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Fic: Family Reunion 4/8
Title: Family Reunion 4/8
Author: Erin (erinm_4600)
Characters, Pairing: Cain, Jareth, Sarah, DG, the knockers (mention of Hoggle, Raw, Az, the Queen, Zero, Adora and Jeb) *and another cross. Did you catch it? o.O
Rating: G
Summary: DG plays 'Who's on First' while Cain realizes his sense of smell isn't all it's cracked up to be.
Warning: Crack, crack and more crack. Oh, and did I mention the CRACK?! o.O *This is the end of this little run for the time being. And, thank/blame buffybot76, as she made a suggestion, which made me make a suggestion, etc. and so on. And the plotPapay overheard. But I want to get Shimmery, the C-Boys, the Van Helsing cross and the new bunny out of the way first.
Disclaimer: The original characters belong to L. Frank Baum and their respective actors. The current characters belong to Sci-Fi, the movie folks and their respective actors. The Labyrinth and Sarah belongs to Jareth, who's borrowing it -and the knockers- from Jim Henson, George Lucas and Terry Gilliam. The OCs are mine. The idea came from buffybot76.
Family Reunion: Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | Part Five | Part Six | Part Seven | Part Eight | When Is a Door Not a Door? | Two Cains are Crankier Than One
Kans-Az: First Meeting | Azkadellia's First Barbeque | Laundry | Bar Queen
Jareth let go of Cain and stepped back. Sarah couldn’t not smile at the look on the Goblin King’s face. Cain cleared his throat and glanced at Sarah.
“When you said ‘little brother,” Sarah began, pointing between the two of them with a questioning look. Jareth raised an eyebrow while Cain simply grinned. “No way...” she trailed, shaking her head. She looked between the two men and shook her head again.
Jareth’s expression soured. “My dear,” he forced, turning to face her. “Are you suggesting that I look...” The word just tasted wrong. “Old?” Cain had to look away and bite his lip to keep from smiling. Sarah shook her head and gave Jareth a ‘don’t be silly’ look.
“I’m just sayin’...” What was she saying? She cocked her head and nodded. “If I was betting on it... I would have lost.” Even she couldn’t hold a straight face as Jareth fumed.
“I’ll have you know: he has at least two years over me!” Jareth stated with a flourished wave and moved back to his throne.
“The two least stressful years of my life,” Cain remarked under his breath, giving a wink in Sarah’s direction. She smiled with Cain and gave a pouty face to Jareth as she checked her watch.
“Right on schedule,” she announced with a nod. Jareth looked up with a glare and Cain questioned Sarah with a glance. “He gets cranky if he doesn’t eat regularly,” she said to Cain with a wink. “I think it's low blood sugar,” she next directed to Jareth, who dropped into the throne and looked away in a haughty pose.
Clearing his throat, Jareth looked at his brother. “Did you come back after all this time to make fun of me?” Cain blinked and Jareth huffed again, pushing himself out of the throne once again.
“What? I can’t just stop by to see my brother and my house and-” Cain turned around sharply and waved. “And what happened to this place?” Jareth opened his mouth to speak then closed it again. Turning toward the open window, he blinked once and turned back to his brother with a furrowed brow.
“There is someone here.” Cain looked behind him and then to Sarah, who shrugged. Raising an eyebrow, Jareth watched Cain with interest as realization spread across the elder Cain’s face. Sighing heavily, Cain let out a curse under his breath, which caused Jareth to glance at Sarah. He’d only ever heard her use that word.
Cain raised a hand. “I’ll be back.” He stopped by the door and pointed to his duster and fedora, then to Jareth. “No one,” he said sternly, pointing to the hat again. “-touches the hat.” Jareth gave him a half-nod and made a face to Sarah as Cain turned and left the chamber.
“Wow,” Sarah exclaimed a moment later. Jareth watched as she stepped closer. “That explains... absolutely nothing,” she finished with a shake of her head. Wrapping her arm around his, she pulled him toward the doorway. “Come on. Let’s get you some lunch and you can tell me all about the brother I didn’t know you had.”
-*-
DG had walked a good hundred yards before finding herself back in front of the doors. “You have got to be kidding me!” she shouted into the air.
“Told you she’d be back,” she heard and DG spun around to see who was there. Convinced she was alone, DG moved back to the doors and looked at the knockers. The one Raw had knocked with reminded her of Gulch - sour expression and just foul. The other wasn’t cute, but he was much less threatening. Laughing at the thought, DG waved to the knockers.
“Too bad you can’t talk. You could tell me whi-”
“What?!” DG jumped back and stared wide-eyed at the knocker. ‘I’m losing my mind!’ she thought. ‘Seeing and hearing things... And after everything that’s happened in the past two weeks,’ DG thought quickly. ‘THIS surprises you?’ DG cleared her throat and took a deep breath.
“Did you see a guy in a grey coat and a hat?” she asked, inadvertently waving a hand over her head to illustrate.
“What?” the knocker shouted.
“Guy. In a hat,” DG stated, making the hand motion again, intentionally, this time. “Which way?” She motioned all around her, pointing specifically to where she’d just come from. Jerking back, DG’s jaw dropped when she saw the solid rock wall. ‘What the Hell?’ she thought, turning back to the knockers.
