Disclaimer: I do not nor will I ever own the rights to either Labyrinth or The Goblin Wood books by Hilari Bell.
A.N. - So, I started this thing back in 2008 under my Enkindu account that I have completely forgotten the password to. It never got finished and was last updated 2010. My life was very...turbulent and I was a very angry person which I am sure my original author's notes made very clear. I was given a review that (rightly and I am thankful for) told me that I had a lot of stuff going on in the story and juggling. I still haven't written a prequel to explain but in my rewrite I have tried to smooth that out. I might at some point write up a separate page with all that information. For now, I hope that I cleaned up some of the writing and clarified a few things. I have added more to it and hopefully explained and given a bit more depth to certain characters. I still have sleep problems so there might be some errors despite how much I scan this and is still unbetaed. I have not read either Return to the Labyrinth manga or the Labyrinth Coronation comic series. Nor have I read the last to books of Hilari Bell's Goblin books. They hadn't existed when I started this story so likely won't play into this at all. I hope to read them at some point.
PROLOGUE - WHAT CAME BEFORE
"You have no power over me."
As the mortal Sarah Williams spoke those fateful words with finality many things happened at once which wouldn't become known for quite some time. While the Goblin King returned her and her brother home spending the remaining vestiges of magic that he had gathered for dealing with the Runner of his labyrinth mere hours after taking them; deep in the labyrinth a being almost as old as Time itself used the distraction to free itself. It was the more important if not most important event for the furthering chain effect to happen.
For thousands of years the being had been imprisoned with a constant Keeper to ensure it didn't get loose to prey upon either the Underground or Above. For thousands of years the Keeper had done their job maintaining the being's imprisonment by keeping it stripped of its powers and kept constantly weak. Unknown to its jailer, the being had gradually began to awaken from it's long dark slumber bit by bit as it clawed its way to consciousness. It used the energies exhausted by the Runners of the Labyrinth while they were trying to beat the ever changing maze. The powerful emotions felt by the mortals fueled the prisoner and brought it that much closer to becoming fully awake and aware. When it achieved that, it began to influence the Runners, using them to test the boundaries and weaknesses of the seals binding it. The being also wanted to learn about its current jailer and find their weakness as well. Over the course of its captivity, it learned more than it had ever dreamed possible.
After Sarah William had won back her half-brother, the entity held still to see if the Goblin King was aware of the change. If he had felt the magic restraining it vanish. The being would have smiled if it could have; for the Goblin King was too distracted and likely reeling from the magical drain of the mortal's run through his Labyrinth, having lost, and the rejection from a mere stripling of a mortal teenage girl. With the king preoccupied, the being set about freeing itself without detection full of euphoric delight. Great amusement was felt by it as without being aware of it, the Goblin King had supplied it with instrument for its release. By the time the king would learn of his error it would be much too late.
Months after the night that Sarah had wished her brother away, she had yet to completely fall back into the mainstream of her life. It wasn't that she hadn't tried because she had, but after her time in the Underground she just wasn't the same person that she used to be. Everything that she had previously thought magical had lost its splendor. After experiencing true magic nothing could come close to it. It was as if what had once been shiny was now tarnished and what had been bright and colorful had become dull and washed out.
Acting had lost the appeal that it once held with her heart no longer in it. She had come to a few realizations; she had wanted to become closer to her mother and wanted to understand her if she could and believed becoming an actress would help her on that quest. The reason she had delved so deeply into acting had nothing to do with her mother though and had ultimately been through the inadvertent actions of her father. He had been the one to introduce her to the allure of the theatre by taking her to her very first play. It had been to see her mother perform, but it was it was still the very first play that young Sarah ever saw and left an impression upon her.
Sarah had watched with fascination as the actors performed their story, getting caught up in it and forgetting that she was watching her mother and her mother's friends essentially 'play acting'. That performance had opened up a new world for her and she thoroughly enjoyed it. Discovering the allure when you could be someone else for a short time. For that brief moment on stage you could leave who you were behind to don the life of another. Your woes, troubles, fears, disappointments; everything just disappeared. You got to forget your reality and create a new one that the audience believed to be true.
Having always idolized her mother, Sarah had been devastated when her mother died. She had been just a child when her mother and father divorced and hadn't known of her mother's abandonment of both herself and her father. She had however continued to follow her mother's career, collecting clippings and articles from the newspapers and even pamphlets her mother sent her. Sarah and her mother talked mostly on the phone but she did get to visit her at the the theatre sometimes.
