Goblins Chapter 1, a labyrinth fanfic

A/N: A note to readers: I have just finished the ORIGINALIZED version (as in made into an original story with only the character names and place names different, etc.) of 'Goblins'! It is posted with the same title, completely finished and WITH PARTS NOT IN THIS VERSION. AWESOME parts you will want to read, believe you me! It's better in general. Anyway-if you're at all interested, give it a peek at wattpad . com, search for 'Goblins, Corbin, Madelyn' and you should find it. My author name is LeahNWright.

Also before I forget (again, ha), you can also read the first few chapters of the original-ized version of Goblins on my fictionpress profile. Ise the search bar, select 'Writer' in the drop down menu by it, then type in 'Amelia Wright'. Read and review and let me know if you want more!

If you want to continue reading the fanfic version, then carry on here!

Thanks!

-Leah

Goblins

Chapter 1: The Book

The window bashed against the wall, making Leah jump and her heart skyrocket as leaves and rain water scattered across the window seat. The white and blue pin striped curtains whipped through the air like medieval banners. Hurriedly she put her doodled on bookmark in the book she had been reading and set it down on the bed where she'd been sitting. Sliding off of her bed and dashing across the room-her golden brown curls flowed behind her-the petite blond closed the window, sliding the lock as far as it would go.

The storm outside was instantly dulled to a low roar as the wind whistled through the trees surrounding her little cottage. Her hair settled, looking windswept, just brushing past her shoulders in thick waves. The curtains floated gracefully down until they rested against the window panes, effectively hiding most of the stormy night from her sight. What they didn't block was a view of the oak tree's normally empty winter branches outside.

Upon one of those branches near her window sat a large barn owl. She blinked at the owl in surprise. She was surprised; not because she had never seen one-though this was the first time she had-but because while the storm raged on, the owl seemed completely at ease and unruffled with its surroundings. But what was most unsettling was how the owl stared at her. It's eyes were so strange-one was blue, while the other was a chocolate brown. And the way it looked at her. Shivering, she shook her head at the eeriness of it all.

As she turned to walk back to her bed, she accidentally knocked over a pile of books that were sitting precariously on the window seat. "Gah!" she stopped herself and took a deep, cleansing breath. "Ok, Leah, no need to get cross over a few spilled books." Her shoulders relaxed. 'I'd been meaning to clear off this window seat anyway.' She thought with a sigh. She bent over to retrieve the fallen literature.

Again the sky was racked with a crash of thunder that was so loud it shook the house, making her scream in fright and fall forward, slipping over the books splayed out on the floor. From somewhere behind her a deep voice chuckled, and the lights flickered back on. Her eyes widened and the hairs on the back of her neck rose. She stayed there for a moment just trying to get her heartbeat to settle. Pushing herself slowly up off of the floor, she looked behind her, brow furrowed and a frown on her pink lips.

She looked around the room behind her suspiciously and called, "Matt is that you?" There was no answer. Leah looked around the room again. Was it her brother Matt pulling pranks on her? He was supposed to come over this week to help her fix the leaking faucet in her kitchen. He was good at those sorts of things. He was also good at pranks. It had to be him, she thought, 'He knows I hate the dark!' The lights went out again. "Ok Matt, you got me! So stop messing with the lights already!" Her face flushed in anger. Could it be someone else? Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to relax, and began to feel around her for the books she had knocked over. Putting them in a pile as best she could considering the lack of light, she pushed them towards the window, and followed after them on her hands and knees.

The lights flickered back on once again, and she blinked her eyes as they adjusted. Standing, she gathered the books up in her arms and carried them to her nearly prehistoric bookcase next to her bed. It was a family heirloom, really. But it was old, and no one before her had had as many books-save her grandmother; who had at least half as many-and the shelves were beginning to bow under the stress of her own books. She set them down on top of the shelf and reached for the first one. The very first book in the pile was a book she had never seen before.

