A/N: I know this chapter took forever to get up. I changed it from humor to fantasy because the more I wrote the more I wasn't so certain it was funny. So I just focused more on just writing it then having it be more humorous. ^^;
I do not own Teen titans OR the labyrinth. Everything belongs to it's proper owners.
Chapter Two: Of Green men and mazes
Raven marched through the dead forest and felt the wind blow gently along her features. She heard twigs snap underneath her feet and felt like something was watching every move she made. She tried her best to ignore it. She wouldn't put it past the Goblin King to have some type of way to keep tabs on her. A sly smirk slid across her lips as she wished the silver haired goblin luck. As soon as she found the gateway into the labyrinth she would teleport her way through the maze and to the goblin city. Wouldn't that just put a wrench in his little plan.
Deep in thought of revenge and sitting at home with a nice cup of tea, she never noticed as one of the twigs on the dying bush reached out and grabbed at her cape. She did however feel herself jerking to a stop and she whirled around to glare at the bare bark. It immediately let go of her cape and held up its thin twigs as if they were hands trying to avoid a blow. She only glared for another moment before turning back around and counting her walk, making a mental note to pay more attention. If trees could grab you out of nowhere, imagine what else this crazy place could do. She had to be prepared for anything else.
"Melvin, Timmy, Teether…. You three better be worth this." She muttered underneath her breath but her heart already knew the answer. She could feel Timid running through all the things she had done and how cruel she had been to the kids. She made a note to change that later on, if she got the children back. No, not if. When she got them back.
Her arm raised up and she pushed back one of the bare branches to stop short as she saw a run down courtyard in front of her. It stretched for what seemed like yards and it was littered with dying trees. The bricks that lined the ground stuck out like a child with a bad tooth condition. Jolting out left and to the right and as broken faded red bricks lined the rest of the earth. Bare trees scattered around the place and leaves seemed to beg for water as they hung on to the last inch of their life before falling from the tree to the dusty ground below. Vines curled and weaved their way along the ground, lying across the blade or two of grass that sprouted up through the cement. The vines moved and intertwined along the circular bottom of a rundown water fountain in the middle of the dreary courtyard. The fountain arched up on several tears of cement, chucks missing from old stone that lined the bottom of the small pond. In the heart of the fountain was a statue of a small child peeing into the spring; the once bronze color of the stone child, now nothing more then a rusty brown.
"Charming…" Raven mumbled before the sound of someone speaking drew her attention. Downwards and in front of the statue was a short male with his back turned towards her. She couldn't see much of him and the light of the harsh sun above shaded certain features. What she could see was that he was talking to something in his hands and twitching every now and again. The empath only arched an eyebrow and tried to hide the look of disgust on her face, praying he wasn't mimicking the statue. "Er…excuse me?"
"Be with you in a sec!" He yelled over his shoulder without looking up. The empath went to speak but as the short male let out a loud scream she only blinked. Up shot what looked to be a dark skinned fairy dressed in a black and yellow shirt. The insect sized girl stuck her tongue out at the short man and he grumbled to leap at her. She easily avoided the way his grey gloved hand shot out at her and laughed in triumph as he tried again and again, never coming close. "No fair! How am I suppose to train if you keep flying away?!"
"That's the point, genius!" The winged girl said and detached two small golden B's from her waist. The male leapt at the black and yellow dressed insect and she avoided it again, shooting yellow bolts from the end of her stingers. The young man let out a loud yell of pain as the yellow shot hit him square in the face, forcing him to whirl around and land on his knees.
"Ow ow ow ow ow owwwwwwwwwwwwwwww! Time out! Time out!" Shouted Gar as Bumblebee kept shooting at him with her stingers.
"No time outs, BB! Sorry but that's just how it is!" Though she said sorry, the large smile on her face said otherwise. Raven blinked and watched on as the other teen stumbled and scampered over the broken up walkway to avoid the wrath of the flying fairy.
"Okay okay! I give! I give! I'll train harder!" He pleaded and the girl only smirked, floating up and down from where she flew.
