Disclaimer: I don't own Labyrinth.

LEGEND

Damsel in Distress

Linda yanked the door open, escaping the shadow man in her room, and the sudden bright light blinded her. Uncaring about her momentary blindness, she stumbled forward.

"Mom!" Linda shouted with her heart in her throat. "Dad! Help!"

Her vision returned. She stopped, glancing around her, and gasped in dread. Instead of the familiar walls of her home, a limestone corridor surrounded her from all directions. Pale orange-colored light illuminated the hovering walls around her; the light glided in through arched windows high upon her. Room dust glittered in sunrays, spinning in wild circles as dancing. She spun on her place, her gaze shifting on the strange environment she had stumbled into. A frightening feeling, a shadow of a panic emerged inside her, her breathing came out ragged.

Calm down! Calm down!

"Tsk, tsk." Linda's skin crawled at the sound. She could feel hair standing up on her neck. Slowly, she turned to look behind and saw the man that had appeared in her room leaning against the wall. Her eyes narrowed at the sight of the unruly blond hair, cruel face and lean body. She couldn't shake off that odd feeling she knew the man somehow.

The man returned her look a masked expression on his face.

"It's an ill deed to invite me in, only to flee, shouting for parents' help." He let out a dry laugh, a sneer almost, and stood upright. "But what else can one except from a Williams?"

"You're…the Goblin King?" Linda winced at her broken voice.

He took a step forward and bowed. "At your service."

Linda gasped, "But it's only a story! Mere words of a play…"

Something flickered on his face, a shadow of a frown. "Not just mere words," the Goblin King hissed, "in this play, never those."

Her legs trembled beneath her as she regarded the man in front of her with a sinking feeling in her stomach. Her gaze shifted to their surrounding, and she slowly said, "So, I'm in the castle beyond the Goblin City…"

"Clever lass," the Goblin King almost smiled his voice low and husky. "I can see it runs in the family."

She glanced at him sharply and finally asked, "Why am I here?"

"Why..." He bared his teeth. "It seems to me your reflection called my goblins to come and take you away…"

She felt the colour fleeting from her face as she staggered hastily further from him, trying desperately to rein her fear. "W-what did you do to it?" Linda almost bit her tongue as her voice betrayed her another time.

"Me?" Now there was no question about it, the Goblin King's debauched grin stretched across his whole face. "I had nothing to do with it," he said. "I wasn't the one wishing my own reflection away in the first place…" the Goblin King reminded.

"But it's only a reflection!" Linda cried

He frowned. "Yet even they have feelings."

"But, but…" Linda stammered. This didn't make any sense! Reflection just didn't wish people to goblin kings! Staring at the black caped man who stood in front of her, she couldn't even find words. Silently, with her eyes, she pledged him to explain her the reason he stole her from her home. Why her reflection would do such thing? Why her? The Goblin King avoided her stare and, instead, inspected his fingers covered with dark leather gloves.

"Please!" Linda moaned in frustration.

"Yes?" He looked up, arching his eyebrows up curiously.

"I didn't mean it!"

Looking thoughtful, he placed his finger on his cheek. "Now, where have I heard that before…?" the King mused with a mock-seriousness.

Linda inhaled deep, trying to ignore his sarcasm. "Look, sir," she said. "I doubt I'm the only one saying stupid things out loud…"

"There you are right." He smirked obnoxiously, setting her blood boil in her veins.

Linda clenched her fists together and continued through her teeth. "I meant that also others before me must have wished someone or something away. I doubt you answer to all of those pleas…"

"No," he said, and an odd expression wavered on his face.

"So…" Linda continued, "Maybe, if it isn't necessary to obligate the call every time, you could just…return me back to my home?"

He laughed at her suggestion, thrusting his head backwards. His voice bellowed in the empty corridor. Involuntary, unable to prevent her reaction, Linda shivered at the sound of his laughter and backed away with her stomach lurched in a tight knot. At last, the Goblin King's laughter died, he fell into a deep silence and, his eyes flickering in a sinister way, gave her a long look.

"Ah, Linda, you see," the Goblin King said, "there's a small problem in fulfilling your request."

