Author's Note: Hello, everybody! Thanks for stopping by. Before the story starts, I'd like to say that it's been a long, loooong time since I've written anything and even longer since I've posted on FF. As always, it appears I'm as bad with summaries as ever, so if you've made it this far I already feel like I've accomplished something. Anyway, without further ado, let the fanfic begin!
The Heir
A Labyrinth Fanfiction
Prologue: The Curse of Eternal Kingship(Containing a once upon a time beginning, the very first Goblin king, a curse, fairies and their Fairy Queen and some background information.)
Once, many years ago, the Underground had been a place of peace and unspeakable beauty; a place of rich blue skies and rolling green fields; a place so wholly amazing that even those who had lived there their entire lives had often stopped to wonder at the marvel of it all.
In those days, butterflies had danced through endless gardens of flowers in all the colors known to man. Birds had soared through boundless skies, filling the Underground with songs so beautiful as to bring grown men to tears of joy. Cobbled streets had echoed with the laughter of children born and raised in a sort of Wonderland that today is nothing more than an unattainable fantasy.
In a word, it was perfect.
Even the king –the very first king, a humble man by the name of Ensio, had seen the flawlessness of it all and the happiness of his people and had never felt the need for change. In fact, the only thing he did regret was the time limit placed on his reign by mortality and the passing of the years. He had already served as the king for nearly three decades when this thought first occurred to him, and while the average life expectancy was universally looked upon as outstanding (it fell somewhere in the 110s for females and anywhere between 120 and 135 for men), his joints had already started to creak with the curse of old age, and he knew his kingship would not last forever. This caused Ensio much sadness. Nothing had ever pleased anyone as much as watching his subjects flourish and prosper pleased the king. He loved walking out onto the balconies of the castle and seeing all the people smiling in the streets below. Often, when the people saw him standing there, they would wave cheerfully before going about their business, and he would always wave back. He loved how it felt to walk among them on days when the weather was nice, and the way the children looked at him with eyes full of admiration as he wound his way through the streets.
The king loved his position, and if he could have things his way, he would remain the king until the end of time.
On the day marking the fortieth year since his coronation, King Ensio voiced these sorrows in a heartfelt speech to his loyal people. He told them that, while he had always and would always enjoy serving them, one day his time would regrettably come to an end, and when that day came, he could only hope that he would be replaced by someone who loved the people as much as he did- someone who would lead the Underground to a continued, if not even greater state of happiness. And then, seeing the sorrow in his subjects' eyes, he moved on, cheerfully reminding them how likely it was that he might still be with them one day for an eightieth anniversary.
But the King's speech got the people thinking. All of them took his words into consideration, and hundreds of them took it upon themselves to write to him. Those close to him in age and even older reminded him that they had been loyal supporters from the day he was first crowned, and would continue to follow him in all the years –no matter how limited they might be- to come. Others praised his good health and offered all sorts of advice on how to maintain it. For weeks, letters came in from every corner of the vast Underground, from people of all ages and mindsets, people male and female, weak and strong, and the king found comfort in their words of encouragement.
However, there was one letter in particular that grabbed his attention more than the others. The letter arrived tied to a thick, leather-bound book. This was not what piqued his interest, though- he had received many books and various odds and ends from his people since the speech, mostly pertaining to good health and home remedies to inevitable colds, aches and pains. Truthfully, he did not spare the book a glance before unfolding the letter written on a single page. On this one sheet were scribbled two hasty lines. It read:
There is a way to remain king for as long as your heart desires. See the Fairy Queen.
The king examined the letter closely, turning over the paper in his hands, its contents in his mind. There was no signature to be found on the sheet, and when the meaning behind the sloppily scrawled words registered in his head, his heart gave a leap. He reached for the book, whose worn bindings suggested it was very old indeed. There was no title, either, but as he flipped through the pages he guessed that it was some sort of encyclopedia of all the Undergrounds' inhabitants. Normally, such a book would interest him in its entirety, but for the moment he sought only one thing. On and on through the pages he turned, skimming over brief descriptions of everything from the songbirds to the band of merry troublemaking tricksters who called themselves the Fierys and made their homes in the forests on the outskirts of the Castle City, from lengthy details of the Undergrounds' innumerable herbs and flowers to charted weather records, until he began to worry that he might already have skipped over what he was looking for.
