Discord had been awake about 3 hours when he heard a muffled thud and a series of curse words from the floor above. For a moment he wondered who the heck was making those sounds, then recalled the little adventure in the school. Where an unexpected spanner in the form of Canterlot High's history professor, Somber, had shown up in the works.

Chuckling in amusement as he recalled Somber's rants when Discord had explained as promised, what was going on, he walked upstairs and entered the bed room. In time to see Somber trying to untangle his foot from the billowy bedsheets. The thud had been the disorientated teacher clearly realising this WASN'T his bed and falling out of it.

In the struggle, the raven haired man's shirt and waistcoat had ridden up slightly, showing while he may have looked skinny and weak, his muscular state hinted at a hidden strength.

--How long staring is rude..?-- Discord pondered curiously, wondering why he was analysing Somber like this. Then he shook his head and walked over, quickly untangling Somber and hauling him to his feet. Somber made a baffled sound, trying to regain his balance.

"Steady on," Discord grunted, sitting him on the bed at last "anybody would think you'd spent the night drinking?"

"You mean I didn't?” Somber groaned, but a glance at his expression made it clear he recalled the incident. Some of the previous nights irritation was starting to return to his expression the more awake he became, and Discord tried diverting the matter;

"Coffee?" he suggested.

A sharp, long glare. But eventually a nod.

"I had hoped that was all a nightmare." Somber muttered, plucking at the hem of his rumpled shirt as he sat at Discord's kitchen table, which was also strewn with paperwork and printouts. He watched the steam rising from the coffee cup as he wrapped his hands around it, before finally taking a drink.

"That makes two of us. This was not my intention when I came here, but I made a mistake." Discord sighed.

--Understatement of the damn century!-- Somber bit back a venomous response, insetad asking "How so?"

"The source I used to power my trip here...turns out there was more to it then meets the eye. It housed some dangerous things. I got the impression it was a prison."

"What does that sword have to do with it?" Sombra asked. He sounded remarkably calm to his ears, especially given how angry he felt inside. But there were just TOO many strange things that reminded him of the battle of the bands incident for him to just ignore it. As angry as he was, he wanted every bit of information he could get. Then he'd have grounds to throttle this idiot.

"I think its a remnant of hope, the one thing that may be on our- my side in all this." Discord said.

"What does that thing want?"

"I don't know. Energy, whatever comes close to magic in this world? I have no idea...but I think that hope is the key."

Somber fell silent as Discord trailed off, running something through his head. Discord's story had an unsettling parallel to one he'd studied in his career.

"Pandora's box.." Somber murmured at last.

"What’s that?" Discord asked.

"An ancient legend from a long time ago. the story goes that a girl named Pandora was was given a large pithos, a type of giant jar, containing all the evils of mankind. She opened the box, unleashing death, greed, everything onto mankind. She tried in vain to shut the box, by which point only one thing was left inside. Elpis, HOPE."

"My my.." Discord stared at him in astonishment, seeing how Somber's eyes lit up when he talked about his chosen subject.. "that's quite a story."

Somber shrugged "Its very old. Nowadays its sued to refer to how a small action can sometimes have far-reaching consequences..."

"Hit the nail on the head there." Discord sighed. Somber looked up from staring at the empty coffee mug in front of him, all enthusiasm gone now.

"How long ago did you arrive here?" he asked.

Discord thought back, giving him a rough estimate. He couldnt really recall to be honest...

"I see.." Somber sighed "that’s when the headaches started."

“Headaches?" Discord queried.

"In a manner of speaking," Somber frowned irritably "I began having nightmares, sleeping badly. I thought it just a product of stress, until I seen that damaged door. Something felt off, similar to those dreams. Similar to those girls and their singing."

"That must have been when "hope" found you."

Somber glanced at the sword "it should be named Elpis, after what it represents." he said after a heavy pause.

Discord studied him carefully, then spoke "you believe me?"

Sombra glared over the table at him "Not as much as you'd like. But I know what I saw, what I felt. Fever dreams don't shatter your bones, that thing did. That thing, I’m sure its what rushed that girl."

