Utopia

He hadn't meant to doze off, in fact he'd had every intention of being wide awake when Willa finally came to. But, sometime during his conversation with Trina, consciousness began to slip from him, and soon he was passed out.

Alex slept peacefully for the first time in years. It was truly odd. The time when he should feel the most afraid, a hunted man out in the wilderness with a witch and a sorceress for company, seemed to be the time when he finally felt at peace. The nightmares didn't haunt him for once, and for that he was truly grateful.

Normally his sleeping mind conjured visions of that night so long ago. That night when he had lost everything; his parents, his home, his will to live. Normally he woke, screams dying unspoken on his lips. But not this night; this night, as he slept beneath the stars his dreams brought to him only fine images of two girls he was already growing far too fond of.

One, was a dark haired beauty, with smiling eyes and a kind face. Laughter clearly evident on her face. The other, slightly more mysterious and less familiar, though her presence still brought him comfort. Even in his unconscious state he knew who these girls were. These girls were the first people to take the chance to get to know him; the first people he had dared to trust since his mother's death.

He only hoped he wasn't going to loose them as quickly as he had found them, but with Raven on the hunt, he was fairly certain he would.

He began to stir, something he could not quite discern pulling him from his sleep. Voices. Loud, angry voices.

And not just the girls'. One was definitely a man. No! Raven had found them.

Before he even had a chance to think about what he was doing, Alex sprang from his resting spot, like a jungle cat on the prowl, and threw himself on the intruder.

They tumbled to the ground, him on top of the fair-haired youth. This was definitely not Raven...