"Annnnnndddddd?" He frowned and rolled his eyes. He hated this part.
"And you're the best fairy around and I am considered lucky that you would take time out of your busy schedule to teach my 'sad behind' how to fight off bad fairies." Bumblebee smirked and twirled her stingers along her fingers before attaching them back to the hip.
"Darn straight."
"Ummm… excuse me…as much as I would hate to interrupt this…I was hoping..." Her thoughts trailed off as she moved closer to where the busy activity had been and got her first real look at the whining male on the ground. "…You're green."
"Of course I'm green, nothing this cute could ever be another…col..or." He finished saying and his emerald eyes widen in surprised at the girl in front of him, their expressions mirroring one another. Her violet hair swayed around her shoulders as the wind blew around her form. The look of shock in her violet-blue eyes did not cause his eyes to keep from wandering over the mystic creature in front of him. She looked like one of those gothic people that he had heard about from the other realms. Her skin was a grey exotic color and he couldn't help himself as the heat raised to his cheeks. "Of course… I have been wrong before." He whispered to no one in particular but the way her eyebrows furrowed he could tell she had heard him. His blush deepened and he laughed slightly nervous, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Okay. Anyway…little green man and flying… fairy…Do either of you know the way in?" Raven asked and the green teen put on a face of confusion.
"Errrr the way into what?"
"The labyrinth."
"What labyrinth?"
"The one behind you."
"That's not a labyrinth…that's a wall." Gar said and Raven could feel her temper start to build.
"My you are observant… now where is the door?"
"What door?" The green teen asked again.
"The door to the labyrinth…"
"What's a labyrinth?" Raven growled and curled her fingers into tiny fist, stepping closer to the green teen.
"Are you always this annoying or am I just lucky?" She asked out through clenched teen and the green teen could only force a nervous chuckle from his lips.
"Sorry Rae…part of the job." Her expression changed and she stared in shock at the short teen in front of her.
"How do you know who I am…?" Gar only watched her at the question as if he couldn't believe she would say something like that.
"Er…everyone knows about you. About the deal you made with Malchior… about the three children he took, about your m-OW! What did you do that for?!" He asked as he whirled around and glared at Bumblebee. One look from her and he knew what the slap had been for. There was one topic in the entire labyrinth that no one was to discuss with the empath.
Emerald eyes glanced back with Raven's and he cleared his throat, chuckling apprehensively at the raised eyebrow she drew in question.
"The point is…you're well known Rae and it's our job to slow you down as much as possible."
"Well if you know me so well… why don't you seem to know my name is Raven and not Rae?" She placed emphasis on her name and Bumblebee could only chuckle, watching the nervous changeling in the hot seat.
"Aww come on Rae, everyone likes nicknames." He offered her a smile and she did not accept, her eyebrows furrowing slightly.
"I don't." His smile wavered slightly and he rubbed the back of his head, glancing down at the ground.
"Er right…got it…sorry." Timid made a small whimper as she saw the frown on the green man's face and felt bad for hurting his feeling. Raven only buried the thought and pushed on with her original question.
"So…er…"
"Garfield! They call me Garfield." He smiled and stuck out his hand, ignoring the way the flying girl lifted an eyebrow at his choice of names. He hadn't gone by that name in months and yet here he was offering it up to the pale girl in front of him on a silver platter. She couldn't help but chuckle. "Gar for short."
"…Garfield…" She said and slowly accepted the hand. Their eyes met and locked as he flashed her yet another toothy smile, causing a small blush to appear on her cheeks. "Do you know the way in or not?"
"Of course! I am the guardian of the gate but the question is." He leaned in close to her and wiggled his eyebrows. "Do you have what it takes?"
"…Gee I don't know. Opening a door just sounds so hard." She replied sarcastically and the shape shifter only smirked, seeming to know something she did not. Sliding his hands behind his head he interlaced them and made his way to a nearby tree.