Her father had met and begun to date Karen shortly before Linda Williams' death. Because of that, Sarah believed that her father hadn't been as heartbroken and sad as she by Linda's death. When her father married Karen, Sarah began to retreat to her protective world of acting. There she was loved, needed, and wanted.
Her father, Robert, worried about his daughter's seeming new hobby. I wasn't like when she was younger and was in a class play. This was more than that and consumed her ever waking hour. He feared that he would lose her and that she would lead the same life that his ex-wife had. Karen disapproved of Sarah's pastime for en entirely different reason. She feared that Sarah wouldn't fit in at school with her head constantly in the clouds. They had moved after the wedding into a bigger house which caused Sarah to start at a new high school and hadn't seem to have any friends as she never had any over nor did she go to anyone's house.
Karen had tried to get to know her step-daughter but Sarah wouldn't let her. She was too angry at her father for marrying so soon after her mother died. She saw Karen as trying to replace her mother and she did not need nor want another mother. She wanted her mother. She resented Karen and was jealous of the time and attention her father spent on the woman. Then Toby was born and any time or attention he usually spent with Sarah was redirected and focused on Toby, the son. The baby was the center of the universe for her father and step-mother. Toby always came first before Sarah.
Fed up with everything on a night the two went out to leave Sarah to babysit the baby brother she never wanted, she wished him away to the goblins. She hadn't known that her wish would actually be granted and that there was such creatures as goblins, let alone that they would take her brother. Nor did she even think that the story her mother had given her was anything but a story. She had no clue that by wishing Toby away she would live its contents as the heroine.
Not all bad had come from the ten hours she spent Underground. In fact, mostly good had come from her trip. Sarah had acknowledged that if it hadn't been for Jareth and those hours spent in his labyrinth, she'd probably still be a naive, spoiled, selfish brat. She wouldn't have come to realize that what had started as an obligation would evolve to truly caring about and loving her younger brother. She became rather protective of him much to Robert and Karen's amusement and exasperation. It didn't happen all at once but gradually and although she became irritated and annoyed with the toddler - it was only natural with their age difference – all she had to do when she got to a certain point, was to remember the night she had almost lost him due to her self wish.
Her room went through as much of a transformation as she did. Gone were most of her childhood belongings. The stuffed animals, childish books, the statue that had once graced her vanity, all gone; the music box, scrapbook, anything that had to do with her mother's characters, and the little red book that had started it all. If she couldn't part with a certain item, it was either put in a box that resided in the back of Sarah's closet or given to Toby. The rest were donated, sold, or thrown away. With those things gone, the room took on the look as if a teenager on her way to womanhood rather than of a child. The curtains above her bed as well as the bed itself had been replaced. Cassette tapes littered the shelves and open spaces as much as the games and books of her youth did. A stereo had joined the lamp near her bed. Half finished homework was spread across her coverlet as well as atop her desk. A cork board adorned with drawings made by Sarah was above the desk. Most of the pinned pictures were still fantasy creatures but there were a few of her little brother and parents.
Since coming to understand her mother's love of the theatre and the draw it had upon her, Sarah was more at peace with the woman's memory. Finding that the theatre no longer called to her, Sarah gave it up. Once she had, she found she actually had a talent for art. She had always liked to draw out things her imagination came up wit but had ignored it, spending all of her time and energy on acting. Without that distraction she actually put thought and effort into her drawings. While giving up acting didn't mean that she didn't appreciate the art any longer, she just preferred to enjoy it from the audience's perspective. The only way she would participate in anything related to the stage was to help with props or sets. That was one of the ways she discovered her talent. It was also where she met whom would become a good friend.
This new past time and hobby was met with approval by her parents. They encouraged her and were glad and relieved when she seemed to be making friends and not letting this new hobby consume her. While she seemed serious about her art, she still took time to spend some free time with her family and friends. This caused Robert and Karen to not hesitate to buy her an easel, canvases, brushes, paints, and all manner of other art supplies. In turn Sarah began to seriously apply herself in her art class in school rather than coasting through as she had previously been doing. In doing so her paintings improved as she learned and experimented with water colors, oil paints, and the color pastels. A fellow classmate seeing her leaping past the others suggested she enter an amateur art contest the their city was holding. Taking the pamphlet from him she promised to consider it. Sarah first talked it over with her parents and with her three friends from the Underground before committing to anything. All five had thought it was a good idea and encouraged her to enter it. They had all seen her work and knew she could have a future as an artist if she desired it. Karen had even said Sarah would likely be a top listed book illustrator after college.