"I don’t doubt you’re right," Discord sighed "at any rate, I suggest you keep Elpis with you..."

"I repeat yesterdays statement, you're nuts." Somber snapped "I can't keep a sword in my car!"

He reached for it, with intentions of shoving it back towards the madman that’d handed it off to him in the first place. But when he touched it, it shone brightly, before shrinking to a smaller size. When the light faded, a miniature version hung from a chain.

"Guess that solves that problem." Discord chuckled. Somber looked a bit queasy.

"Ah, yes, I was mulling it over last night," Discord added "I think that thing used a lot of your bodies energy to start with, converting it to magic. Hence why you’re feeling dizzy. I dare say it’ll adjust."

Discord trailed off as Sombra got up from the table, looking tired and upset.

"Yes, well." Somber sighed, shaking his head at the necklace and turning his back to it "I have papers to grade, a life to attend to. I don't need this nonsense or whatever you're planning!"

"Here," Discord unlooked his phones screen "let me-"

Sombra glanced over his shoulder"I left my phone at the school. That was why I was there, I came back in hopes of fetching it. Not to get pounced on by that thing."

"Ah.."

Somber sighed, before dictating his number to Discord. He reasoned if this got out of hand, all he'd have to do was wait for this nutjob to call him then hand the number to the police, problem solved.

"Got it." Discord smiled as he hit the save button. Somber sighed irritably again, and headed towards the door. Then he stopped. Despite his anger and confusion over the incident, Discord HAD saved him from enduring a broken collarbone for weeks. He hated to seem ungrateful, even if this was total insanity.

"Thank you. For patching up the broken bone. I'll see you at the school." his voice sounded clipped and short, as if he was holding back what was really on his mind.

Discord just nodded, and watched from the front doorway as Somber got into his car, sat there a moment, then put the thing into gear and drove away.

--He's very secluded, yet very intelligent....-- Discord thought. There was something intriguing about Somber, the impression there was a lot more to him beneath the surface.

But he had to put that thought on hold as he went back to trying to figure out a way to stop that thing that’d attacked them. The chances he could count on Somber's help a second time were slim.

Sombra collapsed into bed that night, mind utterly frazzled by the days events.

A sword, why in sanity's name did that madman think Somber was going to walk around town carrying a deadly weapon at every opportunity?

The thought did occur he should just call the cops and be done with it.

As the thought he could put an end to these shenanigans popped into his head, he was lying in bed on his back, holding the cell phone above him in one hand. Its luminous screen highlighted his face in the darkness of his bedroom. But even as his thumb hovered over the dial key, the three digits for the emergency service waiting patiently, something told him NO.

He ran the other hand over the formerly broken collarbone, which now bore only a large bruise. It hurt a smidgen to the touch, but compared to how agonizing it'd felt when it had been broken, it was nothing. Somehow Discord had healed what would’ve had his arm in a sling for weeks, in a matter of minutes.

Had Discord wanted to trap or kill him, Somber realised, he could've easily overpowered him while he was fixing the injury. Referring to him as a danger felt incorrect. Mad as a box of frogs, maybe, but not dangerous. There was something very odd going on here.

With a frustrated sigh he erased the number, locking the phone. Why didn’t he want to just end this nonsense and get that fruit-loop locked away?

"Because I know what I saw.." he murmured softly into the darkness "and that makes me as crazy as Discord."

Rolling onto his side he looked at a photograph on his bedside table. It was taken with friends at the faculty when he worked at his last school. But after THAT woman had taken over, things had become unbearable.

After that, he'd vowed to keep people at arms length, to avoid being betrayed again.

But that fruit-loop teacher, Discord. He seemed to have no regard for personal space, just happily charging in and saying to hell with the consequences!

Yet, that fight was the first time Somber had really felt his heart race like that. He'd settled into a dull routine, slowly becoming bored. Becoming indifferent to the other teachers and his job.

At last he fell asleep, a confusing rush of images serving as dreams.

The next day, Sunday, he threw himself into grading the paper,s and trying to block out the whole incident. He could almost pretend he'd just gotten drunk and hallucinated it all.

