Disclaimer: Nothing of the Labyrinth or Muppets is mine.

A/N: ...umm...enjoy!

Chapter 4

Zingo

The Labyrinth was beginning to get on my nerves. I didn't know where to go or what to do. Finally, I came upon something that caught my eye. Two large shields in front of two large doors showed two creatures coming from the top of each shield, and two creatures coming from the bottom of each. They looked like goats, but with a more disfigured face. A pair of legs protruded from the bottom of each shield, clearly helping them stay standing. For a closer view, I walked up to the shields. The creatures on the top and bottom stared at me.

"Hey there, girly," The top-left goat said.

I corrected him, "I'm Kara. Which door can I go through? I need to get to the center of the Lab...umm..The center of Labby-land and I was wondering if these doors will get me there."

The four creatures laughed and the bottom ones hid behind the shield, leaving the two top goat-heads smiling deviously.

"Only one of us can tell you which door leads to the center of the Labyrinth. Just so you know, one of the doors leads to certain death, and one leads to Goblin City." The top-right goat coughed and added, "One of us always tells the truth, and one of us always lies. So good luck finding which door is which."

I thought long and hard, Why did everything have to be so difficult? Why couldn't I just have my sister back?

At long last, I raised a question to the top-left creature, "Would your friend over there tell me that this door lead to Goblin City?"

Top-Right answered, "um..Yes.."

"Then...if you were lying he would say no, meaning this door would be to certain death. But if you said he said yes then he would be lying, so this door would still be to death...Wow! I figured it out!" My brain was up-and-a-runnin!

"But," Top-right argued, "What if you asked him the same question?"

I hadn't expected that.. "If I asked Lefty over there, and he said this was to the Center of this world, but was lying, it would be to certain death. If he ws telling the truth and said you would say this was to the center, but you lied, it would still be to certain death. So, I'm right either way."

"Shit.." Top-left mumbled, staring at me. Apparently I was right.

Until I fell through the floor behind the right-side door.

Ahhhhhh!

I fell about two feet when I felt hands grabbing me. "What the...Stop groping me! Get off of me!"

A voice came from above me, "We won't let you go. We're Helping Hands here to serve and protect."

"Yeah, well, I wish you would stop serving and protecting my crotch!" My anger was building.

"Sorry...Hands," The voice spoke to his comrades, "Let her go down..I'm sure she'll regret her choice of words..."

Before I could reject and take my stupid words back, the hands let go of me and I fell. Soon after, I fell to the ground below the shaft of hands. The damp room that surrounded me only had light from the shaft. First a talking worm and now talking hands. What next, a lost Muppet name Zingo?

"Kara..." A raspy voice called my name. I could only sigh.

I responded, "What the heck? Ok..I jinxed myself again. Come on out, Zingo."

"Zingo?" The raspy voice lit a lantern revealing Hoggle, the dwarf.

I laughed at my mistake and Hoggle spoke, "Who's Zingo?"

"Nobody," I answered mid-laugh, "I was just kidding around. Sorry." I took a deep breath and stopped laughing.

Hoggle placed the lantern on the floor and walked over to a door that suddenly appeared on the wall adjacent to me.

"Where does that door lead?" My curious side asked.

With a cough, Hoggle responded, "Out of this oubliette. Normally, there would only be an exit back the way you came in, but I came to rescue you."

"Awwww...Thank you, Hoggle. You help people often in this place?" My words floated in the air like feathers.

"Ermm..." He opened the door and faced me, "Only once have I helped. I almost lost my head, but Jareth forgave me. Now, we're back to normal as if nothing happened."

"Oh? Is it good thing?"

"I suppose so. I mean, Jareth blocked the event out of his mind. He fell in love with some girl and tried to get her to stay here. After she defeated him in a battle of wits, he returned to his throne in tears. He gave himself a spell to forget the events. Ever since, he hasn't taken any babies from their homes except for your sister. I don't know what provoked him to do it, but obviously there's gotta be a reason you're re-living what Sarah went through."

I absorbed all the information and stated, "Sarah is the girl. He loved her.. He doesn't remember anything about her or her journey through the maze?"

Hoggle looked at the open door as if it would shut randomly, "He remembers that someone came to the Labyrinth and defeated it. Yet, he doesn't remember who or why he brought anyone here. I'm not sure why you're here, as I said before, but it might be for the same reason Sarah came. He might be in love with you."

I choked on my breath and didn't say one word.

"...but I don't think that's the case.." Hoggle saved his assumption and added, "Now, let's get out of here before Jareth tries to send you back to the beginning of the Labyrinth."