Title: As the World Falls Down
Chapter: 5/? + Prologue and Epilogue
Author: erisgregory
Rating: (ch.5) PG-13
Pairings: Kurt/Sebastian, blink and you miss them multipairings.
Spoilers: The Labyrinth, sort of.
Warnings: (ch.5) dark themes, and the misuse the legend of the jiang shi.
Genre: Romance, horror, fantasy
Wordcount: 4,271
Summary: One fateful night, after a particularly bad fight with his best friend, Kurt jokingly calls on the Goblin King to take her away. When she actually disappears, Kurt learns he has thirteen hours to defeat the Goblin King's labyrinth in order to save his friend from becoming a part of the goblin court, forever.
A/N: Beta'd by the fantastic G. I wanted to take a moment and answer the question many of you have sent, about the pairing. I admit setting this story up has been more difficult than I could have imagined and it has been very light on the Kurtbastian so far. However, I have plenty in mind to make it up to you all beginning in chapter 7. Thanks for the support, all of your reviews and messages have been amazing!


The beginning of the mirror maze was one long straight path, so he and Finn took their time walking it to let their eyes adjust to the multiple reflections around them. Their safety was obviously threatened in here– and moreover, Kurt felt as if he were being mocked in his helplessness – which made Kurt wonder if he should worry about sinister clowns or something of that sort jumping out. He didn't even want to think about what it might be like to walk through in the dark so he hoped they would find their way out before the sun finished setting in the distance. Finn didn't appear to be any more comfortable as he trudged along quietly next to Kurt.

The maze itself seemed sort of brilliant to Kurt when he tried not to focus on being nervous. The mirrored walls to either side of them were unbroken and spotlessly polished. They were also curved in some places, as Kurt soon discovered. Then at crucial turns, there were free standing mirrors, some with frames and some without. The first one they came to looked like an antique, with the silver from the backing starting to bleed through to create ghostly images in the surface. The next one was wavy and distorted their reflections like a funhouse mirror and clowns rose to Kurt's mind again. Even the path they walked on was made of some sort of mildly reflective surface so that there was no point for their eyes to really fix on.

The effect was that neither of them could really see the paths off to the side until they were upon them. Sometimes they found themselves standing in little alcoves that Kurt couldn't help but associate with a dead end, which only served to make him more nervous. Once, Finn stepped right into a pane of glass that wasn't an opening at all, proving the maze even more complex than before. He was so focused and his nerves strung so tight he didn't even realize neither of them were talking until Finn broke the silence.

"Hey, Kurt?" Finn asked quietly.

"Yes Finn?" Kurt pitched his voice low as well, though he couldn't say why; it wasn't as if there was anyone around to overhear them.

"I think I might be just imagining things, but I swear I saw something just now out of the corner of my eye," Finn said.

"There are about a hundred reflections of us walking through here right now, I'm sure it's just your eyes playing tricks on you. I think that's kind of the point," Kurt sounded surer than he really was. He had that tingling feeling across the back of his neck like someone was watching him and he couldn't shake it.

"I know that, but this didn't look like either of us. I think it winked at me," he added. "I really don't like mirrors, dude. When I was little my mom had this huge mirror in her bedroom. I hated it. I kept expecting to see something weird looking back at me. That's why I've never been in here before." Finn's voice grew softer near the end of his confession. Kurt couldn't blame him really: though he'd never had much trouble with mirrors, he might have if he'd grown up around here.

"Okay Finn." Kurt was still walking, though he'd picked up the pace a little now. "We're just going to keep going. We just have to keep going and we'll get through this thing." Kurt wasn't sure who needed more convincing, really.

They rounded a corner, wound up in one of those dead ends again, and this time when they turned around, Kurt caught a flash of movement out of sync with either of them. He looked back and around but couldn't catch it again so he reached for Finn's arm and tugged him along even faster.

Their shadows were starting to grow long and the setting sun shimmered in the mirrors, glaring in their eyes all bright and blinding. The rays of light bounced around them, giving the appearance that the maze was on fire. It didn't help the feeling that they were trapped here and not entirely alone.