“Have. You. Seen. A. Guy. In. A. Hat?” she asked again, slowly and loudly.
The eyes of the knocker narrowed. “No one through here but a man in a hat,” it stated. DG’s eyes sparkled.
“Yes!” she pointed to the knocker. “Which way did he go?”
The knocker simply stared at her. “What?”
DG sighed heavily and closed her eyes. “The guy. In the hat. Which way did he go?”
“What?” DG rolled her eyes and groaned. “You are being just as rude as the man in the hat,” the knocker stated with a huff.
“I’m stuck here with ‘Pete’ and ‘Repeat’!” DG groaned, throwing her hands up and looked at the other knocker and noticed that he looked rather uncomfortable.
“Meh mne mat may,” he mumbled and rolled his eyes to the right. DG turned to see what was in that direction, but found only more hedge.
“What?” the other knocker yelled. She turned and shot the knocker a dirty look, then faced ‘Pete’ and took a step closer.
“That way?” she asked, pointing to her left.
“Mm,” the knocker responded. DG dropped her shoulder and nodded.
“Thank you.” Taking another opportunity to shoot ‘Repeat’ a dirty look, DG turned and wasn’t two steps away when ‘Pete’ started mumble-shouting. DG turned back to him and raised an eyebrow.
“Tone mo nat nay!” DG turned back to glance at the hedge for a moment, and then back to the knocker. She saw ‘Pete’ motion downward with his eyes and upper lip. Reaching for the knocker slowly, DG raised her eyebrows in question. “Muhmh,” the knocker mumbled, letting the corners of his mouth curl slightly.
“What?” DG heard ‘Repeat’ ask as she let the large ring fall back to the door’s surface. The door swung open and DG peeked through the opening.
“Ahe eff,” the knocker mumbled and DG stepped past. She stopped and looked at him again. His eyes shot to her right. “Aigh.” Then, to her left, “Eff.” His eyes returned to center and then looked to her left again. “Ahe eff.”
DG narrowed her eyes for a moment before repeating: “Left?” The knocker smiled again - best as he could with the large ring in place - and she moved her hand to his cheek. “Thanks,” she said with a smile and headed into the wooded space. As the door closed behind her, DG noticed just how creepy her new setting was.
After a few minutes, she came to a branch in the path. Well, she thought it was a branch: the path most definitely went off to the right. There was also a semi-clear space off to the left that looked rather... rugged. Noting ‘Pete’s’ direction, DG opted for the ‘road less traveled.’ She walked for about five more minutes before she heard them.
She couldn’t tell what they were saying, but they were most definitely having a party. Creeping off to her right, DG leaned against a fallen tree and peered down into a clearing, where she could see about a dozen of them: tall, skinny, orange and red...
DG ducked behind the tree in shock, hand clapped over her mouth, as she witnessed one of them pull its head up from its shoulders. The eyes were still moving and the arms were holding the head in a position so the thing could look at its own back. “What the-” DG said quietly. Unfortunately, the voice carried and at least three sets of heads turned in her direction.
“Hey, Lady!” one of them yelled. DG shot up and tore down the makeshift path. She could hear them behind her, but knew better than to turn back and look at them. Up ahead, on her left, DG saw a large archway and could see rocks and sunlight.
“Hey, Lady! Come play!” one of them yelled, sounding much closer than even she was comfortable with. The ground sloped and DG’s footing gave as she neared the edge of the forest. Throwing her arm out, she caught the edge of the rock wall and jerked herself around the corner and dropped to the ground on the opposite side of the wall.
Taking a few deep breaths, DG sat still has she heard one of the voices ask: “Where did she go?” Once it sounded like they were giving up the search, DG wanted to be on the safe side, so she rose slowly and strafed the wall, moving away from the opening as fast as she could.
Deciding she was far enough away, DG pushed away from the wall and turned back to look at the archway and laughed nervously. “Wonder if that’s what Buffett meant when-” DG walked straight into a solid mass - well, was about to - when two hands reached forward and caught her shoulders. She looked up into the Zero-got-away face of Wyatt Cain.
“What is it with this place?” she shouted, surprising even Cain. “Talking door knockers, moving walls,” she waved madly. “And!” she pointed back. “Freaky head-removing parrots?!” Cain simply glared at her. “What?” she asked, rearing back with a grimace.
Cain shook his head and stepped aside. “Come on, Princess.”
DG watched him step away and her brow furrowed. “Where are we going?”
Cain stopped and turned. Regarding her for a moment, he stepped closer and his eyes flashed. ‘She didn’t...’ Crossing his arms - as if that would keep his frustration in - Cain clenched his jaw and stepped forward. “You did lose someone?” he fished, already knowing the answer.
DG turned slowly to see if someone - or something - was behind her. Seeing nothing, she turned back to Cain and waved. “Well, obviously. But here you are, so-" Cain groaned and turned away, put his hands on his hips and dropped his chin to his chest.