And then he found it. Nestled between an article on the construction of the castle city and a picture of a festival in the city's streets, there lay folded a loose piece of paper. He snatched it up and was soon immersed in its contents. The page was yellowed with age and told of the Fairy Queen, who was rumored to live somewhere beyond the cities, in the wilderness of the Underground uninhabited by humans. The Fairy was said to have immeasurable power, and if you bothered with the trouble of finding her out in the unknown, she was almost guaranteed to grant your wish.
All at once, the depression that had haunted him for the past few years faded away, and was just as quickly replaced with a hope so consuming he could barely contain himself. He called forth two of his personal guards, who were surprised to be summoned as there was rarely a need for their assistance in a world where most everyone adored their ruler. But they came to him as soon as he beckoned, and though they were curious, they did not protest when the king told them they would be venturing beyond the city limits and out into the open. As very little was known about the land beyond, their company was necessary.
So excited was King Ensio that he wished to leave that very moment, but as he was a kind man, he did not deprive the guards the chance to bid their loved ones farewell before their journey, especially since they were not sure how long they might be gone. While they were out, he distracted himself by going about the castle, leaving instructions for those who lived and worked there, explaining the little things they'd have to do while he was away, such as explaining his sudden absence to the people in a way that would not leave them worried, but would leave room for surprise when he returned with the good news that nothing would ever have to change. When at last the two guards did return, he met them at the front gates, and the three were off without another moment's delay.
It took them nearly six weeks to find the lair in which the Fairy Queen resided. Truthfully, they did very little of what could be considered "traveling" each day, for once the city fell behind them and they entered the unfamiliar territory of the forest beyond, the majority of their time was spent examining every nook and cranny. The book had noted that the Fairy Queen tended to tuck herself away somewhere hidden, but it did not specify in which types of shelter she might be hiding. In the beginning, King Ensio had expressed much concern because they knew so little about her. Suppose she wasn't a tiny, fist-sized fairy as he had first imagined. She was a magical creature, after all, and so he convinced himself and the guards it stood to reason that she could very possibly be any size she wanted. And so they searched everywhere: under rocks, in hollowed out old trees, along unnamed mountain ranges…
Though the guards were doubtful, the king's determination won out over his severely limiting lack of knowledge, and his sheer delight at the prospect of eternal kingship led them to continue onward, deeper and deeper into the forest and ever further from the cities behind them.
Along the way, the trio encountered many strange creatures that none of them had before heard of. There were bugs ranging in size from almost microscopic to nearly as big as a human's head, some with wings and others with too many legs to even begin counting, some with pincers and big bug eyes and slimy scales; there were many creatures that resembled domestic animals with the unpleasant addition of sinister-looking fangs and claws, and all kinds of creatures that remained hidden in the shadows, screeching and squawking so shrilly that they frequently found themselves reaching out to cover their aching ears.
The guards stayed close to the king as more and more strange beings revealed themselves the further they strayed, tense and on the ready. But even when vicious-looking things resembling trolls and carnivorous worms approached, the king bade them hold their weapons still. He feared that killing any of the creatures beyond the known Underground might anger the Fairy Queen, and to do so would risk their entire purpose, possibly even their lives. Thus a great deal of hours was spent hiding, holding their breath as they waited for each of the potential dangers to pass. All the while, they searched with fierce determination.
They discovered the Fairy Queen's lair on the thirty-eighth day after their departure. By this point, they had wandered beyond even the forest, and for days they had trekked their way through what must have been a great valley; on either side of them were cliffs that stretched up high into the sky, jagged and unclimbable. Their footsteps echoed off the walls, and in these endless flat stretches there were very few places they figured a Fairy Queen might deem fit to hide. In this way, even though they were weary from weeks of travel, they moved more quickly.
It was one of the guards – the younger of the two, who had left behind his young wife and their infant son- who noticed the first fairy.
"Look there, your Majesty!" he cried out as the sun was reaching its highest peak that afternoon. The sudden outburst seemed to ring off the walls after many hours of silence, and King Ensio and the other guard looked up just in time to see a tiny winged creature, about the size of a human fist, detach herself from her hiding place along the rock wall and flutter away further along the valley. His hope renewed, the king took off in a brisk pursuit.
