(¯`·._.·[ The Game ]·._.·´¯)
POV - JOFFREY BARATHEON
"Put me down, you filth!"
"As you wish, Your Excellency," a goblin responded, sarcasm more or less dripping off its tongue.
Joffrey felt pain shoot through his rear as he landed on the ground with a thud. He saw the little brutes slinking away and felt bile rise in his throat as rage took him like a storm. "Let the Ohers take you all!"
He heard the same goblin yell, "Let them try!" and the rest laughed, disappearing into what looked to him like a huge maze or labyrinth of sorts. Then he remembered Sansa: this was all her fault, the stupid wench. He would beat her senseless when he returned. If he returned. Mother will surely send armies out looking for me, he thought, hopefully. But, still, there was this nagging feeling in the back of his head telling him that no, she would not, that she, and everyone else for that matter, was glad he was gone.
"Were you at a Renaissance Festival when they took you?"
Joffrey looked up, startled out of his inner monologue. "How long have you been there?"
"Since long before you showed up."
"Did some cunt wish you away too?"
"What?" The man appeared startled, but something about his expression seemed fake. "I don't really know how I ended up here."
That, at least, seemed to be true, Joffrey decided. "My betrothed sent those things after me," Joff said, his teeth grit. "Fucking women."
The man nodded sympathetically. "I hear you."
"What is your name?"
The man neglected to reply right away, staring at Joffrey as if he were trying to deduce his threat level. Then, appearing satisfied, he said, "Ryuzaki."
"Strange name. Are you from the Free Cities? What is your house?"
"Um . . . no. My surname is Ryuga, if that's what you mean."
Joffrey smiled sweetly, believing it to be the truth. "You must be foreign." He laughed then. "As long as you're not a Targaryen, I care not whether you come from poverty or wealth."
"What would you do to a Targaryen?"
"Do you not know who I am?" Joffrey jumped to his feet in an instant, indignant. "I am Joffrey of Houses Baratheon and Lannister, First of My Name, King of the Andals and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms, and Protector of the Realm. If you were a Targaryen, I would gut you here and now." By the time he had finished clearing his titles and purpose he was out of breath.
"Glad I'm not a Targaryen," Ryuzaki said, looking a little annoyed. "I'm waiting on a friend, so if you want, you can go on your way."
"How long will your friend be?"
"No clue, but probably a while."
"I'll stay." Joffrey walked over to the other man, who was sitting in the grass next to a pool of water, and plopped down beside him, forgetting his tender bottom. "I'd rather not go into that thing alone," he said, glancing at the maze and standing again.
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POV - BRUCE WAYNE
Bruce woke up feeling a lump forming on the side of his face where the creature had struck him. He sat up and surveyed his surroundings: this place was strange and he was alone.
"Robin!" he cried out miserably. He waited, and waited more, but the air around him was silent. "Dick!" he howled, trying again.
"Over here, Bruce."
Bruce got to his feet slowly and stretched his arms, looking around. The Boy Wonder smiled at Bruce cheerily from his perch in a tree to the left of him. Bruce glared. "Why didn't you didn't reply the first time?"
"I wanted to see how much you'd worry."
"We need to get serious, Dick. We're up against a new kind of criminal."
Dick hopped down from the tree, closing the distance between himself and Bruce, his face serious. "I know. While you were sleeping, he manifested and told me he would only let us leave this place if we conquered his labyrinth, which he said we are already inside of. He called himself Jareth and told me to give you his regards. Do you know him, Bruce?"
"Haven't a clue but that doesn't surprise me. New criminals seem to pop up every day in Gotham. He probably wants to make a big entrance by going after Batman and Robin."
Dick snapped his gloves on tighter. "Well, if he wanted our attention, he's got it. What now, Batman?"
"For now we do the only thing we can do: play along with this game and dig for information."
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POV - REM
"Matsuda, what the hell have you done?" Soichiro Yagami had his arms around the boy's throat, siphoning the breath out of him, turning his face blue.
"I—I don't kn—uglhfggh."
"Let him go, Yagami. I've already solved the case."
Jareth, Rem heard herself think, you promised he wouldn't.
"I don't care about the case," Yagami said, releasing the boy and taking a step toward the detective. "Where is my son, Ryuzaki? Can you tell me that?"
"In a few days, yes."
Soichiro blinked in confusion. "What? Ryuzaki, this is my son we're—"
The detective met Soichiro's eyes, his expression unreadable. "Since Matsuda isn't in the position to complete this task, I will have you do it. Repeat what Matsuda just said but with my name."
"L—Ryuzaki, this is craz—"
"Repeat it word for word and don't attempt to follow me until at least one week has passed."
Soichiro nodded, finally understanding. "I can't thank you enough, Ryuzaki. I wish the goblins would take you away," he said, pointing at the detective.
Nothing happened.
"Right now," L added, groaning.
"I wish the goblins would take you away right now."
Rem watched in horror as hordes of goblins arrived and hauled the detective away too. While the humans' eyes were fixed on L, she took the chance to disappear, and when she was far enough away, she called Jareth's name fervently.
He appeared in front of her. "You sound livid, my dear."
"What have you done, Jareth?" She felt so used, so betrayed. How could he do this to her, to Misa?
"I've lied to you, honey. I don't care what happens to your human girl. If Light Yagami or L Lawliet excape my Labyrinth, they excape; that is the way things have always been done." A smile danced across the Goblin King's face. "But they won't be excaping with the Death Note."
"I am confident that Light Yagami will never let you get your hands on his Death Note."
"We will see about that," he said, disappearing and leaving her to her grief.
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POV - FRODO
"Are you a wizard of some sort?" Frodo inquired, approaching the mysterious being cautiously.
The man smiled warmly at him. "I suppose you could call me something like that." He watched as Frodo crept closer. "It's time to go, Frodo."
"No, no, no. I have yet to eat, and I don't—"
"It can wait," the man said, and before Frodo knew what had happened, he was no longer in his house but in a dense forest, and the man was gone.
He looked around himself, at the vacant, open space, and felt desperately lonely. Hearing singing off in the distance, he sought out the choirsters, hoping they would offer him food and shelter and, afterward, an explanation.
The closer he got, the clearer their words became, but he still found himself straining to make out the majority of their song.
"They don't ? much, but they're sure chilly, chilly. They're positively glow, glow, huh. Chilly down with the fire gang. ? small with the fire gang."
Then another voice found its way into Frodo's head. "Who goes there?"
Frodo turned.
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POV - JOHN
John got to his feet, brushing the dirt off his pants. He watched as the goblins scuttled down the path ahead. "You just had to drag me into this, didn't you? And did you really have to bring up the middle name?"
"Want to try thanking me? You would have found your way here had it been just me they took. I saved you the trouble of finding me," Sherlock replied, disregarding his last question.
John relented because he knew Sherlock was right, infuriatingly right. "Any luck yet deducing where we are?"
Sherlock scrunched up his face. "What makes you think I would know?"
John pretended to be atonished then pinched his nose. "Well, I can make one deduction: this place smells rotten."
"Truly. Come on, Doctor," the detective replied, jumping to his feet. "The game is on. I feel like this is going to be the most fun we've had since Moriarty."
"I don't believe 'fun' is the word you're looking for, Sherlock."