Heard About A Place Today Chapter 11-13

Disclaimer: The characters of Jareth, the goblins, Hoggle, or any other related to Labyrinth are property of Jim Henson Productions. We are in no way affiliated with this company. However, new and original characters, places within the Underground and evolution of the Goblin King are ours. We do not own any other miscellenous affiliations such as from shows, books, movies, etc. This story is for entertaiment purposes only. So please do not sue.
The contents of the fanfiction is written with a mature audience in mind. Comments are welcomed. Enjoy!! ^_^

============================================

Chapter Eleven: Through Dangers Untold

==

Chantal groaned. "You again?"

Jareth shrugged. "What can I say? I like you two."

"You like to torment us, you mean," Chantal snapped.

"Chantal!! Shhhh!!" Stephanie told her friend fiercely. "Don't aggravate him, we are so close to getting out of here."

"She is right you know," Jareth said smiling. "You are very close to the castle. Now to just figure out this little puzzle." With that he disappeared, leaving the two girls standing there.

Chantal sighed. "That guy sure gives me the creeps sometimes. Now let's see. He called this a puzzle. Wonder if that was a hint to help us of to throw us off?" she asked as she stared down at the interlocking blocks on the road.

"You never know with Jareth," Stephanie said as she looked around for a clue on how to get out.

"So very true! That guy is so unpredictable," Chantal said as she bent down to examine some of the stones.

"Well he has to be, he's the Goblin King," Stephanie told her friend.

"Yeah, but why torment us? We never asked to come here," Chantal said as she lifted a brick out of the road. Underneath it, was a small handle. "Hey! I think I just might have found out way out!" Chantal took hold of the handle and pulled on it. A hidden door opened up, leading down into underground tunnels.

"Where do you think it leads??" Stephanie asked, peering over her friend's shoulder.

"I'm not sure, but hopefully out of this loop," her friend replied as she pulled off her backpack and pulled out two small flashlights. "I'm not sure how much power the batteries in these have, but it will be better than nothing." Chantal handed Stephanie a flashlight.

"I knew you had a flashlight in that bag of yours," Stephanie said giggling. She jumped down into the tunnel below and Chantal followed her with Serek around her neck.

Once in the dark tunnel, they could see that it was tall enough for them to stand.

"You lead the way Steph!" Chantal said motioning to her friend to go ahead.

Stephanie pointed the flashlight ahead of her, looking down the path. The two girls walked down the dark tunnel for a way, trying not to stumble over the uneven path.

"Wonder where this leads to," Stephanie said.

"I don't care as long as it leads us closer to the castle and not around in circles," Chantal said grinning.

Stephanie stepped over a small boulder and continued down the path. "Yeah..."

Chantal stepped around the boulder and continued to follow Stephanie. She flashed her flashlight up at the ceiling and looked up to see the stalactites.

"Okay. Well, which way shall we try??" Stephanie said as she pointed left then right.

Chantal looked down to see that they had come to a fork in the road. "I don't know," She replied as she shone the light down each tunnel.

"Eenie, meeny, miney, moe," Stephanie said as she pointed right then left then right again, to each tunnel.

"This way!!" Stephanie declared, pointing left after she had finished off the rhyme.

They quickly made their way down the new path and came across a ladder leaning on a wall of a dead end.

"Here, hold this," Stephanie said as she handed Chantal her flashlight. She started to climb the rickety wooden ladder.

Chantal held the ladder as she watched her friend climb it.

Stephanie reached the top and paused. "Hey there's a door here!!" She then tried opening the hatch by pushing on it. After a moment of pushing on the hatch and noticing a handle to turn with some stuggle, it opened and Stephanie peeked out.

"What do you see?" Chantal asked.

Stephanie peeked out more, heard some screams and her head nearly got hit by a plate!

She ducked. The plate crashed onto the wall behind her. Another object crashed beside her and Stephanie quickly grabbed the handle of the hatch and almost fell down the ladder in her haste.

"Pasta Vazoo!!" Stephanie said as she landed on her feet next to her friend. "Definetly the wrong way."

"I guess so. Let's backtrack and try the other way!" Chantal suggested.

"Some goblins have good aim," Stephanie commented. "Next time it's your turn."

"Gee thanks!"

"Maybe you won't get hit by dishes."

"I hope not. I don't need any bruises," Chantal said grinning. She handed Stephanie back her flashlight.

"Thanks," Stephanie said as they headed back down the path. They rounded the corner, and walked down the tunnel. The two girls walked down the path and chose the next one. Suddenly one of the flashlights started to flicker. Chantal gasped.

