Labyrinth 1. 1

Chapter 1  
  
Sarah threw herself onto her plushie crowded bed and let out a muffled scream. Piled around here were stacks of SAT review books, and "How to get into college" pamphlets, scratched out essays on flung-about paper and balls of what was a failed attempt of working out math problems. The last two months of her Junior year of high school had begun and it was far too much for her over-worked brain to handle. Sarah was desperately trying to break her bad habit of slipping off into a daydream, or absent mindedly opening up a story book and reading herself a fairy tale. But she couldn't do that, not anymore. At least not for another two months. She groaned, rolled over to face the ceiling and groaned again, hugging a blue and purple pillow to her chest. "I wish I had someone to talk to" she whispered, almost silently to the dolls and crumpled up study attempts surrounding her. "Do'ya now?" Sarah's head whipped to the right to see Hoggle standing on the chair next to her desk. "Yea. I do." She smiled at her old friend. Since she had completed the labyrinth, half a year before she had grown quite used to her friends from the adventure stopping by. Especially when she needed help, or advice, or someone to talk to. Seeing them made her happier then anything, but for some reason it also left a small pang of loneliness. "So, what was botherin you there Sarah?" Hoggle asked. "Oh. Just this stupid studying. It's so hard to concentrate." "'D'rather be reading a fairy story, 'eh? I thought you'd of gotten over that after living one." Sara smirked at her friend's facetious comment. "No. For your information I wouldn't." this was only partially a lie. While reading about pixies and castles and fountains and kings would have been far more entertaining then learning the definitions of two thousand words, it wasn't really what she was thinking of most of the time. "And what would you rather be doing with your time?" Hoggle liked to pretend that he knew Sarah well, but this was mostly just pretend. Sarah was predictable and did confide in Hoggle more then anyone else he was aware of, but there was always a little piece of her that he couldn't put his finger on. Like, why she always had a sad look in the back of her eye when he was around, and why Sarah hadn't gone on a date, or mentioned liking anybody since she came home. Instead they would talk about who she used to like, or how she got her first kiss. This seemed to be one of those questions that wouldn't be answered. Hoggle wasn't the smartest, but he knew that Sarah was keeping a secret from him, and that she probably wouldn't tell. Sarah shrugged. "I don't know. I guess, I'd kind of like to re-live my fairy tale." She hugged her knees in so her face was hidden from nose down, but Hoggle could see that something was wrong. Something always was. "You mean you'd actually wanna go back into that maze?" "No. Nonononono. The maze was hell." Hoggle was lost, totally and utterly. Her 'fairy tale' was going through the maze. "You mean meeting alla us?" "Sorta, I guess." "Now what do you mean by tha-" Sarah's stepmother's voice cut in, "Sarah, who you talking to in there?" "No one Ali." She called her stepmother by name. "Just myself." "Kay." Sarah looked over to Hoggle. "You should prolly leave before Toby comes in and uses you as a doll." Her little brother was known by her, and feared by her dolls for kidnapping them and dragging them all around the house. While Sarah started to mind this less and less, Hoggle didn't want to entertain the thought of being Toby's play thing for a day. "Yea. I guess you're right." He jumped off of the chair and walked to Sarah. "Just remember. Any time you need me..." "I know. I'll call." She gave him a big hug and looked into the mirror. Her reflection wasn't holding Hoggle, and she realized that she wasn't either. By now it was nearly eleven, and Sarah was exhausted. She never knew that studying could make one so tired. Sarah didn't even bother changing into her pajama's, or cleaning up her mess. She fell backwards into her warm fluffy bed and curled up. Within minuets she was in a far happier place where the SAT's didn't exist, and neither did the concept of math or chemistry or school in general. In fact, the worst thing that she allowed herself to dream about was playing "Candy Land" with Toby.  
  
@`~,~~  
  
"Jareth!" Sarah sat straight up in bed, wide eyed and short of breath. The blinked twice and thought about what she had just said. "Jareth?" The repeated. "Why would I.?" She glanced at the clock next to her bed. 6:32. Sarah stood up and grabbed some clothing from a collection of drawers and looked at her self in the mirror. She had worked up a cold sweat in the night. As she ran her hand through her damp hair she let the word escape her mouth one more time before she turned around and walked to the bathroom down the hallway from her. "Jareth"  
When Sarah finished her shower she changed into the clothing she had brought with her. Worn blue jeans and a light shirt with droopy sleeves. She loved those kinds of shirts, they reminded her of the dresses Lady's would wear with sleeves that almost touched the floor.  
She collected her dirty clothing and started back to her room down the hall, but a few feet from the door way she realized something strange. Sarah could have sworn that she had closed her door behind her, but now it was ajar, a thin line of yellow light leaking from the crack onto the wooden floor of the hall. "Toby?" She called towards her room. "Toby, if you're in my room again." she trailed off as her younger brother teetered out of her room. He had been able to walk for a little while, being almost two years old. "Gob'n Man." He giggled, pointing to her room. "Ugh. Tobe. What on earth could you be talking about?" She walked to him, but he went right past her and into his own room, still screeching and laughing "Gob'n Man, Gob'n Man." Sara watched him, partially confused, partially amused and then turned back toward her now mostly opened door and stepped into her room. Once inside she closed the door behind her, looked over at herself in the mirror and dropped her collection of washables on the floor. 


