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.
"You'll never be good enough for him. You will never hold his eye, and he will never really care that your jealousy will eat you inside out."
Sarah stopped as a beautiful young fae woman stepped out in front of her at the doorway to the garden, blocking her path once more.
"Maybe hes not good enough for me, have you ever thought of that?" Sarah said angrily, clutching the sketchbook and letter to her chest wishing it was thicker, and more like armour and the map harder and less smelly so she could hit things with it. The fae woman laughed, doubling over in mirth at Sarah's words.
"He sees you only as a momentary distraction. You are mortal, your life and death are but a single moment to him. What makes you think you are so very special, so very different from all the others?"
"Maybe I am not, but I'm the one who is stood here, not anybody else."
"I could turn his gaze from you in the blink of an eye. I could make you spend the rest of your mortal life watching him enjoy others."
"If you could, you would have by now. If I am not important, why are you even bothering with me? If I am just a mortal of no consequence, why all of the attention? If I mean so little to him, why did he wait for me?" It was Sarah's turn to smile.
"I think you are lying. You are desperate, and you are trying to stop me from fixing this. Why is he so important to you that you would leave him without his memories?"
The fae woman looked momentarily speechless, and clearly had no response to Sarah's words.
"Get out of my way."
"You think you are so brave little mortal, you have no idea what you face."
"Be that as it may, I will do this no matter what you say." Sarah deliberately stepped forward, and to her relief, the beautiful fae woman stepped back, fading into the shadows.
"Hoggle?" She called reaching the center of the garden.
"Ere, what took you so long? It will be sunrise soon, why is it that whenever you are in the Labyrinth we're always running?"
"No idea perhaps its fate." Sarah laughed at the irony. "Hoggle, do you know where the sundial is? The one up in the air, with the stairs that curl all the way up to it."
The dwarf stood and thought for a moment then shook his head.
"There's only a few places untouched, I'll take you to the one I think it might be and we'll go from there." He said shrugging at the dismay in Sarah's face.
"Can't do nothin about it now, we either go or we don't."
"OK, lets go then." Sarah sighed and nodded, picking up the other sketchbook and papers she had left in the garden, and popping her pencils into the large pocket of her dressing gown wondering if she should have worn something slightly more appropriate for gallivanting around the Labyrinth.
She hefted the map on her shoulder and checked that the letter was still inside her other sketchbook before following Hoggle through the garden to the small door in the long outer wall.
She happened to glance back at the castle as he turned the key in the lock and saw hundreds of little goblin faces at the many windows staring right back at her. She smiled, her determination reaffirmed at the sight of them. She would make this right… somehow.
She was taken aback by just how bad things were on the other side of the little doorway in the garden. Most of the passageways had collapsed leaving jagged tooth like towers here and there were corners met or walls learnt drunkenly against each other. In other places the earth seemed torn in two, leaving huge night black chasms that seemed to go on into the bowels of whatever lay underneath the underground. Sarah didn't even want to think about the connotations of that. In her mind the Underground was under the real earth. Fundamentally she "knew" that wasn't really the case, but it helped her reconcile the impossibilities. She didn't ask or ponder why the Undergrounds sky seemed endless, and why at night she saw a completely different set of constellations in the sky.
She hurried on behind Hoggle as he wove his way through the chaos.
"Least we can go a bit more direct." She said climbing over a wall behind him.
"More or less."
They both paused looking around them for signs of the dark creatures that now stalked the ruins then continued on. In the distance they heard deep cracks that made the ground shudder. More chasms opening up Sarah suspected.
"Hoggle.." She gasped at one point, clutching tightly to her chest as her vision wavered. He turned and came back to help her sit down for a moment as she struggled to breathe through the pain.
"Not much time left." She said eventually "Have to keep going." He nodded and moved off, his little lamp swinging as he climbed over more broken walls leading the way.
"Not much further, there can you see?" He asked as they reached the top of a small mound. Glowing faintly in the distance seemed to be a more intact section of the old Labyrinth, covered in the same wild roses that grew in the garden. Even though the two moons hung low on the horizon the roses still glowed faintly. They continued on in silence, not even speaking when a large chasm blocked their way making them detour in a wide sweep.
Sarah felt like she had run a marathon by the time they stood under the overhanging roses staring at a blank wall.
"Any way in?"
"Hidden as usual."
"I should have guessed."
Hoggle snorted and suddenly disappeared into the wall.
"Its safe." He called a second later his disembodied arm showing back through the hidden gap. Sarah squinted at the place where he had disappeared and thought she could just about make out the fine line that marked the hidden entrance. She held her breath and walked forward expecting there to be some kind of resistance or to just hit the wall straight on. There was no resistance, only a slight tingling on her face. She assumed it was something to do with the inherent magic of the Labyrinth recognising who had made the scars on her face. His magic. She turned her mind off her worries and followed Hoggle, weaving their way through the beautiful and rather overgrown roses.
