DISCLAIMER - I don't own Sarah or Jareth or the Labyrinth (unfortunately) they belong to Jim Henson & Co, and I'm definitely not making a profit from this.
All other NPC's are a figment of my own imagination.
It was a dream. She knew it for a dream because she explicitly remembered cleaning her teeth, undressing and climbing into her own bed. She knew more than any other reason that it was a dream, because she only dreamt of the labyrinth, and never because she willed it. Yet she stood, for the second time miles above the Labyrinth perched somewhat precariously on a sundial large enough to walk around on. Next to the 9th numeral behind her grew a weathered tree, its shade cooled her back against the hammer blows of the labyrinths sun in a sky that was the colour of burning copper chloride. The blue was that intense it was almost unreal. More unreal than everything else she mentally amended stepping to the edge of the stone sundial and looking down at the Labyrinth below her. She should have been suffering from vertigo, yet her brain refused to suspend her disbelief that it was just a dream. The labyrinth spread out in all directions like a patchwork. Myriad colours from all the different types of maze contained within. The bold ochre of the endless starting paths and stone walls ended abruptly in hedge mazes and the forbidden forest in red and gold and green. On the edge of the horizon, almost masked by the heat haze lay the dark pitch browns of the bog and beyond that, shimmering lay the goblin city and the spires of the castle. It was hard to imagine this place being real, even harder to imagine she had spent 13 hours trying to reach the center. Yet here, in the otherworldly atmosphere, she had made friends with the most unlikely group of creatures, the Labyrinth had forged her, shown her nothing was impossible in the realms of belief and imagination. It had taught her lessons she had not known she had even needed to learn, and then its king had broken her. She stepped back to the shade of the tree and sank down, leaning back against the trunk.
"If I didn't know you better I would think you were crazy, or obsessed." Jareth muttered sinking down beside her and crossing his leather booted feet.
"Maybe I'm both." Sarah replied after a moments thought on his statement. "Is this the 'later' you were talking about?"
"You brought me here, not the other way around." Though she couldn't see his face, she knew he was scowling, and it made her smile.
"Me summon you? Surely not Your Majesty. I am after all only dreaming, which is your doing not mine since I am unable to dream for myself."
"There is no such thing as 'only' dreaming Sarah." His voice purred over her name like he was savouring the taste of it. They sat in silence listening to the wind in the branches above them making the leaves sigh and rustle.
"Memories." Sarah remarked. "All this is just memory." He didn't answer her.
"What happens when I stop remembering how is was?"
"It reverts to how it is now."
"Unreal reality. Are you going to tell me about this 'Labyrinths Champion' You did promise." She turned to face him and studied his profile, her fingers itching to find a piece of paper and a pencil to sketch him.
"The answer is simple if you put your mind to it. You made it to the center of the Labyrinth, you got the child back, you are only the second to ever have done that. It makes you the Champion."
"And in the process lost myself in my mind, gave away my dreams and had my entire childhood shattered beyond repair. Champion; an empty title." He finally turned to face her as she spoke so bitterly.
"It is much more complicated than you naively state."
"Then explain it to me. I'm not going to stay asleep forever." She clicked her teeth shut as the words escaped her lips and frowned.
"Not long at all then." He quipped. As if perturbed by her stony glare he rose and paced across the sundial, stopping finally to lean against the brass point gathering his thoughts. She rarely saw his smile any more she mused watching him frown at his thoughts. Unless he was laughing at her her amended.
"Show me how it is now." She said standing up also and walking back to the edge of dial to look down at the view. In a heartbeat the colours seemed to seep away, and the sun lost its warmth as clouds boiled up like an oil slick in water, hiding the blue sky and casting everything in a grey wash. The Labyrinth in the half light crumbled, and the forbidden forest and hedge mazes drew in on themselves, trees shedding their leaves and a sickly miasma began to rise from the rotting foliage. She shivered as she was overcome by the desolation and destruction.
"My dreams weren't enough."
"The magic fades. Everything does in the end." Jareth stated fiddling with his gloves, making Sarah look over at him sharply. 3 paces and she stood before him, demanding, haughty, exquisite. He folded his hands to stop himself reaching out to touch her.
"This is not an explanation." She scowled again growing angry with his reluctance to tell her the truth.
"As I said, it is harder to explain than you assume." He glared right back at her.
"Please Jareth. Don't I deserve an explanation?"
"Deserve? Like I deserve to live in this wasteland?"
"Poor choice of words, I'm sorry."
"I had thought you had grown up, but there is still a petulant child in you."
"I could say the same thing about you!" She spat back turning away from him in anger and frustration.
"The Labyrinth must have a Champion. This is what happens when it does not." He sighed behind her.
"What happened to the old Champion?" Sarah asked almost afraid to hear the answer.
"They were superseded."
"How?"
"By you! Such ignorance Sarah I thought you were clever?" His anger made her want to flee, the Labyrinth shuddered as if mirroring his mood.