With a shake of his head, Cain muttered: “I’m gonna give him back to the Papay.” He turned back to DG and motioned in front of him. “Well, come on.” DG made a face and pushed past him. “What were you thinking, coming in here alone?” DG wasn’t sure if Cain was expecting an answer or not.
“What were you thinkin’, taking off and not even saying ‘Goodbye’?” DG asked back, rolling her eyes and glancing at an odd piece of fuzzy sagebrush that was glancing back- ‘What the Hell?’ she thought, pointing to the many-eyed plant. Cain didn’t even flinch and simply pushed DG along.
She made it another few feet before stopping and turning to face Cain. “Raw said you were from another side.” she said, giving him a ‘tell me he’s crazy’ look Cain sighed and waved to a turn ahead of them. DG moved along, constantly looking over her shoulder.
“Yes,” Cain said simply. “There are other Other Sides. When you found your parents-” He said the word carefully, knowing that DG was still miffed about finding out that the two people she thought were her parents were, in fact, robots. “And they were talking about the other Side. Well, I knew they weren’t referring to this one.” He stopped as they came upon a large, mossy boulder blocking their path.
Holding out a hand, he assisted DG around it and looked around for a moment. “How did you know?” DG asked, noticing the landscape had changed, yet again.
“If you’d been from this side, you wouldn’t have come through by my home.. You’d have been nearer to Finaqua.” DG nodded and pointed off to her right. Cain nodded and they moved down the dirt path. A moment later, DG spun around as Cain yelled out: “Son of a-” DG noticed his eyes were squeezed shut and his cheeks were slightly puffed - as if he was holding his breath. He clapped a hand over his nose and mouth and blinked a few times, trying to focus on DG.
“Are you okay?” Cain pulled his hand away and opened his mouth. Promptly shutting it again, he waved around them.
“You can’t smell that?” he gasped, eyes beginning to water. DG sniffed the air and turned slowly. Something had gone rather ripe, but she couldn’t see a dead animal. Cain continued to make strange noises and gasp for air as they moved down the path. A few yards ahead, the view opened up to a murky lake. Cain nudged DG’s arm and pointed off to the right.
Across the way, they could see construction equipment sitting on an outcropping next to a large tree; no one was in sight, however. “Are you okay?” DG asked again as the rounded the water’s edge. Cain shook his head.
“It’s been a while since I’ve been out here. It’s stronger than it used to be.” DG just nodded. “How can you just walk by that?” he asked, rather impressed at her resistance.
“I grew up in Kansas. That’s the smell of money, Cain. Well,” she nodded. “It’s a little riper than the average smell of money, but-” she amended with a shrug. Stopping short, DG rounded on Cain with her hands on her hips in defiance. “Were you plannin’ on coming back?”
Cain rolled his eyes and realized they weren’t getting any further until this was settled. “Look, Kid-" DG flinched at the nickname, but Cain didn’t notice. “We both have a past to deal with. I didn’t need to be there while you and your family-” DG waved him off.
“My parents are spending some quality time with my sister before she leaves.”
“Leaves?” Cain asked, shocked. Granted, even he knew it was probably best for Azkadellia, as the people of the O.Z. wouldn’t be as understanding or forgiving of her actions while possessed. DG sighed and looked at their surroundings before continuing down the path.
“She’s going to Kansas with my- With the Nurture Units. Figure it’s best for her to try and adjust to life without the witch in a place where she isn’t an assassination target. So she’ll be sleeping in my bed and wearing my clothes and I’ll get hers-” DG spun around again. “You know, there’s a reason corsets went out of fashion eighty years ago!” She rolled her eyes and turned again.
Cain couldn’t hold back his smile. He had to give the girl credit: she’d taken in quite a lot of information in the past two weeks and seemed to be holding up well. Aside from the fact that she’d just skipped dimensions without telling her parents. Of course, it was quite possible she was heading for a break. Holding on longer would only make things worse when she did finally have to face it.
A few minutes later, Cain directed DG into the stone maze and they weaved for a few minutes before coming to the outskirts of the city below the palace. Cain noticed, once again, how quiet the place was. He really needed to find out what happened to the kingdom.
-*-
Jareth and Sarah were back in the throne room when they heard the voices. “No! You are going back and that’s final,” Cain said as he turned into the doorway. He moved to the table where his duster and hat were still sitting, closed his eyes and took a deep breath as DG - hot on his heels - protested.
“You are not the boss of me!” she said, pointing to Cain.
Sarah nudged Jareth with her elbow and they shared a smirk. Cain looked up to them and forced a smile as DG realized there were other people in the room. Sarah stepped forward quickly and stuck her hand out.
“Let me guess: Kansas?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. DG nodded and took Sarah’s hand. “I’m Sarah.”
DG gave her a quick smile and replied: “DG.” She looked Jareth over and nodded to him. “Ziggy.” Sarah snorted and had to turn away, covering her mouth. Jareth glared at her as she waved and shook her head.
“This,” Cain said sternly, in DG’s direction. “Is my brother, Jareth.” Nodding to her, he continued: “Jareth, this is DG.”
DG stuck her hand out. “Pleased to meet ya.” As they shook hands, DG tried to picture Cain in Jareth’s getup, but had no luck. Jareth gave her a forced, but polite, smile and raised an eyebrow in his brother’s direction.