	2. 2

Chapter 2  
  
"Hello Sarah" His low, musical voice seemed to flow throughout her room and hit her in the face. "J.Jareth! What.Why...HOW?!?" Sarah managed to stammer out. "Why, you called to me of course." He shrugged matter-of-factly. "When did I do that?" "Just now. In fact, I believe you called me three times." Sarah thought about this for a minuet and realized that he was right. Prier to her shower she HAD said his name three times, though she hardly counted any of them as 'calling' him. "Well, I didn't mean to. Sorry. So you can go now." Jareth blinked. "This was a waist of time." He grumbled "I said I was sorry. But now I have to get ready to go to school.so you can leave. Bye." "You have school on Sundays?" "No. I don't have school on..wait. It's Sunday?" Jareth nodded. "You're kidding me. It is not Sunday." "No. I'm not. And yes. It is." "Dammmmnit!!!" Sarah fell onto her bed. "Then what am I doing up so early? Ughhh! I can not deal with another full day of sitting at that desk. It's just not fair!" "Haven't you gotten over that 'fair' obsession?" "Shut up Jareth. Just shut up. You'd complain too." The two of them looked at each other and Sara realized that she really was being a brat. "Sorry. I just need a-" "Break?" Jareth cut her off, smiling softly. "Yea." Sarah sat up and looked straight ahead. Then she turned her head suddenly and looked over to where Jareth was standing, leaning against her mirror. "Hey. Didn't I tell you to leave, like ten minuets ago?" "You did. Shall I be off then?" "No." Sarah stopped, looking up at her ceiling. "Don't bother. You can stay around until Ali and Daddy wake up. I mean, it's got to be better then hanging out here alone for a few hours." She corrected her self quickly, not wanting to sound too eager to see him. After all, why should she be? He had never been kind to her. Though, he'd never been particularly cruel either. But that didn't matter now. Her fairy tale was over. Sarah had finished the labyrinth long ago. "Why don't you just come back with me?" "What?!" "Only for the day. I'm not going to turn you into a goblin or anything." Sarah thought about this. "I can't. Daddy would wonder where I was. And besides, I should study." Sarah knew that they were both stupid reasons, but she hoped that Jareth wouldn't. "Well, you won't get much studying done if I'm here. And you can just tell your father you're leaving. But if you're really worried about it. I can rearrange time for you." "You can do that?" "I did before. You had 13 hours, which changed to 10, and then you were home three hours from when you left. Remember?" "Yea. I do." Sarah signed. She had lost. There was really no reason for her not to spend the day with Jareth. In fact, part of her wanted this more then anything else. "I'll be right back."  
Sarah walked to the door of her father and stepmother's room and knocked. "Hey Daddy?" She said opening the door a crack, "I'm gunna go hang out with some friends. That okay?" "Sure. Sure Sar. Just be back by. I dono. One-ish or so." "All right. I will. Thanks Daddy." Sarah closed the door and saw Toby walking back into her room squealing "Hi gob'n man!" and laughing. As she walked over Toby ran back to his room again, still giggling like a child. "Hm. He wouldn't have made a very good goblin anyway" Jareth said as Sarah entered her room again. "When do you need to be back?" "One-ish" "Shall we go then?" Jareth smiled and the two vanished of from her room. 


	3. 3

"Where are we now?" Sarah looked ahead of her and saw nothing but a long, dimly-lit hallway that seemed to go on forever. Scattered wooden doors spotted the otherwise gray stone walls. Behind her was the same.  
  
"My castle," Jareth stepped up and stood next to her.  
  
"Oh." Sarah walked the closest door on her right and went to open it.  
  
"I wouldn't do that if I-" Jareth stated to warn her, but she already turned the knob and took a step into nothing.  
  
"GAHHH!" Jareth grabbed the back of her shirt and pulled her back out of the room and onto solid floor. "What the HELL was that?!?"  
  
"I tried warning you."  
  
