Chapter 2:

Which Way Do You Want To Go?

"If we're lucky," Tana started as they reached the bottom of the hill, "Hoggle should be right... there." They looked around and saw the dwarf doing the very same thing he had been doing in the movie... taking a leak in the pond. Tana shuddered while Danielle looked on kind of horror-struck.

"Umm... excuse me?" Danielle called out. Hoggle jumped, looked at them and made himself proper once more. He looked much like he did in the movie, right down to the little cap on his head. Danielle smiled, but he only grunted.

"Excuse me," he said rudely as he picked up his sprayer. He turned his back on them and continued his work. Tana sighed.

"How do we get into the Labyrinth?" they asked in unison. There was no point in going through with the whole 'Where's the Door' bit and so on... Hoggle smiled and pointed at the wall behind them.

"You gets in... there." Behind them, the door to the Labyrinth opened. "You really going in there are you?"

"Yes... we kind of have to," Danielle replied with a sigh. "Thank you for your help..." she trailed off, waiting for him to introduce himself.

"I'm Hoggle."

"I'm Danielle. This is my friend Tana. Well, we don't have much time... so bye, Hoggle." The dwarf nodded and the girls walked into the Labyrinth. Tana absently asking as the door closed behind them. "Did you really need to ask his name?"

"So, now what?" Tana asked, looking around.

"Well, we could find the shortcut that the worm mentioned in the movie... so... we head right and look for him. Sound good?" Danielle replied. Tana nodded.

"Somehow though, I don't think it'll be that easy. Jareth has a way of making things harder than they need to be."

"I agree, but it's the only choice we've got, so.. come on." They hurried down the corridor.

"'Allo!" a small voice called out as they stopped for a rest.

Tana grinned and knelt, finding a little blue worm on a little ledge. "Hello. Can you help us? We're trying to get to the castle," Tana asked politely. She always did like the worm... He was cute.

"The castle? Why would two ladies like yourself want to go to a goblin castle?" the worm replied, "Why don't you come inside and meet the missus?"

"I'm sorry... I'm afraid we can't. We have to rescue my sister from the castle. Can you show us the way?" Danielle said.

"I'd rather she were turned into a goblin, myself..." Tana muttered. "She'd fit in well enough. Probably already does with her little attitude, as is."

"Go through that opening across there and take a right. That should put you on the right path. Good luck finding your sister!" the worm answered.

"But going that way takes us away from the castle" Tana protested.

"That's the way Sarah goes. Gotta follow the movie rules... somewhat." Danielle said as they made their way down the right side of the labyrinth, bidding the little worm goodbye.

"Yeah, I guess you're right, after all, we have an oubliette to land in. What are our chances on finding it anyways?" Tana asked a few minutes later.

"Way too high for my tastes. let's keep moving," Danielle replied.

"Hmm..." the Goblin King muttered thoughtfully, "Clever girls. They're moving much faster than I thought they would..."

"When that little bitch gets here, I'm going to give her a piece of my mind!" Jennifer muttered from the pillow pit in the throne room her arms crossed over her chest. Goblins were running around everywhere. Jennifer looked out of place with her jeans and red shirt that said "Beware Attitude" on it and her tennis shoes. She had shoulder length light brown hair pulled back in a low ponytail. She had the same eyes as Danielle, but hers were cold and harsh.

"You could be a little grateful that she's even coming for you, you know. She's even got her friend with her, even if that's against the rules." Jareth said, lounging on his throne tapping his riding crop against his boot.

"Oh please. Mr. Goblin King, I hate my sister. She hates me. No two ways about it. She's only running the Labyrinth because she knows our parents would be beyond pissed if they found out I was gone. This is her idea of an adventure. This is what she's longed for for years. She's also loved the Labyrinth forever. As for Tana. Don't even get my started. She's just as bad."

"And you know this how?" Jareth asked, creating a crystal and rolling it around his hands.

"She's always quoting, singing, or acting it. She watches it religiously, and she knows how to get through it. Put her and Tana in one of those little forgetting rooms and you'll see."