Cain nodded. “DG’s mother is the Queen of the Outer Zone.” Jareth didn’t even try to hide the Cheshire cat grin spreading across his face as he nodded to DG and ignored the murderous look on Cain’s face.
DG glanced over Jareth’s shoulder to Sarah. “How did you know I was from Kansas?”
Sarah nodded to Cain. “First thing he asked me.” DG looked to Cain, who shrugged. “You like coffee?”
DG turned back to Sarah. “Ehh... I’d rather have a vanilla milkshake, but sure.”
Sarah smiled and stepped closer. Waving between the men, she started: “You boys reminisce or reconnect or whatever.” She smiled at DG again and continued: “We’ll be back.” DG couldn’t help but smile and Cain returned to bodyguard-mode.
“I don’t think that’s-” but he stopped short at the look on DG’s face. Glancing at Jareth, who just nodded, Cain sighed and shrugged. Sarah shot a look at Jareth, hooked her arm around DG’s and the girls left the room.
Cain watched them leave and kept watching the door for a good minute after they were gone. Jareth chuckled, which made Cain look at his younger brother. “What?”
“Nothing,” Jareth said smiling and shaking his head. “Nothing at all.” He waved a hand in Cain’s direction and moved over to the throne, where he sat. “You just had to go and find a princess.” Cain clenched his jaw and glared at the wall. “Sort of defeats the purpose of your abdication all those years ago, doesn’t it?” Jareth said with a smirk.
“I have known her for two weeks, Jareth.”
“And I knew Sarah for thirteen hours,” Jareth said with a shrug. Cain sighed and moved over to his brother.
“I spent the last eight years locked up in an iron box. Two weeks ago, she happens by and lets me out. I go from thinking my family is long dead to their being alive. Then, I found my wife’s grave-” Jareth flinched as Cain continued: “And, I happened to be rescued from the man who killed her, by my son. All while trying to help her,” he nodded in the direction the girls had gone. “Save the Zone from her possessed sister.” Cain tilted his head slightly. “That’s all.” Jareth nodded and frowned, taking a moment to grieve for the sister he never met, but also thinking: ‘Just keep telling yourself that, dear brother.’
Cain blinked and looked at his brother. “Did you say thirteen hours?”
-*-
DG noted that Sarah’s bedroom looked remarkably like her own in Kansas. Sarah stepped over to the closet and pulled the door open. Waving DG over, Sarah pointed into the closet. DG raised an eyebrow and Sarah leaned against the door with a smile. “Trust me.” Shrugging her shoulders, DG stepped into the closed, followed by Sarah.
DG watched - kinda - as Sarah pulled the door shut and proceeded to unscrew the doorknob. She then moved to the opposite side of the closet door and rescrewed the knob into the door, and then pushed it open on the opposite hinge - which DG swore wasn’t there at the start. Her confusion was replaced by sheer amazement as Sarah opened the door and DG looked out of the closet into a dark apartment.
Sarah stepped out and waved. “Welcome to Hartford. Excuse the mess.”
DG glanced around the studio and turned back to look into the closet before Sarah shut the door. “How? Hartford? Like, Connecticut-Hartford?”
Sarah nodded and smiled. “Come on. There’s a Burger King down the street,” she said, reaching for a backpack on the floor. DG looked back to the closet as Sarah dug her wallet and keys out of the bag and grabbed DG’s sleeve.
Pointing to the door over her shoulder as Sarah pulled her from the room, DG asked again: “How?”
“It’s an Oubliette door.” Sarah raised a finger to DG as she opened the front door of the apartment. “Fun fact: You have to respect those doors.” DG stepped outside and watched Sarah lock the door. “They will drop you in some weird-ass places.” DG’s brow furrowed as she followed Sarah down the steps and toward the sidewalk.
“Don’t get me wrong,” Sarah said with a wave. “I’ve seen talking rocks. Hell, I’ve talked to talking rocks. But those rocks...” she shivered at the memory of her second trip through the closet. She’d been testing the door with Hoggle to make sure the connection would hold. Making it three steps, Sarah was inundated with a set of rock faces that were decidedly not Labyrinthian.
“And they were screaming about a chicken...” She shivered again. “Anyway. So, how did you get to the Labyrinth from Kansas?” Jareth hadn’t run off to give the ‘it’s a crystal’ speech in a few months, so she obviously hadn’t wished anyone away.
“I went through a door in the hedge maze,” DG stated off-handedly, trying to wrap her brain around the fact that she was not only back on ‘her side,’ but halfway across the country at that.
“Snotty knocker?” Sarah asked. DG looked back to her and nodded. “I wondered where that other door went,” she said with a nod and a slight laugh. “I do need to go down there and take that ring out of the other one’s mouth for a while.”
“How did you get there?” DG asked. “I mean, you said you had that door installed, so...” DG stopped as her brain caught up to the conversation. “Other door? So, you’ve seen those orange parrot-things?”
Sarah smiled. “Forget milkshakes,” she said with a laugh. “We’re gettin’ you Tequila.” She took DG’s arm again and pulled her along.
