Chapter 8

They were quite annoyed with Captain Sparrow when they had to backtrack to find him. When they did, Sarah and Jareth saw an all knowing twinkle in his eye that made them very suspicious. But he just silently rejoined them, with no explanation to where he had been, content as a cat. They kept on through the Labyrinth, until they came to two large doors with exaggerated brass door knockers. One had a ring in his mouth and the other had a ring in his ears.

"I remember these two. It was right after I found Ludo..." Sarah trailed off as her face fell with worry over her friends. Jareth put a hand on her shoulder and said,

"I swear we'll get them out, Sarah." She turned to him and smiled. Then she found herself unable to look away from his face.

"So...which of these two characters should we try?" said Jack interrupting them much to the embarrassment of Sarah and the frustration of Jareth.

"It's very rude to stare!" yelled the door knocker with the ring in his ears causing Jack to jump back a little. Sarah stepped forward and said,

"Hello again!"

"Huh?" said the first door knocker as the second mumbled,

"Hello!" Turning back to Jareth she asked,

"Which one should we go through?" Folding his arms, Jareth shrugged,

"Ask them."

"But they don't know! Their just the knockers!" she said as Jareth brushed past her saying,

"Well that is what I told them to say to you!"

"What?" she said but Jack answered for Jareth,

"After all, Luv. What kind of door knockers would they be if they didn't know where they lead?"

"So you told everyone to lie to me the first time around?" demanded Sarah to Jareth. He simply grinned,

"Nothing is what it seems!" Then he turned to the one with the ring in his ears and yelled,

"WHERE DOES THIS DOOR LEAD?" The first knocker replied,

"To the Enchanted Gardens on the edge of the Forest and the Bog of Eternal Stench." Jareth turned back to them and said,

"Perfect. That's the shortcut and much easier route to the Castle. We'll still have to cross the Bog, but at least we won't have to worry about annoying Fierys or disappearing into a hole!" Then he turned back to the door and took the ring and knocked three times. As the door opened to a lush and lavish gardens, Jareth smirked,

"Well, Jezebel certainly remembered to clean up this place!" He stepped inside with Sarah and Jack following.

"What's this Bog you two keep talking about?" asked Jack as they wandered through the hundreds of flowers and fountains that made up the gardens.

"The most filthy and disgusting place in the Labyrinth. A sharp contrast to these gardens." answered Jareth. Sarah looked over her shoulder at Jack and added,

"One foot in the Bog and you stink forever! It NEVER washes off! And it smells so bad, that you can't even describe what it smells like!"

"Aw. That's a good piece of information!" said Jack.

"Yeah, it was just one of my many stops along the way through the Labyrinth the first time around. 'Through dangers untold'!" said Sarah as Jareth rolled his eyes but continued walking.

"What's that?" asked Jack.

"Part of what I had to say to get my brother Toby back from Jareth. 'Through dangers untold, and hardships unnumbered; I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City to take back the child that you have stolen! For my will is as strong as yours and my kingdom is as great! You have no power over me!'" finished Sarah as Jareth tried to keep his mask under control.

"Ain't that just a wee bit corny?" asked Jack.

"Well it had to be done. And I'm glad it was." said Sarah absentmindedly. Jareth stopped and said,

"Why don't we rest a minute? Maybe we can spilt up and try to find some food? Meet back here in ten minutes." Then he stomped off towards a grove of trees.

"Hey!" said Sarah calling after him.

"This forest don't shift and change like the Labyrinth does, does it Lass?" asked Jack.

"No." said Sarah shaking her head. Then heading towards the opposite direction, Jack said,

"Well then, I could use a bit of sustenance. See you in ten!" Frustrated with these infuriating men, Sarah made up her mind to have a word or ten with Jareth once and for all. She headed in the direction Jareth had gone.

Meanwhile, Marin had been watching the whole scene unfold with a wicked gleam in his eyes. He changed into a bird and went into the direction Jack had gone.

Jack was looking around, praying to find something for his growling stomach, when he saw a clearing and a huge bubbling mud puddle. And in the center of that puddle, reclined delicately, was Jezebel with her hair pulled up and smiling at her visitor.

"Hello." she purred. Jack gulped. She appeared to have nothing on save her birthday suit, and the mud was covering everything up to her cleavage.

"Evening." he said casually.

"I thought about what you said." she said.

"Did you now? And what struck you the most Milady?" he asked. She shrugged her shoulders.

"You saw through me Captain. I'm sure you've realized that I'm not really in control of the Labyrinth? That I'm just playing an elaborate matchmaking game?" she said. He nodded,

"It was a nice plan, I must admit."