"You were its Champion! How could I have... no. Don't answer that, you are right, the answer is plain. I won against you. By choosing to go home I did this." She turned back to him, fear and disbelief written all over her face. "Does this mean I am supposed to be some kind of Goblin Queen?"
"You think you know the answer, yet it could not be further from the truth. No you are not supposed to be Queen. Foolishness. My title passes to my heirs. Champion. That is all. It is the Labyrinth, not my Kingdom that suffers because of your choices. Did you think my Kingdom would be as small as what you see here?" He alternatively berated her and scoffed at her assumptions.
"I've not even thought about how big your.. realm might be. Certainly it would have to be big considering the size of your ego. You've spent so long never having to explain yourself to others you've forgotten how to. I'm not your subject your Majesty, I'm also not stupid. Thats twice you have insulted me, and you are supposed to be a King. I thought they were supposed to be kind, and compassionate and understanding..." She trailed off realising she sounded like the child he had accused her of being. The thought made her blush in embarrassment.
"You might find that to be the truth under different circumstances, when my whole world isn't crumbling around my feet. You speak of compassion and understanding. Others would forgive a person for being angry under such circumstances. The Labyrinth is turning in on itself, the world dies because there is no magic, no belief. Its Champion deserted it and left it to fend for itself. Its Champion turned her back on..." He stopped and turned away from her rage making his eyes shine dangerously.
"How am I supposed to be able to fix this when I can't even fix myself?" Sarah whispered sinking down to the stone clutching her head in her hands.
"If I knew the answer..." He responded quietly.
"Stop! Just... just go away Jareth. Leave me alone!" She wept. She knew he went, the desolation seemed worse without him nearby, and the wind in the tree behind her sounded as heartbroken as she felt. She tried re-imagining the Labyrinth whole and lit by the golden sun, but nothing happened no matter how she tried. Eventually she gave up, tears of frustration blurring her sight.
"I didn't abandon you, you abandoned me!" She screamed into the void. She gave into her grief, her body trembling in the storm of her tears until exhausted and cold she lay numb on the stone not caring if she ever awoke.
He stalked through the castle in a white cold rage. Goblins far from scattering before him took care not to get even in the same quarter of the castle as him. The problem was, he was in more of a rage at himself than he was at her. Reaching his study high in the east tower he sank down in his chair and cursed in several languages. 14 years he had kept his heart hidden away. 14 years nurturing hatred and anger towards the girl who had destroyed everything he had worked so hard to create. Yet now he found himself wanting to please her, to make her smile. Understanding had dawned on him rather profoundly as they had argued in her dream; she was innocent of guilt only because she had simply never understood the consequences of her choices. Had he stopped being a cocky shit when she had first run the Labyrinth things could have been, so different. His traitorous heart told him he was fooling himself if he thought he could turn back time that far.
"Its never too late." Anyetta said walking cautiously though the door carrying a bottle of wine and glasses on a tray which she placed in front of him. She ignored his glare and poured him a large glass before taking one for herself.
"You may think things are irreparable, but they rarely are."
"Have you been spying on me?"
"No Your Majesty, simply working on instinct. I can see that she fascinates you as much now as she did then." Anyetta smiled and walked out to the balcony to watch the Labyrinths paths darken in the setting of the cloud shrouded sun. She touched the pitted and worn crumbling stone sadly, even here closest to him the decay had set in.
"All I can say is she'd better be able to change this when alls said and done. Its past time for the rift to be healed."
"She doesn't know how to. She didn't even know she was Champion. She doesn't know..." He stopped himself before he could say something he would regret.
"Then you need to teach her. Go to her, no games and ask her to help you fix this." The pretty fae stepped back as Jareth surged to his feet in another fit of anger.
"I WILL NOT!"
"Then the Labyrinth, and all of us bound to it will die."
"She should be... she is. Infuriating. It is impossible to reason with her or to have a civil conversation." He shouted slamming his wine glass down on his desk.
"I can see how this would cause friction between you, she is at least as stubborn as you Your Majesty. I shall be in my quarters if you have need of me." Anyetta laughed curtsying before leaving him to his anger. The wine glass shattered into a thousand shards against the door behind her.
Her pillow was wet as she woke back to consciousness in the predawn light. The alarm clock on the dresser told her it was 7am as she stared at its display ticking away the seconds. There had been nightmares, but they paled in comparison to the horror of the truth. She didn't want to think about it but a voice in the back of her head would only blame herself for the situation she now found herself in. Vaguely she wondered if she would have ever have found out the fate of the Labyrinth if she had not wished herself away that night with the shard of mirror. The scar on her hand itched as she thought about it. Grimacing she presumed the answer would be no. He was too stubborn and proud to seek her out to fix this. Too angry with her to forgive easily, if ever. That hurt more than knowing the Labyrinth was falling apart because of her actions, though why she dared not reason out. That he blamed her even though she had never understood or known the consequences was unfair to the extreme. He was as much to blame for never explaining as she was for never asking.
