No idea where this came from or why, but it appeared in my head and it wouldn't go away. So, Scott wishes away his little brother and then it ran away with me completely and changed a little bit. Still I enjoyed writing it and I hope you all enjoy reading it.
Disclaimer: Mmmm, Goblin King... Yeah. Neither the king with the criminally tight trousers or the Tracys are mine. Oh but don't I ever wish they were.
I Wish.
Alan would not stop crying. The eleven month old baby has been screaming for the last three hours and ten year old Scott Tracy has reached the end of his rather short tether.
"Please shut up," he hisses into his pillow as he tries to block out the distressed cries of the baby. "Please just shut up."
Life has not been easy for the Tracy family over the last several months since the death of their mother, with their father working hard at his business to hide from his grief and the younger boys do not completely understand what has really happened. Every now and then little John will still ask when his mother is coming home because his grandma just is not the same. At the moment she is in the kitchen preparing dinner, apparently content to leave Alan to scream in his crib until he settles. She told Scott two hours ago that the baby was attention seeking and that he would tire of it eventually. Right now Scott is beginning to think that he is the only one fed up with it all.
"Alan, please," he half begs as he flips the light on in his father's room. For a moment he thinks that he has been heeded by his brother at last as for a moment the cries cease, only to start up again with renewed vigour when Scott goes to leave the room. He sighs, resting his head against the door frame. "You want a story?" He questions, searching his mind for a tale that he can tell the baby to silence him. Eventually it lands on one that his mother used to tell him, and later his brothers, when he was younger. The romance of the story never appealed to him but the goblins and fantastical creatures were always fun.
Even then, however, Alan does not stop crying.
"I wish the goblins would come and take you away," he snaps finally, "right now." He turns his back as the lights flicker and go out before blessed silence falls on the room. To Scott, however, the silence is wrong in all the ways it can be. He turns back to the crib, reaching in to move a blanket and hearing snickers echo through the room. There is no sign of his baby brother. Panic fills him, his brother is gone, his grandmother is going to kill him.
Lightning flashes outside and he turns to the closed window, watches as an owl beats at the glass as he hears more sniggering and skittering feet. Shadows dance and jump around him and at ten years old Scott knows terror. Still, he is careful not to flinch when the window burst open, wonders if the sound will finally draw his grandmother into the room where Alan's silence has not. Even at this age Scott is a practical boy who does not believe in fairy tales, does not believe that goblins or ghouls or elves could exist, so it upsets his sense of the universe to know that such a belief is false. To see a bird transform into a man is terrifying enough that all sense of bravado abandons him and he takes a fearful step back, tripping over something before unseen and now revealed to be a tiny furred creature.
A goblin.
"Who are you?" Scott demands of the man, taking in feathery blonde hair, dangerous mismatched eyes and dark armour.
"I think you know who I am," the man seems to purr. "And I think you know why I'm here."
"What have you done with my brother?" The boy asks, a terrible fear and an unbelievable realisation filling him. This is the story that his mother told him. This is the man that she spoke of. This is the Goblin King.
"Only what you wished of us. I have taken him to my castle." The view out of his father's window changes and instead of seeing an old tree and the rain he sees an arid desert and a castle surrounded by a great maze.
"You can't have him!" Scott shouts, darting to the window and pushing past a man who would be intimidating if he did not have something that Scott knows he has to get back. If he did not have the youngest Tracy boy. He turns to face the slender man, one who crackles with power. "Give him back! You have to give him back."
"No, dear boy, I do not. What's said is said," he pulls a crystal out of the air, holding it up and spinning it so that it catches the attention of the boy. "But I can give you something far more valuable. I can give you your dreams. Just take a look."
"I don't want them!" He snaps. "I want my brother back."
"Are you really sure?" The King asks and Scott nods.
"I'll do anything," he replies, pulling himself upright at meeting the eye of the fae and trying to seem older than his ten years.
"I'm sure you would," is the response. "Very well, I can be generous. If you can make it to the castle at the centre of the Labyrinth in thirteen hours I'll give you back the baby."
"It won't be a problem," he takes a deep breath and finds himself on a hillside over looking the Labyrinth.
"It's not as easy as it looks, and time is short," he looks up at the fae, "give it up, boy, take your dreams and forget about the baby."
"I can't. I have to get him back," Scott is already making his way down the hill as he speaks, determined that he is going to save his brother no matter what. He does not see the impressed smile or the woman who appears at the side of the Goblin King.
"He's just a child, Jareth," she says as she threads an arm through his.