It didn't take too much longer before the feeling overwhelmed them and they broke out into a run. At one point they both went to turn in opposite directions at a junction but Finn grabbed for Kurt's hand and wrapped their fingers together so they would be sure not to lose each other, likely to be irreversibly separated.

The next time they saw the creatures in the mirror clearly as they ran. The creatures ran with them, pointing and waving their arms wildly at them. They were hideous things with spindly limbs covered in what might have been orange and red feathers. They had terrible beaks with jagged teeth and big round eyes and they way they loped along in the mirror didn't look natural by any means.

Kurt was trying to pay attention to where he was going and not to the creatures that were racing along with them, but that became almost impossible when the things began to pluck off their limbs and throw them from inside the mirror, only narrowly missing Kurt and Finn.

Finn began pulling at Kurt, forcing him to speed up even though he felt like he was running as fast as he could around the turns. Kurt had the terrifying thought that the creatures could chase them around in circles until he and Finn couldn't run anymore; then there was no telling what the things would do to them.

Just when he thought he couldn't possibly keep the pace up, they hit a straightaway. Kurt could clearly see the opening ahead and it wasn't the carnival grounds, nor was it the Goblin City. It was a forest. Finn realized what was happening about the same time he did but they couldn't slow down now because the things in the mirror were hopping through the surface and coming right for them. One even threw its head!

About ten feet from the end of the maze the creatures stopped and didn't come any further. They catcalled and booed but they didn't chase Finn and Kurt any further. Instead they stood waiting, obviously blocking the return path. Caught between one known enemy and one slightly unknown, Kurt and Finn faced the forest just as the sun slipped down past the horizon.

The forest had the audacity to have a sign, just at the edge of the path. It was nailed to one of the enormous tree trunks. Goblin City 1 mile, it read, and there was a helpful arrow pointing right into the darkness of the woods.

"We can't go in there," Finn panted. "It's not like anything else you've faced."

Kurt dropped Finn's hand finally and ran his hand through his hair absently. He sucked in air, trying to catch his breath and shot a quick glance back to the creatures still behind them. One of them waved – with one of the other's arms. Kurt shuddered. Then he turned and looked up at Finn, leveling his gaze. "Feel free to give me another option, Finn. I'm all ears."

He was worn out, he was out of breath, he was thirsty and hungry and he just wanted to get to Rachel and get home. The last thing he wanted to do was wander around some forest crawling with vampires.

Finn shook his head. "I get it, okay, I do, but I'm telling you it's too dangerous. They'll eat you alive in there, Kurt, and I won't be able to stop them."

"I have to go in!" Kurt's voice was raised now, but he couldn't help it. "You can do whatever you want, but I'm going in there because I have to get to that stupid castle and save my best friend!"

A quiet beat passed between them as they both panted and then Finn spoke. "Then I'm going with you. I promised I would," he said. He didn't look happy about it though and his voice was tinged with irritation.

Kurt bit his lip and nodded. He wanted to say thank you but he couldn't speak. If Finn disappeared on him now he didn't know what he would do.

They stood only a little longer on the edge of the path, caught in the liminal space between the forest and the maze. Together they walked forward off the mirrored path and onto the dirt path that led into the woods, leaving behind the pale glow of twilight and entering the deep darkness of the forest.

A few steps in, Finn surprised Kurt by pulling an object from his pocket that cast a warm pink glow. He pulled out a second one and handing it to Kurt. At first Kurt couldn't tell what it was. It felt soft and was flexible, but the light it put off was obscuring its actual form. Once his eyes adjusted a little he realized it was a rose petal! Even though the light only illuminated their immediate surroundings, Kurt felt somewhat comforted by it.

Kurt was rolling the petal around carefully between his fingers when Finn interrupted his thoughts. "They're from Quinn's garden, Lochrann roses. You don't have to be so gentle with it, though, they're practically indestructible while they last and these have another couple of days on them."

'Thanks," Kurt said, and really he meant for everything, not just the glowing petal in his hand.

