Disclaimer: I don't own Labyrinth or the things part of/in it. Though I wish I did.

Claimer: I do own Aora, her sister, and some obstacles later in this story. Though not all of them. I do write the lines on my own though...with some idea help from the movie, obviously.

Anyway, let us begin the story!

RANDOM QUOTE!!

Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful.

Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path.

You know you will never get to the end of the journey.

But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb.

-Sir Winston Churchill

Chapter Four

Aora had chosen at random the path to go when she reached forks, but she soon began feeling as if she were going in circles. She then got into the pattern of taking first a right, then a left, then repeat; so as to alternate her settings. Whenever she reached a staircase, she happily ascended or descended it. She had also noticed that gradually the walls had shortened themselves to a reasonable height, greatly increasing the light, which reduced the dankness and helped improve her disposition. Soon it was like she was merely wandering around a poorly-kept stone maze that a rich person might keep at the back of their home to look nice. The prospect she'd had in mind at the beginning continued to tempt her until she willingly paused and clambered up the wall. Once on top, she found she could see around much easier, and could better assess her position. "This is a nice change." She then looked more out and saw the castle, still small in her view. Aora focused her mind and set her face. If she were to make up all the time she'd spent finding her way here (or was it really that long at all?), she'd have to get moving faster. She couldn't ever seem to move fast enough by her expectations, but of course, one can never go quick enough when one is trying to get somewhere very badly. Surveying around her, she was able to move faster it seemed, but she didn't feel any closer to the castle. On her next step, she hit air and was just able to catch herself, after uttering a small cry, from falling the six feet for so from the ground. She found her breath, then looked up again. She jolted; she was in a totally different place! She was positive that that statue had been over there; and that weed over there. When she glimpsed down again to measure where her next step would be so as not to fall, there was wall ahead to walk on! She knew that wasn't right. "What in the world is going on here!"

"That depends on which world you're talkin' about, now don't it?" Aora turned and looked down to her left; there were two guards looking at her with their heads twisted to the side and up. She came down off the wall so that they wouldn't have to inconvenience themselves with looking two ways at once. It was good to be polite, even in this place. She also saw that, though they were guards, they were a peculiar pair of guards. They both carried large and bulky shields, which must have been heavy, and both shields had bizarre symbols and marks all over them. One shield was half red, the other blue, and the second half of both seemed to just be a bronze metal. They reminded her quite a bit of cards, such as from Alice in Wonderland. Or perhaps it was Through the Looking Glass? "Of course she means this world, nitwit!" "Well how do you know? She didn't specify." The blue one retorted. "Ah well." The red one dismissed the reply. "Hey, she's right in front of us, so why not ask her?" She angled her glance downward and saw, with some slight astonishment, that there were heads poking out from under the shields as well. She shrugged and dismissed it under their growing list of oddities, however; quickly getting over her surprise. The red under-head had said the previous comment. "Splendid idea, old chap!" The blue under-head exclaimed. "What is?" Red upper-head asked. Thinking of them as Red up and Blue down and such seemed impractical, so Aora decided to give them acronymic names in her mind. B.U. for Blue under-head, B.O. for Blue over-head; and R.U. and R.O. for their counterparts. "I don't know; I can't remember!" B.O. finished as they all burst into laughter.

