The Labyrinth
Summary-
What if Sarah never called Jareth to take Toby away, what if it was her stepmother but Sarah had to go after Toby. And what if Sarah fell in love with Jareth during the Labyrinth, would Sarah be able to finish the Labyrinth and save Toby? Will Jareth let her? Will her heart let her?
Chapter three-
Jareth was sitting on his throne still holding Toby who was enthralled by the crystal that Jareth was holding in his other hand. He was surrounded by many smelly goblins that really needed to learn to bathe. Jareth's face seemed to be in a battle, he didn't know if he should be proud or annoyed like he knew he should be. "She is in the Oubliette." Jareth said, his face set in annoyance like he knew it should be for a runner to have gotten that far in the Labyrinth by themselves, but his voice showed that he was proud. He was proud that his Sarah had been able to get that far by herself, but as the Goblin King he knew that he could not show it.
The goblins around him started laughing that the runner was trapped in the Oubliette, they always found it funny when someone was in the Oubliette. A place where the person, be it a runner or a goblin, would easily be forgotten. Jareth got annoyed that they were laughing at his Sarah, their soon to be queen that he still had to convince to love him. "Shut up!" He snapped at them then realized his mistake, "She never should have made it this far. She should have given up by now." He said trying to save himself.
"She will never give up." A goblin said reaching out a grimy hand towards Toby, Jareth pulled Toby closer to him and farther away from the goblin. He did not want them to dirty Sarah's precious baby brother that she was fighting the Labyrinth for even though she did not wish him there. Jareth looked back into the crystal and at Sarah who was looking around trying to see through the darkness of the Oubliette, he then sighed, he new exactly what he needed to do. He flicked his wrist, twisting the crystal just a little and a image of Hoggle appeared.
"Higgle." Jareth said, he knew the dwarf's name but he just loved messing it up to watch him get mad.
"It's Hoggle." The dwarf said and Jareth smirked.
"Sarah is in the Oubliette, help her out of it and lead her back to the beginning." Jareth said then made the crystal vanish before he heard a response. 'Hopefully she will take my hint and give up and not stray further into the dangers of this Labyrinth.' he thought. "The dwarf is about to lead her back to the beginning. She'll give up when she realizes she has to start all over again." He laughed. "Well, laugh." he said and the goblin's started to laugh causing Toby to start crying. Jareth turned Toby so that he was facing him and started to bounce him on his knee. Toby stopped crying but continued to sniff and Jareth sooth what little blond hair that he had down and smiled at him. "There there, lets not cry."
~The Oubliette~
Sarah sat in a dark room where the Helping Hands had dropped her. She was starting to panic a little, seeing as she couldn't see anything, there could be anything in the room and she would have no knowledge of it. Suddenly she heard some foot steps heading towards her. "Wh-who's there?" She asked, her voice squeaking a little in fear.
"Me." A familiar voice said, the person lit a match to light a lantern and showed that it was Hoggle who had spoken.
"Oh, it's you." Sarah said smiling at him then looked around the room she was in, it wasn't actually a room, but more of a cavern.
"Oh, yes well, I knew you were going to get into trouble the minute I saw you, so I've come to give you a hand." He said lighting the lantern, he looked at her and saw that she was looking around. "Oh, you're looking around. I suppose you've noticed there ain't no doors. Only the hole. This is an Oubliette. Labyrinth's full of them." He said and Sarah looked back at him.
"Oh, I didn't know that." Sarah said sounding very interested.
"Don't act so smart. You probably don't even know what an Oubliette is." Hoggle said, well he was right, she didn't.
"Do you?" She asked.
"Yes." Hoggle said then saw the unasked question of what it is in her bright green eyes that seemed to catch the light and glow just like a fae's eyes would. "It's a place you put people to forget about them. What you've got to do is get out of here, and it just so happens that I know a short cut out of the whole Labyrinth."
"No!" Sarah cried out standing up and walked over to Hoggle, "I'm not giving up now. I've come too far." she said then looked around, she would be able to find away out of here and towards the castle, she could feel it, "No, I'm doing okay."
"Of course you are." Hoggle said patting her arm, "But it gets a lot worse from here on in." he said seriously worried for her, he had no idea what Jareth had in store for her and didn't want her to get hurt like so many other runners, she was different.
"Why are you so concerned about me?" Sarah asked feeling he was up to something, she had to be on guard if he was trying to trick her.
"Uh, what?" Hoggle asked at her sudden change of attitude, "Well, I am, that all." He stuttered, "Nice young girl, terrible black Oubliette." Hoggle said gesturing around them. Sarah looked around, then at Hoggle and saw his jewelry bag. She figured he like jewelry and could convince him to help her if she gave him some jewelry.
"You like jewelry, don't you?" Sarah asked catching him off guard again. Hoggle narrowed his eyes at her.
