Viri: Ok, people, now for some diversity, in this chapter we got some Jareth, just so you know, Jareth's parts always come after whatever he's talking about, so nothings happening twice, its just his POV. In this chapter, we also have some new places, and your first glimpse of the living labyrinth. Have fun!

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Something was watching. As two girls and a King appeared on the hill, it watched. It observed their trek through the outer twists and turns of the near impossible maze. It saw them solve every puzzle thrown at them.  It noticed their strategies, and the labyrinth shifted to accommodate. Deep in the darkness in the center of the labyrinth, under the magnificent castle, something thought. Something felt.

The Labyrinth always kept watch…

***

Jareth

I transported myself back to my throne room and plopped myself down in my throne, throwing one leg over the arm of the throne, the other one bent close to my chest. I changed out of my clothes to put on my more casual, and comfortable ones: Gray tights, with a poets blouse, a leather vest, my boots, and of course, my infamous pendant. 'Damn it,' I thought, 'Why do I always have to be like that. Two beautiful young girls wish themselves away to my kingdom, a chance for me to finally forget about Sarah, and I blow it. And neither of them will ever like me if all I appear to be is the nasty, cold-hearted Goblin King. Why can't I ever let anybody see the real me? I don't even give them a chance to get to know me, but I can't help it; Not after how I've been hurt in the past. Maybe that is all I really am now. A cold icy Goblin King.'

I looked around the room at my goblins, the other creatures that ever saw the real me, and that always seemed to sense what I was feeling. Even if they could be a little dense at times. Most of them were eating or drinking but a few were huddled together playing, what appeared to be, a very serious game of cards. Then there were some that had come to seat around me, on the floor and on the arms of my throne, just to rest for awhile.

"Well, let's see how far my lovely ladies have gotten." I said as I materialized a crystal and gazed into it. As they came into focus I realized that they were walking on top of the walls. Outraged, I sprang out of my throne,

"They can't do that! That's against the rules! I forbid it. I bet that Jennifer thought of it, she doesn't seem to like me very much. Well, let's see how they handle this!' I twirled the crystal around my fingers which caused the wall they were on to shift positions. I quickly glanced back into the crystal, they were both a little shaky but neither of them lost their balance. I made it so I was able to hear what they were saying

"That would have caused a lot of trouble for us if we had been down there. Ha, Jareth. Thought you had us there? Well, we're too smart for ya." Jennifer grinned smugly

'She definitely doesn't like me, and nobody is to smart for me, no matter how many times they tell themselves that. Alright Jennifer, if you are to smart for me then how are you going to deal with this?' I waved my hand over the crystal again and made the wall disappear from underneath their feet. I looked at the crystal and saw that Christina had landed on her feet, Jennifer, however, landed on her backside. 

"Look at that: Jennifer fell, and I've annoyed her." I laughed, my goblins just stared at me, dumbfounded. "Well...laugh!"

***

Jen

Apparently no one cared whether it was fair or not. I tried to grab the side of the tunnel, and grasped a pair of hands. Stina kept falling, until she was out of sight down the pit. Then a bunch of other hands grabbed me. This was not what I wanted.

"Hey! What're you doing. Get your hands off of- Hey, buster, HANDS OFF! This is a severe violation of my personal space!" I yelled and flailed my legs about.

"We're trying to help you!" A cluster of hands said. "We're helpi-"

"Yeah, yeah, helping hands I know. Up, bring me up!" The hands sounded disappointed

"Up? She chose up… But the other one chose down!" They said as they moved me back up to the top of the tunnel.

'Down?! Why did she choose down?' I asked myself. 'Because down is where Jareth was in the movie, that's why!' I answered myself quickly. The hands built up speed and hurled me out of the pit before I could change my decision to "Down."

"Stina?!" I called down the deep hole. There was no answer, other than the irritating laughter of the "Helping" hands. I stepped back towards the hole, trying to find my friend, but found that the top of the hole was sealed. It was like standing on strong glass. I jumped up and down a few times, trying to break the glass, but nothing happened. Then it vanished completely, blending in with the ground. I looked up and realized that the door was gone as well.