But that night as well, all he seen were images he couldn't decipher, but sent shivers up his spine nonetheless.

Thanks to those nightmares, he felt pretty tired when he got up the next morning, head aching. but he hurriedly ate breakfasts and scrambled out the door.

He got in to Canterlot high just as the doors were being unlocked, giving him time to run to the office and grab his phone. He saw it had a missed call from Discord, and figured he'd see him face to face later.

On his way to his classroom, he ran into Principal Celestia.

"Ah, Professor Somber, good to see you!" She smiled.

"Good morning Principal Celestia," he said politely "how are you?"

"Up to my eyeballs in paperwork, we had another break in Friday night!"

"Another?" Guilt raged against Somber's façade as he kept a concerned look on his face.

"Yes, a few display cases broken, two more doors busted open. Yet nothing stolen. the police are baffled, but with the power outage last night, the cameras caught nothing..."

"That’s a pity," Somber lied "I’d like to see the cretin behind this defilement caught in the act!"

"So would I," Celestia said wearily "have a good day, Somber!"

Sombra returned the sentiment, then walked teh rest of the way to his classroom in silence.

"H-hello professor!" He seen one of his students had shown up early. It was the shy one, the same one that'd had her wrist hurt by that shadow.

"Ah miss Fluttershy, is it any better?" he nodded at the bandage. She smiled lightly.

"Oh, yes! It doesn’t hurt too badly...."

"Hey flutters!" the loud and bouncy Rainbow Dash charged up, clapping her friend on the shoulder "you all good?"

Fluttershy nodded silently.

Soon all the students arrived and class began with the usual hubbub of finding seats, passing out papers, the same routine as ever...

Sombra had set them a test to do and was sitting at his desk, glowering at sheets of paper trying to concentrate, when he felt a shiver run up his spine. He got up and walked to the window closest to him, unease churning in his stomach.

But nothing looked out of place. Outside it was a beautiful day, with a few scattered clouds here and there. So what was bugging him?

He shook his head, chiding himself for buying into Discord's nonsense. While it was true he'd studied myths and superstitions, he put his belief in logic, more intent on debunking the origins of these things.

Then his eye caught a flash of movement, something was zooming in-between the trees bordering the grounds. His heart tensed, one hand coming to rest over his chest, where it felt like his heart was pacing so fast it hurt. It brought with it a horrible sensation of something watching him....

Then it was gone as fast as it'd appeared. He faltered, wondering if he had seen something, imagined the chest pain. Settling for that, he turned to go back to his desk.

CRK. He turned, a bad feeling launching in his stomach-

-As the windows all blew in at the same time. Thanks to the placement of a row of locked cupboards underneath, the desks were further back. But the students were still sprayed with a rain of glass.

Somber seen glittering shards jetting towards him and did his best to protect himself, but he wasn't fast enough. A shard whizzed past his cheek, cutting into it, and he felt a few more stinging pains in his hands as well. He stumbled back, and his left leg buckled and slammed him into the floor. Screams were echoing throughout the room.

Somber's ears were ringing, but he forced himself to his feet, bellowing for them all to evac. He crouched by the window, then cautiously poked his head up over it. But there was no sign of what'd done this.

Then, he once more found his heart speeding up, a tingling racing over his skin, making him gasp softly. Whatever was out there was toyign with him. Then the feeling vanished, and he felt as if the one responsible had left.

The image of the shadow monster in the empty hall shot through his head, and his heart sank.

--This is getting crazy, that thing could've killed my students!!-- fury bubbled up, and he resolved to get every last detail out of Discord about this "Magic". And that sword he'd used prior.

"SOMBER!" He heard a voice call his name. He spun, seeing Cherilee in the doorway, the security guard, Mr. Lightshield, behind her "are you alright?"

"I'm fine Miss Cherilee," Sombra assured her as he walked over to the door "I think whoever did this is gone."

"The police and ambulance are on their way," Lightshield added, "are you OK sir?"

"I'm fine." Somber said, but in reality he felt liked he'd just run a marathon. Every nerve ending was on edge, making him feel antsy. His students lined the hall, all looking freaked out.

