Disclaimers: I don't own any of the characters or settings from Lord of the Rings or Xena the Warrior Princess

Author's Note:

This is a LegoRomance (slow-burn)

~ XLIII: A Shared Dreamed ~

Dream, dream, dream, dream

Dream, dream, dream, dream

all I have to do is Dream

Caras Galadhon, 3019 TA, January 21

The darker the night, the brighter the stars. Should there ever be clouds to hide them, they still shine. Perhaps that's why the starlight is loved, for it comes not in the ease of the day, but when without it there would only be blackness for the eyes. That blackness hugged the starlights and draw her away bounding her with the night and the void. She was kept in strong hands, at least her body was, but her soul. That silly thing had found its way to the dreamworld and beyond.

"You think you're man enough to test my blade? Do you?" a shadow figure sat upright like some sort of ghost, the sword that she was holding rang, and she knew that it did not belong to her, but it was a very familiar sword, she had seen it many times, too many actually. Her best friend, her trusted friend used it, but she was now dead. Why was she holding her sword?

"Are you finished with my sword?" Xena shouted as she watched the shadow holding her sword "Who gave you permission to touch it?"

"Don't do that!" the shadow complained as it turned and faced Xena "This, is something to use only in the most desperate hour. Have you used it?"

"This is not a plaything," Xena said while skipping next to the figure and grabbing her sword, "This is mine, where have you found it?"

"It belonged to a friend," the figure said "It's not made of wood! You could kill someone with it?"

Xena nodded while now holding her sword and admiring it, "It was broken! It was shuttered into two pieces when we were crossing Moria! Did the elf blacksmith repair it?"

"Moria?" the blond figure questioned "I am not familiar with that place. Elves?"

"It's a dream?" she suddenly realized as one of her eyebrows rose in annoyance.

The woman nodded "Sorry, Xena! I don't know how I got it."

"You are lucky I was unarmed. I could have hurt you, Gabrielle!" Xena said and placed her sword next to her. "Why are you here?"

Gabrielle had gone hunting for lunch and was on the verge of trapping the game when her world turned black. She was on route to Athens, where she would study philosophy at the Academy. She'd always desired it, but in all the years she spent with Xena, she never received it. She had travelled for a long period of time, years, and now want to be in Athens.

"You know? Doesn't it make more sense to ask: Why are you here? You are the one who died!" the blonde one asked while crossing her arms over her chest "I think it makes more sense."

"Don't confuse yourself," Xena muttered "I am alive. I am not dead. Maybe drunk." she paused and thought for a while then gazed at Gabrielle "I am drunk!"

"You don't think I know that? You sound drunk, or better insane?" Gabrielle replied. Then there was a long pause "Xena you are dead! I know that you are! Even if this is a dream. I am happy to see you!" She reached out to hug her.

Xena smiled and wrapped her arms around her sharing a friendly hug with her best friend. "I was dead, at least in our world, but Gabrielle I am alive," she added.

"What are you talking about?" she cocked her head gazing at Xena "How did that happen?"

She wanted to be angry, at not knowing what was happening but she was glad that she could see and speak to her trusted friend. "I don't know, Gabrielle," she said turning around and grabbing her arms "After my death, I woke up in a place called Middle Earth..." And for a while, Xena narrated to her what had happened to her since she reached Arda.

"I believed you were gone, forever," Gabrielle cried out and punched Xena's arms only to find out that the action still ended up aching her fist "I can't believe you! I was here grieving and you were having fun in another world!"

"No- I don't think so," Xena defended herself and stared at her friend "I told you there's evil here and we try to fight it, or something like that!"

"Wait, you have been fighting?" Gabrielle asked and Xena nodded "I knew it! That is why I said that you were having fun!"

Xena took a deep breath and could not lie about it, she enjoyed fighting those ugly creatures. Xena offered a small smile to her as an apology. But there were times she enjoyed her time in that forsaken world. Though that did not change her belief that she should be dead and back to her old world.

"You're waiting for the right moment to say, 'I told you so,' aren't you?" her friend asked running her hands through her hair.

"Nope! I'm waiting for you to say it for me." Xena said in a sense of calm and ease.

"Xena you are unbelievable. I thought I had lost you! And you are alive!" Gabrielle uttered, "Why haven't you tried to reach me?"

"In both cases, no." she admitted "I just want to return to being dead. It was easier that way. This world is too confusing Gabrielle!"

She finally laughed "Nothing like ours?"

Xena nodded. "A part of me wants to know why I am here? It's like a mystery that I cannot figure out, and it eats me," she explained and took a seat on the ground. "And another part of me is afraid that one day I might find out, and I will not be able to return."

Her friend smiled and leaned over giving her a hug "I have missed you." she said in a sweet tone "But I prefer you alive even if you are in a different world."

"I have missed you too," Xena smiled "You would want that, wouldn't you!"

"Of course, I want you alive and well," she said slowly "I never agreed with your death. You have already made amends for your previous misdoings, and you are still wanting to go on like that, while you died to pay for them."

"I wouldn't know. I try not to overanalyze my life like some people. But I know what I did Gabrielle. Someone's misdeeds are not forgiven simply because they die. You know that."

"You said that before," Gabrielle recalled "that most people haven't led your life. It is the truth! But Xena eventually you have to forgive yourself."

"Oh, well, I've got time." she scoffed "I have not seen me leaving this world any time soon."

Gabrielle watched her with a thoughtful expression and smiled again "What happened to your sword? Did you really break it!"

"Yup," she sighed "and on the wrong creature. I should have killed that annoying elf!"

Her thought froze for a moment and then she looked down at Xena "What is an elf?"

"Aw! Some ugly tall annoying creatures! You better without them!" Xena said with a pinched expression on her face.

"Alright," said her blonde friend "Try not to kill any!"

Xena nodded. She started to fill that Gabrielle was suddenly stretching away, like a mid-winter's eve that the starlights are in a chorus, singing of times long ago in galaxies unknown. "What's the matter?" she asked her.

"I don't know. I feel strange. Xena. Like it's time for me to wake up!" Gabrielle said, "Remember not dying anymore!"

"Use your mind, Gabrielle! Do not forget I am well!" was the last thing that Xena managed to tell her before she found herself being pulled back and away from her friend.

"Xena!"

Xena was tired, so very tired. She still hadn't been able to throw off the shadow of her death, as if something powerful had its hand on her shoulder, constantly reminding her of a darker past. She had been running from that shadow for so long now, that she forgot what it was like to be free. And to her surprise whenever she was in Elfish ground it was like somehow that powerful darkness was not holding her.

The aching in her skull ebbed and flowed like a cold tide, and the pain was there when she decided to open her eyes. She was the worst hangover she ever had, not that she would get easily drunk. But that forsaken Mirkwood wine caused her to lose her mind. It felt as if the blackest of clouds were on her head with no intention of the clearing until later. But it was worth every drop of the pain since she managed to see and talk to Gabrielle.

How the smell of the wine last night was intoxicating, yet this morning it adds to nausea. The surroundings were very quiet, and the sun was slowly rising. Errant breezes, the smell of damp earth combined with old fallen leaves. She breathed deeply, so relaxing, refreshing and instinctively calming her soul. Such a unique smell. In that intimate space, so close to his neck, she was leaning and she already knew the scent of him and that somehow become something she'd always crave.

For a long moment, she decided to lay there inside those strong arms and not open her eyes. She just needed a moment to breathe and keep the memory of Gabrielle printed in her mind. And she allowed herself a small moment of rest lost inside his scent. As for the rest that had occurred last night, she would worry a bit later. She just needed a moment of peace.

((Upcoming Chapter Forty-Four)

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