"Oh? Well in that case let's see." Raven said nothing as the green teen leapt up into one of the dying trees and took a seat. "Walk up to the wall and say knock knock."
"…You're kidding." Gar only smiled and the empath drew in a long, slow breath. "Great… you aren't kidding." Drawing another breath she forced her legs to move over to the towering wall and glanced up. The thought of simply fading through crossed her mind and she glanced over to where the green man sat, watching her. If she had to, she could take him and since Malchior was watching her anyway she might as well do something to annoy him. "You know something. I think I'll just do things my way. Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" Her chant rang out throughout the courtyard and she thrust her hands outward causing her cape to flap behind her.
Moments went by and nothing happened. Shock filled her eyes and she glanced down from her hands to the wall. This couldn't be. Not even he would sink so low as to take away her magic. Growling she shot her hands out again and chanted the manta once more only to receive the same results.
"Errr…what are you doing?" Gar asked in puzzlement as the empath kept trying over and over again to get through the wall. He really hoped she wasn't losing her mind so early in the game.
"My magic…it's gone…all of it…" She growled underneath her breath and willed herself to fly but nothing came. She was going to have to play by his rules and that meant that he had the leverage. That she was in his world and she could do nothing but deal with it. The very thought caused her blood to boil.
Gar frowned as he watched the way the empath stared at her hands and seemed so small in that moment. As if the weight of the world and how dire the situation was both landed on her shoulder. Violet blue eyes looked up and she stared at the wall blankly, causing the changeling's heart to drop. However in the next moment the empath was shouting and kicking at the wall, words falling from her lips to cause Bumblebee to fly over and over and cover Gar's pointy ears. The green teen blushed slightly at some of the words. So much for the empath seeming so small and fragile.
Panting after getting all her frustrations out, she rubbed her temples and tried to think. She had to admit that finally being able to get the way she felt about the situation off of her chest did help slightly but now she had a bigger concern. She was going to have to play by his rules and walk through the entire maze without a drop of power. She had no way to defend herself and the very thought of walking for so long kept running through her mind. Doubts, concerns, and rage ran through her mind and entire body as she came to the biggest concern of all. She was going to have to actually tell a joke. Drawing in a breath she slowly let her eyes open and glared at the wall.
"…Knock knock."
"Who's there?" A loud voice asked, shaking the very ground she stood on. She caught her balance and braced herself before pushing on.
"…Raven."
"RAVEN WHO?"
"…Er…Raven the girl who wants…in?" Silence.
"…It might just be me…but that wasn't funny." Said Gar and glanced over to see Bumblebee nodding in agreement. Raven sighed and pinched the brim of her nose, feeling like an idiot.
"Well if you're so good at telling jokes you get over here and do it!"
Gar let a large grin slide across his lips at a chance to show off his masterly skills in the art of jokes and jumped down from the tree. He strolled passed the empath as she rolled her eyes and moved up to the wall. He raps his knuckles on the wall and soon the stone shifted and contorted until a large wooden door was in front of them. Raven said nothing and only arched an eyebrow wondering if this was how the rest of the journey was going to be. Gar cleared his throat and rolled up the long sleeves of his outfit before knocking on the large wooden door yet again.
"Knock knock." Gar said with a large smirk and winked over at the empath. Raven only rolled her eyes and let out an audible sigh. So this was what hell felt like.
"Who's there?" The voice from earlier said as its loud voice boomed around them and shook the dying branches on the trees.
"Arty." Gar replied and leaned against the door, faking nonchalance as he checked his nails.
"Arty who?"
"Arty gonna let me in already?" He smirked and Raven couldn't help but let her face fall, her left eyebrow twitching. Gar only kept his wide smile and moved over to the empath, lightly elbowing her in the side. "Get it?"
"Unfortunately…" The green teen only snickered like he thought she was joking.
The doors to the labyrinth opened with a groaning sound and Raven found herself in agreement with a door. She had heard some bad jokes before but that one took the cake. Not even the Timmy's jokes were that bad and he was all of four.