"You would wager your freedom on their ability to escape the oubliette?" Jareth asked, shocked but hiding it behind his usual mask.

"Yeah, go ahead." The king smirked evilly and sent his crystal floating out the window over the Labyrinth.

Tana spotted something gleaming in the air and frowned. 'What the... that wasn't in the movie.' she thought. She pointed it out to Danielle, who looked up to find it. While they were distracted, the labyrinth changed around them. When they looked around again, they were trapped in an open space with two doors guarded by a couple of two headed figures. They looked a lot like joker cards really.

"Oh no..." Danielle muttered. She had the strangest feeling that this was Jennifer's fault for some reason. No doubt, mouthing off to the Goblin King.

"Let's get this over with," Tana replied. They stepped forward and the creatures explained the rules. Danielle nodded and immediately moved to the one on the left.

"Alright," Danielle said, "Answer yes or no. Would he tell me that this door leads to the castle?"

The creatures looked at each other, then the one she asked leaned down to confer with his bottom half. He came out from behind his shield and replied. "Yes?"

"Then the other door leads to the castle, and this door leads to certain death," Danielle replied.

"Ooh..." they said impressed. Tana rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

"How do you know? He could be telling the truth!" the creature on the left exclaimed.

"But you wouldn't be," Danielle replied. "So if he says yes, I know the answer is no."

"But I could be telling the truth!"

"Then he would be lying. If he said yes, then I know the answer would still be no." He thought about it and looked at his partner.

"Ehh... is that right?"

"Technically, both of them are liars. Even the one that does tell the truth." Tana muttered under her breath.

"I don't know, I never understood it!" the other one replied and moved away. Danielle and Tana bid them good-bye and walked through the chosen door. "Peace of cake!" Danielle said cheerfully. Almost as soon as she said this, the floor dropped out from under them.

"Crap!" Tana shouted as they fell. Danielle sighed and muttered "Oops."

"Help!" she shouted. Almost immediately, the helping hands appeared and caught them. Danielle looked up at Tana. "Now what?"

"Which way?" one of the hands asked.

"Up or down?" asked another.

"Well... IF we go down, we'll meet Hoggle and Jareth. We'll hit the Hall of False Alarms. IF we go back up, we'll have no clue where the hell we are. What do you think Tana?" Danielle asked.

"Go with the way we know. This'll be interesting." Tana shrugged then winced. "And make it quick. They're hurting me."

"Alright. We'll go down," Danielle said.

"She chose down!" the hands laughed as they dropped the girls down into the hole. Danielle landed first and moved as Tana landed. The hole was soon covered with the lid. Tana reached in her pack and pulled out a flashlight. "Go to modern technology"

"Joy..." Danielle muttered unhappily.

"They're in the oubliette..." Jareth muttered. The goblins around him began laughing. "Shut up," he commanded. Immediately, they did so. The king was really testy today. "They shouldn't have gotten as far as the oubliette... she should have given up by now..."

"They'll never give up!" one goblin said.

"Won't they? The dwarf is about to lead them back to the beginning. They'll soon give up when they realize they have to start all over again!" he said, paused than snapped. "Well, laugh!" The goblins burst into laughter. Jareth began laughing evilly and tossed the crystal up in the air.

Danielle and Tana heard a noise. Danielle pulled out her dagger and Tana drew one of her sais while pointing the flashlight at the noise.

"Who's there?" Danielle asked warily.

"Me," said a gruff voice. A match was struck and the room was lit up by the light of a candle, revealing the dwarf.

"Hello again," Danielle said happily. Tana turned off her flashlight, put it away and looked around automatically.

"Oh sure, you're looking around now. I suppose you noticed, there ain't no doors... only the hole.," Hoggle said. Tana glared.

"So this is how Sarah felt in the oubliette..." Danielle muttered.

"What?" asked Hoggle.

"It's nothing. So, what are you doing in here?" Danielle replied.

Tana raised an eyebrow. Why else would he be here? Tana decided to say nothing about it though. No need to draw more attention to the things they say.

"I figured the two of you would get in trouble sooner or later, so I've come to give you a hand. It just so happens that I know a way out of the whole labyrinth from here."