It had a worn leather cover, and the word "Labyrinth" engraved across the top in a font that was faded, while below it sat a chipped golden insignia like a circular maze. Looking at it curiously, she flipped it open to the first page and absentmindedly walked over and sat on her bed. The story was about a young princess of a far away kingdom who's mother died and father remarried to a cruel and selfish woman, who treated her step daughter poorly. Her father payed less attention to the girl when her stepmother arrived, and payed even less to her when her stepmother had a baby boy. The girl was so frustrated when her stepmother made her watch the child while the king and his new queen went to a ball in one of their neighboring countries, that one night she finally had had enough.

Little did the girl know, that the King of the Goblins had fallen in love with the girl, and had given her special powers, and so on that night when she could bear the burden no longer, she called upon the Goblin King, "Goblin King, O Goblin King, take this child away from me!" But when the goblins took the child away, she realized how much she truly loved the child, and begged the Goblin King to return him. "What's said is said." Replied the King. But the maiden begged so mournfully, that the king relented by saying, "Traverse my Labyrinth in 13 hours, and the child is yours. If you should fail, the child will become one of us, forever." The girl agreed and traveled through the Labyrinth, maturing as she passed each trial.

When she finally came to the castle beyond the Goblin City, she was stopped by the Goblin King himself, and she spoke the magic words. "My will is as strong as yours, and my kingdom as great. You have no power over me!" The room seemed to tumble, and the Goblin King disappeared. The young princess reappeared in her chambers in the castle, and hurried to her parent's room where the young prince usually slept. When she came to his cradle, she rushed to it and found him fast asleep.

Just then a great crash of thunder erupted above her house, and suddenly the lights in her room went out. Setting down the book, she let out an exasperated sigh and rolled her eyes as she got to her feet. Walking towards the wall, she reached her hand out so she wouldn't collide with it, and instead her hand brushed something like thick metal with something engraved into it. "What..?" She said, and began pulling her hand away. A hand clad in leather grabbed hold of her wrist, and she gasped as she was pulled forward into the hard embrace of a man nearly a full head taller than her. Long wispy hair brushed across her face as she tried to look up into his face.

Lightening flashed, and for a brief moment she caught a glimpse of a man's angular face, framed in white blond rock-god hair, and she stared up into his one blue eye, and one brown eye. He was smirking down at her with thin, attractive lips. He looked wild and mischievous, and was inhumanly handsome. "Who-?" she began, but he looked past her towards the window and frowned. Leah's brow furrowed, and she looked over her shoulder to see what he was looking at. But there was nothing there. Just her ordinary window, framed by her ordinary curtains.

She then remembered the mystery man and snapped her head round to ask him who he was and why he was in her house-but he was gone. She stared at the spot he had been in surprise and looked around in the dim light, but the man was gone and Leah was alone once more. "Ok, Leah, it's time for you to go to bed now. You are obviously sleep deprived.." She laughed nervously, glancing around her empty room. The lights flickered back on.

A knock at the front door nearly made her jump out of skin. She had completely forgotten! She was supposed to watch the little old lady across the street while her grandson went to the grocery store! Rushing down the stairs as the guilt mounted, she glanced at the smallish grandfather clock in the hall and noted the time at eight o'clock sharp. She was supposed to have been there ten minutes ago. Pausing in front of the large wooden door, she took a deep steadying breath and opened it.

Leah smiled apologetically up at the tall, black haired man before her. "Hey I am so sorry Kevin, I totally forgot." He smirked at her somewhat condescendingly as she turned and pulled her jacket off of the coat rack near the door. He chuckled and eyed her back lustfully as she, unawares, zipped up her jacket, "Hey don't worry about it Leah, it gave me and Gran some time to talk." Holding out his arm to her, she blushed as she took his arm and he adjusted the umbrella so it was above the both of them. She was unused to this sort of gentlemanly behavior. Most men didn't behave this way, and it was kind of nice to experience it.

