White mists stretched around Alex as far as she could see - which wasn't far, since the mists were also fairly thick. Above her, the sky was utterly black, without stars, moon, or even clouds that she could see. Below, the mists hid whatever surface she was standing on.

Okay, what kind of dream is this? There was no sign of Justin to be seen. Alex tried walking, then running, but she couldn't even be sure she was really moving - there was nothing in the world but the blackness above and the endless white mist. "This is getting me nowhere," she said, stopping and shaking her head. After a moment's thought, she lifted both hands and cupped them around her mouth, then shouted, "JUSTIN!"

A second passed, then another. With no reply coming, she turned around, tried the opposite direction. "JUSTIN! IT'S ALEX!" She waited again, then frowned and chewed at her bottom lip. All right. Maybe this wasn't the good idea I thought it was. So...

"Alex?" The voice was weak, distant-sounding, but unmistakably Justin's.

"Justin! I'm here!" she called back, jumping up and down and waving her arms, hoping maybe he could see her, even if she couldn't see him.

"Where?" the voice came back, and it sounded this time like it was coming from Alex's left. She turned that way and began walking quickly.

"Over here! You come toward me, and we'll keep talking! Maybe we can find each other that way!"

"Okay," he called back. "But what are we going to talk about?"

His voice seemed to be a bit to the right now, and she turned just a hair, kept walking. "Well, I don't know about you, but the first thing I want to say is I love you, and I'm sorry I was mad at you before!"

"It's okay - I love you too," he called back, then paused long enough that Alex was opening her mouth to say something when he spoke again. "Where are we anyway?"

"You tell me," she called back.

"I don't know!" he called, then "The last thing I remember is..."

Then suddenly the mists were gone, and Alex was standing on a corner in the city. It took her a moment to realize just where she was, and then it snapped into place - West 125th and St. Nicholas, standing by the entrance to the 125th street subway station. Across the way was Presidential Pizza, where they'd gone for dinner a few weeks ago... but where was Justin?

She looked around, then spotted him coming out of Gem Pawnbrokers across the street. Alex frowned for a moment, wondering what he was doing in there, then looked at the lights, wanting to get over to him. The light turned yellow, then red, and she looked back to Justin, saw him stepping into the crosswalk as the walk sign came on... and then there was a screeching of tires, and Alex's hand flew up to her mouth as a blue sedan that was trying to run the light hit Justin. He rolled over the hood of the car and hit the traffic light post as he went down. Alex was already running toward him before he hit the ground, calling out his name...

And then she was on a horse, riding through a forest at breakneck speed. Justin was beside her, astride another horse, holding his body low. She realized she was too, turned toward him to ask why, then shut her mouth and leaned down farther as a black-shafted arrow whizzed between them, shot from somewhere behind them.

Instead, she leaned down more and gripped the reins tightly. The long sleeves of her white dress lashed against her in the wind of the horse's run, and she glanced over at Justin and found herself suddenly jealous of his much more practical-looking trousers, blue shirt, brown vest, and leather... whatever those things on his forearms were.

What is this? Some Dungeons & Gargoyles thing? she wondered, then stopped thinking and just hung on for dear life as the trail turned and the horses turned with it. Another arrow whined past as they did, this one close enough that it seemed she could reach out and grab it... and then Alex turned her head to look toward Justin again as his horse slowed, then stopped. She sat up on hers and pulled back the reins, saying, "Whoa... whoa... that's a good horse, yeah..."

It seemed to work, and she stopped too, a good twenty feet past where Justin had. Her horse turned a little, and she looked at Justin again, blinked in surprise as she saw that he was holding a large, silvery sword. He turned to her and gestured her away, hissing out, "Kahlan! Keep riding - if they don't hear a horse running ahead, they'll suspect an ambush!"

Kahlan? I guess that's me... Not knowing who Justin was here, she simply nodded, then shook the reins of her horse and dug her heels into its sides. "Giddy up!" she called, and the horse started forward again, down the trail, moving at a trot. Alex shook the reins again and dug her heels in more, and the horse increased its pace. Huh. I guess I did learn something from all those horse books Mom kept getting me when I was twelve.

