Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“You have no power over me.”

“ No! ” Jareth screamed.

“No!” the Goblins exclaimed, astounded.

A clock began to strike.

She heard his voice, for a last time, moaning, “Sarah… Sarah…” His empty cloak was settling onto the ground. A beam of light picked out a little cloud of dust motes rising from it. 

The clock continued to strike.

With a last, slow flutter, the cloak lay still. From beneath it, as the clock struck for the twelfth time, a white owl flew out and circled over Sarah.

Tears were trickling down her cheeks.

Then…

She was standing on the staircase of her home, and it was dark outside.

“Toby,” she shouted.

And so the girl, perhaps an ordinary girl no longer, had said the words and succeeded. Her brother won back and the journey over. She had paid for her actions with equal and just consequences, and now there was a new chapter in her life, and the consequences were over. 

There was one adventure per hero, Sarah thought, and her adventure was over. Unless… Unless there was a sequel, but she hadn’t left any room for a sequel had she? The Goblin King was gone. Done. Defeated. Perhaps even dead.

She shivered at the thought.

Her story was done and she had been granted her typical - if a little mundane - happy ending.

Finished.

7 years later

Morning broke her dreams. 

Her mind came alive once again. Sarah was reluctant to let it. Already she could feel the swirl of her thoughts. The overwhelming whispers of defeat, regret and longing. 

She groaned and turned over in her bed.

A knock at her bedroom door raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

“Sarah?” The voice of her step-mother was muffled.

“Come in,” Sarah sighed and raised herself so that she was sitting. 

Karen entered the room. Clothes pressed and hair neatly tucked back. Sarah wondered how the woman was so detailed and organized, even in the early hours of morning. There was no slacking on her side.

Karen took one look at Sarah’s disheveled hair and wrinkled pajamas and cracked a smile. “How did you sleep?”

“Horrible, but I actually fell asleep this time,” Sarah said and pushed herself off the bed. Her covers slipped and revealed a flannel shirt and matching pants. 

“Breakfast is ready - ah , ah - make your bed first!” Karen warned as Sarah headed towards the door. 

Sarah huffed and turned back to her bed, half-heartedly throwing the comforter and tucking it in the right spots. It reminded her of her brother Toby when he was forced to do chores.

“You didn't take your medication last night?” Karen frowned, eyeing the untouched bottle on Sarah’s vanity.

“It doesn’t help. Just knocks me out. There’s no point to it anymore.”

“Should we take you back? Find something else?”

“No.” Sarah turned to her step-mother. “I don’t want medication anymore. I just want peace…”

Karen nodded, acquiescing. “Well, I made a new pot of coffee. All for you,” Karen said. 

Sarah smiled. “Thanks, I’ll be down in a minute.” 

Her step-mother left without another word.

Sarah caught her pale face in the mirror of her vanity. Dark circles under her eyes. She was still beautiful, although hauntingly beautiful now. White skin and a weary face. Already she could feel the intrusive thoughts pulling at her mind again. Images flashing through her brain of people that she had never met. Things so beautiful and horrible to her, the thoughts keeping her from her own mundane tasks. Often from even sleeping. At night she would stare at the ceiling wondering how her mind and heart could be so ugly as to think up these things. 

The specialists had called it OCD. Intrusive thoughts. 

She supposed they must be right, though her only symptoms came in the form of extreme thoughts. It often felt like it wasn’t even her mind, but people telling her these things. Whispering into her ear. Sarah was too afraid to tell the doctors the extent of it all. She was sure they’d think she was crazy.

So she stayed up at night.

Her hand touched the cool glass of the mirror before she had even realized she’d traveled across the room. 

The thoughts became louder, interrupting her calm musings. 

I wish-

The voices traveled. Female, male, some indistinguishable. 

I wish I was her.

I wish she loved me.

I wish he was dead.

I wish, I wish, I wish …

Sarah squeezed her eyes shut enough to hurt. They passed and the thoughts quieted. 

“Hoggle,” she called after a moment. After her thoughts were hers again.

She took her fingers off the glass as a wrinkled, rough face appeared in the mirror where her reflection had been a second before.

“Are they bad today?” His gruff voice asked. Thick gray brows pulled together in concern.