Afterwards they walked along in silence, both understanding the need to keep an ear out. Occasionally Kurt heard the wind rustle the leaves high above them, but other than that the only sound so far was the crunch of their feet on the path. At first that was a relief. After some time, however, Kurt began to realize how strange that was. Admittedly he didn't know what was normal here, but he thought there probably should have been some noises. Night time animals maybe, or insects? There wasn't a single solitary sound. It was too quiet. It was creepy.

"It's too quiet," he whispered to Finn.

"I was just thinking the same thing," Finn whispered back.

"So it's not normal right?" Kurt asked.

"I don't think so," Finn replied.

They fell silent again as they walked. The path was wide enough, but Kurt was feeling closed in here in the dark and the quiet. The trees were really tall here, ancient seeming, from what little he could see. They had huge trunks and gnarled roots that sprang up out of the ground around them. It didn't help that he couldn't see three feet ahead. Nor did it help to think that anything could be out there in the dark behind those giant trees and he wouldn't know it until it was right on top of them. At least they didn't have to walk completely in the dark, he thought.

"So far so good," Finn whispered.

Kurt was just about to agree when Finn suddenly dropped right through the ground beside Kurt, his scream fading as he fell away.

"Finn!" Kurt cried. He had to scramble back away from the edge so he wouldn't fall in after him, but that didn't stop Kurt from edging toward the pit and leaning out with his rose petal to see if he could see anything. He couldn't, of course. The petal wasn't nearly bright enough.

Kurt stood there in the dark hugging himself and calling down to Finn, who never answered, until he couldn't call out anymore, his voice failing him. Unshed tears stung his eyes, but he fought them. If he gave in to crying right now then he might as well give up and he still had Rachel depending on him. Somehow he still had to be strong for her.

Finn was gone, maybe for good, certainly beyond Kurt's help. He couldn't just jump into the pit after him, and he couldn't stand here in the forest hoping he came back. Time was marching on whether Kurt wanted it to or not. Choosing to walk away from the pit and from Finn was harder than Kurt could handle, but he did it. He put one foot in front of the other and promised himself when this was all over he would let himself mull over the fact that he'd failed to keep yet another of his friends safe.

Without any way to gauge the time it was difficult to know how long Kurt has been walking but he thought maybe less than twenty minutes had passed since Finn disappeared when he heard voices nearby and stopped. He pocketed the rose petal, simultaneously hiding its light and plunging himself into darkness.

The dark didn't last long because a fire sprang up to Kurt's left and he turned to see an open circle under the trees, the fire in the middle, and next to the fire were two people, a guy and a girl staring back at him.

The girl was glaring at Kurt and making him feel uncomfortable in his skin. She had long dark hair that was streaked through with dark red and she was wearing an honest-to-god cinematic vampire cape. The guy was similarly dressed, only his outfit was completed by a black top hat that looked like it was straight out of a bad vampire remake. In fact, the longer Kurt stared at the pair of them the more he was convinced that these were either a pair of really adventurous larpers or the terrible jiang shi of the forest weren't as terrible as everyone thought. In any other place it might have been funny. Here, right now, it was just sort of unsettling.

The guy broke the tension of the moment by stepping forward and introducing himself with a graceful bow. "I'm Mike and this is Tina," he gestured to his companion. Mike and Tina weren't exactly the sorts of names that would strike fear into anyone's heart.

"Who are you?" Mike asked.

"I'm Kurt," Kurt told him.

Mike turned to Tina and she smiled a little wolfishly and stepped forward. "You're on your way to the Goblin City?" she asked.

"Yes, I came from the mirror maze," Kurt said.

"Well you're not too far from the city now. Why don't you come and sit by our fire a moment and tell us what brings you this way. We'll share a drink and you can rest your feet." Tina beckoned with a finger.

"That's very kind, but I'm in a hurry. Really, I have to get going." Kurt still wasn't sure about the two of them but he was getting that uncertain feeling in his gut telling him to get a move on. "It was really nice to meet you though," Kurt added, as politely as he could. He waved at them and took a step forward. Suddenly Mike stepped onto the path, reaching out with a hand to stop him.