"Oh?" She licked her parched lip, and his eyes narrowed as his gaze fixed to her mouth. The attention felt unnerving. She could feel her heartbeats accelerating. "And what might that be…?" she finally succeeded to speak out loud, relieved that her voice didn't waver any longer.

"When I reply to the call," the Goblin King said, a hint of ferocity in his voice, "in order to withdraw the wish, the caller has to win my challenge."

"The Labyrinth" Linda spoke softly.

His eyes flashed, and he gave her a nod.

"I can do it," Linda said, forcing herself to sound more confident she actually felt. "If that's the problem, I'm willing to have my try."

"For a smart girl, you appear little dense," the Goblin King said, an amusement gleaming in his gaze. He shifted his weight, and a halfmoon crest on his chest caught her eye.

She decided to let his insult slip away. "What do you mean?"

"You Williams..." Unexpectedly, he sounded almost satisfied. He stepped closer, "just don't seem to learn …" For some reason she couldn't move. She stood transfixed on her place and stared him straight into eyes. They were curious colored; the other one blue, the other one green…or brown? She could smell his scent, both alien and familiar at the same time, cinnamon, musk and something old. He bent down and nearly touched her lips with his own. "Tell me, young Linda Williams," he purred. "Who do you think will save you?"

"Save me?" she repeated, re-finding her strength, and drew back. "I already said I'll do it! I'll run your Labyrinth."

"Your reflection wished you away," the Goblin King reminded gleefully, "not you."

She blinked here eyes, staring at the man, and a dreadful feeling in her stomach increased. "What…?" Her voice was only a mere whisper in her throat.

His leer was all but friendly as he explained, "You can't run for yourself," the Goblin King said. "Only the wisher may do it; and in your case, your reflection doesn't want to…"

"You can't be serious!" Terrified, lacking the strength to believe in his words, she trembled. The reaction didn't pass his sharp eyes. A dark expression glided across his face, something Linda almost recognized -- satisfaction? Smugness? For some reason, it only made her feel worse. Why did the King choose her of all people? What did he want of her?

"Oh yes, I am," the Goblin King said. "Very serious." He deliberately shook his head and stepped forward. His dark cape fluttered behind him like a pair of tattered wings, and Linda recoiled away from him. Her heart thumped in her chest so hard it hurt. She halted only when her back met the corridor wall. The stones felt hard and cold, and she shivered, staring at the man that elegantly and, at the same time, predator-like, sleek and dangerous, paraded across the floor. He stopped only inches away from her, baring his pointed teeth; and she recognized the satisfaction in his voice. "You belong to me now…"

"Oh, crap…" The grunt slipped pass her lips before she could prevent it. Glaring at him, she spat. "This isn't…" Linda staggered, too angry to invent anything to retort.

"…fair?" the King suggested with his lips in a warped smile.

"Yes!" Linda hissed annoyed. She met his eyes, keeping her chin bravely up. "You simply can't invade other people's lives this way. It's… wrong!"

He appeared to be amused by her anger. "Oh, really?" Lifting his hand, he absentmindedly caressed a dark lock of her hair an unfamiliar expression on his face -- almost wistful.

She shrunk away from his touch, and his expression froze. The King too a step backwards.

"In this land it is I who decides what's wrong and what's right," he hissed, his eyes barely narrow slits in his face.

"There are rules!" Linda said desperately. "You can't do this! I won't go along with this!" For her annoyance, she felt tears brimming in her eyes and angrily blinked them to banish the moistness.

"What's said is said," the Goblin King snorted, unmoved by her desperation.

"But I didn't wish myself away!"

"No," the Goblin King agreed. "Your reflection did it."

She inhaled suddenly, an idea forming in her head, and watched the man carefully. "In that case I want to try to solve Labyrinth to gain it back."

The Goblin King jerked at her words, and his expression turned darker.

Linda met his eyes unflinchingly. "I want to try," she repeated, reassured by his reaction.

He inspected her for a long time an ugly frown on his face, before he hissed through his gritted teeth, "Very well then. I grant your wish. You may have your try..."