Chapter Text
He pressed his thumb against the griffin on the glowing coin. “Bracken,” he whispered.
‘What is it Seth?’ The answer came swiftly. He doubted Bracken had been asleep.
“I have our ticket out of here. Somebody just slipped me the Translocator.”
‘Are you serious?’
“Where are you?”
‘In my cell.’
Seth had not yet visited his cell. “Have I been near there?” he asked worriedly. He couldn’t leave without Bracken!
‘I’m as close to Nagi Luna as they could place me. The Sphinx wanted me under surveillance.’ He answered.
Seth felt a surge of elation course through him. “I can transport myself to a couple of doors before the Hall of Dread!” And with that he twisted the Translocator and imagined the hallway in question.
Seth felt like he was folding into himself, shrinking down to a tiny point. Then he was standing in the cold, narrow hallway leading up to the Hall of Dread.
He picked up the coin again. “Can you get out?” he asked, looking around for any sign of Bracken.
‘No problem’ he heard in his mind. Suddenly a portal opened a few doors down. From it stepped Bracken. The portal closed behind him and Seth ran to meet Bracken.
Bracken embraced him, then abruptly held him out at arms reach. “Incredible. You’re incredible.” He said, then pulled him back into the hug. “We’re actually making it out of here.” He heard whispered into his hair.
Seth was blushing furiously, but he still couldn’t keep the grin off his face as he grabbed Bracken’s hand. He placed their joined hands on the Translocator and used his other hand to twist the top. He felt the folding sensation again, and then he was standing in Maddox’s, unfortunately, empty cell.
“Bad time to go exploring, Maddox” Seth muttered to the empty cot.
“I’ll admit this is extraordinarily bad timing on his part.” Bracken added with a heavy sigh. Suddenly his face lit up, making Seth’s breath catch and his heart stutter.
“Seth, you’ve been to the Sphinx’s office, haven’t you? And you’ve seen where he keeps the other artifacts!” He exclaimed.
Understanding dawned on him and, grinning, he wasted no time twisting the head of the Translocator again. Thankfully the Sphinx’s office was empty. He quickly pulled Bracken with him to the Occulos free desk, pulling open all the drawers he could. Finding nothing, he dragged Bracken over to the Tapestry that hid the latch that the Sphinx had used, and tugged open the hidden cupboard behind it. Empty.
At that moment the Sphinx strode into the room. Seeing Seth and Bracken, he stopped short in genuine astonishment. Strapped to his waist was the Font of Immortality. The Sphinx gaze flicked down to the Translocator, and he took a step forward, hand outstretched as if to snatch it back from him.
Next to Seth, Bracken also had his hand outstretched. He called out something in a language that Seth did not understand and his hand began glowing.
The Sphinx pointed at Seth, outrage distorting his features. “Put that down!” he roared, moving towards them. Before he could take more than a step in their direction, the Font of Immortality shot towards Bracken’s outstretched hand. “Seth, you don’t-“
The moment the Font touched Brackens open palm, Seth twisted the top of the Translocator and the Sphinx disappeared. They reappeared on the roof of Seth’s elementary school building. He had climbed up there once on a dare, and afterwards had used it as a place to escape when he wanted to be alone and think. For some reason, it was the first place that had sprung to mind.
Seth sunk to his knees on the roof, finally dropping the Translocator next to him, but keeping a firm grip on Bracken. His hands were shacking, his knuckles white from gripping so hard to Bracken’s The unicorn squeezed back and sunk down to the floor next to him. They gazed out at the setting sun on Seth’s old school in silence while they came to terms with the fact that they were free.
It was only now that Seth remembered that Bracken was holding the Font on Immortality. He gave a watery laugh. “4 out of 5. Point one for the good guys” He laughed again, feeling shaky. “How did you even get that?” he wondered, leaning further into Bracken’s warmth.
“It’s my horn. I might not be able to use it, but it still recognizes me as it’s rightful owner. Since it´s primary purpose is no longer to be a horn it can’t grant me my full powers, but it did make me a little stronger."
Seth sighed. “Well, I’m glad you got it back either way.” He closed his eyes and clung tighter to Bracken’s hand. He wanted to open his eyes and for the world to have gone back to normal. The only good thing in all this mess was that he had Bracken. He stifled a sigh – it wouldn’t do to go sounding like Kendra when she was making moon eyes at a boy – but couldn’t deny that meeting Bracken made it all worth it.
“How did I ever get lucky enough to meet someone like you?” Bracken suddenly breathed in his ears as strong arms swooped him up and into Bracken’s lap. He was about to respond –something no doubt cheeky and full of fake bluster to hide his own embarrassment – when the arm around his waist wound tighter, and soft lips over his effectively short-circuited his brain.
He was stiff with shock for a bare second and then one hand went into his hair and tilted his head. He melted into the kiss, the sensation of firm, coaxing lips over his and the warm body holding him in a gentle embrace drawing him in. The kiss remained chaste, despite his best efforts, and ended when his lungs were screaming for air.
He pressed his forehead to Bracken’s and smiled when his nose was kissed. The giggle that tried to crawl it’s way out of his throat when loving kisses were rained down all over his face was not appreciated. Nor was Bracken’s chuckle when he failed to contain it.
He didn’t know how long they spent on the roof, but he didn’t really care. He knew that he should, that the Sphinx still had the Occulos and they should get somewhere safe. He knew he should probably let people know that he was safe. Bracken probably had people he wanted to see as well.
But Bracken's lap was too cofortable, and his kisses too sweet, for Seth to worry very much about anything else.