Full Summery: Kuinnu loves three things: Her boyfriend Yami, performing and fairy tales. After a bad day at high school and an argument with Yami, Kuinnu accidentally wishes her boyfriend away to the Shadow Realm of her favorite story! Now, after making a wager with Marik, the King of the Goblins and the Shadow Realm, Kuinnu only has 13 hours to solve the Labyrinth… or lose Yami forever!
I don't make any profit from this fic! This is purely for entertainment and fun! Labyrinth belongs to Jim Henson. Yami and the others belong to Kazuki Takahashi. Kuinnu belongs to me!
Chapter 1: "I Wish…" ~Labyrinth~
Every story has some amount of truth to them.
"Once upon a time there was a beautiful young woman whose stepmother always made her stay with the baby. The baby was a spoiled child who wanted everything for himself, and the young woman was practically a slave girl. But what no one knew was this: the King of the Goblins had fallen in love with her, and given her certain powers. One night, when the baby had been particularly nasty, the girl called on the goblins to help her. And they said to her, 'Say your right words, and we'll take the baby away to the Goblin City, and then you'll be free.' Those were their words to her. But the girl knew that the King of the Goblins would keep the baby in his castle forever and ever, and he would turn the baby into a goblin. And so she suffered in silence, through many a long month ... until one night, worn out by a day of slaving at housework, and hurt beyond measure by the harsh, ungrateful words of her stepmother, she could bear it no longer."
This was the beginning of the favorite tale of one young woman. A girl, not too unlike the heroine of her story. And she would soon discover just how much truth there was in her favorite fairy tale all along; how some stories are more truth than fiction.
"Give me the child." She said in a firm tone of voice, taking a step forward. Her cream white dress was flowing in the wind, her satin skirt brushing against her legs and her bright blonde hair, which was decorated with white and pale pink blossoms, flying like a banner behind her in the breeze. "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." She continued to speak in a firm, unwavering tone, her ocean blue eyes equally as firm.
The man who she spoke to took a step backwards. His violet eyes were showing fear of the girl before him. Standing against the wind, his deep plum colored, almost black, cloak all but hugged his body from the force of the wind against his back.
"For my will is as strong as yours. And my kingdom is as great!" The girl continued to speak, taking a step forward as he retreated.
She stopped, looking unsure. "My will is as strong as yours… My kingdom as great…" A frustrated groan escaped the young woman as she ran a hand through her hair. "Dammit. I can never remember that damn line." Kuinnu gave a light growl as she broke character and pulled out a copy of her script. "'You have no power over me.' Why can I never remember that line?"
"Maybe it's because you're already worried about remembering the rest of the script, for one?" Her boyfriend, Yami, said as he walked over to her with a soft smile on his face. He turned to a friend who stood just offstage. "Joey! Kill the wind machine!"
A taller blonde teenage boy nodded to Yami and turned off the machine that he had been managing for the scene. As the wind died down, another tall teenage boy walked over to the couple, handing the two some water bottles. "You guys looked like you can use some refreshments." The spike haired teen said with a smile.
"Thanks Tristan, I actually am pretty thirsty. I didn't realize how long we'd been rehearsing." Kuinnu said, taking one of the water bottles and opening it before taking a long drink of the water inside the plastic bottle.
"Long enough. School's almost over. Maybe half an hour left." Tristan replied to the girl. "You guys might wanna go and get changed before the bell rings."
"Hey! Princess Pain-in-the-ass!" A voice yelled from the audience area, catching Kuinnu's attention. Her eyes narrowed at a teenage girl with almost shoulder length brown hair. She was dressed in a yellow shirt, which flowed like a skirt at her thighs, with a pink waist coat over it and a blue mini-skirt underneath it. A pair of brown knee-high boots completed the rest of her outfit.
"What do you want, Anzu?" Kuinnu asked the other girl. Anzu never did like the fact that Kuinnu and Yami were dating, since Anzu herself had been trying to get with the violet eyed teen for quite a few years. On top of that, Anzu believed that Kuinnu deliberately 'stole' Yami just to spite her, which was the farthest from the truth. After Kuinnu broke up with her first boyfriend, Yami had been the one to comfort the blonde girl. And at some urging and encouragement from Joey and Tristan, Yami asked Kuinnu to be his girlfriend, which she was more than happy to say yes to. Since then, she had been the target of Anzu's fury. "If you're here to just be a bother, then you can just get lost. We're trying to rehearse for tomorrow, so you can just leave."