Dirt and grim floated to the ground from a long century of not being opened. The iron hinges on the door squeaking in protest as they were forced to swing open with a loud rusting sound. The green young man found himself wincing at the sound but the smell was the thing that knocked him to his knees. The smell of mold filled the air and even Raven could feel her stomach turn as the rotten smell hit her full forced in the face. She was wrong before. This was hell and her stomach agreed.
Covering her mouth with a hand she coughed a few times to step backwards out of the range of the smell. She took a deep breath of fresh air and stepped through the doors into… nothing. Well not nothing but it might as well have been nothing. There was only a large grey stone wall that stretched from one end all the way to the other in a never ending line. Frowning she started to turn around in a circle to see if maybe there were doors or entranceways but whichever way she looked there was nothing but a long solid wall.
"Great…just great." She muttered to herself.
"Sooooo…which way are you going?" Gar asked as he leaned over the violet haired beauty's right shoulder. She glared at him and he quickly backed away, holding up his hands with a weak smile. Not saying anything Raven walked a little further to the right before turning around to glance at the left. This was going to be a hard decision and she was forced to make it. Not that either way looked any different from the other.
"Well then…which way should I go?" She spoke in her usual monotone voice because it was her first instinct. Her second was to let the rage out and destroy the whole place but seeing how she had no magic to do so she was going to have to just deal with it. Now she had yet another reason to kill Malchior because apparently for him stealing her children was not enough.
"Huh?"
"Which way…right or left?"
"Well I wouldn't go either actually." He started and she arched an eyebrow. She waited for him to finish but apparently that was all she was going to get out of him. She felt her patience reach its last inch and she clenched her jaw.
"Fine." Whirling around on the heel of her purple boots, she started down the right pathway to leave a shocked green teen behind.
"Wait! Where are you going?!" He yelled and started after the retreating back of the girl. She spun around on him and narrowed her eyes, stopping him in his tracks.
"I am going to go rescue Melvin, Timmy, and Teether. I am going to go get my magic back and I am going to do it alone. Thank you for your help, Garfield. Now if you do not mind I have business to attend to."
Gar looked on as she moved back down the way she had started and he felt something stirring inside of him.
"I could come with you…" He said softly and she only waved a hand over her shoulder at him.
"No thank you. Goodbye Garfield."
Frowning slightly he stuffed his hands into his pockets and watched her go with a longing he didn't recognize. He didn't want her to leave and he didn't want to be watching her leave but she had already made her decision. He reached out a hand to try and stop her but she was too far gone and he only lowered it again. He couldn't let her willing go walking into such a dangerous place without some type of advice or words of wisdom to help her on her way. He started to wreck his brain for information that would help her on her. He found it and shouted out to her.
"Rae! Just remember! Don't take things for granted in here!" She didn't turn around and he figured she did not hear him. Pointy green ears laid downwards in guilt and he whispered softly to the wind, wishing it would carry it to her ears. "Things are not always what they seem in this place…be careful Rae." He felt something land on his shoulder and emerald eyes met with hazel.
"She'll be alright, Gar. She's a tough one and I can tell." Bee said and patted the green teen on the nose for comfort. Gar only chuckled timidly as he caught the nickname and he sent Bumblebee a small smile. The fairy smiled and flew back out into the courtyard and Gar followed behind, glancing at the quickly disappearing back of the empath. He let out a breath of air and moved back outside of the doors, closing them with a loud bang behind him.
Raven tried to ignore the many voices in her mind as she marched down the long narrow walkway. She carefully stepped over one of the branches that had fallen down in her path. For nothing but a giant wall surrounding her there was a lot of dead branches scattered about the ground. The walls seemed to shimmer with what looked like glitter and grime. Every few steps she would pass by a large collection of mold, the green blob following her with twenty or so eyes. For the first time in a long time she felt slightly spooked.
She avoided another branch on the pathway and stopped walking to catch her breath. This was becoming more tiresome than she thought and so far she hadn't even found one single opening. If she had her magic this would have been over with by now and she would be curled up on her bed reading a nice big book.
