Title: Mine

parts: one

fandom: labyrinth

Rating: Pg

Summary: Feelings from the hero, years later.

Disclaimer: I don't own sarah, jareth or the labyrinth; the take on

this situation is purely mine.

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Her eyes, her smile, her features are so much like mine.

But the only similarities are on the outside.

Her...her who claims to hold a special place in her heart for me.

But any love she feels is only that which she can feel on stage, that

which is burned up after a short time in the glaring stage lights, in the

bright blues, greens, and ambers that filter down on her...cold, just like

her.

She does her duty, she comes to my performances...calls them 'cute little

school shows' even though I'm in college. That's the way she's always felt

about me..."cute" as long as I didn't trouble her too much.

Because to her I'm playing at everything...playing at life, playing at

dreaming, playing at acting! In her eyes nothing what I say is true, not

even my dreams, not even my existance! Everything that I am is only real

to her because it has to do with her! It's not *my* wishes that count,

it's not even possible that a goblin king could have come to me, even in

my dreams, or if he did, the only reason he would was because I was *her*

daughter.

I used to miss her. Used to scream for her. But now I know...know that any

stepmother is better than her, than the real thing...that any screaming

baby is a better charge than listening to her go on and on and on about

how hard her life is, when normal people like me have to deal with the

same hard things every day!

Why can't she understand that I CAN be successful, that I WILL be

successful...why won't she give me the chance to be? If she'd just let up

on this suffocating world she has me in...maybe things would be okay.

I barely feel free to dream anymore...barely feel free to do anything for

fear she'll come to me and say it's not right, or tell me how she'd do

it...and I can't stand it anymore.

Any labyrinth, any challenge is better than this. Because then, when that

happened, it was MY life, it was MY challenge, MY dream. Mine.

And now...now I'm back here, and everything is her...her career, her

relationships...I'm not even mine anymore...I'm hers...her daughter, and

only hers.

Now...now I don't look into my mirror and beg for mercy from goblin

kings...now I don't play with toys and let wishful thinking clog up my

mind...because I had my choice, and I chose wrong. Now...now when I

confront the invisible demon in the mirror...it's not some king, some

mythical prince...it's her.

Because all I want to do now is go up to her and catch her eyes, just like

I do my reflection. All I want is to go up to her and stare into those

alien eyes that I thought I used to know so well...and just scream.

I CAN do good...I can BE good...

I can have my own dreams and my own LIFE!

I'm an actress too, dammit!

I'm a person, too!