Robert and Victor go on a mission to find an artifact. An old grandfather clock with carvings of meadows, wildlife, the sky, moon, sun, and stars. The carvings almost seem to move on there own; pulling infinitly inwards toward some distance, if you stare at it long enough.
They find it at an estate sale. It's in the silent auction. Victor places a bet, Robert is there because the only way to see the bid is on an internal system that he need to get access to so that if the amount Victor bid wasn't enough they could easily find the person who did win the bid. It would be 100 times easier if Vic could just buy it though.
6 hours later and a bid of 1.8 million dollars straight from Victor's personal account because the amount that SDN gave them was less than a million dollars, the beautiful and magical clock is now in his possession.
While they wait for a team to pick it up, Vic is given a key by a tall ram faced man, who warns him that what you and your other seeks lies within but only if you have him by your side. This sounds a shiver up both there spines.(Robert is listening to the conversation through an ear piece.) Victor whips around away from the clock to look back at the ram hybrid but finds nobody there.
When Robert meets back up with Victor there he noticed how quick the place was to empty. Almost like everyone there was just for show. The whole way making it back to Victor he never ran into anyone or anything. Infact sounds felt very distant now that Victor is paying attention.
Just before the both of them got proper creeped out the door to the giant grandfather clock popped open.
Victor without waiting for Robert to dissuade him opened it up all the way to a beautiful soft golden glow."After all, Bob, the creepy goat guy said that what we seek is inside." Victor is quick to dip inside.
"This is a terrible idea. We should wait for back up," always the voice of reason always ignored follows the Bat into the clock.
The first sensation Robert felt was the warmth of the sun. Which was admittedly strange because the sky in Tolerance had been a dreary overcast for a week now. But the warmth on his skin was very real, as was the tickle of grass. I was almost like waking up from a dream, a good dream, the best dream, were you still don't really know where you are but you can't bring yourself to panic because everything was safe.
It was a feeling Robert hadn't known in a very long time. And if it wasn't for the sensation right now Robert knows he wouldnt have felt this way for a longer time to come.
Opening his eyes and sitting up all he could see was a sea of grass, open sky, and the large form of Victor sleeping next to him.
Fuck. That was a stupid idea.
Robert smacks Victor awake.
And then they go on an isaski adventure, find out they can't go back, get married, settle down, and have kids till old and gray. It's only when they die (sonar first), they wake up with the artifact in hand and a lifetime of love lived between them. And only an hour passed back in thier world.
