//------------------------------//
// To the Edge of Sanity- Chapter 12 
// Story: Discord 
// by AppleCider120 
//------------------------------//

The two Discords stared each other down, both with wildly different expressions on their faces. The true Discord was full of disbelief, and a bit of fear around his aura; the duplicate had an understanding, yet sinister smirk on its face. Eris came up to her father, grabbing hold of his pants leg.

"Daddy?" she said softly, almost whispering, "Who is that?"

Discord shook his head slowly, putting a hand in front of her, defensively. "I do not know, Eris."

The copy chuckled, wandering over to the clothes drawer. His laugh was one of a narcissistic nature, almost taunting Discord with its tone.

"Oh, Daddy doesn't know?" he said, imitating the little Changeling's whine.

The copy dressed himself comfortably, no longer exposing himself to the elements and his unprepared to-be hosts. When he was fully covered, he turned to the three, walking over slowly. The grin on his face unsettled Discord beyond anything before; so much so he could not even find the vocabulary to describe this unusual fear he was feeling. The two stared each other down, again; one with confidence and cunning, the other with fear and defensiveness.

"Come on, me," he said, looking the group over. "Do you ever look at your reflection in the water, Discord? Do you not ever catch a glance in the crystals of this cave?"

Discord just mutter a bit, before finding his words. "How are you me? What happened to that water?"

The copy held up his palm to stop the questions. "Okay, let us start from step one, okay? I am also Discord, you dolt. Though, being that it would be confusing for both of us to be called that in our little story, I will go by Drocsid, okay?"

Discord took a breath, shaking his head to clear his thoughts. "Drocsid, okay."

"Now, Discord," he said, firmly, dropping the grin, "I am here to make your life a living hell, in all honesty. You needn't worry, I'm not here for your dog, or your weird kid."

Discord's fear almost completely fell away from him as he felt a bit more protective; he was sure it wasn't good at first, but now that the potential threat made itself clear, he needed to do everything he could to protect his family. He let out an almost inhuman growl at Drocsid.

"Oh, you imbecile," he said, chuckling to himself. "Mother doesn't want this side of you, yet. You need to be conditioned; you need to be broken."

Drocsid lifted up his hand, snapping his fingers loudly; much louder than Discord could do currently. First, he could not tell what had been done, but he noticed that Eris wasn't making her little chirps and whimpers. He glances around, turning to find the pair frozen in solid stone.

"ERIS, ERRANT!" he shouted, staring at the statues, before trying to run to them.

Drocsid grabbed Discord's collar, and threw him back to the ground near a stalagmite. 

"Ah, ah, ah," he said, mockingly. "We have work to get to, my friend."

Drocsid started to laugh as a dark cloud began to envelope the two beings. Discord glanced around, hurrying to his feet.

"What are you doing, you prick!?" He shouted, defensive once more, and a bit fearful of the cloud.

"Taking your mind somewhere it can be worked with," Drocsid replied, shrugging his shoulders. "Well, if you are mentally strong enough for it, anyway."

Before Discord could send out another question, the cover was complete. The two Discord's stood face-to-face, as the two times before. There was no light, yet they could see each other clearly; there was no sound, other than their breathing. Discord could notice one more thing apart form the overwhelming lack of anything. The voices in his head had stopped.

"You see, Discord," Drocsid started, "Mother has decided that you are not quite living up to her specifications for a 'Spirit of Chaos' to do her bidding. So, I am going to break you, as much as I can. We're going to play games, maybe you can do that, right? Or has this past one and a half centuries led you to forget what those are?"

"I was never one for the children's games," Discord said, backing up a but from the copy. "You should know that, if you are a copy of me."

"Indeed, I should," it answered. "But, whoever said I was a copy? Perhaps I did lead to that implication, but no. Discord, the spring you used to create me has a name, from Mother. She called is the Mirror Pool."

Discord's eyes widened. "So, your the exact opposite, but in the same body?"

"Oh Mother," Drocsid said. "Thank the creators he has a brain my size. Yes, you slow fool! I am you, but worse! Though, in Mother's case, I am what she wants you to be; just worse. You get what I'm hinting at."

Discord nodded, running up to the copy, and swinging a punch at him. Drocsid didn't try dodging, taking the full brunt of the haymaker to the side of his face, sending him to the floor. Discord shook his hand, as the copy slowly stood up, laughing off the hit.

"Hey, not bad," he mocked Discord, straightening his jaw. "But, I'm quite good at that, myself."

With a speed Discord had never conceived of, outside of the dream realm, Drocsid closed their relatively short distance; he delivered a shot to Discord's chest, sending him back a distance. With the breath knocked out of him, Discord held his chest, slowly making his way back to his feet.

"Oh come on!" Drocsid groaned. "That was just one hit! Then again, you aren't at your desired state, yet. That probably hurt like hell, eh?"