Soon it became clear to them that they must be nearing their destination. Now that they looked, there were fairies on either side, looking down at them from rocks in the cliffs above, frantically beating their wings to escape as they approached. At times, the king would call out to them, begging them to stop and wait, but the boom of his voice just made them push their wings harder.
Despite the difference in their ages, the guards struggled to keep up with Ensio. His excitement defied the effects of the years, gave his legs the strength to carry him faster and faster, until once again the cliffs around them widened out and they found themselves in a clearing amidst another forest. A single tree stood in the middle of the clearing, and though it was not by any means a particularly large tree, the sight of it stopped them in their tracks. Amidst the typical swathes of earthy green leaves were splotches of various hues of blue. The leaves ranged from periwinkle to royal, to sapphire and azure and even patches of almost turquoise. If the colors weren't appealing enough, the tree's inhabitants sealed the deal. Fairies, almost all with flowing blonde hair and eyes of icy blue, were nestled throughout it. From their bodies trailed a powdery substance that drifted on the gentle breeze, coating the grass below in shimmery, silver dust.
King Ensio gasped audibly, and the fairies reacted as a whole. The ones perched on the branches jumped to their feet in surprise- the ones who had been on their way to warn them whirled around, and all around the three, thousands of tiny fairies regarded them with cool, untrusting eyes.
As the trio pressed closer insecurely, a single fairy hovered closer from the tree. Unlike the others, they could see that this fairy had long, radiant chestnut hair, and eyes to match it perfectly. She spoke as she drew nearer, inducing an anxious silence from the others. "Who goes there?" she called out, her voice unshaken in the fearful quiet. "State your business."
The king stepped forward, hands held out at his sides in a peaceful gesture. He answered, "My name is Ensio. I am king of the Underground, and I come seeking the Fairy Queen."
The dark-haired fairy did not reply immediately. Instead, she stretched her arms out and began to spin in a circle, slowly at first and then gradually gaining speed until her tiny cloth dress fanned out around her. There was a flash of light so bright the traveling trio averted their eyes, and when they looked up again they found the fairy standing before them, the size of a typical female human. To their awestruck expressions, she explained, "I am the Fairy Queen." And then once more: "State your business."
"Great Fairy Queen," began the king of the Underground. The Queen watched him expectantly as he continued. "It has recently come to my attention that I shall not remain king of the Underground forever. A few months ago I told my subjects how disheartening this realization was for me, and shortly after I received a letter from one of them. The letter suggested I seek you out- it said you could help me."
"And what would you have me do?" asked the Fairy Queen. "Do you seek reassurance that your land will be well taken care of when your reign has come to pass, or perhaps a worthy successor to present himself to you?"
King Ensio shook his head. "No, your Highness. I come to you seeking just one thing. I wish to remain the king of the Underground forever."
The Fairy Queen frowned. A whisper began to work its way through the hoards of fairies, traveling from one end of the half-circle they'd formed around her to the other. Their eyes fell on the king once more and his guards shifted uncomfortably.
"I do not see any ill will in your request, King of the Underground," she stated. "However, nothing is meant to last forever, and I don't believe you realize what a very long time that actually is."
But the king was not to be dissuaded. "Please, Great Fairy Queen, I beg you to listen. I have served as the King for forty years now. Every day I have looked upon my people and seen their smiling faces. I've seen happy children grow into happy adults. Time and again they have told me they see no need to change. Things are grand the way they are- I'm afraid my dying would upset that balance."
She seemed to consider this for a moment. Her brow wrinkled in concentration as she searched for the best way to handle the situation. Unlike Ensio, though, she was not the first ruler of her kind; there were regulations to follow, rules to be adhered to. She could not lie to any person who came seeking her assistance. So she told him, "While I do not have the ability to turn down a wish that is within my power to grant, I must advice you to think this through more carefully. Forever is a very, very long time. I can already assure you that this is a wish you will grow to regret. There is such a concept as too much of a good thing, and I must insist that you-"
The king had paid very little attention to her speech beyond the part about not having power to refuse his wish. After that he tuned out her warnings, and before she had even finished he found himself blurting out, "Great Fairy Queen, I wish to remain the king of the Underground forever!"