"Well, here's the good news – You're not going to be in the show." Anzu said, crossing her arms in front of her chest. The other teens just stopped and stared at the brunette. "You all heard me. I'm going to be taking her place in the show. I am her understudy after all." She said, her eyes narrowing in on the taller girl onstage.
"Yeah, we know the cast list, Anzu." Joey said with a frown. 'But you're only her understudy because you bullied the other two understudies into dropping out.' He thought to himself. "But what makes you think that Kuinnu's not going to be in the show?" He asked.
"Because, earlier today during a locker inspection, Ms. Chrono found some cheat sheets in her locker. Among other things." Anzu replied, still half glaring at Kuinnu. "She was rather shocked when she found some birth control pills in there as well, along with some condoms."
"That's a lie! I don't cheat! I don't even use birth control, let alone have sex. And even if I did, why would I have those here?" Kuinnu snapped at the other girl, her face bright red with anger and embarrassment.
"Just to prove how much of a slut you really are." Anzu said curtly. "You hardly talk to anyone to begin with. You spend almost all your time in the library and gods only know what you could really be doing in there. But regardless, until this whole matter is settled, you know that Mr. Taylor's not going to let you perform. And even more so, if they decide to suspend you for what they found in your locker. I believe that with those condoms and pills, it's called 'misconduct on school grounds'." She added. The chocolate haired girl could see Kuinnu was on the verge of tears. And so could Yami, Joey and Tristan.
"Yami, why don't you and Kuinnu head home? I'll talk to Mr. Taylor about this load of bullshit that Anzu's talking about." Joey said to his best friend. Joey could see how upset Kuinnu was getting from all of this. It had been her idea to turn her favorite book into a script for their play and she had given a good audition to get the role of the female lead. But unfortunately, the girl was a bit of a social outcast with very few friends. The Brooklyn teen could tell right away that a rumor like this would be one to damage, if not destroy, her reputation for some time. That was exactly what Anzu wanted; Joey already knew that for a fact. "You two just go get changed and head home."
Yami only nodded to his friend and led his girlfriend to the dressing rooms. "I'll call you a bit later, Joey." He said as he led Kuinnu away from the stage area and too the dressing rooms.
It didn't take long for Kuinnu to change out of her costume and into her own clothes; A white blouse with a red duster jacket, a navy blue skirt and black thigh-high boots. She had removed the fake flowers from her hair and pulled her hair up into a ponytail. All her costume jewelry was off now as well, leaving only her blue rose stud earrings, a few thin gold banded bracelets on her right wrist, and most importantly, her favorite necklace. A small glass vial filled with some sort of liquid, with a tiny rose inside hanging from a thin, silver chain. It had been a gift from Yami for their six month anniversary. Once she was fully dressed and she had made sure that she had gathered all of her belongings, Kuinnu waited in the hallway for Yami. Yami was dressed in his own clothes fairly quickly as well; a black linen shirt, navy blue jacket, tight blue jeans, studded wristbands, a belt-like collar necklace and black boots. It surprised Kuinnu how fast her boyfriend could get dressed, especially when it came to his hair. But it was just another mystery about the teen that she loved.
As the two teens walked to the front of the building, Yami noticed that Kuinnu kept her gaze to the ground. She only did that when she was really upset. And with Anzu's threat, he couldn't blame her for being upset. The multicolored haired teen gave a light sigh. Looking up and seeing the sky in the distance, the blonde girl only grumbled. "Kuinnu… I don't think you should listen to Anzu. I doubt Mr. Taylor would pull you out of the show with just one day left until the debut." The teenage boy said, trying to get her to cheer up somehow.
"Can today get any worse?" Kuinnu said as it began to rain when she and Yami reached the front of the school building. "Great…"
"C'mon. We'll just have to make a dash for it." Yami said as he took off his jacket, placed it on his girlfriend's head and grabbed her hand before they ran out into the rain, keeping his wine colored eyes on their destinations. They would have to stop multiple times along the way, but if they kept up a good speed, they could avoid getting too soaked.
