Aladdin turns a corner just in time to see a shadowy figure with gold specks take off down another corridor, leaving behind Zero's twisted form.

"NO!!" the genie cries out, as he cradles Zero's body, just as he had in the main square.

Within Aladdin's mind, Jareth chuckles, "Ha ha...can't save him this time, little genie. The Duke's sucked him dry!"

Aladdin instead reopened the gash mark on his hand and placed in on Zero's throat. Zero's form dissolved into gold dust, and Aladdin now had strands of gold in his own wild mane.

Jareth: "He's using my Labyrinth to split us up..."

"...and pick us off one by one," Aladdin spoke darkly, "Let's make haste before he strikes again."

"There's no hope," Jareth spoke in Aladdin's mind, "You'll never solve the Labryinth until The Duke has killed all of your friends."

Aladdin snapped out loud: "Then what good are YOU??!! Help me, damnit!"

Jareth: "Alright, first rule: No flying. There is no up or down in this place. As evidenced by Zero's fatal folly."

Elsewhere...

Ricochet wasn't sure how long he'd been climbing stairs...minutes...hours...but from around a corner he'd heard a blood-curdling scream. He turned left at a rounded curve, but found out very quickly that he was running around in a complete circle. Confused, he turned around...

...and found the Chorus girls bound to a giant cobweb, motionless, with puncture marks on their necks. Ricochet dropped to his knees in horror and grief, "Oh Liza...Veronica...Nana...even in this place, you've managed to stick together 'till the bitter end." Creeping behind him was the shadowy figure.

Ricochet sensed something in his periphery and quickly dodged as the figure made a lunge at him. The figure was indeed a shadow, almost transparent with a few specks of gold.

In a fit of rage, Ricochet tore off his coat, rolled down his suspenders and rolled up his sleeves, curling his fists: "Come and get me, bitch!"

Cackling, the shadow assumed a similar fighting stance, and the two began to exchange blows. Unfortunately, as Ricochet found out, sparring with a skinny coked-out youth was one thing--battling a ghost was entirely another. The blond pop-star's fists passed through the shadow like smoke.

Not so with the shadow's fists--the whispy figure, with one solid right hook, sent Ricochet flying into a wall, cracking his spine. Unable to move, Ricochet could only scream weakly as teeth sank into his jugular...

To be continued...

Don't understand me, just love me