Disclaimer: I do not own these characters, the show, or the Oakridge Boys song, Juliet.

Chapter 2: Dreams

Justin was exhausted, both physically & emotionally. Even so, it took a long time for him to fall asleep. But sleep did come, and with sleep came dreams.

In his dream, he was in a smoky piano bar. The man playing the piano played a song Justin heard his Dad sing.

Juliet, oh Juliet

You got the smile that I can't forget

On the day we met I made a bet

Someday I'll win the love of Juliet

The guy stopped playing and turned around to look at Justin.

"Hey kid, why so glum"

"Where am I?"

"Somewhere between the pit of despair and the house of the blues."

"What am I doing here?"

"It's your dream kid, I'm just here to help and play this song." He started playing the Juliet song again.

When he stopped again Justin asked him, "What kind of help can you give me?"

"Well, it seems to me you got yourself in a tough spot."

"No. I got Juliet in a tough spot."

"Did you get her into it? Or did she choose herself into it? You didn't force to go with you, did you? She chose to be with you. You, on the other hand, have a choice to make."

"Me?"

"Sure. You gotta decide whether to save her or not."

"That's no choice. I have to save her."

"Hold up sport, this isn't no fairy tale you're in. In case you haven't noticed, following the step by step rules hasn't exactly served you well. Actually, they haven't served any other monster hunter well.."

"What do you mean?"

"Kid, you're hunting the Mummy because there aren't any other full blown monster hunters. Think about it. Every monster hunter follows the same instructions you got, and all of them have perished. Now, you can decide to follow in their footsteps. In which case, you'll share their fate. Or you can give up. Or…"

"Or what?"

"Or you can to decide to be the kind of monster hunter that actually wins. But that means not following their rules. It means walking a hard road. You might be able to pull it off, but it means being very smart, very methodical, and playing a whole different level. It's also gonna take a certain kind of courage. Are you sure you want to walk that road?"

"Who are you?"

"Like I said, it's your dream so I'm probably just a figment of your imagination."

"There's no way."

"Well, either I'm a figment of your imagination or I'm someone trying to give you a leg up. Either way, when you wake up you'll have a choice to make. The only question is what choice will it be? Win, lose or quit. Better decide."

Then the piano player went back to playing the piano and singing:

Juliet, oh Juliet

You got the smile that I can't forget

On the day we met

I made a bet

Someday I'll win the love of Juliet.

The next day, Justin was only paying half attention to his classes. He kept thinking of Juliet and the guy from his dream. The more he thought about it, the more he realized the piano player was right. The other monster hunters did perish in one way or other. Doing it their way was probably going to end with either Justin dead or Juliet in a worse predicament. Neither outcome was acceptable.

He kept thinking himself in circles until he was sitting in history class, his teacher, Mr. Jarvis said,"OK class. For the next week, we're going to talk about asymmetrical warfare. Who knows what I mean by asymmetrical warfare?"

"Is that when mathematicians fight?" Justin friend Zeke asked.

A few kids laughed.

"No," Mr. Jarvis said," That's when one or more combatants engage in non-conventional warfare. We're going to start our discussion with the Revolutionary war. The British were used to battles on large field when two sides had a traditional phalanx formation and shot at each other. If all the battles were like that, the colonists would not have won. However, the Americans used non-traditional fighting styles. As we go through the next week, we will see how effective using non-conventional fight styles have worked for various military forces."

Justin listened a little more intently to class, but in the back of his mind a plan was forming. In his notebook, he began his new project: The Plan to Save Juliet.

After school, Justin went down into the lair and found Alex's dream helmet. He thought about leaving a note, then decided Alex never left a note or asked permission to use any of his stuff. So, he took the helmet and went upstairs to his room.

The good thing about the dream helmet was how easy it was to use. He just had to put it on and say the person name. Justin said 'Juliet" and hoped she was asleep and dreaming.

Juliet's day was miserable. She had no choice but to obey the Mummy, but in her mind she was longing for her old life back. For her old coffin, to be at the Late Nite bite, and Justin…

As she was sleeping she kept trying to hold onto dreams with Justin. Then, he was there, holding her.

She kissed him, not one of their chase kisses either, a serious kiss. The kind she very rarely dared give him in person. Then he said,"Juliet, I'm really here. This isn't just a dream."

She looked at him. There was something in his eyes that convinced her. "Justin,"her voice was thick with sadness and longing, "how?"

"I'm using Alex's dream helmet. Are you okay? Is he taking care you?"

"I'm fine. We're in an old warehouse. He had his human minion sun proof it."

"Good." He looked sad for a moment. "I'm sorry Juliet. I got you into this. I'm so sorry. I don't how Ill make this up to you, but I will."

"It's not your fault. It's not."

"It's nice to hear you say it, but I'll blame myself until I get you out of there. I'm working on a plan. Figuring out how to break the curse is going to be the hard part."

"You'll figure something out. I know you will."

" I will. I promise."

"There's just one thing Justin."

"What?"

She grabbed hold of him and gave him another serious kiss. They were still kissing when the dream ended, and the young lovers were separated into their two divergent realities.