Disclaimer: Despite the fact that I would love to own the Labyrinth and the wonders within, I do not. And, I'm being forced to point out, no one owns Jareth… he is himself, and wishes that people would stop thinking they own him.
notwritten: Why, thank you!
DanikaLareyna: Sorry, I'm not trying to ruin the fantasy... I'm just kinda expounding on my own... hee... and really now, Sarah did have her chance with him, and she chose to save her brother.
And blushes who says it's ME? -blushes and giggles- I could just be writing this in first person... still, I ought to make a few alterations…
Tanona Grenvield: It's so SAD that poor children like us had to go without it! At least I loved 'The Dark Crystal'... And 14 only comes once, so enjoy it!
A/N: Um, okay… going by some responses I've gotten over this story, it looks like there is a need for a little clarification. I'm very sorry for all the JS shippers, and the general Sarah fans, but SHE HAD HER CHANCE! Okay, now that being said, on with the insanity.
How it all began…
Bad days are just… well, bad. I guess that's given in their names. Eh, anyhow, I have too many bad days. Usually, they come from the fact that I am, without a doubt, an oddball.
Reasons why I am weird – by the world's standards, not my own:
1. I am an overgrown child.
2. I am overweight – this is partly my fault, partly the world's for giving me so much stress and making chocolate just so good!
3. I'm past my teens and still live at home. Really, is that so bad? I still pay rent, but it's a heck of a lot cheaper…
4. I don't wear sleeveless, low necklines, short-shorts, mini-skirts, or anything else that many people consider attractive. I don't 'show things off' – I don't even look at halter tops or hip-huggers. They scare me.
5. I am obsessed with fantasy – either my own or written in books, or movies.
6. I've recently discovered that David Bowie is way hot.
7. I think he's hot. I want to say ew to that, but I can't deny it…
8. I'm making a list in my head…
To tell you the truth, I personally don't think I'm weird. I think I'm nicely grounded and normal, but you know how things go. No one will see things exactly as you do. Number two on my list is always areal kicker. I am loosing weight, I'm not like, five hundred pounds or anything, and I'm very nimble and strong and I exercise all the time… but I'm still a big girl. Problem is, ifyou don't look like a supermodel, the world hates you. Guys hate me… and many of them have no qualms in pointing this out…
"Out of my way, fatty!" some guy I didn't even know said while shoving past me. There were five feet on his other side….? What?
I stood in Wal-Mart, feeling dumfounded. Sheesh, I'd just been looking for a new DVD, and… was that even called for? Honestly? I'm big, I know it, but did he really have to say that so loudly?
I watched him walk away, laughing with a friend. A skinny, slim, tube-top wearing friend. Feeling very self conscious, I looked down at what I was wearing: flared mid-rise jeans, flip flops, and a three-fourths sleeve shirt. Was I that horrid? I knew the answer was no, but all the same, I felt like crap.
I was getting a new book and a pair of earrings. I decided to pass on the DVD. Taking what I was getting, I proceeded to checkout. From there, I headed to the car. Somewhere in there, from taking my receipt to unlocking the car door, two more people laughed at me. I'm used to having someone laugh at me, or insult me, but three within an hour? New record. It was all a slippery slope from there.
When I got home, I went through the kitchen towards my room (well, technically since the hallway and the hall closet are also mine, you might say it was my section of the house), but knocked into some baking dishes my mother had stacked up near a counter I passed.
"WREN!" my mother shrieked desperately. I knew she hadn't meant to snap at me, and was concerned about her glass dishes, but still it set me off.
"Well, sorry!" I yelled back, "I'm sorry I'm just so fat that knock everything over! IT STINKS TO BE ME!"
She tried to say something to me, but I wasn't listening to her. I just wanted to get away from the world.
Shutting the door behind me, I put my back to it and slid to the floor, finding tears were running down my face. I threw my shopping bag on my bed, angrily. I was just so tired of everything, the whole lot of it. if only things were as easy as wishes! If I could just wish myself away, I would. No hesitation. Not even for my family. They just think I'm too moody, anyhow.
"I wish I could just wish myself away…" I said crawling up on my bed and just lying there. I grabbed for my CD player, with my Labyrinth Soundtrack inside, shoving the headphones on my ears and listened to David Bowie. How come he never sounded this good with anything else? Maybe I was just obsessed with Jareth. I dunno… After fifteen minutes or so,I turned it off and promptly felt like crying again.
For no real reason, and surely not expecting anything to happen, I considered my situation and what I wanted. I just laid there, staring up at the ceiling. If life were easy, it wouldn't be hard... yeah, I knew that. Why was I angry? Because someone called me fat. They always do that. So, why did it upset me so much, now? I didn't know. Okay... so what did I know? what did I want?
In my head, I made another list: Things I know I definitely want:
1. To lose weight - I am doing this, slowly, but you know... overall, whether or not I am doing it, I still do want to do it.
