Automatic paradox

Warnings- Nothing yet

Disclaimer- I do not own any content used or referred to in this Fan Fiction.

Notes- First Labyrinth fan fiction, though I have been obsessed with it since I was...3, so yeah, well over a decade. Just so you know Jareth won't appear for ages yet. There's a shit load of character and plot development that needs to happen until he can plausibly appear. Oh, and to beat the flamers, I write in a way that makes sense to me. I hate plots that are all fluff and no substance, especially in this domain. There is so much that can be done with labyrinth but no one can be stuffed to do it. Basically, if you're looking for fluff I'm not your author.

My original BETA refused to do this so I really need a new one.

Enjoy!

Automatic paradox

Chapter 1- For a pessimist, I'm pretty optimistic

By –shoes-

Betaed by

-o-o-o-

Time is like a malignant tumor, it has endless patience curling its self around things, plotting and scheming till everything is set up perfectly for you to succeed. Then when you least expect it, it spitefully turns on you ruining your plans.

Its one of these things we have to face, time doesn't give a damn about you or what you want

Because while time may heal all wounds, it always has its own agenda

-o-o-o-

Sarah was not as gifted as her mother at acting, and had found after studying it for a while that she hated it. She had no love, no passion for acting out someone else's fairy tale unless she was the valiant rescuer or the dastardly villain, which considering the way most plays where written –with male leads for those parts damn near impossible. She tried being a playwright only to find that while her imagination worked just fine, the construction of a story around conventional means –i.e. Romantic stories where the princess marries the prince- was impossible after her own adventure in the labyrinth. She began to see the fatal flaw in fully devoting herself to only one outcome. She quit her plays and acting classes effectively isolating herself from her acting friends.

Unfortunately, her decision came to late to save her rapidly nose diving grades and neither Karen nor her father was too happy about the outcome. With her increasing isolation, Sarah became depressed and cheerless even vainly calling her friends to talk to her, of course the Goblin King had forbidden all contact with the aboveground and all Sarah could get was static. Karen was suspicious of her sudden 180 in attitude and sent her to a councilor who told her she was delusional for even imagining the labyrinth existed. Sarah lost all sense of importance in her life and quickly fell into depression.

That was the same year her mother stopped speaking to her.

After nearly bombing that year in school, she decided she needed to redefine herself as something other than a selfish actor, she put all her childish memories in a secure water proof box under her bed, tried forget about the labyrinth –although the insistent reminders never did truly cease- and did her best to redefine herself.

It wasn't easy, her relationship with Karen became even more strained when she heard that she was quitting her acting classes in favor of something more academic. Karen wasn't particularly made at the change its self but more at the fact that Sarah had wasted so much money on something she wasn't going to carry through with and after one spat where Karen called Sarah a 'selfish money wasting twit' and Sarah called her a 'controlling money grabbing whore' they altogether stopped any unnecessary speaking.

So Sarah, now with no support from her family, step or otherwise was doing her best to struggle through her academics while juggling 2 jobs for extra money. If she weren't as determined as she was, she most likely would have given into Karen's demands. She spent increasing amounts of time in the library studying for her exams and on one such expedition; she found her new best friend, in the form of science geek and mythology buff Delilah. Delilah was equal parts brainy science geek and attractive high school girl, she was part African American with a cute button nose, dark hair and strangely knowing coffee eye's. Despite her heritage Delilah was quite short and at about 5,5 she was the epitome of cute and fluffy. She was extremely knowledgeable about science and helped Sarah pull her science grades up dramatically by explaining it in, what she called 'Dum Dum science language,' she was the first person to make Sarah fully smile since the labyrinth. Sarah had a lot to thank her for, if it wasn't for Delilah she mostly likely would have done something silly by know.

Sarah aced the next year, and along the way discovered that although science teacher's had a way of making it boring Sarah quite enjoyed certain parts of the scientific grey ground. She liked chemistry and adored normal physics, but she really fell in love with quantum physics. She liked its complexity; she liked the rules you had to follow, about how you could bend matter and how you couldn't, what the difference between Supplee's paradox and Babinet's paradox was and how each in their own way affected our perception of time and reality. After applying for a spot in UoL –University of London-, she got a letter back saying she had tested in the top 5 percent and was immediately accepted into a scholarship program. She was leaving the week after next and had packed up her things which were now, standoffishly placed outside her door awaiting removal.

