Family History

By SkItZoFrEaK

Note: The following story is merely the product of a few minutes' scribbling in a notebook one whimsical evening. The reader is cautioned that it is a short tale, highly irreverent and intended for entertainment purposes only. Any attempt to attach significant meaning or underlying symbolism by the reader will result in a lot of people in dark suits with serious expressions showing up with heavy briefcases and lots of legal jargon. Also, the author claims no responsibility for any emotional, psychological, or physical damage caused as a result of reading this story. Any attempts to cruelly criticize or in other ways attack this story and the author behind it will be duly noted, and the author wishes it to be known that while she is bowing her apologies to the attacker, she is secretly laughing at them behind their back, along with the rest of the literary world. Thank you, and have a nice day.

Tale One

A long time ago, the Labyrinth was just that - a labyrinth. There were, of course, still tricks and traps galore, as any good labyrinth worth the name has. But no magic. Walls didn't move haphazardly, doors didn't pop in and out of existence at random, and so on. The Labyrinth was untamed and dangerous as ever, but a far cry from the 'wondrous' or even 'awe-inspiring' that many call it by now.

The very first Goblin King to rule this labyrinth was a fae, who had two children - a son and a daughter. The son was the king's favored child; he was intelligent, shrewd, and full of magical potential. And as the eldest child, he was, of course, the throne's heir. The daughter, on the other hand, was too much like her mother for the king's liking, and was often shunted aside. Her isolation and rejection made her a nasty, bitter kid - well, actually, they were really just excuses for being that way. You should know that she wasn't all that great a person to begin with, before you go making her the 'tragic heroine' or anything.

Anyway, the children 1 were playing in the Labyrinth one day, leading a poor mortal whose name has been lost to history horribly off course, when they accidentally activated one of the Labyrinth's cleaners. The boy narrowly escaped from killing himself. The King was furious when he found out about it, and naturally blamed it all on the girl. After all, if her brother died, she would be in line for the throne. Now, the girl was innocent of the crime charged her, but when her father accused her of attempted fratricide, she screamed at him that she hadn't tried to kill anyone-but she did wish they would both die.

Now, everyone knows that children are apt to say hateful things like this when they are put on the defensive - and that's all this declaration was - a simple childish vent. However, it was all the King needed to confirm his 'fears' that his daughter was a danger to the crown prince. So he locked the girl in a dark cellar under the castle, ordered an old crone goblin to tend the child, and there she stayed.

Several centuries passed 2 and the children both grew in power - so much so that the girl (whom the King had pretty much forgotten about) managed to escape her dungeon. Though no, she had not forgotten HIM. You can just see the clouds of 'Revenge' floating out of her ears, can't you? But right then, after such a long imprisonment in the cellar, she was still a touch too weak to take on dear old dad, and definitely not her brother into the bargain. So off she went out of the story to sulk a while. Some say that when she left she went down to Hell to make a bargain with the devil, but actually, she just went to the nearby Castle of the Fae.

She took a lover and had a child, a boy, and his birth gave her the tool she needed to usurp the Goblin Throne. Children, especially Fae children, are generators of great amounts of raw power. The theory behind this is that the young don't know what cannot be accomplished, and so they are capable of doing it. Or others say that since Fae newborn children carry portions of their parents' souls along with their own, thus making them that much stronger - but whatever the reason, the baby was the Goblin princesses key to revenge.

She cared for the child in the Fae kingdom until he was ninety years old 3, and then took him back to kill her family. It was a silly plan, really; even a Fae baby has very little power in comparison to two fully grown male Fae. It was a suicide mission for the deposed princess.

It damn near worked.

Those afore-mentioned males had quite literally forgotten their daughter/sister 4. Plus, they were overly confident in their abilities, in their invincible strength. One luxury a King - or Prince - should never indulge in. Not if they enjoy life, anyway.

The woman's hate, rage, and newly acquired maternal instinct (a formidable force in it's own right) blasted her brother the prince to smithereens before either of them could blink. The King was a bit surprised, and not to mention rather put out at not having an heir anymore 5. So now he was less than pleased - to be honest, he was pissed, and the force of his anger nullified the daughter's advantage. She, however, being of a stubborn stock, refused to back down. She'd waited a long time for her revenge, and while she no longer held an advantage over her father, they were evenly matched, and she wasn't going to get that opportunity again any time soon. If ever.

So they fought.

And what a brawl it was. It lasted about six months 6, destroyed the entire castle and good chunk of the land around it. It didn't quite obliterate the entire Labyrinth, but that wasn't due to a lack of trying on either combatant's part. Doubtless, had they been left to their own devices, the whole kingdom's fate would have involved rapidly decomposing to about the size of a dust mote in a flower fairy's eye.

Fate, it seems, had different ideas.

The Queen stepped in.

Now, it just happened that the Goblin King's wife was a goddess from a religion that died a few millennia ago. But at that time, it was still going strong, and so was she. Her name was Siveina, a goddess of chaos (which, considering her offspring, explains a lot). While she was definitely a big fan of discord - and boy was there discord abounding - she happened to LIKE the Labyrinth and besides, even a goddess of chaos occasionally feels the need to do her duty. And she was Queen.

So, Siveina decided to set things right. Her husband 7 she banished out of the Labyrinth forever, but not without first taking away his power and longevity, reducing him to a mortal (hey, no one said goddesses were all that nice either). As for her daughter - well, the girl had already been mortally wounded in the battle 8.

Siveina, surprisingly practical considering the whole 'chaos and disorder' gig, took her daughter's soul and melded it with the life force and power she had taken from the former Goblin King. That mix she cast into the Labyrinth, giving the maze a sort of 'essence' of it's own - a wild, magical, occasionally vindictive and always unpredictable 'awareness.'

Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it), since most of the essence came from Siveina's daughter, the only ones who could control it were Siveina herself, and the baby (you haven't forgotten him already, have you?).

Now, it would be nice to say that Siveina stayed in the Labyrinth, raising and nurturing her grandson until he grew to be a fine young man capable of handling his throne. However, goddesses of chaos being what they are - she didn't. Raise your hand if you are shocked. Oh, put your hand down already. Smart alec. Yeah, you. In the back. Go back to sleep.

Anyway, Siveina left her grandson in Oberon's care and took off within the hour, to go...wherever it is goddesses of her religion hung out. Eventually, her religion died out, and she with it. But that's another tale.

The boy grew up in the Fae kingdom - sort of. He was supposed to grow up in the Fae kingdom, under his uncle's watchful eye. Most of the time, however, he would slip away back to his own realm, to play there in the slowly rejuvenating ruins (remember, the Labyrinth now had a primitive consciousness of it's own, so it could rebuild itself). The boy - Jareth, by the by, in case you're still wandering - had several interesting adventures in his youth...but those tales, too, will keep for another time.

1 Only about three centuries old- ten and eleven by mortal maturity.

2 Equivalent to about fifteen years in Fae time

3 Barely a toddler

4 You would too after 8 centuries - admit it

5 If you thought he'd be upset about the whole my-only-son-just-got-murdered-before-my-eyes thing, then you haven't been paying attention

6 Hours to the Fae

7 With the help of his nephew, Oberon, King of the Fae

8 For the record, had her mother NOT intervened, she would have died within the hour