"Oh, it's not fair!" Kuinnu yelled as they finally reached her house, both teens rather soaked from the long run in the rain. Pulling out her house keys, Kuinnu managed to unlock and open the front door, allowing both teens to get inside and away from the rain. Once inside, she shut and locked the door again, shivering from her wet clothes and from the slight chill in the air of the house. She noticed Yami shivering a bit as well as she took off his wet jacket and tried to dry it out.
"Go up to the bathroom. There's a robe in there you can use while I throw your clothes in the dryer for a few minutes. And you can use the hair dryer as well." The blonde girl said. Yami gave a light blush but nodded, heading upstairs and his girlfriend following behind him.
Once in the bathroom, the teenage boy stripped his body of his wet clothes and accessories and found the robe she had mentioned hanging on the back of the door. It was a lovely robe that resembled a kimono, with cerulean 'silk' and images of white cranes flying over what could have been the sea, and different types of white flowers. He shut the robe tightly and tied it with the sash before finding the hair dryer and quickly allowing himself to dry out some of his hair. He didn't need to have it fully dry, air drying it the rest of the way would work. After about five minutes, he left the room, finding Kuinnu waiting in the hall for him. He handed her his clothes with a light blush on his cheeks.
"I'll go put these in the dryer and bring up something to drink. You can wait in my room." His girlfriend said before she headed back downstairs before Yami really could object about any of it.
Kuinnu's room always made Yami feel a bit uneasy whenever he walked into it. It was a lovely room to be sure, with polished cherry wood furniture including the bed, dresser, nightstand, desk and a large, antique looking chest that Kuinnu kept at the foot of her bed. Even the shelves, both large and small, seemed to be made of the same polished cherry wood. Kuinnu had always loved cherry blossoms, so to Yami, it made some sense that she enjoyed having cherry wood in her bedroom. The bed itself was a queen-sized bed, maybe a king, the teen couldn't really remember. It had two posts at the head of the bed with a lovely carved and decorated headboard, engravings of roses and other flowers adding beauty to the wooden headboard. From the posts there was a small canopy that had thin curtains connected to them, draping down beside the bed, in a nice violet color that was almost a perfect match for the purple bedding that Kuinnu had covering her bed.
As Yami sat down on the bed, he let his amethyst eyes wander around his beloved's bedroom. He first glanced over to the pillow where he saw a few of Kuinnu's favorite plush dolls resting against her pillows. All of them Pokémon dolls; A Mew named Ichigo, a Ho-Oh called Suzaku and finally Noctis the Umbreon. A tiny smirk crossed Yami's lips as he picked up Noctis and looked at the black and yellow doll. The rest of her dolls and plushies were set on top of the chest in a big group, in no real particular order. In some way, he envied Noctis and the other two dolls. They were always so close to his angel, watched over her when she slept, and she probably confided in them much more than she did in him. It did hurt a bit that Kuinnu wouldn't confide in him at times, but Yami knew that Kuinnu had particular issues that she had trouble talking about. Putting the plush toy down after a moment, the multicolored haired teen let his eyes wander around the room again. The walls were an off white, like a light cream color. Posters for fantasy movies like 'The Lord of the Rings' were placed at different parts of the walls, with Kuinnu's dragon painting calendar hanging near her bed.
On one wall was a large bookshelf. Most of the books were of the fantasy and/or romance genre, along with many books of mythologies from ancient cultures, all ordered in alphabetical order by author and then by release within the author's group. Below the shelves with the actual books were the shelves that held the blonde girl's mangas, ordered alphabetically by series. Glancing over at another shelf that stood next to the TV that the girl had in her room, Yami let his eyes wander over the DVDs that Kuinnu had in her collection. The first two shelves were all Disney-related, listed by year of release, 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarves' being first, and the rest following in correct release order, sequels next to their original movie. Below those shelves where her 'other' movies, all listed in alphabetical order, with her few anime DVDs on the bottom shelf in the same alphabetical order.