"Now we are both stuck with living in this half life." She whispered before climbing out of bed and heading for the shower.
The astringent smell of the doctors surgery made her want to sneeze, but in the pristine reception area of the private clinic she didn't want to make a sound. Nervously she played with the strap of her bag, waiting for the buzzer over the door on the other side of the room to frighten her to death. The door opened and another patient left, a blank look on their face and clutching a prescription. Sarah sighed, then blushed as she realised her doctor was smiling in a false welcome smile he always put on before he realised who it was.
"Come on in." He beckoned his smile changing to something much more genuine. "Let me just wash up and I'll be right with you Sarah."
"Thank you." She replied settling herself in the patients chair to one side of his desk.
"Sorry about that, how can I help you this morning Sarah?" The Doctor asked drying his hands and sitting down in his chair before bringing her details up on his computer.
"I cut myself, and it doesn't seem to be healing properly." Sarah said rather lamely. She watched him frown and pay full attention to her.
"You... cut yourself. May I see?" Sarah nodded and held out the palm of her hand. Gesturing a little she nodded as he took her hand in his own to examine the scar. Without waiting for her to say anything further he pushed the sleeve of her jumper up revealing the hand sized black and yellow bruising that circled her wrist.
"An accident." She whispered.
"Like the previous one? I can't say I am not worried Sarah because I am, this is not right."
"Please Doctor Blake..."
"Gerry Sarah, please, we've known each other long enough to dispense with the formalities."
"Gerry. I am grateful for your concern, really, but its just a bruise. I..."
"These bruises happen all too often for my liking. He is no good for you."
"I'm more concerned about the cut. It hurts still, throbs sometimes, is there anything you can give me?" She watched as he pulled his desk lamp closer so he could look at the thin line across her palm and faint red lines that ran out like a sunburst from it.
"Infection is quite possible, it looks like there is foreign matter in the scar tissue that may need to be removed, small though it is. Anything could be enough to give you an infection, blood poisoning, other generalised nasties. When did you last have a tetanus jab?"
"I'm not sure, maybe 6 years ago?"
"HHmm well this looks more than a month old, so Tetanus would have emerged before now if you were infected. I'll give you a general course of antibiotic which should deal with anything bacterial, and some topical cream to rub in so the scar tissue doesn't harden. You should have come to me about this sooner." Gerry turned back to the computer and made a few entries frowning at his 2 fingered approach to typing.
"So. Now thats out the way, how are you coping with everything else? The gallery still running well?" He leaned back in his chair picking up his cup of tea.
"Its fine, its all fine. We have a new sculptor coming in for an exhibition at the end of next month, you should bring your wife, let me grab you a flyer, I have some somewhere." Sarah turned flushing as she rooted about in her bag before turning back to face him proffering a slightly creased flyer.
"You know we'll be there." He smiled taking the flyer off her. "How are you Sarah?" He waited patiently as she sat there trying to work out what to say.
"I feel like, I am falling and theres no ground beneath my feet and nothing to grab hold of." She said finally looking up at him, her face a mask of fear. "I have nightmares. No dreams unless..."
"Unless?" He prompted her gently knowing how reticent she was to discuss her issues.
"Only recently, sometimes I have dreams about somebody I used to know."
"Well theres an improvement. At least you remember that you are at least dreaming, be they nightmares or normal dreams."
"They all feel like nightmares. Most of the time I still don't dream."
"And you are still taking your medication regularly?"
"Yes. Though I've had to increase how many sleeping tablets I take on some nights. You said that was ok right?" She waited anxiously for him to nod.
"Up to a point, but don't over use them. Like the anti depressants they have side effects."
"Doesn't everything." She replied grimly.
"Any more panic attacks?"
"No more than usual, but I am learning to control them when they happen. I still get anxious, somehow I find myself being..." She shrugged at him not knowing how to describe it. "Lost in my own mind. Like I can't deal with the external so I hide in here." She said touching her temple.
"People who have suffered trauma and shock sometimes do this. Its a self preservation mechanism, though it concerns me you are finding yourself doing this more frequently. Unless you have suffered... trauma, that you've not told me about. Please Sarah, if theres something troubling you, making you frightened I am here to help. Regardless of what it may be. If you are frightened of your boyfriend I can put you in touch with a womens group..."
"NO! I'm sorry, no, its ok honestly." Sarah flushed again biting her lip. She watched him scrawl a phone number down on another slip of paper and reluctantly took it off him as he proffered it to her.
"Just in case." He said as she slipped it in her bag.
"Thank you."
"If you are still having the nightmares and sleep issues in a month come back to me, keep a note of how often and how much you take of the sleeping pills and when the nightmares occur. If need be we can swap your meds, but I want to be sure its those causing your issues, not something external like stress. Take care of yourself Sarah, Melaine and I will see you at the exhibition." Gerry smiled and nodded as she rose and slung her bag over her shoulder.
She left without a further word.