The Captive of Discord

      Discord turned his head in the direction of the knock, raising one eyebrow in surprise. Flutty also looked in that direction. The disgruntled grumbling of Smooze could already be heard in the corridor. What to do in such situation? Of course, to leave the room and go to the door before your round friend, which our magician did. Stopping him with a gesture of his hand, Dee straightened his bowtie, calmly exhaled, took hold of the handle and was about to open the door. But as soon as he saw who was behind that door, the friendly, smiling expression was replaced by fear and shock. Discord immediately slammed the door, turned 180° around and leaned his back against it, you know, holding it from an unwanted guest. This was noticed by both Smooze and Fluttershy, who followed him. "Who is there? Cops?" he asked. "Much worse," said Discord in fear, "It's my cousin!" "Cousin?" thought Flutty in surprise. She never expected that he still had relatives. "Eris? No way!" "I'm in shock myself, trust me. She's even better preserved than I am!" Dee hastily took off his hat and threw it aside, "Damn it!" "Discord," was heard outside the door. It was a pleasant female voice, "I know you're here. Open the door." "Discord? W-what Discord?" with a nervous smile, Discord began to come up with excuses, "There is no Discord here. It's, uh, Soundwave, yeah!"       Pause. "Excuse me?" "I mean Starscream! Yes, the great and wonderful Starscream!" "Are you kidding me?"       The nervous smile on the wizard's face gradually subsided, his helplessness and fear could be clearly seen in his eyes. Despite the situation, he made another, no less ridiculous attempt to excuse himself: "O-Optimus Prime..?" "DISCORD!" the voice behind the door became sharper and stricter, "Stop fooling around! If you don't open it to me within a minute, I'll do it myself! Time's up! One..." "Damn," Discord immediately moved away, "Well, Smoothie, we'll have to spend some money on a new door. Stay here, hold the door. As soon as she counts to sixty, jump aside. Fortunately, she counts very slowly." "Two..." "Yessur", Smooze leaned against the door, as ordered. "And you," the magician looked at Fluttershy, "come with me, quick."       He and the girl quickly went into the bedroom. Flutty was uneasy. She looked at the magician with a questioning look. Discord took her by the shoulder, stroking her head lightly with his other hand. His gaze was terribly serious. "You can't try to get into a conversation with her. Believe me, it's a terrible pain to try to argue with her. " "I understand... You want me to be in the basement, making no noice." "No," he said suddenly, "I'm going to have to put you in a trance to be sure." "In a t-trance?" Fluttershy got scared. "Yes. Look into my eyes," those charming colored circles appeared in his eyes again. "N-no! Please don't!" the poor thing tried to turn away, close her eyes, anything to avoid eye contact. But Discord firmly squeezed her forearm and turned her head to face him, while gently pressing the girl's fragile body to himself. From fright and short-term pain, she opened her eyes wide, meeting the magician's gaze again. She didn't have time to do anything. Her body no longer obeyed her, and her mind became clouded, so that now she saw only a dark silhouette and charming eyes of the beholder. "I'm sorry. I have to." "W-Wha..?" the poor thing could only mumble. "Hush. I promise you'll be okay."       The poor girl's body went limp, started to feel terribly wadded, as if she had been turned into a rag doll. "Fifty-eight..!" "Dee, hurry up!" shouted Smooze, "I'm already getting scared myself!" "I'm coming!" it was heard from the bedroom. "Fifty-nine..! Sixty!"       Smoothie, as soon as he heard "sixty", jumped aside as soon as possible and did it just in time: at the same moment the door literally flew out of its hinges and crashed into the wall.       A very young-looking woman appeared in the open doorway. She was wearing a dress, the hem of which resembled the tail of a peacock, both in shape and color, fur was on her chest and shoulders and a small yellow heart in front. She had bright makeup on her face, which looked good on her pink skin. The hair on the sides was twisted into "ram's horns", the rest were combed back. The woman turned her head towards Discord when he had already come out and quickly closed the bedroom door. ''Eris! My dear cousin!" with an unnaturally wide smile, he exclaimed, - "Long time no seen!" "You're overdoing it, buddy," Smoothie whispered to him. "Shut up, Smuz," Dee muttered through tightly clenched teeth, and continued aloud, "We finally meet after being separate for so long!" "Discord," Eris said in a stern tone, so that the magician's smile slightly lowered, "Stop pretending to be glad to see me. " "B-but you always told me yourself..." "To pretend to be happy for decency? It was more than thirty years ago, you are no longer a child. We're not kids anymore." "Easy for you to say," he muttered through his teeth, "you're perfectly preserved for your age.'' "What did you say?" "I said, you look great! So," Discord cleared his throat, straightening his bowtie, "What brings you here?" "I came to make sure that you didn't give away or wasted your father's inheritance to piss him off."       At the mention of his father, Discord's face fell in displeasure. And after hearing the suggestion that he was a "wastrel", he was so offended at all. "Me? Me - Discord von Chaos - just that easily giving away my own home in which I was born and grew up?! Never in my life!" "Don't raise your voice at me," Eris said sternly, "Smoothieblob, how do you still live with him?" "I'm used to it," the chubby man replied with a sincere smile, almost immediately catching the angry look of his friend on himself. Realizing that he would not do anything to him, but being afraid, Smooze stepped aside and fell silent. "Anyway," the magician turned his head to his cousin, "Would you like to have a snack and then look around the house after?" "Not necessary. I'm sure Smoothie won't mind wrapping it for me to eat later. Right, Smoothieblob?" "Stop calling him "Smoothieblob"... God forbid he gets used to it and I have to retrain him." "You should stop treating others like animals, brother," Eris said condescending, walking around the rooms and corridors.       