"But w-w-we don't and now we'll never find the kids…w-what have I done…" Said Timid and Raven only tried to push the thought away.
"Maybe we should have let the green guy come along after all. He was kinda cute." Giggled Happy and Raven slapped her forehead. She didn't have time to sit around and literally talk to herself. Drawing in a deep breath she started to look around to try and get a feel of the place.
"Remember what he said…don't take things for granted." Said Knowledge and Raven kept looking around.
"Figures… he talked in riddles because I don't see one turn or door." She stopped herself from looking around for the fifth time. Maybe she was thinking this over too much. Maybe she needed to just keep going the way she was going and something would pop up. Maybe what she was taking for granted was the way she was moving. Violet-blue eyes looked down the narrow walkway and she nodded her head at her decision. It was settled, she would keep going forward.
She pushed from the wall and started to run as fast as she could along the flat dirt corridor. Twigs snapped underneath her feet and her head ducked from branches thrusting out from the stone wall. She ran for what felt like hours but was probably nothing more than fifteen minutes before her lungs cried out in protest and she could run no more. Doubling over she fell down to her knees and started to gasp for air, violet strands sticking to her face. Okay that had been a bad idea. Leaning against the wall she closed her eyes and let the air refill her lungs, trying to think of a new plan since the old one had failed so horribly.
"Ello." Her eyes shot open and she looked around for the owner of the voice. She only saw a red silkworm looking back up at her. It had black hair on its head with a red streak in the front. It wore a tiny dress that could probably fit on a doll. The top half was black and the bottom half was red. Its large black eyes only stared up at the empath and Raven wondered if she was hearing things.
Slowly the violet haired girl leaned in closer to the silkworm and spoke in her usual monotone voice with a hint of curiosity in it.
"…Did you just say hello?" The silk worm laughed.
"No no no dear, I said ello but you were close 'nough." The silkworm said in a British accent and for the second time that day, Raven was surprised. Well maybe not second, she had lost count some time ago.
"Oh…er…hello to you too…" The silkworm smiled broadly and tilted her head to the side. Raven just pushed the discomfort of talking to a worm to the back of her mind and kept telling herself that she was not going crazy. That this was probably normal in this world and she would be leaving it soon.
"Names Argent. How bout you come on inside and meet the mister, eh?" Raven shook her head.
"Gee sounds thrilling…but I'm trying to find my way through this labyrinth…but as you can see there's no turns or doors…" Argent laughed and Raven arched an eyebrow. It seemed she was funnier than she gave herself credit for.
"Well luv, ye must not be looking right. The place is full of 'em!" Raven startled a bit and started to look around. All she saw was the same two options. The first to go left or the second to go right and a large wall smashed to each side of her.
"Oh yes…so many choices." She said and Argent only smiled, tilting her head to indicate to follow her.
"Come on inside and meet the mister." Raven sighed.
"Look Argent it was very nice to meet you but I really must be going and since there aren't any openings it'll just take me longer." Even though the empath seemed short with her the silkworm only smirked.
"Silly garl, there's one right across from ye." Raven gave the silkworm a sideward glance.
"No. That's a wall."
"Trust me, it ain't." Raven's eyebrow began to twitch.
"Right…look I really must be going."
"Just give it a shot. Walk on up and see for yourself." Blue violet eyes watched the silkworm and Argent matched the look with a smile. So far she had had her kids stolen, lost her magic, and met a green guy with a horrible sense of humor. Why couldn't a wall actually be a door? In a place like this she shouldn't doubt it.
Pushing up from where she sat she held up a hand and touched the wall in front of her. Her hand went through an invisible opening and she blinked as she stepped forward. She looked left and right and saw that each way looked different. The left looked darker while the right seemed brighter. She headed towards the left.
"Thank you." She called back to the silkworm.
"WAIT!" Yelled Argent and Raven leaned backwards with a puzzled look.
"What?"
"Don't go that way! Never go that way."
"…Er…right, of course." She took the right and Argent shook her head.