"What the heck WAS that, Teach?" A blonde girl asked, wide green eyes fixed on Somber.

"I don't know," Somber answered truthfully "but I’m sure the one responsible will be found once the police investigate."

This calmed many of them down, but he could see they were still jittery.

Cherilee stared at the cut on Somber's face, very concerned at how much it was bleeding. She pulled out a fresh handkerchief and pressed it to the cut. Sombra hissed in pain, but kept the cloth pressed to the wound as advised.

There were a series of smaller cuts all over his hands, but they were only light scrapes compared to that one.

From there it was a case of the police asking him what’d happened, then CELESTIA asking him what happened followed by sending him home. Thank goodness he only had classes for the morning.

He was relieved to discover the students weren’t severely hurt. Shocked and badly shaken, but nobody had sustained serious injuries. Small cuts and scrapes were the worst outcome.

As he walked past the canteen where the students were being checked, he seen Rainbow Dash was already back to her boisterous self, guarding her shy friend, who’d been far more frightened by the incident.

The girl with curled purple hair was grumbling about her dress having tears in it, and the bouncy pink haired one was trying to cheer them all up with balloons.

After packing up his briefcase, he checked the timetables and realised Discord wasn’t in today. He decided there and then to go see him.

As he got into his car, he insisted to himself he was fine, the paramedics had bandaged up the smaller cuts and the one on his cheek. He wasn’t in shock, he'd be alright to drive. His injuries hadn’t been deemed necessary of a trip to the hospital, thank goodness.

He drove like a bat out of hell to Discord's, parking the car skew-whiff in the driveway as he raced up to the door, hammering on it urgently.

"Alright alright, you know I’m probably not buying what your sell-oh, Somber! Well this is a surprise!" He smiled widely, looking pleased to see the man.

"Trust me," Somber said, staring at Discord without even the slightest sign of amusement on his face "You’ll buy what I’m about to tell you!"

Seeing the state the man was in, Discord nodded, his mood suddenly turning much more urgent at the expression on Somber's face. This was the guy that'd stormed out declaring he wanted nothing more to do with Discord, yet now here he was.

To cause such a turnabout, something major had to have happened.

And the cuts on his face and hands, where'd those come from?

After ditching his briefcase in the entryway, Somber followed Discord to the kitchen, too on edge to sit still on the couch as he described the incident.

"It attacked my CLASS Discord!" he cried, anger and concern mixing together as he finished his story "targeting me!"

"I see..." Discord frowned as he went rummaging for teacups. It'd attacked Somber's class? Or had it been gunning for Somber himself and the rest was just collateral?

"Whatever you know about this magic thing, I want to know it all, and NOW." He heard the strength in Somber's voice, along with a loud THUD as Somber slammed a hand onto the kitchen table next to him.

He straightened up, turning to face Somber. The history teacher stood there, both hands clenched tightly into fists at his side, looking strung out.

"Somber-" He attempted to placate him somewhat, but Somber's rigid posture didn’t change as he stared bluntly at Discord.

"No more games, whatever you brought here is trying to kill me, and I’m not having it!" Somber shook his head, voice bordering on a yell. He was flushed slightly from the adrenaline spike of the morning.

"You’re out of your mind, and I cant believe I’m buying this. But after today, after what I seen, I have no choice. So anything that can show me how to rip that thing apart, I need to know and fast!"

Discord was stunned by the ferocity in Somber's voice, but underneath was a passion that rather suited the man. Until now, it had seemed to him as if Somber had been hiding behind a façade of calm and emotional neutrality. This outburst was a surprise, but it made him smile a little as well.

He waited to ensure Somber's rant was finished then walked over to him, resting a calming hand on his shoulder, looking at the stressed professor. "Then that's what we'll do," he said honestly "but in the meantime you need to sit down and relax. You've had a very chaotic morning."

Somber studied Discord's expression, and decided this was as genuine as he'd ever seen from the guy. Given he'd barely known him long, that didn’t tell him much, but he didn’t have many options right now.

So he nodded at last, some of the anger and tension fading from his body language.

This close, Discord could see the exhaustion in his deep red eyes, see the bags under them.