"No, we can't quit now!" Danielle said quietly. "We've come so far!" She sat down on a rock heavily. "No, we're doing okay..." she sighed.

"Of course you are..." Hoggle said, patting her arm, "but it gets a lot worse from here on in."

"Why are you so concerned about us?" Tana asked, coming over to sit next to Danielle, she knew there was a way to get out but... it wasn't coming to mind. her frown deepened. Maybe this was why Danielle was going through much the same as Sarah had in the movie.

"I just am, that's all. Sweet nice girls, terrible black oubliette..."

"You like jewelry... right?" Danielle asked, noticing his jewels.

"Why?" he replied, talking a step back.

"If you help us, I'll give you this," Danielle said, unclasping her pendant and showing it to him.

"What is that?" Hoggle asked, pointing at the jewel shaped like a teardrop.

"It's a bloodstone," Danielle answered. "Take us as far as you can and then we'll do it on our own."

"I can't promise nothing, but I'll take you as far as I can." The girls nodded and watched as Hoggle walked over to the other side of the room, pulled out a long board of wood and stood it up against the wall. There was a click and it opened like a door. Loads of brooms and mops fell out. "Broom closet..." he muttered, shutting it. "Oh well, can't be right all the time." There was another click and he opened it from the other side. "Ah! Here we go! Follow me."

Danielle smiled at Kitana as they got up and they hurried to follow Hoggle.

"Whatever you do," Tana whispered as Hoggle explained the false alarms, "Do NOT tell Jareth that the Labryinth is the "forbidden phrase." I don't feel up to a run from the cleaners and we need all the time we can get."

"Don't worry. I'm way ahead of you. I'll just play to his ego," Danielle replied. They stopped to listen to one of the rock faces say his phrase. A crystal rolled by on the ground after it finished.

"Here we go..." Tana muttered darkly, pushing her bangs out of her face.

"Oh no..." Hoggle whispered. They followed the crystal into another corridor where a beggar sat. The crystal floated into his little tin cup with a clank. Danielle and Tana drew their weapons warily, but did not take a threatening pose.

"Well well... what have we here?" the beggar asked quietly. Hoggle backed away slightly.

"Uhh... nothin," Hoggle answered. Danielle and Tana forced themselves not to slap their foreheads in frustration or gag Hoggle to keep him from saying anything more.

"Nothing?" the beggar asked, dropping the cup. "Nothing?" He stood up. "Nothing?" He pulled off his mask and worn robes revealing the Goblin King. "Nothing, tra-la-la?" The threw the robes aside and glared at the three of them.

"Y-your majesty, What a nice suprise," Hoggle said reverently.

"Hello Hedgewart," Jareth said pleasantly.

"Hoggle," the three of them replied.

"Hoggle, could it be that you are helping these girls?" Jareth asked.

"H-helping? In what sense?" Hoggle asked nervously.

"In the sense that you are leading them straight towards the castle!"

"Oh no, your majesty!" Hoggle replied, "I was leading them back to the beginning!"

"What?" Danielle demanded. Tana grabbed her shoulders and the angry girl fought to get at Hoggle, rolling her eyes at the shorter girl in response.

'She is definitely cute when she's angry,' Jareth thought. 'She would make a fine queen... now, I've just got to either make her lose or get her to decide to stay. I'm sick of all these rules. I've waited too long to get what I want.' Hoggle began to explain his "trick" and Jareth pretended to pay attention while watching the two girls while they weren't looking.

'I feel it again,' Tana thought as she struggled with Danielle. 'We're being watched, but by whom? Jareth maybe?' Danielle finally calmed down to the point where she wouldn't kill Hoggle, Tana glanced at the Goblin King, he was watching, but... Jareth's voice pulled her from her musings before she could finish that thought however.

"What is that dangling there, 'round your neck?" Jareth asked, recognizing Danielle's pendant and getting a bit jealous.

"Huh? Oh this?" Hoggle replied, surprised. "Where did this come from?" Jareth stood up angrily.

"Higgle"

"Hoggle," the dwarf interrupted.