"Well, this is great. Stina's in the oubliette, and she knows how to get out, but I'm in the middle of the labyrinth with no idea what I'm doing. This is just peachy…" I said, aiming a futile kick at a near by tree.

I was in the middle of a dark forest, saturated with mist that practically begged to be called ominous. The now-gray sky overhead could only be seen in patches through the thick foliage of the multitude of huge gnarled trees. The air was slightly cooler in this part of the labyrinth, and I zipped my navy blue sweater a little higher over my dark green tank-top. I was standing on an almost imperceptible path, leading off into the dense woods. 'Okay, Jen. Time to boldly go where you'd really rather not.' I thought wryly and stepped onto the path. Suddenly, with a grinding noise, stepping stones rose out of the ground to about an inch off the ground. They looked very much like the ones my mom used to make paths through her vegetable gardens. Just as suddenly, the surrounding forest became a lot denser and more forbidding. I put one foot one the first stone, and suddenly, it plummeted out from under me.

With a cry, I wind milled my arms and ended up sitting down hard on the spot I had been standing a moment ago. The stone and the path in a 6 inch radius around it had disappeared; leaving a gaping abyss that I didn't think was inhabited by anything helpful. My heart pounding from this near escape, I peered cautiously over the edge and whistled. There was no bottom to be seen.

"Okay. Ooookay…" I said to myself, trying to regain my composure "Okay. Oh, who am I kidding. Not okay, NOT OK!" I shook my head violently. 'Get a hold of yourself, Jennifer Anne.' I reprimanded myself. Taking a deep breath, I took another look at the path. A little ways down, a leaf fell on to one of the other stones, which promptly also plummeted.  I grimaced. This was not gonna be fun. I put my hands in my pockets and tried to think, and found that there were things in my pockets. 'Rocks!' I remembered. Suddenly I had another one of my brilliant ideas. I took one of the rocks from my pocket and threw it at the second stepping stone on the path. It hit the stone, bounced a few inches, then stopped. The stone stayed put this time!

Before I had a chance to think twice about it, I held my breath, and took a running jump onto the second stepping stone. Luck was, apparently, with me: the stepping stone stayed solid, even with my weight on it. I picked up the rock again and tossed it onto the next stone, which dropped much like the first. The next stone held though. I made my way across the stones slowly, dropping rocks on every one to make sure it held before stepping onto it. 

There were a couple of close calls when I began to assume there was a pattern in the stones. Right when I almost assumed the pattern was 'every other stone drops', the pattern changed to 'two stones in a row stay put and then one drops, just to annoy Jen'. I finally came to what seemed to be the end. This would have been good except for the five foot gap between the last stepping stone and another walkway. There were no handy little vines or branches to help me across. I grimaced.

"Hope this works." I said aloud. I backed up to the very edge of the stone I was on, took as much of a running start as I could, and threw myself at the other side. 

I made it, almost. My feet hit the walkway, but the rest of my body was slightly behind. I tried to keep my balance, waving my arms around wildly (and it occurred to me I had been doing an awful lot of that lately,) but in the end, I knew gravity would get the best of me (I hate gravity. The stupid bugger always wins!). I would have fallen to what could very possibly be my death, if at that moment, a young man hadn't appeared out of nowhere and grabbed my hands.

***

Stina

We fell through a hole but suddenly stopped when we were grabbed by what I was guessing were the Helping Hands.

"Well, we picked the right door, we just forgot one tiny detail, the Oubliette...Jen? Jen?" I looked up but Jen was not there and the hole had been sealed. Oh just great I thought as I looked at all the hands around me. "Boy," I said out loud, trying to get the hands to listen to me "I could really use some help."

"What do you mean? We are helping. We're helping hands." 'Helping me? More like feeling me up.'

"Well, I'd like to go down, if that's not too much trouble for you." 'At least that way I'll know where I'm going' I thought. 'I just wish I knew where Jen is  and if she is ok'. I began to move again as I heard the voices calling out

"She chose down?!" I landed with a thump on the floor of the oubliette. Then someone lit a candle, and I looked around to see who it was. 'Oh, it's my little friend' I thought as I saw who it was.