"Poor garl…if she had gone that way she had gone straight to that castle." Argent said and shudders ran along her wormy spine from the thought (at least they would of if worms had spines).
Inside of the large ivory tower two children sat in the shallow pit in the middle of the room. A few blankets hung over the side of the four foot drop and the rest were piled with pillows in the center to try and make the children as comfortable as they could get considering they were in a hole.
The rest of the room was small since it seemed to be only a pit stop in the large castle where one could rest if they got lost. Stairs wound up to the flat surface before they continued further upwards, a small room across from the lower staircase. The small throne only fit the goblin king and his large black and white cloak hung over the back. It tumbled down to the ground and rolled a good foot behind or around where he sat. There were no drapes or curtains in the little area and the windows were nothing more than small holes craved into the stone, only wide enough to wiggle an arm in. To the right of the throne was a large golden clock, the large black hands shaped like spades as they moved in a circle.
The last of the children sat upon Malchior's lap and cried loudly. The twenty or so goblins in the room had tried everything to cheer the baby up and nothing seemed to be working. They had tried to give the baby sweets, read books that had only seemed to make him cry louder, and even resorted to juggling. Nothing had worked and the child only continued his earsplitting scream.
The white haired king bounced the adolescent up and down on his knee, cooing softly to try and get him to hush. He should have just taken the other two. Oh well, it was too late now and he was stuck with the baby.
"You have to sing to him." Melvin said from the pit as Timmy leaned against her. Malchior only arched an eyebrow at the solution and eyed the little girl like she had gone insane.
"Sing? I don't sing." Said Malchior as he kicked one of the goblins in the face to try and cheer up the screaming child. Timmy laughed but Teether only kept crying.
"Don't or can't?" Asked Melvin and Timmy smirked. He wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to get a joke in. The redhead lightly nudged his sister with an elbow and Melvin arched an eyebrow at him.
"I bet he sounds like a turkey." The two laughed at Timmy's words and even a few goblins joined in. Malchior narrowed his eyes and the goblins instantly shut their mouths.
"Actually, the king has a very lovely singing voice." Said Blackfire as she took a seat along the top of the pit and swayed her feet back and forth in the air.
"Yeah right." Timmy said. He twirled a finger around his temple and rolled his eyes to show his older sister that the lady was clearly crazy. Melvin giggled.
The action did not go unnoticed by the black haired beauty and she arched an eyebrow. Slowly Blackfire forced a small chuckle up past her lips and leaned in so her violet eyes lock onto the children.
"Oh how charming, you actually think to oppose me." She held up a hand and violet energy blazed to life in her palm, the smirk still playing at her lips. The two children in the pit quickly stopped laughing and went pale.
"Down Blackfire. If the children want a song so be it. Sing them one." Malchior said while pinching the brim of his nose. The child's wailing was starting to grind on his nerves and he could feel a headache rising.
"Ring around the rosy." Smirked Blackfire and never let her eyes leave the children's.
"Isn't that song about a plague or something?" Malchior asked and corked an eyebrow. Blackfire was always trying to show dominance by fear and most of the time he didn't mind. However, the children were his and if anyone was going to strike fear into them, it would be him.
Blackfire only gave her most innocent of smiles and waved a hand to try and dismiss the look she was receiving from the king.
"Why of course. All the more reason to sing it." She said and the white haired king only watched her from where he sat. The humor rushed from her and she pouted, turning her head away from the stare. "Or not."
Malchior let out a large audible sigh as he went back to bouncing the youngster on his knee, Teether seeming to get more agitated by the action. He could feel himself getting closer and closer to losing his patience and he knew that was something he didn't have time to deal with right now. Mumbling a few curses underneath his breath he glared at the goblins around him.
"Someone fix this! Now!" He ordered and everyone in the room tried to search their brains for a song.
Teether screamed louder and Melvin and Timmy only frowned from their spots in the pit. Blackfire glanced around the room as the goblins started to clink pots and pans together. Her violet eyes moved about as she started to remember an old song from years ago that the original goblin king had started. However, getting the new king to sing it would be a great feat. A smirk slowly slid its way along her lips and she kneeled down to look at Melvin.
