A/N- Is it bad that I know this movie like the back of my hand, yet my grandmother had never seen it? I feel like that's a bad thing...

This is normally where I'd respond to your reviews from Chapter 2, but I was too impatient to wait for you to review to update this one, so I'll just respond in Chapter 4.

Disclaimer; I don't own Labyrinth.

I made it to a pool, where I saw a dwarf spraying fairies. I cleared my throat, and he jumped, turning to face me. "You're Hoggle, right? I need to find the entrance to the labyrinth."

He eyed me warily. "Who are you?"

"My name's Ashlyn Williams," I answered. "Now, I really need to find the entrance, and I happen to know from a very good source that you can show me where it is."

"And what source would that be?" Hoggle asked, sniffing in disdain.

I raised an eyebrow, smirking inwardly. "My aunt. Sarah Williams."

"You're Sarah's niece?" Hoggle brightened. "How is she?"

I bit my lip, not really wanting to tell him. "She's… gone. But, I really need to get through. I only have eleven hours. Can you help me?"

"Of course," he replied, sobering greatly. "It's right there."

He motioned behind me, and started walking, opening the door. I followed him in, and saw that I had two choices: left, or right. He turned to me, sadness in his eyes. "When did it happen? How?"

"She died peacefully, yesterday, from cancer," I told him, looking around. If what anything Aunt Sarah had told me was true, then there were many passages out of here, I just couldn't see them. I glanced back at Hoggle, and smiled sadly. "She told me about you all the time, you know. You, Ludo, Sir Didymus, King Jareth, the Fireys, the labyrinth, everything. She loved this place, she really did. So do I, although this is my first time here. I've grown up hearing stories about this place."

After inspecting my surroundings, staring carefully at the wall, and pondering my options, I made up my mind, and stepped closer to the wall, placing my hands carefully, and bracing my weight on them, as I took a step up, climbing to the top of the wall. I reached the top, and looked back down at Hoggle, who was staring up at me in bewilderment. "What're you doing up there?"

I grinned. "Partially getting my bearings. Inspecting the layout. Also, he never said I had to go through the labyrinth. So, I'm going over."

"I'm fairly sure this is cheating," Hoggle said, though he climbed up, anyway. I held a hand out to help him, pulling him over to sit beside me.

I gave him a mischievous smirk. "Cheating is the loser's way of saying winning cleverly. And, I have always been known for my wit."

Hoggle simply gave me an uncertain look, but I ignored it, standing up, and judging the distance from this wall, to the next. It was only a few feet; I was certain I could make it.

"What are you thinking?" Hoggle asked, with a hint of warning in his voice.

I didn't look at him as I replied, eyeing the ledge carefully, and preparing myself for both the jump, and the landing. "I'm going to jump across."

"Are you insane?!" he yelped.

"Probably," I laughed. "Then again, I've always been pretty good at the long jump, and sticking the landing."

I crouched, tensing my muscles. It's not as far as it looks, I assured myself. You take it for granted that you can't make it, but you will.

I took a deep breath, and leaped, landing neatly on the next wall. I turned back to Hoggle. "Thank you for your help. You don't need to come with me, if you don't want to."

"I won't make it, missy," he replied nervously.

"Well, then, I'll see you once I make it through," I grinned, and turned away, preparing to jump to the next ledge.

"Wait!" Hoggle called. I stood, and looked back at him questioningly. "Good luck."

I smiled, giving him a nod. "Thank you, Hoggle."

With that, he hopped down from his ledge, and I continued to jump along.

After a few hours, I came across a spot where I couldn't jump across, or run along the top to reach a spot where I could. Though, I could proudly admit that the castle did look a bit closer. I bit my lip, not wanting to get down, but knowing that I had to. Sighing, I leaped gracefully down, bending my knees and ankles to absorb the shock. Glancing around, I saw two doors ahead of me, one red and the other blue. I smirked, knowing what they were, and walked up to them. "Hello."

Two heads popped out from underneath.

"Hello," the blue one replied.

"What can we do for you?" Blue piped up.

"I need to get through," I said. "I know one of you lies, while the other tells the truth. So, I have one request."

"What would that be, m'lady?" Red questioned.

I held my arms out to both of them. "Hit my arm."

"What?" they asked simultaneously.

I smirked. "Slap my arm. Hard as you can."

