DISCLAIMER I don't own anything about this story, except maybe Anna. Everything else is owned by the nice Jim Henson Compnay.
THE BEGINNING
Anna Elizabeth Sarah Williams was an unusual girl. She enjoyed daydreaming and writing rather than doing anything else. She dreamed of her dead aunt often, almost nightly. She dreamed of Sarah's life, of Sarah's death. Sometimes when she told her father about her dreams her father turned white, and quickly changed the subject.
Her father once told her that her dreams were real, that what she dreamed of had actually happened….to Sarah, her aunt. Anna had dreamed of her aunt so much that she felt as if she knew her aunt, right down to her last thought as she was hit by the semi truck that had taken her life. She knew everything that her aunt had known, right down to the book that her aunt had loved so much. The book that had become so real. The book that had been enacted the night that she had wished Anna's father away. The Goblin king and all his subjects had become more real to Sarah. More Substantial than her own life. The goblins that Sarah often associated with, and the Goblin King, Jareth, that Sarah had avoided at all costs. But Anna had no control over the dreams. They came when they wanted to, and never any more often or less.
Anna dreamed. She dreamed of ordinary things, of girls meeting boys, and boys meeting girls. Then she dreamed of her aunt. Her aunt running down labyrinthine passages, climbing odd stairs that went every way, and of…….dancing. Anna thought this all was a bit weird considering that her aunt had died the night that Anna had been born.
Anna turned over. She was dreaming of goblins and of magic words now. All she heard in her dreams were the word 'I wish' said in a male voice. The voice sounded so lonely, so utterly alone. She wished that she could help the owner of the voice. But she was trapped in her dreams. Toby, Anna's father heard Anna turn over and thought that something might be wrong, so he went to check on his daughter.
"I wish that the goblins could come and take me away." Anna murmured in her sleep. Instantly Anna was gone. Toby had heard his daughter say those words in her sleep. Toby's face turned white with shock. He had just seen his daughter disappear, and he knew where to, also.
"Damn you Jareth, you give me back my daughter, she's only sixteen!" Toby shouted at the room. A David Bowie poster fell off the wall from the vibrations from his voice.
"What do you want, you annoying man?" A deep voice came from the window. The window blew open, and a white owl flew in. The owl morphed into a tall man. He was wearing tight grey pants, and a loose white shirt, over the loose white shirt he wore a black jacket lined with purple.
"I want my daughter! That's what I want. How dare you take her away from me, Jareth?" Toby yelled at the man. Jareth smiled a cruel, but handsome smile.
"I can't just give her back to you. She wished herself away. True she was unconscious at the time, so I'll give you a chance." Jareth turned and tossed a crystal. "You'll have to run the Labyrinth. It will be harder than when your sister ran it for you, and you'll only get your daughter if she wants to come home. It will all be up to her in the end." When Jareth turned back around the two was standing on a hill before a giant Labyrinth. Toby looked down at it, and realized just how much trouble his sister had gone through for him. His sister that had died sixteen years ago in an automobile accident, the night that Anna had been born.
"And if I run this labyrinth of yours I get my daughter back?" Toby asked Jareth.
"Yes. That is what I said." Jareth turned around, and waved his hand, and a clock appeared. "But you only have thirteen hours, and if she wishes to stay here…." Jareth took a few steps back and started to disappear..." She will stay here no matter what you say. Your thirteen hours are now beginning." Jareth disappeared completely, and his voice echoed around Toby.
Toby looked at the labyrinth once more, and then started down the hill towards it. There wasn't much scenery to look at he thought. The dirt was red, and it looked like everything else was too. Then he got closer to the labyrinth, and saw two lakes, but no door. There was a small goblin spraying the grass there. He decided to ask the goblin for help.
"Excuse me sir, but..." Toby started, but then was interrupted.
"I ain't no sir. Me name's Hoggle." Hoggle said defensively. He looked at Toby. Toby was much taller than Hoggle.
"Ok Hoggle. How do you get into this labyrinth? I don't see any doors." Toby said.
"Then you ain't looking" Hoggle told Toby. Then Hoggle seemed to recognize some features in Toby's face. "Is you Toby Williams? Sarah's brother?"
"Yes I am. Did you know Sarah?" Toby asked Hoggle.
"Yes I did. How is the little lady?" Hoggle asked.
"I'm afraid she's dead. She died in a car accident. Sixteen years ago, the night my daughter was born. It was horrible." Toby told Hoggle. "And now Jareth has my daughter."
"What?" Hoggle gasped for air when he learned that Sarah was dead. He hadn't heard from Sarah for over sixteen years, but he hadn't known why. Then the rest of what Toby had said sunk in. "Jareth has your daughter? How did he get her? And what's her name?"
"Yes. Jareth got her because somehow she wished herself away while she was asleep. Her name is Anna. Well, her full name is Anna Elizabeth Sarah Williams." Toby told Hoggle.
"Well, I'll help you as much as I can. The labyrinth has been changed a lot over the years, so I don't know how much help I can be. Jareth went crazy about sixteen years ago, and destroyed parts of it, and created new bits and pieces of it. It's not the same labyrinth that Sarah went through at all." Hoggle told Toby.
"Well let's get started. I only have thirteen hours." Toby told Hoggle.