Labyrinth II: Jareth’s Revenge

Author's note:
If you see some grammar and spelling errors in this chapter, then I am deeply sorry for them. Microsoft word stopped working on me, and then I was forced to use wordpad for this chapter, and wordpad doesn't even have spellcheck or grammar check!
And I have no betareaders for this story... ^_^;
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From the last chapter:
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"No way... You can't be the Goblin king...you're just a story Sarah told me at bedtime when I was younger!" Toby said loudly, trying to convince himself that it was not so.

"Oh but I am..." The amused Goblin King said, "and I've come to offer you something..."
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"Offer?" Toby asked, still somewhat numb from the shock of the discovery that the stories he had been told in the past had some truth to them.

A crystal ball appeared in his hand. "This may seem like a mere crystal ball to you, but if you turn it a certain way, it shall offer so much more to you. It holds all your dreams and desires...."

"Wait a minute, I know this!" Toby cut in, much to Jareth's annoyance, "Sarah told me all about you... and I know what you're offering to me. Much as she annoys me, I need Sarah in my life. Without her, I'd be living in some foster home...So I'm refusing your offer."

It may have been Toby's imagination, but he could had sworn he saw disappointment in the Goblin King's eyes for a few seconds before he reverted to his arrogant smirk.

"Then I suppose I won't hold you up then. Look out the window..." He pointed, and Toby looked out the window. Even though Toby was prepared for it, he was still surprised to see The Labyrinth outside the apartment window, where he would had normally see the lit streets with the cars lined up by the sidewalk.
It seemed so surreal in Toby's eyes.

"So that's what the Labyrinth looks like..." Toby turned around, to find both of them standing just right outside the labyrinth, with no apartment room in sight. Toby smirked at the King. "Well, I'll get Sarah back... After all if she was able to beat the labyrinth when I was a baby, then I can do it too."

The king just smirked back.

"Sarah may have made it sound easy, but as you humans say, easier said... harder to do, or something. The Labyrinth is bigger than it looks, and it has changed over the years... so do not expect to rely on your memories of the stories Sarah told you. The stories will not be any help. As you know, you have 13 hours to solve the labyrinth before Sarah becomes a part of my kingdom..." The king replied, and then added as an afterthought as he faded out of sight: "Such a pity..."

Toby shook his head. "I can't believe I got into the same mess Sarah did when she was my age. What's more, I cannot believe this is for real! Gee... and just when you take stories for granted..."

With that thought in his head, he walked down towards the entrance of the Labynrith.
He saw a pond, and then eagerly looked around for anybody from Sarah's stories in sight.
"What was his name again? That gnome that Sarah told me about?" Toby wondered, "Hogwart? Higgle? Hoggy?"
After two minutes of searching, he found the door but still no gnome in sight.
"Oh forget it, I suppose I don't need him anyway..."a disappointed Toby muttered, as the doors opened up for him and he entered the Labyrinth....
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Sarah's head felt like it was spinning out of control, as she tried to sit up.
She did not really know what was going on. She remembered being fed up with Toby's troublesome antics at school, and trying to get Toby to open his door so that she could talk to him about it. She totally regretted the day that she actually agreed to let Toby install locks on his own door from the inside, for privacy. That time she had been trying to be a good friend to Toby, since he was still suffering the shock of losing their father and then having to come live with her.
Anyway, there had been a blackout... and she did not really remember anything else.
To her puzzlement, she realized that she was lying on a stone floor.... Her apartment had carpeted floors, with the exception of the kitchen, which had a vinyl floor. Therefore, she was not in her apartment.
She sat up, and then gasped when she found out that she was not wearing the clothing she was originally wearing... but instead a drab-looking maid uniform.

"Good evening, Sarah." A familiar-sounding voice that she swore that she would never hear again as long as she had something to say about it, whispered in her ear from behind.
Sarah whirled around, coming face to face with the Goblin King, who was looking highly amused at her reaction.

"You!" That was all Sarah was able to say, as she was still stunned over the fact that she was actually back; inside the Goblin Castle in the center of the Labyrinth.

There was a boy, behind the Goblin king who appeared to be about Toby's age, staring at her curiously... She found it odd that a HUMAN boy was there, but she choose to ignore him for the moment.

"Why am I here? And in this outfit?" Sarah demanded to know of Jareth.

"Silly child. I thought that would had been obvious." The Goblin king replied, as he gave her the same amused expression much like the time when they first met.