She turned her head to look behind, in time to see the first of the following riders turn the corner and run right into the swing of Justin's sword. The rider came off his horse with a cry, and another horse and rider came around the corner right after them. It looked as if Justin was going to be run over, but he leapt forward, went down into a roll, and came back up as the rider was trying to stop his horse and bring up his crossbow. He weaved to the left as the rider fired, and Alex gasped in the midst of turning her horse back toward the fight as the bolt grazed Justin's right shoulder. Then he was to the rider, thrusting his sword up and into the man, then drawing it back swiftly, stepping backward with the motion.

Justin looked toward Alex and grinned, and she gasped as she saw a third rider come around the bend, his own sword out and held low, ready to strike Justin. Without even thinking about what she was doing, Alex pulled up the skirt of her white dress, pulled a dagger, and threw it at the rider. Seeing that, Justin dived to the side and rolled sideways, even as he dagger tumbled through the air to lodge in the throat of the third rider, who clutched at it for a fraction of a second before he went limp and fell from his horse.

Alex pulled up short at Justin and jumped off her horse, ran over to where he was already starting to sit up. "What the hell were you doing?" she asked him, grabbing his arm and helping pull him to his feet. "You could've gotten yourself killed! We would have outrun them!"

"No," Justin said, shaking his head. "We've been riding all day - their horses were fresh. We would've lost our lead quickly."

Looking at Justin, grinning there, his face sweaty and dirty from the dust kicked up by the horses, Alex opened her mouth to continue arguing, then suddenly pulled Justin against herself and kissed him hard, grinning a little into it as he made a surprised noise. After a moment, his hands moved onto her back, and she slid hers under his arms, clutching him tightly as they played with each others' lips and tongues. Suddenly uncaring of the fact that they were standing in the middle of a dirt trail, she reached down for Justin's belt and began to tug at it, trying to get the buckle loose.

Justin pulled his face up away from hers, but Alex simply shifted her kisses to his neck as his belt unbuckled. She slid a hand down into his pants, cupped him with it, and Justin moaned out, "Kahlan - no - you know we can't -"

"The hell I can't," Alex said, using her other hand to start pushing down his pants, stretching up as she did to try to kiss him again.

He pulled away, saying, "I'm sorry" - and everything changed again. Alex was in a surging throng of people, packed tightly into a space lit dimly by moving blue and purple spotlights that pulsed in time to the pounding music. Up on a stage, Tears of Blood was playing, the lead singer spitting the lyrics into his microphone as he strode across the stage, pointing out into the crowd - all of whom were wearing masks. Alex turned, looking up toward the balcony, where she and Justin had been when they'd gone to the ToB concert. The people there were in masks as well, the ones at the front reaching their hands out toward the stage, fists pumping in time with the music.

If I could die in your arms tonight

Would that make everything all right

She stared up at the people there, and then her eyes found him - the one person who wasn't wearing a mask, there at the edge of the balcony, his mouth moving as he sung out the lyrics as well.

If I could kill all your fears tonight

Would I be a hero in your sight

Alex looked around for a way up, started to push through the crowd, but there were too many of them, too close together, and she didn't know where she was going anyway. Wait… can I do magic here too? Let's see…

She closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, she was on the balcony, standing next to Justin, and she smiled for a moment, just watching him as the song went on.

Lies lies lies

Tell me the truth

Do you want me here

Will you shed another tear

If I died in your arms tonight

Would that bring the truth to light

Alex reached for Justin, trying to put her arm through his, but someone else pushed forward then, up to the balcony, pushing between them. "Justin!" she called out, and he didn't seem to hear - but everyone else around them turned to look at her, all the masks, and a sudden chill ran through Alex as she realized that there were no eyes under the masks, just black spaces where the eyes should be.

They all started moving toward her, hands reaching for her, and Alex turned to run, even as Justin finally noticed her and turned as well, his hand reaching out toward her. She screamed his name again, and then she was falling, the balcony suddenly gone, the concert gone, but the music still playing.