Leah subtly studied Kevin's features as they walked. While he was strikingly handsome with his dark blue eyes, soft features and alabaster skin, there was always something in his eyes that Leah didn't quite like. She normally wouldn't have agreed to stay with his grandmother, who was a crotchety old thing that squinted and swung her cane around at her. But knowing she wouldn't be able to live with herself if the poor old women got hurt if she was left alone, she agreed. The rain had settled down to a light drizzle, and the wind was so faint that it sent thin tendrils of her hair to floating.

"Is that an owl?" Asked Kevin suddenly, pointing at the tree in front of her house. Leah turned and looked up. Sure enough, the same owl from earlier was still in her tree. It flapped it's wings and took a gliding leap from one branch to another, until it landed on a branch maybe four feet away from them. Leah stared in awe. Wasn't it afraid of them? She smiled softly at it; she had always had a fondness for birds, ever since she was little.

Her eyes widened in surprise when the owl gave her a slow wink of one of its peculiar eyes. She swallowed. "What a strange looking bird! Have you ever seen one like it before?" Said Kevin in a hushed, falsely interested tone as he wrapped his arm around the petite blond next to him and leaned his head closer to her. He didn't seem to notice how she stiffened and how her face flamed red, or how the barn owl bristled. Leah blushed a deeper red as he directed his dark blue gaze at her, their faces barely inches apart.

"I..." She began, and her voice wavered, dwindling away helplessly. The owl seemed to be giving the man next to her a death glare. She turned her head away from Kevin and cleared her throat as she looked up at the owl. "It's a barn owl." She said stiffly, uncomfortable with how close the man was. Kevin looked both annoyed and disappointed at her reaction. Leaning away from the petite blond, he turned and looked rather disinterestedly at the majestic bird.

"Both male and female barn owls have red-brown speckled bodies, and white heart-shaped faces. You can tell this one is male because his chest is mostly white. The female's are darker with more spots, and they are usually larger than the males." Leah explained. She felt like a robotic encyclopedia. "How interesting," Kevin said, though his tone said it was anything but interesting to him. "Well, should we get going? Your Grandmother is probably wondering where we are."

He nodded, and Leah was relieved when he quickly began to lead her across the puddle-strewn street. They moved quickly up the drive and into the little cottage. If they had looked back at the tree as they disappeared into the little cottage, they would have been surprised to see that the owl had disappeared, and a man with blond hair and black armor stood leaning against the trunk of the tree, looking at them.

"I don't want or need your help! I've walked to and from the bathroom a thousand times, it's not like I've forgotten how to take a dump in the last eighty years!" Growled out Petunia, Kevin's aged grandmother. Leah shrunk back a little, but kept her arms outstretched just in case, eyes fighting back the hurt she felt. "I'm sorry Mrs. Stevens, but your grandson instructed me to make sure you don't fall. And that's what I'm doing." Leah said, eyes and stance becoming more determined as she followed after the old woman.

Petunia Stevens grumbled under her breath as she made her way into the rest room. Something about meddling grandsons and nosy neighbors. Waiting patiently outside the closed door, Leah skimmed through the book 'The Labyrinth'. She still couldn't figure out how it had gotten into her coat pocket. She could have sworn she had left it on her bed. "What's that you've got there?" A grouchy voice asked. Leah jumped, and turned to see Petunia coming out of the bathroom. She had been so deep in her own thoughts, she hadn't heard the door open.

Leah gave her a brief summary of the story, saying how the girl made a wish to the goblin king to take away her brother, and then fought through the Labyrinth to get him back. Mrs. Stevens looked hard at the book for a moment, and then scoffed. "What a silly book! Aren't you too old for those kinds of things?" She hobbled past the twenty-one year old, shaking her head. Leah followed closely behind her, arms ready to catch her. With a jerk Petunia's cane slipped on the floor, and the old woman lurched forwards. Leah quickly stepped forward and wrapped her arms firmly but gently around the waist of the older woman, effectively saving her from a nasty fall.