"Yes, if I thought for one second you were betraying me, I'd be forced to suspend you headfirst into the Bog of Eternal Stench," Jareth answered. Hoggle's eyes widened and he fell to his knees, grabbing the king's leg.

"No your majesty! Not the Bog of Eternal Stench!"

"Oh yes, Hoggle!" he replied, kicking the dwarf into the wall. He walked over and leaned against the wall near Danielle, getting into her face slightly. "And you girls," he added, staring into Danielle's eyes, "How are you enjoying my Labyrinth?"

Danielle was afraid her heart would burst out of her chest! 'Damn him and his Leanan Sidhe bloodlines!' she thought furiously. 'Come on girl, Focus!' Danielle sighed dramatically.

Tana glared at Jareth, crossing her arms and locking her jaw. It wasn't her place to answer. It was Danielle's. He sister had been wished away, she had the right of way here.

"Well," she replied staring back into his eyes with defiance, "It's really hard... but we'll manage somehow. We always do." Her eyes challenged him. Kitana groaned and smacked herself in the head.

"Idiot!" she muttered to herself "That's it, I do the answering from here on out. I don't care anymore..." Jareth backed away from Danielle with a smirk on his face.

"Really? Well, if you think you can manage the Labyrinth, let's see how you deal with this little predicament," he replied, making a crystal appear. Tana ran over, grabbed Hoggle, and situated him piggyback along with her bag. Jareth smirked and threw the crystal at the end of the hallway, summoning something. He disappeared. There was a crashing sound.

"Oh no, not the cleaners!" Hoggle cried. "RUN!" Danielle and Kitana ran as the giant machine chased after them. Eventually, they came to a gate. Locked.

"The cleaners, the Bog of Stench, you SURE got his attention!" Hoggle cried. Danielle and Tana began pushing on the loose panel to the side. Danielle backed up, ran, and kicked the panel in. The three of them landed in an aclove, Hoggle falling from Tana's back. The cleaners went by and Hoggle looked around. "Now this is what we need! A ladder!" he said, beginning to climb, "Follow me." It was like he totally forgot about the machine that had just about turned them all into a flesh salad.

"How can we trust you now that we know you were taking us back to the beginning?" Tana asked him.

"I wasn't! I just told him that to throw him off the scent!" he replied. Tana glared.

"Hoggle, how the hell can we believe anything you say?" she retorted. Danielle snickered and Tana sent the glare to her friend.

"Let me put it this way: What choice have you got?" Hoggle responded. Danielle sighed.

"He's right," she said quietly, beginning to climb. Tana started after her.

"You've got to consider my position," Hoggle was saying as they climbed. "I'm a coward and Jareth scares me."

"What kind of position is that?" Danielle asked curiously.

"No position! That's my point! You wouldn't be so brave if you'd ever smelt the Bog of Eternal Stench!"

"Is that all it does is smell?" Tana asked curiously. "I've lived with 4 older brothers... and they really stank. But I managed to live through that." she muttered, mostly to herself.

"Yes, and trust me... that's enough. The worst part is: If you so much as put a foot into the Bog of Stench, you'll smell bad for the rest of your life. It'll never wash off," he answered. "Ah! Here we are!" He pushed off the lid covering the exit. "You're on your own from now on." He climbed out.

"Wait a minute!" Danielle said angrily.

"I didn't promise nothing. I said I'd take you as far as I could go..." He said.

"You cheat! You nastly little cheat!" Danielle cried as she and Tana climbed out. Danielle continued to argue with Hoggle as Tana looked around.

'Okay, we were underground, climbed up a ladder, and came out of a giarn urn... that's sitting on a table! What the bloody hell? How does that work?' she thought, kneeling to look under the table, then looking in the urn. The ladder was still there, but there was nothing between the ground and the underside of the table. It made her head hurt thinking about it, so she turned back to Danielle and Hoggle as she stole his string of jewelry. She raised an eyebrow just as Hoggle yelled out.

"Hey! Them's my jewels!" Hoggle cried. Danielle held them high, out of the dwarf's reach. "Give them back! You give those back! Them's my rightful property! It's not fair!"