"You remind me of the babe."
"What babe?" Melvin asked, corking an eyebrow.
"The babe with the power." Blackfire winked.
"What power?" Timmy asked, looking around as if he had missed something. Blackfire just kept singing.
"The power of voodoo!"
"Who do?" The two children queried at the same time.
"You do." Blackfire answered.
"Do what?!" Timmy screamed in annoyance at clearly missing something.
"Remind me of the babe!" The whole room burst into laughter and Teether slowly started to stop crying. Gizmo jumped up on the table and held up his hands.
"Wait! A goblin babe!" The short prodigy pointed and laughed. The room only went quiet and Gizmo grumbled. "Everyone's a critic."
Blackfire smiled and moved to take Malchior's hand into her own, tugging him up from his seat.
"Oh come on Malcie baby! I know there's still an old fun bone buried in that body somewhere!" The onyx haired beauty said as she spun around to the rhythm of the music filling the room. Malchior only glared at the dancing woman and handed her the small child.
"A. Don't ever call me that and B. I am not singing."
"More like can't." The two children said in unison in the pit. The goblin king narrowed his eyes and placed a hand on his hip.
"I have you know every Goblin King has been able to sing. I am greatly known for my voice and everyone attends my Royal bashes just for a tiny spark of hope that I might sing."
"You know I hear a lot of talking but I don't hear any proof." Said Timmy and Melvin nodded in agreement. Anger flashed in the deep blue pools the Goblin King called eyes and he clenched his jaw tightly. He would not be egged into doing something just because two children taunted him. He was not a child and had nothing to prove to them.
"I bet he sounds like a goat." Melvin said and Blackfire and a few other goblins couldn't help but laugh as the redheaded child demonstrated what Melvin had said. So much for not letting the children get underneath his skin.
"I saw my baby! Crying hard as babe could cry. What could I do?" Melvin's mouth dropped open as she stared unbelievably at Malchior. Despite what she would say later on she had to secretly admit his voice was heavenly. He turned his blue eyes towards her and she quickly closed her mouth, trying to look unimpressed. "My baby's love had gone and left my baby blue. Nobody knew!" The goblin king belted out the song and Timmy only cheered him on until he felt an elbow to his side.
"What kind of magic spell to use." Blackfire sung, dancing with Teether in her arms. The small baby giggled and clapped his hands together.
"Slime and snails!" Gizmo yelled until he realized he was singing along and he quickly sat down, covering his mouth.
"Or puppy dog tails'!" Timmy answered and Melvin quickly clamped a hand over his mouth, rolling her eyes. Sometimes boys were more trouble than they were worth.
"Thunder or lightening!" Mammoth added, excited to be part of the sing a long. Malchior smirked and jumped into the pit, leaning in to meet the narrowed eyes of Melvin.
"Then baby said." She said nothing and only crossed her arms over her chest, turning her head away from him. He arched an eyebrow but smirked when Teether spoke in baby speak. One down and two to go, was the King's only though.
"Dance magic dance, magic dance magic dance." Melvin gasped as Timmy ran over to Malchior and the wizard only smirked in victory. Mammoth clapped his hands and reached down to take Timmy from the pit, leaving Melvin glaring from where she stood.
"Put that baby spell on me!" Sung Control freak, his voice clearly not trained in singing.
"Jump magic jump, magic jump, magic jump." Mammoth and Timmy both sung as the wizard watched the child jump giant leapfrogs about the room.
"Put that magic spell on me." Blackfire sung as she tossed Teether into the air, barely catching him as he came back down. The baby laughed and the dark haired girl did the same, dancing in the center of the crowd with the two human boys.
Malchior smirked and looked down to see Melvin refusing to take part in the festivities. Slowly a smirk slid across his lips and he kneeled down to face level with the resisting human.
