Chapter 1: Magic Dance
It was safe to say that Robbie Rotten had lost his mind.
He had been watching movies. Comfy and safe and perfectly happy, snuggled in his favorite chair with a bowl of popcorn. Everything had been going great. But then… then he fell asleep.
He had to be asleep, there was no other explanation. He refused to believe for an instant that he had otherwise magically found himself standing in front of an ominous looking gate set in stone wall.
"What is this insane place?" he asked the air.
"A labyrinth," a snide voice replied. He whirled around and there, looking shorter than usual, was a rather oddly dressed boy. The boy was vaguely familiar.
"Stinky?"
"It's Stingy!" he protested, stomping one foot on the ground in irritation. The various trinkets tied to his person jangled when he moved.
"Whatever," Robbie muttered. "What am I doing here?"
"I expect you're trying to save someone by running the labyrinth," Stingy replied, and set to counting and recounting his possessions. Robbie sneered.
"Who could I possibly want to save?" he scoffed. Stingy glanced up from the baubles attached to his person.
"I don't know," Stingy replied. "But you're here for a reason, aren't you? You gets in there," He gestured to the gate, and it opened. Robbie gave him one last glare before striding confidently in and picking one direction at random. It didn't matter where he went. He didn't want to find anyone anyway. Maybe he could find a good place to nap instead.
Of course, the landscape had other ideas for him.
He turned a corner, and was startled to find a set of doors. Two doors, two guards blocking his way. This was no place to nap.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, there's someone here, I have to go!" one guard said rapidly, speaking into a small cellular phone.
"Oh it's quite alright dear I understand! I'll talk to you later!" the other, identical, guard replied into her own phone, and they both snapped the cases shut at the same time. Robbie nearly took a step back, but he met with cold stone wall behind him. Nowhere to run.
Running was something he very much wanted to do, because when faced with two identical guards that looked like Bessie Busybody, it was an extremely terrifying thing. For anyone, least of all Robbie Rotten.
"Well?" the one on the right intoned impatiently.
"We haven't got all day!" the one on the left added.
"O-o-oh, well," he started, fidgeting with the cuffs on his wrists nervously. "I need to get through and-"
"Oh, you should have just said so dear! You simply have to pick!"
"Pick?" he asked cautiously. Both nodded enthusiastically.
"But," the left one added. "I should warn you- one of us tells the truth and on of us always lies."
"And… why should I care?" Robbie asked flatly. Both guards looked indignant. Robbie stormed forward, ready to choose.
"Now wait just a moment!" the right one said. "It's very important, because of-!"
"Not interested!" he shouted, and picked. He swung open the door and marched through, more than slightly miffed at having to deal with not one, but two Bessies in this crazy acid-trip of a place. He grumbled his way all the way down the corridor.
The two guards looked at each other and flipped open their phones.
"Well now. He certainly was rude."
"Yes, quite! But I'm sure the king will handle it."
"Ohhhh, yes! I'm sure! Speaking of that, do you ever tire of the sight of his majesty's firm arms?"
"Ooooh, you naughty thing!"
There was a good amount of twittering and giggling before a sort of silence settled over them.
"Though…" the left one started. "It's been quite a long time since someone picked the right one."
"Oh, yes. And at random too! Didn't even stop for us to tell him that the other door led to certain doom."
"Quite rude, that man."
"Quite."
"Let me go!"
Sportacus rubbed his temples with one hand, eyes closed. He didn't have a headache… yet. But if the pink child kept screaming, he just might. He stood smoothly, abruptly, and noticed with grim satisfaction that she immediately shut up and shrank away from him.
Good. Children at least still had enough sense nowadays to know he was bad news for them.
He smirked winningly at her and crouched down to her level. She was restrained (the only way to keep her out of trouble, it seemed) and seated on the stone floor. She stared into his unnaturally blue eyes with a spark of fear in her own. He smiled a little more gently.
"I'm a horrible host, aren't I?" he crooned, and he knew she would relax even before her muscles went lax. He brought one hand up, showing it to her, and a pretty glass sphere materialized.