"Did you sleep the last couple of nights?" he asked, frowning.

"Not well, I had nightmares." Somber shivered, the only source of warmth coming from the hand resting on his shoulder.

Discord nodded, reaching into his left pocket he withdrew the sword necklace, and pressed it into Somber's hand without a word. Somber's fingers curled around it, and Discord was sure he seen it glow slightly.

"Go, sit" Discord said after a pause, nodding at the door "See if you can get that cable box to work if you want, I cant figure the blasted thing."

As Somber silently drifted out of the room, Discord added "I’ll make some lunch..."

Somber flicked through channels, having sorted out the problem with the box. Somehow Discord had muddled up the settings and locked half the channels. He came across a documentary about egypt, and settled into the familiarity of the subject matter.

"Ooh, intellectual.." Discord chuckled as he swanned in hefting a big tray "I couldn’t be arsed to clean the kitchen table, so couch lunch it is!"

Somber snorted at Discord's carefree attitude "you’ll have to clean it eventually, you know that right?" he said sardonically.

"Yes, but I prefer to wait until I run out of usable things, its more fun that way!" was the response as Discord set the tray down on the big glass table "ta-da!"

He'd cooked a whole bunch of things, from pizza to some unusal looking pasta dishes.

"How-? So fast..." Somber blinked.

"Magic! Don't tell anyone.." Discord teased. Somber rolled his eyes but accepted it with a nod. "Oh and...hope you don't mind I’m not a meat fan?"

"Why would I?" Sombra gave him a confused look, but Discord just grinned. Given he'd come from a world full of ponies, he'd decided on landing in this world, to eschew the "meat" products. Doubly so after reading an article about a scandal...

Seconds after the first bite, Somber realised he was starving. And the food was good.

"Mm.." Discord looked over at Somber as the other made an intrigued noise. He'd just tried the pasta, and seemed to like it.

"Found that recipe just yesterday!" Discord explained "this world has so much interesting food in it! Just delectable~!"

"It's uh...it's delicious." Somber noted, before having some more.

"Do you cook?" Discord asked curiously

Somber gave a snort, "Pfft, nope. I’m more likely to set the oven on fire somehow! It's junk food or ready meals as far as I’m concerned."

"That cant be healthy," Discord mused, as Somber leaned forward to set the plate on the table. As he did, Discord poked his side "no wonder you’re so lanky-"

When he poked Somber, the professor let out a yelp, and nearly fell face first off the couch he jumped so high. Discord snapped out an arm and easily caught him, pulling him upright.

"Goodness your jumpy aren't you?" he chuckled. Somber tried to smack him over the head but Discord ducked back and out of reach by sheer luck, and Somber lost balance and crashed into him.

"Hmm?" Discord noticed shards of glass were tangled in the teachers ponytail "you been home since the incident?"

"No!" Somber went red and sat himself up hurriedly, hating to lose his composure "I wanted to get this nonsense on the track to being sorted asap. Sitting at home would do no good."

"You have glass in your hair." Discord pointed out.

Somber frowned, running a hand through it. Sure enough, small s[pecks caught the light as he did.

He swore, that’d been a dumb move.

"Eh, doesn’t matter, I’ve spilled sharper things on here, try locating a scalpel." Discord chuckled as Somber immediately went stiff as a board and looked worriedly down at the couch.

"Don’t worry, I found it." Discord dead-panned, receiving a glower.

It was amusing to see Somber pull such expressions, it made a nice change to the near constant frown Discord seen him bearing.

He told Somber he was free to take a bath or shower while he worked out some manner of spell to try and take that shadow down.

"I'd suggest we go back tonight," he stressed "if it's coming after you so rapidly, we cant waste time. You may as well wait around here."

Sombra nodded, but he didn’t look too thrilled at the prospect. Great, more time for Discord to pester him.

"Before you clear off, let me check that injury from last night. It should be almost fully healed, the trace amounts of magic shouldn’t even allow it to stay bruised for long." Discord was pretty sure his spell was solid, but it didn't hurt his research to check on the formerly fractured bone. Since Somber was here, he figured he may as well...