They tangled in her hair and caught the dressing gown almost caressingly as the scent reminded her of him so distinctly it made her catch her breath. Sudden moments and flashes of memory, strangely it was not the moments she had expected. If she closed her eyes all she could see in her minds eye was the darkness of the taxi ride home, his arm around her shoulders and his hair, highlighted in neon red and green from the traffic lights, and the way he had looked at her. She flushed as she realised she'd stopped walking and Hoggle had had to come back for her.
"No time for shilly shallying, dawns here." He grunted nodding towards the hidden horizon.
"Steps. They were curved, following the shape of the sundial, they went down and down. Or in this case up and up? Can you see any steps anywhere?"
They searched the entire courtyard with the strange wall covered by roses in the center, it wasn't until Sarah had walked round and round 3 or more times that she noticed the single outer wall that had an odd archway detail that she investigated it further. Taking a deep breath and putting a hand out in front of her she walked into the wall and whooped in triumph as she reached the other side and found what she was looking for. Hoggle followed directly behind her carrying the sketchbooks she had put down on the floor in order to search better.
"Here, you will need these."
"Thanks."
"Good luck."
"Hoggle I…"
"No need. This is always the way right?"
She smiled sadly at her friend and nodded.
"It does seem to be that way. This isn't goodbye Hoggle, I will see you soon, in the Labyrinth when its all fixed." She knelt awkwardly and hugged him. "In the mean time, be safe, find somewhere sheltered, I have no idea if what I have planned will work, or how it will work but I don't want you to be hurt by accident, my dearest dearest Hoggle." She planted a kiss on his forehead.
"You don't have a lot of time to get up to the top and do whatever it is you are supposed to be doing. You'd better go." He said gruffly releasing her and stepping back. She nodded again and standing up turned and marched off up the curving staircase without looking back so he wouldn't see the tears in her eyes.
On and on, upward and upward she climbed, the steps making the muscles in her legs burn in pain and her heart throb. She had to stop more than once, but fear of running out of time soon made her start climbing again into what seemed like nothing at all as a soft eerie mist began to form, curling around her legs and making swirling eddies as she climbed through it. For all she knew she was climbing the same circle of stairs like in one of the crazy Escher paintings she had had on her bedroom wall when she was younger. They had fascinated her then, but now she knew nothing was as it seemed and with each passing minute she grew more and more concerned that she really was getting nowhere. She stopped, her heart giving a sharp wrenching pain as she gasped for breath. She turned and sat down on the step, knowing she should go on, knowing she had no time.
"Rest, you will do yourself an injury rushing around like this. Take it from me, you need to take care of yourself."
Sarah looked up and behind her at the voice, watching as a stately woman made her way carefully down several steps to stand near her, holding gently to her gown which emphasised her pregnancy. She sighed and rubbed her back.
"I had wondered if I would be seeing you." Sarah said sighing herself.
"Stay awhile, my feet could do with a rest." The woman said smiling at Sarah who stood at her words.
"No. I don't believe I shall. People to see, places to go and all that." She turned and pushed past the woman who frowned.
"You'd really leave a pregnant woman alone on a set of stairs like this?" Sarah turned and stared at the fae.
"How long have you been pregnant? A millenia? Eternity. Forever. I'm hardly concerned that a few moments stood here with me will be detrimental to your continued health."
"So harsh."
"I don't have time for softness."
"No. Thats the problem with mortals though, no time. In the blink of an eye you'll be dust and he will go on and forget."
"Won't have much to forget if he can't remember." Sarah said stepping away up the stairs, ignoring the agony in her chest. She muttered as the fae woman followed her.
"Isn't that rather thoughtless of you? You'd try and capture him for a single moment not caring what he would be left with after. You know you'd never beget a child from him don't you. As far as he is concerned you are barren. Its a shame really as you are such a pretty thing, but you sadly would never provide him with what he really needs which is of course an heir."
"What do you care?" Sarah asked stopping again and turning back to the fae.
"A great deal as it happens."
"Then you will know how I feel. I too care a great deal, but I care more about righting this terrible terrible wrong than trying to trap him or make him do something he might not care to do."
"How little you understand our purpose."
"You're wrong. I do understand your purpose, I just happen to disagree with you exercising it around me. Its not me who should be leaving him alone, its you and your sisters. I ask again, why are his memories so very important to you?"
"Not his memories Sarah, its not him they are testing!" Anyetta called as she ran up the stairs towards them, appearing like a ghost through the mist. "Its your memories, your purpose, your strength they seek to test."
"You will be punished if you utter another word." The pregnant fae threatened turning to Anyetta who ignored her and carried on talking.