The Fairy Queen stopped mid-warning and shook her head wearily. The king, she could see, would not be deterred from his desire, and so she had no choice. "It shall be so," she sighed. Her body began to glow, the same shimmering dust that littered the ground falling from her upturned palms. Before she closed her eyes to concentrate on the task at hand, she gave the man one last reproachful glance. "Do remember that you were warned."
Suddenly the air began to crackle with tension. The fairies drew in their breath in one collected gasp as the iridescent glow danced across the Queen's cotton dress, twisted its way through her hair, all the while growing brighter and brighter until once again the beaming king and his companions had to look away. When at last they were able to open their eyes again, they found themselves alone in the courtyard, facing the way from which they had come.
The guards exchanged a quizzical glance.
"Did anything happen?" asked the younger.
The other one spoke directly to the king. "Do you feel any different, your Majesty?"
Ensio held out a hand and examined it thoroughly. He could still feel the blood pulsing through his veins; see the rosy glow it brought to his skin. He did not feel or look any younger and time seemed to be moving at the same pace as it always had, but he was sure his wish had not been ignored. The Queen's final words played through his mind, and he squeezes his outstretched palm into a fist.
"No. It's happened, though. I'm sure of it," he assured them. And then he began to walk away from the courtyard, oblivious to the hundreds of fairy eyes watching his departure from the shadows of the tree's beautiful foliage. "Now, I believe we have a kingdom and our families to return to."
When he returned to the castle city- a process that took a lot less time than it had taken to find the Fairy Queen-, King Ensio arranged for another public speaking to share the good news with his subjects. Twenty four hours had hardly passed before he wound his way into the central plaza of the town, and if he was at all tired from his long journey, he did not show it. In fact, the people mused, their king seemed positively radiant compared to the last time he had stood before them.
He greeted his people warmly and said that he hoped they had all been in good health and happiness while he was away, and then he apologized for leaving them so suddenly with next to no explanation for his sudden absence.
"And now," he said, "I stand before you with wonderful news. Shortly after my last public address, I received a letter saying I should seek out the Great Fairy Queen for a solution to the problem that was grieving me. And so I did. After many weeks of traveling in the unknown land beyond our cities, we found the Queen, and when I came to her asking to remain the king forever, she could not refuse my wish."
A murmur of conversation made its way through the crowd of on-lookers. Startled gasps mingled with scattered cheers. Other than a few of the older people who had supported the king since the beginning who seemed rather disturbed by this news, the king's announcement seemed widely appreciated. He went on to explain how this meant they would never have to change their ways, how they could always be happy just as they were.
His forever-reign was launched by a series of festivals that lasted nearly an entire month. For weeks, people danced through the streets singing praise for him, stuffing their faces on grand banquets and drinking the finest wines known to the Underground. So overjoyed was the majority of the population that the few bitter elders who remained indoors were thoroughly ignored. None could understand the need for resentment when they had been promised such a bright future. Those in protest were so much the minority that even when they tried to gather together to talk about it, they were quickly put down by the faithful supporters of the forever king. Not a single word of resistance ever reached him within the castle.
And so forever remained a promising concept- for a time, at least.
The years passed and blurred together. Though it appeared he had stopped physically aging, his eightieth birthday was celebrated, and then his ninetieth. By the time his one hundredth birthday came, most of the original protesters had begun to pass one by one, and happiness became the universal concept.
Decades past. He soon forgot how old he was, but the guards who accompanied him on his journey to the Fairy Queen had since grown old and frail. He watched many of the children he had played with before being elected the king fall onto their death beds and never move again. He observed as the younger generations grew and prospered, then wrinkled with the passing of time and eventually drew their final breaths. He saw the rise and fall of many generations.
And through all the years, the kingdom's happiness remained. He continued to look out at his people from the balcony, smiling and waving, until he had seen so many generations pass, so many fashion trends, that what had once seemed hopeful and invigorating now seemed rather…. boring.
He found that he did not wish to stir things up for his people with war or taxes or any such unprecedented change. No, even after all those years he still loved them, and he wanted nothing for them but the peace they had known for so long. He just wished he could view it from a different position now, perhaps as just a normal citizen, to see with his eyes what they had always seen through theirs- someone else ruling the kingdom, making the few decisions that arose, keeping the peace. He didn't even mind the idea of continuing to live forever, just so long as he could do it as someone other than the king.