"Are you going to tell on me?" she questioned leaning forward to weave her forearms through the mud.

"Give me a reason why I shouldn't." he stated. Then to the delight of his rushing blood, She stood up. But the mud instantly turned into a shimmering brown gown with embroidered leaves and twigs throughout the large bell skirt. The mud on her forearms turned to gloves as she stepped out of the pit. She smiled and said nose to nose with him,

"You wouldn't tell on me would you Jack?" He shook his head no.

"You do like me don't you Jack?" she said. Hesitant for a moment, he nodded yes.

"How much Jack? How much do you care for me?" she prodded. After a few long moments, debating within himself, he said,

"With all me heart Luv." She grinned,

"Since when?"

"Well I was attracted to you since Tortuga, but over the last few hours, and especially since I saw you dancing with those goblins, I've realized that...I think I'm falling in love with you." he said.

"Why do you love me Jack?" she asked. Surprised that she seemed to be taking this as one amusing joke, he replied,

"Well, you're smart, cunning, fun loving, kind, sweet and caring. Not to mention incredibly beautiful."

"Thank you Jack."

"But I think the main reason I love ye, is that, well, you know what it means to be free. Those magic powers of yours allow you to go wherever you want, do whatever you want and I know that I could make you happy with me. And I just know you'd let me."

"That's sweet Jack. Here." she said placing a peach in his hands.

"You must be hungry." she said. Looking down at the peach he said,

"So Luv. How do you feel about me? Jezebel?" He looked up and saw that she was gone.

"Jezebel!" he called. Then he sighed and looked at the peach.

"Of course it's times like these when I have to remember I love you because you're so BLOODY INFURIATING!" he yelled as if she were still there. He was about to throw the peach away when his stomach protested. Not wanting to eat right now, he was so upset, he tucked the peach into a pocket and walked back towards Sarah and Jareth mumbling under his breath,

"Why do you love me Jack?...Bloody woman!...Making me admit my true feelings...still playing games she is...I'll show her...I'll get her back for playing me like a fool!" Overhead, standing on a tree branch, Jezebel stood in her chocolate gown smiling wickedly. Then in a flash, her eyes turned to gold and she turned into Marin who laughed to himself. Then he turned into a blue jay and flew off.

Meanwhile, Sarah was trying to find Jareth when she heard the flutter of wings overhead and saw a blue jay pass by.

"Birds are lovely creatures aren't they?" said Jareth coming up behind her.

"Oh! Jareth, you scared me!" she said putting a hand to her chest.

"Sorry about that. So is there a reason you are following me?" he asked with amusement on his face. She squared him in the eye.

"Because I wanted to talk to you. We've been arguing all day but we haven't said anything new or...wait...why are your eyes golden?" she asked. Jareth's face fell and then much to Sarah's surprise, Jareth was gone in a flash of light and in his place was a tall, black man with shaggy hair and a blue suit.

"Gasp!" she cried.

"One mistake in eight hundred years. Not bad if I do say so myself." he said.

"Who are you?" said Sarah instantly on her guard.

"I am Marin. I'm an old friend of Jareth's." he said beginning to circle her.

"Where's Jareth?" she asked him. He smiled and she instantly felt ill.

"Oh probably brooding somewhere in the grove."

"So...if you're his friend, are you going to help us get to the castle?" she asked not knowing whether to trust him or not.

"Unfortunately I'm a little busy at the moment. I would if I could." he lied.

"Oh." said Sarah.

"I just thought I drop in to see what kind of woman would make the king give away his first kiss to." said Marin.

"Jareth's never kissed me." she said.

"Well if he hasn't yet, he wants to. After all, a Fae can only give away their heart once. And that is always the first person they kiss. Of course that means the Fae can sense if it's meant to be or not but then, I guess you knew that right?" he asked her.

"Of course." she lied.

"Well it was nice meeting you. Do tell Jareth I said hello!" he smirked. She didn't know why but there was something about this guy she just didn't like.

"Yeah sure." she said. Then Sarah watched in wonder as he turned into a blue jay and flew off. She walked away and soon found Jareth sitting in a gazebo made of ivy covered glass. It glimmered and splashed in rainbows. Sarah was afraid to touch it for fear it would break. But she stepped onto it and after a few moments hesitation, said,

"So...did you find anything to eat?" she asked. Jareth just looked at his hands as he asked,

"Is it possible in your world to fall in love with someone only after a few hours?"

"What?" replied Sarah. He sat back and tossed the hair out of his eyes.

"I didn't have the luxury my sister did. Traveling the Aboveground, learning about your world. I don't know how things work up there. So how does someone fall in love?" he asked.