"So were you, once," he replies. "Look at what you accomplished, Sarah."
"Will he manage it?" The brunette asks as she rests her head on his shoulder.
"It pains me to admit this, but yes. The Tracy boy will defeat me," Jareth shudders at the thought. "This family have a destiny and he has a lesson to learn here much as you did. You were destined to be my queen, even though you fought against it, you just needed to grow up a little bit first."
"What does he have to learn?" She asks, genuinely curious.
"That is depends entirely on what he encounters here," the Goblin King takes her hand in his. "At the very least, however, he will remember the hardship that he went through to get his youngest brother back and that will make him treasure every one of them all the more. It will create bonds that will be absolutely essential to his future."
"You hate that he's going to win, don't you?" She smirks.
"I detest the very thought of it, Dearest," he replies, "but I'm not stupid enough to argue with the fates."
oOo
The outer walls of the Labyrinth seem to stretch on forever and by the time Scott finds the little pond he is already tired. Although he can run and play for hours at a time this terrain has been harsh, uneven, and the worry that he feels about his brother is almost crippling. It is made all the worse by the fact that he cannot find the entrance to the Labyrinth and if he cannot find the way in then he fears that he will never be able to find his brother.
He is too busy staring at the wall to notice the dwarf until he walks straight into him.
"Watch where you're going!" The little man snaps and Scott feels his face heat with anger and embarrassment. He is about to tell the dwarf to take his own advice when it occurs to him that this is a resident of the area and that therefore he must know how to get inside. All the lessons about strangers that his parents have spent years drilling into him abandon him in that moment.
"I'm sorry," he says although his sullen tone lacks the sincerity he knows that it should.
"So you should be," the dwarf replies, all ill-humour and bad temper.
"Can you help me?" He asks and there is a definite plaintive note.
"Depends on the help."
"I have to get into the Labyrinth and rescue my brother, do you know the way in?" He can see by the way that the dwarf sighs that this is not an unusual occurrence and that he is certainly not the first to ask the question. At least it appears that he has asked the right one because the dwarf points and Scott sees a door for the first time where there most certainly was not one before. "Thank you," he says and it is completely heartfelt. The dwarf snorts.
"Only one person ever got to the centre of that thing," he tells the boy.
"I have to do it, I've got to get Alan back." There must be something in his voice or on his face that softens the dwarf towards him because the little man sighs and rubs a hand over his face.
"Just remember that nothing in there is what it seems," he says finally. "You keep that in mind and you might just do it."
"Thanks," he grins, stepping through the now open door. "Hey, what's your name?"
"Hoggle," the dwarf replies, then huffs and waves his hands at the door. They slam shut in front of Scott, just barely missing the boy's nose and he glances to either side of him. To both his left and his right the path seems to stretch away, apparently unending, and he digs a quarter out of his pocket. He flips the coin, assigning heads to the left and tails to the right, then follows the path that the coin gives him. It is not perfect, but it is certainly better than nothing.
He goes left, walking for what feels like an age but not seeing any twists or turns, no openings of any kind, and he frowns. After a while longer he pauses and slumps against the wall, tired and frustrated, only to find himself falling backwards to the floor and staring at yet another set of seemingly endless paths to his left and his right. He goes left again and finally he comes to a twist, finding himself at the top of a flight of limestone steps that offer him a brief view over the Labyrinth. What he sees makes his heart sink. It is too big, too much, he is just one young boy who is hungry, tired and scared. He wants his father there to hold him and tell him it will be alright and he wants his mother to take him into her arms and to just not be dead.
He becomes nothing more than a frightened little boy.
"You can't give up," a woman says from the bottom of the steps. She is beautiful, even to his young eyes, with long dark brown hair and green eyes that seem to sparkle.
"I haven't," he tells her, making his way towards her and stopping to look up at her. She is wearing brown leggings with knee high boots and tunic of green velvet, she looks like she belongs here but there is an air about her that tells him she did not start life here. "But it's so far away. Will you help me?"
"This is something you have to do on your own I'm afraid," she replies, "my husband would be very cross if I helped you. But there are those here who will if you can find them."
"Who?"
"You'll know them when you find them, kid," she ruffles his dark hair almost fondly. "They helped me, once, and they'll do the same for you. But you can't give up hope. Promise me you will always have hope." Her kindness calls to him in a way that nothing really has since his mother died. It is not the false and cloying pity of people who see a grieving child but the warmth of someone who treats him as a person and not as just a kid. He fears her husband but he likes the warmth of the Goblin Queen, for he now knows that is who she is.