"We'd better hurry," Stephanie said as they neared another ladder. There was a tunnel beside the wall where the ladder rested.

Chantal started to climb up the ladder. She pushed open the trap door and quickly ducked before any dishes or other objects would fly at her. There were no encounter with dishes. Chantal looked at her friend with a questioned shrug, Stephanie motioned her to continue and check. She turned off the flashlight when her friend disappeared above her to save the batteries.

Chantal looked around the small room. Three of the walls had shelves which held jars, boxes and blankets. Chantal spotted the door and walked towards it , she jiggled the handle but the door didn't budge.

"It's locked!" she told her friend.

Stephanie had climbed the ladder and looked at her friend through the floor opening. "What??"

"The door is locked. We can't get out of this room," Chantal replied.

"Damn," Stephanie said.

"There must be another way out," Chantal said moving back towards the trap door. Stephanie climbed down and waited for her friend to come down, she turned on the flashlight.

"There is another tunnel," she said.

"Cool!" Chantal said after following her friend down the ladder.

The tunnel was long and narrow. At some point the two girls had to squeeze their way through it. Getting a few scrapes from the rough surfaces.

After a few minutes, Chantal thought that the tunnel would not lead them anywhere and just waste their time. The same flashlight flickered dangerously again.

"This doesn't seem to be going anywhere Steph,"Chantal told her friend.

"I know," Stephanie sighed.

"I just hope that this tunnel doesn't lead us to some huge hungry ogre," Chantal said.

Stephanie laughed. "But you never know in this place..."

Finally the two girls reached a dead end, there was no ladder or door to get out, the only way was the way back.

"Now what?" Chantal asked.

Stephanie let out a short scream of frustration and kicked the wall in front of her.

She stopped.

Pressing her ear against the wall, she kicked it again. Her foot made a hallow sound as it struck the wall.

"Woaaaa! What was that?" Chantal asked. Serek tightened his grip around Chantal's neck.

"There's something there," Stephanie said.

"A way out maybe?"

Yeah!! Like a door or something," Stephanie took a step back and examined the wall.

"A door? Now to find the door handle."

Stephanie looked at the wall, trying to figure it out. She set the flashlight on the ground and felt the wall for a handle or anyway to open the hidden door.

"I can't find a handle," Stephanie said after a moment. She stepped back to fully get a better view.

"Hummm. Maybe we can knock it down," Chantal suggested.

Stephanie walked back towards the door and brushed back a few large piece of moss, she saw a small crack where dim light shown through. She tried pushing on the door.

It budged a bit. "Chantal, come help me push."

Chantal came over to the hidden door and helped Stephanie push it open. Beyond the door, there was a flight of stairs made of light stone, winding around a corner and out of sight. The way was lit by torches. The girls turned off their flashlights and Chantal returned them into her pack.

"This must be it. The way out," Chantal said with a grin.

"Yes," Stephanie said as she started going up the stairs in a rush, sometimes skipping a step at a time. Chantal was struggling to catch up.

Stephanie had a smile on her face, for she knew that they were in the castle, no doubts about it. She came to an archway where she saw was illuminated by unknown light. Stephanie slowed her pace when she passed through the main archway and stopped at the edge of a platform. Chantal rushed in beside her, and stopped quickly before reaching the ledge. Stephanie grabbed her friend for good mesure. Serek let out a squeak.

Stephanie's eyes widened in amazement. The two girls were in the Escher room.

=========================

Chapter Twelve: Even Down Looks Up

==

The Escher room consisted of stairways that were in every direction: upside down, right-side up and sideways. It was called this because it was similiar to a painting by the painter M.C Escher.

"Wicked," Stephanie breathed as she looked around the room.

"Yeah! This is cool," Chantal said as she look up then down.

As Chantal looked down she noticed several archways. "Which way do we go? And how are we to know which way is the way out?" She asked her friend.

"We'll have to try and basically guess. And where is Jareth??" Stephanie asked mostly to herself.

"You would think that since we got to the castle he would send us home but nooooo..." Chantal said.

"Maybe he got tired of people saying the words, the 'cliche' final confrontation and decided to let them find their own way back," Stephanie said as she got closer to the ledge of the platform that they were standing on. She looked down as Chantal came beside her.

A few feet across the room, below them, stood black doors. It had strange carvings amongst carved vines. There were no door handles but there was a crystal between the connection where the two doors were sealed.

"That must be the way out," Stephanie pointed out.

"Well what are we waiting for?" Chantal said as she turned around to find a way down, and was heading towards a flight of stairs, that lead down to an archway.

