Authors Note: Hello this is my second fanfiction, I am currently working on two and wanting to write more but I figured two at once is probably enough for now. I plan on updating this far more then what I have been recently. I am also working on a few fiction stories as well and managing life outside of the writing world. I really appreciate everyone's supports and I love to hear from people so feel free to drop comments or any thoughts. As stated before writing fanfic is a way to help me to become a better writer and I hope to some day publish my own work. Thanks again for everyone's support, I hope to hear from you!

No image only a voice,

"At long last my knight will come,"

Who?

The feminine voice repeated the reassuring words once more to herself; completely unaware of his presence.

"At long last he will come,"

Who!

"With this he will finally come."

Alex sat straight up in his bed in a sweat; dreams were always strange for him. Despite how much he disliked the whole rescue the princess theme, his dreams were always full of them. For him that was not the strange part, it was the fact that they always seemed to somehow feel real. They felt so real, that he would sometimes try to refuse to sleep in order to avoid them. Apparently he lacked the strength of will because as soon as he decided that he would refuse to sleep within a few minutes he was always passed out and trapped in another dream.

"Ugh," This time it felt more real than usual, at least he was spared of any images. Although he had to admit the princess from his dreams was a bit cute.

"Alex hurry up or you're going to miss school!" His grandmother shouted up the stairs.

"How can missing school be a bad thing?" Alex mumbled under his breath, he had to admit it was better than staying at home and seeing those dreams again though.

Alex simply threw on a plain black t-shirt with baggy tan pants, he looked at his reflection in the mirror, nothing special just his normal messy brown hair. Alex shrugged his shoulders; it was good enough for where he was going.

As he jogged down the stairs his grandmother tried to force food in front of him but he settled with just taking his usual slice of toast on the go. He never really liked to eat much but his grandmother was convinced that she could somehow change that. Good luck, was his usual thought when she was in her mission mode.

Alex walked down the street with leisure in his stride, he never really cared about if he was late or not he simply rushed in the morning so he could get out of the house and finally be alone. It was at this time of day that he could finally be at peace, no dreams, no nagging and no problems.

No dreams,

He always blamed his parents for his dreams. They loved to talk about some make believe world and his father even joked that he had once gone there to fight some huge battle. It was no surprise that Alex would be having those dreams, the real question was, how he had managed to not be more messed up then what he was.

No nagging,

His grandmother was always on him about something. She always complained that he had run away from his parents and tried to convince him that he should go back. Funny, she was the one who had taken him in. She always seemed to have something to say about every little thing he did, not eating enough, not doing his homework, not being able to stay out of trouble and far more. He knew she did it because she cared but honestly how much care can one have before it becomes suffocating?

No problems,

Although that was the one that always seemed to last the shortest.

"Alex…" A large teen with thick muscles had his arms folded while having three lesser but taller beings behind him; black seemed to be their favorite color.

Alex stopped walking, problem one, face the 'wanna be gang'. Although they were wanna be's they were still pretty tough, that and Alex was a weakling.

"Hey," Alex sighed he hated those guys with a passion and just his luck their leader just happened to deem Alex as his favorite victim.

"Got our money?"

"What money?"

"Don't play dumb, we want money and you give it, got it?"

"Actually I don't," Alex's mind was screaming not to act like some tough guy but his personality always seemed to win over reason.

"Oh is that so?" Rather than disappointment the freak's lips only curled into an overly wide grin.

Just great… Even the dreams seemed better to Alex than this. Maybe tonight he would be beating on trolls that resembled them, that would be nice.

"Last chance," The leader put a hand up signaling his goons, dogs is what Alex liked to call them, to stay put as he began to approach Alex.

Alex responded by raising his hands in a defensive manner, "Funny I was thinking the same thing," That would do it, he was doomed, if only his strength could support his attitude.

After the thorough beating Alex was left on the ground and for the most part unbruised and unscratched, at least on the outside, his insides begged to differ. Apparently he had mastered the way to beat on someone and not leave much evidence and Alex's grown resistance to damage seemed to help with that.

"I always like that about you Alex, you never back down from a challenge. Shame, if you were actually strong I wouldn't mind having you join us."