"Excuse me," she interrupted as politely as she could, "are those doors behind you?" "Well they ain't windows." R.U. acknowledged. "If they were, we'd be turned around, wouldn't we?" B.U. put in, somewhat inquisitively. "We might." R.O. nodded somberly, "We might indeed." "But that would also depend on which side people might be comin' from." B.O. added thoughtfully. Seeing as another conversation could ensue, Aora tried to get back on track. "I'm trying to reach the castle." "Oh, that's a new one." R.U. injected sarcastically. "Do either of these doors go that direction?" She finished. "Aye, one of these doors does," B.O. permitted, "but the other leads to-" "certain death." R.U. accented. Strangely, the words had hardly any effect on her. "Which leads to the castle?" She asked B.U., who shook his head. "Sorry;" he said. "Can't tell you." R.U. alternated. "They can," B.U. continue, pointing up, which to him would be down, but directions seemed of trivial matter here. "but they might not." "At least not directly." R.U. threw in. Aora looked up to R.O. and B.O.'s eye-level and opened her mouth to talk, but was cut off. "Aaahhh!" R.O. held out, "You can only ask one of us." "Can I ask one of you, wait a bit, and then ask the other?" She asked matter-of-factly. "It'd be practically the same, since how there'd be time between the question." R.O. and B.O. looked at each other for a moment. "Uuuhhh…." R.O. looked at his shield, as if consulting it, before answering. "No…no, I don't think you can." "Even if it's the same question?" "'Fraid not." B.O. said, "Rules and all, ya know?" He tapped a portion of his shield knowingly. "But I'll have you know that there's a catch." R.O. stated quickly. Of course; there always was, wasn't there? "One of us always lies, and the other always tells the truth. I'm the truth-teller." "You're not, I am, you liar!" B.O. countered, almost playfully. R.O. gasped theatrically. "Oooohhh, how you can lie so!" "Do not!"

Aora knew she had heard this one before. She just couldn't seem to remember the one question that would be a sure-fire winner. Of course, now that she thought of it, it had been one of them that had told her that they were a liar and a truth-teller; so if it was the truth-teller who had told her they were that way she'd have the truth one already. But if it was the liar, then… Oh, she didn't have time to be thinking so long! She had to reach the castle as quickly as possible, even if reckless action had to be taken now and again. She approached R.O., who was at her right. She spoke carefully. "If…I asked him," she waved in B.O.'s general direction, who in turn tilted his head slightly, "if his door led to the castle, what would he say? Yes or no." They both looked blank for a second, conversed with each other in hushed tones, then apparently reached a conclusion. "No." R.O said, a trifle hesitantly. "Then his door leads the way I want to go." "How're you so certain?" "Because if you're telling me that he would say no, and you're right, he would be lying and it would therefore be true." "And if he was lying?" B.O. contradicted. "Then there's only one other answer, which would still lead me to that door." B.O. moved out of her way as she drew nearer. "But how can you be sure?" Aora sighed; though with something like regret. "I don't have time to be sure." She stepped inside the now-open door and took a few tentative steps. "Hey…I asked more-"

But they never found out what she asked more of or for because the heavy door slammed itself shut, both blocking the sound of her voice and covering it with a loud metallic 'bam!' The resounding echo cut off any remnant of voice. Blue moved back. "Hey, you think anyone will ever figure out that we're both liars?" B.O. asked generally. Blue and Red looked at each other for a minute, then shook their heads and said "Naaaahhh." They followed up with a fresh burst of laughter.

The slamming door cut Aora off mid-sentence, also making her freeze in split-second surprise. It subsided an instant later, and she realized that she was standing on a soft surface. She glanced down and saw that she was now standing on sand. She looked up and saw now that the walls around her deteriorated into nothing after a few feet, and what lay beyond caused her to groan aloud in dismay. An enormous expanse of sand was set out, reminding her of what she imagined deserts to look like when she was younger. It did have hills, or rather dunes, but she knew that they were only temporary; the wind would pick up the sand and move it at will, creating dunes over some time. The wind wasn't blowing currently, but the sun above beat down unrelentingly and scorched the barren plain. Aora could already feel the heat from the semi-protected place she stood. She had taken her jacket off earlier, for which she was thankful for now, and put it over her head. It was almost like a bonnet, as she wasn't truly experienced in staying cool, though she had tried for more of a turban. She took a hopefully-tension-relieving breath and set out, determined not to waste any more time gawking at the amazing Labyrinth. She expected to have little luck with that, though; once she got out of the desert. She could see the castle off in the distance and tried to aim for it constantly, as there was nothing else to tell direction by and she wasn't particularly fond of the idea of walking in circles.