"It's not considered very good manners to turn down an invitation like that. We don't see very many people around here, the least you could do is sit for a minute and talk to us, have one drink." Mike's hand on Kurt's arm was like steel and it gave Kurt the distinct impression that saying no was not an option.

"You're right. I must have time for one drink," he agrees and he tries to smile even though his skin get gooseflesh at the thought of staying any longer. Despite the low budget costuming they had going on there was still no good reason Kurt could think of for these two to be out in the woods at night like this.

"Oh good!" Tina took a seat by the fire and Mike and Kurt joined her. The strangers made Kurt sit between them.

"Now, Kurt, tell us what brings you this way tonight?" Tina asks and Mike shuffles closer to him in his peripheral vision.

"Well, as I mentioned I was in the mirror maze and I guess I took some wrong turns and wound up here. I still have to get to the city so-"

"The fireys chased you?" Tina cut in.

"You mean those things that take off their body parts?" Kurt asked.

"Yes, fireys, nasty creatures. I hate them," Tina told him.

Mike shuffled forward again, closer to Kurt, and Kurt was started to feel more than just a little trapped.

"Anyway, so that's how I ended up in the forest," he finished. He was trying to think of the nicest way to say goodbye with Mike's hand closing around his arm again.

"Time for that drink?" Mike leaned around and asked Tina.

She nodded her head and several things happened all at once.

Tina grinned at Kurt, revealing the long glistening fangs amongst her teeth, Kurt screamed and jerked out of Mike's grasp, and as they tried to grab for him at the same time he ducked out of reach and scrambled to his feet at a full run.

They were right behind him, he could hear them running and laughing, but Kurt ran as hard and fast as he could, taking only a moment to pull the rose petal back out of his pocket. It didn't help him much but it was enough that he didn't trip over anything as he ran.

"You're not going to get far!" Tina said from not nearly far enough away, "You may as well give up!"

"Yeah, come back, have a drink, you might like it!" Mike taunted.

The path took several quick turns and all of the sudden Kurt was face-to-face with a wall of rock. He turned and tried jogging along it but soon enough realized that it was a dead end. He was finally inescapably trapped. The vampires seemed to already know this because they'd stopped chasing him and were somewhere just out of sight laughing at him.

"Psst. Kurt!" A vaguely familiar voice whispered from overhead. Kurt looked up just as a thick rope tumbled down beside him.

Kurt didn't waste time, he grabbed the rope and started climbing, walking his feet up the wall as best he could. His rescuer tugged the rope up just as Mike and Tina caught on and rushed forward grabbing at Kurt's feet. Mike got a hold of his foot but he kicked and climbed and the rope moved up faster now so he was out of reach.

The vampires didn't seem to have the power of flight, for which Kurt knew he would be eternally grateful. He pulled himself up over the top of the cliff and took the hand offering to pull him to his feet. It was Blaine!

"You saved me!" Kurt cried and he threw his arms around Blaine, hugging him tight, jostling him and the lantern he was holding. Blaine huffed a little in his arms, sounding annoyed, but Kurt held on. He was so happy to see Blaine and to be out of the forest and so sad about Finn and scared for Rachel. It was overwhelming, but at least he still had at least one person on his side.

Blaine struggled a little in his arms and complained, but Kurt ignored him. He leaned down and kissed Blaine's cheek at the same time Blaine cried out, "Don't!"

Kurt didn't have time to react because suddenly he was dropping through the ground and sliding along a steep decline. He scrambled trying to hold on to something but it was too steep and he was moving too fast. Blaine was ahead of him, the light from his lantern casting a glow back up to Kurt until it disappeared altogether. Just like that Kurt dropped forward and fell out onto a ledge. Blaine was right there keeping him from falling off the edge.

"Why did you do that?" Blaine asked as they both tried to get to their feet.

"Do what?" Kurt asked.

"Kiss me," Blaine said. He wasn't looking at Kurt, but instead was looking down into the swirling mist below them.

