(Post for my Fan Fiction works? x3)
This is the beginning of fan fiction for a movie called "Labyrinth" I wrote... A little over a year ago. I am still determined to finish it. C: Honestly, I am not big fan of the movie, but I love the world it can create. It was also supposed to be my first attempt at humor in finished version.
---
Even before Sarah opened her eyes, she knew it would be one of those dreams. That is, if they could be called dreams. Even if her mind she refused to completely accept it, they were more of some sort of visit to the Underground. Every time different, every time unique and exciting, giving her inspiration. And that was exactly what she needed right now.
But this was certainly much more than she had ever expected. Her senses were assaulted by all possible and impossible smells, noises and colors. Sarah was already used to goblin's high pitched voices and chicken clucking, but now it was accompanied by some kind of... rattling and clanging. She was nearly sure she could hear neighing and barking in the distance as well. The air smelled like spice and burnt meat and when she looked around, she noticed a stall where a small goblin of unknown gender was cooking meat of a mysterious origin. Noticing her gaze, the goblin grinned, revealing uneven teeth and waved at her. "Come 'ere, come 'ere, big lady, the bestest rats meat 'ere! Both cook'd and boil'd! Cheap!" When she couldn't find the right words to decline, it winked, "Free sample just fer yer, missy!"
"Uhm... no, thank you," Sarah shook head and stepped back, accidentally tripping backward over some small, furry creature. "Watch where yer goin', big two leg!" it growled at her and in the brown fur, she could make out only mouth full of sharp teeth. "Sorry!" she muttered and quickly moved away, now more careful to not bump into anything or anyone. It was rather difficult to do, though, as the place, she guessed some kind of market, was full with goblins of all sizes and other creatures, some that she recognized and some that she did not.
Sarah had no idea where she actually was, and that was unusual. Most of the time, she 'woke up' in some familiar place near her friends. Then they were the ones who took her on new adventures in unknown places. While part of her was excited about that, another part felt uneasy but, certainly, this was nothing to get seriously worried about. The goblin market couldn't be more dangerous than their King whom she had already defeated five years ago.
From the corner of her eye she caught a strange sight - something that vaguely reminded her of a merry-go-round, only instead of beautiful plastic horses, the animals here were real, raging from big dogs to small horses. Some of them looked quite well kept, others not so much. The horses looked the most unfortunate, as goblins seemed to like to dance on their backs and sing drunkenly, before falling off and rolling away. Shuddering slightly, Sarah moved away, only to be stopped by a slight tugging on her skirt.
Looking down, she saw a goblin woman. Her dress and shawl were in all colors of the rainbow and with the golden, jingling earrings and bracelets she resembled a gypsy... a very small and greenish-brown-skinned gypsy. "Does missy wants hers future read? Cost's one of thos' shiny butt'ns of yers," the goblin spoke, pointing at the golden button that decorated the front of her blue silk dress. Sarah was already used to that
whenever she came to Underground, she always wore some kind of dress, very different from anything another girl would have in her closet.
Sarah wasn't interested in having her future read, as she did not believe in such things, but she saw this as an opportunity to find out exactly where she was. "I will give you..." she counted quickly that she had ten 'shiny buttn's' and decided to keep some for other exchanges, just in case, "five buttons if you tell me where I am and how I can get out of here."
The goblin looked at her suspiciously for a second and then beamed. "Liddie likes generous missy so Liddie helps missy. Come alon', come alon'. It's too noisy 'ere," she said and Sarah reluctantly followed the goblin who was still holding her skirt, tugging her slightly impatiently every time she slowed down.
When Liddie had found a spot between two stalls; which sold some suspicious looking drinks and food, that seemed to please her, even if Sarah couldn't understand how it was more quiet, Liddie let go of the skirt and nodded a few times before speaking. "Missy Sarah is at Gobl'n Amus'm'nt Park," and before Sarah could ask how she suddenly knew her name, she pointed at a large sign which read "Goblin Amusement Park" in big, oblique letters. She could barely believe she had not noticed it earlier. But maybe it wasn't there before?
Shaking the thought off, she turned back to Liddie. "How do you know my name?" she questioned, frowning.
"Ev'ryone knows Missy's name 'ere but it's not goo' to say it much and alo'd, w'ere oth'rs can 'ear," the goblin shrugged, as if it was obvious, and then continued, "Missy Sarah lucky to 'et to see the Park. We has it only onc' ev'ry few years."
Sarah thought that she would feel much better never visiting it but kept it to herself. As the goblin seemed to be lost in thoughts, she wanted to repeat her question about getting out of here when Liddie continued, as if reading her mind. "Oh ye, no one leav's the place until fair is over. So yer stuck 'ere fer a whil'." Even if she had predicted such answer, Sarah felt annoyed as she started pulling the buttons off. She nearly felt sad for ruining such a nice dress, but a deal was a deal.
