though."
"What?" Sarah managed stupidly, barely whispering.
"It kills them, sometimes." He looked thoughtful. "Most times."
"A boy named Jack, a boy whose body you stole died because he happened to meet me?" Sarah said, her voice shaking.
"And if that were important, I might continue talking about it, as it is, I have only come to warn you. Caydliell is unassailable and inescapable. For the short time that you will reside here, I warn you not to try to escape."
Sarah started, as if to make a nasty retort. He interrupted her before she even got a chance to speak.
"There is no Labyrinth here, Sarah. There are four walls, and one locked door. No tricks. No puzzles. Just the fact that you are stuck here as long as you are useful, with nothing to do other than think about what I might do to you when you aren't anymore.
Sarah tried again to speak, but Jack…Braeden…whoever, had already disappeared. Se thought about screaming. She thought about escaping. She thought about a lot of things. Toby.
Jareth.
And across the borderlands, past the Labyrinth and the Goblin City, Jareth watched, in a powerful crystal, as Sarah sunk down onto the bed, and tried not to cry.
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Jareth smashed a crystal against the wall in anger. Only he could break the crystals, due to their powerful magic, and he was on his second today. The search for Sarah was not going well. By working with potent magics, he had managed to glimpse her through his crystal, confirming that she was in Braeden's castle, but the castle itself was hidden in the borderlands, beyond reach of even his most skillful armies.
If he was to make a truly effective tool to search for Sarah, he would need something of hers. That last particular fit of anger had been due to the fact that, although she had haunted his dreams and waking hours for years, he had no tangible thing that she had ever touched. Higgle has offered him some sort of plastic jewelry, but it was useless to him after spending so much time in the Labyrinth. If he was to find her, he would need to waste part of the time he had left to travel to the mortal world and acquire something of hers.
So how was an owl going to inconspicuously enter the mortal world and enter a suburban house now, during broad daylight? He could think of only one thing that might work. With time flying past like sand in the wind, Jareth quickly disappeared, leaving in his place a beautiful, snowy-white owl, racing towards the world above.
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Toby kicked the grass in frustration. He had been standing out here in the field for a million hours (two minutes, ) and still, no one had passed him the ball. He scratched at his knee pads, which were making him sweaty, and let his eyes wander across the field.
The tiny black-and-white ball seemed a million miles away, and Toby sighed, now tracing his cleat in a tiny patch of dirt.
"Toby."
A voice was calling him from the trees bordering the field. Not to be cautious of kidnappers and other dangers, Toby checked to make sure his dad wasn't watching him and ducked off the field and into the trees. As he approached the great white bird he found there, an annoyed team mate kicked the ball to a player who wasn't there.
"Hi, Jareth! I'm playing soccer today. Yesterday my dad took me to see a basketball game, and I had macaroni and cheese for lunch, and my mom and dad had a fight about Sarah, and…"
"Toby," the bird said, as commandingly as he could for someone who was speaking with his mind, "if Sarah needed your help, would you do anything to help her."
"She's my sister." Toby said, rolling his eyes.
"Toby, I need something of Sarah's. Something she cares about and that would mean something to her no matter what."
"I don't have anything with me but my water bottle." Toby answered dejectedly.
"Toby, I need you to come with me now. I promise no harm shall come to you, but without you, Sarah will be in trouble, and I won't be able to help her."
Being four years old (almost five), Toby was far from cautious. Moments later, he was following the owl who called himself Jareth through the woods by his soccer field, entering the Labyrinth for what he didn't know would be the second time in his young life.
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Hope ya'll like the story. I'm going to the beach for a week, where I share 1 computer with 21 people (big family) so I probably wont post again till after that. However, if there are a lot of reviews when I get back, I'll want to write the next chapter faster. Let me know if you want to read it! ~ mari