A/N: So, exciting news! I managed to get ahold of a copy of the anniversary edition of Labyrinth that came out last week! So, hopefully, now that I own the movie, I will be more inspired on this fic. That said, on to the chapter!!
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Such a pity.
Sarah felt weightless, like she was floating, a bubble. She heard the first few notes of a familiar refrain and her eyelids fluttered. Her dreams were fragmented and confused. One part of her was panicked, while the other relaxed and allowed the flashes of people and places crossed her subconscious. She saw her mother, on a stage, surrounded by adoring fans, her father giving her that worried look, Hoggle, Didymus, Toby, her stuffed bear, Lancelot. There was no sense to it. Logic told her that she's better wake up now, but her body resisted. She was far too comfortable.
Someone was singing, a strong, intense voice was singing her name. She recognized it and her mouth formed around his own name, prepared to reply…
A knotty hand gripped her shoulder painfully and shook her. "Sarah! Don't!"
Her eyes flew open and she sat up in one movement. Disappointment settled in her stomach like a lead brick. She was still in the hospital. Then she remembered Hoggle and her excitement flooded back.
"Oh, Hoggle!" she cried, leaping off the bed and crushing him into a hug.
"Yeah, yeah." he said gruffly, but she knew he was pleased. He pulled away from her, though, sooner than she would have liked and gave her a stern glare.
"Ya know ya talk in yer sleep, Sarah?" he inquired.
Sarah winced a little. "I've been told that…"
"Well, ya need to figure out a way around that." he frowned. "If ya had said that rat's name, he might'a showed up right here! Sorry I had ta wake ya." he added apologetically.
Sarah's face reddened in anger and embarrassment. Invade her dreams again, would he? "It's fine, Hoggle." she lied, hiding her discomfort. "I needed to be awake anyway."
Hoggle looked relieved and Sarah thought it was probably a good time for a subject change.
"How did you manage to find me?" she asked. "I haven't got a mirror to call you."
"Uh--I fell outta one in the hallway." he told her evasively. It was not lost on Sarah that he had not answered her question completely, but she decided to let it go, for the moment, at least.
"I've missed you." she confessed. "I was starting to wonder if I'd made the whole thing up." she shook her head, a little scornfully. "But I doubt I'm that creative."
"Why're ya here, Sarah?" Hoggle said softly.
She laughed, but it was a bitter laugh that he did not recognize. It made goosebumps rise on his arms. This Sarah was far more cynical than the one he knew.
"That's what they do to people who see Goblin Kings in their mirrors, I suppose."
Hoggle' eyes widened. Jareth had behaved as if he hadn't seen Sarah since she defeated him, and seemed sincere when he had ordered the dwarf to mention nothing of his involvement. But, then, the Goblin King was not exactly known for his honestly and trustworthiness. Hoggle scowled. He half hoped that Jareth had been lying to him and that he was watching her, because he didn't want to face what it might mean if he hadn't been.
"Hoggle?" Sarah waved her hand in front of his face. "Are you listening to me?"
"Huh?" he came back to reality, to find her peering anxiously at him.
"You aren't sick, are you?" her face was concerned and she was the Sarah he knew again. Worried about him when she was locked up in a crazy house.
"Nah, wasn't paying attention. Sorry." he grunted. "What were ya sayin'?"
"I'm worried about Toby. How did he know who you were?" she asked, her forehead crinkled in anxiety. "Because he recognized Ja--"
The door opened and the orderlies who had sedated her came into the room, taking care to shut the door behind them, this time.
"Talking to yourself again, Miss Williams?" mocked the big one. "You're nuttier than squirrel shit."
"God, Sebastian, be nice, would you?" snapped the younger one. "She's locked up in here 24/7, man, and you wanna make fun of her?"
"If you two are done pretending I don't understand you." Sarah said, annoyed, "I'd like to go see my father and brother now."
"Sure thing, hot stuff." the one called Sebastian winked and tried to take her arm. Sarah jerked away with a venomous look.
"I'm not paralyzed, you don't need to help me walk." she returned scathingly. He didn't try to take her arm again, but opened the door. Sarah allowed herself a brief glance back at Hoggle and a jerk of the head, conveying that he should come with her.