"Why?" He asked suspiciously, living in the Underground taught him to be weary of anyone who kept changing subjects like she was doing. He took notice of how much she acted just like a fae more than a mortal from the Aboveground.
"If you help me solve the Labyrinth, I'll give you this." Sarah said showing him her plastic bracelet that she got from the mall a couple weeks ago on a whim. Hoggle looked at it in awe, and Sarah smiled at him. "You like it don't you?" she asked snapping him out of the little trance he put himself in.
"Uh, so, so. . ." He stuttered looking away from the bracelet. Sarah bit back a laugh and covered the bracelet back up.
"Oh, okay then." She said and Hoggle looked back at her and seemed to be thinking of something.
"Tell you what, you give me the bracelet and I'll show you the way out of the whole Labyrinth." Hoggle said and Sarah gaped at him in shock.
"You were gonna do that anyway." She said then laughed.
"Yes, well, that's what would make it a particularly nice gesture on your part." Hoggle said smiling at her and Sarah shook her head then rethought her plan, obviously he couldn't help her solve the whole Labyrinth, that would probably get him in trouble.
"No, I'll tell you what, take me as far as you can, then I'll do it on my own." Sarah said and Hoggle looked to be thinking it over.
"What is that anyway?" He asked pointing towards the bracelet.
"Plastic." She said as if it wasn't a big deal, which really it wasn't.
"Oohhh." Hoggle said then nodded his head and looked around and Sarah looked around too, not knowing what she was looking for, "Well, I don't promise nothing, but I'll take you as far as I can, then you're on your own, right." He asked and Sarah nodded.
"Right." Sarah agreed and Hoggle smiled.
"Right." Hoggle said as Sarah slipped the bracelet off her wrist and slipped it on to his wrist, he looked at it in awe as he walked to a part of a wall. "Cor! Plastic." He said then stopped, "Here we go." He bent down and lifted a door up from the floor and placed it against the wall. He pulled a set of keys from one of his pockets and opened the door still slightly distracted from the bracelet and brooms and some mops fell out. "Ah. Da dum! Damn closet!" He cried out and Sarah hid a laugh as he struggled to close the door again, "Well, can't be right all the time." he said smiling at her as he shut and locked the door he opened it another way and revealed a tunnel entrance. "Ah, this is it!" He said then looked at her, "Come on then." He said laughing, Sarah quickly walked over to him also laughing. "This way!"
The tunnel was full of beautiful glittering rocks, some of the walls were covered in rock faces that caught Sarah's attention.
"Don't go on." One of the many rock faces said startling Sarah.
"Go back while you still can." Another said and half of Sarah started to worry that Hoggle had trick her, while another half found this amusing.
"This is not the way." A third one boomed and Sarah looked at Hoggle's back in worry.
"Take heed, and go no further." A fourth said.
"Soon it will be too late." A fifth said a little too dramatic and Sarah had to bite back a laugh.
"Ignore them," Hoggle said catching Sarah's attention, "They're just false alarms. You get them in the Labyrinth, especially when you're on the right track."
"Oh, no you're not." The fifth said and Hoggle waved his hand at him in a silent way of saying 'what ever'.
"Oh, shut up!" Hoggle said.
"Sorry, just doing my job." The rock face said and Hoggle spun and glared at him.
"Well you don't have to do it to us." He turned back around and continued leading Sarah through the tunnel.
"Beware, for the-" A sixth rock face started.
"Just forget it!" Hoggle said holding up his hand to stop the rock face.
"Oh, please! I haven't said it for such a long time." The rock face pleaded.
"Let him say it Hoggle, please." Sarah said, feeling sorry for the rock face, since all the others got to say theirs.
"Oh, alright. But don't expect a big reaction." Hoggle said sighing.
"Oh, no, no, no, of course not." The rock face said then cleared his throat, "Beware! For the path you take will lead to certain destruction!" The rock face said, "Thank you very much." Sarah smiled at him then noticed a beautiful crystal ball roll by them and Sarah knew who that crystal ball belonged to.
"Uh oh." She muttered as they followed the crystal ball to a beggar.
"Ah. What do we have here?" The beggar asked seeing Sarah and Hoggle, Sarah felt excitement flow through her when Hoggle pushed her behind him and tried to shield her with his tiny body.
"Ah, nothing." He said nervously, hoping that this wasn't who he thought it was.
"Nothing?" The beggar asked, "Nothing?" he asked louder standing up and Hoggle gulped as Jareth pulled off his disguise and seemed angry, "Nothing, tra la la." he said shaking his disguise in front of Hoggle gulped as he knew he was in trouble.
"Your majesty! What a nice surprise!" Hoggle said.
"Hello, Hedgewart." Jareth said messing up his name again, a small smirk played on his mouth when he saw Hoggle start to get mad, but he forced it off before Hoggle saw it. Sarah saw the smirk and bit back a smile.
"Hogwart." Sarah said joining in the game and Jareth had to really bite his tongue to stop from laughing.
