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Loki was ten years old the first time his brother wished him away to the goblins. It was a cold, midwinter day, with snow heavy on the ground, and despite the leaden skies promising yet more snow, he and Thor had been throwing snowballs at one another for hours. Loki seemed to have a talent for them that Thor did not, and while Thor held his own for a time, eventually Loki lobbed a snowball that smacked Thor right in the face. As he laughed in delight -- it was a rare thing for him to get one over on his elder brother -- he heard Thor shout something about the goblin king, and then a dozen strange little creatures were dragging him away.
Despite his best efforts, and all the little tricks he had learned from both his armsmaster and his mother, he could not free himself from their grasp, and before long they had transported him elsewhere. He knew by the taste of the magics in the air -- so different from the enchantments that his mother had been teaching him -- that he was no longer in Asgard.
Even though there was no uniformity to their appearance, he recognized the creatures chivvying him along as goblins. The wizened old woman who served as his and Thor's nurse had regaled her charges with nighttime tales of creatures that could hide anywhere and carry off the unwanted.
His lip wobbled at that thought. Nobody wanted him? By the time the goblins deposited him in a stone room containing a great, carved stone throne, tears were slipping down his face, though he never made any noise. He had long since learned to hide any weakness from Thor and Thor's friends.
A huge man wtih bright red hair and beard occupied the stone throne. He looked not unlike the portraits Loki had seen of his grandfather Bors, though this man did not sport Bors' tusked helm. Loki had some vague notion that King Bors had done something terribly impressive in the past, but couldn't quite remember what it had been.
"So, lads," the man said, after a moment in which he and Loki stared at one another, "it seems we have another candidate here."
The goblins behind Loki tittered. He reddened. He hated being laughed at.
He straightened, dashed the tears from his face, and pulled all of his ten-year-old dignity around himself. "If you please, sir, I am Loki of Asgard. If you'll be kind enough to show me the way back, I'm sure my father would be grateful."
The big man's eyes narrowed. "Asgard, eh? And who is your father, little Loki?"
"Odin," Loki replied proudly.
"Oho, boys," the big man crowed. "We have a prince among us!"
The goblins' cheering was even worse than their laughter.
"Let me go at once! I am a prince of Asgard!"
"No, I don't think so, little prince," the man said. "I am king in the Underground, not Odin All-Father. Here, my laws rule, and one of the laws of the Underground is that anyone wished away is mine by right. Someone wished you away, and here you'll stay -- unless someone comes to claim you within thirteen hours. If not, you'll become a goblin like the rest." He waved a hand at the creatures populating the throne room.
Loki took one look at the twisted, wizened, leering goblins around him and threw his head back, howling a single word. "Heimdall!"
The king tched and wagged his finger. "None of that now, boyo. Yon gatekeeper may be able to see everywhere, but he has no power here. The Bifrost cannot reach the Underground."
"The Bifrost, perhaps, cannot, but I can." A tall woman garbed in emerald green glided into the room. Elaborate honey-amber braids piled atop her head gave the impression of a crown, though the only jewels she wore were stones the color of her gown at ears and throat and a great gold ring on one slender finger.
"Mother!" Loki ran to her side and clutched her hand. "Save me! He said I was going to be a goblin!"
"Hush, now, my son," Frigga replied gently. "Why don't you go over there for a few moments and let me speak with King Gilleth. I won't be far away."
Loki reluctantly let go of his mother's hand. He recognized the difference between his mother's tone and Queen Frigga's, and right now, she was the latter. "Yes, Mother."
He retreated, choosing a corner of the room free of goblins, where two small curled carvings projected up from the floor like upside down corbels. He fitted himself between the carvings, watching his mother carefully as she and the king spoke in low voices. They had been talking for perhaps five minutes when a short, sharp hissing noise startled him.
"Move it, would you? I can't get this door open with you standing right there like a great lump."
