Labyrinth Hellboy
Authors Note: Yeah, I wrote this like a year ago, but it has been severely edited of late, so be nice. If you want to read a really good Labyrinth/Hellboy crossover, read Labyrinth of Hell, aka Hell in the Labyrinth by theshadwcat, it ROCKS!!!
Disclaimer: I don't own Hellboy, Abe, Manning or the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense, or Labyrinth or Jareth. If I did, I wouldn't be sitting here writing fanfiction.I do however, own Morgan, and Carla, and Ammo (I'll put that in there anyway, even though she's only mentioned once.)
Carla smiled as she lit the last candle. All was ready for when they finally found out. She dressed in a white dress and took what she would. Lastly, she set out the letters she had written last night. Before she closed the door, she bowed her head to the shrine she had so carefully prepared, and sent a puff of magic to it. Now, the candles would never go out. She left, and she smiled.
It was time.
One Month Later
"What did you say?"
"We gotta find her."
"What are we, the missing people section?"
"That's Missing Persons Division."
"Whatever."
"Carla Massay. Age, 19. Disappeared from her apartment a month ago. No leads, no body, no blood, no signs of a struggle. Police and FBI are stumped." Manning tossed a folder to Abe, who opened it. Inside was basic information and a handful of pictures. Several were of her apartment, which was pretty basic, and several were of her. She had blonde-brown hair and calm brown eyes, rather ordinary, overall. But it was the pictures of the shrine that she had left behind that intrigued Abe the most. It was simple, sitting on a desk, it had 13 white tapers burning around it. In the center, there was a crystal ball the size of a fist, and a silver owl with a J on it. There were several letters too, copies of which were in the folder.
"I'll repeat myself. Why do we have to find her?" Hellboy really wasn't used to this sort of thing.
"Her parents wield considerable influence, or we wouldn't be doing this"
"Hrmph." he ground his cigar between his teeth. "We leave in an hour."Abe nodded absentmindedly, still going over the file. An hour later, they were loaded into the garbage truck.
They made good time getting to Carla's apartment. When they got inside, it was just like the pictures. Small, neat, with bookshelves lining every wall. Glancing at the books, all Abe saw were books on vampires, werewolves, and similar topics. There were even several on Hellboy. On the desk, just like in the pictures, there were 13 candles, still burning. According to the report, they couldn't be put out. Abe put a hand to the desk and picked up the silver owl. He blinked several times before putting it down and reading the letters that lay there. The first piece of paper seemed to be verses of songs.
I'm here without you, baby
You're still with me in my dreams
Tonight, it's only you and me. (3 Doors Down, Here Without you)
Down in the Underground
I'll find someone true
Down in the Underground
A land serene
A crystal moon (Underground, David Bowie (altered))
What I'd give to see him now,
re-introduce my self
resurrect some childhood memories
put some new ones on the shelf
If he didn't remember me,
I'd sure remind him,
I wish he'd walk through that door,
'cause I'm not so little anymore
I can't unthink about you,
I can't unfeel your touch,
I can't unhear all the words,
unsay all the things,
that used to mean so much.
I wish I could unremember,
Everything my hearts been through.
But I'm finding out,
it's impossible to do.
Oh, it's no use,
I can't unlove you. (Kenny Rogers, I Can't Unlove You)
That was a flower, this is a garden
That was a sketch, this is a Michaelangelo
All of that, wasn't that
Baby, this is so much better
That was for then,
This is forever
I've been there
You probably Have to
Starin' in the pits of hell,
No longer fresh and new.
My friend, I'm not perfectly
My dreams haunt me still
So now I leave to stand on the hill
and call him once again
The next letter was saying goodbye to her family, and telling them that she would be happier and in a better place for leaving this one.
It was all very final.
When he picked up the silver owl again, he got a jumble of images and words- 'Down' 'Underground' 'Goblins' 'City' 'King' 'Guardian' 'Forever' Images accompanied each word. The final one was of a map of the city and the surrounding area. There was a tiny star in the proverbial middle of nowhere. Abe found a map and found the spot the star had been, and they drove there.
It was a hill with trees surrounding its base. At the top, you had a wonderful view, but that was about it. Looking around, something caught his eye, and he picked it up. It was a dagger with a plain, leather bound handle that would fit quite nicely in a hand if it were somewhat smaller than Hellboy's.
"Blue." he called, and Abe came over. Putting a hand to it, he pulled away after a moments.
"It's Carla's. She was going to summon someone. She called him Jareth, but she also called him the Goblin King." Abe and Hellboy's eyes met.
"That's not good. What did she do?"
"She talked a lot, and when she was done, she just sat there with the knife in her hand, and she vanished. The dagger was left behind."
"So what do we do now? She's not here, so where is she?" Abe took the dagger from Hellboy and took out the owl He closed his eyes, and when he opened them, all of a sudden, he had all the information he needed.