-o-o-o-

Karen had been hinting at getting Toby a bigger room and Sarah had hinted that as long as Robert was her father that was not going to happen. Karen had given into Sarah's harsh and unrealistic demand and while she loved Toby -she really, really did- some sacrifices must be made. Karen was –loathe as she was to admit it- quite impressed by the ferocity of the argument and was quite content to assume Sarah's continued residency in the house. So when Delilah swung by with a cake and all of Sarah's favourite chick flicks, Karen knew something was up.

"Delilah! To what do we owe the pleasure?" While Karen liked Delilah, she didn't like her slightly rude attitude toward her and her family.

Delilah beamed and exclaimed, "Sarah of course! I can't believe she got in, aren't you going to miss her?" Delilah kept her question light and her eyes guarded but anyone could see the implication behind her words.

Karen blinked at her, "Miss her? Where is she going?" she demanded. Sarah choose that moment to appear at the stairs. She had just come from the shower and was slightly disorientated. Karen saw her and turned her glare dial to 9.

"Well? She screeched, "Where are you going!" Sarah looked at her and realized something she had missed for a long time, worry. Karen was worried and angry for her.

"I'm going to London next Sunday." She whispered gently letting the air settle, "I was accepted into UoL."

Karen lost it, all trace of any previous compassion was lost. She yelled for Robert and he and Toby came waddling in moments later slightly startled by the sound. Karen rapidly turned and pointed at Sarah screeching, "You are not going all the way to London to frivolously spend our hard earned money on something you will never complete-" by then Sarah had had enough she went down the stairs and slapped her. Visibly shaking Sarah clenched her fists, "How dare you," her voice was tightly controlled and red dripped from where her neat nails ruthlessly cut her skin, "I have done everything possible to achieve your high as hell standards and I am sick of always getting blamed when you don't get your way." Sarah stepped back a little and looked into her eyes, "I'm going and I don't give a damn about what you say. I am going, just as soon as Delilah helps me with these bags."

As Sarah walked away from her family and into the awaiting car, she didn't bother to hide her tears. Just before she and Delilah drove away, Toby cried out and ran to the car giving Sarah a giant sloppy kiss. As he ran back inside Sarah curled herself into the fetal position.

Delilah looked at her crumpled friend and cheerfully said, "So Peaches where to now?" Sarah simply looked at her and began to cry again.

Delilah's eyes went saucer wide and she blinked a little. "Oh, well...um oops?"

Sarah opened her eyes, "Ya think?" She said her voice full of melancholy. Delilah had the decency to look embarrassed.

"Well look at it this way, you managed to mooch of your parents for 20 years, some of us were kicked out at 18." Delilah's hands tightened and Sarah remembered the week she had stayed holed up in her room crying and screaming at her parents for kicking her out.

Delilah cheered up rapidly and smiled anew, "Cheer up Peaches!" she punched the air as she spoke, "were going to London!"

-o-o-o-

London was packed.

People jostled each other and ran past each other in an effort to get where ever they had to be. The trains blew up dirt and debris from underneath as they roared past and the air absolutely stank of grease and fast food.

To Sarah it was freedom, freedom to be what she wanted without someone else's rules, without having to look over her shoulder for something that definitely wasn't there.

To Delilah it was yet another reminder of what could be achieved by the masses in a fundamental locality. The masses of museums, libraries, cafes and book stores spelled an irresistible heaven for the knowledge whore in her; she was already planning their first 'shopping trip.' She was also quietly mapping out their surroundings for future reference. Her little blue book was already crammed with useful information incase of fire, earthquake, tsunami and a rather large range of other not quite so likely phenomena.

After all the information was her job.

Sarah was worried. The hotel was too relaxed for her comfort and the staff complied far too easily, though that was to be expected of a 5 class establishment that could afford to have satin pillows, champagne and various fashion magazines in the front lobby. She had never had to provide for herself quite so much, the idea of working 3 jobs and completing a university course was daunting enough for her and the idea of finding suitable housing made her want to hit her head against a wall.

Delilah on the other hand was quite content to stay in the expensive hotels she had arranged for. As she delicately turned the pages, Delilah studied Sarah. She was definitely pretty, all sharp lines and dark grace she supposed she was undeniably fox like in features and at times she showed it, she was cunning when she had to be and fiercely protective of her friends.

And sometimes, she mused, sometimes she was like a rabbit, ever vigilant for a non existent foe, she watched Toby obsessively almost afraid of leaving him incase something –she wasn't entirely sure what Sarah thought could get through the dead locks- got him. Especially at night when there were owls out, then she would shut all the windows and lock all the doors as if assuring herself that nothing, nothing could get in or out of the house. Her odd behaviour had increased, as Toby got older and had what Sarah called weird, slightly prolific dreams in which he –or a man in immorally tight pants- ruled over some other worldly creatures. She had seen Sarah's face once when Toby told her and when she had stiffened and sharply told poor Toby not to ever tell anyone, Delilah had seen blind fury in her eyes. She was afraid of shadows and spent a rather large part of her time reading. Sarah had secrets lots of them.