Loki turned. There was, indeed, a small door in the wall behind him -- a door he would have sworn was not there before -- and an eye peering out. He moved quickly aside, and the door opened fully to reveal a small stone passageway. A boy of about Loki's age crawled out on his hands and knees, then stood up with a grin. Mismatched eyes -- one hazel, one pale blue -- peered out of a grubby face crowned by a shock of blond hair festooned with cobwebs.
"You're new," the boy said in a whisper, with a glance toward where Frigga and King Gilleth were still speaking quietly. "I'm Jareth."
"Loki." He kept his own voice to a whisper.
"Were you wished away?"
"So I'm told." Loki said.
Jareth cocked his head. "Do you know who?"
Loki wasn't stupid. His eyes narrowed. "My brother," he practically hissed. "Thor. I heard him say that right before those creatures started dragging me away."
Jareth eyed him critically. "You don't look like you're turning into a goblin. Everyone who gets wished away gets turned into a goblin. Unless someone comes for them."
"My mother came," Loki said. He didn't want to be a goblin -- and why should he be the one turned into a goblin? Shouldn't that be Thor's fate?
Jareth eyed the adults again. "The lady talking to my father is your mother? She's pretty."
"He's your father?" Loki asked at the same time.
"This is boring," Jareth declared. "Wanna go climb around in the tunnels with me?"
Loki looked over his shoulder. "My mother told me to stay here."
Jareth shrugged. "Suit yourself. They're going to be talking for hours, if she's trying to talk Father out of turning you into a goblin."
Loki wavered, then looked over his shoulder again. The adults did look like they were going to be talking for a while and he'd rather be having fun than waiting around nervously to see if he was going to be turned into a goblin. He looked back at Jareth and nodded.
The other boy grinned and dropped back to his knees. He reopened the door, which, Loki noted, had vanished as soon as it was closed. "This is a secret door," he said over his shoulder. "I'm the only one who knows about it. C'mon!"
Loki followed Jareth on hands and knees into the tiny tunnel.
By the time a bright thread of green magic beckoned him back into the throne room, Jareth had shown him nearly all the secret passages in the castle. He was filthy, hungry, thirsty, and in a much better mood than he had been. He and Jareth were also fast friends.
~*~*~
Thor's punishment for wishing Loki away had been to lose many of his privileges for a month -- something Loki thought comparatively light for almost getting him turned into a goblin. For a while, he refused to play with Thor or even acknowledge his brother, but he couldn't maintain his facade of indifference forever, and when Thor's punishment ended, the brothers were back on good terms.
Winter turned to summer and Loki and Thor's nurse took them outside as often as possible, so she could doze in the bright sunshine. They often played hide-and-seek, or chased after birds, or held races -- sometimes on foot, sometimes on their ponies. Today, having played hide-and-seek until they grew bored, they were now racing one another to see who was most fleet of foot, with the winner getting the loser's desserts for a month. As they raced side by side, Loki drew a little ahead. He was thinking with a grin of all the sweets he would be able to enjoy when something hit him hard in the back, tumbling him to the ground. Thor ran past, laughing over his shoulder.
Loki got to his feet and charged after his brother, incensed at Thor's cheating. Just as Thor was about to cross the finish line, Loki narrowed his eyes and twisted his fingers. A silken skein of green light twined briefly about Thor's ankles, and it was his turn to fall to the ground. Loki skimmed past him, winning the race just as Thor climbed to his feet with a scowl.
"Cheater!" he yelled. "I wish the goblins would come and take you away right now!"
Loki was immediately surrounded by misshapen little creatures who dragged him away. His last sight of Thor was oddly satisfying: His brother actually looked panic-stricken.
When the goblins deposited Loki in the stone-walled throne room in the Underground, he immediately made a deep and proper bow.
"I bring you greetings, lord king, from the court of Asgard." Thor had been bored by them, but Loki remembered well his mother's instructions in courtly behavior.
"Little prince! Well, well, your mother was right, it seems!"
"Right about what, your majesty?"
"Never you mind, prince. Just a matter between your mother and me." He clapped his hands together loudly. "Show the little prince to the kitchens."
