I firmly believe that Mr. Takahashi ripped a couple of things off this movie. Like Yami Malik/Jareth's hair/clothes and Atem's soulroom/the Castle's staircases.
So I felt it was my duty to write this.
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Desirable previous knowledge: the movie, and Yami Malik's voice in Japanese. You'll still enjoy it, though, without them.
... But, oh, you'll miss much :P
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"Through dangers untold, and hardships unnumbered, I have fought my way here to the Castle beyond the Goblin City, to take back the child that you have stolen."
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Baby brother Nam is loud and selfish and cries so much, so much it's maddening.
Nonetheless. Isis does not mean to wish him away.
She wants to say she wishes her parents had not left her to look after him.
She wants to say she wishes he'd not cry so loud, because she wants to finish reading her history book.
She wants to say she wishes that the ancient cultures in her book didn't believe in such rubbish as goblins taking children away.
As luck will have it, her tongue slips (on its own, it almost seems), and she wishes the goblins will take baby brother Nam away.
In the other room, baby brother Nam stops crying.
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The goblins seem to have a king, and she finds him standing in the middle of Nam's empty room.
He is tall and dark-skinned, wild-haired-blond and majestic. His eyes are lilac and void; and he looks much like a fiend and absolutely like a goblin king.
'So, you're the one who wished that perfectly normal baby away. Well, we've got a lack of incomers, so I thank you, precious one. I'd like to give you something in return for him –I can make your worst nightmares come true,' –he sounds so magnanimous –'Any nightmare you want. Just pick one.'
'You could only hope to tempt me with my dreams,' Isis replies, levelly –'But not that, even. I want my brother back. Give him back…'
'Malik,' he says, taking a mocking bow, 'Dark Malik, the Goblin King, at your service… Isis.'
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Isis runs and runs, in her nightgown.
She is in a labyrinth. In the distance, she sees the towers of the black Castle, where that horrible Malik is keeping her dear brother prisoner. He's promised to let him go, if she finds the way out.
But dreadful creatures crawl out of the walls, and chase her, and up above, the sky seems to be made of smoke and thousands of eyes.
Eyes that follow her.
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Dark Malik wears a long black cloak and knee-high boots; and leaves a trail of smoke and ash where he walks.
He has an entourage of ghouls and creatures of the shadows –nightmarish beings of rot and black magic. The throne room is a feast for worms and carrion birds.
Upon his knee, sits baby brother Nam. He stares with bright, innocent eyes at the Goblin King.
Were he old enough to speak, he'd not be making those ridiculous gurgling sounds, that clash so violently against the perennial dismay and whirring of distant chains.
The King smirks, an evil smirk meant for the baby's eyes only. He says,
'I rather like you. I think I shall call you Malik'
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Isis runs.
She feels the clock's little minute handle tick- tick- ticking; carving a concentrical pattern under her skin.
Time is running out while she keeps on running.
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The labyrinth is like an open mouth, screaming at her the worst of her most grotesque fears.
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She stops to catch her breath, and before her appears the Goblin King, in all his terrifying majesty.
'I'll give you all you want- you only have to give up your silly quest.'
'There's nothing you can give me that I can want, Malik. Return to me my brother.'
'Ah, sweet Isis,' he says, 'precious one. Think about it –he is worthless if you compare it to the forbidden desires in your heart. All the things the darkness –I –could give you…'
His voice is honey.
Poison.
'You will never tempt me, monster'
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Her muddied clothes fray and the soles of her feet leave traces of blood on the dirt.
She's lost the way so many times that she fears she is forgetting her brother's face.
She runs.
The Castle comes closer.
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From the highest tower, the Goblin King watches.
He sees it all- the wretchedness of the creatures that dwell in the labyrinth, their suffering and hate and pain, their writhing in that dismal realm of shadows.
He feels it all –and he can smell her hair and the scent of her blood; and the sweet perfume of her fear and self-doubting. His tongue tingles at the thought of tasting the skin of her neck, of biting her pulse, of conquering her resistance of ice and veneer.