And eventually she would have to trust Delilah enough to tell her.

Sarah was propped up on caffeine and sugar trying desperately to force her mind to work and willing her eyes to find a place to live while she was here that was still in her budget. Her mind ached for something more intelligent to do and for awhile she was tempted to pull out the book sitting in her bag begging to be read.

No, she couldn't take her mind of her impending homelessness, and no matter how tempting Alyzon Whitesstar might be –she desperately wanted to know the ending- her life for the next 4-5 years was at stake here. So that meant no extra-curricular reading of any kind, Isobelle Carmody included. She sighed, let her posture relax a bit and drunk some of the bitter coffee.

Delilah placed her magazine on the table and mindlessly asked, "Did you find a place yet" she trained a pair of seamless espresso eyes on her, "or do you want some suggestions?"

Sarah heaved a giant sigh and slid into her cushions, "At this point a hovel would be nice."

Delilah's eyes grew brighter and she turned a hundred watt smile on Sarah, "Well my dear Bubbles, I can't promise you a hovel," her smile turned Cheshire wide, "but I may be able to supply you with a high-rise penthouse suite on the 23rd floor of an expensive, yet efficient hotel."

Sarah snorted, "Oh yes I can definitely afford a high-rise penthouse its not like I'm lacking in the funds department or anything." She said her voice laced with sarcasm.

Delilah pouted, "But then who am I going to share room 127 with?" She quickly darted her neon green painted fingers into her pocket and effectively produced a pair of silver keys with a little blue label reading 127 on it. Sarah squealed and hugged her friend.

"Thank god I was about to throw a fit." She retracted her arms and gave Delilah an uneasy smile, "But you know I can't afford to, I simply don't have the funds."

Delilah's voice rose into light laughter, "I know that the suite was my parent's gift for my 20th birthday." She lopsidedly grinned and continued, "Well that the keys to one of their boats and 300 000 000 worth of real-estate and books. Respectively of course." She grinned again, "So this doesn't bother me at all."

Sarah smiled, "Have I ever told you how much I love you." And for what seemed an unnaturally long time she meant it.

-o-o-o-

Sarah hadn't expected it to be such an ordeal, the moving, cleaning, stacking, restacking, cataloguing and re-cleaning of the suite tired her out more than anything. But the school work was the real chore, she had only attended 8 days worth of classes and already she could see the intellectual and physical strain the next 5 or so years of her life would be. On arrival at her first class –advanced quantum mechanics- she was immediately presented with the slightly demoralizing task of explaining super-fluidity to a rather small, rather intelligent group of students.

Luckily, it was a phenomenon that fascinated her and she explained with relative ease. Her next 2 classes were lectures on Quantum Hydronamics and a rather long, rather boring lecture on Shakespearian English. After each class, she returned to the suite and ran through to grab her clothes for whatever job she was working.

After one particularly stressful day, she ran into her well mannered but obviously addled Quantum Physics lecturer who was for some unfathomable reason trying to catch a leaf. When she stopped to help him, he grabbed her and shrieked.

Sarah surprised jumped away and quickly looked for the nearest exit – years of experienced had taught her to run away the second small things started screeching. As she edged toward a nice safe looking bush he pounced and bounded toward her hair, Sarah screamed as they both fell over into the bush. She swore loudly and noticed the inappropriately lingering fingers on her form.

She looked up and with just a teensy weensy bit of malice said, "Why thank you pervert care to let go now?" It was at that precise moment that her eyes and the mad man sitting on her chest met. Suddenly she wasn't angry anymore, she wasn't anything anymore. She was everything, she was the ageless trees, the forever young butterflies, the immortal earth and she was also something much deeper, something singing, echoing a deep strum in the depth of her soul. Her heart thudded once, twice and then nothing a warm power unwillingly let her sleep.

-o-o-o-

It was about 3 months since then. She had formed a very warm and close friendship with her lecturer. Her work load had evened out a little and her father was somehow braving Karen to get her extra stuff sent over. Things where moving smoothly and she couldn't be happier for it, in the few short months she had lived here she had never felt happier, less smothered than she did now. She could feel her mind working to tell her something and as always she studiously ignored it; it was not worth the time or effort to contemplate.

She had bigger fish to fry.