"But what was it?"  
  
"A very long drop."  
  
"Oh." She looked back through the doorway. There was nothing there. Not even and indication as to how far out it went, or how deep the abyss was. "You can open the next door."  
  
"Good plan." Jareth closed the door Sarah had chosen and walked to the door across the hallway. This one looked exactly like the last, and Sarah wondered how he could tell the difference between all of them. He opened the door and held it for Sarah. "Ladies first." Cautiously, she stepped through and looked around her.  
  
"Wow."  
  
"Like it?" Jareth stepped in and closed the door behind him.  
  
"Yea. Yea. I do." Around them was a field like she had never seen before. The sky hung low and sky and clouds seemed to mix and swirl into each other like a painting. They stood at the top of a small hill, and at the bottom was a thin stream, small enough to step over. Everything was covered in flowers and green. Suddenly, everything seemed a whole lot happier, everything was calmer. Sarah didn't remembered ever feeling so at peace. "Is this. in your castle?"  
  
"It is." Jareth smiled at Sarah, who wasn't paying him attention, but walked down the hill and to the stream. He followed her.  
  
"The fish are really.shinny" She couldn't think of anything else to say about it.  
  
"There's more then just fish in there."  
  
"Huh?" She kneeled down to get a closer look. "Oh.OH!" She pointed into the clear water, looking up at Jareth, "Are those . little mermaids?"  
  
"In a way. They're really closer to fairies."  
  
Sarah cupped her hand into the water, picking up water-fairy. "They're s cute." She smiled gently at it, and in turn it sat in her hand, looking up at it's captor. "Y'know. I almost expected it to bite me."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Last time I tried to pick up a fairy," Sarah started, placing the fairy back in it's home, "it bit me."  
  
"Then why pick one up now?"  
  
"Actually, I don't know. I guess I can't help it."  
  
Jareth chuckled.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Nothing."  
  
@}~`~  
  
The two of them sat under the one tree within view of the hill and talked. They had been for hours.  
  
"So, you don't even know what's behind some of those doors?" Sarah found it ironic that she had been chatting with someone who had (more or less) tried to kidnap her brother half a year before.  
  
"Well, I don't know how to unlock some of them. It's not as if I didn't try." Jareth was finding himself quite pleased to be talking to Sarah for so long. Talking leads to friendship; and friendship leads to other things.  
  
Sarah looked down at her watch. "Ahh. I have to be home half an hour ago." She jumped up, paused, and looked around. "How.do you get out of here?"  
  
"Through the door of course." Jareth gestured and part of the landscape opened. He stood up and stroked her cheek. "Sarah.." She didn't move. She couldn't. "You know Sarah, I love you. I have since before you went through my labyrinth."  
  
Sarah stood silent, astounded, and speechless. She said nothing when Jareth's hand moved and raised her chin. And she didn't nothing when he leaned down a bit, and kissed her. Nothing but close her eyes and think of something to do.  
  
~*~*~  
  
Note from me, the author. ^_^ Hi!!! Meaghan here. How you like the story so far? I'm just gunna write here a bit 'cause I'm bored. First off, Happy Christmas everyone! And well, happy Chanukah, and Kwanzaa, and Yule. I got the kewlest thing for the holidays! There was a notebook in Hot Topic with the little blue work and it says "Allo. I said allo.", and my mom bought it for me. 3 Okay. That's enough for me for this chapter. I'll try to get the next chapter up within a week. ~MF 12.25.03  
  
~*~*~ 


	4. 4

"You did WHAT?" Hoggle was staring at Sarah, slack jawed, and completely perplexed by the story she had just told him. "You KISSED Jareth?!?"  
  
"No." Sarah sighed. She knew that telling Hoggle was going to be a mistake. "He kissed me."  
  
"And there's a difference?"  
  
"YES! There's a difference" Sarah glared at Hoggle and he shut his mouth. They both sat there in silence, thinking about what they had just been talking about, and what it meant.  
  
"Sarah." Hoggle was looking down at his lap. "Do you love him in return?" He paused, collecting his thoughts and looked up to face his friend. "Do you even know if he really loves you?"  
  
"I really don't know." She was looking out the window into the night. "I honestly don't know." They both fell completely silent again. "Uhhh. I should probably get to sleep soon Hoggle. Wanna call it a night?" She said after a few minuets of quiet.  
  
"Sure." Hoggle got up. "Listen, Sarah. Don't kiss Jareth again, I mean, at least not until you're sure if you love him or not."  
  
"I thought I told you, I DIDN'T-" but Hoggle had already vanished. Sarah sighed and fell backwards onto her bed wanting very much to go to sleep.  
  