Tana on the other hand, snorted. "Sad." She muttered, watching the two of them. "'Them's your jewels' huh?" she started to snicker. Neither Hoggle or Danielle seemed to notice though.

"No, it isn't! But that's the way it is..." Danielle answered. "Now, there's the castle..." she said, looking off into the distance," ...it's a wonder Jen hasn't found a way to blow it up by now. Which way should we try?"

"No clue," Tana said, looking back at the urn and table, "Angle with the chair and pick the path directly opposite. It never really showed her leaving in the movie." Danielle nodded and they walked off. Hoggle looking at the two of them curiously.

"Your Highness!" A goblin cried, running in. Jareth was bored. He'd locked the girl in the tower to shut her up a long time ago, now he just had demented goblins running around making asses out of themselves.

"What?" he demanded, looking up at the clock. The girl still had over 6 hours to go. She was moving much faster than expected. No doubt it was thanks to Tana helping her along.

"Your Highness, Lord Aiden is here. He wishes to speak to you."

"Send him in," he replied. He glared at all the goblins. "Out! All of you! Go patrol the Labyrinth!" he ordered. The goblins scrambled to get away from their angry king and with a crystal, the room was cleaned. Such useful things really.

The door opened and a tall, leanly muscled man with long, blood-red hair walked in. He was about three inches taller than Jareth and slightly tan from spending much time riding on his lands. He wore a black poet's shirt, black pants and riding boots. He had the same mismatched eyes as Jareth, only with a kinder gaze, but when the wrong buttons were pushed, they could be cold, colder even than Jareths.

"Hello, younger brother," he greeted, looking around the chamber. "No goblins today? There must be a babe then." He grinned.

"What do you want, Aiden?" Jareth demanded, a bored drawl to his voice.

"What's your problem? Usually, you're not this tense." He began walking around the room, inspecting everything but not seeming to really care how the room looked.

"They're here. Both of them. Running the Labyrinth right now." Aiden stopped and looked at his brother, his eyes sharp.

"Both of them? Which one made the wish?" he asked, conjuring a crystal to watch them in.

"Danielle did, but Kitana was there at the time and I figured I could make an exception. The sister is up in the tower, and she is much farther along than I thought she would get." Jareth replied coolly.

"Jareth, you and I have been watching these two for years. You especially. You KNOW she won't give up, and you know she will make it here. Are you ready to handle that fact? You realize that the Council will be angry when she solves the Labyrinth. If either of them do."

"The Council be damned! If she opts to stay, there is nothing the Council can do. I just have to make her stay... but how?" Jareth retorted. Aiden smirked and stood next to his young brother.

"Invite them to the ball tonight. You can waste their time and try to get to know her better. Serenade her. You can do it. I'll take this chance to get to know Kitana better." Aiden said, closing his hand around the crystal he held.

Jareth sighed "Alright, alright. If it'll get you out of my hair, they'll be there," he snapped.

"Then I will see you later. Until this evening, little brother." Aiden disappeared in a puff of glitter. Jareth sighed and sunk into his seat.

"Please God... let something good come of this," he prayed.

"Friends?" Hoggle asked as they made their way through the hedge maze. "I ain't never been no one's friend before..."

"What a boring life you must have had..." Tana mumbled under her breath.

"Well, if we're going to get through this Labyrinth," Danielle started.

"We need to be able to trust each other. We want to be your friends, Hoggle," Tana finished as they walked under an archway.

"Friends..." he muttered to himself. A great roar cut him off, however and he began to tremble. "G-g-good-bye!" he shouted, running in the opposite direction.

"What?" Danielle demanded grabbing his arm.

"Keep the stuff!" He shouted, fighting her hold.

"Are you our friend or not?"

"No, no I'm not!" He got his arm free and backed up away from either or their reach.

"Hoggle!" she cried as he broke away.

"Hoggle is Hoggle's friend!" he retorted, running away.

"Well, I'm not afraid," she said to Tana.

"Things are not always what they seem in this place. Let's go help Ludo," Tana answered. They stepped forward, prepared for whatever may come at them next.