"I didn’t even notice it this morning." Sombra mused as he unbuttoned the slightly torn shirt. he sighed, realising he'd need to buy new clothes soon.

--Must be nice being this rich...-- he thought irritably. That made him wonder how Discord had gotten so much money since he'd (supposedly) shown up in this world only a short while ago?

Unable to sit on his curiosity, he blurted the question out as Discord studied the rapidly-fading bruising.

"Hm? Oh, your "lottery" system. Took me awhile!" Discord answered smoothly, "I'd have been pretty stuck had I not used that method."

"I see." Somber muttered, gaze going distant. He wished he had this sort of money, although if he knew himself, he'd get bored without a job of some kind. Shame all the money in the world couldn’t-

-Fingers brushing lightly across his collarbone dragged his attention back to what was going on. With his mind elsewhere, the contact had sent a sharp shock up his spine, which always unnerved him.

"Well, Monsieur fidget-bottom, good news is its almost healed fully." Discord laughed when Somber glowered at him, pulling his shirt collar closed defensively. The way his face reddened was a bit of a give away that he'd been caught off guard.

Really, he looked kind of cute all flustered like that...

This thought surprised Discord. He'd drifted away from human relations once he'd moved to Canterlot, completely forgetting about it until now. Especially with the recent developments regarding the shadow.

--No denying, he's pretty handsome in this universe...-- he admitted. But what caught his attention was the increasing similarities, yet coupled with subtle differences, compared to the unicorn king. Somber was, in a way, like a mirror reflection. Similar, yet different. He wasn’t crazy here, but he was no pushover either.

"What's-? You in there?" Somber waved a hand in front of Discord's face.

"What? Oh, excuse me. Lights were on but I was locked in the bathroom. I was just thinking about the sword chain.." Discord nodded at the necklace Somber now wore. the silver chain highlighting his skin.

"That reminds me..." Somber said uncomfortably "when I thought I sensed that thing, I…"

He trailed off, trying to put it into words.

"You what-? Didn’t feel well? Got a headache? Threw up?" Discord guessed.

"No, it felt more like a very irregular, very fats heartbeat.." as his gaze went distant, one of Somber's hands came to rest over his heart. The motion nudged his collar askew, as it remained unbuttoned after the check-up. This also nudged the necklace, making the silver ornament reflect small shards of light "that and it felt like static electricity all over my skin..?"

He shivered, "it felt distinctly unpleasant. as if that thing knew me, and was watching me." his eyes focused on Discord "going by your face, you know what that means?"

--I hope you wont do your shirt back up?-- was Discord's first thought, but he dismissed that to seriously analyse what Somber was saying. NOW was not the time to let his mind wander...

"Seems to me that perhaps via your connection to Elpis, or maybe you have a natural predilection for magic a sit were, you can pick up on that thing. Maybe it was pushing its power so it KNEW you’d feel it. Given it attacked when you were close by the window, id go for that option."

"Great.." Somber's hand dropped to his lap, and he sighed.

"Still, that’s interesting..." Discord stroked his chin, looking deep in thought "I have simulations to run!"

And thus Somber found himself shooed upstairs, told where to locate the shower and everything else, then Discord whooshed off to his lab.

--He's like a mad scientist from a cheesy movie..-- Somber thought privately.

He attempted to puzzle out why his anger wasn’t holding strong in the face of all this. Perhaps fear of what was trying to kill him was more of a priority now?

This was beyond something he could dismiss, the broken bone and then the windows exploding, whatever this WAS, it was very real.

The shower went a long way towards calming his nerves, but the whole situation surrounding the sword still gnawed at a corner of his mind.

--Why did that thing...Elpis...go for me? Surely there's somebody better. I'm not a hero, I'm...just a history teacher!!--

But he realised that fight HAD felt like his life was more than just a humdrum existence. There were two different sides, one craving the adrenaline of the recent events, the other merely wanting to return to his closed off existence. And the thought that’d in Discord's world, he'd been a KING, a powerful magic user. Okay, he'd gone crazy, but it still sounded astounding.