"She's gone to the Underground, where the Goblin King Rules. She wants to live there. He accidentally got sent there years ago, and she's realized that she doesn't belong here, so she's gone back. She's not coming back." They told Manning, but he wasn't listening. Said they had to get her back.
As this was happening, a woman with blondish-brown hair and brown eyes was watching them. She smiled grimly and snapped her fingers, making the image vanish. She leaned back comfortably in her chair, almost a throne, crossing her legs under her skirt. "You're right about one thing," she murmured "I'm not going back." and she laughed
Back at HQ, Abe was going over some books on goblins and their King. There was surprisingly little on either subject that could be called reliable. After a while, Morgan joined him in his search, tying back wet greenish hair in a clumsy bun.
Eventually, they had some information and met with Manning and Hellboy in the breifing room. "From what we've found, goblins aren't very brave creatures, but can get mean in groups, especially if they're provoked. Their King, however, is another matter entirely. Dangerous at the best of times, he is not one to cross. He also has magical abilities that allow him to produce illusions, transport himself and other between his realm and ours, and control time to some extent. We're not sure what else he can do, but in his own world, he is virtually unstoppable. Several accounts mention that he is a very cold person, and does not seem to care whether you find what you are looking for or not. He also seems to appear at the most inopportune moments. The goblins don't seems to be driven by love of him, rather some warped sense of fear and loyalty." Hellboy ground his cigar between his teeth, speaking around it.
"So how'll we know this guy if we see him?"
Morgan brought her notes together. "You won't if he doesn't want you to. One person describes him like this." She dragged a heavy, leather-bound book up from under the table. "The King is tall, with blonde hair and mismatched eyes- one brown, and one sky blue. You will know him when you see him, and say your right words, for the King will use your words against you. Say not that the Labyrinth is easy, nor that it is fair, because it is not. The Labyrinth is a living creature, always becoming harder, matching your expectations, changing it's paths. Without a guide, you will not make it to the center, to the Castle Beyond the Goblin City if the King does not will it. The Labyrinth is not made to be deadly, but it could be, if you expect that of it. Do not push him, and trust not your eyes." Morgan closed the tome with a decisive snap. "Other books say that if you say the right words, those you say them to will be wished away to the Labyrinth, and you will have to run it in order to get them back." HB rolled is head from side to side, cracking his neck.
"That doesn't sound too hard. Get through the Labyrinth, grab the girl, come home-piece of cake."
"Not quite."
"Come on. How hard can it be?"
"First, you'll only have 13 hours, if he catches you, secondly, there's the Bog of Eternal Stench that you could be tossed into at any time, and then there's the track record." She slid a piece of paper across to HB that was no bigger than a post it note. On it was a name. "That is the name of the only person to ever known to have completed the Labyrinth."
"When'd she do it?"
"Almost twenty years ago." Picking up a small book that looked very old, she carefully opened it. "This says that you can get to the Labyrinth by another way without having to wish someone away. It provides for two people, and wouldn't take very long to set up. I think we have everything if I raid Ammos candle and herb stashes." Manning gave it the once over and let her go ahead. It was ready on half an hour later. When Abe approached the prepared area with Hellboy at his back, he noticed that Morgan looked drawn,. She replied in response to his unspoken question
I'm just tired. I guess it took more out of me than I thought.
What do you mean?
The spell called for both power and blood. I gave both. At first, Abe was horrified, but after a moment he realized it had been the only choice. Neither him or HB could afford to be under par when gong into the field, so he just offered her a damp webbed hand, which she took in her own, drier, but still webbed one. He gave her a silent order to go to sleep as soon as they were gone, and she gave him a mental grim in return. Fine. I'll crash once you're gone. He nodded and let her give them instructions, verbally this time on what to do.
"You should appear on a hill overlooking the Labyrinth. Go up to the doors, they should open themselves. Be nice to anyone you see, please HB. Do not annoy the King, if you do, you are well and truly doomed." Done, she raised her hands and spoke the words that would send them.
For a moment, there was darkness, like you had blinked, and then they were there. They were right where Morgan had said they should be, on a hill overlooking the Labyrinth, but one thing she hadn't mentioned was the size of the Labyrinth.
"Whoa/" Hellboy blew a smoke ring to compliment that statement.
Wordlessly, they began their descent.
They didn't encounter anyone, or anything, and the doors opened at their approach as Morgan had said they would. Stepping inside, they went left. In retrospect, it probably wasn't the best choice, a predictable one at best, Hellboy being left handed, but that is the way they went.
They walked for perhaps five minutes before Hellboy got bored and spotted the turn, at about the same time. Turning, he walked through.
"Hmm, an optical illusion," Abe mused. Hellboy grunted, mashing his cigar to a pulp. There were now five choices, two lefts, two rights and forward. They went forward.