"Hogwart-"

"Hoggle"

"Yes, you weren't planning on showing me the way out of the Labyrinth were you?"

"Actually, I do know a shortcut out of the entire Labyrinth, get you out of here in no time."

"Oh, that's very nice, to bad I'm not leaving."

"But you have to follow me. I'm the only one that knows the way out of this oubliette."

"Actually," I said, walking over to a pile of blankets and clothes, "you're not." I pushed aside the blankets and picked up the wooden plank that lay underneath them. I placed it against the wall and opened it as a door, from right to left. Suddenly there was an opening outside where there had once been just wall. I smiled and turned to Hoggle,

"You coming?"

"H-How did you know about that?" He asked slightly annoyed.

"I may be from the dull, boring Aboveground, but I'm not stupid." I replied. We began walking though a cave where giant stone faces were warning us to go back. Hoggle looked at me with a slightly worried expression on his face.

"Uh, these warnings don't sound to good. Maybe we should leave the Labyrinth." I rolled my eyes.

"Huh, dear Hoggy, You've lived here all your life. You should know by now that they are just false alarms. That means we are going the right way."

"No you're not." A deep voice bellowed from behind us. I turned and was face to face with one of the false alarms.

"What'd you say?" I asked it, with a hint of attitude in my voice.

"I said you're going the wrong way."

"As a matter of fact, I know I'm not going the wrong way, so who asked your opinion anyway?"

"Uh, well, um, I'm uh, just doing my job."

"Well could you do it silently?" I asked, then turned to face the front again, "All of you." I looked down at Hoggle, "Ready?" I asked him. He just stared at me, mouth open, kind of resembling a fish. "What?" I innocently asked him. Suddenly we heard a clinking noise on the ground and stepped aside, only to see one of Jareth's magic crystals rolling by. We turned the corner, and, as we expected, Jareth was there waiting for us.

"Huh!" Hoggle gasped, "Y-Your majesty. How v-very nice to see you again."

"Oh, Hogbrain-"

"Actually, he doesn't like being called Hogwart even more." I interjected.

"It's Hoggle." Hoggle said, apparently frustrated with us by now. Jareth smiled at me and I just smirked at Hoggle. Jareth continued

"Whatever is the matter?"

"Nothing." Hoggle answered. I turned and stared at Hoggle, eyes wide and hands open at my sides, 

"Nothing? Nothing?! Nothing tra la la?" Hoggle looked at me as though he was trying to speak but nothing came out. Jareth looked at me, slightly taken aback, but then continued on.

"And you, Christina, how are you enjoying my Labyrinth?" We looked right into each others eyes as he asked me the question and I almost lost my composure as a flood of feelings washed over me. I loved the man standing before me more then life itself and, as he stood there, my feelings and desire to hold him grew ever stronger.

"Y-Y-Your Labyrinth is really hard so far." Come on Christina, don't let your guard down now, Jen isn't here to save you this time. I took a deep breath and moved closer to Jareth. I ran a finger down his arm, "especially now since I've gotten separated from Jen back in the Oubliette. That was a very cruel trick." I walked behind him keeping my voice low and trying to sound helpless. Hoggle just looked at me and couldn't believe what I was doing. I looked in Jareth's face; he closed his eyes and muttered under his breath to himself, barely audible 'No, Jareth, she's trying to seduce you. She can't do this to you now. Oh, it's not fair.' I stood right in front of him and put my arms around his neck. He opened his eyes and seemed to stare right into my soul. I was only deterred a moment however, before I took a breath and continued,

"You say that so often I wonder what your basis for comparison is." He smiled at me and I almost melted into a puddle of Stina goo.

"You've really got to stop doing that." He told me.

"Sorry," I said looking down, "I'll try." I looked up at him again and smiled. Then, just like that he was gone from under my arms, leaving behind only a trail of glitter. I leaned back against the wall and slid to the floor, practically hyperventilating. I couldn't believe what I just did, and without passing out on top of it. I tried to take a deep breath and realized my clothes now smelled of him. I smiled and leaned my head back.

