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Description
This is a FanFic collaboration set 15 years after the events of the movie "Labirynth".
Original Art by: =questingraven
Original Prose by: =Dolphinryder
Sarah returns home after yet another well-received premier of bumping shoulders and rubbing elbows with the rich and famous, both off and on, the silver screen only to find it as she left it, dark and empty, nothing more than a hollow shell.

She crosses the grand foyer, heels echoing into the large domed ceiling, hardly glancing at the richly fantasy-themed brocade surrounding her. The fairies and goblins entwined in their natural environments reaching toward the vast mural within the dome no longer offer the solace she craved when she first commissioned the house, they never truly had.

Ascending the elaborate curved stair, her eyes do not see the once fascinating optical illusion the mural around them created, turning the stair into the Escher masterpiece. Long faded are her eyes to these wonders, though she continues to strive to create them, to recapture a single night.

The second floor is but a myriad of façades, creating the feel of walking through a darkly dense forest, each door carefully hand carved in order to meld perfectly with the scenery, proves only to further empty her heart of hope. Working on nothing more than automation, she enters her room, further ignoring the extravagance of it’s faerie castle appearance as she sits at her dressing table.

The mirror before her, a beautifully carved mahogany frame depicting scenes only she can recall crawling into the glass surface via careful etching, reflects for a moment the mature woman she has become. Letting her eyes lose their focus, the image becomes her only remaining solace, the image of her, over fifteen years ago, dancing in that beautiful gown, embraced in his arms.

Tears flowing freely, she methodically removes the trinkets of fame, placing them neatly into their appropriate spots, before going into her dressing room. There, she carefully hangs the evening gown in it’s designated place to await the morning maid’s routine laundry exchange, and dresses in her favored outfit: jeans, peasant blouse, and kid boots.

At one point in time, she supposed, tastes would have changed by now for most, but the grip he held on her heart left little to allow change within her mind and heart. As per routine, she exit’s the dressing room and crosses the bedroom, pouring two glasses of wine from the private bar, setting them onto a silver tray, and carrying it onto the balcony. There, just to the left of the opened doors, she carefully sets the tray onto an antique serving table set between two matching chairs before crossing the width of the balcony to lean upon the rail.

Her eyes search across the darkness, skimming over the expansive topiary labyrinth she’d already mastered, and memorized, barely glancing upon the large, exquisitely detailed sculpture resembling a castle at the center, looking for the impossible to conjure itself out of the night.

Her mind wanders as her eyes continue their endless search, recalling each moment of that night with perfect clarity. The fear, and instant love, she’d felt the moment he’d entered the room, stole the breath from her lungs even now. The utter disgust she’d initially felt upon arriving at the labyrinth’s gate, and meeting the strange creature she’d come to know as her friend. She could laugh, now, at her foolish assumptions and his outrageous behavior, and how she’d let herself be bitten by the faerie.

Her mind continued to follow her story, carrying her down the seemingly endless first path of the labyrinth, meeting the strange little creature that lived in its walls, and having someone so small open her eyes to the truth of illusion. She shook her head at the knowledge that, had she but stopped for a moment, she would have shortened her journey, and yet, how she would not have learned all she had if she did just that.

The ongoing puzzles and frustrations, the learning and exploring, unraveled in her mind as though reading a familiar novel. The discovery of Ludo, and his impromptu rescue from the goblins, the strange creatures of the forest that seemed at once threatening and yet nothing more than true to their nature. The brief reunion with her companions before the offering of the small fruit to slake her hunger.

It was here, she allowed her mind to pause, breath caught in her throat in response to the pure emotion of the next few moments of her memories. Anger and surprise at her friend’s betrayal, then suddenly being thrust into the most beautiful sight she had ever seen.

Gone were the clothes she’d worn as the darkness enveloped her mind in that forest, leaning against a tree, replaced by the most beautiful gown, the kind that every young girl dreams of having for her wedding dress. The myriad of trees replaced by others dressed in similar extravagance, their faces covered in masks that proved only to remind her of the creatures she’d met on her journey. All the while, in her heart of hearts, she knew he was there, somewhere just out of sight. Her eyes catching a glimmer of his shoulder, his mask, his smile, eluding her, just beyond her grasp.

Suddenly, for no reason at all, the crowded room became fearful, the people too pressing, her search becoming more and more futile, and her heart echoing that fear of never reaching him,. She began to become frantic in her search, bumping into the revelers, tripping over the furniture, and just as suddenly, she was in his arms.

Her heart calmed as he pulled her into his embrace, swaying her through the crowd to an empty space, catching her eyes with his own, and weakening her knees. The moments were short, and yet they seemed to last an eternity, long enough for her heart to be captured forever. Then, as the chimes of her personal clock tower does now, the foreboding chimes of the ballroom’s clock reminded her of the true purpose of her journey, allowing her to momentarily break his spell.