"Hey! Wha-! Stop that! Let me go, I'm fine!" Squawked Mrs. Stevens angrily, swinging her arms windmill style. Her fist came in contact with Leah's eye, and the young woman shouted in pain and let go of the older woman, stumbling backwards onto the floor. Thankfully, the older woman had regained her balanced enough to not fall over, and she glared at Leah as she sat down angrily into her chair. "You're such a pain, you know that? I wish the goblins would come and take you away, right now!" Leah stood up slowly, anger and hurt in her good eye. "For once, Mrs. Stevens, I agree with you." She said bitterly. And she meant every word.

Thunder cracked above them, and suddenly there were several little popping noises, and little black, brown, and tan colored creatures wearing pots and pans-makeshift armor, she assumed-and dark ragged clothing, carrying random kitchen utensils like swords, appeared around Leah. All of them grabbed onto her clothing, and then turned towards the balcony doors expectantly. Before either woman could utter a sound, thunder boomed, and the sound was so intense that it sounded like it was in the room with them. They both jumped as the balcony doors to Petunia's bedroom flew open. Leah stared in surprise as in flew the owl from her front yard. She threw up her hands to protect her face as it flew towards her.

When she lowered her arms, she stared in shock at the familiar man that now stood before her, smirking. "It's you!" she cried, her eyes wide. Glitter from his transformation was still floating softly to the ground, and the wind blew through his hair and cape, adding to his already magical look. He walked towards her, like a predator stalking its prey. Her heart beat sped up, and Leah couldn't help but to try and back away. She was unable to, however, for the little goblins at her feet made it quite impossible.

Leah stared up at him as her heart beat madly in her chest, and he smiled down at her, his canines pointed more than was normal. She inhaled sharply as he gently cupped her chin with his gloved hand, and his scent swirled through her senses like a hurricane. He smelled of musk and peaches, and something she couldn't quite place, but thought smelled what she would imagine magic might smell like. He frowned suddenly and gently tilted her head up and to the side, examining her now black eye. His eyes narrowed slightly and he pursed his lips. Her gaze wandered from his eyes to his lips, and in that moment, she wondered what his lips would taste like.

He chuckled, shaking her from her thoughts, and she blushed a fiery red at the amused, heated gaze he sent her. "Who the hell are you?" Leah jumped and the man released her chin slowly, reluctantly, casting one more glance at her eye as the old woman screeched from her chair. He rose an blond angled eyebrow and stepped past the young woman, brushing against her arm softly, in almost a comforting manner. "I, Madam," He sneered, his English accent sharp, "am Jareth, King of the Goblins. And you have wished away this young lady to my kingdom." He produced a crystal at that moment, silencing her spluttering as she tried to come up with something to say.

Both women stared, mesmerized, as he flipped it from the palm of his hand to the back of his hand and back with graceful ease. "I've brought you a gift." He said, stopping the crystal on the tops of his leather-clad fingers. "Do you want it?" He asked, holding it out to her. Petunia looked up at him suspiciously, eyes squinting. "What is it?" She asked cautiously. "It's a crystal, nothing more. But if you turn it this way, and look into it, it will show you your dreams." He paused, watching as she stared at the crystal with wide, greedy eyes. "It also takes care of this young woman." Jareth smirked as the old woman before him cast a dismissive glance at Leah, and turned back to the crystal. "Do you want it?" He repeated. Leah stared at the two in horror as the woman condemned her with a simple word. "Yes." Said Petunia, and swiftly reached forward and plucked the crystal from his gloved hand. Leah felt sick, and the goblins around her giggled madly as they tugged on her pants, pulling her towards the balcony. She felt a strange magical pull envelope her, and her world went black.

A/N: What do you think?

Disclaimer: I don't own Labyrinth, that's all Brian Henson. Kevin and Petunia are my own characters, and Leah is me.