As the theme for the contest was fantasy, Sarah had balked but knew she could do it. There would be a lot of stiff competition, still she thought if she were to enter any kind of themed art contest this would be the one to enter. Oil paints were her medium. She had smiled when she thought of the subject for her piece. She had decided to paint her friends the way she had first met them. Hoggle taking leak in the pond outside the walls of the labyrinth where the fairies hid in the ivy that clung to them. Ludo hanging upside down in the hedge maze being tortured with the Nipper Guards and their Nipper sticks. Sir Didymus guarding the bridge in the Bog of Eternal Stench.
Proud of her creation, she entered the contest and won third place over all. She had won a second place ribbon for originality, technique, and detail. Full of exhilaration she had rushed home wanting to share the news and show off her ribbons. Her parents took her out to celebrate and Karen sensing more than the ribbons were cause of her step-daughter's excitement, asked when Robert went to the restroom with Toby.
After blushing, Sarah confessed that she had met someone at the exhibit. He was a few years older than her and seemed to know a lot about fantasy, myth, and art despite his interest laying in photography. The flush on her face stayed while she talked about his being an amateur photographer and actually attending the exhibit to take pictures of the contest. It caused Karen to smile warmly at her step-daughter and quickly changed the topic of conversation when Robert and Toby came back to the table, much to Sarah's relief. The two females shared a secret smile causing Robert to be confused but pleased since he'd longed feared they would never get along before Sarah had seemed to finally settle with herself.
"You know what's weird though?" Sarah said as she glanced at her father. "Aunt Vanessa was there."
"Really?"
Sarah nodded. Neither she nor her father had seen her mother's sister since after the funeral. Oh, she had come and tried to speak with Sarah but hadn't been able to for long as her son kept up a fuss at the cemetery. Sarah hadn't liked the small boy for that reason alone at the time.
"She didn't stay long. Seemed like she got distracted by something."
Robert sighed. Both Linda and her sister had been flighty but in different ways. "Well, I'm sure she wanted to congratulate you as well. Maybe Max had entered the contest?"
There was a shrug. Sarah couldn't remember how old he was and didn't think it was likely. Her aunt's demeanor hadn't been one of proud parent. In fact, there was something that caused her to pause when she'd met the woman again and the entire time she'd been uncomfortable. "She didn't say."
Toby then captured their attention as he excitedly babbled over whatever had captured his young mind. It lightened the mood back up again and the outing was pleasurable to the whole family.
When they got home and Sarah was sure she was the only one still awake,she called upon her three friends from the Underground. She could barely contain herself as she beamed at them when they appeared so promptly as if waiting to hear how it had gone. She told them about the contest, showed them her ribbons, and even shared the fact that she had been offered a scholarship to a very prestigious art school and subsequently having to explain what a scholarship was. She then unveiled her painting to her friends.
"Why, that's us!" Hoggle said staring open mouthed.
"Indeed, milady. Thou hast captured us well."
"Sawah good," was Ludo's heartfelt input.
Sarah watched them with a proud smile feeling that all the hours working on the piece was worth it at the expressions on her friends' faces. There was awe and delight there and it just made her all the warmer to have been able to cause those expressions and feelings. She'd had an idea which made her nervous, but taking a breath, she knew that it was right. Looking at Hoggle she asked hopefully, "Would you like to have it?"
The dwarf's eyes widened almost comically large before a look of uncertainty crossed his craggy features. "You means, I can have it?"
She nodded. "I really want you to have it, Hoggle. After all, you were my first friend." It was the truth. It might have caused some to think it was a sad thing, but the dwarf had been her first real friend.
The incredulous expression stayed on Hoggle's face as he accepted the painting and treating it as if it were as fragile as spun glass. In a rough voice he replied, "I'll treasure it, always. Yous was my first friend too."
Taking a closer look at the painting as a whole rather than just the part that held him, the dwarf's eyes widened further once more. There in a hole almost hidden in the leafy canopy of the peach tree that divided the painting in thirds was a pale barn owl staring back. When Hoggle turned his gaze to Sarah, she turned away from the searching look. Voice soft and sad matching the expression on her face an in her eyes she stated, "I don't want to forget. The good or the bad. Not any of it."