They walked for several hours, occasionally catching glimpses of the castle in the distance. Eventually, they reached a dead end.
"Great," Hellboy moaned. They had been getting a lot of dead ends lately, and he was getting tired of them. Abe put a hand to the wall, hoping to get some sense of a direction from it. He didn't tell Hellboy what he saw, he just wall. Hellboy shrugged and started pounding away. Within a few moments, the wall was only so much rubble, and they were staring at what lay beyond.
There was a great forest beyond what had been the wall, and old one that seemed inexplicably strange, not quite right, and they were looking out into a green clearing. There was a pleasant little cottage in it with smoke coming out of the chimney. They had only taken a few steps when the door opened and a woman came out.
She was fairly tall, wearing a white dress and wiping her hands on an apron of the same colour. As they watched, she undid it and threw it into the air. Without a gesture from her, it vanished. It took a minute for them to recognize her. Her hair was still blondish-brown, and her eyes were still a calm brown, but now they had a new sparkle, and she stood taller, prouder. This was not the Carla in the pictures. Around her neck was a chain with a silver moon hanging from it, and a ring in the shape of a golden griffin winked at them from a finger.
"Hello there," she said in a low, clear voice, and suddenly they were only a few meters away from her. "Why are you here?" she asked
"We're here to rescue you, now let's go." Hellboy turned to leave, but was stopped short by her laughter.
"You're here to rescue me? Well that's very nice of you, but I have need to be rescued."
"Hey, I'm just doing my job lady, and I've got to get you home, so lets go." Hellboy made to grab her hand, but was stopped again, this time because he couldn't move any farther.
"I'm not going."
"Yes, you are." He tried again, with similar results.
"No."
"Why not?"
"I told you, I don't need rescuing. I chose to come here, and I came to stay." Abe stopped Hellboy from slinging her over his shoulder, and continued to question her.
"Why do you want to stay?"
"When I was 16, I accidentally wished away my next door neighbors cousin. I tried run the Labyrinth to get him back, but failed- he was turned into a goblin and I was returned home. But a part of me stayed here, I went on with my life, but in the back of mind, I was always thinking about this world, about Jareth. You know him as the Goblin King, doubtless. Anyway, as the years passed, I started doubting my place in the world I was born in. It didn't feel like I belonged any more, so I managed to grab his attention and he brought me back." Abe caught a flash of a thought from her.
"You love him." She didn't seem surprised.
"After a fashion, yes. I didn't realize it for at least a year after I left, but I always have, just as I've always loved this place. Now, I will remain here for all time, as the Guardian, and I love him for it." Abe nodded, satisfied, but Hellboy wasn't giving up that easily.
"Come on, how can you love-" For the first time, there was a flash of anger in her eyes as she interrupted.
"How can you love the people you love? You just do. You love them because of who they are, faults and all. How is loving the Goblin King any different from loving anyone else? How can I not love him? He has given me all I ever desired- a home in his kingdom, and magic to wield, and to be close to him. How could I not love him? This is the life I would have chosen for myself, and i aim to keep it." Abe caught a flash of anger that was surprisingly strong, and a smaller, better hidden one of sorrow.
"But he doesn't love you, does he?" She looked at him sharply.
"Not in the same way, no. There is another, and I am content to love him from afar, and to serve him. Now, be gone." She flicked a hand, and all three were back on the hill where they had first appeared.
"Can you send us back?" She shook her head.
"No, The power Jareth gifted me with does not extend to crossing between the worlds. There are few fae who can do that, and he is the only one in the Goblin Kingdom. I will see if he will send you back. The woman who sent you doesn't have the strength to do the spell a second time."
Without another word, she was gone.
A few minutes later, she reappeared, smiling, and a few seconds later, Jareth appeared.
The description Morgan had read held true. He was tall, with mismatched eyes, and his hair was platinum blonde. He carried himself like someone who knows exactly what they are capable of, and it was a lot.
He didn't speak a word to them, but instead directed his gaze to Carla for a moment, and in reply to the unspoken query, she bowed her head, closing her eyes. With that, he looked back at Hellboy and Abe, and they were back at the Bureau.
The first sense Abe had was of Morgan, just out of sight in her tank. Glancing at the clock, he saw it had only been a few hours since they had left. When Manning asked where she was, the only reply he got was 'where she's happy.' Her parents raised a fuss, but that was pretty much the end of the matter.
Carla watched as Abe and Hellboy tried to explain that she wasn't coming back, and she silently wished them luck. She had no regrets about her decision, and in time, she would be forgotten. She snapped her fingers, letting the image vanish, the gesture more for show than anything, for all no one was watching, and stood up, ready to go to the castle.
You have no idea how hard it is to have intelligent conversation with goblins.
OK, please review, people havn't really been reviewing, and if I starve to death, I can't write more stories, so please review.
PLEASE!