"I was just so relieved to see you," Kurt told him, hating the petulant sound in his voice. He sounded like he was pouting.

"Well do us both a favor the next time you're relieved to see me and keep your lips to yourself." Blaine picked up his lantern from the ledge and began inching along the cliff so Kurt followed.

"Alright, I will," Kurt replied with a huff.

Blaine looked back at him then. "You see that mist down there?" Kurt nodded. "That's the entrance to the Realm of the Four Knights. We don't want to go there. If we'd fallen into the mist we would have been trapped so I'm sorry if I snapped at you. I think we'll be okay if we can find a way back up." Blaine's voice was softer now and Kurt nodded his understanding.

They slid along the face of the cliff carefully. The ledge wasn't very wide and in several places it was crumbling. Blaine picked his way along slowly ahead of Kurt, trying to find the best places to set his feet. Kurt did fine for several minutes but then a rock crumbled under his foot and he instantly lost his foothold.

Before he could fall all the way, Blaine turned and grabbed him by the wrist, holding him in place.

"I've got you!" he said. "You can climb back up!"

"I can't!" Kurt tried to find purchase with his feet but the rock kept crumbling away causing him to slip.

"Just hang on and keep trying," Blaine instructed but it was no good. Kurt could feel him struggle to hang on and only a moment later they were both falling, their hands wrenched apart midair.

They fell down through the mist and landed with a thud and several groans.

It took only a second for Kurt to look down and see that he had not in fact landed on Blaine, but on Finn! He climbed off and helped Finn to his feet and then Finn crushed him in a now familiar tight hug. The two of them stayed like that until Blaine politely coughed to get their attention.

That's when Kurt got a chance to look at their surroundings. It wasn't as dark here as it was above the fog line. The ground was rock and the mist he'd seen from above curled around them and made it so Kurt couldn't tell if there was anything out there past the fog or if the space they were in was large, like an open plain. They might have been on top of a plateau or at the bottom of a ravine for all Kurt could see. Blaine, on the other hand, wasn't looking around. He was looking over Kurt's shoulder, his eyes wide with fear.

Behind him, on a pale green horse that looked like it belonged in Oz, sat a knight in equally pale green armor. Kurt couldn't see anything of the person beneath the armor; even the knight's face was completely obscured. He (or she, Kurt conceded) sat very still, looking down on them all and making Kurt's stomach knot in dread. Kurt got the sitict impression that whatever was under the armor it wasn't at all human.

Finn sucked in his breath next to Kurt, in surprise, and Blaine came to stand close so Kurt's two friends flanked him as they all stood there. Kurt couldn't have been more grateful just then because when the green knight spoke, Kurt could feel his knees start to tremble.

"You have entered the Realm of the Four Knights. In order to pass through you must face a challenge from each of the four. The first will be mine. If you succeed in your tasks you will be released. If you fail you will remain here in the mists with us for all of eternity." The knight's voice was deep and raspy.

Blaine moved forward a step, but the knight creakily held up his hand. "It has already been decided that you may continue on together, but when it comes to the challenges, you'll find that only one of you has the answers." The knight lifted his gloved hand and gestured to the right.

As they watched the mist began to swirl and glow with a green light. Kurt hesitated but Blaine nodded to him. They had to go in. Kurt wanted to talk about this. He didn't know what he was getting into here but it seemed like maybe Blaine knew. However with the knight standing there Kurt didn't feel like he was free to talk. There was a threatening quality to the knight so when Finn and Blaine both bowed to the knight, Kurt did too, and when they began walking toward the mist, Kurt followed.

Blaine had already sensed what he was feeling because just as they arrived at the edge of the green mist he leaned in and whispered, "These challenges are about facing your fears. No matter what happens though, we all have each other. I've never heard of that being permitted before."

At this point the last thing Kurt wanted was to face his fears. The knight had mentioned that only one would have the answer so there was a chance that not all the challenges would be based on the same person's fears. Even so that meant at least one of them was his, and someone was facing two or more.

When they stepped through, Finn leading the way, Kurt knew right away this first fear was his to conquer.