"This way, prince." One of the goblins took his hand and led him from the throne room.
"Why the kitchens?" Loki had sudden visions of being made into a stew.
"King's orders," the goblin replied shortly.
Loki started to pull against its hold, but its grip was like iron and he was unable to free himself. When the goblin deposited him in the kitchen, he stared a moment, surprised. He had expected some nasty, smoky, horrible den with fires roaring on huge open hearths and spits being turned by more goblins, perhaps with other unfortunate wished away boys trussed to them. Instead, the kitchen was bright, clean, and open, and he smelled bread baking. All the people he could see working were people like himself. The goblin led him to a small table with two chairs in an out of the way corner. There was a plate of cakes and a glass of milk on the table.
"Sit," the goblin said. "Eat. Wait."
"Wait?" Loki asked, confused.
"For someone to come."
Loki sat. The goblin departed. None of the others in the kitchen paid him any heed, even when he reached out and took a cake. He nibbled at it and found it the equal of anything produced by the kitchens of his father's palace. He set to, but had only finished the first cake when Jareth appeared. The boy entered the kitchen normally, through the door, and this time, he was as clean as he had been filthy before, though his blonde hair still stuck out every which way.
He wandered over to the table, taking the other chair and three of the cakes.
"Wished away again?" he asked, stuffing a cake in his mouth.
Loki nodded. "My brother is a bilgesnipe. He cheated, then got mad when I cheated back."
Jareth nodded noncommittally. "Want to see the stairs?"
"Why would I want to see the stairs?"
"They're not like normal stairs. They're special."
Loki shrugged. "All right, then."
"Follow me." Jareth grinned. The expression on his elfin face with its pointed features and sharply angled brows was slightly malevolent. Loki didn't mind. He was feeling slightly malevolent himself. Thor had better take care when Loki returned to Asgard. He stuffed the rest of the cakes in his pouch and followed the other boy.
The stairs were, as Jareth had promised, special. A whole cavernous chamber was composed of nothing but staircases all set at weird angles to each other. From the door where they stood, Loki could see stairs going up, down, and sideways. Some even appeared to be coming right out of the ceiling, and none of them seemed to actually be going anywhere.
"Catch me!" Jareth called, disappearing down a staircase to his left only to reappear upside down over Loki's head, as if he were hanging from the ceiling by his toes. Loki's eyes darted around, and, choosing a staircase that seemed likely to bring him out ahead of Jareth, he gave chase.
Although he did his best, he could never quite catch the other boy, who knew the stairs far better than he did. After a while, by mutual agreement, they stopped to rest, sitting at the edge of a deep well in which Loki could see even more staircases. As they shared the cakes from his pouch, Loki realized with a shiver that he didn't know where the door was.
"How do we get out?"
Jareth shrugged. "I always know the way out." He pointed. "See over there? That's it. The stairs like me, so I always know which way to go."
"How can the stairs like you?" Loki protested. "They're stairs."
"This is the Underground," Jareth replied, waving spread hands. "Everything in the Underground is a little alive, even the Castle."
"I don't understand," Loki admitted. "When my mother took me home before, I looked for the Underground in all the maps in my father's library. I found Vanaheim and Alfheim and Asgard, and Midgard and all the other Realms, but I couldn't find the Underground."
Jareth shrugged again. "That's because the Underground isn't on maps. It's just everywhere. It touches every Realm. That's how the goblins can come and drag you off without the Bifrost."
"I wish I could do that," Loki said. "The Bifrost is fun, but it requires Heimdall's approval."
"I can show you the goblinways." Jareth scrambled to his feet. "Follow me!"
Loki got up to follow, but just then the magic of his mother's summons touched him. He sighed heavily. "My mother is here. I have to go."
"When will you come back?" Jareth asked plaintively. Loki realized all at once that he hadn't seen any other children here and wondered if Jareth was a lonely as he sometimes felt, even with his brother around.
"When my brother wishes me away again, I suppose," he replied with a shrug. "Maybe I can talk to my mother about visiting the normal way."