They hesitated, but complied. I took a step toward the red door. "Okay, will your door lead me to the castle?"

"How do you know I'm not the liar?" Red asked.

I raised an eyebrow. "Everyone knows that the truth hurts more in the present. Lies are painful, but they take a while to hurt. When you slapped my arm, it hurt immediately. My other arm is just now starting to sting. So, are you the door that will take me to the castle?"

"Yes," he replied simply.

I smiled. "Well, then, I choose you."

The door opened, and I hopped through, only to begin falling. I shrieked, and a series of hands on the wall caught me. I laughed in relief, and looked at them. "Helping Hands. Thank you."

A face was made from the disembodied hands across from me. "You're welcome. Up, or down?"

"Neither," I challenged.

"Neither?" the hands asked incredulously. "You only have two choices: up or down?"

"I choose neither," I repeated, enunciating every syllable. "I know this is the right door, and I also know that nothing is as easy as up or down. So, I don't want to go either way."

"Well, which way would you go instead?" A new face appeared, challenging me.

"The other way," I grinned evilly. "Take me the other way."

The hands paused, before I was enveloped, absorbed into the wall, and spit back out in a dark, round cavern, with no apparent exit.

"An oubliette," I growled, recognizing this from Aunt Sarah's tales. "Great."

This is what I get for trying to be clever.

I sighed, and began searching the walls for a way out. Finding nothing, I yelled in frustration, smacking my palm against the wall. I leaned my forehead on it, closing my eyes to try to come up with a plan. Jareth was all about riddles, scenarios that you had to think your way out of. Coming up with nothing, I opened my eyes, and what I was standing on caught my attention. A red blanket, covering something hard, and relatively large. Stepping back, I crouched down to uncover the object, and discovered a small wooden door. Grinning, I braced my hands underneath it, ready to push it up. With a heave and a tremendous amount of effort, I was able to get it on the wall. I stood back, hands on my hips, and let out a breath. I pulled open the door, revealing an underground passage. I stepped out, and started walking the only way I could. Forward.

After a long while of walking, I came across a dead end, the pass barred by thick iron posts. I was stuck here. I sighed, and leaned against a wall.

What I was not expecting when I leaned on the wall, however, was to fall through.

With a shriek, I fell backwards, landing painfully on my butt. I looked around, and saw that I was in a little alcove that branched off from the main hall. I spotted a ladder, and stood up, not quite believing my luck. I began to scale it, climbing for the light at the top.

Coming out, I saw that I was in a large forest, with light filtering through the canopy. I huffed, and looked around, feeling lost. I glanced up at one of the trees, debating what I wanted to do. I knew that I needed to get my bearings, so scaling the tree it was.

I climbed to the top, though with some difficulty, as the tree's branches started a good way up. regardless, I made it to the top, and looked around, noting with a bit of glee that the castle wasn't too far off, and I recognized the forest. I looked over my shoulder, and immediately squinted, blinded by the sun. I gauged how far it had moved since I arrived, and determined that I had been in the labyrinth for about six hours already. I grinned, and climbed down.

"Five hours left," I said aloud to no one in particular. "I think I can do this!"

"I wouldn't be so sure," a voice purred behind me. I turned, to see the Goblin King leaning against a tree, twirling a crystal ball in his hand. "Time runs differently here. I thought you knew that?"

I shrugged. "I kind of assumed that meant the sun moved different, as well. But, if I was off in my assumptions, how long have I been here?"

"You have four hours left," he replied, waving a dismissive hand to the clock beside him. "The path you chose with the Hands took an hour to get through."

I nodded, thinking. "Okay, then. Four hours. I still think I can do this."

"Easy for you, is it?" He smirked, and I returned it with a dark look, knowing that I had to be careful what I said.

"I did not say that."

"Oh, is it too hard then?" Jareth asked.

I raised an eyebrow. "I didn't say that, either. I neither confirm nor deny the difficulty of this maze. I offer absolutely no fucking opinion."

"Language, language," he tsked.

I snorted. "I'm running through a magical maze because my aunt died, unofficially having a battle of wits against a Goblin King, and have four hours to secure my humanity. I'll curse if I fucking want to."

"Your aunt was not nearly as rude as you are," Jareth said, raising an eyebrow. "Nor did she cheat her way through."

