A horror story of epic proportions. Supersaturated with such evil, it condenses within the soul. I take comfort in the mercy of Tobey's life with his wife and family, even though the extreme contrast with Sarah's sadness is bitter to contemplate. The vast range of the human imagination in interpreting outcomes of the Labyrinth movie characters never ceases to amaze me. Your rendition is particularly astounding. Thank you.

Ugh... SO DARK. I mean, gripping and amazingly written but SO DARK.

Oh no, Sarah is the eyeball eater isn't she? Man I'm going to have to read something else right after this as a mental cleansing thing from the scariness.

I always tried to avoid fanfics with Toby and here I was brought by the despair that "Magician's Apprentice" has not been updated for 16 months and that is unbearable and I have read all other stories by my favourite author. This fanfic thrills from the first line. The suthor sets teasing decoys and you are entraped, you live in this story and you cannot stop thinking about it even after the final dot. It fascinates and leaves me wondering how talented a person can be (I mean the author). I am unable to put in wods the real effect that this fanfic had on me. Just read it! I cannot promise that it brings joy but you will experience an unforgettable adventure.
P.S. I desperately hope that author is alright and "Magician's Apprentice" will not be left only with one chapter.

Loved the Q&A. Thank you.

WHAT A TRIP! For one, I felt like I was back in NY. Your descriptions were just enough to understand but not over done. I also love how straightforward you are in both emotions and memories. The character you’ve created for Toby is so real. Very well done. And wow. Goblin King. Yeesh. What a monster. I feel so badly for Sarah, but I also see that after such a long time of abuse that there was no way to save her. Toby just didn’t know how. Very well written and very different perspective from many things I’ve read. Thank you for sharing!

Wow :O What a terrifying trip! This perspective is so different and interesting. Reading on...

I knew that monster was the Corinthian, I knew it! The quote was a dead giveaway to anyone who's read Sandman recently.

I just read this story and it is fantastic...truly one of my favorite fanfics.

There were a couple of questions I had:

Early in the story Sarah tells Toby that the Goblin King doesn't hurt her, but he slaps her in one scene (and obviously there is a large degree of malicious intent in the way he rapes her in the prequel.) Why doesn't she acknowledge to Toby that Jareth hurts her (as it seems that would help to in convincing Toby meet her ultimate end goal of assassinating him.)

Understand that this story is told from Toby's perspective, and he can't differentiate between who is telling the truth and who isn't (so the origins and destruction of the nightmare were intentionally left vague). But for my own edification, who released the nightmare? Was Sarah the nightmare? Did Sarah kill the nightmare in the in-between world, like she said, and if that is the case what was the blood from when Toby sees her? What happened to the last missing child?

If the GK could make Toby forget Sarah, could he also make Sarah forget Toby? Are the memories something she would have to voluntarily give up?

I really hope you continue this story from Sarah's perspective. I would be interested to see the chess game between her and Jareth. There seem to be a lot of plot threads that you could explore. Did Sarah really die the night he took her? What does that mean? Why does she appear to sometimes appear more human and other times not human at all? How is she able to periodically "escape" the underground. How does she recruit co-conspirators? What plans has she laid in place in the event Toby was successful in killing Jareth. Did the GK's army eliminate all of her plans? If so, why did he allow her to get as far as she did (as he seems to be aware of all her machinations based on his conversations with Toby)?

Anyway, thanks for an enjoyable story and look forward to future fics!

NEVER in my life have I ever read a story as nerve-wracking as this one! There were times when I was too nervous to keep reading because I was afraid of what might come up next.

But I have to applaud you for writing a Labyrinth story that is completely different from anything anyone has ever written especially one that involves one of the main characters telling his story from life being in the military and then as a detective and with vivid details on both ends.

The only detail that bothered me was it wasn't truly clear who was really the murderer of those children.

Regardless this was the first time that I have truly enjoyed a story that wasn't told from Sarah's point of view but from Toby's... and what made it so special telling it from his side of the story is the fact that it felt so real that you were actually there with him or maybe that you the author had those experiences and just transferred those experiences onto a page.

Once again good job mixing the tension, the macabre, the horror, the grief and the helplessness in this story.

I finally got to finish reading this fanfic. I loved it. It took me a few months before I was able to get back into reading Bowie fanfics. With his passing, reading fanfics left me feeling hallow and sad, even if the fanfics were fluffy. Of course, that being said, this is anything but fluffy, but you've written a wonderful dark Jareth. There are unanswered questions, you've probably did that on purpose. I wonder if Jareth was speaking the truth, that Sarah manipulated things and wrecked all sorts of havoc on Toby's life, who or what did she kill to be covered in blood and gore, was it really the Nightmare that she killed, or was it a human, was she responsible in the Nightmare being let loose, was she responsible for the deaths in Toby's life, etc. Finishing this fanfic, I'm still left wanting more and more. Thank you for sharing with us this story.

I feel so heartsick for Sarah, I already feel like she had the bad end of it here but then I went and read that prequel on ao3... Cautionary tale indeed. The thing is, I'm not sure if this is a story that could ever have a real happy ending, I feel that maybe the impact would be lessened if it were to end well. I just, I feel so conflicted because the thought of Sarah trapped forever with Jareth, it's a horror story, it is absolutely heartbreaking. When she sang I had the image of a glass shattering.

And now I'm outright sobbing. What must it have been like to write something like this, something that leaves you in knots and always questioning what is happening and what will happen next?

This is, honestly, one of the greatest stories I've read on this site. That end scene with Sarah and her acceptance/resignation-I'm not sure who the real mastermind was behind the kidnappings and murders but it felt like the last bit of her that was human gave up everything for her love of er brother.

Oh god, I had the sinking feeling that Sarah was the nightmare but I desperately wanted her not to be.

I don't know what set me off but I'm crying. This is all so crazy but incredibly compelling-like you're getting caught in an undertow.