//You're him, aren't you... The goblin king... //

Sarah mentally shoved away the memory, as her cheeks grew red. "Just humor me...tell me!" Sarah snapped, in no mood for games, as seeing she was still feeling the lingering irritation over Toby's trouble in school.

"Toby wished you away."

"What?" Sarah gaped at the goblin king in disbelief, "But that doesn't explain the maid outfit..."

Jareth made himself comfortable on his throne, before answering that question. "Tsk. My dear Sarah, did you think I would pass up the chance to make you pay for my humiliation at your hands? Even though you are not a citizen of my kingdom, for Toby is still attempting the Labyrinth, You are in my possession now. The rule states that I may make you do anything I wish of you while your dear baby brother attempts to rescue you."

Jareth allowed a sadistic smile to appear, as he added, "And it'll be so nice to see you cleaning every corner of this castle, like a lowly servant...to have you work without rest, to serve me on my own whims..."

Sarah let out a loud snort. "Ha! Unlikely. Just because I'm wearing this stupid maid outfit, doesn't mean I'll start worshipping you and cleaning up after your messes... you're still arrogant as ever, I see."

Jareth fought the urge to frown angrily at this remark, but just smoothly, retorted instead, "I was so kind to you before... This time I will not be. Your dear brother will not have it as easy as you had it since I intend to keep you here. I wonder what kind of goblin you'll be... although it'll be a pity for you to lose that beautiful face..."

Sarah looked somewhat horrified at the thought of her turning into an ugly goblin, and Jareth could not help but laugh at her expression. He did not really intend her to be turned into a goblin... but he did not have to mention that to Sarah just yet.

"Let's see how Toby is doing..." With that, he held up a crystal, allowing all to see what was inside the ball...
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Toby was completely and utterly lost. It had been many years since Sarah had actually told him the stories at bedtime, so he was a little fuzzy on where to go... He could not see any turns or corners. It seemed like he was in some endless hallway, and he forgot the part on how she had discovered some way out of this endless hallway and Plus those plants with the eyes staring at him, was giving him the creeps.
"Oh fuck it..." Toby groaned.
"Tsk, such a foul word from somebody so young..." a elderly-sounding voice said, "You talk to your mother with that mouth?"
Toby looked about, puzzled. "Where are you?" He looked around, not seeing anybody.

"Down here, silly boy."
Toby looked down... and saw a blue, fuzzy looking worm. Then it suddenly hit him.
"Oh, you're the worm that showed Sarah the way, didn't you? Could you show me where the false wall is?"

The worm scoffed. "You people, always the same... always in a hurry and never having the time to have tea with me."
Toby could not help but smile. "I'm terribly sorry, but I have to get to the center of the Labyrinth.... so could you please tell me where the false wall is?"

The worm sighed. "It's right in front of us. Just go though that side..."

Toby approached the said wall, and then grinned when he saw two openings. He turned around to thank the worm, but before he could thank the worm, the creature replied: "By the way, NEVER go that way. Go to the right instead."

"Oh okay... thanks." Toby walked off into the right side, and the worm started snickering.

"Always a sucker born every minute... it's amazing how they all fall for that one!" The worm chuckled.

Toby found himself in another section, looking more like what he pictured a laybrith to be like. "Now this is more like it...." Toby said to himself, as he caught sight of the castle in the distance and headed off into that direction.

His eyes were glued to the castle in the distance, that Toby didn't really brother to look down when his foot connected with a hole in the floor that had somehow mysteriously appeared. He fell over, his head connecting with a nearby wall.
"OW!" Toby yelped,holding his sore head. It was then to his dismay, he saw something wobbling off the top wall, falling towards him.
It landed on his chest with a soft tinking sound, and it was then he realized it was some sort of fairy or pixie.
Toby picked it up by the wings, and got to his feet.
"Wow, a fairy... and here I thought I would never ever see one in my life..." Toby said, awestruck as he turned the fairy in his hand around, examining it.
It let out a weak moan, hanging from his fingers rather limply.

Toby frowned. "Say, are you alright...? you don't look so hot..."
The fairy in his hand gave no reply, and the light that seemed to becoming from inside her seemed to be fading. It was then realization hit Toby.
"Oh no... you're dying..." Toby said, as he started cradling the fairy in his hands.

It was then he started hearing this odd buzzing sound coming closer, and Toby turned around to see a flock of fairies coming his way.
Toby smiled, clueless of the trouble he was about to get himself in.
"Oh, it must be your friends..." He looked down at the fairy in his hands, "Maybe they can save your life...HEY, OVER HERE!! I have one of your friends here!"