In time, this longing for a different life began to eat away at him, just as the realization of his fleeting mortality had done so many years before. This time, though, a little bit of hope shined through- he knew that the Fairy Queen was still out there somewhere, and if he ventured to go see her, she could not deny him his wish. The memory of her warning had faded throughout the passing years; now all he remembered of that day when he first confronted her was that it had been the beginning of an era of promise and elation. Surely a second visit to her could only yield the same results. So with that thought in mind, he summoned for two guards to accompany him – descendants of the two who had first ventured into the forest with him- and the trio went on their way. This time, the king kept his business and his absence a secret.
If you've ever read stories or heard accounts of wishes gone wrong, you might have already guessed that the Fairy Queen did not greet the king and his request kindly. Truthfully, the moment she saw the man approaching, she just gave her head an irate shake as she hovered forward to meet him in the clearing. The fairies, whose memory of the first visit was considerably better than Ensio's, exchanged knowing glances; it was rare for anyone to be happy with a single wish from the Fairy Queen once they knew of her existence, and while she did not have the power to deny them their first wish, no such rules applied if the wisher were to return a second time.
"I see you have returned, as I knew you would. I must say you didn't stay away long. State your business."
The king mused for a moment- apparently, a few centuries meant nothing to fairies. One might expect him to stop and muse how long "forever" was for a fairy if their normal lives were so long, but instead he only approached her, poised to deliver his speech.
"I have served as King of the Underground for many years now. For hundreds of thousands of days, I have looked down from my balconies and seen my people smiling in the streets below."
"Yes. You have been granted eternal kingship, just as you asked. So why are you here?"
He met her gaze smoothly and replied, "I no longer wish to be the king. I have observed their happiness from above for far too long, and now I want nothing more than to watch it from among them. I wish to be a normal citizen."
The Fairy Queen was outraged. She hissed a soprano hiss in her normal form, then whirled on the spot to stand before him, towering at least a head above him. "I told you forever was too long. I told you to think carefully about your wish before you wished it. What will it be next? In five centuries, you will return to me wishing to die. You'll have grown tired of what I granted you yet again, and once again you will come here, wretched and whining-"
Taken aback by her fury, King Ensio gaped. "I won't return this time, I swear it! Just grant me this one last request and I'll stay away forever!"
But once again, she shook her head. "You are right- you won't return again, because I'm not going to give you the chance. I warned you not to return a second time, and you disregarded that. Now you will suffer the consequences."
"Wait!" he protested. The Fairy Queen ignored him. Her chestnut eyes flashed dangerously, and her hands flew up at her sides, shining with the sparkling fairy dust. The air began to crackle. His heart pounded frantically away inside his ribcage. Sensing the danger in the air, the two guards backed hastily towards the rocky valley. "Wait!" the king cried again. "You said you couldn't deny a wish if one traveled here to see you."
The Queen's body was glowing as it had before she cast her first spell on him. The brighter she grew, the more sinister her eyes became. "Fool! I can't deny a person their first wish. If a person is foolish enough to return after my warnings, they become subject to my whims. I have grown tired of people coming back, throwing their desires around so carelessly and not stopping to think of the consequences." The air began to pulsate with the energy she was emanating in her rage. "Your wish has been denied. You will go back now and return to a land blackened by your greed and callousness. Your ugliness will be reflected in your castle, your people- your entire kingdom ! And you will remain the king, and they will see you for the careless, greedy man you really are, until you take your own life out of the misery of it all."
King Ensio staggered under the weight of the power now. He could feel her magic taking effect; see the world turning sepia and ugly at its edges. He tried to back away and found himself rooted to the spot. He stood there, powerless to do anything but watch as all the color and life faded from the world. All around him, bark of trees began to wither and fade to gray. Leaves shook loose and were muddy brown in color before they hit the barren ground. Even the fairy tree, which he had once stared at in such awe, was fading into shades of soupy grey and earthy brown; the fairies that poured out of it might still have been enchanting were it not for the resentment in their eyes and the sharp little fangs protruding from their angrily pursed lips.