@}~`~  
  
Sarah shuffled into her homeroom class Monday morning. First period was math class, boring. She pulled a plain spiral note-book that she like to call her journal and began writing. Luckily, she sat in the back and the teacher never noticed or called on her.  
  
"What's this?" Sarah looked up to see her friend Sami smiling and reading what Sarah had just written over her shoulder. "Hehe. You and your fantasy stories. Class is about to end y'know. May wanna start packing up."  
  
"Oh." Sarah went to put her journal back into her book bag, but Sami had already scooped it up and read through what her friend had written throughout the period.  
  
"The 'Goblin King' 'eh? Where do you get the ideas for this stuff?"  
  
"Uhhh, you know, here and there." Sarah faked a smile and grabbed her journal back from Sami, stuffing it into her bag as the bell rang. "So, Sar. You doing anything today?"  
  
"Don't think I am."  
  
"Good." Sami smiled "There's something I have to show you. I'll meet on the stage right after school. Kay?"  
  
Sarah started to say something, but her friend had already disappeared into the crowd. She shrugged and went off to her next class.  
  
@}~`~  
  
"Damnit Sami" Sarah looked at her watch. She had been told to be waiting ten minuets ago. Sami was late, as usual and this didn't make Sarah happy.  
  
"Hey" Sami jumped on Sarah's back. "Sorry I'm late. Just caught doing stuff."  
  
"You're SO descriptive."  
  
"I know." Sami smiled wide and grabbed Sarah's hand. "Come on, lets go."  
  
~*~  
  
More from me. ^_^ So, I got two reviews I wanna respond to. 1. 'Bout the stepmother's name. I don't think she officially HAS one, unless it's an unwritten law here that I didn't know about, or I wasn't looking hard enough. 2. I'm REALLY sorry about the lack of spacing in the first 2 chapters. It's not like that on the hard copy I have on my computer and I didn't realize I had to double space the paragraph stuffs. ~MF 12.30.03  
  
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	5. 5

Chapter 5  
  
"Sami. This is the Library. I've been here before, hell, I practically LIVE here." Sarah gave Sami a glance out of the corner of her eye to see if she could figure out what her friend was planning for her, if anything. Sami had a bad habit of leading people on what seemed to be pointless, wild- goose chaises, but they always ended up well enough. Sometimes even fun, or at least amusing.  
  
"Duh. I knew that silly" Sami giggled, slapping Sarah's back and walking into the very large, very old stone building. It almost seemed out of place in the busy center of the town that they lived in. The stores and highway did little as a background, and neither did the mall across the street that seemed to get more attention then it's neighbor. Sarah didn't consciously note any of this as she followed her friend into the library, she just followed and hoped that her trip wasn't a complete waste of time.  
  
"Sarah! You haven't been around here in almost two weeks. That's not like you, you know." The librarian, Mrs. B called, as quietly as she could from her desk, waving.  
  
"Hi." Sarah smiled and walked over to Mrs. B "I've been busy. Is there anything new in?"  
  
"Actually..no, but we're -"  
  
"There you are! I thought I lost you." Mrs. Be was cut off by Sami.  
  
"Ah. I see you're here with a friend." The Librarian smiled. "Tell me if you need anything." The two girls nodded and Sami led Sarah over to the tables in the corner marked "Current Events".  
  
"Lookie!" Sami pointed at the table, and Sarah looked in the general direction that Sami's finger was extended towards, but just looked back at her friend with a black stare. "Ugh." Sami picked up a greenish sheet of paper off of one of the piles on the table and handed it to Sarah.  
  
@}~`~  
  
"Shit" Jareth was digging through a random pile of what could only be described as "stuff" in his castle somewhere. He had searched through every other room twice, so it HAD to be in this room.  
  
"Yer Majesty?"  
  
Jareth looked up briefly to see Hoggle standing in the doorway and rolled his eyes. "Yes? What now?"  
  
"What are you looking for?"  
  
"Something. Is that what you came to say?"  
  
"No." There was short pause and the King looked up again as if to say 'well, get on with it', so Hoggle mustered up all of his courage and continued on. "Do you really love her? Uhh, Miss Sarah that is."  
  
Jareth stopped what he was doing, mid-action, put what he had picked up back where it was and watched Hoggle with a mixed look of awe and absolute power. "Now, why would you come all the way over here, and interrupt me to ask me something like that?" The words just seemed to roll out of his mouth, very nonchalantly.  
  
"Well, it's just that she's my friend and all, and I wanna make sure that she won't get hurt or nuthin." Even after everything that had happened, there was still something about Jareth that scared Hoggle silly, and he knew that it could be heard in his voice.  
  