Disappointed and bereft, she turns and claims a single flute of wine, toasting to him in silence before drinking the contents and placing it next to its full partner. In the morning, she knew, the maid would take care of them both, never once commenting on the oddity of one glass remaining full, nor asking if there had been company the night before. Sarah wondered if he remembered her at all, if he ever came while she slept to drink to her toast and recall that night. She would never know the answer, fear of finding out the truth kept her from asking the maid whether the flute remained full, or was found emptied.

Changing once more into her night clothes, she sits on the bed and thinks in the silence of the night. Every bit of her realizes just how foolishly selfish she had been, all those years ago. Her mother had left to live her own faerie tale dream, swept off her feet by one of the most enchanting men Sarah had ever met. Yet, faerie tales were not to be lived with children attached, no matter how old, and so, the woman she both admired and adored, left her behind.

She allowed the bitterness of that truth to overcome her, blind her, toward the remaining good things in her life with her father, his new wife, and her half-brother. She wanted to do nothing more than be alone, dive into the fantasy world of acting, and wait for the day her real mother returned begging for forgiveness and offer a place in her life. It became the open door he’d needed to call her to him, to tempt her, and win her heart.

She would have let him, had it not been for the truth in her heart. There was no way for her to accept that her brother, no matter how she despised the fact he existed, would be lost forever, as she felt she had been, in order to keep what she so desperately desired. The last thing she wanted to become was that same, selfish, woman who readily gave up her child in order to live her dreams, she believed her mother had become.

Wearied by her thoughts, and the emotions attached to them, Sarah began to doze, her mind intermittently thinking and dreaming of the singular magical night.

Over the years, she had tried to continue her life with the newly opened eyes the night had given her. However, in spite of her realizations, her heart spoke against her at every turn. No one measured up to the one who held her heard, leaving her to wander through life alone, searching to recapture a fantastical world through acting. Nothing had worked, and now, she knew, she faced the same decision she’d faced then, to continue as she was, a hollow, bereft woman seeking something that may no longer exist, or to completely let go of that which haunted her.

In her dozing state, dreams blending with reality, Sarah spoke the words she thought she’d never again utter since her foray into the adult world:

“Hoggle? Ludo? Sire Didymus?” Her voice cracked, full of the emotions she’d tried to bury in her heart, “I need you, I always have.”

Her words barely register in her mind as they offer a silent release she didn’t realize she’d needed, allowing her to fall into a deep, dreamless slumber.

Description
This is a FanFic collaboration set 15 years after the events of the movie "Labirynth".
Original Art by: =questingraven
Original Prose by: =Dolphinryder
Sarah returns home after yet another well-received premier of bumping shoulders and rubbing elbows with the rich and famous, both off and on, the silver screen only to find it as she left it, dark and empty, nothing more than a hollow shell.

She crosses the grand foyer, heels echoing into the large domed ceiling, hardly glancing at the richly fantasy-themed brocade surrounding her. The fairies and goblins entwined in their natural environments reaching toward the vast mural within the dome no longer offer the solace she craved when she first commissioned the house, they never truly had.

Ascending the elaborate curved stair, her eyes do not see the once fascinating optical illusion the mural around them created, turning the stair into the Escher masterpiece. Long faded are her eyes to these wonders, though she continues to strive to create them, to recapture a single night.

The second floor is but a myriad of façades, creating the feel of walking through a darkly dense forest, each door carefully hand carved in order to meld perfectly with the scenery, proves only to further empty her heart of hope. Working on nothing more than automation, she enters her room, further ignoring the extravagance of it’s faerie castle appearance as she sits at her dressing table.

The mirror before her, a beautifully carved mahogany frame depicting scenes only she can recall crawling into the glass surface via careful etching, reflects for a moment the mature woman she has become. Letting her eyes lose their focus, the image becomes her only remaining solace, the image of her, over fifteen years ago, dancing in that beautiful gown, embraced in his arms.

Tears flowing freely, she methodically removes the trinkets of fame, placing them neatly into their appropriate spots, before going into her dressing room. There, she carefully hangs the evening gown in it’s designated place to await the morning maid’s routine laundry exchange, and dresses in her favored outfit: jeans, peasant blouse, and kid boots.

At one point in time, she supposed, tastes would have changed by now for most, but the grip he held on her heart left little to allow change within her mind and heart. As per routine, she exit’s the dressing room and crosses the bedroom, pouring two glasses of wine from the private bar, setting them onto a silver tray, and carrying it onto the balcony. There, just to the left of the opened doors, she carefully sets the tray onto an antique serving table set between two matching chairs before crossing the width of the balcony to lean upon the rail.

Her eyes search across the darkness, skimming over the expansive topiary labyrinth she’d already mastered, and memorized, barely glancing upon the large, exquisitely detailed sculpture resembling a castle at the center, looking for the impossible to conjure itself out of the night.

