A couple of Challenges from Pinky, added belatedly...
Addie and I were at it again and I have three new LABYRINTH challenge ficlets to post...
Beginning with:
He knew that the red light painted him wickedly... This day, he was glad of it.
The sun was setting, and had turned a deep blood-red, shot through with brilliant streaks of orange, and dotted with puffy pink clouds. A very romantic setting, and an uncommonly beautiful sight in a world that had been drained of its magic.
He was Aboveground, and he knew that his physique screamed “danger” to all that saw him standing in that pooled haze of red light. His clothes were simple, but his stance was one of royalty. Power fairly blazed from him, and many a lady paused to admire the elegant lines of his face and body before scurrying off to finish the hectic dance that humans called “life”.
He didn't care about any of it as he watched the couple run to their limo amidst a flurry of cheers and rice... And as that red sun fell down the sky and slipped into night, Jareth felt his heart harden to stone.
In the absolute darkness a crystal shone brightly.
And then he was gone.
A/N) Addie's challenge: Jareth and a sunset... ;) Was written with Addie in mind, who isn't much of a J/S shipper, and also a great lover of angst... Pretty short, but I was happy with it overall.
"The Maze"
Sarah wasn't afraid of the rambling shrubbery; she didn't fear the dead-ends or the endless turns and the abrupt direction changes. It was daylight and she wasn't traversing it alone... She could hear her friends thumping and cursing behind green leaves as they all fought their way towards the center.
When Cara had told her house-warming guests that her grandmother's ancient maze held a prize for the first to reach it's center, everyone had become excited... Everyone but Sarah, who had reached the center of a maze once before, not to claim a prize, but a young child that she had foolishly wished away.
After a couple glasses of wine, her friends' enthusiasm caught up with her, until she was racing into the maze alongside everyone else.
Jason had been playfully chasing after her for a while, before a sudden turn in direction seemed to split them apart. Now Sarah was alone and determinedly seeking the path to the prize while listening to the giggles and taunting of her friends.
She smiled as she heard Tina cry out playfully for some “hedge clippers”, turned sharply to the left, and found herself standing in the middle of a very neglected garden.
Roses crawled up rickety arbors, and plants and flowers grew alongside weeds that threatened to choke out their beauty. Sarah searched left and right for the “prize” before her eyes settled on an old stone bench, riddled with cracks and humbly beautiful regardless of them.
She walked towards it and stopped dead. Silence... There was nothing here but absolute silence. No laughing, or noises; nothing but the eerie whistling of a sudden wind that stirred the leaves and whipped her hair into her eyes.
Sitting on the bench was a perfect crystal. Sarah backed away in horror. What was this?! How could it be happening?!
A rich laugh sounded, and shivers crawled up Sarah's spine. Him.
She grasped the crystal and hurled it downwards, where it shattered into thousands of glass shards. The wind beat angrily on her back before whipping the crystal dust into a swirling cyclone of glitter and carrying it away.
She had been a fool to forget...
Mazes were his territory.
A/N) My challenge to Addie: Sarah is in a garden maze when strange things start to happen.... What's going on?!
"Ice of Death"
The chill of the room seeped into him. He had always hated the cold, and now he was forced to endure its icy touch until his death.
The bloodied chains that imprisoned him were lined with a power that he could not break... Power from the Labyrinth itself. He smiled grimly into the darkened obuilette, the irony of this situation was not lost on him...
Snowflakes fell from above... drifting peacefully downwards. Jareth watched them with malice in his eyes... To be frozen to death had to be one of the absolute worst ways to go about dying. Had he magic, he would have blasted the damn snow out of existence, let alone the manacles that held him.
The spirit in his eyes simmered to a halt as his shoulders slumped. Without magic what was he but another lost soul claimed by the Labyrinth?
What was he except for one of the Unwanted and Forgotten?
A/N) Addie's challenge: A winter fic, take it anywhere...
I had so much trouble with this challenge! It's as if my brain just would NOT connect to my fingers! Yes, it's extremely short... But considering the circumstances? Well, *shrugs* I'm lucky to have gotten anything written to begin with.
