Hey. This is something that kept nagging at me until I had to write it down. As I think I said in the summary, no, it isn't another exile story. How come everybody seems to like exiling Jareth? What the hell did he ever do to you? Hmmmm? Anyways, yeah. Here is my Labyrinth fic. This thingy sucked but I don't care. Yeah. Hope you like:) Oh, yeah, and the title will make sense later, I promise. Hint: It has stuff to do with the amulet.

Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing. (sniffle)

Hidden Bridges

Prologue

It was dark. So dark that it would have been impossible to see where you were going. Anyone who didn't know their way around the labyrinth very well would have been even more hopelessly lost now than they would have been during the day. The man pounding through it at full speed now, however, was not lost. He was frightened. He had never been subjected to such things. It had all been... unexpected.

The man slowed to a stop, gasping for air. He leaned his back against one of the labyrinth's walls, clutching the amulet hanging around his neck. They may have been able to take everything else from him, but he would not allow them to have that. The man that had taken him in, the one who had died when he was young, much too young for the responsibility that had been handed him, had made him swear he would never give it to anyone, no matter what happened. He intended to keep that promise. He looked to either side, hoping they were nowhere near him now. When he saw, nor heard anything, he sank to the ground, closed his eyes, and leaned his head back. Why was this happening? How had he suddenly become so weak, weak enough to be overthrown?

Voices. He jumped up and reluctantly began running again, ducking through a seemingly solid wall. He came out in the garden. Halfway there... he might get out yet. He tore off in another direction. But there was no doorway. Something was wrong, there was supposed to be a door here... Something was wrong.

He spun around. He was panicking. He could not remember panicking before, or if he had it had been much too long ago. He had been frightened when they had come, but that was not panic. Panic was strange. It worried him even more. He tore off again as they came back. How did they know where he was, how could they be following him? He felt suddenly closed in. More turns that were supposed to lead to doors led to walls. Were they changing it? Had he taken a wrong turn? This had to be an illusion, there was no way this was real... He touched another unknown wall, but it was solid. They were altering reality... How? More voices, more running, and his lungs felt about to burst.

And then they were upon him. He stood in the center of a closing circle of some kind of creatures unknown to him dressed as guards. He looked around, not fully understanding where they had come from. Then two of the creatures parted enough for their master to step into the circle and face the man. They closed up immediately behind him and kept their weapons fixed on their prey. The man that stood before him looked uncannily like him. It made no sense, they weren't blood related. But he did. The new man took a step forward, and the other took a step back. They stopped.

The newcomer smiled nastily. "Just give me the amulet, boy," he said. "We'll let you go if you simply hand it over."

Boy? He was no boy...

"Give it to me."

"No," was the quiet reply.

"Are you sure?" The guards stepped closer. When the enemy got nothing save for a silent, determined glare, he said, "Very well." He stepped back and calmly continued. "Kill him." The guards lunged forward at his command. Then there was a bang and a flash, followed closely by choking smoke. In the middle of the intended distraction stood the second man, unfazed. He was looking up. So the fool had waited until they were near him to transform so he could create a distraction long enough to aid his escape. Clever... He smiled coldly as he watched the diminishing figure of a barn owl flying off into the horizon. Jareth would be back. He couldn't stay away from here forever. The speck that had been the owl disappeared as it went into the other world. When he came back, he would have that amulet, whether the former ruler of this kingdom liked it or not.

N/A:

Um, okay, I know that was kind of short compared to my usual writings, but it was still good, wasn't it? It was just to give you a general idea of what happened in Labyrinth Land. If you liked it, please review. I'm gonna wait until I get a few of those to continue. I don't know how many reviews I'm looking for, but it should be more than, say, two. Okay? Arigato! ( I don't know if I spelled that right, I just wanted to say it.)