I smirked. "Okay, one; in order for cheating to have occurred, then wouldn't rules have to have been laid out? The only rule I got was getting to the castle in eleven hours or less. There also would have had to be a semblance of fairness, which this place is infamous for being severely lacking in. Two, as I said to Hoggle earlier, and have used as an excuse my entire life, to the point that it has basically become my motto, cheating is just the loser's way of saying winning cleverly."

"You already assume you have won?" Jareth asked. "Well, we'll just have to up the stakes a bit, then."

With a wave of his hand, the clock sped forward, subtracting an hour from my time limit.

"Yeah, okay, well, if you're gonna do that, then I really have to be on my way," I spun on my heel, walking away from him. I had to admit, I did have a bit of sass to me, which was often kind of rude. It came with being clever, I suppose.

"Three hour left," he called. "I'd get a move on."

"What do you think I'm doing?" I called over my shoulder.

I continued walking for a while, until I heard music and singing from not to far off. If I recalled from Aunt Sarah's stories, there was one very good probability as to whom the song was coming from, and it was not good.

Shit shit shit shit shit. My mind went on replay, cursing my luck (though mostly Jareth) for coming across the Fireys. Hopefully, I could get away from them, or find a place to hide, lest they sing, dance, waste my time, and possibly try to remove my head. Not one of those options really seemed desirable at this time.

I sped up, and tread more carefully, almost silent as I ran through the forest. I could still hear them, though, and they seemed to be getting closer. My breath quickened, and I glanced over my shoulder, rounding a corner, returning my gaze to the front only in time to run face-first into a shaggy, orange-haired wall. I yelped as I was knocked backwards, landing on the hard ground.

The mass of hair turned around, and I saw that it was actually a large, hairy beast, with two large, curling horns coming from either side of its head, and a pair of large teeth protruding from its lower jaw. It looked at me with confusion, but I grinned, recognizing yet another being from the stories I heard. "Ludo!"

"Who… you?" he asked in his slow, broken speech.

I stood, brushing the dirt off me. "My name's Ashlyn. I'm Sarah's niece. You were Sarah Williams' friend, right?"

"Sawah… friend!" Ludo replied excitedly.

I heard the Fireys getting closer, and glance nervously over my shoulder. "Listen, Ludo, I have to make it through the labyrinth, just like Aunt Sarah did, and I'm in a bit of trouble right now. Can you please help me?"

"Help… friend," Ludo agreed.

I sighed in relief. and began walking, motioning for him to come with me. "Can you help me get to the castle? Or, at least, to Sir Didymus?"

Ludo nodded, and the two of us set off. I felt slightly safer, feeling as though the Fireys wouldn't attack, as long as I had a creature that appeared as frightening as Ludo. Although I knew that he was relatively harmless, the Fireys did not, and I saw no reason to tell them. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw them at the edge of the pathway, looking nervous, before they ran off in the other direction. Keeping my sly grin to myself, I hurried after Ludo, who had gotten slightly ahead.

A/N- I rewrote this chapter, like, three times. I'm not all that fond of it. Or this story, for that matter, but I'm usually fairly insecure about my work, anyway. Then I get messages from all of you, and my friends/family (when and if I'm brave enough to share it with them) that tell me you like it, and I'm like 'I dunno, but okay. I'll keep writing. If a bunch of random people like it, it has to be at least halfway decent.' XD Anyway, that was fairly irrelevant, and you all probably don't care about that. I highly doubt anyone reads these author's notes, anyway.

You wanna know when you're a bored, insecure, writer with insomnia? When you're up at 2am, changing all of the titles for you stories in Google Docs to anagrams, or random titles. XD I like to write my stories during class, after I've finished my work. but, I'm always afraid that people are going to look over my shoulder, and see the title of whatever I'm working on, and figure out what I'm doing. I don't know why. But, I changed all of the titles, at least of the stories I was writing.

My two personal favorites are Red Taco Droughts, and Lithuania. (the second one isn't an anagram, it's a completely random title I came up with XD)

Shout-out to anyone who can tell me which two stories those are! And, if you get the second one, I'll write a one-shot Jareth/Sarah story for you! (It would be preferable if you could give me a prompt, but I can make one up, too!)

Okay, I'm done. fave, follow, review, and PM me!

(Jeez, has any of you noticed how often I say 'Anyway', or 'Okay', or some other transition like that? I feel like I overuse them! XD)