A/N: Prompt #2 - Dark.

Bracken had thought he was used to the dark. He had spent centuries in the Sphinx's dungeons, frequently with only his own inner light to brighten the darkness. The feeling of sunlight had faded from memory. He had slowly grown accustomed to nothing but torchlight and magic.

This was not that kind of darkness.

The darkness here pressed smotheringingly inward. Every breath of it made his chest constrict more. The dark seemed a living, malevolent thing, and if his inner light still shone, it didn't reach his eyes.

He wondered whether this was what his father had seen in Zzyzx.

He felt pressure on his mind sometimes. Often it was sharp and barbed, and a cry of pain would fly form his lips as his defenses were attacked.

Sometimes, though . . .

Sometimes it was a gentle, questioning prod. Kendra. He was almost sure it was Kendra.

If he was wrong, though - If he was wrong and he let them in -

Bracken shuddered and curled closer to the wall his chains held him to.

Captured again. He'd be lucky if the Queen let him out of the new faerie's realm within the millennia at this rate.

Assuming he ever made it back there, of course.

They weren't new thoughts. They kept coming back, like vultures circling in his head.

Something shifted in the darkness. Bracken stiffened. That shift always meant that the trap door had been opened, and nothing good ever came of that.

The darkness pulsed and roiled. For a moment, it thickened painfully.

Then a small point of light appeared in the ceiling. The point widened in difficult jerks like the light was shoving its way through.

The dark retreated, step by step, and realization hit Bracken. The light wasn't fighting forward. The magical darkness was being forced back, and the light was rushing forward to fill the gap.

A familiar grinning head appeared in the opening. Sweat glistened on Seth's face. "Hey, Bracken!" He started clambering down the rope ladder. "You'll never guess what I've been up to. Well, Kendra and I." He pulled a set of tools out of his pocket and got to work on the chains. "Enchanted lock picks. Cool, right?"

"Those are new," Bracken managed. His voice croaked. The light dazzled his eyes.

"Long story." The first chain fell off. "Yes!"

The shadows tried to creep forward while Seth was distracted.

"Seth - "

Seth looked up and glared at the shadows. "Back," he growled.

The curled back, looking almost cowed.

"That's a new trick," Bracken whispered hoarsely.

Seth got to work on the last chain. "Well, Kendra had to go and become a full fledged dragon tamer, so I had to step up my game." The chain fell. "Speaking of which, I'm not sure how long she and Raxtus can hold everyone off, so we'd better get moving."

Bracken thought of all the impossible things he'd seen the two siblings do. "I have full confidence that she'll manage. That both of you will."

Seth offered him his shoulder, and they limped towards the light.