"Do you want it?" he asked. She eyed it skeptically, and he had to sidestep the small bit of admiration he felt for her. The girl was clever enough to be suspicious of him, even when his magic was working on her.
Winning her over.
"What is it?" she asked. He banished it with a twirl of his hand, and stood instead. He grinned down at her even as she looked up at him questioningly. Innocently.
"Dance with me, Stephanie."
The music started.
Robbie looked up when he heard the faint strains of music in the air. Far away. Well, whatever. It's not like Sportaloser was going to pop up and start dancing.
Robbie stopped walking.
But what if he did pop up? After all, Stingy and Bessie both showed up… who knew what would be next? It might be best to get to the music and stop it before the blue elf would hear and drop down from the sky like a happy hyper dancing device of utter destruction by means of irritation and never leave. The very thought made Robbie shudder, and made him determined to get to the source of that music. Get to the music and stop it by any means.
He sighed dramatically and shuffled forward, vaguely in the direction of the music.
Sportacus released the bindings around the young girl's body and she made to stand. He held out a hand and helped her up to her feet with a small flourished bow.
She blushed girlishly, and he hid a grin.
"Ready?" he asked, needlessly. The music was playing on and he kept a hold on her hand, directing her movements.
"I saw my baby, crying hard as babe could cry… what could I do?" he crooned in time with the music, and twirled her. "My baby's love had gone, and left my baby blue! Nobody knew!" He let go of her hand in the middle of her spin, and she fell to the ground like a leaf falling from a tree. She sat on the floor, staring up at him with wide eyes, dumbly.
"What kind of magic spell to use?" He danced on his own, feet automatically finding the correct paths across stone, staying out of her reach. He was certainly enjoying himself. No need to end it, just yet.
"Slime and snails? Or puppy dog tails?" He held up a hand to his face, as if seriously contemplating which magic spell to use indeed. "Thunder or lightning?…" He grinned sharply, and was abruptly at the girl's side again, and taking her hand. He hardly needed to help her up- she was getting to her feet on her own, with a glazed look. "Then baby said…"
They spun, and the girl laughed for the first time. He drank it in, and repressed another grin for favor of a smirk instead. "Dance, magic dance!"
They jumped and spun and it was a dance- a wild and unruly one, with sometimes his small partner being left behind to fend on her own, until he would glide over again and guide her.
"Jump, magic jump…"
She was bounced back and forth between tears and laughter, until she didn't know who she was anymore.
"I saw my baby, trying hard as babe could try! What could I do? My baby's fun had gone, and left my baby blue! Nobody knew!"
When he left her on her own, she stumbled over her own feet, not knowing how in the world she could match his unearthly stride and grace. She started crying, silent tears gathering in her eyes and slipping down her cheeks, until he bounded back to her, and gracefully, while still dancing, wiped them away gently. The music lessened, slowed.
"What kind of magic spell to use?" he whispered. "Slime and snails? Or puppy dogs' tails? Thunder or lightning…"
Stephanie smiled up at him.
"Then baby said," he prompted, staring straight into her eyes.
"Dance, magic dance." she answered with a grin.
AN:
Yes, it's a crossover between Labyrinth and LazyTown! I couldn't help it. EvilSportacus got into my veins, and mutated into JarethSportacus. It was a very complicated process. Regardless, here we are.
It's not going to be a retelling of Labyrinth with LazyTown characters... hopefully you can see that already. It's something different. Robbie is the main character, and for once, it's not strictly SportaRobbie. Of course, because of the roles they're in, there are hints of it, but Robbie isn't in love. We'll get that cleared up right now.
Stephanie is a child. And the idea of child-stealing supernatural beings is too much for my tiny brain to handle. There's a sort of seduction going on, but it's not a sexual kind. Does that make sense? He's bringing her over to his own side, which happens to be a little dark in this fic, and so in a way it is seduction...
He's using magic. Natural charm that makes children like him. It's important.
This isn't my best work (I think Forcing It was my best, but that's just me), but I have enjoyed writing it. So please leave a review, and I'll get chapters out quicker! There's not a lot of chapters though...