Sarah shook her head and plopped down in the chair before him. She picked up a comb, fiddling with it, and then began brushing her hair. “It’s too soon to tell,” she said once she finished the quick comb-through. 

“Humph,” his vision seemed to suddenly lower, too, as if he had thrown himself down on a chair that she couldn’t see, almost mimicking her. 

Her fantastical reflection. Sarah sometimes wondered if she really were crazy.

He spoke again, “You answered any more of them?”

Her eyes flashed. “ Never .”

“Good,” he said, and that was that. 

They were quiet again. Her palms began to sweat, her heart in her throat. She swallowed it down. When she spoke Hoggle could still hear it in her voice. “Has - Is he any different?”

The dwarf shook his head. His grey eyes looking down instead of meeting Sarah’s. “Just the same. There’s a dark cloud over him.”

“Is it worse, then?”

“I suppose it could be…” He shrugged.

She let out a shaky breath. “Hoggle… Do you think he knows?”

He looked up at her again. Looked at her pure green eyes, still innocent even after every evil wish she had witnessed second-hand. He didn’t want to lie, but he didn’t want to hurt her, either. He settled for in-between. “I think you’ve got time before he figures it out.”

Sarah pulled back, her face pensive, fingers drawn up to her turned down lips. She spoke behind them. “I think he suspects. Time isn’t enough and I don’t know what I’ll do when he finds out.”

“Well, he’s the sort to inspect every crevice. Every detail. He’ll need real proof to confirm it first. Jus’ don’t answer anymore of them wishes.”

“I don’t,” Sarah corrected quickly, as if she was stung by the accusation. “Nothing good ever comes from them. Even if it buys a few hours of peace.”

She remembered when the wishes first started, three years before. She’d awoken in the middle of the night in her dorm room to sounds of voices. It took her minutes to realize that they were only in her head. So subtle that it was almost as if it was her mind talking to itself. Sarah hadn’t slept that night, her brain too overactive to shut off, and when she finally dozed off in the morning she’d been too tired to dwell on it.

The wishes hadn’t bothered her again till a few weeks later, when she was taking her final exams. The auditorium had been quiet. Too quiet, and Sarah found that she could hear her thoughts very well. Insistent ideas and phrases began to tug at her, until she had let her pencil slide from her hand and her mind had been lost to its spell. 

That was the first time she could make out the wishes.

I wish, I wish…

I wish that I’d pass this test , a voice said that eerily sounded like the girl that had been occupying the seat next to Sarah throughout the semester.

Other thoughts filtered in.

I wish I could drop out . Sarah had snorted, earning her glares from the students around her. She’d brushed these off, thinking it was just stray thoughts from her own brain.

Then it worsened.

And became a nightmare.

Buy the end of the day her heart had been thoroughly abused from anxiety. Hands shaking and mind bent from the idea that she was losing it. 

Visions had overcome her, fast and in flashes of color. Thoughts of other people, but not mind reading, perse. They were dreams , they were wishes. 

The man next to her would wish that the gas prices would lower. Another time, Sarah had stood next to a couple holding hands and had been overcome by the vision of an engagement ring and the man kneeling before her. She had been startled and tripped in front of the pair. The woman that had likely envisioned the wish had given Sarah a concerned look. 

Sarah hadn’t cared. She’d raced back to her dorm room, trying her best to avoid other people. It has been like that ever since.

Some people’s dreams were vivid enough to inspire sequences of visions - some people didn’t have enough imagination, or were too practical, and their wishes were simply a whisper or phrase in Sarah’s mind.

Sarah stood up from her vanity, Hoggle’s curious eyes watching her as she dropped her comb on the surface of it. “I’ll try my best not to draw his attention. Not anymore than I already have… with our history and everything. I’m surprised he hasn’t approached me about this yet.” Sarah wrung her hands together.

Hoggle frowned. “I ain’t. The rat’s a planner. If you’ve got something coming fer ya, you’ve got a while still.”

Sarah’s shoulders dropped. She sighed. “Thanks, Hoggle. That’s very helpful,” she said sarcastically.

