*grins* Just when you thought I was going to keep writing the same old boring stuff…

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The being stood in the darkness, surrounded by it, caressed by it. She had dropped the illumination as the woman had left, feeling more at home in the murky environs than she ever did in the light. Rippling, she dropped her sister's seeming and stood with her own face, the Queen of Nightmares.

These mortals were so much fun to play with. Her sister enjoyed making their hopes and wishes come true. She just failed to recognize the true amusement potential of raising their hopes, then dashing them. It was entirely entertaining to watch their faces crumble as the extent of their folly was pointed out to them. This last one, with that artless little collapse to the floor had been especially nice.

It was always the tough ones who were the most fun to watch as they saw their hopes destroyed. The ones who felt they could handle anything; the ones who barely allowed themselves hope in the first place, it was absolutely divine to watch them fall. And this one… oh, it was nice. She hadn't allowed herself to hope for so long, and after her sister had helped out she still didn't surrender to hope easily. It was only lately that she had begun to think that her life might have actually changed. Pointing out that nothing ever changed was delicious. They always believed that particular lie.

Queen grinned. The confusion she sensed when the woman had found what her sister had done to her was too good an opportunity to pass up. She was already off balance; destroying her hope had been easy. Almost too easy. A small frown teased her lips. She wished that she could have tortured her a little longer, but the woman had somehow torn herself from her grasp. Her hand clenched and unclenched at her side. Toys weren't supposed to leave before she was done playing. It worried her slightly. The thing might not have been broken all the way… then she relaxed, smiling again. Her mind replayed the fall, the pained expression on her face, and the delicious feeling of the breaking heart. She would be just fine.

She replayed the sound of Kiley's scream, letting it join the chorus of others she collected. A symphony of pain and horror, terror and heartbreak, it was one of the ways she passed her time. Some might call her composition a cacophony, but they were just jealous that they didn't have such beautiful sounds to enjoy. She played with it, wondering where the sound of frustration would fit in the best.

She noticed a gradual lightening of her realm. Turning to her right, she watched her sister appear in a pool of light. She let her screams die down, disappear into the fabric of her realm.

"I wish you wouldn't bother my people," she said without preamble.

"Hello, sister dear. Slumming, again?"

"You know why I'm here. You said that you would leave my people alone, yet you persist in undoing my efforts."

"If you worked a little harder at things it might mot be so easy for me," she replied, playing with her nails.

"If I just give them their hearts desire they value it less. You have seen that."

"Yes, dear. But in making them work for their dreams you leave such glorious opportunities for me to have a little fun."

"At the expense of mine. You know I like to watch them be happy."

"You're a hopeless romantic, is what you are. If things are fated then your little pets will get together."

Dream Dancer sighed in frustration. "You know as well as I do that there is not such a thing as destiny."

Her sister peered up at her through her lashes, eyes glinting with humor. "But you try so hard to make it look like there is."

She huffed. "I just try to be thorough."

"Then next time be thorough enough to leave me fewer openings. This one was too easy. She was no fun."

"There won't be a next time. You promised to leave my people alone."

"Oh. That's right. Well, I promise, again."

Her sister sighed. "Why do you persist in undoing my efforts? Will you ever stop?"

Queen looked her sister in the eye. "It is more fun to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory than it is to take an already broken being and bring them lower. And I'll stop when you make me." She read her sister's expression and grinned. "And you're never going to make me. These mortals aren't important enough to get in a fight over. Go back to your little palace of light, or wherever you please. You destroy my darkness."

"I'll go, but I think you need to change your ways."

"Think all you want. Whenever you feel like doing something other than thinking I'll begin to worry."

Dream Dancer glared at her sister. Then she smiled. "I think you failed with this one."

"What? You didn't see her as she left. She was crushed. Destroyed."

She nodded. "You did a good job. On her. But you didn't count on the man."

"Him? He won't help her. He's heartless."

Her sister smiled, that secretive smile that the Queen of Nightmares hated so much. "What do you know? What aren't you telling me?"

Dream Dancer shook her head. "They live a long time, those plants. Your victory would have to have been much more complete to be final." She opened her portal again.

"What? What do you mean?"

She shot a grin over her shoulder. "I didn't pick Knives because he's a lonely man, as you suggested. I picked him because he's a stubborn man who won't let her get away."

"But… he doesn't know he wants her!"

"Yet. But that will change." She waved and passed into her realm.

The Queen of Nightmares replayed Kiley's scream, and this time she joined it. The echoes in her realm seemed to be laughing at her now. Damn her sister.

She was right.

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