"I don't think this is the right time to be having this conversation. We're running out of time!" she said. He stood up and said,

"That's why we're having this conversation. I need to know before you go back to your world, back to your life. And forget about me all over again." he said.

"I didn't forget about you! How could I? You turned my world upside down! You took my baby brother, I had to battle a world of fairy tales, you made me look at who I really was, and...and...you changed how I thought about love!" Sarah rambled on.

"Really?"

"I mean...yeah. One minute I think love is suppose to be romance, and passion and happily ever afters and the next...I realized falling in love is scary!" she said. Jareth smirked dryly and walked pass her.

"Thanks."

"It is! True love is letting someone see who you really are! It's like a job! You have to keep working at it and finding a middle ground and the fact that someone knows everything about you after you've spent most of your life keeping your inner most self a secret, it is scary!" she said.

"I suppose it is." he said.

"And when I was in the Labyrinth, the first time, you saw who I really was. A lonely girl who wanted fairy tales to be real because her parents had gotten a divorce and ruined happily ever after. And you loved me in spite of it and by knowing everything about me, you scared me. And..."

"Wait. What did you say?" asked Jareth.

"I don't know I say anything when I ramble." she said. He stepped up to her.

"You just said that I loved you."

"I did?"

"You recognized that I loved you." he said.

"I guess I did."

"Do you still recognize that I love you?" he said. She looked down and said,

"I do."

"And how do you feel about that?" he asked. Then she broke a grin and peeked up at him.

"Don't you know?" He smiled,

"No."

"I love you for it." she said. Then she closed the gap between them and touched his lips with hers. He returned the kiss and weaved a hand through her hair. Then a curious thing happened. Sarah remembered playing make believe with a little blond boy in the park. A little blond boy with one blue eye and one green eye. She pulled away and stared at him in wonder.

"What's wrong?" asked Jareth. She smiled in awe,

"It was you. You were the little boy who kissed me in the park."

"And you do not know how long I've waited to kiss you again." he said. They kissed again, before breaking away and hugging each other.

"I can't believe this ! It's absolutely crazy. In my world it is almost unheard of to fall in love within a few hours!" she said.

"Then I love this crazy world." said Jareth. Then the grove grew dark.

"What's happening?" asked Sarah a little nervous. Jareth just took her hand and pointed to the treetops.

"Watch the trees." he said. She did and saw little leaves fall, but they turned into crystal balls just before they bounced off the ground, each one illuminated an inner glow.

"Gasp!" Sarah exclaimed.

"This is where I get all my crystals from. Direct sunlight can't touch them yet or they break." Jareth explained.

"It's so beautiful!" she said watching the crystals fall. Then she heard Jareth humming to himself. Soon she was entranced as he began to softly sing.

'Crazy world,

full of crazy contradictions like a child;

First you drive me wild

and then you win my heart with your wicked art;

One minute tender, gentle,

Then temp'remental as a summer storm.

Just when I believe your heart's getting warmer

You're cold and you're cruel

and I like a fool try to cope,

Try to hang on to hope.

Crazy world, ev'ry day the same old roller coaster ride;

But I've got my pride

I won't give in

Even though I know I'll never win;

Oh, how I love this crazy world.'

"I always did love it when you sang!" Sarah said before they kissed again. Then they heard,

"Ah hem!" They broke the kiss to see Captain Sparrow grinning at them.

"If you two are quite finished 'eating', maybe we can continue?" he said cheekily. Soon they were walking out of the gardens silently. Jack turned back to see them walking hand in hand talking.

"So why do you look like my mother's boyfriend?" asked Sarah.

"Pardon?" he replied.

"My mother has this actor boyfriend who looks just like you." she told him as they began to step over overgrown tree roots.

"Well they say that some Faes have doubles in the Aboveground. So maybe that is fate's way of telling you that we belong together." he said as Jack rolled his eyes.

"Will you two please stop going on like that? And that's my way of telling you to shut up!" snapped Jack.

"Hey! What's your problem?" barked Sarah.

"A half hour ago you two were at each others necks and now you're all lovey blooming dovey!" Jack said bitterly.

"Well, we realized that we've been in love all along and we (or more specifically I) just haven't accepted it! It does appear to be possible to fall in love with someone after only one day!" she said. That made Jack pause in his tracks and shut his eyes trying to recompose himself. Then he continued on. Jareth quirked an eyebrow and said,

"I do believe something else is troubling our dear Captain Sparrow."

"Yeah, but what?" asked Sarah as they began to follow him again. But soon Jack paused again.