With a tired sigh he got out of the shower, redressing and drying his hair as best he could. He was in the process of tying his hair up when the elastic band decided to break. With an annoyed huff, he threw it in the bin and headed downstairs.

"A-ha!" Discord lifted his goggles and squinted at the small glowing shard of stone he'd been working on.

"You figure something out?" a calm, serious voice drifted in. Discord looked up, and nearly did a double take when he seen Somber hadn’t tied his hair back. Free from its neat confines, the ebony black hair actually had a slight curl to it that was once again reminiscent of the Sombra from HIS world.

It made him look totally different.

"Why do you not wear it like that?" Discord blurted nosily. Sombra blinked, before realising he was talking about his hair.

"It gets in the way...." he lied.

--Then why grow it at all?-- Discord got the feeling there was something else behind Somber's edgy nature, but decided not to push it.

"What is that?" Somber came to stand by him, peering critically at the stone. This close, his hair brushed close enough for Discord to smell the shampoo. This fresh from the shower, he could feel the heat from his skin...

Seeing Somber waiting for an answer he cleared his throat and nodded at the thing in question.

"Its not as efficient as the gems back in my former world, but I can use cheap stones to hold a small magical charge. This ones designed like your "flash grenades". Should be enough to throw that thing off. Sadly, too many laws and police preventing me from using ACTUAL grenades casings."

Somber nodded, impressed. It was a curious thing, seeing this "magic" existing in a world ruled by science.

Discord stepped back to allow Somber to to get a closer look.

"Is it safe?" he asked.

"Yep," Discord nodded "its only designed to detonate when I unleash the spell. Much like the grenades they're based off, it takes a second or two to go off! It wont hurt you, how else would I set them off if I couldn’t hold them?"

As he rambled, Somber reached out to lightly tap the stone. The next second he let out a loud yelp, and scooted back so fast he bumped right into Discord. The quick-thinking ex-draconequus grabbed Somber's shoulders, stopping him from knocking them both over.

"I thought you said it was harmless?" Somber turned his head to glower at Discord, as he did his long black hair brushed Discord's face, and he had more thoughts the Professor would likely smack him for.

"It is!" Discord objected, "Did it burn you?" He grabbed the hand Somber had poked the crystal with, turning it palm up so he could get a look. this meant he was just an excuse away from hugging the startled Somber, who was giving the crystal death glares.

"Nope, your fine! Probably just a shock because you’re not used to magic.." he let Somber go, who wobbled a moment before getting his balance.

"If they blow up that damn THING, I can live with the shocks." Somber muttered. He avoided looking at Discord, instead staring intently at the contents of the table, arms folded across his chest. He was aware his face was flushed. He always got funny around physical contact. Discord had seemed amused by how over-sensitive Somber was earlier, but if he only knew the truth.

--Maybe if you weren’t so averse to letting anybody get within three feet of you?-- a common sense part of his mind piped up --you’ve been this way ever since you left- --

He cut that thought off with a shake of the head.

"I’m going to make a small batch of these. I suggest you get some rest or something, we need to go back tonight." Discord said seriously, studying Somber's morose expression. He wondered if he'd made him uncomfortable just then? Although surely, given Somber's temper, he would've simply elbowed Discord in the gut or something. Seemed more his style, really.

Somber sighed, nodding.

"Cant believe I got caught up in this.." he sighed as he walked out of the room.

"Sorry about that..." Discord muttered to the empty room.

For the first time he began to consider just how much danger he'd put himself and now Somber in by coming here. Before he'd showed up, Somber's life had no doubt been routine, just teaching and studying maybe. Now, he was getting dragged into a fight he didn't want any part of, but that was determined to get him regardless of how he felt.

When he broke away from his work, he went looking for Somber. And had to suppress a laugh when he found the exhausted teacher curled up on the couch, the TV blaring away.

Feeling somewhat shameless, as if he did this while Somber was awake he'd likely get punched, he took a moment to study the sleeping Somber. Then he put a blanket on him, and set about putting together what he needed to catch the mad THING that'd attacked them. It seemed to be sticking to the school, so that was where they were going to start!

Author's Notes:

Right now i have a fever, but i wanted to get this all done.