A few minutes later she knelt down and handed five buttons to Liddie. The goblin woman grasped her hand tightly and picked the buttons out of her hand, hiding them in some pocket in her colorful skirt. But even after that, she did not let Sarah's hand go, gazing at it with an expression that Sarah guessed to be a frown. "Good day, good day fer Missy Sarah. Yer might win your happ'ness... or yer sorrow. But Liddie think it's happ'ness," Liddie finally announced with a big grin. Sarah groaned inwardly as she withdrew her hand - having her future read by a goblin seemed nearly like a bad sign in itself.
"Oh ye, one butt'n fer help, one fer futur', last fer item so al' is fair and paid," Liddie said a moment later, pulling out a wrinkled post card. Sarah stared at it for a moment clueless but then understood it was the item the goblin was talking about and took it, not wanting to insult the somewhat-helpful woman. She wasn't sure about the counting system of goblins because if this was 'fair' than how about the two other buttons, unless this was worth three?
"Uh, thank you," Sarah said but Liddie had already disappeared in the crowd.
Still feeling as confused as ever, she looked at the postcard. The green hills and lake with dark castle ruins in one coast made her think of a Loch Ness picture she had seen in some book. Sarah shook her head slightly and then stepped back in the crowd again.
This time she didn't try to go on by her self and instead just followed the stream of creatures, wondering where it would carry her. She passed a stall where goblins threw frogs (alive, as far as she could tell) at another goblin's face, who was trapped and those who hit the nose got the prize – a cracked mirror or some other junk. There was also a stall where you could try to test your strength, hitting a goblin with a rubber hammer. The louder he squealed, the better prize you got. But after a while (she had lost sense of time by now) of seeing these and other interesting attractions, Sarah felt tired and didn't want to do anything but sit down and draw a breath.
Finally, she managed to slip out of the moving line to a less crowded place. She leaned against a wall and closed her eyes. Certainly there had to be some way to get out of this crazy place. Just because some goblin said she was stuck here didn't mean she was going to give up. And just as Sarah decided this, she felt her skirt being tugged for the second time in the day.
This time it was a small, rather weak goblin, probably a goblin child. That is, if they had any. "Does Missy wants lott'ry ticket?" he asked, big, strangely human-like eyes gazing up at her with hope. "Not really, sorry," Sarah shook her head. The goblin's expression fell and she could bet his lip trembled a bit. "Papa very angry 'cos Dag won't sell tickets. Papa don't feed id-i-ots." The last word was separated in syllables, probably just like papa said it.
Sarah felt sorry for the small goblin, especially because of the feeling he could be one of those unfortunate children who got turned into goblins didn't leave her and she bit her lip slightly in thought. "I don't have any money, only these buttons," she explained, hoping that one or two would be worth a ticket. "Dag don't know if thos' can be sold so Dag not take shiny things..." the goblin's voice trailed off as his looked at the post card in her hand. Before Sarah could stop him, Dag grabbed it and grinned. "Pretty pretty pictur'! Papa pleased, Dag sure abou' that!"
Dag ran to a hut that looked to be made of different sized planks and about to collapse at any moment, and slipped into it, everything but two skinny legs disappearing from sight. Sounds of grunting and throwing stuff around could be heard but he quickly returned, the postcard gone and replaced by something that somewhat resembled a lottery ticket. "Here ya go, Missy! Dag wishes yer luck!"
Sarah looked at the ticket doubtfully but as the goblin boy was urging her to find out what she had won, she started to scratch. One chicken, two chicken, three chicken, then another and another. All images were of small chickens. With a confused look, she handed it back to Dag.
For a moment, he was silent and then let out a sound that Sarah took as a happy squeal. "Jackpot!" Dag exclaimed, jumping and clapping hands, overly excited. The worse thing was that all goblins nearby joined in his excitement. "What did I win, Dag?" she asked when he quieted down a bit.
"Somethin' great, somethin' great!" Dag clapped a few times, emphasizing his words. Sarah frowned, hoping that it wasn't a chicken and then the goblin, seeing her confusion, waved somewhere on the right of him. Her eyes automatically followed the indicated direction and she gasped, staring at the picture on the poster.
"The King! Missy won the King!" Dag, now unnecessarily, explained. Sarah looked back at him, her thoughts chaotic. Out of all things, out of all people, why did she have to win that arrogant jerk? How was that even possible? "No way. This... this isn't fair!"
Just as she exclaimed this, the changes began. The clattering of 'rides' and happy squeals of goblins started transforming into other noises - muted sounds of cars and voices on the street. The grinning goblin and 'ticket booth' were replaced by plain, white ceiling and Sarah realized she was awake.
Blinking a few times, Sarah tried to process what she had just seen. As it wasn't an easy thing to do, she closed her eyes, rubbing her forehead lightly. It seemed that today a headache would be her faithful companion. "God, that must have been the weirdest dream ever," she concluded out loud, sighing.
"Really?"
For a moment, she ignored the voice as if it was just another figment of her imagination, but only for few seconds. Then she sat up straight, gaping at the man she had apparently just won in the lottery, sitting on the corner of her desk casually, that smirk which had haunted her dreams for so long firmly plastered on his face.