Into the Labyrinth
By Verdigris
Author's Note: My goodness gosh, it's been two years since my last Slayers fic. I got out of the writing mood and it's been difficult getting back into it. I've been itching to write another crossover and I couldn't think of any thing! Recently I picked up a certain movie on DVD that I hadn't since in years and got inspired. I love this movie and I had a lot of fun writing this. Hopefully I can finish it before the end of the month. Enjoy.
"Labyrinth" is owned by Jim Henson Productions.
Chapter 1: Beer and Magic Words Don't Mix
Lina sat slumped over in her seat at a local inn. She just spent three horrible days on vacation with Gourry and she had a feeling that the next few days would be just as bad. They had planned to take a boat to the outer world to a small island called 'Fiji' and do nothing but laze around and eat and black mail the locals for money. The boat only came to shore once a year and they missed it because Gourry decided to sleep in that day. She gritted her teeth and glared daggers at her friend sitting along side her.
"Look at him..." Lina snarled softly. "Just sittin' there. He has no idea how much he has pissed me off."
Gourry looked up from his meal. "You say something Lina?"
"Yes."
"Okay then," And resumed eating.
Lina growled and buried her head in her hands, running one down her face in order to control herself. Stupid, stupid man. Gourry was her best friend, one of the most important people in her life, yet there were times that he irritated the hell out of her. She wanted nothing more than to fireball his butt for putting her through this misery. Lina would gladly do it in a heartbeat if it were not for a certain problem. It was that time of the month. Again.
The inn was alive with people laughing and joking, quite the opposite of what Lina had been feeling. What to do in this certain situation? Well, where there was a restaurant there was beer and when there was beer, there was a temporary problem solver. With that in mind Lina snapped her fingers and ordered a mug.
Gourry noticed the large frothy beer mug next to Lina and in between a belch asked. "You drink?"
"At this moment, yes." He only shrugged and went back his post dinner meal.
As the noise of the inn started to quiet down later in the night, most of the guests were leaving for bed. Lina and Gourry were still awake along with a few other patrons. In the corner of the restaurant there was an old woman telling the guests near her a story. The beer Lina had been drinking was finally starting to make her thoughts hazy, yet her temper was still going strong.
"Damnit." Lina muttered. "Don't tell me I'm going to be one of those 'angry drunks'."
She never drank to excess, but she had been very close to becoming inebriated during Zelgadis's birthday when they decided to celebrate it at a local pub. After forcing Zel to drink his first ale they discovered that he had a low tolerance for alcohol, probably due to his chimera state. For the rest of the night Zel performed a rather show stopping Can Can dance number on the bar before passing out with his shirt wrapped around his head.
Lina took a few more gulps of her second mug then drifted her attention to the storyteller on the other side of the inn. The old woman was weaving a strange tale about a mystical land surrounded by a treacherous Labyrinth. It was full of all sorts of creatures, many of them unfriendly and as wild as the maze itself. The Goblin King would often use the Labyrinth as a test of faith for anyone who wished away a child and regretted it. Then they would have to find their way into the center of the maze to the Goblin Kingdom to retrieve the child.
The old woman bent down to the guests and said in a low, dramatic voice. "The King was cursed to obey anyone who wished away a child. All they had to say was 'I wish the Goblins would take the child away' and soon you would be face to face with the Goblin King himself."
Lina smirked in her drowsy haze, rubbing a finger across her nose. "Heh, weird. I wouldn't mind being rid of Gourry for a little while."
Not too long afterwards the two friends decided to leave for their rooms. Lina stumbled slightly up the steps and kicked at the wall, cursing at imaginary at people getting in her way. "Aggrr....outta my way creep..."
Gourry blinked at her as he helped steady her up the steps. "Who ya talking to?"
"Graag, arrg...." Was Lina's only reply.
"You okay, Lina?" Gourry coaxed again.
She batted at his hands that were trying to help her up the steps. Lina wobbled and staggered slightly out of his reach and stomped away from him to her room. "Rhahrg, sleep....arrg." Refusing to leave her side he continued to follow her straight to her room.
Something struck Gourry as odd. He had never seen Lina act like this. Normally she never stumbled while walking and was able to form more than one syllable words that were not followed by grunts. What could have caused that? Gourry tapped his forehead as Lina sat on her bed holding her head. He suddenly came to a conclusion and the little lit candle above his head flickered on.
"Lina?"
She looked up, "Arrg?"
"Are you...."
Lina waited.
"Are you turning into a werewolf?"
She narrowed her eyes, "ARRHG!"
"Okay, 'cause if you are, do you want me to leave the room?"
"NO! I'm NOT turning into a werewolf. God Gourry..." She held her head, waving a hand in a shooing motion. Lina was tired and drunk, her thoughts clashing into on another and her mind drifted to the storyteller and without thinking yelled, "I wish the Goblins would take YOU away. Now, will you leave already?"
Gourry was about to open his mouth when a loud crack of thunder crashed outside the inn.
"Wow. Dramatic." Gourry mumbled. Lightening flashed and lit up the room and window pushed itself open. The two friends jumped and stared at the window and saw a large white bird flapping toward the ledge.
Gourry shrieked. "Ahh! Chicken from hell!" And shut the window causing the bird to crash into the glass, crying out as it hit with a thud.
All was very quiet and Lina let out a breath she had been holding. "What the hell was that? And what's with the sudden storm?"
"Uh...foreshadowing?"