Figurines and small statues of mermaids, fairies, angels, dragons and other creatures decorated a special shelf on the wall next to the closet, others decorating the vanity top of Kuinnu's dresser, placed neatly around the jewelry box and large mirror. Masks of many colors and designs hung next to the one shelf, making Yami give a faint smile. Kuinnu had always longed to go to a real masquerade ball. And Yami had to admit, the thought of his girlfriend in a beautiful gown with an elegant mask was a pleasant mental image one to him. 'Kuinnu's a dreamer, but that's just another reason why I love her.' He thought to himself as he leaned back a bit on the bed, his gaze glancing out the window at the rain that continued to fall. In a tree near the house, he saw a white owl. He had seen this owl before, usually somewhere near the house. Pallas, Kuinnu had named it after seeing it for gods only knew how long. Something about that owl never sat right with him. Like every time he saw it, the bird seemed to be glaring at him with violet eyes. Yami did not trust that bird.
As his girlfriend finally returned with some sodas, and his dry clothes, Yami stood up off the bed, watching her reactions carefully. He could tell that what Anzu had said about her missing the play due to 'misconduct on school grounds' had hit the golden haired girl hard, very hard. And that she was not talking about it deliberately just to avoid the topic. "Kuinnu… You can't let that rumor that Anzu mentioned get to you. We both know that you'd never do anything like that." Yami said, breaking the silence. He watched and waited for her to reply, but she only left the room again, allowing him privacy to change. The spiky haired teen had also noticed that she hadn't changed out of her wet clothes. 'Then again, her clothes didn't get nearly as wet as mine.' He thought to himself. Once the door was shut, he quickly changed back into his own clothes and then went to find his 'princess'.
Yami found the girl in the living room, sitting on the sand colored, plush sofa. "Kuinnu…?"
"That bitch Anzu… She planned all this. I know she did. She wanted to get at me in one of the ways she knew would hurt me the most. By destroying my hopes of acting in a play that was MY idea." Kuinnu said, shaking in anger at the thought of the brunette girl. "She's hated me ever since you and I started dating. No, even before that. Probably ever since we entered high school. She knew that I don't have a lot of friends at school. That I don't talk to a lot of people, and that I keep to myself more often than not."
"Kuinnu, please calm down." Yami said, going over to her and trying to hug the upset young woman in an attempt to make her feel better.
"I can't calm down, Atem!" Kuinnu snapped, using her boyfriend's birth name. Most times, his friends called him Yami since 'Atem' wasn't a very common name. On top of that, he preferred his nickname to his actual name.
Kuinnu looked at him with upset eyes. "She wanted to shatter my dreams of being an actress and letting me live out my fairy tale. And it looks like she accomplished just that."
'Live out my fairy tale.' The thought alone made the teenage boy worry for his girlfriend. He knew that Kuinnu was a dreamer, and often she seemed to be waiting for a handsome prince on a white horse to appear and take her away for a better life. In many ways, he wanted to be that prince for her. He was not without dreams of his own, romantic ideas came to him from time to time. He truly wanted to make her happy, because he truly loved her. But even he knew when to draw the line to cross between fantasy and reality. "Kuinnu, I love you, but one of these days, you'll need to stop having such childish dreams and grow up." Yami said, a look of concern in his wine colored eyes.
"So… you think I'm being a child?" Kuinnu asked, looking down and pulling away from the spiky haired teenager.
"Kuinnu, I know you love your fantasy stories, but life isn't always like your stories. One of these days you'll have to stop living in a fantasy world and grow up like all people have to at some point." Yami said, unintentionally raising his voice. "You need to stop being an immature child and open your eyes to the truth of the world."
As a bolt of lightning flashed outside, Kuinnu's hand moved faster than he could follow as she slapped her boyfriend across the face, tears forming in her sapphire eyes.
Once upon a time there was a beautiful young woman…
Jumping up from the sofa, the golden blonde ran back upstairs to her room. She could hear the heavy footsteps of Yami's boots behind her, but she managed to reach her room first and shut and locked the door behind her. Almost instantly, the other teen began to pound on her bedroom door, trying to apologize and get his beloved to come out of her room.
But what no one knew was this: the King of the Goblins had fallen in love with her, and given her certain powers.
She grabbed her favorite book, 'Labyrinth', clutching it to her chest and felt tears trying to slip down her cheeks. Even her own boyfriend thought that she was immature, childish and that she needed to 'grow up'. What was so wrong with having dreams? What was wrong about loving fairy tales and fantasy stories? High school was already a cruel place, and she didn't want the constant reminder of that fact.
