Hello everyone, I have come out of hibernation! Not really, I was just insanely busy with work. No fear, I have returned to resume this story! HUMONGOUS thank you's to everyone who has continued reading, following, favoriting, and reviewing this story in my absence! Ya'll are amazing, so totally amazing! :D

**The lyrics are from Town Meeting Song by Danny Elfman in the Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack, and I do not own them in any way, shape, or form. Nor do I own the characters of Jim Henson's Labyrinth.

UPDATE: Friday, 11:00PM (THIS IS HALLOWEEN, THIS IS HALLOWEEN!): Just some grammar mistakes that I needed to correct :)

REVIEW ANSWERS:

musicluver246:Mission accomplished! Let me know what you think in a review! :D

"I can touch the top!" Hoggle's voice echoed from the top of the hole in the ceiling. It was so dark, I couldn't even see him up there.

Squinting, I shouted as I sat on the floor of the oubliette, "Okay, when you get up there, find a rope and then throw it down for me!"

"Oh, no problem!" Hoggle hollered. His tone had a forced cheeriness, and a horrible realization hit me: What if he leaves me down here, injured? I would have to wait until my knee healed and God knows how long that would take, and then to climb out?

Hoggle continued to grunt and occasionally chastise the hands in the dirt walls for grabbing him too hard or in inappropriate places ("Oi, watch it! Haven't ya ever heard of personal space?! Good for nothin' bastards..."). I gazed up into the large, cavernous hole in anticipation and mild annoyance.

"Hey, do you think you could hurry a bit?" I called up to him.

"I'm doin' the best I can!" Hoggle shouted back angrily.

"Well, do better!" I countered, feeling a larger flare of irritation. Then added, "I mean, take your time... Y'know, I've only got a possibly broken knee, so take your sweet time." I gazed down at my knee, now swollen to the size of a softball and a bluish-purple color. It ached and burned like a hundred bee stings and the only way to keep myself from crying was to try to ignore it by watching Hoggle struggle to the top of the oubliette's exit.

"Hello, Gwen," a voice breathed in my ear. My heart seized up and I screamed, turning over to the side and successfully rolling over my bad knee which made me scream again. Jareth had been crouching beside me for God knows how long and was now gazing at me in shock at my outburst. At my screams, Hoggle let out a shout and a ruckus came from the hole he was climbing in until he hit the oubliette floor with a thud that made me wince.

"Dammit, Jareth!" I shrieked furiously as my knee blazed with the entirety of the fire from Dante's Inferno.

"Dammit, Jareth!" Hoggle echoed, hoisting himself up and brushing himself off, his wrinkled and warty face scrunched up into an ugly snarl. Then, realizing what he had just said and to whom he had said it to, his face immediately smoothened into one of submissive sheepishness and his eyes went wide in fear. "I-I mean, what a pleasure for you to visit, Goblin King," he stammered, wringing his white shirt in his big fists.

I rolled my eyes at Hoggle's cowardice. I wasn't afraid of Jareth, the Big Bad Asshole. I would have been snarling and sending a string of curses his way if I wasn't gritting my teeth to hold back the burst of sobs that was stuck like a lump in my throat.

"You're hurt, love," Jareth said to me, ignoring Hoggle (who visibly relaxed). He stood up, and towering over both Hoggle and me, and took a few steps towards me. I held my ground but wished for the space between us again. "I was going to observe you bravely power through it, but your knee is clearly fractured and will mend itself in the wrong way if you don't let me fix it."

"Oh, hell no," I snarled at him, in which a mini-sob found its way into my tone, making my pain obvious. Jareth's face seemed to pale; it was worse than he had thought, I could tell.

"Gwen, please-"

"I said no," I repeated, despite how badly I wanted to make the inferno in my knee go away. "You can't possibly expect me to accept your medicinal help while keeping me locked in this damn labyrinth?

"Gwen-"

"I said hell-to-the-no."

"Ms. Jackson," Hoggle interjected. Jareth and I both turned to him with angry snarls, to which he flinched but regained his composure. Nervously, began, "Perhaps it would be wise to get your knee healed, in case you have some climbing to do sometime, y'know." He used way too much emphasis; I wanted to slap him and facepalm myself.

"Why such secrecy, Hogwart?" Jareth asked him, clearly amused at the way Hoggle flinched when Jareth said his name. "I know exactly what you two were doing. You were doomed to fail."

"Hey, first of all, you royal ass," I snapped, making Jareth's head snap to me. "His name is Hoggle. H-O-G-G-L-E, okay? Do we need to conduct a freakin' spelling bee for you to get this?"

"You know, your stinging sarcasm truly draws from your beauty-,"

"Hey," I interrupted. "Did I say I was done talking? Oh, that's right, I didn't. So, second of all, you told me to solve this labyrinth. Well, the way I'm solving it right now is getting out of this damn oubliette, and if you have a problem with that, you speak with my attorney when I get back to reality. Any questions, concerns, comments, grievances, or compliances?"

Jareth stared at me in surprise, then something passed across his eyes; before I could really see it, it was gone and Jareth was kneeling beside me.

"Just shut up and bite this handkerchief," he deadpanned, pulling out a white handkerchief from the brown vest he was wearing over a puffy, white sleeved shirt, complete with grey leggings and brown boots. He was so close to me that his extravagant blonde hair bangs could nearly brush my forehead. Begrudgingly, I took the handkerchief from his open hand and stuffed it in my mouth. "Good girl," he said, making me glower at him. "Alright, bite down as hard as you can."

