As Rebecca slowly woke once again, she sighed over the now annoying familiar feeling of someone rubbing and caressing her from knee to neck. Sighing again, she gave a half-hearted, “Matthew,” just to let him know she was awake and acknowledged his presence beside her. Without saying else, she slowly opened her eyes to stare into absolute nothingness. Panic momentarily gripped her heart as an irrational fear of being blind coursed through her.

“Matthew,” she called again, trying to hide the fear and panic from her voice. Even without him saying anything, feeling a slight pinch to her nipples was enough to reassure her that it was him lying there beside her. “I can’t see,” she admitted, after taking a moment to reassure herself that all was well and somehow she really hadn’t died. At least, she hoped she hadn’t died. Just imagining the alternative – whatever that was – was enough to make her tremble lightly.

An annoyingly sarcastic laugh came from somewhere above her and to the left, once again helping to calm her nerves. When she felt someone press their weight down upon her, crushing their lips tightly against hers, she returned the kiss without hesitation, happy for the human contact in her blindness.

Wiggling his body between her legs, someone – who she could only imagine to be Matthew in her mind -- laid down on top of her and gently stroked her hair. As a light tingle of magic flowed across her temple as he stroked it, the darkness slowly faded and Rebecca could make out the shredded vines still dripping sap from the ceiling of the auditorium. Focusing her gaze down just a bit, she half laughed at the green-stained and ichor-covered Matthew who grinned foolishly back up at her.

“I’m glad to see you’re awake,” he finally told her, stealing another passionate kiss while he had her pinned underneath him.

“I’m just glad to be alive,” Rebecca laughed. Leaning up, she wrapped one arm around his head and pulled him back down, stealing her first kiss from him. Blinking a few times, Matthew looked shocked, and then laughed merrily. Rolling off her, he rolled another complete 360 before getting up to stand and stretch. After a few moments, he bent down awkwardly and held out a hand to help her up.

“My lady, be careful not to yank your hair on rising,” he warned her laughingly.

Puzzled, Rebecca took his hand and slowly stood. Pulling on her hair, she tugged a long section around from behind herself and stared at it in bafflement. Instead of her long golden locks, the hair in hand was pure white – not the dried white-gray of an old woman’s; but a richly vibrant snow-white, full of life, body, and bounce. Curious, she pulled gently on the strands and felt the warning resistance on the back of her head, reassuring her that they were indeed hers. Trying to pull more of the hair around for a better look, Rebecca’s gaze followed the long white strand down, down, down – all the way to where it was layered like a massive carpet on the ground beneath her feet.

“What the hell!” Staring, she turned and slowly backed away several steps, watching the hair trail behind her. “What the hell is this?” Backing up almost to the edge of the stage, Rebecca stared in wide-eyed astonishment as the hair trailed out longer and longer from where it was piled, eventually dragging the ground behind her, longer than the train on any wedding dress she’d ever seen!

“What happened?” Staring down at herself, Rebecca took in all the changes that she could of her own body. Her skin was now pale white. Staring at her hands, her nails were a deeper ivory white now. The color had drained out of her breasts – except for a faint pale white-pink around the areola of her nipples, which she thought was probably how they would have looked if she’d rubbed them down with baby powder before.

Glancing at her arms and legs, they were completely smooth now, with no sign of hair growth or stubble. Feeling her face, it felt just as smooth – even around under her nose and chin, where she’d had some fine peach fuzz before. Hesitantly reaching down – she was too bewildered to actually look for herself – she slid her hand between the rips in her ruined skirt and checked, feeling only smooth skin beneath her fingertips. Apparently she didn’t have to worry over trying to trim her bikini line anymore!

“Pull up your status screen,” Matthew suggested softly, as he eased around behind her and wrapped his arms around her, gently cupping her breasts in his palms.

Too shocked to do anything else, Rebecca nodded slightly before leaning back against his chest. Gripping his hands in hers, she took several long breaths before whispering, “Status screen on.” Matthew leaned and gently nibbled on the back of her neck as she tried to read something only she could see.

“I’m level five now,” she read off slowly and softly. “I don’t seem to be under any strange effects, except for ‘Dark Vision’.”

“That’s my buff,” Matthew reminded her quietly. “It’s what lets you see in the pure darkness here. Remember?”

Rebecca nodded slowly, but didn’t say anything as she continued to read. “My class is different now,” she stated, frowning uncertainly. “I’m now a spelldancer slash lifedancer specialist.”

“Duel class?” Matthew asked, stopping his repeated kissing on her neck. “I’ve never heard of that. I didn’t even think it was possible.”

“That seems to be the only things that changed,” Rebecca confirmed. “I’m level five, I’m now a lifedancer specialist, and I’ve got two new dances; The Dance of Nature’s Bounty and The Dance of Life’s Grace.”

“What the hell are they?” Matthew asked, finally easing his hands out of her grip and stepping around to the side to pace for a bit. “I don’t know a damn thing about either of them.”

“No idea,” Rebecca told him, frowning worriedly.

Stopping his pacing, Matthew walked to stand in front of her. Reaching out, he pinched the nipple of each breast firmly with his fingers and then pulled her towards him to steal another deep kiss. “The important thing for now,” he reminded her, “is if you’re okay or not. Are you hurt? Losing health? Under any negative effects at all?”

Staring back at the screen that only she could see, Rebecca frowned a few times and then shrugged slightly. “I seem to be fine,” she finally admitted, “except for one thing.”

“What’s that?” Matthew asked worriedly.

“I think I need a haircut,” Rebecca said, biting her lower lip and pointing down at the long trail of hair dragging behind her.

Laughing, relief washed over Matthew’s face as he pinched her chest and pulled her back up and stole another deep kiss. “I think we can handle that,” he told her when he finally let go and stepped back away.

“Though,” he laughed merrily, “it probably would’ve been a lot easier if you wouldn’t have lost my damn sword.”

Author Note: The delay in chapters wasn't as long as I feared. The hospital kept my wife for only about a dozen hours or so last night and released her early this morning after getting her sugar levels back down. Thank goodness they caught it quickly; her sugar rating was 705 when she was admitted last night! That's high enough to lead to coma/death if it isn't brought down and under control quickly. Apparently the issue was with the antibiotics they'd given her for bronchitis spiked her sugar levels up to insane levels, and a few IVs of insulin and saline helped get everything stable and back under control.

She's still got to be careful and monitor her sugar levels constantly until she kicks the infection, but thankfully she's back home now with no major mishaps. :Dt