"Ahha. Well," Jareth began pacing back and forth coolly, a few steps in each direction. "it's really not anything you SHOULD be concerning yourself with, but because you actually had the guts to ask, I'll answer." He stopped. "Yes."  
  
There was another silence as the two looked at one another, trying to figure something out about the other. Hoggle changed the subject, or tried to, "Why don't you just have a goblin or someone find what you lost for you?"  
  
"Because, I don't trust any of the goblin's to find it FOR me." The goblin king rolled his eyes and turned around. Hoggle knew that he was getting, or had gotten annoying and it was time to leave before things were thrown.  
  
~*~  
  
Heyyyy. It's been a little bit since my last update, and I doubt that I'll get many chances to add more then 2 chapters to this fan-fic for another three weeks or so. Winter break just ended, so I'm back to school and life (ahhhh, life). And well, midterms start in two and a half weeks, so until they're over chances are I won't get much written. T_T On a lighter note, tomorrow is Friday. Yay Friday! But now, I need sleep. ~MF 1.8.04  
  
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	6. 6

Hoggle walked away from the room he had just been talking to the Goblin King in. His thoughts were everywhere and what Jareth had said was still ringing in his head, but he couldn't help but not believe him. He HAD said that he truly loved Sarah, but how could Hoggle be sure of this? The Goblin King never lied directly. but he DID have a nasty habit of telling a half truths or only saying enough to shut somebody up.  
  
But love was a hard thing to tell a half truth about. Either you do, or you don't. Either you're lying or you're not. Still, Hoggle didn't trust Jareth.  
  
@}~`~  
  
Jareth still wasn't having any luck with his search.  
  
@}~`~  
  
"A contest?"  
  
"Yup. An writing contest." Sarah had a look on her face that basically said Ooookkkkayyyyy, and Sami just smiled. "I figured you'd love the idea, so I signed you up!"  
  
"WHAT?"  
  
"And, if you win you'll get published."  
  
Sarah didn't know what to say. There really wasn't anything she COULD say. It was a pretty nice gesture, but at the same time she didn't have any time to write a story in. She said something that resembled a "Thank you" and started to leave, folding up the green paper and sticking it into her pocked as she went.  
  
"Hello Sarah" Jareth was standing outside the library, ready to great Sarah as she left.  
  
"Hi. You need anything?" He looked different. She couldn't tell if it was that he wasn't dressed in his normal spandex and poofy shirt, or that the over abundance of make-up was missing, but he looked different. It was probably because he looked so much the same as everyone else.  
  
"Nope." He followed her down the steps. "You going home?"  
  
"Yea."  
  
"Can I carry your bag for you?" She looked over at him suspiciously, but didn't see any harm in it and swung her book bag to him.  
  
They walked a few minuets in silence, until Sarah stopped. "Alright Jareth. Nobody just comes over out of nowhere and offers to carry my books home for no reason. WHAT do you want?"  
  
"I need a reason to do a favor for the girl I love?" Jareth asked, perfectly innocently. His face was saying 'What did I do?'. Sarah was trying to see through that, but she couldn't. He just made no sense.  
  
"Ugh. Fine." They walked the rest of the way home in silence.  
  
@}~`~  
  
"Honey, who walked you home?" Sarah's father was looking out the window at the blondish figure walking away from the house.  
  
"This guy I know." Sarah tried hard to make as little eye contact with her father as possible, hoping that he'd ask few questions.  
  
"Is he in your school? He looks older."  
  
"No. He is." She rummaged through the kitchen cabinet for something to snack on.  
  
"How much older?" Sarah hated that concerned father tone. She was seventeen, and in her mind she didn't need the over protective father figure.  
  
"Uhh. You know, college-ish I guess." 'Crap' Sarah thought. 'There goes my career as an actress.'  
  
"Ish? You guess?" Sarah's father looked at her with a level of skepticism.  
  
"Yea. Dad, don't worry about it. Okay?" Before her father had a chance to respond she grabbed her book bag and rushed up the stairs to her room. She dropped the bag on her floor by her door and jumped onto her bed.  
  
Something shiny was on her floor. "Odd." Sarah got up and picked up a small key, looked at it for a few moments, put it on a chain and wore it as a necklace. "I'll ask Dad if it's his later." Then Sarah sat down at her desk and started her work.  
  