"I promise," he says and he knows that he means it. She smiles down at him and he darts off back into the maze, following twists and turns of the Labyrinth until he is well and truly turned around. He has to back track several times on finding dead ends until he finally crosses from stone maze to hedges.
This is no better, the foliage seems to crowd down on him until he feels more boxed in than he has ever experienced. It is enough to make fear start to creep in again and it is only remembering that he promised the queen that he would keep hope that allows him to keep moving. It is sheer bad luck that he is so busy searching for the right way that he turns a corner and runs straight into a patrol of goblin soldiers.
"Intruder!" One of them shouts and the others take up the call. Scott backs away from them, noting the gnashing bald creatures on top of the lances that they all carry. This cannot be a good thing and he cannot afford to be captured now.
"Get him," one of the others says after a moment and Scott decides that it is long past time to run for it.
His headlong flight takes him around corners and down paths that he has no time to take notice of, only knowing that they are taking him away from the centre and his goal. It is upsetting to think that he is wasting precious time trying to run from a patrol rather than getting to his brother but he has no idea what will happen if he is captured by these creatures. When he hits a dead end with the sound of clanking armour not far behind him he realises that his luck has run out and he might be about to find out. The guards round the corner and they are followed by their king.
The tall man is smirking and Scott feels his heart sink into his shoes. He has been cornered, caught, and it would seem that king is going to allow his capture.
"Hello, Scott," he says and the goblins part to allow him to come close enough so that he can crouch in front of the boy and talk at his eye level. Blue eyes meet wild mismatched ones and the child feels his breath catch. "Five hours down and you've already been captured. I have to say I'm disappointed."
"It's not as easy as it looks," Scott replies. To his surprise the king chuckles.
"No it's not, and you only have eight hours left," to Scott's young mind it sounds like a life time but he knows it is not as long as he might like to think.
"I can still do it," he tells the king, determination shining in his voice.
"I'm sure you can," he turns to the goblins. "Take him and put him in the oubliette," he orders with a laugh, vanishing as the little creatures come towards him again.
"Charge!" This voice is different, higher in pitch and Scott looks over the helmets of the goblins to see a fox in bright clothing charging towards them on the back of a sheepdog. The goblins scatter, falling into the hedges as they scurry out of the way of the lance that the fox carries. The fox laughs as the goblins flee and Scott stares, uncertain what he has not gotten himself into. "Stand, knave!" The fox turns it's attention on him and Scott back away. "Such vile cowards sought thee for a reason, sir."
"I, that is the king," Scott stammers, unnerved by the weapon pointed in his direction. "The king has my brother and wants to stop me from rescuing him." He blurts finally.
"A quest?" The fox seems to perk up at the thought.
"I guess so," he replies. "I'm lost, I don't know the way, will you help me?"
"Verily, good sir," he bobs on the back of his mount in a strange approximation of a bow. "We shall journey to the castle of that knave forthwith that we might rescue thine sibling from the evil clutches of the king." Scott stares, baffled by the way that the little fox speaks.
"Was that a yes?" He asks uncertainly.
"Indeed it was."
oOo
Four hours later Scott is regretting asking for the help of the fox, Sir Didymus, and his mount. The small knight is quick to challenge anything and everything, whether alive or dead, and the boy is not entirely certain that he has made any real progress towards the castle. They are still in the hedge maze and though Didymus assures him that they are going the right way and taking the right turns he cannot be completely certain. Still, this is the only option that he has and eventually they come to a pair of doors mounted with some of the most hideous knockers that Scott has ever seen. He actually finds that he quite likes them.
When he tries to push against a door, however, it does not budge.
"Help me?" He ask Didymus and is dismayed when the small thing cannot help him. If anything there is even less strength in Sir Didymus then there is in the ten year old. "Now what?" He asks.
"I know not, but we must be allowed to pass through one of these doors," is the reply.
"Do you know which one?"
"I fear not, young sir," the admission does not leave Scott with a lot of confidence and he stares at them for a long time.
"It's very rude to stare," one of the knockers informs him as the other mumbles around the ring it holds in it's mouth. Which is when the answer comes to the boy. Knockers are for knocking with. He has to stand on tip toe to reach the ring of the one to speak, it's ears completely blocked. The knock sounds with a boom and the door swings open to reveal a flight of downward stairs. The boy can see nothing but darkness ahead of him and it is disturbing when Didymus rides past him and into the gloom. With the decision of the knight, however, he is committed to this path and he follows as the door slams closed behind him.