He looked at her the way her father would sometimes. The look her father used to give Sarah whenever Linda, her deadbeat mother, would come up in conversations. “I’ll be there for you should you need me, Sarah. We all will… Just try not to answer any of those darn wishes.”

Sarah smiled and shook her head. “You know I won’t. Not after the trouble it's caused me before.”

One day she had snapped.

The wishes became overwhelming. Some angry, some in anguish and some were obsessive.

I wish you would just shut up! Why won’t you shut up?

I wish you were here. I miss you.

I wish you loved me. Please, love me.

I wish…

Sarah had torn at her hair, at her skin, her clothes - anything - until she was half dressed on the floor in her room and she was crying. 

Then, another wish pushed instantly at her mind. An urge to just end them overcame her.

It was a simple wish, really. She could have granted one that was terrible. Monstrous. God knows she’s heard enough of those ones. But luck would have it that her first wish granted was an innocent want - a child’s voice - and one with no immediate disasters.

I wish the weather was like this all the time .

“Fine!” Sarah had screamed, her arms dropping down and hitting the ground with a loud thud. And then… nothing.

Her mind was suddenly quiet. It was as if the world had stopped existing. The only sounds were her speeding heart, uneven breathing and the patter of rain on her window.

The rain never stopped. 

The news traveled to the city in wonderment. People at her school reluctantly gave in to buying rain gear. Sarah waited.

It had not ceased for three months until she found her solution. Another wish.

And that was the problem with wishes. Is that they kept piling up. One was never enough, never perfect enough, or it turns out it wasn’t what the wisher wanted all along. And then it was a string of more dangerous wishes that followed.

Luckily, in that instance it only took one wish to rectify the situation. Sarah had begged one of her roommates to make a wish. To wish that the weather would return to normal, and it had worked. She had granted it - although her roommate found her a little odd afterwards. But Sarah had not been so lucky in the few other wishes that she had accidentally - or one time generously - granted.

A boy had wished for an A in a required class for his major. Sarah - finding no harm in it - had granted it. Only to find Hoggle in the bathroom mirror that evening with terror on his face. He’d begged her to stop. Pleading, his voice rough and raspy. Sarah had been scared of his fear.

He’d told her that the Goblin King was angry. That he knew there was magic afoot in the Aboveground, and that, so far, he didn’t know that it was Sarah, but he was ready to destroy the source of it at all costs. That had brought up a wealth of questions that Hoggle couldn’t answer. He was able to tell her that so far the only reason that Sarah was safe was because the Goblin King did not know her whereabouts. Had no idea she had moved off from her parent’s house into a college town. For all he knew, Sarah had moved on from magic.

Sarah answered no more wishes after that.

Sarah returned to the present. “I won’t answer any of them ever again. I promise.”

Hoggle gave her a curt nod. She gave him a crooked smile. Sarah continued, “And I really am thankful for how helpful you have been. Keep me updated, please?”

“Will do, Sarah. And if you need us…?”

“I’ll call.”

And Hoggle faded from her mirror.

Sarah’s posture sagged. The uneasy sleep of the previous night came back to haunt her. Coffee, she remembered. Karen had made her coffee. And with that, Sarah dragged herself downstairs to get ready for the day.

Chapter Text

The Tome

“Sarah, dear , you never have time for me anymore…”

Sarah cringed at the entitled tone in her mother’s voice. “I know. I’m sorry. I’ve just been busy and the only free-time I have is helping dad with Toby. He’s been home sick from school.”

A sigh. Her mother’s cultured voice tutted. “Such a pretty thing like you shouldn’t be spending her time doing such… mundane things.”

Sarah switched the phone to her other ear, pulling the tangled cord away from her slim frame and peeking around the corner. “ Toby, put that down. ”

“ But I want to play ,” a voice whined.

 Her mother droned on in her left ear. 

“ Not in the house - sorry, mom. What did you say?”

“I said ,” and Linda sounded exasperated, “Come with Jeremy and I to the gala this weekend. I’ll buy you that gorgeous evening dress you were looking at,” the words lazily dripped from her tongue that was framed by, no doubt, Linda’s trademarked red lips. “We could get our nails done, and I’ll even pay for a limo to escort you. You always asked for one, remember that?”