"That would be good," Jareth said.
~*~*~
Loki had no need to speak to Frigga about visiting the Underground because for a time, Thor wished him away every other month or so. It was as if Thor, having suffered no real consequences for wishing him away the first two times, wanted to see if the goblins would finally decide to keep Loki if he just kept trying.
And so Loki would annoy Thor, Thor would make his wish, and an escort of goblins would appear to take Loki to the Underground. Once there, he was met by Jareth, and the two boys would proceed to have an adventure of some sort, whether it was outracing the little gnomes who ran the cleaning machines in the tunnels beneath the Labyrinth, playing goblin polo in the hedge maze, dicing with the Fireys, or throwing themselves into the pit of the Helping Hands. They roved the Underground, including the Labyrinth and goblin city, freely, and gradually, Loki learned his way around.
He had discovered by his fourth or fifth visit that his mother had made some arrangement with King Gelleth to keep him from becoming a goblin and to keep Thor from having to solve the Labyrinth in order to get him back. He never knew exactly what the arrangement was, but he didn't mind. He didn't even mind being wished away all that much because it got him away from Thor and his friends.
By the time Loki was fourteen, Jareth had thoroughly acquainted him with the Underground. He could solve the Labyrinth even when it or the creatures living in it actively tried to prevent him. He always remembered what Jareth had once told him about the Underground being a little alive, though, so he always went out of his way to be well-mannered and polite. After all, it was nice to have something friendly to him for himself, unlike those who were friendly to him only because he was Odin's son or Thor's brother.
~*~*~
The last time Thor wished Loki away, only a single goblin appeared. "Follow, please, prince," it said.
Loki sighed and dropped his book on his bed. "Very well, then."
He paid attention, this time, to the ways in which the goblin led him, committing each turn and door and shift to memory. As had become the routine for these visits, the goblin led him straight to the kitchen.
Loki took a seat at the little table, and a few minutes later the goblin returned with a plate piled high with cakes and a glass of milk. It set them in front of Loki.
"Wait, please, prince," it said, then left him there.
It wasn't long before Jareth wandered into the kitchen. "Your brother isn't very nice," he observed, as he plunked himself down into the chair opposite Loki.
"I am aware."
"What was it this time?"
"I don't even know," Loki said, frustration bleeding into his tone. "I wasn't even anywhere near him -- I was reading in my own room."
"Well, that's hardly fair." Jareth bit into a cake. "I know I promised you that I'd show you the secret way to Asgard, but my father is making your brother run the Labyrinth to 'rescue' you. I thought you'd like to go watch."
Loki bit his lip. He loved secrets -- loved knowing things that other people did not -- and he had really been looking forward to learning how to travel in such a way that not even Heimdall could see him. On the other hand, he would really enjoy seeing Thor humiliated -- he had no doubt that Jareth's father intended to teach Thor a lesson. Whether or not his thick-skulled brother would learn it, though, was an entirely other thing.
He looked up to find Jareth studying him. "Come on," the other prince said abruptly. "We'll go watch just until it gets boring, or until he falls into the oubliette or something."
"He can stay in the oubliette forever for all I care," Loki muttered.
"That is what it's for," Jareth said over his shoulder.
Jareth's rooms were at the top of the castle, quite close to the Chamber of Stairs. The entirety of the Labyrinth was laid out beneath his window and some sort of Underground magic made it so that wherever they directed their gaze, that part of the Labyrinth was magnified. It was like hovering directly above the action.
They watched Thor blundering around the Labyrinth for a while, Jareth absently twirling a crystal sphere in his fingers. Loki took out a tiny dagger and started flipping it. He had seen a juggler doing it and thought it was an impressive move. After numerous cuts and several blades dulled from being repeatedly dropped, he was getting quite good at it.
Unlike Loki, Thor was not a patient boy and had no head for riddles. He tried to smash his way through things, and, as predicted, he tumbled headfirst into the oubliette before too long. Loki laughed as Thor realized that the only way out was the trapdoor through which he had fallen. He tried jumping and climbing the sheer walls and then just beating on them to no avail, until he finally slumped to the floor, sulking.