With nothing much to do whilst trudging through seemingly endless sand, she found herself thinking as to how this had all started. She had been left in charge, a guardian for her little sister. But she had become absorbed in her new book, and her temper had helped her to quickly get angry with Sarah for something she couldn't really help; it was simply her age. She then wondered what had caused the Goblin King to come and take Sarah away. Yes, she had wished for Sarah to be taken, though not with the same wording as the book. But she had been so into the book that she slightly felt part of it, and so honestly believed, with some small bit of her, that something really would happen; hoped that something would. However, when it did… "How could I have been so blindly stupid?!" Curse her enrapturement with stories! Even so, it was that that enabled her to at least somewhat enjoy the marvelous Labyrinth; though at the moment she felt like an egg trying to be boiled, baked, and fried all at once. She wiped perspiration from her brow. "I wonder how Sarah's doing…" Was she scared? Probably not…knowing her, she'd be trying to organize the goblins into militias and having them wage war against each other. Aora smiled. Sarah could be a violent little child. "I doubt she's having much luck…"

Before she could continue her thought, however, her foot got stuck. She stopped to try and pull it out, assuming she'd just run it into a rise in the sand; but then her other foot started sinking as well. She looked round about her and noticed the sand surrounding her rolling towards her, seemingly trying to bury her. After a second of thought (as she was distracted by other thoughts), she realized that she was sinking and it hit home what she was sinking in: quicksand. She at first tried to move out of the pit, but she had no idea where it started or stopped, and the movements only made her sink faster. She froze and tried to remember something she'd heard once in passing about quicksand. Something like…she should try to float? But that wouldn't really work for her; she floated like a rock. No matter how long she had practiced, she had enough trouble just keeping her head above water. About the only place she expected to be successful was maybe the Dead Sea. The sand was a little above her knees now, so she sighed and began lying down. She might as well try it; she had nothing to loose. She couldn't find any traction what so ever, so she more fell back than anything. She spread herself out as best she could, bending backwards more than laying, but the sand continued to encircle her, almost looking to go faster now. Aora started to panic; what was she thinking?! Lying down would only make her sink faster! She jerked her arms, getting her torso upright again, but only in time to see sand rise above her hips. She frantically looked around to see something to grab onto, anything would do! But the only thing she saw was sand and more sand. She ripped her jacket off her head thinking it might help in some way. But she could think of nothing, and quickly tied it back round her head like a headband, trying not to waste any time. If floating wouldn't work, maybe swimming would. She started into a breaststroke, and for an instant she thought she had it worked out. But she had taken too long in planning, and when she tried to move her legs they wouldn't' budge. She tried again, clenching her teeth; she moved them maybe half an inch, if that. It didn't' feel like much at any rate, and the sand now held her arms captive. She was gasping; from panic, exertion, and the heat. She closed her eyes and in a final effort to do something wrenched her arms free from the sand, practically using all of her energy. The sand was fast approaching her chest, and she did the only thing she could think of. She turned her jacket so that the long bulk covered her face, pressed it against her face, and took a few deep breaths. If she couldn't get out, she should try to protect her face so that she might be able to somewhat breathe for a while. She felt the sand reach her neckline and closed her eyes, trying to slow her breathing. In some small part of her mind, she thought there would be a way to escape, appearing at the last moment to save her. But she knew that the chances of that were so slim it wasn't worth thinking of. However, she still hoped that that bit was right; she hoped for a miracle. "I'm sorry Sarah." Aora whispered before the sand rose up and over her head.

Aora had been holding her breath for a few seconds, the sand pressing her jacket onto her features, and she continued to be pulled down. She didn't know if holding her breath would help at all, but it had felt right at the time. She still had plenty of air, but she started letting it out though her nose very slowly, finally slowing her heart a touch. She was still going down, and her jacket seemed to provide a sufficient barrier for 'clean' air. Suddenly, she stopped moving for a moment and her panic from earlier started returning. Was she just going to set there until she ran out of air??

But it was short-lived, whereas she felt a sudden shift in the sand beneath her and she felt it begin to give out. Before she knew it she was falling, the surrounding sand seeming to disintegrate. She immediately threw her arms around her head as a thunderous crashing cacophony hit her, engulfing her senses in a menagerie of confusing vibrations and collisions. After a second of mid-air flight she landed on a hill of what felt like more sand, and could feel hefty objects falling beside her. She kept her eyes closed and stayed completely still. The large bulks eventually stopped falling, and only some sand continued to fall on her, though even it was trickling to a stop. She heard echoes of the event slowly fading until it was almost quiet.