As the curse spread, the queen ceased glowing and gradually shrank back to her regular size, just one among the many of her people. Ensio sensed somehow that a great power had left her, as though she had used up every ounce of her strength to curse the land and his very existence. The other fairies confirmed this fear by crowding closer to her, all the while baring their sharpened fangs at him. It seemed that she must be too weak to speak by then, as she whispered into the ear of the fairy closest to her. This fairy was a bit of a rarity. Its hair was cut short and spiky, and instead of a cloth dress it wore something resembling only a loincloth- a male fairy.
He seemed just as furious as his screeching female counterparts, though, when he hovered forward to speak for their fallen queen. "Consider yourself lucky, Goblin King." As he said this, his tiny sharp eyes peered over Ensio's soldier, presumably at the guards who had been trying to escape. Ensio dared not look at them, so instead he waited, still trembling, for the male fairy to continue. How could he possibly be grateful seeing what the queen had done to his world, knowing that his very kingdom might now be in a state of ruin?
The fairy went on to explain. "Our queen was a charitable person. Though she grew to despise you and all else who would abuse her power, she has always tried to see the best in everyone. As such, and don't ask me why, she has left you with one final option."
"What is it?" the king demanded. "You must tell me!"
For a moment, it looked like he wasn't going to, whether he must or not. But then an almost-inaudible command from their fading queen gave him the push he needed. "There are two ways for you to escape the curse of eternal kingship. You may either take your own life-"
The king winced.
"-Or," the fairy proceeded, "you must find a human child to take your place. The choice is yours, and you can rest assured it is far more than you deserve. Personally I think you should have to remain the king forever, knowing the unhappiness you brought on your loyal followers. Lucky for you, I am not the ruler." He glanced over his shoulder at the dying queen. "Nor will there be another ruler. There will be no one left to grant foolish wishes." At this, he couldn't help but smirk wryly. He spared King Ensio one final glare before returning to the queen's side as she drew her final breaths. When she had done so, the nearest fairies gathered her frail body and took off into the afternoon sky, the rest to follow.
It wasn't until hours later that the king was able to move again. He'd spent the entire afternoon standing on the spot in a state of shock, wondering where he had gone wrong, gazing hopelessly at a world devoid of vibrant colors. He had stared dazedly at the tree before him; once beautiful, it now stood weak and lifeless like all the others around it. No fairies or Fairy Queen, no shimmering, magical dust.
When he finally turned around, there were no guards, either. Ensio thought back to what the male fairy had said and wondered in dread if his people could really have been turned into goblins. Surely the Fairy Queen had not been that powerful. Perhaps this was all a test of some sort. Maybe he was still on his way to visit her for that second request, and he would only be considered if he could make it through this illusion. Surely he could not have the power to single-handedly destroy his peoples' hopes, shatter the happiness that had given him strength for so very long.
He realized then that he was only kidding himself. There was no test and this was no illusion. The guards must have been turned into Goblins, and at some point during his thoughtful trance, they must have clambered their way back to the castle city to tell the people what they had seen.
No, he thought. Best not to jump to conclusions. No need to assume his people would turn against him so easily- he must return and see for himself. Surely they would understand when he tried to explain what had happened. Surely they would see that this was all that blasted Fairy Queen's fault…
By himself and weighed down with doubts, the trip home took him almost two weeks. Well, the trip back to what had once been home. The kingdom he saw spread out before him was nothing like the one he had left behind. Everything he could see had the same, dreary tones of brown and gray. Fairies roamed the air here, and the dangerous, mutated creatures from the forest now wandered around of their own free will. The trees were all dead and the sky overcast; there was no laughter to be heard, no banners praising the kingdom to be seen anywhere. As he turned his attention in the direction of the castle, he saw that a great wall had appeared around it and its surrounding town, and what had once been scattered, smaller cities at the foot of the hill it sat upon was now a winding, eerie labyrinth. Before the curse, people had been able to come and go to the castle town as they pleased. This labyrinth and the great wall made that next to impossible. Not that he suspected anyone would ever want to venture to the kingdom before him now, anyway.
He became vaguely aware that he was trembling. The Underground was a mess. By now, the guards that had accompanied him must have returned and spread the word- now everyone would know what had happened to turn their world upside down so suddenly, and they would know that he was the one behind it all. They would hate him, probably even kill him.