"What's wrong...whoa!" said Sarah as she stepped up beside Jack and his repulsed face. A fowl, gut retching smell reached their noses and burned their nose hairs off. It left a fowl taste in their mouths and hung off their clothes. Jareth came up to Jack's right and grimaced before he said plainly,

"The Bog of Eternal Stench."

"Oh Gosh! Just when I forgot how bad it smelled! Ugh!" said Sarah covered her nose with her wrist.

"If it's this bad now, it is safe to assume that it shall only get worst?" asked Jack resisting the urge to vomit.

"It is. Come on. The sooner we get there, the sooner we can get out!" said Jareth leading the way. Sarah followed behind him and Jack turned back and took a few deep breaths of fresh air before taking off after them.

The bog bubbled and oozed with disgusting, thick brown slime. Sounds of flatulations could be heard all around them. The few trees that were there were long since dead. But even then, the golden glitter that was all over the Underground still glittered.

"Remember! Don't step so much as a toe in!" reminded Jareth reluctant to speak.

"Thanks very much!" whispered Jack his eyes watering.

"Maybe if we think of something else, it won't seem so bad!" said Sarah. After nodding in agreement, they walked in silence each thinking of something other than the bog. Jareth thought of how he would propose to Sarah. He knew she would say yes. They were destined to be together. Sarah thought of her family. Toby was a young boy now and until she realized she loved Jareth, he had been the light and the joy in her life. Her relationship with her father and stepmother was great. Even her practical stepmother couldn't put down the fantasy stories she wrote. And Jack thought of Jezebel. How she laughed, how she smiled, how she moved. The way she looked in candlelight. The way she looked all the time. He knew he loved her, but how dare she leave him dangling like that! But how can you love someone in less than a day? He decided to ask an expert.

"Jareth? May I have a word?" asked Jack.

"Could it wait until we get out of the bog?" asked Jareth.

"I wish it could!" said Jack looking ahead to make sure Sarah wasn't listening.

"Well?" said Jareth.

"Uh, why is it possible for you to fall in love in one day?" asked Jack. Jareth eyed Jack and said,

"Actually, I've been in love with Sarah since I was a thousand years old. She became attracted to me five years ago in her time and then she realized she loved me today. So really, we didn't fall in love in one day. But when I first kissed Sarah, I had only known her one day."

"Really? And how did that come about I wonder?" questioned Jack. Jareth sighed,

"I don't usually discuss my past with people I hardly know..."

"But?" said Jack wanting him to continue.

"But when I was a child I went Aboveground to explore. I found a little mortal girl playing in a park and I knew something about her was different. I felt as if I had known her my whole life though I knew nothing of her." said Jareth.

"Sarah." said Jack.

"Right. So I accepted her invitation to play and then I kissed her." said Jareth.

"But how on Earth could a child have known she was the one, if you hardly knew her, and barely knew what love was?" asked Jack. Jareth looked at him suspiciously. Why did he want to know? He tried to read his face, but this man was as good as putting on a emotional mask as himself. Blast! He sighed and said,

"I just knew." Jack fell silent before he heard Sarah call to them,

"Hey guys! We've reached the footbridge! We're almost out of here!" Jack looked up and saw the crumbled remains of a bridge, and a series of large boulders serving as a footbridge.

"Be careful Sarah!" said Jareth as he helped Sarah step onto the first stone. A series of flatulent sounds matched each footstep once she had reached the other side. Jareth followed suit saying,

"I only hope the goblins never hear this part of the tale!" Sarah waved to Jack,

"Come on Jack!" Jack stepped cautiously onto one stone but stepped back when the bog flatulated.

"Come man! We haven't time to waste!" called Jareth trying to breath through his mouth. Jack eyed them and said,

"My crew will never believe this!" Then he scampered across rather comically which made Sarah involuntarily giggle. Once Jack had reached the other side, she said,

"Let's get out of here!"

"Right!" said both men. Soon, they were fifty feet away and the fowl smell was gone. Jack stepped ahead of them and took a deep breath and joyfully said,

"Ahh! Now that's that rub!"

"Don't count your blessings yet, Captain. We still have to cross the forest and the junkyard to reach the gates of the Goblin City!" said Jareth.

"But now that we're out of the blimey bog, what could possibly go wrong now?" Suddenly a long, tree vine, snapped out of the ground, and wrapped around Jack's ankle. Before he could react, it yanked him off his feet and pulled him rapidly into the forest.

"WOOAAHHH! HELLPP!" he cried.

"JACK!" yelled Sarah. Jareth pulled her along and ran after Jack saying,

"Come on!" Sarah scooped down to pick up Jack's lost hat, and ran into the woods.