Hindmost - Another Word for Chaos

5: Dearborn Mi.

Discord was shaken awake as they passed over an old railroad line, having fallen asleep somewhere between Oklahoma and Illinois. She scoffed, examining the rusty blue Gremlin, Linus laughably referred to as his car. It chugged and sputtered, but he swore it worked as well as the day he'd bought it. She also noticed Linus casting nervous glances her way as he tore down the road.

"Are we there yet?" she wondered.

"A few hours away," he told her, still giving her an awkward look.

"What?" she demanded.

"You know that was scary right!" he admitted, "You've been out for....ten hours now."

"So? I was tired."

"Who sleeps for ten hours in a fucking car?!" he demanded, "You know I checked to see if you were alive at one point."

"Yeah, I know what that's like," she muttered, then more seriously, "I'm just trying to conserve my strength okay."

"And you accomplish that through....narcolepsy?"

"And masturbation, it's all about body comfort, you know?"

"Hey, I'm being serious," Linus insisted, "Used to be you couldn't sleep for twenty minutes, let alone half the day, you actually used to say sleeping was a waste of time."

"People change man, it happens."

"Yeah, and if it's going to happen, and if we're going to be working together I need to be told if you're going to be slipping into a coma in the middle of battle."

"Okay, first of all," Discord glared at him, "You're working FOR me not with, and secondly it's none of your Gods damned business so let it go."

He was silent for a few seconds, but continued with the nervous glances. Finally he deflated, giving in to what he'd been wanting to ask all along.

"I saw what you did to the man in the hotel room," he insisted.

"Oh fuck," Discord cringed inwardly.

"You have your powers back," he noted.

"I always had them," she looked away intently, "I just didn't have the fuel to burn."

"How!?" he looked at her with shock, "What did you do?"

"Well I'm not dying if that's your question."

"Just tell me please."

"urmm..." Discord grumbled, then finally let out a sigh, "I have a disciple, okay?"

"WHAT?!" he almost laughed, "Who the Hell would want to work for you?"

"I....uh, I kinda tricked him into it."

"Of course you did?"

"Hey, shut up!" she snapped back, "I actually feel bad about this okay."

"Wait, seriously?"

"Yeah, fuck you too," she glared, "I didn't figure out... well not until a few weeks after."

He blinked at her for a few seconds.

"Well," he said after his pause, "I'm interested already, what'd you find out?"

"Gods live on prayer, they're powered by it, they get stronger from it, but when you have a disciple who doesn't pray to you, then you take the energy from somewhere else."

"Like where?" he wondered.

"Their...life force, their soul, whatever you want to call it, whether they give up the energy or not, it drains them."