She cautiously opened her eyes and saw utter darkness. But she could feel herself, and she could apparently breathe. She thrust her hands triumphantly into the air above her and tossed her head back. "YES!!" she proclaimed, more to herself than to anything in particular, "I'm alive!!" She smiled despite the fact that she still couldn't see anything, and started getting up, She knew due to the length of her fall that she had no worry of reaching the roof. Inching her way down the sand hill, she eventually reached a sand/dirt floor of sorts. She stood upright and stretched, glad to have some room again. But as she started to take a step, her foot caught on some protruding surface and tripped her; she sprawled over whatever it was and bounced a little bit. She let herself lie for a moment, exasperated with her clumsiness. What was under her was straight and felt like old wood, though still quite sturdy. While she rested there, she noticed that it was nice and cool there.

Jareth spotted Aora lying in an old oubliette, exhausted. His eyebrow faintly twitched. An oubliette? Nobody had gotten that far in quite a while. Though before had been quicker… His eye softly gleamed. It faded quickly however, and he thought of something simple to throw her off track; he sent off a signal for Skern to go and lead her through passageways made to confuse and then loose her, making things much harder. She was guaranteed never to come out in time.

After the oaf Hoggle had betrayed him, he had needed to find a new 'undercover' minion. Skern had appeared then, and things had been going quite smoothly since. Skern had proved his loyalty numerous times, though only interested in personal gain. Sometimes the passerby offered something to him, but fear kept him in line; along with the almost-guarantee of doubling any offer he received. His needs were quite trivial to meet; he took pleasure in shiny objects, reminding Jareth of a crow.

He glanced to the side and observed the little girl, having grown bored with waiting, attempting to organize some goblins into ranks and pit them against each other. The latter part accomplished itself without any needed help, but the first… The goblins didn't really know or care much about ranking; they just followed his orders, and only his orders. She was quite determined, though, and he soon found himself intrigued by her strategy. Finally having found a slightly new entertainment, he contented himself to sit back and watch strange scenes unfold before him.

Aora hadn't really realized how much she had sweat up in the desert until now; her long shirt was clinging to her and her jeans felt constricting. Her extensive hair was a burden, but she didn't feel the strength to reach back and move it. Her jacket was still in the grip of one of her hands, though only barely. The slightly stale, yet still refreshing air felt pleasant; the openness allowed her to relax. She started to enjoy her position, and began to doze off. It made sense to her; she was quite weary, and how could there possibly be any way she could escape the depths of this black…pit? She didn't really care. Something whispered to her in the back of her mind, soothing and enticing. Her hand twitched involuntarily, letting it slide off the straight edge. A soft click sounded, unrenowned to her. All she needed was the calmness, the cool breeze, and…

Wait, breeze? She brought herself back, forcing her eyes at least to open somewhat. Even the process of thinking caused her to struggle, raising her mind out of the muddled thoughts and fading dreams. When she was finally able to open her eyes, she found that a bit of light was seeping out from the object under her, allowing extremely low visibility. Ahead of her, there was a smooth rock wall, with hardly any over-hangings or outcroppings.

What does it matter? Something in her crooned, You can just close your eyes and fade away into the bliss of nothingness…She shook her head.(well, more like wobbled) She mustn't think of such things. She mustered the energy to sit up, then turned around, blinking a few times both to adjust to the bit of light she had now and to try focusing better. She was slowly able to make out the hill of sand not too far from her, seeing that it was piled about five feet or so high. Dust particles were highlighted as they floated by the shafts of dim light, and there seemed to be quite a bit of the powder. She could vaguely tell where the side walls were, assuming that they were the same as the wall she'd first 'seen'. The other end of the sand-mound was too dark to distinguish anything, as was the ceiling. However, she was barely able to see the edges of what may well have been large boulders. As her mind became clearer, she felt the strange feeling of numbness and insensitivity fading. She began to stand up and move off the board, or wood of some kind, and she tried to think of where the light was coming from. As she brushed herself off for at least the fifth time that day, she realized how close she had come to giving up and letting herself fall asleep; who knows if she would have ever woken up. She shuddered. One could practically forget oneself in this place.