The fairies hovered around Toby, not looking very pleased at all. They all started buzzing angrily, and it was then Toby could had sworn that they were calling him something to the effect of being a murderer.
"What? If you're saying what I think you're saying... then you got the wrong.... OW!! OW!!" Toby was about to protest, when he was cut off by the painful stinging of the fairies biting at him and pulling at his hair.
The fairies started swarming about him like a hive of angry bees, but they were twice as painful.
Toby would know, snice he had been once stung by a bee when he was six years old, and that bee sting bugged him for a whole week....
When the fairies got close enough to his face to start poking his eye with thier punches, it was too much for Toby, he dropped the weak fairy in his hand and started running away from the mob of angry fairies.

He ran the oppsitste way of where he had been going oringally. If he had contuined the path he had gone, he would had happened upon the two odd door guardains that Sarah had met to get into the obllutee... But snice he was going a different way due to being chased, it was here that Toby unwittingly went into the more dangerous part of the Labyrinth...

In his desperate attempt to get away from the faries, he rushed into this corridor without reading the warning sign to the side about there being trapdoors, some of the trapdoors leading to certain death.
Toby only resigstered that he had gone into a part of the labyrith where the stone floor seemed to be painted in a checkerboard pattern, of reds and blues.
The fairies were still after him, so He ran over the checkered floor, and let out a cry of surpise as one of the blue tiles swing open from under his feet.

He found himself falling in compete darkness, and he landed on something that felt painful. In fact he appeared to have landed in some sort of thorn garden, with strange-looking flowers growing. To top it off, there was a strange-looking gnome that seemed to be screaming with fury at him.

"My prize flowers!! look what ye did, ye murderer!!" The gnome screamed.

Toby crawled out of the painful thorn bush, and then bushed himself. He then turned around, and retorted, "I'm not a murder! Besides, what's the big deal? They're just flowers! you can replant them..."

The gnome gasped. "How dare you! I'll get ye for that!" With that he picked up his spray can and went after Toby.
Toby, however had enough. You would too if you had been bitten, hair-pulled, eye-poked by a mob of faires and then had a trapdoor open from under you. And compared to all this, this guy was child's play. Toby reached out and grabbed the can out of the gnome's hands, and then grabbed him by his shirt-front and practically lifted him off the ground.

"If anybody's getting anything around here, it's me!" Toby snapped, "Now, will you tell me the way to the center of the labyrinth?"

"I ain't sayin' nothin' 'til ye let me go!" the gnome screamed.

Toby sighed, and then dropped the gnome to the ground. "I'm sorry. This just hasn't been my day..."

The gnome eyes his crushed prize shrubs, and sighed. "Ye can say that again."

Toby sighs. "That's just I have to go rescuse my sister from being turned into one of the goblins... She was here once when I was a baby, you know. She told me this story on how she had to save me from being turned into a goblin.."

The gnome looks up. "Wait a mintue. She wished ye away, and then ye are the one who wished her away? Ho ho ho, that's rich!hmm.... wait a mintue.... what is ye name?"

The teenager looks at him strangely, but answered the question. "The name's Toby...nice to meet ya."

The gnome's one eye widened. "Toby! would ye sister's name be Sarah by any chance?"

Toby nodded. "Yes, that's right. Did you know her?"

The gnome let out a hearty laugh. "KNOW her? Why, I helped her though the Labyrith!"

Toby gasped. "You.. you're Hogwart?"

The gnome scowled. "The name's HOGGLE!!"

Toby looked at the gnome with a bit of awe, almost exicited that he finally got to meet one of Sarah's friends from her stories. But there was something differnet about this Hoggle...

"Really? But there's something differnet about you. Sarah never metioned the fact that you have one eye missing, and a nasty scar in it's place..." Toby pointed out.

Hoggle shuddered. "That happened after Sarah defeated the Goblin King and the Labyrinth, actually. After Sarah stopped having us come to her house to visit, The Goblin King felt it was time for him to redeem himself, snice some of us were starting to lose our so-called respect for him...He started with punishing all those who helped Sarah out. He started with me, by having one of my eyes gorged out..."

Toby shuddered too, after hearing that brief explainiton. "That's awful!"
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"That's awful!!" Sarah echoed Toby's words, as she turned to look at the Goblin King. "That's so terrble... how could you do that to poor Hoggle?!"

