CHAPTER 7

A/N: Apologies to those who thought I had put up another new chapter. I have rewritten this one because upon re-reading it I was horrified at how terrible it really was. This one isn't miles better but it'll do!

I can't escape him, not even in my dreams.

Tolbas didn't come for Sarah again.

Sarah wasn't sure how much time had passed since that night, a clock was mysteriously absent from her room and she had gotten lazy with counting the days. Boredom crept in very quickly and Sarah found herself sleeping or wasting the hours staring over the balcony and scrutinising the Labyrinth in the distance. For so long she had convinced herself that her time in the Underground had been nothing more than an elaborate dream and to see it before her, clear as day was still a little more than she could handle. Which bits had she been in before? What areas had she missed? Or was the entirety of the Labyrinth nothing more than an illusion puppeteered by Jareth himself? The thought of it made her head hurt. Sinking to the floor, Sarah let her gaze drift to a small spider scurrying past her, the gold of its skin sparkling in the sunlight.

Even the insects here are weird.

A knock at the door disturbed her .

Flinching at the intrusive sound, Sarah instinctively backed away from the door, her arms outstretched in a poor attempt at a defensive stance.

"...who is it?"

Any shred of confidence was lost the instant Sarah opened her mouth, leaving her words quiet and unsure. However, the response she was given was a world away from what she had expected.

"Cilan!"

She could almost hear the smile in his tone of voice. Relaxing, Sarah exhaled loudly before hurrying over to the heavy oak door, her head still peering round in apprehension as it opened. She was unsure how long she had been shut away in her room after the incident but the young man still looked as adorable as ever. Sarah could not help but break out into a smile as she let him in - but this was short lived. Behind Cilan, as silent and surly as ever stood Tolbas, arm folded and his piercing, unmoving gaze directed at Sarah.

"Cilan..' her voice faltered as she took in the second presence. 'What's going on?"

His grin stretched wider over his freckled face. "We're going into the Labyrinth."

The Labyrinth? Why?!

It was only natural for Sarah to have misgivings about what she had just been told. After all, the Labyrinth for her, served as a reminder of the time she very nearly lost her baby brother forever. But why was she going back?

Probably Jareth's idea of a sick joke, she thought bitterly. But he's not here, so why should I go?

Taking in a deep breath, Sarah ignored Tolbas' looming presence and focused solely on Cilan.

"No, I'm fine here. Sorry."

Cilan's face faltered a little, not so much in offence but in confusion. Tolbas' rolled his eyes.

"I don't think we have a choice, Sarah" he said quietly, cocking his head obviously in the direction of the large body behind him.

"But I don't understand' she began, ignoring the fact she was beginning to sound like a whiney child, 'why does he want me to go back in there..surely he's not expecting me to.." Sarah trailed off, unable to complete her sentence at the thought of her last experience within the Labyrinth walls. The memory of Toby made her heart ache.

Toby!

"Does he have Toby?! He can't, he just can't!, It's not fair! Let me talk to Jareth, let me talk to him right now!" Sarah attempted to push past the two men who had been patiently waiting for her panic to end. Her efforts were stopped almost immediately when two strong hands were slammed onto her shoulders. The action of it almost took the air out of her lungs.

Sarah looked upwards at Tolbas, her eyes wide and fearful.

"Please, does he have my brother?"

Seconds passed before Tolbas slowly shook his scarred head and Sarah could feel all traces immediate panic leaving her body at once. Maybe Jareth just wanted them out of the castle? Whatever his reasons were she knew she wouldn't find them out right that second so it was futile to try. Sighing loudly, she turned back into her bedroom and hastily put on the first pair of shoes she set her eyes on. Cilan's smile was as wide as ever.

They walked down the dimly lit corridor in silence whilst Sarah's thoughts whirled in her mind. She wasn't sure if she was feeling excitement or sheer panic at the thought of re-entering the Labyrinth trying desperately to remember something, anything of her first encounter that might help her this time around. Finally, she found the courage to speak.

"We're not...running it..are we?" Sarah cursed inwardly at the stupidity of her question. Cilan turned to her, his face paused in thought before grinning.

"No, I think it's more of a day out."