Stephanie was about to follow her friend but the sound of footsteps stopped her.

The footsteps were slow as though the owner of them was taking their time. Chantal had also stopped halfway down the stairs. The footsteps had stopped. Chantal looked around the room.

She shrugged to her friend. Stephanie came closer to the ledge and peered down.

There stood Jareth, upside down looking up, or in this case down, at Stephanie. Gravity apparently was not a rule in this room for his clothes and hair stayed in place as though he was right side up. His arms were folded across his chest.

Chantal looked at Jareth. "Ah, the wonderful Goblin King here to torment us again."

Jareth ignored Chantal's comment and turned to Stephanie.

"You're quite right Stephanie," he said, his voice calm. "That is the what you must reach to get yourselves home." he walked closer towards the ledge. "If you make it that is," he added with a smile revealing his fangs.

"How long do we have left??" Stephanie asked.

"You have time left," he said obviously not telling.

"Then we do have time to make it," Chantal said.

The Goblin King raised an eyebrow. "I said, 'If.'"

Chantal glared at the Goblin King. "But we made it to the castle. Why make us play this little game of yours anymore?" Chantal asked growing impatient.

Stephanie looked at the amused Goblin King who still had a smile on his face.

Chantal without getting an answer, stormed away down the flight of stairs. Jareth tilted his head to one side.

"Steph?" Chantal questioned and turned around, she had passed through the archway that had been to her left.

"Yeah, I'm coming..." she heard her friend say. Chantal bent down to tighten her shoelaces.

Stephanie glanced at the Goblin King once more, there was a moment of silence when his face went expressionless. Then Stephanie turned around, her hair swinging. She descended the same flight of stairs that her friend had taken.

Stephanie went through the archway but Chantal wasn't there.

"Chantal??" Stephanie said, thinking that her friend had thought that she was right behind her and continued through the Escher room.

"Steph!" Chantal's voice was heard above her. Stephanie looked up, Chantal was on another platform across the room. "Did you take the wrong way?"

Stephanie shook her head. "No, I haven't. There wasn't any other way."

"Figures," Chantal said rolling her eyes, wondering who could've changed things around. Serek squeaked in agreement.

"Well, maybe we could meet up at the doors," Stephanie suggested.

"'Tay!" Chantal sighed. "But I still don't like the idea of being separated again, especially in this room."

"Don't worry, I'll figure out something if we can't meet up when one of us does reach the doors."

Chantal nodded. "'Tay, See you then," and she went down a flight of stairs, trying to find a way towards the doors.

Stephanie on the other hand, had to go up a flight of stairs and pass through an archway before going down.

Time passed as the two girls tried to decipher their way when suddenly Stephanie stopped in her tracks. She realized that she had been humming the song "Within You" that Jareth had sang to Sarah years before. She smiled continued her way towards the archway to her left.

Chantal was not smiling, in fact she was getting frustrated because the room didn't make any sense. "Actually nothing in this place makes sense!" she said aloud.

She came into view with the doors again and stood there trying to figure how to get there. There were steps leading right to the doors but they were upside-down.

"Damn!" Chantal said. Also there were no archways near the doors to get there. But there was a platform close by, they could reach the platform with the doors if they're able to jump to it.

Chantal smiled, grabbed Serek and twirled around.

"All we have to do is find a way to that platform! Chan you're a genius!" she said aloud to herself. Chantal picked up her pace and hurried to climb up a flight of stairs.

Her footsteps echoed off the walls, ceilings and floors when Stephanie realized that she could not see the doors. She even knelt at a ledge to see if the doors were underneath her. Her hair fell over the side as she seached.

"I'm way too far, I wonder if this room is changing..." she said as she stood up.

"The room does change," a deep voice said behind her. Jareth started walking towards Stephanie, he was upside down. He stopped halfway on the steps, his head inclined with hers. "But I am not the one who changes it," he said with a shake of his head. With a small smile he sat down on the steps.

"Really Stephanie," he said making a crystal appear in his right hand and soon began juggling it. "Do you seriously think that I'm that much of a villain?"

Stephanie looked away from his gaze, it was as though he had read her thoughts about accusing him.

"I merely delay the person who try to reach the castle in search of the ones they've wished away. But I do not change the Labyrinth or the 'Escher' room to win. I believe it is the person who travels through who makes it difficult, without ever knowing it." He caught the crystal in his right hand and looked into the depth of it. "Only the people with true determination can make it through, not the people who just wanted to pass through my Labyrinth to be like Sarah."