Author: Erin (erinm_4600)
Characters, Pairing: Cain, Jareth, Sarah, DG, the knockers (mention of Hoggle, Raw, Az, the Queen, Zero, Adora and Jeb) *and another cross. Did you catch it? o.O
Rating: G
Summary: DG plays 'Who's on First' while Cain realizes his sense of smell isn't all it's cracked up to be.
Warning: Crack, crack and more crack. Oh, and did I mention the CRACK?! o.O *This is the end of this little run for the time being. And, thank/blame buffybot76, as she made a suggestion, which made me make a suggestion, etc. and so on. And the plotPapay overheard. But I want to get Shimmery, the C-Boys, the Van Helsing cross and the new bunny out of the way first.
Disclaimer: The original characters belong to L. Frank Baum and their respective actors. The current characters belong to Sci-Fi, the movie folks and their respective actors. The Labyrinth and Sarah belongs to Jareth, who's borrowing it -and the knockers- from Jim Henson, George Lucas and Terry Gilliam. The OCs are mine. The idea came from buffybot76.
Family Reunion: Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | Part Five | Part Six | Part Seven | Part Eight | When Is a Door Not a Door? | Two Cains are Crankier Than One
Kans-Az: First Meeting | Azkadellia's First Barbeque | Laundry | Bar Queen
Jareth let go of Cain and stepped back. Sarah couldn’t not smile at the look on the Goblin King’s face. Cain cleared his throat and glanced at Sarah.
“When you said ‘little brother,” Sarah began, pointing between the two of them with a questioning look. Jareth raised an eyebrow while Cain simply grinned. “No way...” she trailed, shaking her head. She looked between the two men and shook her head again.
Jareth’s expression soured. “My dear,” he forced, turning to face her. “Are you suggesting that I look...” The word just tasted wrong. “Old?” Cain had to look away and bite his lip to keep from smiling. Sarah shook her head and gave Jareth a ‘don’t be silly’ look.
“I’m just sayin’...” What was she saying? She cocked her head and nodded. “If I was betting on it... I would have lost.” Even she couldn’t hold a straight face as Jareth fumed.
“I’ll have you know: he has at least two years over me!” Jareth stated with a flourished wave and moved back to his throne.
“The two least stressful years of my life,” Cain remarked under his breath, giving a wink in Sarah’s direction. She smiled with Cain and gave a pouty face to Jareth as she checked her watch.
“Right on schedule,” she announced with a nod. Jareth looked up with a glare and Cain questioned Sarah with a glance. “He gets cranky if he doesn’t eat regularly,” she said to Cain with a wink. “I think it's low blood sugar,” she next directed to Jareth, who dropped into the throne and looked away in a haughty pose.
Clearing his throat, Jareth looked at his brother. “Did you come back after all this time to make fun of me?” Cain blinked and Jareth huffed again, pushing himself out of the throne once again.
“What? I can’t just stop by to see my brother and my house and-” Cain turned around sharply and waved. “And what happened to this place?” Jareth opened his mouth to speak then closed it again. Turning toward the open window, he blinked once and turned back to his brother with a furrowed brow.
“There is someone here.” Cain looked behind him and then to Sarah, who shrugged. Raising an eyebrow, Jareth watched Cain with interest as realization spread across the elder Cain’s face. Sighing heavily, Cain let out a curse under his breath, which caused Jareth to glance at Sarah. He’d only ever heard her use that word.
Cain raised a hand. “I’ll be back.” He stopped by the door and pointed to his duster and fedora, then to Jareth. “No one,” he said sternly, pointing to the hat again. “-touches the hat.” Jareth gave him a half-nod and made a face to Sarah as Cain turned and left the chamber.
“Wow,” Sarah exclaimed a moment later. Jareth watched as she stepped closer. “That explains... absolutely nothing,” she finished with a shake of her head. Wrapping her arm around his, she pulled him toward the doorway. “Come on. Let’s get you some lunch and you can tell me all about the brother I didn’t know you had.”
-*-
DG had walked a good hundred yards before finding herself back in front of the doors. “You have got to be kidding me!” she shouted into the air.
“Told you she’d be back,” she heard and DG spun around to see who was there. Convinced she was alone, DG moved back to the doors and looked at the knockers. The one Raw had knocked with reminded her of Gulch - sour expression and just foul. The other wasn’t cute, but he was much less threatening. Laughing at the thought, DG waved to the knockers.
“Too bad you can’t talk. You could tell me whi-”
“What?!” DG jumped back and stared wide-eyed at the knocker. ‘I’m losing my mind!’ she thought. ‘Seeing and hearing things... And after everything that’s happened in the past two weeks,’ DG thought quickly. ‘THIS surprises you?’ DG cleared her throat and took a deep breath.
“Did you see a guy in a grey coat and a hat?” she asked, inadvertently waving a hand over her head to illustrate.
“What?” the knocker shouted.
“Guy. In a hat,” DG stated, making the hand motion again, intentionally, this time. “Which way?” She motioned all around her, pointing specifically to where she’d just come from. Jerking back, DG’s jaw dropped when she saw the solid rock wall. ‘What the Hell?’ she thought, turning back to the knockers.