He jumps, plunged into darkness with only the faintest glow of a torch ahead to guide him. He stumbles down the stairs and finds himself facing a very surprised Sir Didymus and a very amused Goblin Queen.
"My Lady!" Didymus exclaims, all but falling off his dog in his effort to bow to her. "I didst not expect to be graced with thine fair presence this day."
"You're lucky it's me, sir knight," she informs the fox as she bends to place a fond kiss on the end of his nose. "But I have to wonder how you found your way down here? Jareth was most put out when he realised that the dungeons had been breached.
"I just knocked on the door," Scott says, spinning to point at the staircase he came down only to find it gone and a solid wall in it's place. "Honest I did," he insists.
"Knowing this place, you did," she smiles. "I'm actually quite impressed, Scott. You've got a good head on your shoulders."
"Does that mean I get my brother back?" He asks and she crouches down, just as her husband did, rubbing away a streak of dirt in an almost absent minded gesture.
"Jaylyn will be upset to lose his little partner in crime," she smiles, "but if you pass one final test you'll get him back."
"I have to go alone from here, don't I?" He asks. "I wish my brothers were here." He whispers finally. Sarah presses a finger to his chest, just over his heart.
"They're right there, all the time," she tells him and he pulls a face. "You carry them with you every hour of every day. Trust me, there is nothing stronger than the love of your family. You'll need that one day, I think." Her words frighten him, but they are also reassuring. "Are you ready?" He nods. "Then follow the stairs and go to get your brother." He glances back at her just once, wonders what kind of a man would send his wife to investigate a break in, and then starts to run up the stone steps as quickly as he can.
He emerges in a large stone throne room, devoid of immediate life but clearly showing that the room has been occupied recently. He looks around, confused by the fact that his destination appears to be empty, and spots another set of stairs that winds up and away. Taking the advice of the Goblin Queen he follows them, his legs burning with the hours of constant movement.
He emerges to find yet more stairs, a room full of them. Twisting and turning in all directions he spins, looking for a sign of his brother and finally spots the little blonde boy on the edge of a balcony.
"Alan, be careful," he shouts almost instinctively, his heart jumping into his throat at seeing his baby brother so close to the edge and for a moment he sees something else. For a moment he sees a grown man, as blonde as this baby, on a high ledge and injured and in that moment his cry echoes in a voice that is not his own, older and yet just as concerned. As quickly as the vision comes it passes and he starts trying to find a way to get to his brother.
Eventually he stops, hands on his knees as he catches his breath and eyes searching for any clue of how much time he might have left. There is nothing, but his brother is little more than a jump away and he can tell that if he misjudges the gap between the platform he is on and the one that Alan is on he could fall to his death. It does not matter, he knows. He has to get his brother. He takes a breath, steps back, then runs for the gap, pushing off and jumping. His feet miss the ledge by inches but his hands make contact with it and he lets out a cry as he jolts to a stop. There is a spine chilling moment when he thinks that he might lose his grip and fall, then he is struggling to pull himself up.
As his eyes come over the edge he can see his brother smiling at him. It gives him that momentary burst of strength to pull himself up and he scoops Alan into his arms as he catches his breath.
"Are you sure that's what you want?" The Goblin King asks. "Do you really want to take the baby over your dreams?"
"My dreams don't matter," he insists. "I just want my brother back. You don't scare me," he shouts as he runs through the story in his mind trying to find the right words to say. "You have no power over me," he says finally, clutching his brother closer and inching away from the offered crystal. He is surprised to see the king smile as the crystal is tossed in the air.
It bursts over them, showering the two children with glitter and the room of stairs vanishes to be replaced with his father's bedroom. He looks down at Alan who gurgles happily and slaps him across the nose. For a moment he feels the burn of anger at his brother but it is very quickly replaced by relief. It is a relief that is short lived.
"Good heavens, Scott Tracy, what on earth have you been doing?" His grandma demands from the doorway, flicking the light on. In his arms Alan snuggles down and promptly falls asleep as his older brother takes in his dirty clothes.
"Playing," he lies as innocently as he can. The elderly woman sighs and shakes her head.
"As if raising one wasn't enough," she mutters. "Put Alan back in his crib and wash up for dinner."
"Yes, Grandma," he replies, getting to his feet. It takes a moment of struggling before he manages it and he pulls the blanket over his now sleeping brother. "Sleep well Allie," he whispers and turns out the light as he hurries from the room to do as he is told.
At the window a pair of owls watch him leave before flying off into the nigh.
Artemis