Beginning with:
He knew that the red light painted him wickedly... This day, he was glad of it.
The sun was setting, and had turned a deep blood-red, shot through with brilliant streaks of orange, and dotted with puffy pink clouds. A very romantic setting, and an uncommonly beautiful sight in a world that had been drained of its magic.
He was Aboveground, and he knew that his physique screamed “danger” to all that saw him standing in that pooled haze of red light. His clothes were simple, but his stance was one of royalty. Power fairly blazed from him, and many a lady paused to admire the elegant lines of his face and body before scurrying off to finish the hectic dance that humans called “life”.
He didn't care about any of it as he watched the couple run to their limo amidst a flurry of cheers and rice... And as that red sun fell down the sky and slipped into night, Jareth felt his heart harden to stone.
In the absolute darkness a crystal shone brightly.
And then he was gone.
A/N) Addie's challenge: Jareth and a sunset... ;) Was written with Addie in mind, who isn't much of a J/S shipper, and also a great lover of angst... Pretty short, but I was happy with it overall.
"The Maze"
Sarah wasn't afraid of the rambling shrubbery; she didn't fear the dead-ends or the endless turns and the abrupt direction changes. It was daylight and she wasn't traversing it alone... She could hear her friends thumping and cursing behind green leaves as they all fought their way towards the center.
When Cara had told her house-warming guests that her grandmother's ancient maze held a prize for the first to reach it's center, everyone had become excited... Everyone but Sarah, who had reached the center of a maze once before, not to claim a prize, but a young child that she had foolishly wished away.
After a couple glasses of wine, her friends' enthusiasm caught up with her, until she was racing into the maze alongside everyone else.
Jason had been playfully chasing after her for a while, before a sudden turn in direction seemed to split them apart. Now Sarah was alone and determinedly seeking the path to the prize while listening to the giggles and taunting of her friends.
She smiled as she heard Tina cry out playfully for some “hedge clippers”, turned sharply to the left, and found herself standing in the middle of a very neglected garden.
Roses crawled up rickety arbors, and plants and flowers grew alongside weeds that threatened to choke out their beauty. Sarah searched left and right for the “prize” before her eyes settled on an old stone bench, riddled with cracks and humbly beautiful regardless of them.
She walked towards it and stopped dead. Silence... There was nothing here but absolute silence. No laughing, or noises; nothing but the eerie whistling of a sudden wind that stirred the leaves and whipped her hair into her eyes.
Sitting on the bench was a perfect crystal. Sarah backed away in horror. What was this?! How could it be happening?!
A rich laugh sounded, and shivers crawled up Sarah's spine. Him.
She grasped the crystal and hurled it downwards, where it shattered into thousands of glass shards. The wind beat angrily on her back before whipping the crystal dust into a swirling cyclone of glitter and carrying it away.
She had been a fool to forget...
Mazes were his territory.
A/N) My challenge to Addie: Sarah is in a garden maze when strange things start to happen.... What's going on?!
"Ice of Death"
The chill of the room seeped into him. He had always hated the cold, and now he was forced to endure its icy touch until his death.
The bloodied chains that imprisoned him were lined with a power that he could not break... Power from the Labyrinth itself. He smiled grimly into the darkened obuilette, the irony of this situation was not lost on him...
Snowflakes fell from above... drifting peacefully downwards. Jareth watched them with malice in his eyes... To be frozen to death had to be one of the absolute worst ways to go about dying. Had he magic, he would have blasted the damn snow out of existence, let alone the manacles that held him.
The spirit in his eyes simmered to a halt as his shoulders slumped. Without magic what was he but another lost soul claimed by the Labyrinth?
What was he except for one of the Unwanted and Forgotten?
A/N) Addie's challenge: A winter fic, take it anywhere...
I had so much trouble with this challenge! It's as if my brain just would NOT connect to my fingers! Yes, it's extremely short... But considering the circumstances? Well, *shrugs* I'm lucky to have gotten anything written to begin with.