Discord just grunted in response, holding up his hands in a couple of fists, expecting a good fight. Drocsid simply shrugged his shoulders, knowing the outcome of going hand-to-hand with himself. He once more rushed Discord, turning his own speed down to match the more human of the pair. Discord was no brawling expert, as evident by the Minotaur challenge he participated in, but he knew enough, he felt. When Drocsid came in close, he grabbed the attackers arm, and threw him to the ground. Attempting to follow with a kick, Discord followed the body to the black ground, watching in disbelief as the body fell through the darkness as if there were no floors.

He straightened back up, glancing around to see where he had gone, finding Drocsid behind him; before he could fully register the clone's location, he found himself being knocked to the floor as well. As the time went on, Discord could feel Drocsid beginning to up his speed, and his strength. Within the span of what felt like a handful of minutes, he found himself going from mostly offensive, to primarily defensive tactics. He would avoid all the damage he could manage, only to find himself back on the ground with each head of steam he seemed to find. He soon was resorting to holds; when he could get a grip, he would grasp Drocsid in a choke-hold. 

For a few more moments, this form of defense was working, apart from Drocsid constantly seeming to vanish whenever the original would find his way around the attacks. Drocsid started to do the same moves, pulling out some holds that Discord could not imagine would be effective. At one point, Drocsid had his original counterpart locked in a hold in which his arms went under Discord's, and wrapped back to the back of his head. Discord was trapped for a good amount of time, trying to think of some way to break the hold, which was proving far more difficult than he thought.

Discord didn't know himself to be a dirty fight, but in the end he resorted to his last technique, and scooted up far enough to kick his leg back; his strike landed square between Drocsid's legs, causing him to let out a girlish squeal. He vanished once more with a childish whimper, before coming back at Discord some more. Starting to feel a bit overwhelmed, Discord started to use more and more desperate tactics. Fingers to the eyes, a hard bit on the nose, and other things were not off the table as his filthy moves began to let him gain some momentum.

But, Drocsid was ready to play these games, too. His first move of revenge came in the form of sand into Discord's eyes. Discord was both blinded, and highly confused as to where his copy had managed to get sand when they were likely still in the cave. The human fought his way through the stinging in his eyes, and another series of holds from Drocsid, before managing to jam a finger in the copies ear. Drocsid let out another squeal, running off once more. He tried to do a second filthy trick, by throwing what appeared to be dandelion seeds into Discord's face. At first, it seemed to work, but Discord got the fantastic idea to use his trick from the earlier afternoon.

When the copy rushed him from the front, Discord tossed his own handful of the seed in front of himself, and snapped his fingers; this ensnared the copy in an overgrown form of dandelions, servings as rope to hold him in place. Discord flopped to the ground, trying to catch his breath for a bit, watching Drocsid.

"Okay, okay!" Drocsid growled. "I'll give you this one, dammit, just let me out of this sh--!"

With another snap, the vines of the overgrown dandelion broke, sending Drocsid to the ground. Discord smirked a bit, panting as he felt good about himself. Drocsid was far from finished, though, as he started to grin a bit. A wisp of smoke began to cover the clone, until it fully enveloped him to the point where Discord couldn't see anything. After what seemed like minutes, the smoke dissipated, exposing a young human girl, from a time long forgotten by the human.

"And who is this?" Discord asked, raising an eyebrow.

Drocsid's voice echoed with a chuckle, as the girl spoke quietly. "Have you truly forgotten about me, Errant?"

Discord stared, eyes opening a bit as he stared at the figure, even growling. "How do you know that name, human?"

The clone stifled a laugh, chuckling. "Oh, started taking the role seriously, today, hm? Calling fellow humans such a simple title, while you called yourself a god to that Minotaur."

Discord ignored him, as the girl spoke again. "The name Errant is long forgotten by all of humanity, it would seem. Do you not remember my face, brother?"

The man blinked, staring at the girl closely, slowly shaking his head. "Drocsid is doing a poor job at reminding me. My Mother has cleaned me of my past."

"Errant," the girl said, tearing up a little. "How can you forget me? Was I not around long enough for you to care about me?"

"I am sorry," he said softly. "What is your name?"

"Static," she said softly.

Discord blinked, head pulling back a little at the sound of the name. "Aurora?"

She nodded, smiling shyly. "Static Aurora. Roughly--"

"The 'Still Light'," Discord finished. "Though, our intentions were more likely to mean sort of stoic, or stable."

He thought hard as he could, shaking his head. "My supposed sister can remember my name, but I cannot remember my life with her."

The form began to change again, surrounding with another dark grey cloud. Before long, a much older woman appeared before him. This one had long since seen her time, with long grey hair, and a wrinkled form.

"Lost as you were known to be," she said wearily. "So lost know, you probably don't even recognize me."

Discord nodded his head in agreement. "That would be a correct assumption, madam. I do not recall you."

"You disappeared on the eve of my death," she said softly, whispering. "I had been sick for so long, but you couldn't handle anything of the sort; you always lived up to your name, my son."

Discord stared at her, giving her a little shrug. "As my supposed sister before; this spirit pretends to know me, but I have no memory with her. Though, the pain does remain in my mind."

"Then our Mother, truly is not worthy," she said sorrowfully, before she was blanketed by the dark as well. 