Discord snorted haughtily. Out of all people, he was the one who's very aware of how does it feel to be treated like a helpless mongrel. Meanwhile, his cousine provided inspection all over his house to check if everything was where it belongs or if something dissapeared, etc. Finally, it was turn of Discord's bedroom in wich Flutty still was present. In that moment our magician paniced. He got ahead of Eris by teleporting to the door and persistently put his hand on the door, smiling nervously. "A-a-and here our exscurtion shall end! Time for us to leave!" "Discord, don't tell me you're hiding something in there too," - woman strictly looked into his eyes, making him try to avoid eye contact in panic and look from side to side. "No-o-o?.. Why? There's just, uh, a mess, yeah!" "So you're telling me you didn't care about finding time to clean your own room?" "No, it's not what I meant! I just..." "Oh Faust, I recognize that look. Just step aside."       Saying so, Eris moved her cousin away and quickly entered as she opens the door. Discord lied, as expected: the room was just fine and clean, aside from distasteful wallpaper. The lady inspected bookshelf, looked inside the chest "full of plastic balls" and even checked bedside table. Seemed like she was fine with everything. Then a bed got her attention. Specificaly, a strange tubercle on a blanket. She extended her hand to it. "Wait, wait, wait, no!" shouted Discord, panicing.       Too late. Eris already grabbed the blanket and threw it aside. There was Fluttershy, lying there with an exhausted expression on her face and an empty, absolutely empty look in her eyes. She was still breathing, but silently, not moving a muscle. The lady observed her for some time before slowly turning her head at Discord, who stepped back under her angry watch. "Discord..." "I-It's not what you're thinking!" "You kidnaped her?!" "I-I can explain! I swear, she's here by her own will!" "Stop lying!" Eris exhailed rapidly to calm herself down, then looked up at her cousin, "Come on, you cannot lie. Not to me."       There was a deathly silence. Both sides - Discord and Eris - were aware, that was true. Lady already figured out and understood what happened, she just wanted her cousin to confess, she wasn't going to judge. But magician didn't want to tell her or confess to her. His bodycount already had way to many people in it, poor girl was the last one in that list. But he had never wanted to hirt her, let alone driving her mad. What stops him from telling it his cousin? Pride. Pride didn't let him do that. He knew her like the back of his horns, nothing would guarantee him safety. Both were just standing there in silense, while Smooze, who was peeping from behing the door, was watching them. "Are you having some kind of telepatic conversation or something?" "Discord," Eris finaly spoke, "I know everything. Just admit it is true, you won't be in any trouble." "...will you promise not to tell anyone? Promise me. Promise me you won't turn me in." "So that all would come out by itself? You know very well it's better to tell now than we both have to suffer from consequenses."       Discord shuddered. His hands shook and slowly clenched into fists. "No... No! Your manipulations won't work on me this time! I'm not your servant nor slave! I will do whatever I find necesary! And will not change my mind!" "You still didn't learn to lie properly, let alone making right desicions," Dumbledore Eris said calmly. "Stop! You're talking just like my father!" "Let me remind you that your father is the one who did everything he could to cover your deeds and crimes." "I said stop!" The magician stamped his foot in rage, which lit up the room with an eerie, red light. Smoothie ran out of the room like a bullet. Eris didn't bat an eye. Rage, fear, despair, and helplessness were clearly visible in Discord's eyes, "Go away... I'm begging you. Just go. I can't take it anymore."       Eris said nothing in response. She only made a few steps towards her cousin and... gave him a slight hug. Magician's eyes widened in surprise. He hardly expected hugs from someone like her. But it was not just a slight hug. It was a sibling cuddle, the hug that contained all the warmth she had inside her soul. Discord had no idea what to do. He was just standing there, without any movement. However, it didn't last too long: Eris let go of her cousin after thrirty seconds. "Feeling better now?" She asked him, smiling slightly. "I..." "Good," the smile was no more, "Anyway, I have to go. My job here is done."       Saying that, Eris slowly went towards the door. But near the exit she stopped, making the magician nervious again. "Just a friendly reminder, br'er. You're the one responsible for openning that Pandora's Box. Which means you have to take back the despair gotten out of there by yourself."       Discord kept watching her as she left. A rustle and short "thank" was heard ffom the corridor: Smoothie manages to give Eris some snack to eat on the way. Finaly, as the magician heard the front door closing, he went straight to Flutty. She was still lying there with an empty look in her eyes. Discord held her by shoulders, make her sit on the bed and started caressing her cheeks and forehead carefully, whispering: "C'mon." After a few second of such manipulations the girl woke up, inhailing rapidly as if she couldn't breath for a very long time. Sighing with relief, magician held her to his chest. Poor thing was shivering like a leaf, as he tried to calm her stroking her back. "Come on, hush. It's okay. She left. You have nothing to fear." "S-She..," mumbled Fluttershy throught her tears, "S-She yelled a-at you?.." "Oh, so you heard. Do not worry. It's hard to talk straight to her. Meaning of her words are clear only after she' gone. And, you know," Discord looked into Flutty's eyes, ''She is right. I have to fix everything. And return what I have stolen." "T-That means..," the girl looked at him with hope on her eyes, "I-I'm going home?" "Yes," Discord nodded, "The day after tomorrow. Today you better have some rest. You're friends are showing up at Sunday to take you back. Let's make it fancy.       Discord kissed her gently on the forehead.