'Say your right words,' the Goblins said.
"Kuinnu, please! Open the door!" Yami's voice called out from the other side of the door. A feeling of fear, maybe even dread, was growing in the youth's stomach. He couldn't explain why he felt so uneasy all of a sudden, but he did. He knew something bad was going to happen.
Until one night…
Kuinnu shut her eyes, letting go of her book and covering her ears with her hands to try and block Yami's voice out. She was so mad at him, so hurt by his words. She didn't want to see him anymore. Slowly, a few tears falling down her cheeks, she opened her mouth. "I wish… I wish…"
She could bear it no longer…
"I wish the goblins would come and take you away! Right now!" She yelled, trying to forget what he had said to her earlier. A crash of thunder and flash of lightning caused the blonde girl to whimper, due to her astraphobia. When she opened her eyes again and removed her hands from her ears, she could tell that the banging on her door had stopped. And not only that, the rain outside had stopped as well. And she was scared.
The entire house had an eerie quiet to it now. Unlocking her bedroom door, the now-timid girl opened the door and came out of her room. She felt her heartbeat quickening as she saw that the lights in the house were out, leaving the house fairly dark, and the clouded skies outside didn't help. Thankfully, the house was not pitch black. "…Yami?" She called out, slowly walking towards the stairs. The young woman didn't dare try to run in the darkness. She walked downstairs cautiously. With little to no light, she didn't want to bump into something by accident, let alone fall down the stairs. "Yami?" She called a bit louder, managing to find a light switch and turn on the light for the living room. Once she could see better, Kuinnu rushed to the door, only to find it still locked. That fact made her heart sink into the pit of her stomach. If the door was still locked, Yami didn't leave through the front door. 'Is he still somewhere in the house?" She wondered to herself before hearing a strange little sound. It sounded like something scampering up the stairs, mixed with a sort of mocking chuckle.
Kuinnu quickly followed the sound upstairs, hearing it leading her further down the hall, towards the master bedroom, her father's room. The blonde girl entered the room slowly, seeing her father's room in perfect order. "Yami?" She called out, almost in a whisper, her voice half-stolen away by fear. She reached for the light switch and tried to turn on the lights. Nothing. The room was as dark as the rest of the house. Outside, she could hear the wind blowing hard, and shadows and images of a bird, an owl, trying to enter the room through the window could be seen. Behind her, Kuinnu heard something snicker, both mockingly and joyously. She spun around and saw the shadow of another creature duck down again behind the chest of drawers. Shadows were scuttling across the walls, taunting, teasing, and mocking the scared girl. Goblins were prancing and bobbing behind her. Kuinnu could only turn this way and that, trying to catch a glimpse of the small, strange creatures that were scuttling all about in her father's bedroom.
Finally, an especially strong wind managed to force the windows open, allowing the owl to fly into the room. Kuinnu could only yelp in surprise and fear, her arms covering her face instinctively as the predatory bird flew at her, circling her a few times before seeming to fly out of the room and out into the night. Only a few moments after the bird was gone, a shadow appeared on the ground in front of the scared girl.
When she lowered her arms, Kuinnu saw a young man, probably close to the same age as herself, maybe a bit older. Eyes of sapphire met eyes of amethyst, and the girl felt her heart stopping. Fear spread across her eyes, even though she would have tried to hide it. Her throat felt dry as she opened her mouth to speak.
"You're him, aren't you?" Kuinnu asked, feeling a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach as realization hit her. "You're the Goblin King."
A smug smile crossed the young man's lips.
I'm finally done with chapter one! TwT You wouldn't believe how long I was slaving away at this first chapter alone. I wanted to try something different in terms of the story. The movie and few 'adaptaions' I've seen all have the girl, or boy in some cases, going after a little brother. So I thought, 'what if it was a lover who was wished away?' This is the start of that result.
One thing I wanna point out is that I'm taking inspiration not only from the movie, but from the novel version as well, as well as a few other fairy tales as well. Sarah's labyrinth apparently was inspired by some of her favorite stories, so I'm doing the same with mine.
I'm already working on the rest of this, so please review and let me know what you guys think!