"Hoggle" Hoggle growled out.
"Hoggle, are you helping this girl?" Jareth asked getting into his role of the Goblin King.
"H-h-heping? In what sense?" Hoggle asked nervously.
"In the sense that you were leading her towards the castle." Jareth said.
"I was taking her back to the beginning." Hoggle said and Sarah looked at him but said nothing. Jareth looked at his wrist trying to figure out what was on it and knelt down to get a closer look at it. "I told her I would help her, a little trickery on my part, but in actually-"
"What is that plastic thing around your wrist?" He asked not even listening to Hoggle. Hoggle stopped talking and hid his wrist like a small child caught with something they shouldn't have, he then brought it back in front of him and laughed trying to play it off.
"Oh. Oh, this! Oh, my goodness. Where did this come from?" Hoggle asked.
"Higgle." Jareth said standing up while getting back in his role.
"Hoggle." Hoggle muttered but Jareth ignored him.
"If I thought for one second that you were betraying me, I'd be forced to suspend you head first into the bog of eternal stench!" Jareth said and Hoggle dropped to his knees and hugged Jareth's leg.
"No, your majesty! Not the eternal stench!" Hoggle begged.
"Oh yes, Hoggle!" He said kicking Hoggle off of him then looked at Sarah and smirked at her, she bit her cheek to stop from smiling at him, Jareth walks over to her and puts his hand on the wall above her and leans over her, Sarah tried her hardest not to blush. "And you, Sarah." He said as his other hand came up to play with some of her beautiful hair, when he was this close to her he couldn't help but drop his Goblin King mask. "How are you enjoying my Labyrinth so far?"
"It's," Sarah started then stopped to think about it, her character would have said it was a piece of cake and he would most likely make it more difficult, but she knew it wasn't a piece of cake. "It's difficult." She admitted and both Hoggle and Jareth looked at her in shock. No one had ever admitted that it was difficult. Jareth swallowed and regretted what he was about to do, but he had to as Goblin King.
"Really?" Jareth asked turning away from her and made the clock appear again, showing her that she had only been in the Labyrinth for about five hours, "Lets up the stakes then." Jareth said making time go forward three hours. He would have given her more time instead of taken it, but that was against the rules. She was halfway to his castle and was three hours ahead of most of the runners that usually ran the labyrinth. And he had to take time away from all runners when they got this far.
"Why?" Sarah asked and he stopped taking time away.
"That is just how it goes." He said then turned around and created a crystal ball, "Let's see how you deal with this." He said then threw the crystal ball down the tunnel, it turned into the cleaners and was heading right for them. Jareth quickly vanished, not wanting anyone to see his heart-broken face, he had just had to set the cleaners on his precious Sarah.
"Oh, no! Not the cleaners!" Hoggle yelled.
"The what?" Sarah asked.
"Run!" Hoggle yelled and they began running way from the cleaners. Hoggle tripped over his own feet and fell, Sarah quickly turned and helped him up.
"Oh! You okay?" She asked then saw how close the cleaners were to them, "Come on! Faster!" She cried. They came to the end of the tunnel to find it barred off, Hoggle looked off to the side and saw a part of the tunnel that was blocked off but could be knocked down. Sarah saw him run over to it and start pushing on it, she ran and helped him. They managed to knock it down and watched at the cleaners pass them, Sarah bit back a laugh when she saw that two goblins were working the cleaners.
"Oh!" Hoggle moaned as he got up, "The cleaners! The bog of eternal stench! You sure got his attention!" Hoggle complained then saw then saw a ladder. "Ahh! This is what we need, a ladder. Follow me." He said then began to climb the ladder, something inside Sarah told her to tease him a little.
"I can't trust you." She said and Hoggle looked at her confused, "You were taking me back to the beginning."
"I wasn't." Hoggle said and Sarah but on a disbelieving face, "I told him that to throw him off the sent." Sarah bit back a smile as he took the bait.
"How can I believe anything you say?" She continued to tease him.
"Let me put it this way, what choice do you have."
"You're right" Sarah said, her teasing done with, at least for now. She climbed up the ladder after him.
"See, you've got to under stand my position. I'm a coward, and Jareth scares me." Hoggle said and Sarah was confused.
"What kind of position is that?" She asked.
"No position." He said and Sarah laughed quietly to herself. "That's my point. You wouldn't be so brave if you'd ever smelt the Bog of Eternal Stench. It's, it's, ahhh, yuck!" Hoggle cried.
"Is that all it does is smell?" Sarah asked curious.
"Believe me, that's enough. But the worst thing is if you put so much as on foot in the Bog of Eternal Stench you'll smell bad for the rest of your life. It'll never wash off." He said as they made it to the top of the ladder, he pushed the door and sun light flew into the tunnel. "Ahh, here we are then." He said then climbed out of a pot and into the Labyrinth, further than she had been. "You're on your own from now on." He said.