The boys were turning from the window when there was a crack of thunder and a surge of darkness below the castle, like lightning turned inside out. When it cleared, a figure on a many-legged horse sat there, armed and armored as if for battle, a winged helm on his head and a long golden spear in his hand. Jareth bobbled his crystal, but Loki sheathed his dagger with a groan.
"Who is it?" Jareth asked, pulling a fresh crystal from the air.
"My father." Loki scowled. "He's come for Thor. He doesn't need the Bifrost or the goblinways to travel where he will. It's not fair! Thor never has to abide by the rules and Father is always there to rescue him. Why didn't he come for me?"
"Your mother came," Jareth pointed out.
"Mother always has to come for me," Loki said bitterly. "Father always sides with Thor."
"I have heard my father say many times that life isn't fair," Jareth said. "Perhaps he's right." He was silent for a moment. "You know what would be funny?" He didn't wait for Loki to respond. "If you were already home by the time Thor got there."
Loki grinned.
Thor never did learn how Loki managed to beat him back to Asgard. He was quite put out about it, too, and stomped off angrily when he saw Loki artfully lounging on a bench with his book. Odin only looked between his sons and grunted, before striding away to disarm. But after that, Thor didn't wish Loki away again -- though that didn't stop the travel between Asgard and the Underground, for true to his promise, Jareth had shown Loki the goblinways between their two realms.
~*~*~
Loki leaned against the railing on a balcony high over the practice yard, idly watching Thor and Volstagg bash at one another while boasting of their prowess and laughing. Nearby, Fandral and Hogun circled one another with the slender fencing blades that Fandral -- and Loki himself, for that matter -- favored. Sif stood off to one side, her dark eyes never leaving Thor.
Loki registered the presence of someone nearby right before Jareth said, "Who is she?"
"Lady Sif," he answered, glancing at his friend. He shook his head at Jareth's expression. "Whatever you're thinking, you may as well forget it. She only has eyes for my brother. The entertaining aspect is that he cares for her only as a comrade in arms."
"That's entertaining?"
Loki shrugged. "One finds one's enjoyment where one can. Thor's friends -- supposedly my friends -- are not particularly kind, so it can be fun to watch them tie themselves in knots as Sif is doing."
"What a pity," Jareth said, his eyes still on the comely Sif.
"What brings you to Asgard?" Loki asked, turning from the farce below.
It was Jareth's turn to shrug. "You haven't visited in a while."
It had been years since Thor had last wished Loki away to the goblins. Loki's friendship with Jareth -- now King of the Underground -- had never waned. It was, in fact, the only friendship that was his alone. The rest of his "friends," were people who suffered him because he was Thor's brother.
"And also," Jareth said, a bit louder, "I wished to pay my respects to your lady mother."
"Hello, Jareth. I thought I sensed your presence. How lovely of you to visit." Frigga smiled and held out her hand. Jareth pressed a courtly kiss to the back.
"Good day to you, my lady. You grow ever more radiant."
"Flatterer." Frigga looked from Jareth to Loki and back again. "I trust you two are behaving yourselves?"
Loki wore his most innocent expression. "Of course, Mother. How could you think otherwise?"
Frigga laughed and kissed Loki on the cheek. "Because I know you, my son." She stepped back. "I know both of you. Behave yourselves, if you please." She gently shook her finger at both of them before gliding off.
"Let's go cause some mischief," Jareth said, as Asgard's queen disappeared into the distance. "I know these two clans on Midgard that are absolutely crazy about this bull...."
Loki looked back over his shoulder to the courtyard where Thor and his friends were enjoying themselves. Even though he did love his brother, he had always fit in better with Jareth than with Thor and his friends, and if they hadn't missed him already, then they never would. He grinned at the Goblin King.
"Tell me more," he said, as the two sauntered toward the goblinways together.