“Have. You. Seen. A. Guy. In. A. Hat?” she asked again, slowly and loudly.
The eyes of the knocker narrowed. “No one through here but a man in a hat,” it stated. DG’s eyes sparkled.
“Yes!” she pointed to the knocker. “Which way did he go?”
The knocker simply stared at her. “What?”
DG sighed heavily and closed her eyes. “The guy. In the hat. Which way did he go?”
“What?” DG rolled her eyes and groaned. “You are being just as rude as the man in the hat,” the knocker stated with a huff.
“I’m stuck here with ‘Pete’ and ‘Repeat’!” DG groaned, throwing her hands up and looked at the other knocker and noticed that he looked rather uncomfortable.
“Meh mne mat may,” he mumbled and rolled his eyes to the right. DG turned to see what was in that direction, but found only more hedge.
“What?” the other knocker yelled. She turned and shot the knocker a dirty look, then faced ‘Pete’ and took a step closer.
“That way?” she asked, pointing to her left.
“Mm,” the knocker responded. DG dropped her shoulder and nodded.
“Thank you.” Taking another opportunity to shoot ‘Repeat’ a dirty look, DG turned and wasn’t two steps away when ‘Pete’ started mumble-shouting. DG turned back to him and raised an eyebrow.
“Tone mo nat nay!” DG turned back to glance at the hedge for a moment, and then back to the knocker. She saw ‘Pete’ motion downward with his eyes and upper lip. Reaching for the knocker slowly, DG raised her eyebrows in question. “Muhmh,” the knocker mumbled, letting the corners of his mouth curl slightly.
“What?” DG heard ‘Repeat’ ask as she let the large ring fall back to the door’s surface. The door swung open and DG peeked through the opening.
“Ahe eff,” the knocker mumbled and DG stepped past. She stopped and looked at him again. His eyes shot to her right. “Aigh.” Then, to her left, “Eff.” His eyes returned to center and then looked to her left again. “Ahe eff.”
DG narrowed her eyes for a moment before repeating: “Left?” The knocker smiled again - best as he could with the large ring in place - and she moved her hand to his cheek. “Thanks,” she said with a smile and headed into the wooded space. As the door closed behind her, DG noticed just how creepy her new setting was.
After a few minutes, she came to a branch in the path. Well, she thought it was a branch: the path most definitely went off to the right. There was also a semi-clear space off to the left that looked rather... rugged. Noting ‘Pete’s’ direction, DG opted for the ‘road less traveled.’ She walked for about five more minutes before she heard them.
She couldn’t tell what they were saying, but they were most definitely having a party. Creeping off to her right, DG leaned against a fallen tree and peered down into a clearing, where she could see about a dozen of them: tall, skinny, orange and red...
DG ducked behind the tree in shock, hand clapped over her mouth, as she witnessed one of them pull its head up from its shoulders. The eyes were still moving and the arms were holding the head in a position so the thing could look at its own back. “What the-” DG said quietly. Unfortunately, the voice carried and at least three sets of heads turned in her direction.
“Hey, Lady!” one of them yelled. DG shot up and tore down the makeshift path. She could hear them behind her, but knew better than to turn back and look at them. Up ahead, on her left, DG saw a large archway and could see rocks and sunlight.
“Hey, Lady! Come play!” one of them yelled, sounding much closer than even she was comfortable with. The ground sloped and DG’s footing gave as she neared the edge of the forest. Throwing her arm out, she caught the edge of the rock wall and jerked herself around the corner and dropped to the ground on the opposite side of the wall.
Taking a few deep breaths, DG sat still has she heard one of the voices ask: “Where did she go?” Once it sounded like they were giving up the search, DG wanted to be on the safe side, so she rose slowly and strafed the wall, moving away from the opening as fast as she could.
Deciding she was far enough away, DG pushed away from the wall and turned back to look at the archway and laughed nervously. “Wonder if that’s what Buffett meant when-” DG walked straight into a solid mass - well, was about to - when two hands reached forward and caught her shoulders. She looked up into the Zero-got-away face of Wyatt Cain.
“What is it with this place?” she shouted, surprising even Cain. “Talking door knockers, moving walls,” she waved madly. “And!” she pointed back. “Freaky head-removing parrots?!” Cain simply glared at her. “What?” she asked, rearing back with a grimace.
Cain shook his head and stepped aside. “Come on, Princess.”
DG watched him step away and her brow furrowed. “Where are we going?”
Cain stopped and turned. Regarding her for a moment, he stepped closer and his eyes flashed. ‘She didn’t...’ Crossing his arms - as if that would keep his frustration in - Cain clenched his jaw and stepped forward. “You did lose someone?” he fished, already knowing the answer.
DG turned slowly to see if someone - or something - was behind her. Seeing nothing, she turned back to Cain and waved. “Well, obviously. But here you are, so-" Cain groaned and turned away, put his hands on his hips and dropped his chin to his chest.