The clouds dispersed once more, revealing a man clad in ancient armor, of which Discord was sure had not been relevant in centuries. 

"My son," it said, with a similar whispering voice to the females before. "To be on the way to becoming a god, to be against his own flesh."

"While I understand now what Drocsid is doing," Discord said, more sternly, "let it be known that I cam from a time where humanity did not exactly deserve its mantle on the planet. Mother is simply looking to rectify this."

"So she is no longer worthy of our praise," said the ghost, vanishing. 

Once more, the smoke came, and left; this time, leaving Drocsid in their place. "You recognized them all, didn't you?"

Discord clenched his fists, growling as he punched the empty air, expecting a hard floor. 

"Of course I did," he said softly. "Of course I would recognize my own flesh and blood, you morally bankrupt apparition. How could I not remember the sister of mine who drowned in the creek near our home? How could I forget the father that never returned from the battlefield? And how, oh how could I forget the mother that gave everything to keep me safe? Of course I remember their face, and their destinies. But no, I do not have any memories of the life I had before!"

Drocsid nodded, smirking. "And doesn't that just eat at your mind a bit? Did their whispering voices not sound familiar to you?"

Discord looked at him angrily, about to ask him what that meant, when the voices began to speak again. The whispers he had been hearing since the very beginning of his trials; the voices that seeming taunted him, and brought him his nightmares when he had no one to talk to. And they were no longer speaking in their old tongue. Just as his forgotten family had before him, the voices had grown a new tongue, and a new language. He could understand their messages, and he hated them. Gone were the days of trying to guess what they were saying; now, they taunted him with their scorning accusations. 

And he accepted their scorn, taking the pain as he felt he would have deserved it. Drocsid simply grinned, having the dark room fade from around them as Discord succumbed to the night that had blanketed the forest; Discord fell asleep on the hard ground of the cave, while Eris and Errant watched from their stone prisons. 

As the days went by, Drocsid would continue to make appearances to the human. In the beginning, it was always at night. He would come once every few days, catching Discord off guard. They would always fight, as well. In Discord's mind, there was nothing to do to defeat this bastardization of his own subconscious. He would fight as valiantly as he could, only to be trapped by the evil clone's mind games, and have his heart, and mind broken further. Though, to his credit, Discord was not an easy human to break. Mother had given this copy all the tools it needed to "fix" her son just right, and make him so much more malleable; but, the original's mind was not an easy nut to crack.

But, it was slowly working. As time drolled on, and the visits became more frequent, Discord not only began to find more tricks up his metaphorical, and literal sleeves; he also began to learn to talk down his own fears and his voices of the past. And it was upon the last night fo the first six months, that Discord finally got the answer to this torment he needed. After his usual battles with Drocsid, concluding with a devastating mind game that pitted Eris against Discord's own morals, the human broke the rules that Drocsid had seemingly laid out for his reality.

Upon trying to fade the void as Discord was falling asleep once more, the human used a snap of his fingers to keep Drocsid in place; the clone's hands were now covered with stone, preventing him from using his magic any longer. Discord slowly approached the clone, grinning widely.

"You know," he said softly, "you did what Mother wanted you to do. And, I know what she was intending, but I know she is also very patient. If I have to go through these trials again, she no doubt will shove you back into the line-up, and try to break me further. Who knows, maybe I'm wrong in that assessment, and my time will be over if she can't fully break me, but I know this! I know you may look like me; you may act like me. You could probably even get away with being me, if I would allow it."

His voice rose a bit as he pushed the clone onto his back, growling.

"But! You are not me. While I can feel some changes being brought about by these painful trials; while I can feel my power somewhat being more manageable. While I can see the faces of my past, and now put a name to them; Errant is dead. Well, me as Errant. My dog's alive, if you don't remember. Anyway, that life is dead. I am not some human, who has to rely on some damned pity-story to work my way up to some sort of level. As far as I am concerned, I have come as far as I have ever wanted to; I didn't even know I wanted this power. Hell, maybe Mother indeed knows best, because I can feel the need to gain more. But, I will do it at my own pace. And I won't have some second rate nightmare, who has overstayed his welcome, dictate how I live."

Discord grabbed the imposter by the hair, starting to drag him back to the pool. Drocsid started to squirm, even as the tugging hair hurt him greatly. "What do you think you are doing, you idiot!?"

Discord did not dignify the bastard with a response. He dragged the dead weight to the pool, and used what new strength he had to toss Drocsid back into the Mirror Pool, garnering screams of horror from the clone. As he sunk down, and finally submerged, Discord looked to the pool, and snapped his fingers. Within a matter of moments, the reflective pool began to lose its sheen, and the temperature once more began to rise.

Turning back to his companions, his anger and resentment began to fade, as he saw the stone began to chip away. He walked his way over to the statue as Errant and Eris began to squirm, breaking free of their prisons, and storming over to him, taking him to the ground in affection. As they once more came together as the family they were just six months prior, Discord notice one thing that gave him some peace, if just for now.

The voices were silent, and the wind had died.