Not totally at ease, Sarah remained quiet for the remainder of the journey, trying her best to ignore her own thoughts. No need to become any more worried than she already was. Finally, they approached a small stone door and Tolbas raised his hand, indicating them to stop. Sarah knew there was an entire town out there before even reaching the outskirts of the Labyrinth, where could this door possibly lead? Slowly, Tolbas pushed against the stone with ease and daylight flooded in, blinding Sarah momentarily. Shielding her eyes, Sarah found her feet moving involuntarily forward, curiosity getting the better of her. The sound of the door closing behind her was the only thing to drag her out of her stupor. She was really there. She was back in the Labyrinth. Gazing around her in awe, Sarah tried her best to take it in all. It looked just as she remembered it. 8 foot high yellow walls surrounded her and Cilan with vines of ivy spiralling their way in and out of the bricks. The air was sweet and fresh and the sun warm on her exposed pale skin. Taking a deep breath, Sarah turned to Cilan.

"So, where do we go from here?"

Cilan shrugged almost comically.

"That way..maybe? I dunno, you're the one who's been here before."

Sarah found herself smiling, pushing the boy playfully before starting out on the twisting trail ahead of them but a brief glint of silver in Cilan's hand caused her to stop.

"What's that?"

Cilan raised an eyebrow.

"What's what?"

Really?!

"In your hand!"

"Oh!" Cilan opened his hand to reveal a small, old fashioned looking key with a yellowing note dangling from it. "Guard man gave it to me before he shut the door on us. The note says 'red for return' so.." he trailed off, frowning.

Sarah raised an eyebrow at the boy clearly failing to understand and began walking ahead, calling behind her at a still confused Cilan.

"It'll turn red when we need to go back."

Sarah rolled her eyes at the exclamation of "oh yeah!" but could not help but laugh at the sound of heavy footsteps catching up with her.

What a goofball.

The duo walked for a long time, following the path slowly, alternately choosing whether to take the left or right path. Sarah found herself at ease simply listening to Cilan's chatter and him, equally happy with Sarah's half interested responses.

"So how come you've managed to get out of helping me again?"

The question almost froze Sarah where she stood.

"W-what?"

The playful grin on the boy's face began to fade slowly at Sarah's reaction. He had only meant it to be a light-hearted question. Cilan scratched the back of his head awkwardly as he spoke.

"Well..the last time I saw you was when we cleaned all the knives and forks and that was ages ago."

Sarah knew it had been a while but when there was nothing to do but sleep, eat and stare out of the window, the days just seemed to blur into one. She almost didn't want to know the answer.

"How long ago was it?"

"Two weeks? Maybe three."

Three weeks? Sarah's mind raced as she tried in vain to not think about the reason why she had been kept in her room for all that time. For days after that horrible night with Jareth and Xavier, Sarah had taken to sleeping under the ornate wooden bed as opposed to on it, wrapping herself deep down into her duvet and staying awake until she could fight off sleep no more.

"What did you do with yourself for all that time?" Cilan asked innocently.

What did you do with yourself?

"I don't know. Sleep I guess."

Cilan didn't press the matter and simply stared ahead, grabbing a leaf every now and again from a stray branch and destroying it with his long pale fingers. Sarah quickly became lost in her own thoughts and as she tried to compose herself, she failed to realise the sound of Cilan's footsteps behind her had disappeared. Hearing nothing but silence, Sarah stopped dead, turning around to be greeted only by a wall that had not been there before.

Are you kidding me?!

"Cilan?"

Weird.

Pondering what to do next, Sarah turned away from the new dead end but instead of more Labyrinth, stood before her was a lake so full of beauty it almost took her breath away.

That definitely wasn't there before.

Stretched so far she could only see a strip of green in the distance indicating the other side of it, the mirror like water rippled gently in the nonexistent breeze. Sarah frowned as the sudden overwhelming desire to enter its waters filled her - it was just a lake, big deal. Bending down to brush the water's edge with her hand, Sarah was surprised to find that it was pleasantly cool.

Pretty.

The sound of the water being disturbed halted her thoughts and Sarah's head snapped upwards to see a lone woman stood waist deep in the clear water. Long silver hair cascaded down her naked body, her pale porcelain skin almost glittering in the light of the setting sun. Her ruby red lips were parted in a sweet smile, showing two rows of perfect pearl white teeth whilst her arm extended towards Sarah, her hand beckoning.

Sarah wanted to call out to the woman and ask her what was going on but no words came, all she could think about was touching this perfect woman. Without asking it to, Sarah noticed her own hand mirroring the action, her fingers stretching out in the hope of closing the gap between the woman and herself. Ignoring the fact she had not commanded her body to reciprocate, Sarah could feel nothing and her thoughts were quiet bar the burning desire to join the woman in the crystal waters, and every second she spent on the dry land was almost too much to bear. Still no words had been exchanged and only the sound of Sarah's feet breaking the still water could be heard. The woman beckoned again and Sarah knew only the unending want of touching her. More women appeared from under the water and Sarah exhaled softly at the loveliness of the sight.

