Authors Note: I was tired, but I had to get this out of my head- I've only got a day or so before I have to go back to school, so I wanna put as much up here as I can.
Disclaimer: I own nothing, except the products of my own demented brain. I say demented because it's turning phrases out like 'Gabriel Van Helsing meets Jareth' and 'Send Wolverine through the Labyrinth'. Yeah- you're welcome to do either of those, by the way. Drop me a line when they're finished!
Once upon a time...
No, that's not right.
Twice upon a time...
Still not right, but closer.
Many times, there has been a girl.
There. That's it.
Many times there has been a girl, usually not very old or experienced in the ways of the world, who made a mistake. This particular mistake has a name- Jareth.
I'm not saying that he's a mistake- I'm saying she made a mistake and it was Jareth.
Her mistake was in wishing away someone to the goblins.
It's been a sibling, but more often it's been her child.
Realizing she made a mistake, she begs the Goblin King to give back the child, to let her take back the words spoken in the heart of the moment- by accident.
He never does.
He doesn't tell her, but this is his job, and he has to do it, whether he likes it or not.
He tells her the rules, as he has dozens of others, and she looks over the Labyrinth she must run.
Some turn back here. Others decide to try, and start walking. She's just beginning to realize the power her words have, and decides to try and win back the child.
Few succeed.
Some, in fact many, never get past the Outer Rim of the Labyrinth. Some give up. Some lose themselves in the Stone Maze or the Hedge Maze. Some fall into an Oubliette and don't escape in time, if ever. Some dance away their chances in the Crystal Ballroom in his arms- the arms that somehow, feel safe, despite the fact that they belong to the one who is supposed to be her enemy, who stole the child from her.
It feels safe in his arms, against all odds.
But then the clock begins to chime the time the thirteenth hour, and that safety is shattered.
She loses.
No matter whether she wins the child back or not, she loses. That's the way it works.
Having run the Labyrinth and on rare occasions won back the child, she wonders. She can't help but wonder what might have been.
It's the what ifs that get them, every time.
Regardless of whether they are won or not, the child grows up, happy and contented, whether in the Underground or the Aboveground.
And He continues on-
the Goblin King.
He'll always be there to discourage the Wishers and comfort the Wished, and no matter whether you are the Wished or the Wisher, against all odds,
it feels safe in his arms.
Review! Reviews, please! Pleasepleaseplease! I need something to get my mind away from the weird crossovers I can't seem to avoid- come on, Stargate/Labyrinth? Magnificent Seven TV Show/Labyrinth? And it doesn't stop at Labyrinth, oh no...
I don't even write in half these fandoms!