Getting back to the problem at hand, her first inclination was sunlight. "No…I'm underground. That couldn't be it." It was too strong and steady to be candlelight, but she didn't think it possible for it to be electric. "Well, only one way to find out…" She whispered, her voice sounding wrong in the dark stillness around her. She pulled the wood from one side, hoping that it would open easily. It did, and she peered in. But what she saw didn't make any sense; a long, rectangular room, but set on end. It seemed more of a hole in the ground, but things that she couldn't seem to see clearly were on the sidewall closest to her. She shook her head and looked again, but some of the unknown melancholy of earlier still lingered in her and kept her from being able to truly focus. She stole a quick glance around her once more before deciding what to do. "Can't really get much worse…" She mumbled before she jumped feet-first into the doorway. The door fell shut behind her.

She expected, of course, to fall to the 'bottom', and braced herself. However, she was barely within the door when she stopped moving. She hadn't hit anything; she was simply…weightless. A moment later though, gravity returned with its full force, but from a different direction. She unexpectedly fell flat on her back onto the side, which was now apparently the floor. As she tried to get her bearings straight, she wondered why it had suddenly changed. Oh well. She now felt as if she were in a long rectangular room, simply because she was; she was just now on the 'right' side. Gravity kept one's center of balance orthodox. She didn't' feel as if she were being held up on the side by something because gravity had changed, so it was no longer the side. She sat up and, feeling no pull 'down'-ward, arose.

The door behind her completely forgotten, Aora gazed around her. Large stone-fountains, each slightly different than the other, filled the room; which was brightly illuminated by some unknown source. At a glance, they seemed to be placed haphazardly everywhere, but when observed closer there seemed to be an arrangement of some kind. Had she looked more carefully she would have seen a faint path weaving its way through them, but she was too distracted by the water fountains. They all had different levels flowing into each other, and at the top was always a spinning crystal. Some fountains had ornate carvings that worked themselves into the essence of the flowing waters, while some had so many levels that it was hard to tell where the water flowed. The surfaces were most always smooth and prefect; hardly ever interrupted by ripples. As she passed them, she thought she could see images reflected in the water. One had a dreary and plain scene in it, while another had a sparkling forest. Many more surrounded her, but she could not always place what was shown. One of the fountains caught her interest, and she drifted towards it. It was a simple fountain, yet elegant. It had four levels, one on top of the other; each smaller as it ascended. The carvings were basic, but still beautiful. The water moved smoothly, and lush greenery accented the vision. She couldn't see it very clearly, but once she stole a look at the crystal on top she could see much better. In the crystal was a more generalized version, or so she thought, of what was being displayed on the water, but with more clarity. As she stared longer and deeper she felt that she was looking at more than just an image; like it might actually be real. "Of course, 'real' doesn't really mean anything here…" She boldly reached out to grab the orb, wanting to inspect it closer. But as soon as her fingers brushed the crystal, she vanished.

A low creaking noise in the oubliette on the far side of the sand pile echoed eerily in the empty space. A scrawny little figure, only about 3 to 4 feet high, slinked in. Its eyes, used to the murkiness of being underground, could see fairly well in the gloom. It scanned the area, darting from place to place. The girl should have been easy to find. Even if she had attempted to bury herself, it could have found her. But after five or ten minutes of searching and still having found nothing, it muttered something and left the same way it had entered.

End Chapter

The end of another wonderful chapter! That was quite an adventure, wasn't it? Well, at least for little Sarah it was. Let's hope Jareth doesn't loose patience with her...otherwise, the way the story's going could be changed quite dramatically...Or would it?

Yet again, please R&R if you have the time, patience, or kindness to do so. Or if you just wanna let me know how badly I write. Either works. \holds plate of temptingly delicious-smelling cookies/

I look forward to writing and posting more often! If I can...

Thank you for your time!