Chapter Fifteen: No, I Won't Let Go
"I didn't make anything happen. You did," she tossed back at him. "You chose to be my marionette, as you put it."
His gaze darkened, and cold, heavy anger seeped across the floor, spreading from her clammy toes up her spine. Whether she felt fear or despair or even both, she couldn't tell. "You called to me first. You called out to the Labyrinth with your stories and songs of dreaming reality. The Labyrinth heard, and responded. All of us did." He shook his head. "Sarah, this isn't a question of who's to blame."
"It isn't?" she snapped bitterly.
He pinned her with a single sharp look. "It's about your ability to deal with the consequences of your actions. Like it or not, you took a lot from us."
She stared at him numbly. "I never asked-"
He didn't bother to look at her. "Sarah." The warning in his voice made her tremble.
"All right, so I expected many things from all of you." She glanced away, wiping the tears that hung delicately on her eyelashes. "But I didn't mean it."
"Say what you mean, Sarah, or this conversation has no purpose," he coaxed lightly.
She stole a glance at the Goblin King. He no longer looked tired, or frustrated, or even darkly amused. All that was left was a carefully constructed mask of polite inattention. "I didn't intend for any of my wishes to be granted," she said softly. "I expected many things, and wanted many more, but I never thought they would all be true."
"No, of course not." Nonchalantly, he added,"After all, it wasn't real to you, was it? You rationalized it as a dream, a fantasy, in the safe, dark hidden corners of your mind. Even stuck in the oubliette, or being chased by the cleaners, you believed deep down that nothing could touch you."
But that's where I was wrong. Hoggle and the others, they were the usual ragtag band of companions you'd expect in an adventure like that. You, on the other hand...you filled my every expectation, and it was our ruin. Sarah gazed at him sadly and shook her head.
"Everything has a price, Sarah," he said finally, and he raised his head, eyes meeting hers. "You cannot simply rearrange the Labyrinth and its inhabitants to suit your needs and then expect no repercussions."
"Why now?" she demanded, frustrated. "Why tell me now that the Labyrinth still has something to do with me? It's been two years; I haven't heard from anyone since. You've been lurking around in the shadows, and now, just when I think I can move on, you throw this on my lap? Why?"
"Because I cannot keep the Labyrinth at bay forever."
Sarah's mind skidded to a sharp halt. "What do you mean?"
The Goblin King shrugged elegantly and deftly avoided the question. "That I cannot tell you. But you should know that, while you do have time still to figure out your role in this affair, the clock is ticking very, very quickly, and this is a clock I have no power over." His sighed. "I assure you, I had hoped that this would be resolved without your ever knowing, but it seems that you need an extra boost, an extra shove in the right direction." His lips quirked upwards. "As I said, your intuition is sorely lacking in certain areas."
Sarah stared at him, wide eyed. "What am I supposed to do?" she whispered, frightened.
"Don't worry about it, for one thing," he smirked. "Just...consider things. People. Birds. Life. When the pieces fall into place the Labyrinth will be satisfied, and you can move on with your life." He tilted his head and smiled lazily. "Sarah, don't look so confused. In about a half hour your Christian will call you up, sort out the petty details of your date, and you will go and have fun and be a delightful little girl beside your delightful little boy."
She blinked, and he was gone. She felt vaguely insulted by his 'little girl' and 'little boy' comments, but her mind was too busy trying to figure out the riddle that was the Labyrinth to be annoyed with him.
A half hour later, her thought process was interrupted by Karen's delighted and smug call, "Sarah, there's a boy on the phone for you!"
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A/N: *stares wide eyed at fic* AAAAAGH! *takes on a news announcer persona* And today we saw Lunarwolf writing herself into a corner, an interesting development in the Laby-fic arena. *screams* This fic is just running away from me at a very steadily increasing pace. Yikes.