31_days | [August 9] [Labyrinth] Nothing But Time

Title: Nothing But Time
Day/Theme: August 9- but what would you change if you could?
Fandom: Labyrinth
Character(s): Sarah, Hoggle, Jareth
Rating: G

Sarah Williams wants everyone to know that she's learned from her mistakes, and that she's a perfectly mature adult now, who really, honestly, isn't going to let her little brother microwave his own pizza again.

Unfortunately, her parents don't agree.

"That was five years ago!" she protested. "And anyway, Toby's older, he's more responsible-"

"It isn't him we're worried about, Sarah," her stepmother reminded her gently.

"Don't you trust me?"

"Sarah-" her father began, but was cut off by his wife.

"It isn't that we don't trust you, sweetheart- we trust you to take care of yourself away from home, but..."

"You don't trust me with another person's life," Sarah finished bitterly. The irony is so sharp she could bite her tongue in two.

It isn't as if she hasn't done everything in her power to change her attitude, either. Well, all right, Sarah amends, mostly everything. She certainly doesn't take her life for granted. She's well aware that everything she has now could have shattered into nothing for one mistake, much as a certain treacherous fantasy fell apart in the uttering of six magic words.

But... life-altering experiences have strange effects.

Sitting in front of her mirror (one of the few things she brought with her from her old room to her college dorm), Sarah spoke. "Hoggle."

Instantly, a familiar wrinkled brown face rises into existence behind her reflection. "You called?"

Sarah bit her lip, trying to find the right words for the question that had been fluttering at the back of her mind. "Do you think I'm... controlling?"

"You?" Hoggle blinks in surprise. "Well, I dunno. You're good in a crisis."

"Not specific enough," Sarah mused. "Or are you just avoiding the question?" (Hoggle squirms awkwardly) "Would you call me selfish?"

"Me? Never!" The goblin looked a bit too pleased with this, and it only took her a moment to realize the problem with that question.

Growling in frustration, Sarah narrowed her eyes. "It doesn't have to be like this, Hoggle. Spare me the word games, and give me the truth."

Hoggle sighed, throwing up his hands. "Fine, but you asked for it."

"When I stole your jewels, what did you think that made me?"

"Cruel," the goblin grumbled, not looking her in the eye. "Unfair. Manipulative."

The blood pounded in Sarah's temples. "You thought I was like Jareth, didn't you?"

Hoggle froze. "I never said that! Don't go putting words in my mouth!"

"Oh, go away!" Sarah snarled. Instantly, he vanished.

She spun around in her chair, only to find nothing, although she could have sworn she heard the echo of familiar mocking laughter in her ears.

At last, you begin to understand.