Lapdog

Scared Dog

Nightmare brought them directly to the infirmary. "Did any of you get himself hurt?", he asked.

The Trio shook their heads.

"Good. Now," he unceremoniously dropped Cross onto a cot, "he's all your's until tomorrow dawn. Do whatever you want with him, as long as i find him healdd up and physically complete in the isolation cell when the sun rises. After that, he's all mine. I have plans for him." A menacing grin spread across his face.

He turned around and left, leaving Cross as plaything for his gang for the next 18 hours.

Killer grinned like a maniac. "Thanks Boss. Yer the best," he called after the dark being.

They decided to take turns with Cross and after some rounds of rock-paper-scissors they had their sequence, with Killer as the first, then Dust and lastly Horror.

Eagerly, Killer cut Cross out of his clothes, he wouldn't need them anymore anyways.

Every prisoner, who was ever unfortunate to find themselves in Nightmare's dungeon, was only allowed to keep their pants for decency - Nightmare wasn't keen on seeing naked monsters whenever he went to the dungeon -, otherwise they weren't allowed any clothes, not even a blanket to sleep under.

After he got rid of Cross' coat and turtleneck shirt, Killer pulled Cross' pants off, and took a moment to admire the bare skeleton on the cot.

He glanced at Dust and Horror, before pulling down his own pants and going to work on making unconscious Cross summon.

For what followed, maybe it was for the better that Cross never gained consciousness before the Trio were done with him and had him healed and placed in the already prepared isolation cell.

They left him there like Nightmare obviously wanted them to and shut the heavy soundproof cell door.

Not even an hour later, Cross stirred.

And immediately regretted it.

His whole body was sore, everything hurt. He felt the cold from the hard stone floor seep into his bones.

When he tried to curl up to preserve body heat, he felt something around his wrists, holding his hands in place.

Slowly he blinked his Eye Sockets open, only to be greeted by absolute darkness. And silence, the only noises he could hear were his breathing and the quiet shuffling whenever he moved.

He tried to call out.

But he couldn't make any sound. His voice was gone.

No. Not his voice. The Magic used to make his voice work.

Now he became aware of the slightly heavy weight resting on his shoulders, winding around his neck.

A collar. A Magic dampening collar.

Suddenly everything came back to Cross. The fight, him fighting Killer and Dust on on his own because Dream was busy with Nightmare and Blue was chased by Horror through the trees. Killer pinning his hands with his knife and him and Dust pummeling him until everything went dark.

Nightmare had caught him, no doubt.

He was in one of Nightmare's isolation cells. "It's something, everyone has to do, Cross. It's a trust excercise as well as a reminder of why you shouldn't dare to anger me. If you make a mistake repeatedly, you spend a few days in a normal cell. If you speak against me without giving a plausible reason for it, you go into isolation, with random meals so you lose the track of time. Should you ever betray me... well, let's say you won't leave isolation with your mind intact. If you don't have any more questions, i'll see you in three days."

Oh, gods, he was in one of Nightmare's isolation cells after he betrayed him, he also knew what the thing around his neck could do.

Nightmare had explained to him, how he would practically gain control over the Magic of whoever he put the collar on. It couldn't be taken off, once put on, and it didn't just dampen its wearer's Magic to keep them from using it. Nightmare could control which and how much of the Magic would be suppressed.

Cross had seen Nightmare put this collar on some poor bastard and just suppressed their attack Magic, rendering them defenseless, before he would set them loose in the forest, which swarmed with hungry wolves. Unable to defend themself, the hapless victim was torn to pieces by the wild beasts.

Nightmare also showed him on another prisoner, how he could cancel out their voice Magic. During the following torture session they tried to scream, but couldn't make any sound. And in the end, Nightmare slowly suppressed more and more of the prisoner's Magic, even the kind that kept a monster alive. Cross was horrified as he was forced to watch the prisoner dust at a snails pace, only leaving the collar and their pants behind. And a pile of dust.

Cross gulped.

He was so dead.