~*~  
  
Woo. Finally an update!! Well. Like I said, I've been studying for my midterms like woa, so I haven't gotten much written.but I want to take this time to mention my friend Alina. ^_^ Alina's been a good friend of mine since 5th grade or so.wow, that's almost seven years now.seven years is a really long time!! But anyway, I got her to watch Labyrinth a little while back because I wanted her to read my fic, and she's been reading it an all. Yay. Gotta love Alina. So, a few days ago on the bus ride home I showed her a maze that I drew in history class over the course of four days and told her that she had to start at the center and work her way out. She asked why and I told her it was because Jareth was smoking up. OMFG Alina almost fell off of the seat laughing, and I didn't even think it was that funny. But yea, she gets mentioned in my fanfic for that. 3 In other news, I hope all of you are enjoying my ficcy, review and I may post more often. ^_-, but after midterms end I should get back on the track of posting once a week or so. Ja Matta Ne Mina-chan!! ~MF 1.18.04  
  
~*~ 


	7. 7

Chapter 7  
  
"Does this belong to any of you?" Sara held up the silver key, still hanging around here neck. "I found it in my room and figured one of you dropped it."  
  
Her father looked up at her from around the dinner table at the key and shrugged. "Can't say I remember that particular key from anywhere. How about you?" He looked over at Sarah's step-mother and she shrugged.  
  
"Nope. Never seen it before."  
  
"Oh." Sarah looked at the key a bit disappointed and dropped it. "Oh well. It makes a fun charm." She smiled and took another mouthful of her chicken before getting up to leave. "I'm gunna get back to my work. Kay?"  
  
Sarah picked up her plate and table settings, put them into the dishwasher and shuffled up the stairs to her room. She clicked on the radio and twirled into her chair, singing along with the song that popped on. The green sheet about the contest was on the desk next to her. Sarah signed. If it had been up to her, she wouldn't have entered simply because she wouldn't have the time, and what was the point of spending all of that time if you probably weren't going to be chosen anyway. It wasn't up to her though, Sami had made sure of that and the only thing left for Sarah to do would be to read through the rules and write something up for it.  
  
@}~`~  
  
Hoggle wondered the labyrinth thinking. Thinking about Sarah, thinking about Jareth, thinking about Sarah AND Jareth. But mostly, he was thinking about how worried he was that his friend wouldn't be alright after all. The decision was up to her, and his opinion probably didn't matter much in the situation, but he still worried.  
  
'In fact," he reasoned out in his head, 'the only thing I CAN do is go visit Sarah and ask if she had reached any sort of conclusion yet.' Hoggle nodded proudly to himself and vanished from the labyrinth, appearing in Sarah's room. She was leaning back in her chair reading a greenish paper and tapping a pencil on her desk unhappily. "Sarah?"  
  
Sarah almost jumped out her chair when Hoggle spoke up. "Oh jeez Hoggle, you almost gave me a heart attach." She smiled at him "What's up?"  
  
"Nothing." Maybe it would be a better idea to not bring up Jareth right away, "What were you reading?"  
  
"Oh. Just some silly rules for a contest my friend signed me up for. I need to write something but I just can't think of what. Inspire me."  
  
Hoggle blinked at her as if to say 'I don't have a blood CLUE what you should write about. I'm the most unimaginative person in the world.'  
  
"Never mind." Sarah made a paper airplane out of the rules and threw it across the room. It soared gracefully and landed on her bed. "What's on your mind? Something bothering you Hoggle?"  
  
He shrugged "Not really. Just wanted to know If you 'ad made up your mind about Jareth or not yet."  
  
Sarah didn't answer for a few moments and then shook her head. "No. Not yet. Hey, do you know where this came from or who's it is?" She held up the key, trying desperately to change the subject to something other then the Goblin King.  
  
"Nope. Never seen it before."  
  
"Okay." So far, the search for the owner of the mysterious key wasn't going very well at all. "Guess I'll keep it then, if it doesn't BELONG to anyone."  
  
Hoggle nodded, "Well, I should leave you to finish your work."  
  
"Kay. Bye" Sarah waved.  
  
"See you later." And he was gone.  
  
~*~  
  
Woo Chapter seven is complete! Go me. Midterms are officially over, as of yesterday so I'll actually be updating this thing a bit more often. Yay! I don't really have the time to type up another amusing story about my friends and the silly things they've done concerning the movie (Labyrinth) so I'll end this note from me short. ~MF 1.28.04  
  
~*~ 


	8. 8

Sarah tapped the tip of her pencil on the blank paper in front of her. So far, her stabs at writing a decent and original story failed. She had tried writing down notes, but most of what was on the page either was crossed out or had "yea right" written next to it in big red letters. Nothing seemed to be working. Nothing.  
  