But he owed it to them to at least make an appearance, he figured, so he started around the outskirts of the kingdom toward the castle city. When he got there and entered through the one door in the great surrounding wall, his heart sank at the sight before him. Not only had the people all turned in to Goblins as he feared –which was, he noted, a very gruesome sight- but in the two weeks it had taken him to make the journey back, they seemed to have accepted this change with a universal depression. They stood wearily in the streets now, all sagging shoulders that might have reached his waist on the tallest of them and hung, wrinkled heads. Tears streamed down their leather-like faces and fell from their overly large noses.
Occasionally, he caught a couple of them glimpse at each other and share a sigh of resignation before bowing their heads again. In their beady eyes, there was nothing but confusion and betrayal.
But when at last one of them spotted him there in the entryway to a city now made up of worn-down huts instead of glamorous houses, (and he must be easily recognizable, he thought, seeing as he had retained his human form) he saw no anger in the goblin's eyes. Just surprise mingled with relief as he cried out and pointed, and then curiosity:
"Oh, your highness, where have you been?" cried the Goblins as they circled around him. "Look! Look at this- can you believe what a mess things are?" "Look at us!" "What happened to us?" "Where did you go? We were afraid something might have happened to you!" "Were the guards with you? Two of them are missing! Have you seen them?"
So the two hadn't made it back then, he mused. He thought back to his own journey, of the creatures that had eyed him so expectantly in the forest. Perhaps they hadn't taken as kindly to the two goblin guards.
The goblins continued to crowd around him. They bombarded him with questions. Many of them were crying again, others voicing their hopes that their King would save them. Everyone wanted to know where he had been and why he remained a human. He had to tell them something.
"We were… exploring." The lie slipped from his mouth before he knew it was coming. He followed through with it quickly, somewhat relieved. "I received a report that there was suspicious behavior in the forest, creatures that were planning to attack the city and kidnap the children. I should have told you," he apologized, "but I didn't want to cause unnecessary panic if there was something we could do about it. We went to observe, and as it turned out it was nothing more than a hoax." He looked among the crowd as if searching for the prankster, trying to convince them and himself. "We had just gotten to the reported location and found nothing when the trees started dying. When we tried to take a shortcut back to see if things were all right here, we stumbled into the mountain lair of a giant, man-eating worm, and regrettably…." His voice trailed off.
The goblins exchanged looks as this news set over them. At last, when they accepted his lack of knowledge about the situation and the death of their two comrades, they bowed their heads. A few whispered things like, "At least Your Majesty is okay", and in return he told them things like "Don't worry, I'm sure we'll figure out what happened and things will go back to normal." And then, he explained to them that he was very tired from his long journey and needed some time to try to figure out the best course of action, so he excused himself to the castle, where he proceeded to panic and distress. He felt incredibly guilty about the whole thing. At night, the image of the peoples' goblin faces kept him tossing and turning, and the weight of his lies pressed down on him, making it ever harder to breathe. Time and again, he asked himself how it came to this, and time and again he talked himself out of the ridiculous idea that it was completely his fault. Maybe if he convinced himself, the guilt would fade, and he would accept the false story just like his pitiful people.
For a few days, he did consider killing himself out of the misery of it all. But the more he thought back to his latest visit with the Fairy Queen, the more he remembered what the male fairy had said to him, a crazy idea popped into his head. And like the two crazy ideas that came before it, this one had the potential to ruin things, from the condition of the Underground to all of the peoples' lives.
As you might have guessed, King Ensio did not see it this way. To him, his idea was as simple of this: find a human child, raise it to be his heir, and then rely on that child to fix the mess he'd made. Why kill himself and leave his people without a hope, when he could bring someone up with the potential to one day restore to kingdom to the way it had been? If he did this, he might live long enough to see the Underground turn back into the kingdom he'd always known. If he died, he wouldn't see it and neither would they.
And so, with the powers that came to him with the position of Goblin King, he made his way into the human world, (where else to find a human baby?), found a child he did not think would be missed too terribly, and poured all of his hopes and frustration into raising the baby to take his place.
He would not discover for many years that killing himself would have been the wiser option, but by then it was already too late. The curse had begun.
Author's note: So, thanks for reading my debut Labyrinth fanfic. I hope you enjoyed the beginning, and I'll see you around for chapter one- coming soon! Oh, and please do take a moment to tell me what you thought!