Jareth shrugged, with a bored look on his face. "He disobeyed me. As the king of this Labyrinth, I have to make a example of disloyal subjects for the rest of my people. How else can I expect people to respect me as thier king?"

Sarah shook her head, looking at Jareth with distaste. "I never thought you would do such a thing... but then again, I suppose if a king like you can be a cradle robber, *litterally*, I suppose you would sink lower than that..."

Jareth bristled slightly at the insult. He then looked at Gavin, who was holding a tray of drinks for The goblin king. "Gavin... I think it's time Sarah gets around to her duties, wouldn't you say? Show her where she needs to clean. I can't have a maid just lying around doing nothing after all..."

Gavin bowed, and set the tray on a nearby table. "Yes, your majesty."

Jareth smiled. he thought to himself, 'it would be so nice if Sarah had been so obident towards me like Gavin here...'

"No way I'm just going to clean things like some maid!" Sarah snapped.

Jareth looked over at her. "would you rather have me throw you into the bog of stench?"

Sarah paled, but then she stomped out of the room, with Gavin trailing right after her.

"That arrogant, self-centered jerk!!" Sarah yelled, as she was out of hearing range, "To think I used to have feelings for that childish..." she trailed off, unable to think of a good insult to fhinsh off her angry ranting.

"There, there... it's alright." Gavin reliped, as he came up behind Sarah, "There's a possibity that you won't have to put up with him for all entrinity. But for now, let's do as as his majesty asks of us, eh? If you do as he says, your time here will be much more bearable, trust me."

Sarah turned around, looking at Gavin strangely. "You look like a human boy... and I don't think I ever saw you here before. So what are you doing in a place like this?"

The black-haired boy smiled. "Let's just say I wished my sister here, like Toby did with you. But I wasn't exactly successful... So I talked the king into a trade... I would stay here in place of my sister while he let her return to our world."

Sarah stared at the boy. "You can do that?"

Gavin nodded. "But of course, it's in the rules. Don't tell me that you actually conquered the Labyrinth without knowing all of the rules to this game? If you did, you're more foolish than I thought."

Sarah felt herself blush, as she answered, "If I was able to defeat the Goblin King without knowing all of the rules firsthand, wouldn't that say something about my cleverness?"

She couldn't help but feel a little bit foolish as she said those words. Deep down, she wished she had known all of the rules to the labyrinth on her first time here... maybe it could had made things easier for her.

Not to metion Gavin had unwittingly answered some of the questions she would often ask herself when she was growing up... snice she had lingering feelings for the Goblin king that had refused to go away quickly. The only reason why she had left the Labyrith was because she didn't think that Jareth would actually send Toby back if she argeed to stay.
And now here Gavin was telling her that if she had argeed, he would had.

Gavin nodded. "I suppose in a way, it would certainly make you a clever person. However, I've always personally thought that one should know all of the rules to a game, in order to prevent the gamemaster from cheating, or changing the rules. Of course, the fact that I knew all of the rules of the Labyrinth when I played against the Goblin King for my sister, didn't stop me from losing."

Sarah blinked, as something occured to her. "So why aren't you a goblin?"

Gavin smiled. "Not every person who loses or gets stuck here gets turned into a goblin. If you haven't noticed, there's other creatures living in the Labyrinth... what did you think they used to be before? The Goblin King has the power to turn each person into a creature type of his own choice. The reason why he did not turn me into a goblin or some other mythical creature, is because he found me obident enough to become one of his servants without being turned into one of his creatures."

Sarah blinked again, processing this information. "I see..."

Gavin shook his head. "But we're wasting time chitchatting here! Come on, I'll show you where The king wants you to clean up..."

With that, Gavin walked off, with Sarah following him.
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Toby and Hoggle was in some underground section of the Labyrith, and Toby turned around to look at Hoggle.
"Okay, where do I go next?" Toby looked at the gnome.

Hoggle looked down at the ground, snuffling his feet as if he was feeling uncomfortable about something.
He mumbled something that Toby caught as: "I told ye that I would only take ye far as I could... this is where I stop helping ye."

"But...." Toby protested, "I haven't even reached to the center yet!"

Hoggle looked up, somewhat sad. "Sorry... as much as I like Sarah, I don't want to end up a blind gnome! Having one of me eyes gorged out was painful enough. I'm sure she'll understand. Goodbye."

With that, He scurried off.

"Oh great...Now what do I do?" Toby sighed, as he looked around the dark hallway....
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End of chapter 2! more to come soon.. ^_^
Reviews are my lifeblood, so keep them coming!