He threw the crystal into the abyss of the Escher room with a tired sigh. The crystal clinked against stone but didn't break, it bounced onto the floors, walls and steps, then disappeared. The Goblin King was about to say something else as he stood up.

"Steph!" Chantal yelled from an archway. Stephanie turned around to see her friend walk over to her with a grin on her face.

"Chantal!!" Stephanie said smiling. "Did you make it??" Thinking that was the reason why her friend was grinning.

"No, but I found you," Chantal said. "I heard something clinking by where I was and I heard voices so I followed the voices. Anyway, I think I've found a way how to get close to the doors."

"Wicked!! Show me!!" Stephanie said. Chantal quickly turned around, heading towards the archway where she had come from. Stephanie turned around, Jareth of course, was gone.

There was a pause before Stephanie followed her friend through the archway.

"See? If we go down, pass through there, maybe there's a way up. And once if we're up, we might be able to reach the platform with the doors."

"All right," Stephanie said, understanding Chantal's plan. The two girls descended the stairs, through the archway.

"Now what??" Stephanie asked.

Chantal looked up. "That way," she pointed as they went up.

They passed through an archway, ascended, passed under another archway, went down and up flights of stairs, turned left into an archway. The two girls had reached the platform beside the one with the exit.

===============================

Chapter Thirteen: Feathers

==

"We made it!" Chantal said in amazement.

"Yeah!! Now how do we get across??" Stephanie said at the ledge of the platform, looking at the crafted doors.

"I've found a way..." Chantal trailed off.

"But..."

"...but we have to jump," Chantal said with an uneasy smile.

"I think that was obvious," Stephanie smirked.

"Who goes first?" Chantal asked, in other words, 'Are you going to jump first?'

"I'll go. Maybe if one of us reaches the doors both of us are free." Stephanie took a deep breath as she looked at the other platform and below, into the never ending abyss of the Escher room.

"Okay," Stephanie said walking past her friend. she knelt and tightened her shoelaces. "At the count of three, 'kay?"

Chantal nodded as her friend positioned herself to run.

"One," Chantal started. Stephanie ran past her friend before Chantal could say two. "What happened to two and three?" Chantal asked mostly to herself.

Stephanie leaped off the ledge. As she was falling, she realized that the calculation she had made were wrong, Chantal had also realized this and her eyes widened.

Stephanie's fingers brushed against the stone ledge, she gasped.

"Steph!" Chantal yelled. Serek shrieked.

As Stephanie fell, she quickly looked down and was hoping not to land at all on the stone floor. Then suddenly Stephanie felt a hand grab her right wrist. She looked up and blinked.

There on one knee at the ledge of the platform, was Jareth. His left hand gripped the ledge, his lips were parted, showing a flash of his canines. Stephanie couldn't believe it, neither could Chantal. The Goblin King had actually saved the seventeen year old.

"Give me your other hand," he said. Stephanie obeyed, she handed him her left hand and he pulled her up onto the platform.

Chantal released the breath she held and looked down. In her arms she was holding Serek, his tongue was stuck out. She had been holding him against her when Stephanie fell.

"Oh Serek, I'm sorry!" Chantal said as she brought him to her eye level. Serek forgave her with a squeak and a wag of his tail.

"Now how am I supposed to get there?" she said. Her bag started to glow, Serek jumped from her arms and onto her shoulder, growling at her bag.

"What the-?" Chantal said and was soon covered in light.

While Chantal was saying sorry to poor Serek, Jareth still held Stephanie by the arms.

"Determination. Only the people who truly does have it, can make it through my Labyrinth. And you have that," he said softly.

Suddenly he remembered that he was a foe and he had helped her; he pulled away and folded his arms across his chest.

tephanie unsure what to do, after the situation of getting saved by Jareth, turned around to look at her friend to show that she was all right.

Stephanie saw that Chantal had lifted Serek and he jumped onto her shoulder whereas her backpack started to glow, then she disapeared.

Stephanie had a look on her face saying: Um, okay, where did she go?? She turned around to face Jareth, with a questioned look.

"I haven't done a thing," He said.

Then magic faintly hummed in the air and Chantal appeared in light beside the Goblin King. Chantal backed up when she saw who she appeared beside and walked over to her friend.

"How are we supposed to get home if he's there by the doors where he could very likely stop us?" Chantal whispered to her friend.

"I don't think he would stop us. We've made it," Stephanie whispered back.

"I think he would," Chantal said grimly.

"Look Chantal, why would he turn us into goblins?? Aren't we too big to be turned?? And doesn't he have enough goblins to be pestered by??" Stephanie said, a small smile appearing on her lips. Chantal looked at her friend for a moment.