"Note to self: Kill Sami for this." She threw her pencil behind her and it landed in the center of three crumpled up pieces of note book paper which had obviously been scribbled on in some way and discarded. "Goddamnit. I give up." Sarah put her head down on the desk and stared at her hand. "I still don't know who's key that is..." and everything went dark.  
  
@}~`~  
  
Hoggle inched around the outside of the door of the labyrinth, not far from where he had first met Sarah, with his handy spray canister. There were many reasons why Hoggle would engage in a riveting game of "How many fairies can you kill before you lose count?". For example, boredom was a all too common reason for his chasing down his little winged friends with poisons, but he hadn't spent too much time being that "bored" as of the late. His reason was closer to that of frustration, and general unhappiness.  
  
Sir Didymus sat on the edge of the fountain, watching Hoggle move around as if he was in "Mission Possible", though Didymus didn't make that reference at all, sighed and scratched his trust steed's head.  
  
"Hoggle, good sir, what amusement do you find in killing these poor creatures for sport?"  
  
"They're nasty, horrible things, THAT'S what. I dun't like them and therefore won't be having them around." Hoggle said with a level of disgust as he sprayed and a blue-ish glimmer fell onto the dirt, "Ninety-seven!"  
  
"Oh, but they are beautiful things, are they not brother?" Didymus turned to Ludo who was following after a fairy on the other side of the fountain.  
  
"Preeeatttty..." Ludo reached out and grabbed one, waited for a moment and began flailing. "Outttchhh!!!!" After he had finished thrashing about, he started running in little circles away from a shimmer of purple light that seemed to be following him. Hoggle and Didymus stopped everything and stared at the scene the two were making until Ludo ran straight at them and fell into the fountain, splashing water on everything within five feet of him.  
  
"Idiots, the lot of you."  
  
The three froze for a moment and looked up to see Jareth leaning on a tree not far away, but far enough to not have gotten a drop of water on him. Hoggle glared at him sideways and then looked away, while Ludo just stared blankly. Sir Didymus bowed, saying something respectful and then bopped Ambrocious on the head to do the same.  
  
Jareth let out a small chuckle, scraping the heal of his boot across the dirt took a step forward. Then he leaned down to look a Didymus a bit closer and smiled like a wolf.  
  
"You, my friend, get to do me a favor."  
  
~*~  
  
Has it been long enough? I sure think so. Happy belated Valentines day everybody, hope at least a few of you did something fun and memorable. ( It's been pretty boring over here. Lots of SAT class, lots of studying for chem., lots of my ex boyfriend telling me that I can't draw or write for shit even though he's never read a thing I wrote and hasn't seen my art in over seven months. Gotta love the stupid People. /3 I'm sorry it always takes so long to write, but I tend to write things, and then not know where I'm going to go with it next... so I'm basically screwed until I figure out what'll happen or one of my friends inspire me. Alina is my chapter eight muse. ( But, just to keep with the tradition, I'll tell you all about another weird Labyrinth obsessed friend of mine. Steph, who I know also reads this, has a thing for coming onto the bus, and going through the script, stopping at her stop, and then picking up from where she left off again the next day. So far, she's gotten up to the part right before Sarah enters the labyrinth and she's talking to Hoggle. Later on when she gets to the part I have memorized we'll go back and forth as Sarah + Jareth. ^_^ We have no lives!!! ... Wow, this note from me was long today... so I'll stop now. ~MF 2.16.04  
  
~*~ 


	9. 9

A long hallway stretched out in front of Sarah. There the walls on either side of her were blank and dark in a most foreboding way, as if coming to close to them would result in being sucked in and never heard from again. She turned and looked behind her but the only thing to see was pitch blackness and when she turned to face the front (or at least the direction she was facing to begin with) it didn't seem much different. Both ways looked dark and sinister and neither felt safe, but Sarah had a feeling that it would be better to move ahead then to stay where she was until she was found, by whoever or whatever else happened to be wondering around in the shadows.  
  
She shoved her hands into her pockets hoping that she happened to have a flashlight, or a candle and a book of matches with her, but neither were common things for a teenage girl to carry around on an average day. "Shit." That was all the could think to say at the moment. "Shit." She took a slow breath and started walking forward slowly into the darkness, and while her heard pounded in her throat she tried to think of where she was or what she was doing before the darkness had appeared around her. No luck. For the life of her, Sarah couldn't remember just what it was she was managing to preoccupy herself with before this she ended up in wherever it was that she happened to be. She wasn't with Toby, that much she knew, and she wasn't with her friends, and she wasn't being pestered by Jareth...  
  
"Urg! I bet Jareth has something to do with this" she grumbled to herself. "Him and his stupid obsession with me. I'll kill him for this later."  
  