He is starting to think that he fancies her enough not to let her leave his kingdom even if she defeats the labyrinth.
The Goblin King does not fall –he may pull down the stars for her, if she wants them. But he does not do things in vain.
And he also does not play fair.
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Tick, tick, tick.
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Isis stands in the throne room.
Before him.
'Nam… my brother. Release him. Let us go.'
Dark Malik cracks a smile.
The floor opens up beneath her, and swallows them.
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Isis has seen this place before: Escher's whimsical staircases, in her father's books of architecture. Maybe Escher himself once wished a sibling away and sold his soul to the Goblin King.
Steps, landings and stairheads stretch in every direction, horizon-wards, gravity and mind-warping. Tendrils of shadows lap tamely at Dark Malik's feet, and wrap around her ankles.
'Ah, Isis, precious one. All that I've done, I did for you.'
'There is nothing you have done for me.'
'Such ungratefulness. You wanted your brother gone, and gone he was. You wanted him back, and I gave you the chance to regain him. I broke you, so you did not have to beg. I offer you so much…'
'You will never tempt me.'
'Why not?' he reasons, 'You have tempted me. And I could pull the stars down for you.' He pauses. '..or against you.'
She feels like a marble statue. Livid, unmovable. With a heart of stone: 'I'm not afraid of you, Goblin King.'
'Oh, but you should be. I am made of the darkness in mortal hearts. In yours. In your brother's. And you will never be free of me.'
'I must be,' she counters, 'I've won. I've played by your rules, and I've won –rightfully. Honor your word and let us leave.'
'Indeed, not many defeat my labyrinth,' he tells her, 'I commend you. But you strike my fancy, beautiful one, and I will offer you only one deal: he goes back. But you stay.'
She cannot answer. She cannot begin to grasp the magnitude of his offering, and it shows in his guarded smirk.
'Think, Isis. You have all the time in the world. But let me warn you- the longer your beloved little brother stays here, the more like a goblin –like me –he'll become. It's up to you, precious one.'
Against her terror and her better will, her mind reels. The shadows seem to dance around her, feeding off her indecision.
His honey-poison voice drifts towards her, peach-sweet and mesmerizing:
'Fear me, Isis. Love me, if you want. Do as I say –and I could be your slave.'
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'Show me how he will be safe. Show me how you'll never return to claim him. Never again.'
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She stands by the Goblin King in Nam's serene room, and her house feels eerie and vacant, like a mausoleum or an ancient tomb.
As if he'd never left, Nam is in his crib, asleep.
For a fraction of a second, she has a vision of the future: her parents coming home to their only child; all her things gone, the nanny asleep on the sofa.
'They'll forget all about me, won't they?' she asks, quietly.
'You won't have ever existed in this world. I thought you'd like that. I can be considerate, as you see.'
In a twisted manner, she can.
'Will I become like you?'
'You might. Nothing would please me better, precious one.'
She thinks back to his kingdom of suffering and darkness –to the sickening, accursed labyrinth and the terrifying realm of shadows overhead.
Isis feels soulless, like a doll. By her side, Dark Malik is smiling.
'Time to go, precious one.'
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In his quiet room, baby brother Nam starts crying again.
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Author's Note:
I love Yami Malik :D He's my favorite character- and I never quite understood why. But his character design hypnotizes me, so pretty…!
Ehem, anyway.
Like in many of my stories in which Yami Malik is the protagonist, I choose to use the name 'Nam' for the regular Malik (it's the name he uses when he's undercover befriending Yuugi)
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Lots of subtle hints to the anime/manga. Did you catch them? :D
Also, apparently Mr. Ishtar is an architect in this story.
And, for those of you who are familiar with this movie's quotes, you'll notice I made some subtle changes to better suit Dark Malik's character.
This one is from the movie, though: 'I rather like you. I think I shall call you Malik'
Hahaha
Well, guys, read you around! I'd love some feedback, too, if you don't mind. I rarely write horror :)