Alex groaned and stood up after the four had left, he checked his pant pockets and sure enough his money was gone. Alex shook his head he was lucky that the guy was too dumb to bother checking anywhere else other than his pockets. He pulled off his sneaker and grabbed a few folded bills from his shoe; that would pay for his lunch easy enough.

"Sorry but even if I was strong I wouldn't be interested," Alex said to himself as he put his sneaker back on; life seemed more and more unpleasant by the minute.

"My knight,"

Alex whirled around looking for the source of the voice that resembled the one from his dream. Maybe his parents really did damage him more than he had thought. Alex shook his head and continued to school, for some reason he felt like this day would be a long one.

Sure enough, he was right; throughout his school day he encountered, dramatized girls who for some reason were convinced that Alex was the one to talk to, like he could understand girls, while the boys who drooled over them glared from afar. Then during classes his teachers seemed to form an alliance in which each member would call on him to answer multiple questions until he got one right; which he could never seem to answer even a single one correct. Finally the day came to an end and it was time to head back to his grandmother's house.

Rather than encounter the goon squad again Alex decided to walk down a different street. He figured that this path would take him back to the backside of his grandmother's house. She always ranted to him about how bad this part of town was but Alex figured it could hardly be much worse than his normal way.

"Ah!" A girl was screaming; just his luck something was happening.

"Give me your stuff pretty lady," A psychotic looking bald man was holding a girl from Alex's school by her wrist rather roughly.

Of course Alex was not the type to sit back and watch or run for help: no he had to run right into the middle of it. "Alright that's enough,"

"Ah and who is this?"

The girl only whimpered as she held her eyes closed. Good, at least she would not be able to see his horrible attempt at saving her.

"No one important just let her go, if you're so desperate for cash you can have what's left in my wallet," Oh good try and bribe your way out Alex. Alex's reasoning was trying to win over his personality again.

"Hmm, and what if it's not the money that I'm after?"

Yeah now what smart one? Alex's poker face never revealed his insecurity, another example of his good luck. Perhaps if he had looked like an idiot the guy would have simply laughed at his stupid attempt and leave it at that. "Then I'll ask you again to just leave her alone," Oh smooth that will scare him good…

The girl finally showed sign of life as she began to try to pull away but actually only managed to end up working herself into a whimpering fit. Great the one girl he tried to help and she had to be a weakling; what happened to all those girls that knew karate and stuff?

The man was obviously getting agitated by the resistance from both sides, he thrust his free hand into his pocket and pulled out a switchblade. "You sure you want to say that brat?"

Well his reasoning was finally winning over, perhaps his poker face was dwindling away as well, for the man's face seemed to gleam with triumph. It did not take long for the man to burst out into a drunken laughter as he released the girl, who gladly took off running, and began to slash wildly about.

Wonderful… Did life really hate him this much?

The man stopped and glared in Alex's direction, it almost seemed like he had been possessed by something; then again maybe he was. The man drunken on power or possibly alcohol, maybe even both, began to charge in Alex's direction. He never even had the strength of mind to move himself out of the way before the blade penetrated the side of his stomach.

Well that was unexpected…

Before Alex's body hit the ground his vision except for the insane man before him went black; he could have sworn he had heard a voice as well. Alex suspected that it was from shock but the man before him seemed to be frightened. Frightened? He was the one with the knife.

Chains rattled, Alex moaned, "what now?"

"The tunnel has been opened," After the man with the knife heard that, he suddenly took off.

Alex cursed his luck, it looked like he would have to somehow get up and find out for himself; despite the recent stab wound. As he lifted and turned his head to look his eyes went wide; he saw that the city scene had been replaced with rolling hills and lush fields with large forests. "What the hell is that!"

"You can see it then? You either truly believe in it or you strongly wished to flee your world," the strange ghost like door threw a dice at the ground causing his wrapped chains to jingle. It jumped about until resting and revealing a two in the air, "Hmmm… well with that you may go if you wish." Despite having pluses for eyes, his tone made i obvious that he was confused by the two.

Alex moaned, he had been stabbed, abandoned by the one he was trying to save; all he wanted to do was get away from it all and the last thing he gets to see is another hallucination inspired by his parents' stories of their make believe world. Would anything ever go right?

"Do you wish to enter?"

"Sure why not," Alex figured, even it was a dream, it was better than staying where he was.