Well, she had everything figured out then. Sarah didn't know where she was or why, what time it was, or what she was doing previously be getting here. She was sure, though, that it was all the fault of her least favorite goblin king and that she would make him pay for her confusion at a different time and place. Definitely a different place.  
  
"Well, this freaking sucks!" Sarah threw herself onto the wall to her right and leaned there for a bit. "I'm ready to go HOME now, so whenever you feel like getting me out of here, it would be SPIFFY!" She didn't honestly think that yelling at a whole bunch of nothingness would bring Jareth running to her rescue, and she didn't even really want that... but being stuck in a dark hallway has lost it's novelty long ago and Sarah just wanted out.  
  
"Maybe you should try using one of the doors"  
  
"Who's speaking and where are you?" Sarah sighed after a moment of surprise. She had long since learned that just because you couldn't see who was speaking to you, didn't mean that they weren't there. Only that they were hiding, to small to be seen, or that you weren't looking in the right places.  
  
"Try looking behind you," the same fluid female voice spoke out again, slightly annoyed.  
  
"Uh... Okay." She did as she was told, and found herself facing a wood carving of a woman who was roughly the age of her step-mother. She was wearing something with a high collar and her hair was tied back into a tight bun, but that was all that Sarah could tell because most of the woman went straight into the wall, as if she were hanging out of a window.  
  
"So, you're the one who everybody's been talking about... Hm. I can see why. Now, what was it you were looking for?"  
  
Sarah was a bit taken aback by the last few comments, but decided to ignore them and answer the questions. Only, she couldn't remember the answer.  
  
"Hm," the wood-woman frowned, "Don't remember?"  
  
"No... I guess I don't"  
  
"Well, might I recommend this one."  
  
This confused Sarah to no end, being that she saw no door whatsoever, only a talking wall. "Which door are you talking about... exactly?"  
  
The woman sighed again and pointed to the her left, "This one." Sure enough, right next to the carving's right elbow was a small keyhole. "If you have the key, this door can take you to anywhere, or anything that you might want. Of course, you have to be ready for it."  
  
"And, how will I know if I'll be ready for it... if I don't even know what I want?"  
  
"I'll know." She smiled, but her eyes narrowed in a way that made Sarah's skin crawl, but besides walking some more, there wasn't anything else for her to do. "Well. Do you have the key or not?"  
  
Sarah reached for her pockets, and then her neck, and then her pockets again. Her hands hit something not key shaped. Never the less she pulled it out of her pocket and found her chain, followed quickly by the key she found on her floor. 'I thought you were around my neck...' she thought briefly, but then pushed out of her mind. She held up the key to the woman on the wall. "Is this the key you were talking about?"  
  
"I don't know. I haven't seen it in years."  
  
"Uh... Oh." She clicked the key through the keyhole, finding that it fit perfectly, and waited for something to happen. But nothing did. She looked at the women questioningly who simply frowned and shook her head.  
  
"Tsk. Seems like you're not ready for this door just yet."  
  
The next thing Sarah knew, the key popped out of the keyhole, and as soon as she caught it the "door" itself seemed to push her back with some unseen force. "Better luck next time," the woman smiled as Sarah soared through the wall across from her and fell backwards.  
  
"Owwwww." She rubbed the back of her head and opened her eyes, but she wasn't looking up at darkness anymore. Instead, she was looking at her own ceiling. Her chair was still under her, and her desk was still in front of her, only she had fallen back in her chair.  
  
Her father looked into the room at her daughter lying on her chair, as if she were still sitting at her desk. "Are you alright dear?"  
  
"Yea..." Sarah started, getting back to her feet. "I must've just dosed off and toppled over or something... I'm fine."  
  
Hey everybody... sorry I haven't updated in 4 months and 30 days. ;; I guess I don't really have an excuse for that. But anyway, thanks for reading, or coming band and reading some more I guess. At the moment I'm thinking about what college I wanna go to, trying to make a quidditch team with my friends, and attempting REALLY HARD to get a job even though 5 days of my week go to marching band come September. Lesse... I'm also working on a short Harry Potter fanfic... I may get that posted here, but it'll definitely be up on MNI. So, more about my nutter friends... I went to swimming lessons with my little bro yesterday (he's 9yrs old), and my friend Steph was there as a counselor. She's the nutter who posted the song and the random comment of "W" in my reviews box. But anyway, as soon as she saw me, she started to sing her little "update before I kill you! 3" song. Lottsa love to Steph. 3 Anywho, I'm going to get this posted, so my friends'll get off of my back, and hopefully you'll all enjoy chapter 9 and come back for more in another five months. 3 MF 71504  
  



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Labyrinth