"Slap that baby! Make him free!" Timmy and the goblins sung before laughing, continuing on with their dance. Melvin only sat in the pit and felt her temper beginning to grow. Her brothers were already acting like one of them and she wasn't sure how much longer she could contain the spell. She missed Raven.
"Don't you want to join in on the fun?" Malchior taunted the girl and Melvin only backed away from him, glaring up defiantly.
"I'll have my own fun when Raven gets here. She'll show you, all of you for taking us!" The song played on and Malchior simply stared down into the blue eyes, the blonde doing the same. They held each other's gaze and seemed to try and weigh who had the stronger will of the duo. Seeing that the child was indeed not going to back down anytime soon, he smiled.
"Yes…I suppose we'll all have fun if she makes it." He said nothing else and stood to his full height. If the child didn't want to give in, so be it. Give it time and the labyrinth would work its spell. It would slowly work its way into her memories and steal them away, turning the girl into a goblin from the inside out.
He made his way from the pit and the blonde haired girl watched him go, trying her hardest to ignore the seed of doubt that had been planted. She frowned and sunk down to the ground, wrapping her arms around her knees. She watched on as her two brothers danced with the goblins and the king took his throne once more. She only hoped Raven was close because she already felt alone and scared more than she ever had in her whole life.
Raven felt her eyebrow twitch as the music blared out overhead and seemed to echo off of the very walls themselves. As if it was not enough to be walking through a deserted maze with no hints of where she was going or where she had been, now she had to do it to bad music.
She stepped in the middle of a four way split and turned around a few times, growling in annoyance. This was going to take forever. That's when the empath got an idea. She started to rummage through her cloak and came out with a marker. Melvin's constant need to write or draw something finally seemed to come in handy. Raven kneeled down and drew a large red arrow on the ground before she took to the upper right path.
She never noticed as the three inch white haired goblin lifted the tile above his head, shaking his fist at her. He shouted something in a British accent before muttering to himself. He got up from the hole and spun the tiny guitar around on his small frame as he dragged the tile to flip it over. Jumping back into the hole he shook his fist at her one more time before being careful not to ruin his spiky white hair, lowering himself back into the darkness.
Raven came to split and looked right to left before choosing the left side. She marked the tile with another red arrow and started down the pathway. Once more another three inch goblin jumped up and cursed things a child should never hear or say. Grumbling the bulky yet small goblin easily spun the tile around and started to walk his black leather cladded form down the opening.
Raven glanced right to left again and was beginning to get annoyed at the lack of choices. Sighing she chose to go left and drew another arrow. This time both of the tiny goblins showed up and started to turn the tile, the bulky gray skinned goblin almost taking the head off of the other. The white haired goblin yelled in a squeaky voice and the red eyed goblin only shrugged an apology. Punk Rocker only waved it off and Johnny Rancid smirked as they jumped down into hiding.
The empath sighed as she came to a dead end and turned around, her eyes widen at what she saw. Her arrows were pointing all in different ways then she had originally drawn them on. Growling she snapped the pen in half and grounded her teeth.
"This is ridiculous! That's not even fair!" Complained the empath and laughter drifted over her shoulder.
"That's right. It's not fair but it happens, doll." Whirling around she saw two doors in front of her. In front of each door stood a guard with a shield in between them. Above the shield was a head from the shoulders up and it was the same down below it. The shields themselves were two different colors, one a red and the other a blue. It reminded the empath of the face cards you see on a deck of playing cards, each set holding a lance. Four sets of eyes watched her and she pinched the brim of her nose.
"Great. Just great." All four faces of the cards grinned.
A/n: muhahahaha Malchior singing... That scene was just hard to write.
I'm thinking about putting this story on hiatus for two reasons. One it's not really getting many reads and two… yes I admit it, I think I've bitten off more than I could chew. Bouncing back between this story and the Hunchback one is like a ongoing battle. Originally I didn't think this story would be so long but what can I saw… I write too much? So I suppose we shall see! Thanks for everyone who has reviewed so far and even started on my other stories (or have already read them). You guys are awesome! 3