SPOV

I laughed as Hoggle told me about a Fierie's encounter with a group of Goblins. Bowling had apparently been introduced to the Underground.

Only a week since I left. It seems inherently wrong to even think the words. I left the Labyrinth. I had to, I suppose. I couldn't have left Toby here alone, my adventure helped me realize how much I would miss Toby if he were gone. It also made me think how devastated Dad and Mum would be if I vanished. Karen probably wants me gone, the hag, I'm surprised she doesn't wish me away herself. Dad has terrible taste in women, I remember Lucy, an ex-girlfriend of Dad. She was horrible, Dad sent her away though, once I told him how awful she was. He loves me so.

Dad and Mum love me, they've proved it and it's real. Not like that fake, distraction the Goblin King used, it still disgusts me, the way he just threw around promises like that.

I thought once that Dad hated me, then I realised he was just another thing I'd taken for granted. I have to hand it to Jareth. Evil he may be, but his lessons certainly stick.

I hummed happily to myself as I skipped downstairs.

"Slow down, Sarah. You might break something." Dad said, looking up from his paper. I grinned, he was so concerned in the morning before Karen got her claws into him, maybe there was hope yet. Karen was bustling around the kitchen making breakfast.

"Good morning, Sarah." Karen smiled, that was for Dad's benefit, it amazed me sometimes how she acted just to fool him.

"Ready for school?" She asked, still smiling annoyingly.

"Does it look like it?" I replied. Honestly, I was in my pyjamas for Christ's sake.

"Don't talk like that to your mother!" Dad slammed his newspaper down, he was completely taken in by her, it was so sad.

"Step-mother." I reminded him, Karen's face fell. I felt bad for a moment and then I remembered. Evil-step-mother, like Cinderella.

I went back up to my bedroom to get changed, mood completely ruined by Karen. There was an owl in the tree outside, I smiled at it. An odd time of day for it but oh well.

I set off to school earlier than usual. Everything was so beautiful but it paled in comparison to the Labyrinth. The Labyrinth wasn't beautiful in a green way, like the park, but it was like… home. I wanted to stay there forever. I suppose it's because I met my first real friends there.

I wandered slowly, drawing out my walk to school until I was very nearly late, still breathing in a lovely smell- like roses in full-bloom. I was almost sad to go inside, a quiet, serene sort of sad. It reminded me of the seasons, I was leaving a beautiful summer to enter a different, but just as beautiful autumn.

I was smiling as I sat down for registration. It didn't matter so much that I was sat alone, as I had been for years. I felt happier than I'd been in a long time. Since… when?

Mum left to get a better job, she wasn't suited to being a mother, I was happy after she left though. I was unhappy when Lucy came along, but it was before that. I…can't remember.

I concentrated on every sound, every movement in my classroom, forcing my mind away from my thoughts, not really knowing why I did so. The teachers were quite surprised at my participation and it made me feel almost buoyant listening to their praise where before it had only been criticism. I was quite surprised at how little I had absorbed before. I tried to remember what the cafeteria looked like and couldn't even remember the colour of the walls.

The downside to my new awareness was I could hear what everyone said; around me, across me… about me.

That's when I remembered why I didn't listen in the first place.

It was odd, I can remember people being mean to me.

Monica saying my mother was a slut.

Louise saying no-one liked me.

Adam saying I was a baby.

Lauren saying I was ugly.

Samantha saying I was fat.

Lucy saying Dad would get rid of me.

But I they left, I can't remember what happened to them.

Now, Ryah was telling all of her friends that I was a self-harmer. That she'd seen the scars a year ago but that I'd had plastic surgery or something. How ridiculous. I laughed, unfortunately I picked the wrong moment.

"You think that's funny?!" Yvonne had just tripped and spilt Bolognese down her expensive top. Her pretty, very heavily made-up face was twisted in rage.

"Lay off, Yvonne." Holly said from behind her. "It's just Sarah. I bet she saw a fairy do a back-flip or something and laughed at the same time."

"Probably." Another girl sneered. "I heard her whore of a mother sends her drugs and she's pretty much permanently high."

"Yeah." Yvonne smirked. "Her Daddy had to pay the school to take her on. What can you expect with parents like that? Her father's like, a complete bastard. I bet he was screwing around on her mother for years and she was worse. She actually went off with some rich bloke, how much more of a whore can you be?"

"Her parents didn't even want her. They had a fight in the divorce over who'd get stuck with her."

I could feel my eyes start to fill with tears. I was furious, mortified and hurt at once. I wanted to be swallowed by the floor or bury my head for the next decade. I ran out of the room, their taunts echoing in my mind. None of it was true but it hurt. I sat in the toilets, tears streaming down my face. I tried to imagine being somewhere else. A castle… or a faerie forest. All I could see was their faces. I thought of the Labyrinth but all I could summon up was the Goblin Kings face, his mocking face. But… it changed, the expression was all wrong. I'd never seen him look like that.

The Goblin King…Jareth.

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JPOV

I watched as Sarah laughed, her eyes filled with mirth. The last time she had laughed so was so many years ago I'd almost forgotten how lovely it was.

She skipped downstairs; of course the first words out of Robert's mouth were a criticism. He didn't deserve her. I was a little confused when Sarah smiled, she hated her father and rightly so, then she was rude to her step-mother. Now that really baffled me. I thought she understood the lesson the Labyrinth gave her, I understood why she wished Toby away but I certainly didn't want her to make a habit of it. Toby's psyche wasn't really an issue, his mother dotes on him, there's not a chance he'll feel underappreciated. I don't know quite what Karen was thinking marrying Robert, he doesn't deserve her and he certainly doesn't deserve Sarah or Toby.

She left the house a little early today, I flew after her. She still had the bounce in her step she'd picked up in the Labyrinth. How drab and dreary this world is, no wonder she was always so eager to leave it. A breeze ruffled my feathers, the stench of fumes filled my nose… beak. It was revolting. I changed the air around my Sarah, everything smelt like the Labyrinth now. I changed the trees slightly too, focusing the light more so everything shone gold. She seemed to like it, reluctant to leave. She was so beautiful in that instant my heart ached. She went inside. I followed.

I was there all morning, proud of my little Sarah. She was utterly focused, in the same world as everyone else in a way she hadn't for years. She glowed as her teachers praised her and I almost fell out of my tree I was so pleased. She went off to lunch, I listened with anger to some of the stories the other mortals were spreading about her but she didn't seem to mind. Then she laughed. Another mortal took exception to this, why I have no idea, it doesn't matter either. All that matters is that those mortals caused tears to well in her eyes.

Black fury gripped me as she ran. I flew in the window screeching at the mortals who hurt her. They screamed. Clouds rolled in outside. My talons flexed and I clawed at the pathetic mortals.

I vanished before anyone could throw me out

I'd be visiting their dreams tonight.

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Thank you for the reviews. It's nice to feel appreciated. When I read it through, Jareth sounded very stalkerish, obsessing over her smiles and laughs. I'll probably include the girls dreams next chapter as well.

Please review! (I have now resorted to begging)

LyssaOneiroi.