…The girl blinked, and stretched sore muscles, gazing around bleary-eyed, trying to figure out where exactly she was…and why she was so cold… there was a strange droning noise in the background, and her frozen fingers clutched a smooth, black pen convulsively. Rubbing her eyes with her free hand, she peered at the large square of white before her. That looks familiar…wait! It has words on it… let's see what this says… 'root…structure…' hmmm 'nitrogen fixation…' what! NITROGEN FIXATION! Noooooooo! Not again But it was true, she was again trapped in the mindless world of biology, forced to listen to lectures about plants and animals, leaving her nothing to do but…write. Doodling on her bio notes, she thought back to the last time she was in this situation…so long ago… I wonder whatever happened to that story I was writing… I never did get to finish it… let's see what fairytales I haven't corrupted yet… And so it began… again… the gradual slide of the universe into total chaos. Older, wiser, (crazier), the Penguin would show the world exactly what she was made of (without being dissected, thank you very much)… Insanity shall rule once more!

Disclaimer: you know the drill… the only thing I own is my own tortured mind, and the plots that spin out of it, fueled by the tedium of biology class and life in general.

And now…the Saga continues…with the beginning of Dream Fever

Ganiel sat in his lonely, darkened hall in the Realm of the Gods, staring musingly at the glossy floor where he viewed mortals' dreams. At this specific moment in time, he was focused on the dissolving remnants of one mortal's dreams in particular…

…a hole opened up in the cloud beneath Kel. She shrieked and tumbled downwards. Dom grabbed her hand and tried to hold on to it as the clouds dissolved around him. Neal squealed and returned to his normal form at last. Kel's finger's slipped and Dom snatched her other hand just as he lost his hold on the first one…

The god smiled slightly, shifting in his inky robes. His gaze traveled to an orb which allowed him to see his subjects' waking moments as he wished. His latest project was propped up in bed, held tight in the arms of her friend. With a slightly devious grin, the Dream King nudged the girl back to sleep; she needed rest after her long illness, after all. It appeared that his experiment was a success, at least in part…

I need something to do mused the god, head on fist. With wars dying down, mortals' dreams are less vivid, less inspiring. It's pathetic how they need terrible things to happen to be able to dream of greatness! There must be a way to produce stirring dreams without starting a war down there…

He looked back at the girl, now dozing peacefully within the circle of her friend's arms. The dream he had sent her in her delirious, feverish state had been his idea of a nudge in the right direction. Ganiel wasn't sure it would be enough, though. She is without a doubt the most stubborn mortal I have ever laid eyes on! Pondering, the god glanced over to the man holding his little mortal.

What if I… Scarcely bothering to finish the thought, Ganiel reached down and prodded the lingering effects of his tampering from the girl into her friend, watching as what appeared as misty white tendrils to his eyes vanished into the man's skin. Presently realizing that his companion was already asleep, the man resettled her more comfortably in her blankets, kissed her furtively on the forehead, and, yawning, curled up in a nearby chair.

The god smirked, settling back in his throne for a long watch – this was going to be interesting…

…back in the mortal realms…

After what he deemed an appropriate interval, Neal snuck back into the room to check on his cousin and his best friend.

Smiling derisively at the picture his 'manly' cousin made curled up in the cushioned chair, he muttered, "Awww, isn't that cute!" and reached over to give Dom a rude awakening (and to demand that he leave to get some "proper rest" in a bed in his own room). At his nudge, Dom merely grumbled and curled up tighter to avoid the annoyance. Peeved, Neal poked him again, harder. With this, Dom's eyes shot open and he gazed at his cousin dazedly, blue eyes glazed over. Still goofing off, Neal waved his hand in front of his cousin's face, expecting to get some fun out of the situation, but the other man stared straight through him, a slight sheen of sweat on his face. Now a little concerned, Neal switched to healer mode, gently feeling Dom's forehead. "Gods!" he whispered, shocked. "Not again." Running out the door for his healer's bag, he called for Kel's father to come help him get his cousin into his own bed.

A short time later, the healer looked up at Kel's family, emerald eyes tired. "I've done all I can for him," he announced. "Whatever Kel had, he's got. It's just a fever, but I can't heal it, not completely. All we can do is let it run its course, and try to keep him from drying out. I've made him some tea, which brought the fever down a bit. SO now we just wait for him to wake up."

"It's not…life threatening…is it?" Lady Ilane asked hesitantly, a pinched, worried look on her pale face.

Neal shook his head. "It doesn't look like it," he reassured her. "The fever just drains its victim's energy like nothing I've ever seen. That's why Kel slept for so long, even after I'd gotten the fever to go away. I want to watch him for a few days, just to be sure, but I think he'll be fine."

Ilane looked relieved. Thanking Neal, she dragged her husband out of the room to go check on Kel.

Neal stood for a moment, still staring at the place his friend's parents had occupied. Coming to, he shook himself and made his way over to his cousin. Sitting at the foot of the bed, he glared at the man's fever-brightened face. "Just when I thought I was finally going to get a decent night's rest," he grumbled. "You had better recover – I don't fancy breaking the news to Aunt. I value my life too much." Wincing, he got up and stalked out of the room, visions of pillows dancing in his head. Neal sighed. "No rest for the weary. I wonder if Kel's mother has any of that broth left…"

In his room, Dom rolled over, clutching the blankets to him. "Kel…" he mumbled.

Ganiel just smiled.

…to be continued…

A/N: (sigh) It feels good to start this again. I have so many goofy ideas that I want to write out now… but, alas, its after midnight, and I have a philosophy paper to finish (err….'start' might be the more appropriate term). At least it's only a rough draft…and not due till 4 pm tomorrow… Anyway, to the point, as we learned in my incredible comp. lit. Sci-fi class – every paper/paragraph/etc. must have a clear thesis - ahem …as I begin my crazy embarkation (hey – spell check didn't pick up on that one, it must be a word!) into the world of longer fanfics (and I plan for this one to go on for quite a while) I want to know what you think – how can I improve my writing style, did I perform some incredible lapse of reality (because I couldn't bring all of my books with me, the only Tamora Pierce ones I have currently are Trickster's Choice and Trickster's Queen) tell me, and I'll fix it!

Just so you know, this chapter was planned to be an intermediate step, to make the rest of the plot twists understandable, and I'm hoping to be back to my usual insanity in the next chapter (the crazed fairytales return!). I have a definite idea of where I want to go with this, but I need a little time (or another paper to procrastinate over) to give the poor naked bones of a story some muscles and fat grumbles about freshman 15 (those bagels at Commons will be the death of me...). But I digress – to summarize what I was trying to say, REVIEW, please! (grins) I have a secret to tell you – all college students love getting mail. (wink) fill up my sad, cobwebby inbox, won't you dears?

And now… forward, troops! To the philosophy paper!

(My highest apologies for the lengthy authors note… I really don't want to start this paper.)

Until next time…

Erm the Penguin