She had to join them.

Now almost neck deep, Sarah's hand finally came into contact with the woman's and her smile..it was the most perfect smile she had ever seen, she couldn't help but smile back. They waded in deeper together, the cool water washing over her head and for a moment there was sweet nothingness, just her and the flawless women in the clear liquid of the lake.

But then everything changed.

The woman's face swiftly turned from a picture perfect smile to a manic grin, eyes wild and her pearl white teeth now jagged and bared. Sarah began to panic, her arms and legs thrashing as she suddenly realised her lungs were screaming for air. Hands from all angles grabbed her flailing limbs and she could feel herself being dragged down and down, the light from above fading rapidly, the darkness from below rising. Sarah tried to scream out but realised instantly her mistake - water flooded her lungs and just as he vision began to fade, the sound of high pitched laughter rang in her ears as she went further and further...

Coughing and spluttering, Sarah gasped for air, whilst trying to push her sodden hair from her face.

"Sahwrah."

The familiar gruff voice of the friend she once knew caused her to look up immediately. Looming over her was the same mass of ginger fur she had thought she would never see again. A look of concern was painted onto the beast's face.

"Ludo save Sawrah."

Without hesitation, Sarah clung to Ludo's stumpy legs, choking out sobs in shock and utter confusion.

"Ludo, you're alive!"

A large grey hand came clumsily down onto her head and Sarah could not help but laugh at the force of it.

"Sahwrah wet."

"Y-yes Ludo, Sarah wet."

Finally finding some composure, Sarah tore herself away from Ludo's soft fur and had a look at her surroundings. The lake was gone and all that remained was the Labyrinth wall indicating another dead end.

I hate this place.

But with Ludo right there in front of her, clear as day, Sarah realised Jareth had lied to her -so did that mean..

"Ludo, where are Hoggle and Sir Didymus?"

The beast shrugged and Sarah felt any hope she had previously drain from her. Her smile came effortlessly, however.

"It doesn't matter, at least you're here. "

With Ludo's help, Sarah managed to get to her feet and she relayed in her mind what had just happened. She was still dripping with water so there was no doubt the lake had been real but why had it disappeared? Potentially another one of Jareth's tricks, but why? What did he stand to gain from half drowning her? Or maybe this was just another 'perk' of the Labyrinth. Sighing heavily, Sarah looked upwards at the giant before her.

"Come on Ludo, help me find my friend."

It didn't take long for Sarah to hear Cilan's voice yelling out for her and took even less time to see his freckled face appear around a corner. Sarah couldn't help but let out a quiet laugh at the way his face went rapidly from concern to elation then to confusion.

"Sarah I found you! Why are you wet?"

Cilan's eyes travelled upwards as his face paled.

"And who is that?"

'My friend Ludo.' she said matter-of-factly as there would be time to explain later and quite honestly, Sarah wasn't sure if she had the patience or energy to right now.

"Ok..well I think it's time to go, this thing has been going crazy." he held up the now bright red key.

"Go with Sahwrah?"

Sarah's smile faded as the realisation of her losing her friend again to the Labyrinth hit her. The thought of trying to sneak Ludo inside the castle wasn't even worth entertaining.

"No Ludo..you can't."

It all but broke Sarah's heart watching his face crease in confusion. She placed her tiny hand in his giant one.

"I will come and find you when they let me out here again - ok? That's a promise."

But as Cilan fumbled with the key in a lock which had seemingly appeared in the nearest brick wall to them, Sarah reviewed the promise she had just made. Who knew if she was even going to be let out her room again, let alone in the Labyrinth. But Ludo was alive which meant Hoggle and Sir Didymus were out there somewhere too, which was something to hope for..wasn't it?

Not hoping to go home then?

Sarah shook her head in order to rid the thought from her mind, of course she wanted to leave this horrible place but small victories..

Tolbas was waiting on the other side when Cilan finally managed to get the key to work. He raised an eyebrow at the state of her and Sarah could do nothing more than give the man her best death glare. As they walked, she ignored Cilan's concerned side glances and let herself be guided back to her room, only murmuring a goodbye to Cilan before letting the door slam shut, listening to it being locked from the outside. Having no idea how to even begin processing the events of the day or to question the reason why they had been sent off into the Labyrinth in the first place, she simply stripped herself off her wet clothes, crawled onto the top of the bed and effortlessly fell into a dreamless sleep.