Or is just more

Lies lies lies

Only time you tell the truth

Is when I'm in your

thighs thighs thighs

Alex didn't land so much as she was suddenly simply standing. She ducked her head and held up a hand as a howling wind tore at her hair and dress, blasting with a furnace's heat. After a moment, she let one eye open to a slit, then the other, peering through her lashes. She was standing atop a glassy smooth plain, marbled in black and grey, where mirrors stood everywhere, jutting from the ground at angles, as if they were some sort of crystalline growth.

She moved into the lee of the nearest one, out of the wind, then stared in surprise at herself, reflected in the mirror's surface. It was her, unmistakably, and she was still in a white dress - but a different one now, with puffed sleeves that left her shoulders bare, a beaded and jeweled bodice, and a bell-shaped floor-length skirt. Pearl beads were worked into her hair, and a silvery-white feather hung down on one side.

But it wasn't the dress that caught her attention, so much as herself. The Alex reflected back in the mirror had flawless skin, deep brown irises set in perfect whites, surrounded by long, lush dark lashes. Her lips were a deep rosy pink, soft and moistly inviting, and her hair had the kind of glossy sheen normally only seen in shampoo commercials.

Is this how Justin sees me? she wondered, even as her eyes scanned down across the rest of her reflection, noted that her bust was larger and waist narrower than in reality. The wind shifted then, and Alex had to turn away from the mirror to get it out of her eyes. Okay, forget what I look like. Where's Justin? She looked around, then called for him. "Justin! Where are you!"

"I'm right here," his voice replied, sounding like it was right behind her, and Alex whirled. Justin was standing a dozen yards away, leaning against one of the mirror-crystals, smiling at Alex. She blinked at his costume - black boots, tight white pants that clearly showed the bulge at his crotch, a v-necked black jacket over a ruffled white shirt. His hair was long and spiky, sticking out in all directions.

"Alex," he said, "what did you do?"

"Justin, you need to wake up! You were hit by a car, and you're in a coma, and I used a spell to go into your dreams. Please, you need to wake up!"

The wind shifted again, blowing even harder now, and Alex had to grab the edge of the mirror by her to keep from falling down. It didn't seem to affect Justin at all, though, and he shook his head, walked to Alex, brought up a black-gloved hand to cup her cheek. "Alex - you shouldn't have done that. A coma is a brain shutting down to let itself heal. It -"

A gust of wind tore at Alex, and she lost her grip on the mirror, started to fall. Justin's hand shot out and grabbed her wrist, and then he pulled her to himself, put his other arm around her, held onto her as the wind that still didn't touch him lashed at her hair and dress.

"You've got to get back out," he said. "If you're in my dreams and I -" He stopped, swallowed, then shook his head as tears welled up in Alex's eyes. "You've got to get out." The ground shook under the two of them, and Justin pulled Alex away from the mirror crystal as pieces of it fell, putting himself in the way.

"No! I'm not going to leave you again!" Alex shook her head quickly, ignoring her tears as they started to roll down her face. "I love you! Please, Justin, please… don't leave me!"

Justin smiled down at her even as his own eyes began to shine with tears, raised his hand to cup and caress the side of Alex's face. "I'll never leave you, Alex. Never. But you can't stay here right now."

She buried her face in Justin's shoulder, felt him kiss her temple gently, then heard him start to sing to her, softly.

How you turned my world, you precious thing

You starve and near exhaust me

Everything I've done, I've done for you.

The ground shook again, and Justin stopped, stroked her hair, then took Alex's head in both his hands, tilted it back. Grey-green eyes looked down into hers as he said, "It's time for you to go, Alex. I'm sorry." He paused, then spoke again. "For Alex's safety, she now must leave, to the real world she must now flee, but I promise, she will again with me be."

"No," she started, tightening her arms around Justin - and then she was in the hospital, standing beside his bed, looking down at Justin, gasping in shock as she watched him jerk and writhe on the narrow hospital bed. Alarms started to go off, and Alex looked around desperately, crying out, "Help! He's having a seizure!"


Author's Notes:

For those of you following along at home, in the second part of the dream, Alex and Justin are Kahlan and Richard from Legend of the Seeker. In the final part, they're Sarah and Jareth from Labyrinth. The song lines in the last part are from David Bowie's song "Within You" from the Labyrinth soundtrack. The lyrics at the Tears of Blood concert are mine. I imagine ToB as sounding a lot like the Violent Femmes.