Her mind wanders as her eyes continue their endless search, recalling each moment of that night with perfect clarity. The fear, and instant love, she’d felt the moment he’d entered the room, stole the breath from her lungs even now. The utter disgust she’d initially felt upon arriving at the labyrinth’s gate, and meeting the strange creature she’d come to know as her friend. She could laugh, now, at her foolish assumptions and his outrageous behavior, and how she’d let herself be bitten by the faerie.

Her mind continued to follow her story, carrying her down the seemingly endless first path of the labyrinth, meeting the strange little creature that lived in its walls, and having someone so small open her eyes to the truth of illusion. She shook her head at the knowledge that, had she but stopped for a moment, she would have shortened her journey, and yet, how she would not have learned all she had if she did just that.

The ongoing puzzles and frustrations, the learning and exploring, unraveled in her mind as though reading a familiar novel. The discovery of Ludo, and his impromptu rescue from the goblins, the strange creatures of the forest that seemed at once threatening and yet nothing more than true to their nature. The brief reunion with her companions before the offering of the small fruit to slake her hunger.

It was here, she allowed her mind to pause, breath caught in her throat in response to the pure emotion of the next few moments of her memories. Anger and surprise at her friend’s betrayal, then suddenly being thrust into the most beautiful sight she had ever seen.

Gone were the clothes she’d worn as the darkness enveloped her mind in that forest, leaning against a tree, replaced by the most beautiful gown, the kind that every young girl dreams of having for her wedding dress. The myriad of trees replaced by others dressed in similar extravagance, their faces covered in masks that proved only to remind her of the creatures she’d met on her journey. All the while, in her heart of hearts, she knew he was there, somewhere just out of sight. Her eyes catching a glimmer of his shoulder, his mask, his smile, eluding her, just beyond her grasp.

Suddenly, for no reason at all, the crowded room became fearful, the people too pressing, her search becoming more and more futile, and her heart echoing that fear of never reaching him,. She began to become frantic in her search, bumping into the revelers, tripping over the furniture, and just as suddenly, she was in his arms.

Her heart calmed as he pulled her into his embrace, swaying her through the crowd to an empty space, catching her eyes with his own, and weakening her knees. The moments were short, and yet they seemed to last an eternity, long enough for her heart to be captured forever. Then, as the chimes of her personal clock tower does now, the foreboding chimes of the ballroom’s clock reminded her of the true purpose of her journey, allowing her to momentarily break his spell.

Disappointed and bereft, she turns and claims a single flute of wine, toasting to him in silence before drinking the contents and placing it next to its full partner. In the morning, she knew, the maid would take care of them both, never once commenting on the oddity of one glass remaining full, nor asking if there had been company the night before. Sarah wondered if he remembered her at all, if he ever came while she slept to drink to her toast and recall that night. She would never know the answer, fear of finding out the truth kept her from asking the maid whether the flute remained full, or was found emptied.

Changing once more into her night clothes, she sits on the bed and thinks in the silence of the night. Every bit of her realizes just how foolishly selfish she had been, all those years ago. Her mother had left to live her own faerie tale dream, swept off her feet by one of the most enchanting men Sarah had ever met. Yet, faerie tales were not to be lived with children attached, no matter how old, and so, the woman she both admired and adored, left her behind.

She allowed the bitterness of that truth to overcome her, blind her, toward the remaining good things in her life with her father, his new wife, and her half-brother. She wanted to do nothing more than be alone, dive into the fantasy world of acting, and wait for the day her real mother returned begging for forgiveness and offer a place in her life. It became the open door he’d needed to call her to him, to tempt her, and win her heart.

She would have let him, had it not been for the truth in her heart. There was no way for her to accept that her brother, no matter how she despised the fact he existed, would be lost forever, as she felt she had been, in order to keep what she so desperately desired. The last thing she wanted to become was that same, selfish, woman who readily gave up her child in order to live her dreams, she believed her mother had become.

Wearied by her thoughts, and the emotions attached to them, Sarah began to doze, her mind intermittently thinking and dreaming of the singular magical night.

Over the years, she had tried to continue her life with the newly opened eyes the night had given her. However, in spite of her realizations, her heart spoke against her at every turn. No one measured up to the one who held her heard, leaving her to wander through life alone, searching to recapture a fantastical world through acting. Nothing had worked, and now, she knew, she faced the same decision she’d faced then, to continue as she was, a hollow, bereft woman seeking something that may no longer exist, or to completely let go of that which haunted her.

In her dozing state, dreams blending with reality, Sarah spoke the words she thought she’d never again utter since her foray into the adult world:

“Hoggle? Ludo? Sire Didymus?” Her voice cracked, full of the emotions she’d tried to bury in her heart, “I need you, I always have.”

Her words barely register in her mind as they offer a silent release she didn’t realize she’d needed, allowing her to fall into a deep, dreamless slumber.