Tonight was very important for Delilah and by association important for Sarah, and there was no way after being forced to cook for hours on end, that Sarah would let anything ruin this. And anything just happened to include stupidly powerful, too tight pant wearing figments of her imagination. Delilah was her best friend and as such deserved a night without freakiness or her weird paranoia about nailed windows and obsession with a paste that according to Mr. Woolfe – her physics lecturer and close friend- would keep all manner of things out.

Sarah sat down tired of the ache in her legs and hiked up her shimmering red knee length dress to rub her sore tendons. She casually glanced across the spotless room and in to Delilah's room. Delilah's room was filled to the rafters with books, designs and maps all colour coordinated to fit with her rather creepy purple fetish. Delilah was standing in the doorway relying heavily on its support. Her multi-green calf length dress fluttered absentmindedly.

Her eyes widened when she saw Sarah, "Peaches you didn't have to do all this!" Sarah smiled; she owed Delilah a lot and would quite gladly rip off a non-essential appendage for her. Putting on a mock-brave face she clutched her heart and said, "It's okay Bubbles I don't really mind all I had to do were these horribly important assignments and papers. Nothing that really mattered." Both of them laughed, it slowly dimmed as each got caught in their own thoughts.

Together they looked out the window, the pouring sky filled the window with its own colorful creation and somewhere in the back of her mind; Sarah almost wished she could feel them. She was snapped out of her daze by the smell of burning, "Um, Bubbles you didn't by any chance try to cook did you." Sarah said hoping against all hope that it was not the case.

"Well yeah I thought Nick would..." Delilah cut off mid sentence and ran toward the kitchen. "Shit," Her voice rose to a clear soprano, "Shit, shit, SHIT!"

Sarah sighed and stood up, bracing herself for the inevitable battle. "Time to call the fire brigade."

Delilah had completely and utterly destroyed dinner. Nothing was left to identify it is a rather large, rather fine leg of pork. As Sarah looked to Delilah, she briefly wondered if she had any latent powers she should be aware of.

"So," Sarah said removing the burnt monstrosity, "I guess its take out Chinese?"

Delilah artfully crossed the room and flounced into a chair, "I suppose so, I'll get Nick to pick it up." She then proceeded to dig out a menu and effortlessly phone the restaurant.

Sarah –not half as gracefully- dived into a chair and flipped open her newest book, settling down she carefully arranged a blanket over herself and began to read.

Before she had even read 2 whole chapters, the door bell rang. Delilah –who at the time was studiously watching the 2008 Olympics- ran for the door and in a motion that made Sarah blush crashed her lips onto the strangers. She giggled and grabbed the food from his hands leaping into the kitchen. Placing one hand on the top of the couch and twisting so that only her eyes and a slight arch of her back could be seen Sarah looked at the stranger.

The stranger -who she realized must be Nick- smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head affectively ruffling his coffee syrup brown hair. His own tawny eyes widened when Sarah looked at him over the couch. His smile suddenly increased and Sarah could see why Delilah liked him so much.

They both had smiles that could blind the dead.

Delilah danced out of the kitchen and latched onto Nick, "How did you know where to get the Chinese?" She hadn't bothered to hide the stark admiration in her voice, "I didn't text you yet."

Another maniacal grin spread across his face. "I had a... feeling you would try and cook again." He gently stroked her hair and for a second Sarah almost sighed at the romantic scene.

Then her stomach growled.

Embarrassed, she quickly blushed and quietly told it to shut up. Delilah gave her an exasperated look and danced back into the kitchen. Feeling slightly self conscious, Sarah stood up and moved to lean against the back of the couch.

Nick smiled jovially and stuck out a calloused well muscled hand, "Hi I'm Nick and you're Sarah right," he kept the question out of his voice and Sarah dumbly nodded, from the kitchen a plate crashed and Delilah squealed, Nick smiled and shook his head, "Give me a minute with the Ms. and then we get really introduced." He winked and pranced away, leaving Sarah behind.

Sarah stared at the cream carpet and a smile slowly, but surely crawled onto her face. For once things were going well for her and there was no imaginary fiend to screw things up. Sarah's smile grew bigger and she let out a maniac little laugh.

Nothing was going to stop Sarah living her life.

END CHAPTER

Author rant

REAAAAAAAAAAALY sick right now.

Okay for those of you who know me as a Naruto writer, I will not be writing for it anymore. The series is starting to bore me shitless and Kishimoto-sama is letting the series wander. Also the mother fucking fan girls

YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!

Oh and did anyone besides me LOVE breaking dawn

BETA RANT

I NEED A NEW ONE!

And until I get one can you please tell me if there are any heinous grammatical or spelling mistakes.

See that button way down there, yes the one that says REVIEWS click it.