2. To travel - I want to see the world, and go places I've never been before.
3. To find someone who cares about me, for who I am, other than those who are related to me and have to do so.
4. Um...
My thoughts faltered for a moment. What else could I want? I know there's more than just three things. Why else would I be angry? There had to be something else... bound and determined to find something else to add to my mental list. There had to be something else. I would make there be...
I glanced around my room, feeling frustrated. I went to my bookshelf and glanced over the titles I had. One caught my eye... it was the recent one I purchased that I was going to restore, the Labyrinth Novelization. Getting harder and harder to come by, the book had cost me a bit more than I normally would have spent on a book so small, but, you know, obsessions often speak louder than the bank account does. The cover was worn and nearly torn, but at least all the pages were still in tact. Eventually, I was going to color the white creases with acid-free gel pens and cover it with contact paper to keep it nice, but for now it was as ratty as ever.
I frowned at the cover. Oh, wasn't it just so sweet? Whatever. Sarah had the chance to escape everything, and she turned it all down! Was she nuts? Probably... after all, she was only, what, fifteen? Something like that. Still... how could anyone turn down such a thing, such an offer? I sure wouldn't...
And suddenly, with a great rush of irrational thought and illogical anger in general, I said aloud, "Dang it all, I wish the Goblin King would come and take me away, right now. Seriously, I do. I'm a nerd, and a looser, and fat, and I'm destined to be alone for the rest of my life and I wish he'd just come and take me away… right now."
This was just, you know, one of the angry things I say... I do that from time to time. Just ranting and raving... I NEVER expected anything to happen.
I could hear my mother leaving the house. My grandparents are old, and in the morning they had an early appointment… and they live way across town. So to help Mother went ahead and made plans to stay the night there. That left me alone, at home. My father was away on business. She knew better than to remind me – especially when I was in an angry mood.
And as soon as silence reigned, the power went out in my room. Not the whole house, I'm sure, but my room. It made my my anger explode.
"WRETCHED CURSES AND HEXES! STUPID OLD HOUSE!" I shouted. Clumsily, I put my book back on the shelf and started fumbling around, trying to find my flashlight.
I found it, upright on my chest of drawers. Getting it turned right side up (I always turn flashlights up to the ceiling, so they act more like a lamp) and fumbled with the switch.
I flicked it on... and there was a kind of explosion. It was... a puff of glitter and black material and sparkly light all over my room. I shrieked and backed myself into the corner…
And then decided I had completely lost my mind. Stress, obviously, had driven me to insanity. Before me, frowning, was the Goblin King. There wasn't anyone else he could have been. Yes, I had surely lost it.
"You are not real," I said promptly, blinking my eyes, my breath heaving in and out of my chest. "You are a figment of my imagination and some kind of subconsciously weird attraction to an eighties' Rock icon. Go away."
The figure, which had materialized in my bedroom, was glaring at me haughtily from where he stood in front of my closet. He seemed... bored. Or was he frustrated? "No, I think not," he said without a smile, "You summoned me here with your words... you made a wish…"
"Okay, time for you to stop talking," I interrupted. "I'm crazy, okay? You are not real!"
"Little girl-"
"STUFF IT!" I shouted, getting to my feet. Real or not, I had been insulted enough for one day, and I'd hit my boiling point. "I'M A GROWN WOMAN! True, I live at home, but DON'T CALL ME LITTLE!"
"Now see here!" he said, his haughty face getting angry. My outburst had seemed to shock him out of the indifference he'd been giving me earlier.
Okay, so crazy or not, I had to give myself credit for thinking of this one. No imaginary person of mine had ever been so real looking. Ever. This guy was the spitting image of how I always imagined Jareth. He had the wild hair, the two different colored eyes, the sparkly cape, tights, boots and all. Currently, he was giving me this kind of snotty and offended look, with his hands on his hips.
"You're a figment of my imagination! Stop this!" I covered my eyes… this figment was too real… just too disturbing, even for me… hot, yes, but disturbing…
"Come now," he said, his voice sounding angry. "I am really beginning to regret answering your call...my luck I get the old one who thinks she is insane, after all these years of not answering the calls," the last bit he mumbled to himself, "You are allowed to hate me, you are allowed to call me whatever you like– but I will NOT tolerate you being there and telling me that I do not exist!"
"But you don't!"
"I am real!" he shouted. Okay, I knew that yes, he was fake, but even I had to admit that I jumped a bit when he raised his voice at me. I turned and faced him, feeling as though the world was seriously out to get me today.
"Are not!"
"Are too!"
"Are not!"
"Are – wait, why am I even arguing with you?" He put his gloved fingers to his temples, as if battling a sudden headache, "I AM THE GOBLIN KING! I DONOTHAVE TO ANSWER TO YOU, OF ALL PEOPLE! I DO NOTNEED YOU TO VALIDATE MY EXISTENCE!" he threw his hands in the air and I flew back onto my bed, more than a little winded.