The thunder crashed again as if on cue and the windows flew open once more. The chicken was in fact a white barn owl and as it flew into the open room it transformed into a dark figure of a man. Lina and Gourry stepped back as the man glided toward them. He made an impressive appearance as he stood, with leaves blowing behind him and the lightening bolts flashing around his cape. His appearance was unusual, so but not so unusual to Lina and Gourry. The clothes he wore were similar to what they were accustomed to. The dark man wore a black, ruffled poet shirt with close fitting pants and knee high boots. His hair was blond and spiked up around his face in a wild style that fell to the tops of his shoulders and was once again lit up with dramatic lighting.
Gourry, the ever-present bodyguard, was ready to take out his sword. Lina was slightly shaky on her feet and blinked at the strange man as he neared closer.
"What in the nine hells...." She suddenly stood up in a fighting stance, ignoring the fact she had too much to drink and Gourry kept a firm grip on her shoulders. "Who are you and what are you doing here?"
The man smirked, but winced slightly as he touched the shoulder that was slammed against the window. "I am the Goblin King and you called for me," he said in a silky English accent.
"Weren't you a chicken just now?" Gourry asked.
The man frowned. "I was an owl...not a chicken. Never in all my visits to the above world has someone ever shut the window on me."
"Your welcome." Gourry smiled, taking it as a compliment.
Lina pushed Gourry away, "Shut it Gourry....no pun intended.... Listen, you. I don't know what your problem is with barging into other people's room as poultry, but what's this about me calling you?"
The Goblin King looked amused at her. "I heard every word you said. I distinctively heard you commanding me and my goblins to wish someone away."
Lina blinked. "Sooo....you're real then?" She remembered repeating the words her overheard from the story. "Ya know, I could be dreaming all of this," she mumbled ignoring the man. "I was very tired and the last thing I heard was that story the old woman as telling."
The ever-helpful Gourry scratched his head. "If you're dreaming all of this, then one of us just needs to pinch ourselves." He did just that, "Ouch!"
Still slightly unsteady on her feet Lina tried to smack him. "No you dim wit, it's my dream so I need to pinch myself." She pinched her arm and waited, glancing around.
Gourry looked at Lina. "What If I pinch you?"
"It doesn't work that way. You're not the real Gourry in my dream and since I'm dreaming this only I can wake myself up." Lina stated as if were that obvious.
"Oooh. I guess that makes since. But if I'm NOT the real Gourry, where am I?" He asked nervously.
Lina grumbled, pinched both her arms at the same time. "Probably face down in the inn somewhere..."
The Goblin King had been watching the entire scene with annoyance and suddenly yelled, "Enough! To answer both your question, you are not dreaming. Little girl, you wished away someone and I am here to retrieve them."
Lina looked up and reguarded him as if this was the first time she had seen him. "First of all don't call me a little girl and second, why are you wearing make-up?" She pointed at the triangle markings above his eyebrows.
Gourry looked at the man's eyebrows. "Maybe he's born with it..."
"Maybe it's Maybelline."
"Silence!" The Goblin King yelled and summoned a few nasty looking creatures to surround Gourry.
Before Gourry could move the group of small, ugly goblins ran toward him, grabbing his arms and legs. "Lina help me! Hey that tickles..." and vanished out of thin air.
"What? Where did you take him?" Lina demanded.
"Nice to know I finally got your attention, girl."
"Answer the question Peter Pan!"
He frowned and narrowed his eyes at her insult. "Your 'friend' is in my castle, beyond the Goblin City. He was wished away just as you commanded."
"That's not fair, I was drunk!"
"What's said is said."
Lina gnashed her teeth ready to clobber the man, when a small crystal ball appeared in his hand before her. "What's that?"
"A crystal and nothing more. However, if you look at this way..." He turned and brought it closer to her face, "it shows you your dreams."
Lina's eyes darted from the crystal and his face several times. "So you're offering my dreams in exchange for Gourry?"
The man smiled seductively and rolled the crystal around the backs of his hands. "Forget him, Lina. Forget about him and you can live those dreams."
"Are you coming on to me?"
"You are not taking this very seriously." He frowned. "Do you want your dreams or not."
Lina was a bit on the selfish side, that much was true. Not only was she being offered her dreams, but by a strange man in tight pants in exchange for Gourry. Lina couldn't help but smile at the thought of having everything she desired. Serves Gourry right for ruining a one in a lifetime vacation. However there was a little thing called 'guilt' that bothered her and Lina knew she would never hear the end of it from her friends. She could only imagine what Sylphiel would say if she knew what Lina had done. You wished Gourry away to the Goblin King Lina? How could you?
"Ah hell." Lina groaned. "Okay, Okay. My mistake, I want to have Gourry back."
His secret smile widened.
With a wave of his hand the window outside Lina's bedroom changed from the scenery of the small town to a faraway view of maze. When she turned around she found herself on a hill overlooking the maze itself as it stretched out for miles and twisted in every direction. She remembered from the story the woman told in the inn that in order for her to get Gourry back was to run through it.
Lina smile smugly. "Heh, it doesn't look that far."
The King grinned at her with an evil glint in his eye. With another wave a clock appeared on a nearby tree. "You have thirteen hours to find the center of the labyrinth to the castle. If you fail your friend Gourry will become one of us for all eternity."
"A muppet?"
She turned around to face him only to see that he had vanished.
"Well la dee da, this should be fun." She surveyed the maze from the hill for a little while before descending down. Lina snapped her fingers, "He didn't say anything about not using magic. RAYWING!" She jumped down and fell on her butt. "Oh damnit I forgot! Well I guess that would defeat the purpose of this fanfic if I could fly over the maze."
Puffing out her chest she walked to the nearest wall to search for an entrance.
TBC