"Sometimes, the things we want the most require that we sacrifice something of equal value, blood memory, blood magic is stronger than words in the Labyrinth. Sometimes, the sacrifice is of greater value to those you might save than to yourself, do you understand?"
"I'm not sure I really do…"
"Go Sarah, you must believe in the magic, believe in him but most of all believe in yourself, heal the Labyrinth, save us all!"
"Anyetta…" Sarah said confused.
"Go, I'll be fine, the Moirae can not hurt their own blood. Go Sarah."
Sarah nodded and turned quickly staying out of reach of the pregnant fae who reached out for her.
"Don't go Sarah, you will not succeed!"
She ignored the call and hurried on, the pause had given her a chance to regain her breath and give her a second wind. It was minutes again before she realised the mist was thinning, and the dawn light was breaking through, turning everything golden. She turned another circuit around the winding stairs and found herself faced by a trailing mass of roots.
"The tree. Nearly there!" She said with relief, forcing her way through what looked like upside down branches to the steps continuing up on the other side. There was no mist on the stone platform, just endless pinky gold mist below her and the sundial which shone in the sunrise. To one side stood the throne carved in the shape of large books and she sank down onto its seat gratefully.
Setting the rolled map down at her feet along with the sketchbooks she eased the knots in her shoulders before reaching down to take the letter out of the sketchbook.
Holding it in her hand as the light grew brighter made her suddenly worry. What if it wasn't for her, what if she was wrong. He would be furious. She sighed and shook her head, he was already furious. She snapped the wax seal and opened the thick envelope, taking the folded letter out and smoothing it unconsciously before beginning to read.
"My precious Sarah, if you are reading this, then you are as clever as I thought and have understood the problem facing us. I have not been able to explain to you what transpired after you left me in the Labyrinth all those years ago, and I regret that I have not been able to do so. So many things left unsaid, so much regret and anger. It was unfair of me to place all the blame of our circumstances onto you, and I realise that now. As I have said before, there are many debts between us to be paid, and I intend to do what I can to see that they are paid in full.
So many times I have wanted to sit down with you and begin to explain what I now have to write down, it is the first thing I must beg your forgiveness for. I once asked you for something that at the time you were unable to give, I hope to have the chance one day to ask the same question to you when we have settled things properly, when the Labyrinth is once more whole, even though right now, I have no idea how to heal what has been broken. It is my hope that it is you who will find the way though it is perhaps far more than I should dare hope for given how things currently stand between us.
My dearest Sarah, you lie beside me in this really rather unpleasant hospital whilst I write this, hurt and broken from such violence that I would have done anything to save you from. I am sorry I could not do more than I have. There are some rules in the Labyrinth that even I can not break and I have pushed them far more than I probably should have. The consequences as you will no doubt discover are rather detrimental to me, even though I am resigned to its effects I will never the less be devastated to lose the memories I have of the last few months. I have an assured feeling that my memories, or perhaps your memories will be the key to resolving the problem with the Labyrinth, but without being able to test this theory with you, it will have to remain as pure conjecture for now.
When you returned to the Labyrinth with the use of the mirror, when you spilt your blood on the ruins of my world I was afraid for you, that you did not realise what that meant, I worry for you now, that you still do not know what blood magic is in my world, how it binds. Blood magic does not work by words, but by intent. The scar on your hand, is not my magic which is why I have never been able to heal it, it is made by your magic, your blood. A promise if you like, a binding between you and the Labyrinth. You are its Champion and all that the word infers."
Our short time spent together has made me realise many things, the least of which is knowing that you have grown into an incredible, beautiful woman that I would like to know far better than I do now. As I said, I seem beset by constant regret for how things are now.
Sarah stopped reading, afraid that her tears would make the writing on the paper before her smudge and fade. She held the letter to her chest and wept, both in agony and anger. They had both been so stupid, but her most of all. She stood and refolded the letter, wanting to save the rest of its contents until she had time to truly appreciate what they contained and placed the letter once more in its envelope, and into the pocket of her dressing gown. She knelt and spread out the map, using the sketchbooks to hold open the curling ends as she tried to understand its sigils and markings. The castle stood out clearly in the center, and as she ran her fingers gently over the surface looking for any other familiar landmarks she realised that she was far too close. She pulled it round to face the throne then climbed onto the seat to look down at it from further away, smiling as it now seemed to make so much more sense.
Long straight paths marked its outside edges, marked occasionally by large doorways, to one side was the hedge maze, another the bog, and the goblin city. The individual pathways meant nothing, but she knew that all the larger areas must fit together in a huge jigsaw. The forest close by the bog, and the hedge maze with its strikingly similar courtyard and large sundial and book throne. All of the small things she recalled, from the rather unhelpful helping hands, the smell and feel of the oubliette and the hidden passages with their stone false alarms. So many memories.