Jareth poised his hands above my knee, pausing. Hoggle stayed where he was, watching nervously. Then Jareth placed his hands on my knee, which was painful enough. And then the magic began to do its stuff.

The agony that penetrated my knee soared up through my spine and into the temples in my head. I was engulfed in a fire so awful that I felt my head splitting open across my forehead and I screamed so hard and bit the handkerchief with such ferocity that blackness descended upon me and I felt no more.

"Listen everyone, there were objects so peculiar.

They were not to be believed.

All around, things to tantalize my brain.

It's a world unlike anything I've ever seen,

And as hard as I try, I can't seem to describe

Like a most improbable dream.

But you must believe when I tell you this,

It's as real as my skull and it does exist.

Here, let me show you..."

The voice from my favorite movie echoed from all around. I found myself standing in a field where the sun was shining and glittering off of the dewy grass that swayed and shimmied in the breeze. I gazed down at myself and saw a white sundress hugging my figure and my bare feet smudged with warm dirt from the ground. My hair was down and wind was toying with it, tossing it about my face.

Brushing it aside, I saw a figure in the distance walking towards me. I tried calling out to the figure, but no noise came from my throat. Then, it dawned on me almost naturally: it was Mark. His hair wasn't gelled and spiky but flatter and natural, getting ruffled in the breeze. He was striding towards me, clad in a white suit and a bright smile...

Wait. He wasn't smiling now, he was frowning. Now a snarling sneer that sent shivers up my spine. Like a spreading ink stain, his suit was turning from white to black, spreading from his chest to the rest of his body, stretching up to his neck and down to his ankles.

Suddenly was in front of me. Brushing the hair out of my face, I realized the breeze had died abruptly. The sun had hidden behind the clouds and a great shadow was cast upon the fields. Mark stared at me indifferently, the corners of his mouth tugged down in distaste. Then, as quickly as he had been merely standing in front of me, his hand thrusting something through my chest. He then stepped back, grinning sadistically. Slowly and dreamlike, I glanced down and saw red blossoming from my chest where a wooden handle stuck out from.

"This is all your fault!" Mark was shouting. I looked up at him and he was sobbing, his face twisted into an ugly scowl. "You made me do this!"

I felt myself falling backwards into someone's embrace, their white gloved hands catching me beneath my arms. I felt hair rub against my cheek and someone whispering in my ear:

"And as hard as I try, I can't seem to describe,

Like a most improbable dream.

But you must believe when I tell you this,

It's as real as my skull and it does exist.

Here, my Queen, let me show you..."

I woke with a start, heaving and sitting up quickly. Sunlight hit my eyes like arrows and I squinted and moaned. Wait, sunlight? I opened my eyes a bit more, and saw a large stone wall in front of me with vines scaling its height.

Bewilderment smacked me upside the head and I glanced around and saw Hoggle, waddling back and forth along in deep thought. We got out?

"Hoggle?" I asked weakly. He whirled around to me, his face lighting up. "What'd I miss?"

He waddled over to me and, to my shock, embraced me enthusiastically. "You're alive!" he exclaimed in delight. "I could'a sworn you were dead, you weren't movin' and what Jareth did to your knee-!"

"My knee?" I interjected, quickly gazing down at my knee. It was good as new, normal-sized and pale like the rest of me. "Oh, my God," I murmured in admiration. "That's... that's amazing. It doesn't hurt at all anymore. Do you see this, Hoggle? Damn, if Jareth was my doctor, I wouldn't have to pay medical bills and medical care anymore!"

To my disappointment, Hoggle just shook his head.

"That's great and all, Ms. Jackson, but this is bad for you. I mean, Jareth came down to the oubliette and healed your knee. As far as I know, he's as cold-hearted as they come..."

"Spit it out, Hoggle."

Hoggle sighed, then said plainly, "Let's just say, don't expect to be marrying your fiance anytime soon with Jareth so head-over-heels for you."

I shook my head, shaking away the thoughts of doubt and trembling fear. "No, no, we have a deal. If I get out of here, then I marry Mark. If I don't, then I stay. That's that, black and white, no shades of grey here. Now, let's focus on getting the hell out of here, yeah?"

Hoggle stared at me in confusion as I got up from the ground where I had been lying.

"What do you mean?"

I hesitated, then said, "Well... you're coming with me, aren't you?"

"I did what I meant to do," Hoggle said. "I got out, and so did you. Your knee was healed, granted by Jareth, but healed all the same. He magicked us out of that oubliette so you could continue your journey, so let's just say that I got us out. So, this is where we part. Goodbye, Gwen."

"Hey, you can't leave me!" I protested as he turned to go.

He turned back, folding his arms and watching me in amusement. "And why not?"

I searched for words, opened and closed my mouth, but I had nothing.

"Then good day!" Hoggle snapped. He turned and waddled away down another corridor in the labyrinth.

"Hoggle!" I shouted. Then, more desperately, "Hoggle!"

Silence. Some kind of animal screamed in the distance, making me flinch and setting my heart hammering.

"Fine!" I hollered at the walls, trying to sound confident. "I'll be fine on my own! I don't need you, you warty lump of a coward!" I turned to go down the opposite corridor, before turning back around and shouting, "I HOPE YOU FALL INTO THE BOG OF ETERNAL STENCH!"

With that, I stormed off down the possibly right or wrong corridor. Who knew, because I certainly didn't... but Hoggle would've.

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~Writer by Moonlight