“Yes, I remember,” Sarah said and frowned. “ When I was fourteen …” she muttered too quietly for Linda to hear. Materialistic things had gradually fallen off her radar over the past few years. It just… didn’t matter anymore… But that dress. Burning red and silky. It fit her like a glove. She had been eyeing it for a long while. That had been in high school. Sarah was surprised Linda remembered. She remembered how her posture had straightened and her green eyes had twinkled when she strutted before her mother in front of the changing rooms. 

Then Linda had gotten a call from Jeremy that had angered her and told Sarah they were leaving. Her smile fell. She left the dress hanging alone on a bar in the fitting room.

A loud snap echoed throughout the house. Sarah’s eyes nervously glanced around the corner again to spot her brother. Her face softened as they watched a young boy try to entertain himself in the living room without his big sister. He was making a mess. Crayons scattered across the floor. She heard them rolling on the hardwood.

Jokes on me for giving an eight-year-old ice cream and soda , Sarah reprimanded herself.

“So you will come, then?”

Sarah sighed into the receiver. “I-I guess. If I have nothing that I have to do. Karen’s going to be busy this weekend.”

“Oh, you poor thing. Practically a slave.” And her mother said it without a hint of sarcasm. 

Those words struck a familiar cord in Sarah. She found herself more irritated with her mother than usual. “You don’t have to coddle me, mom,” Sarah said. “And besides, they pay me.”

“I know, I know. I just miss us girls having fun. We haven’t been able to do that since your brother was born, you realize?” Her mother continued in a conspiring tone, “I am beginning to wonder if it’s all a ruse. Your father didn’t handle the divorce well, you know. And now they offer you money on every free weekend you have that you could spend with me .”

Sarah refrained from spitting out her next words. “Well, I was in college. I was busy. As for Toby… That’s not true.” The conversation turned tense. A heaviness weighed on the silence between them. Linda had never met Sarah’s younger brother. A small child with mischievous eyes. Tobias was a lovable scamp. Prone to jokes and a heart of gold. No one would never have guessed the reason behind the worry in Sarah’s eyes when she gazed upon him. The fear of the fact that this was all almost impossible. If she had never won him back all those years ago, where would she be today?

What would have happened to him? Would she have ever been able to live with herself?

And yet, she still carried that guilt and fear that losing him would’ve brought ten folds of. There were days where her senses would prickle. The corners of the room would seem slightly just too dark, and the shadows within them more grotesquely shaped than they ought to be. 

Sarah obeyed Hoggle’s warnings not only because it was the right thing to do, but because she feared what would happen if her sudden ‘power’ was discovered. What would that mean for Toby?

As usual, in her ignorance, Linda had a marvelous way of making everything about herself. 

Linda sputtered. “Sarah, why are you angry at me?” Her voice instilled guilt and Sarah tried to refrain from succumbing to it.

Sarah calmed. “I’m not…” She sighed. “Don’t worry, mom. I get out. I still have fun. And I’ll see you this weekend, okay?” She decided that she did need a break. Sarah just hoped that nothing bad would come out of it. When she usually came down from the high of partying with her mother she often found herself melancholic and pensive. It was hard to separate her emotions from her memories. Sarah knew her mother was only reaching out because Sarah had strayed a little too far this time. It had been a long while since they had seen each other in person. Years.

She was her mother’s anchor. Her mother’s emotional support. The ‘Mini-Linda’. Her pride and joy - and yet the child that will never live up to the expectations that her mother had paved. She had tried too hard when she was younger. Had thought that if she turned out just like her, dressed like her, talked like her, and even became an actress; then why wouldn’t Linda be proud of her? Then one day it just… ceased to matter.

One day something life changing had happened. Sarah had learned what was really important in life.

And then the wishes came. She heard self-centered people’s dreams frequently- and now she worried just what she might hear from Linda once she was in a close vicinity to her.

Sarah shook out of her thoughts.

“Jeremy will be so excited. He hasn’t seen you since you were, what, fifteen? Oh, we’ll have to doll you up. I know that you haven’t been able to dress all that well lately. I saw your Christmas photos.”

“Yeah, I’ll be looking forward to that.” By this point, Sarah had stopped listening. “I’ll see you this weekend, okay?”