"You're probably right," she said as Stephanie turned around. Jareth was waiting patiently, his arms still crossed. Stephanie headed towards the doors, Chantal reluctantly followed her friend, while eyeing the Goblin King.

The two girls finally stood before their way home. The crystal that stood between the two doors was at Stephanie's shoulder level, and was a bit larger than the usual crystal belonging to Jareth or the one that Chantal had. Chantal noticed that the doors had no handles.

"Suppose that the way to open the doors is to touch the crystal?" Chantal asked her friend but it was Jareth that answered.

"Yes, that is the way it is done and that is the way you must do it," He stopped himself. "Bloody hell, I sound just like that Didymus character."

Stephanie approached the crystal, her hand outstretched. She hesitated. Jareth had seen this hesitation.

"You've made it. And in impeccable time I might add," He looked at Chantal. "And I cannot stop you and turn you both into goblins. Besides, you're too old to be turned. I'm not quite sure what happens after the time is up."

It wasn't the idea that he would cheat and turn them into goblins even if he could, in order for him to win. No, the reason was: she didn't want to leave. Even though things were unfair in the Underground, Stephanie was compelled to stay. This place was far better than any mundane day in the mortal world, where she was from.

Stephanie sighed.

"Well, back to the drudgery of normal life," she half whispered. She touched the crystal with her right hand. The doors opened with a small rumbling for the doors were heavy.

After a moment, they revealed the edge of a forest. Chantal was about to comment that they've been cheated but the sound of traffic stopped her short.

"Your adventure ends here," the Goblin King said as he walked past them, onto the pavement behind the school.

"How long did we had left??" Stephanie asked as she and Chantal followed him.

He raised an eyebrow, wondering the importance of the question. "You had three and a half hours left."

Behind them the portal doors faded and disappeared.

"Both of you were an amusing challenge," Jareth said his fangs flashing. He walked towards Stephanie.

"Perhaps the next time that we shall meet, the challenge will be even greater," the Goblin King started to walk away. Chantal and Stephanie watched him.

"Well! I'm glad that we've amused you!" Chantal said, sticking her tongue out at him. She turned around and headed towards the path that would lead to the highway. Stephanie started to follow her but she stopped short.

What do you mean 'the next time'??" she turned around. But Jareth was gone.

A few white feathers with golden tips floated slowly down around her. She looked up at the sunset filled sky. The shadow of a barn owl was soaring towards the appearing pale moon.

"Steph?" Chantal asked nervously halfway down the path.

"It's all right. I'm coming," Stephanie said as she ran to the path and caught up with her friend. The two girls walked back to Stephanie's home.

"The nicest thing he could've done is make the doors appeared in your backyard," Chantal complained.

Stephanie opened the front door. "We're back!!" she said to her mother who was now sitting on the couch watching television. Her eyes widened.

"How did you get your jeans so dirty?"

Stephanie looked down and groaned. "I tripped?? Definitely have to wash these."

Chantal giggled as she started taking off her shoes.

"I'm never going to walk again!!" Stephanie exclaimed.

"Me neither!" Chantal agreed.

Stephanie's mother gave them a strange look. "You talk as though you've been walking for hours. You've only been gone barely an hour." Stephanie and Chantal looked at each other and laughed.

"What?"

"Nothing mom," Stephanie said as she went into the kitchen and came back with two large glasses of cool water. Stephanie's mother just shook her head in disbelief.

Have you noticed that all the time in the Underground, we didn't have to...go?" Chantal said with a giggle, returning from the bathroom.

"Yeah, strange," Stephanie said from the floor. Chantal shut the door and jumped onto the bed.For a long time, the two girls said nothing.

"I'm hungry," Stephanie said as she reached into her pocket and pulled out the red Life Saver from the crumpled paper.

"Me too," Chantal said as her backpack on the floor fell over.

The two girls stared at the bag in anticipation. They then realized how ridiculous the situation was and they started to laugh nervously. But when they concluded that the bag fell over without the help of goblins or any other creatures, something inside the bag moved.

Stephanie gasped and Chantal grabbed her backpack. She opened it slowly.

"Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

"Bob!!" Stephanie said aloud and giggled.

"How did he get there? I thought he disappeared after the crystal glowed," Chantal said.

"Apparently not," Stephanie grinned. "One question though."

"What?"

"How are you going to hide Bob from Jaycie??"

Chantal shrugged.

======================================== ===============================

Part two of the "Labyrinth Chronicles" will be updated soon.