[starter for @dont-defy-me , recycled from my first two posts from a dead thread. Marvel Comics: Earth 616 and Labyrinth crossover. Lots of allusions to past RP with @the-accursed, who is... probably like Tess’ own baby-eating Jareth. Everything was done with permission and discussed with the muns beforehand!]
Years earlier, Sarah Williams had left the Goblin King’s realm a bit older, a bit wiser, and bearing treasures far more valuable than any king could offer: a baby boy in a striped jumpsuit and a growing understanding of her own power. All of fifteen at the time, the girl who believed in stories left a permanent mark upon the kingdom and its people. She’d won, after all, and in a sense, turned her back on Jareth himself. No one brushed him aside lightly: not young girls, not leather-faced caretakers, and certainly not his own subjects. That glittering realm--bewitching and horrifying in turn--remembered.
In contrast, Tess McKay would be remembered for the way she’d literally come falling out of nowhere, brown arms and legs windmilling in the air and coarse red hair streaming behind her like a banner in the seconds before she plunged into the Bog of Eternal Stench. (There was a story behind her own arrival, but then, there was always a story that came ‘before’.) She disappeared beneath the surface with an indignified flrrrrrrrppppt!, stunned by the impact and the sheer, unimaginable reek of the bubbling mud sucking her down.
(Normally, there would be a fine, noble knight guarding the nearby bridge. Unfortunately, he was away for his sister’s wedding at the time, and--well. Suffice to say, the hero left to stand in his place over the next few days had already proven less than heroic; the bridge was unguarded, and no one was going to help Tess from the bog but Tess herself.)
God, she’d never smelled anything like it, she realized, coming back to herself in a horrible moment of awareness that left her gagging, kicking toward the shore as she fought for survival against the last clever fart joke the universe had left to offer. The will to live was all well and good. However, it was only due to a conveniently fallen tree half-stuck in the bog that she was able to claw her way free as she was: very human, going blind from the fumes, and no longer able to smell anything at all.
The mutant rolled from her tree bridge the second she reached the shoreline, landing belly first and retching. Small twigs snapped beneath her weight, and a less than solid patch of ground gave a mocking ‘braaap!’ as she did so.
‘Dark elves,’ she thought viciously--or would have if she were able to acknowledge anything but the desperate need to breathe in-between bouts of vomiting. (Tess couldn’t see anything, and her eyes burned--) ‘Goddamned baby-eating eating dark elves- and their goddamned sociopathic man-child sorcerer-king.’
While scrabbling along the ground with shit-green fingers sinking into the soil, the very real danger she was in ceased to matter. She couldn’t think of anything at all but the need to breathe fresh, clean air, or of the sudden pain that caused her bones to creak and grind together. There was a gray haze before her: nothing where she ought to be able to see at least blurred shapes after scrubbing her face “clean” using her hands. It was going to happen, right then and there. Hellfire and damnation and–
By the time her womanskin was on the ground–scraps of human skin, bright red hair, and scattered teeth–the beast had already forgotten the madness that had swept up “Tess” seconds ago. She gave her great, iron-gray body a shake. A long, dripping tongue snapped out to taste the air. As enormous back feet sank into the mire, the bog released a booming flrrrrt! that shook the branches of half-dead trees. With a faint growl of disgust, she shook again and ambled forward a few paces, trailing bits of… stench behind her. Loud and quite visible to those in the city, she loomed over ancient stone walls.
[x]
Guards patrolling the outskirts atop their wart-covered mounts rushed forward, chittering and bitching. (One had the good sense to inform its companies that “Ach! I don’t get paid enough for this job!” before skittering off in the opposite direction.) Spiked armor and all, she snapped a couple up, swallowing them whole. Others were sent flying by the sweep of her tail as she turned in a circle, yawning.
Sarah Williams had entered the outskirts of the Goblin City with shoulders squared and head held high; Tess McKay’s arrival was heralded by an earth-shaking bogfart and a snack of goblins. The earth shook beneath her weight as she flopped down, growling irritably as goblin guards continued to poke and prod without success.
Despite the books she now wrote, Sarah had never dreamed about the Labyrinth. Not once in all the years since it happened. Perhaps if she’d thought about it long enough it would’ve seemed odd, but she never really had. The dreams, when they finally came, began somewhat abruptly, and whenever Sarah awoke from one she was left feeling...uneasy. At first she ignored it. After all, they were only dreams...right? But after the fourth night in a row, the woman was beginning to get the unsettling feeling that she shouldn’t be ignoring them. The more she thought about it, the less she was able to focus on other things. No writing got done, and she burned herself twice while trying to bake cookies in an effort to get her mind on something else. When bedtime finally rolled back around the woman made herself a promise - if she dreamed about the Labyrinth again, then she’d try to do something about it. But she had to be sure…
Turning out the light, the author drifted off into a restless sleep...and once again the same dream sought her out. The passageways were darker…more sinister than she ever recalled them being during her original ordeal. Some parts were familiar, some weren’t, but one thing remained the same - Sarah felt like she was the only living thing left in the Labyrinth. No eyes watched her from the walls, no birds flew through the air. And it was so very quiet - quiet enough that it seemed as if the sound of her footsteps alone would awaken something she didn’t want woken. Jareth had intimidated her, but this…this truly scared the woman.
As Sarah walked the various mazes and corridors, she sensed she should be looking for something. Not Toby…not this time. But whatever it was felt equally important. As if not finding it would be disastrous - not just for her, but for the entire realm. Then the dream changed. She was no longer searching…she was running - being chased by something she couldn’t see or hear. Fingers tangled in her hair…pulling her back...and Sarah jolted awake with a soft cry still on her lips. She sat there for a moment, her resolve wavering. After so long, what could she possibly do? Her friends, for whatever reason, had stopped answering her calls long ago. She could always go straight to the source, of course...summon the Goblin King himself. Although she was skeptical her call would be answered by him either...they hadn't exactly parted on the best of terms, after all.
“What have you got to lose?” she asked herself out loud. “He’ll either answer or he won’t. If nothing happens, then no harm done...and if Jareth appears…? Well, then...maybe the Labyrinth really is in trouble.” Finally convincing herself, the woman got up, still in her pjs, and made a pot of coffee. If she was going to do this, then she could at least have a bit of caffeine in her system first. Once the coffee was made and in her hands, Sarah sat down at the kitchen table, took a deep breath, and said the only thing she could think of. “I wish…” She hesitated, looking around her kitchen for a moment, not entirely sure she felt ready for what would happen if her summons actually worked. Taking a sip of her coffee to steady her resolve, the author started over. “I wish the Goblin King were here...right now…”