They walked down the hall in silence, an orderly on either side of Sarah, ready to catch her if she tried to bolt, she imagined. Finally, they got the cafeteria and they left her alone with Hoggle.
"I can't talk to you here." she whispered before opening the door. "But I thought anything would be better than waiting for me in that damn room."
Hoggle nodded in agreement and she pushed open the door. The cafeteria was empty, except for her father and Toby, sitting at the farthest table from the door. Both looked up when the door opened.
"Sarah!" exclaimed Toby jubilantly. "Hog!"
Sarah saw her father give the boy a puzzled look and she exchanged a troubled glance with the dwarf. She sat down at the table across from them, inconspicuously pulling the other chair out for Hoggle.
"Sarah," he smiled, looking comforted by her presence. "How are you?"
She shrugged. "Alive."
He chuckled as if it had been a joke. It hadn't. Toby beamed at her and slid down from his chair to stumble over to her. Sarah picked him up with a smile and he waved at Hoggle from her lap.
"Hi Hog."
Her father's forehead creased. "Who is this 'Hog' he keeps talking about?" he wondered. "Do you know?"
"Sorry, Dad." she lied. "No clue."
"Must be an imaginary friend." he mused. "Karen said--"
"Karen said what?" she interrupted sharply. Robert looked surprised.
"Just that she thought she'd heard him talking to himself in the middle of the night. Keeps mentioning 'Gob-gob' at home. She assumed it must be--Sarah? Are you alright?"
Sarah turned her panicked eyes down to stare at the tabletop. "I'm fine, Dad." she said, her voice slightly higher than usual as she traced a pattern in the wood grain with her index finger.
Toby knew Hoggle. He also seemed to know him. Gob-gob sounded about as close as the two year old could get to goblin. Was it possible that he had come back or sent goblins for her precious baby brother? He very likely knew she wasn't at home. After all, he could just transform into an owl and fly Aboveground. If he discovered she wasn't coming home, he might--
"Sarah, are you even listening to what I'm saying?" demanded her father. She looked up at him. His expression was a mixture of annoyance and worry. "What is the matter?"
"Nothing." she repeated. "I was just thinking."
"What about? Honestly, honey, you haven't been yourself." he chided. She shrugged.
"What do you want me to be like?" she said sullenly.
"I just want you to be happy." he cried in exasperation. "And only seeing things that are there. What makes you happy?"
Sarah raised an eyebrow, a sneaking suspicion growing in her mind. "What d'you mean, exactly?"
"I mean, what sort of place makes you happy?"
"Not this one." she answered briskly. "A place where there aren't obnoxious doctors and fathers who do their dirty work."
One look at her father's face confirmed what she said was true. The surprise midweek visit was Dr. Ako's idea.
"And," Sarah snapped. "For the record, I do only see things that are there." She pushed her chair away from the table and stood up.
"Have a nice week." she said, more gently as she handed Robert the baby. "But please don't try to trick me again."
She strode out into the hallway, where the orderlies were waiting, Hoggle trotting along in her wake and she realized, in retrospect, that flying off the handle was not the number one way to be discharged.
By the time they had gotten back to her room, Sarah's gloomy mood had grown worse. The orderlies locked her and Hoggle in, laughing and she dropped to the bed, depressed.
Hoggle took her hand. "We're gonna get ya outta here somehow." he said comfortingly.
Sarah smiled weakly, doubtfully. But his assurance had reminded her of something she had yet to figure out…
"Hoggle?" she murmured.
"Yeah?"
"How did you get here?"
"Through the--that mirror in--in the hallway." he said, obviously flustered. Sarah glared down at him, pulling her hand away.
"You don't think I'll fall for that?" she raised an eyebrow significantly. "Tell me the whole story, Hoggle, and it better be the truth. I don't think I can stand anymore lies."
A/N: R&R! I've had a couple people ask me to make chapters longer and I promise, I'm trying. It seems my brain is hardwired for short chapters. But maybe I'll manage a long one sometime soon. In the meantime, thanks to all who have reviewed so far. You guys are great.