I stood up, a little shakily, and took a deep breath, ready to shout something back to him about validation when… I got it. He had to be real. He'd blown me backwards, and even some of the things around my room had wobbled…
Oh crap.
And I think my fear showed on my face.
"Ah, at last, the dense one's brain has finally filtered in and processed the fact that Iamvery real. Feel better?" he grinned sarcastically– even in my frightened state, his grin was very dashing.
"Go away," I said sharply, "I said go away!"
His grin faded, "You do not seem to quite understand, do you? Let mesimplify for you. You made a wish, like a contract. I accepted. It's done. You said the words!" he threw his hands in the air, frustrated, "You are getting on my nerves! Look at you! It is as though you refuse to even remember what you wished for! This is ludicrous..."
I nodded and moved backwards, to the small corner of my room beside my bed. "I… I remember... I wished you would come and take me to your kingdom… and help me get away from here…"
He nodded, extending a hand to me even though his voice remained sarcastic,"Oh, good, she remembers. May we get on with this?"
I thought about it. "Can you come back tomorrow?"
"I – what?" he frowned, shocked by my question.
"I have things to do tonight," I said, simply, hoping desperately to buy myself some time… and perhaps some Prozac. Or whatever it is people take for this sort of thing. Part of me was still clinging onto the insanity thing. "So tomorrow, then?"
His face went blank in that kind of I'm-really-getting-tired-of-dealing-with-you kinda way. His eyes, in the strange sparkly light that filled my room, glinted oddly. It frightened me.
Before I could blink, he had retrieved a crystal from his… well, I don't know where from… and threw it at me. I yelped.
"No, now!" he said as it popped me in the forehead, knocking me out cold.
When I sat up, I blinked and looked around me.
"Oh crap."
Out before me was, as crazy as it sounds, the Labyrinth. I blinked again and again. It didn't go away. I felt the dirt under my jeans, and it was very… dirty. So was the twig sticking me in the rump, and the other dead weed-thingy scratching my ankle.
"Such language," a clipped accent drew my attention from the left. I turned and saw him, again.
"Jareth? Are you really Jareth?" I rubbed my eyes.
He rolled his. "This, my dear, is getting old. I am REAL!"
His shout blew me over - a very angry wind. "Aaah, whoa!" I toppled over, getting dirt and dust on my hands and arms to keep myself up. Was it just me, or was he more sarcastic and... resentful... than Jareth was supposed to be? "What is your problem? Okay, fine, you're real, I get it… is there something bugging you?"
A very odd look passed over his face. "Trying to play therapist, are we? Sorry to disappoint you, but you are nothere to analyze me." He paused, cleared his throat and struck what he must have thought was an intimidating pose, and recited his lines, "You have thirteen hours to complete the Labyrinth before your… hold on a tic…"
"What's wrong?" I asked, getting to my feet. He looked really puzzled.
"You wished yourself away, did you not?"
Realization dawned on my face. I had wished myself away, hadn't I? It... well, as irrational as my thoughts had been at the time, it had worked! I'd gotten my wish!
"Heh, I guess I did!" I smiled and started laughing, twirling my arms and spinning happily.
"Stop that, you look ridiculous," he snarled. I stopped. He cleared his throat… "So,to… clear things up… what is it you want?"
I grinned. Hadn't that been just the questions I'd been thinking on earlier? Now, I had an answer. "To stay here, in this world, and never have to worry about the crappy existence I had before."
"Well, thatisa first…"
I frowned. "Really? I mean… surely there have been others who have, you know, wanted to stay?" was I really the first to wish myself away? Weird.
"Oh, yes, the young boys and girls are just dying to stay here in this wretched goblin-infested waste.Do you notjust see them, running all over the place, there and there?"
"You know,you don't have to be sarcastic about everything. It was just a question, for heaven's sake."
He glared at me, inhaled slowly and closed his eyes for a moment. Another odd look passed across his face, "No one has. One almost chose to... but at the last, she chose her brother instead."
"Oh… so can I stay?"
He snorted, "No!"
I scoffed at him, "Why?"
He grinned at me, "You must beat the Labyrinth for the right to stay," his voice got haughty again, and louder, "You have thirteen hours to beat-"
"Give it up already," I groaned. I turned and walked away from him, down the hill towards the Labyrinth.
"Wait," he called out, as if confused by the fact that I didn't need to hear him finish. "Where are you going?"
I snorted but didn't turn around. I wasn't going to waste any time. "To your castle, dummy, beyond the Goblin City. See you there."
To be continued (though, perhaps not in the very next chapter)...
A/N: Mmkay, there's a bit of how everything started... how Jareth and Wren first met... hee... Please review! Even if you don't like it, it's only polite to leave a little something to, you know, help me improve and all that jazz.
Love ya!
Marti