“Yes, darling. I’ll hold you to that.” Linda paused. “I love you,” she said.

Sarah blinked, surprised. A smile twitched on her rosy lips. “I love you too, mom,” Sarah said. Then they hung up.

The young woman stood in the kitchen with her hand lingering on the phone for a solid few minutes after that. Eyes studying the patterns of the pristine tile floor while deep in thought. The corner of her mouth still turned up.

Karen burst through the front door. “Oh goodness, Toby what happened here? Sarah ,” she called. “Could you help unload the groceries?”

“I’m in the kitchen,” Sarah answered.

“Oh.” Karen turned and looked through the archway that led from their proper living room into the clean, white Victorian kitchen. The older woman marched through, a load of bags in her hands, and Sarah took some and helped her carry them to the counter.

Karen left to gather the remaining ones, and Sarah shooed Toby off of the snacks and desserts before he could eat them out of the house. When Karen returned Sarah spoke up.

“So, I just got off the phone with my mom.”

Sarah saw, out of the corner of her eyes, Karen’s hands pause from taking the food out of the bags. Karen resumed as if nothing had happened. “Really? What did she want?”

“Oh, nothing really,” Sarah’s voice was light. “She wanted me to go to a gala this weekend. Told me she would buy me a dress. You - you wouldn’t mind, would you?”

“Sarah, you’re a grown woman. I am grateful that you’re here to help out with Toby, I am, but you also have a life to live.”

Sarah shrugged. “It’s just one weekend. I’ll probably be back sooner than expected.”

“Well, good. We would miss you if you were gone for too long.” Karen turned to her. “Sarah, we love you, but we don’t expect you to live here forever. I - I know you had your own apartment in the city and that you were finally getting on your feet. You’re a very responsible young lady.” Karen’s eyes were shining. “So don’t be afraid to ask for more, Sarah. You’re an adult. Take more than a weekend away if you need to.”

Sarah smiled and found she didn’t have anything other to say than a ‘thank you’.

Karen gave her a returning smile before finishing up unloading the groceries. A sudden thought wriggled its way through Sarah’s mind. It was strong and dulled her other senses. It was the voice of her step-mother.

I wish that girl gets everything she wants in life .

It was tempting to grant. Selfish, and oh so terribly tempting. After all, Sarah found she couldn’t grant her own wishes. She’d tried after the few fiascos she had after affirming other people’s wishes. No, she only had power over other people’s dreams. Not her’s. 

Sarah didn’t doubt that this would be the last time in a long while that someone would wish for her dreams to come true. The selfish part of her, the part that had wished her brother away all those years ago, begged her to grant Karen’s wish. It even tried to convince Sarah that she deserved it.

She gave a ragged sigh. Overcome by her step-mother’s kind heart. And then declined the wish. It does no good for someone to be granted everything they wanted. She knew that from personal experience.

Sarah closed her eyes against her disappointment - it had been so very tempting - and when she opened them again she found herself needing a distraction. 

“Karen,” she said suddenly, “What time is dad getting home? I think I want to treat you guys to a movie tonight.”

Much Later That Night

Sarah retired to her bedroom. Mentally exhausted.

There was a reason why she didn’t leave the house much anymore. She could hardly hear the movie over the loud wishes of the lust-ridden couple in front of them. Sarah wrinkled her nose and dropped into bed, still clothed in her jeans and her shirt from the day.

“My lady?” A voice interrupted her grumpy thoughts.

She turned towards her childhood vanity to see an old, dear friend. “Hey, Sir Didymus.” Sarah cracked a genuine smile and sat up.

He bowed to her in 2D. She rose and headed towards the reflection. “What brought you here so late?” she asked.

“I’ve brought you a present, fair maiden.” He reached behind himself and revealed an old, dusty tome. Sarah’s eyes widened at the worn leather book.

“What’s that?”

The fox, nimble and energetic as ever, reached through the mirror with a paw and deposited the book on the surface of her vanity. He straightened his posture and announced in a righteous tone, “I have liberated this book from his majesty-”

“- What? ” Sarah interrupted. “Sir Didymus, I can’t take this. It’s too dangerous.” She flung her hands up, unsure what to do with them. They hovered over the book, too scared to touch it, but too intrigued to withdraw from it.