With a shake of his head, Cain muttered: “I’m gonna give him back to the Papay.” He turned back to DG and motioned in front of him. “Well, come on.” DG made a face and pushed past him. “What were you thinking, coming in here alone?” DG wasn’t sure if Cain was expecting an answer or not.
“What were you thinkin’, taking off and not even saying ‘Goodbye’?” DG asked back, rolling her eyes and glancing at an odd piece of fuzzy sagebrush that was glancing back- ‘What the Hell?’ she thought, pointing to the many-eyed plant. Cain didn’t even flinch and simply pushed DG along.
She made it another few feet before stopping and turning to face Cain. “Raw said you were from another side.” she said, giving him a ‘tell me he’s crazy’ look Cain sighed and waved to a turn ahead of them. DG moved along, constantly looking over her shoulder.
“Yes,” Cain said simply. “There are other Other Sides. When you found your parents-” He said the word carefully, knowing that DG was still miffed about finding out that the two people she thought were her parents were, in fact, robots. “And they were talking about the other Side. Well, I knew they weren’t referring to this one.” He stopped as they came upon a large, mossy boulder blocking their path.
Holding out a hand, he assisted DG around it and looked around for a moment. “How did you know?” DG asked, noticing the landscape had changed, yet again.
“If you’d been from this side, you wouldn’t have come through by my home.. You’d have been nearer to Finaqua.” DG nodded and pointed off to her right. Cain nodded and they moved down the dirt path. A moment later, DG spun around as Cain yelled out: “Son of a-” DG noticed his eyes were squeezed shut and his cheeks were slightly puffed - as if he was holding his breath. He clapped a hand over his nose and mouth and blinked a few times, trying to focus on DG.
“Are you okay?” Cain pulled his hand away and opened his mouth. Promptly shutting it again, he waved around them.
“You can’t smell that?” he gasped, eyes beginning to water. DG sniffed the air and turned slowly. Something had gone rather ripe, but she couldn’t see a dead animal. Cain continued to make strange noises and gasp for air as they moved down the path. A few yards ahead, the view opened up to a murky lake. Cain nudged DG’s arm and pointed off to the right.
Across the way, they could see construction equipment sitting on an outcropping next to a large tree; no one was in sight, however. “Are you okay?” DG asked again as the rounded the water’s edge. Cain shook his head.
“It’s been a while since I’ve been out here. It’s stronger than it used to be.” DG just nodded. “How can you just walk by that?” he asked, rather impressed at her resistance.
“I grew up in Kansas. That’s the smell of money, Cain. Well,” she nodded. “It’s a little riper than the average smell of money, but-” she amended with a shrug. Stopping short, DG rounded on Cain with her hands on her hips in defiance. “Were you plannin’ on coming back?”
Cain rolled his eyes and realized they weren’t getting any further until this was settled. “Look, Kid-" DG flinched at the nickname, but Cain didn’t notice. “We both have a past to deal with. I didn’t need to be there while you and your family-” DG waved him off.
“My parents are spending some quality time with my sister before she leaves.”
“Leaves?” Cain asked, shocked. Granted, even he knew it was probably best for Azkadellia, as the people of the O.Z. wouldn’t be as understanding or forgiving of her actions while possessed. DG sighed and looked at their surroundings before continuing down the path.
“She’s going to Kansas with my- With the Nurture Units. Figure it’s best for her to try and adjust to life without the witch in a place where she isn’t an assassination target. So she’ll be sleeping in my bed and wearing my clothes and I’ll get hers-” DG spun around again. “You know, there’s a reason corsets went out of fashion eighty years ago!” She rolled her eyes and turned again.
Cain couldn’t hold back his smile. He had to give the girl credit: she’d taken in quite a lot of information in the past two weeks and seemed to be holding up well. Aside from the fact that she’d just skipped dimensions without telling her parents. Of course, it was quite possible she was heading for a break. Holding on longer would only make things worse when she did finally have to face it.
A few minutes later, Cain directed DG into the stone maze and they weaved for a few minutes before coming to the outskirts of the city below the palace. Cain noticed, once again, how quiet the place was. He really needed to find out what happened to the kingdom.
-*-
Jareth and Sarah were back in the throne room when they heard the voices. “No! You are going back and that’s final,” Cain said as he turned into the doorway. He moved to the table where his duster and hat were still sitting, closed his eyes and took a deep breath as DG - hot on his heels - protested.
“You are not the boss of me!” she said, pointing to Cain.
Sarah nudged Jareth with her elbow and they shared a smirk. Cain looked up to them and forced a smile as DG realized there were other people in the room. Sarah stepped forward quickly and stuck her hand out.
“Let me guess: Kansas?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. DG nodded and took Sarah’s hand. “I’m Sarah.”
DG gave her a quick smile and replied: “DG.” She looked Jareth over and nodded to him. “Ziggy.” Sarah snorted and had to turn away, covering her mouth. Jareth glared at her as she waved and shook her head.
“This,” Cain said sternly, in DG’s direction. “Is my brother, Jareth.” Nodding to her, he continued: “Jareth, this is DG.”
DG stuck her hand out. “Pleased to meet ya.” As they shook hands, DG tried to picture Cain in Jareth’s getup, but had no luck. Jareth gave her a forced, but polite, smile and raised an eyebrow in his brother’s direction.