"Things are going great. For once in my life, things are going my way."


* * *

Jareth

"They've fallen into the oubliette. Why have they not given up yet? What is this? Jennifer chose up, that's not what she's supposed to do. I don't know what I'm going to do with her." I made my crystal vanish and looked up at the goblins sitting around me. "I'm going to go see how Christina is doing," I smirked to myself, "Jennifer should be occupied for a while, wandering about the enchanted forest. I just hope she watches her step."

I transformed into owl form and soared above the Labyrinth, I made a quick swoop over the forest to see what Jennifer was up to then headed over to the false alarms to pay Christina and Hoggle a visit. I landed in the stone corridor a few seconds before they were about to reach it. I sent one of my crystals rolling down the hall as a warning that I would be waiting for them. They soon rounded the corner, and, nonetheless, Hoggle was shocked to find me waiting for him.

"Huh! Y-Your majesty, how v-very nice to see you again." I could tell he was sucking up, however I was actually surprised, I figured he would have learned after the punishment he received for helping Sarah to complete my Labyrinth. But I had a strong feeling that he wasn't helping Christina on his judgment, after watching them for a while in my crystal I decided that they did not like each other. I looked down at him,

"Oh, Hogbrain-" Before I could finish my thought, Christina interrupted,

"Actually, he doesn't like being called Hogwart even more." I smiled at her, I was really beginning to like her, and that fact that she did not like Hoggle because he disliked like me helped. She smirked at Hoggle, who was apparently fed up with her already.

"It's Hoggle." He just said, trying to act as though he was not bothered by her teasing. I finished my thought from before,

"Whatever is the matter?"

"Nothing." He answered quickly. I was about to ask Christina a question when she burst out at Hoggle,

"Nothing! Nothing?! Nothing tra la la?" Hoggle's face went totally blank and I was taken slightly aback. Where had she heard that? I had only said that to Sarah, surely it's not a common thing Aboveground. I shook it off and looked at Christina,

"And you, Christina, how are you enjoying your Labyrinth?" Her face blanched, except for a bit of red that crept into her cheeks. Her deep, brown eyes grew for a second, and it was then, in that moment that I felt the first pang of love in my heart, the first time my heart grew warm again since I had been rejected by Sarah all those years ago. I also noticed that she was having some trouble having to talk to me alone without Jennifer here to save her.

"Y-Y-Your Labyrinth is really hard so far." I could see right into her mind's eye and I knew she was having an inner struggle with herself not to just fall at a heap at my feet. Then, she did something I was not expecting. She stepped closer and ran a finger down my arm, leaving a path of warmth in its trail. She leaned in closer and and began walking behind me, I could feel her breath on my neck and the scent of her perfume was intoxicating.

"Especially now since I've gotten separated from Jen back in the Oubliette. That was a very," She took a breath, "Cruel trick." I closed my eyes to try and concentrate on just brushing off her words. I knew if I let her get to me I would not be able to resist bringing her back to the castle with me right then and letting her have her wish. I muttered to myself under my breath, hoping she wouldn't hear,

"No, Jareth, she's trying to seduce you. She can't do this to you now. Oh, It's not fair." I opened my eyes and she was standing right in front of me, her arms placed gently around my neck. I did the best I could to try to keep my breathing at a normal pace, and keep my eyes from showing what I felt inside. She looked right into my eyes,

"You say that so often I wonder what your basis for comparison is." I smiled at her and I could feel her legs almost give out from underneath her. Now I definitely knew something was up. First calling Hoggle different names, now this is the second time she is quoting me, and surely she doesn't know about my past and with Sarah. A past that I would rather not think about.

"You've really got to stop doing that." I told her.

"Sorry," she said, blushing slightly and looking down at her feet, "I'll try." She looked so adorable when she blushed and it was more then I could handle. I had to get out of there before something happened. I transported myself to my chambers and threw myself onto my bed, trying to calm my breathing. It had been so long since the last time I had felt this way about anyone. I had forgotten what it felt like, but now I remembered how good it felt. I materialized a crystal to see what Christina was up to. Something about this girl had caught my attentions and would not let them go…

***