“That’s what I’s said,” a gruff voice joined in. Her dwarf friend appeared in the mirror behind the knight fox. Then the two were joined by a red, hairy, mass of fur. 

“It… Bad…” Ludo, the friendly beast, said.

“ Pah ,” the knight waved them off. “Cowards. I will not be defeated by a simple fae without his magic.” He removed his sword from its sheath and swung it around, missing Hoggle’s large protruding nose by a hair.

“Gah,” Hoggle jumped back.

Sir Didymus apologized and humbly put away his sword. 

“Wait-” Sarah leaned forward. “What do you mean he’s without his magic?”

Hoggle tensed. “Not all his magic, just wishes n’ stuff. You’s gotta read it, but… I’s don’t suggest it. If he ever finds out you have his book, well, he ain’t known to be nice to thieves. Even if he is one himself…” Hoggle continued to mumble on about taxes.

“Unlikely he’ll miss it.” Sir Didymus said with confidence. “Hundred upon hundred of books I traversed through until I found this one, my lady. It was quite the quest. An entire fortnight.”

“Sounds like the Underground could use the Dewey Decimal System…” Sarah said aloud to no one in particular and inspected the book. She looked back up at her friends. “Do you think he could track it?” Her fingers traced the cool edges of the worn leather. She almost expected something to happen when the pads of her fingertips pressed down gently upon it. A bolt of static or the feeling of magic, but the book remained innocently lifeless.

Hoggle waved her off. “Only if he noticed it missin’. Just don’t do anything to get his attention.”

Sarah rolled her eyes. “You know I won’t. Thank you, guys. I’ve been trying to figure out what has happened to me for years… Hopefully, this book will explain it.”

“You’re very welcome, fair maiden.”

Sir Didymus bowed and with a goodbye they all disappeared from her mirror.

---

The power of wishes, Sarah read, was not given lightly, but it could be stolen . She felt the hair on the back of her neck stand and prickle. Her heart beat faster in her chest. 

‘He ain’t known to be nice to thieves . ’

It was passed down through generation and generation of Labyrinth rulers. Not always the King. Sometimes the Queen, sometimes an unlucky random peasant that ended up dead. Most likely foul play suspected from the current reigning King or Queen of the Labyrinth. History says that it was preferred to stay in the family line, either by marriage or death, and even in one case a human being held captive and driven crazy until forced to answer a wish that ended in him conceding his power to a past King.

That was the only case of a human holding the power of wishes. Sarah couldn’t remember this ever being spoken of in human mythology and she suspected it was because the human was very young when his power was detected and he was stolen away.

And when the passages of the book took a darker turn and mentioned the human suffering and dying soon after, she couldn’t stop the shiver that slid up her spine. His suffering was not explained and she wondered if he had been tortured and killed or if he missed the power that had been taken from him.

Poor guy, she thought. He hadn’t been careful with it. She suspected that if she had been born with this power her fate would probably have been similar. Luckily, it was a new acquisition and she was being careful with it.

The book said nothing about the current Goblin King, either than him being born into this power - it being passed down his family line. Nothing further was mentioned. Not even his date of birth.

Sarah read far into the night, finding that she couldn’t sleep due to the noises rising in her head. The quiet of the night always made it worse.

By the time the morning light passed into her window, Sarah had read and skimmed through everything in the book. She found nothing more about her powers. The writer obviously was not one who had this talent. Sarah was also still clueless as to how she had gained these powers, but she suspected that she had ‘ stolen ’ them.

“Sir Didymus did say that the Goblin King’s powers were gone…”

She tried to recall every encounter that she had with him in the labyrinth. Everything said and done, but could not remember a specific moment when she felt like she ‘stole’ anything.

She huffed and rose from her bed. Sarah placed the tome back down on the vanity and caught a glimpse of her red-rimmed eyes in the mirror. A familiar look.

She tore her face away from her reflection. Her eyes instead caught on a leather-bound red book on her vanity next to several ceramic figures. She grabbed it and slid into her chair. 

“Maybe…” she spoke softly to herself and invested the rest of the morning to examine the passages of the book ‘The Labyrinth’ for clues. 

She found nothing that she hadn’t already known.