Cain nodded. “DG’s mother is the Queen of the Outer Zone.” Jareth didn’t even try to hide the Cheshire cat grin spreading across his face as he nodded to DG and ignored the murderous look on Cain’s face.
DG glanced over Jareth’s shoulder to Sarah. “How did you know I was from Kansas?”
Sarah nodded to Cain. “First thing he asked me.” DG looked to Cain, who shrugged. “You like coffee?”
DG turned back to Sarah. “Ehh... I’d rather have a vanilla milkshake, but sure.”
Sarah smiled and stepped closer. Waving between the men, she started: “You boys reminisce or reconnect or whatever.” She smiled at DG again and continued: “We’ll be back.” DG couldn’t help but smile and Cain returned to bodyguard-mode.
“I don’t think that’s-” but he stopped short at the look on DG’s face. Glancing at Jareth, who just nodded, Cain sighed and shrugged. Sarah shot a look at Jareth, hooked her arm around DG’s and the girls left the room.
Cain watched them leave and kept watching the door for a good minute after they were gone. Jareth chuckled, which made Cain look at his younger brother. “What?”
“Nothing,” Jareth said smiling and shaking his head. “Nothing at all.” He waved a hand in Cain’s direction and moved over to the throne, where he sat. “You just had to go and find a princess.” Cain clenched his jaw and glared at the wall. “Sort of defeats the purpose of your abdication all those years ago, doesn’t it?” Jareth said with a smirk.
“I have known her for two weeks, Jareth.”
“And I knew Sarah for thirteen hours,” Jareth said with a shrug. Cain sighed and moved over to his brother.
“I spent the last eight years locked up in an iron box. Two weeks ago, she happens by and lets me out. I go from thinking my family is long dead to their being alive. Then, I found my wife’s grave-” Jareth flinched as Cain continued: “And, I happened to be rescued from the man who killed her, by my son. All while trying to help her,” he nodded in the direction the girls had gone. “Save the Zone from her possessed sister.” Cain tilted his head slightly. “That’s all.” Jareth nodded and frowned, taking a moment to grieve for the sister he never met, but also thinking: ‘Just keep telling yourself that, dear brother.’
Cain blinked and looked at his brother. “Did you say thirteen hours?”
-*-
DG noted that Sarah’s bedroom looked remarkably like her own in Kansas. Sarah stepped over to the closet and pulled the door open. Waving DG over, Sarah pointed into the closet. DG raised an eyebrow and Sarah leaned against the door with a smile. “Trust me.” Shrugging her shoulders, DG stepped into the closed, followed by Sarah.
DG watched - kinda - as Sarah pulled the door shut and proceeded to unscrew the doorknob. She then moved to the opposite side of the closet door and rescrewed the knob into the door, and then pushed it open on the opposite hinge - which DG swore wasn’t there at the start. Her confusion was replaced by sheer amazement as Sarah opened the door and DG looked out of the closet into a dark apartment.
Sarah stepped out and waved. “Welcome to Hartford. Excuse the mess.”
DG glanced around the studio and turned back to look into the closet before Sarah shut the door. “How? Hartford? Like, Connecticut-Hartford?”
Sarah nodded and smiled. “Come on. There’s a Burger King down the street,” she said, reaching for a backpack on the floor. DG looked back to the closet as Sarah dug her wallet and keys out of the bag and grabbed DG’s sleeve.
Pointing to the door over her shoulder as Sarah pulled her from the room, DG asked again: “How?”
“It’s an Oubliette door.” Sarah raised a finger to DG as she opened the front door of the apartment. “Fun fact: You have to respect those doors.” DG stepped outside and watched Sarah lock the door. “They will drop you in some weird-ass places.” DG’s brow furrowed as she followed Sarah down the steps and toward the sidewalk.
“Don’t get me wrong,” Sarah said with a wave. “I’ve seen talking rocks. Hell, I’ve talked to talking rocks. But those rocks...” she shivered at the memory of her second trip through the closet. She’d been testing the door with Hoggle to make sure the connection would hold. Making it three steps, Sarah was inundated with a set of rock faces that were decidedly not Labyrinthian.
“And they were screaming about a chicken...” She shivered again. “Anyway. So, how did you get to the Labyrinth from Kansas?” Jareth hadn’t run off to give the ‘it’s a crystal’ speech in a few months, so she obviously hadn’t wished anyone away.
“I went through a door in the hedge maze,” DG stated off-handedly, trying to wrap her brain around the fact that she was not only back on ‘her side,’ but halfway across the country at that.
“Snotty knocker?” Sarah asked. DG looked back to her and nodded. “I wondered where that other door went,” she said with a nod and a slight laugh. “I do need to go down there and take that ring out of the other one’s mouth for a while.”
“How did you get there?” DG asked. “I mean, you said you had that door installed, so...” DG stopped as her brain caught up to the conversation. “Other door? So, you’ve seen those orange parrot-things?”
Sarah smiled. “Forget milkshakes,” she said with a laugh. “We’re gettin’ you Tequila.” She took DG’s arm again and pulled her along.