Sparks of yellow and purple magic showered onto the floor under Nightmare's guidance. He was trying to gauge how much magic she had for her age. It wasn't a summoning lesson. It wasn't a lesson in her thrall. It was just just a general burst of magic from her hands. Formless. Harmless. Fable looked from her pretty sparks to Nightmare, smiling wide. "pwitty!" Nightmare rolled his eye, trying not to smile back. Her excitement was contagious, but he refused to give in. He wouldn't fall for her thrall. If it really was thrall. Nightmare gave a decisive nod. "you may stop now. i believe i have a good enough understanding of your magical capabilities. let us get into today's lesson with the spear, yes?" Of course, the original spear was much too big for the likes of her. He had to get a smaller one fashioned for her training. It was more of going through the stances than anything. He didn't trust a child not to kill someone with that spear. "angle it up a little more - yes, like that. there you go. wind carries and gravity will fight you, so you must make sure never to aim directly at your target or you will never hit. now, back to close combat position."

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Fable was tucked into Dream after a long day. She wasn't quite asleep yet. She was fighting it, but Dream knew it was only a matter of time. He told her a story Nightmare read to him long ago to help her along on her journey to slumberland. One about magic and fairies and dragons. One of the brave prince, trying to save the love of his life. Fable smiled sleepily as sleep pulled her down into its clutches, and Dream tucked her in comfortably. He followed not long after her to ensure good dreams for his little sister. They were both fast asleep when the hooded figure came in with a bone attack in hand. Ghosts of the deceased whispered in his ear, urging him to go against his bosses orders despite the warnings. The child had to die. She was too powerful, and learning to control that power would only end in disaster. Phantom's words, not his. Dust raised the attack above his head and plunged it down on the child's head, giggling like a mad man as he eagerly awaited his lv.

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But there was no child. There was no Dream. "a-an illusion?!" Dust froze in fear as the already dark room grew darker... and colder. Nightmare's cyan eye appeared from the shadows as his tendrils writhed at his back. Nightmare tisked, his voice echoing around Dust as Phantom screamed at him for daring to get caught. "you poor damned soul. normally, i would have your skull for this. replace you for a different dust. but i believe a few days in the dungeon will do. dust, count yourself lucky you didn't wake her." Nightmare pulled out of the Nightmare he'd placed Dust under, picking the limp skeleton up from off his prisoner's floor. Dream watched quietly, holding Fable close. "thank you, brother..." Dream had only woken to Dust landing heavily on the floor. If Nightmare hadn't used his magic on Dust... he didn't want to think about it. "i can't have dust ruining my plans." Nightmare replied nonchalantly as he left the room and locked the door behind him. Fable sighed sleepily and cuddled closer to Dream, having slept through all of it. That was probably for the best. "you're making an impact, fable... great job..." He praised softly as he tried to get comfortable in bed once more.