A/N: Please review for this story - more reviews = longer and more chapters. Story parings - ZackxJaycee, CodyxReylia, CalebxMax, TalusxMaddie, NoahxAdria(Adria will be intrduced in an upcoming chapter), RenaixAlex

Chapter 2: Ethanios

Alex's P.O.V.

I just finished school. It was a long day, and I have lots of homework. I'm with my best, and only friend - Renai. She's the only person who's willing to be my friend. The reason I don't have any other friends is because, well, I'm different to everyone else. I don't usually talk and I always have bruises and bumps all over my eight-year old body. Some people thinks it's I get bullied, others think I play violent games/sports, like rugby. But the real reason is that I get abused. I get abused by my 'dad', if that's what you want to call him. He does it every day. It's worse when he's drunk. But I don't want to go into details, it's too gruesome. I'm walking home with Renai, we both live on the same street. It takes us about 15 minutes to get home from school.

"So, you're extremely quiet today, what's up?" She asked, concerned.

"Just a lot of homework." I lied.

"You're the smartest person in the class, homework's not the problem. You know you can trust me with anything." Renai noted.

"Thanks, but I don't want to talk about it." I said blankly. We could trust each other with secrets, in fact she knew almost everything about me and vice versa. But me getting abused was just something I had to keep to myself.

"Alex, it's not good to keep things bottled up. Besides, I can help with whatever it is." Renai always cared about people, which is why I like her, not as a friend but more. I...love her. But I don't want her to know. I'm afraid she'll hate me or something. She's bound to.

I wonder if I should tell her that I get abused. She might be able to help, but I stress the might. I just decide to tell her anyways. "Well, I'll only say if you swear not to tell anyone, AT ALL." I told her.

"I cross my heart, hope not to fart. If I do, may a lizard, eat my gizzard." She said the oath that we made up when we were five or six. It was our special oath. And we always said it when one of us had a secret to tell. But little did she know how shocking this one was.

"Alright..., w-well, the trut-th is t-that," I'm tripping over my words. I'm nervous to tell her. She urges me to continue, and I do. "I'm abused." I managed to say. Renai just stood their, staring wide-eyed at me in shock.

"W-what?" I could barely hear her voice.

"I'm abused." I said again. We were both silent for a few minutes until she spoke up.

"Why don't you run away?" She asked.

"I tried that before, didn't work out as I planned. All it got me was some broken bones and lost blood." I said plainly, looking at her right in the eye.

"What if yo-" I cut her off.

"Renai, anything you say, is knid of repeating the past. I've tried a lot of things before, and it never worked." I told her, trying hard to keep my mind off of what happened.

"Sorry, I was just trying to help." She said with a frown on her face.

"It's ok, I know you were. But the only realtime you helped, was when that lasagne landed on your face, not mine." I said almost laughing towards the end. Trying to cheer her up.

"Shut up! It's not funny! That was stuck in my hair for days." She said laughing herself.

"That's when you had to cut it off, you almost became bald!" I laughed at her. That's when we both stopped in our tracks, we were standing in front of my house. It was small, but had plenty of space inside. On the outside it looked like an old victorian house with bits and pieces falling off. "Well, see ya." I said tonelessly. I went up to the door and fumbled with my keys.

"Wait," Renai spoke up. "You don't have to live with him if you don't want to." Did she realise what she was saying? Where else would I go? Where would Ilive? How would I feed myself? "You can come and stay at my house if you want." She added. Now it sounded more reasonable. But then if do go with her, my 'dad' would find us and beat us both. I don't want her getting in trouble because of what I do. So I told I couldn't.

"I can't, what if my dad finds out? Then he'll beat us both. And I don't want you getting hurt. And what about your mom. She'll tell my dad. So I really have no choice." I told her.

"You can hide. At my house. You can sleep in the attic, my mom doesn't go there at all, and there's an extra bed in there. My mom doesn't need to know you staying at my house. It's bad enough you get hurt a lot. But there's a chance of you...d-d-dying." She had a really good point.

"I'm still not sure." I love her too much for my dad to even raise a finger on her if he found out what were going to do. On the other side though she was right. I could end up dying, the thought had never cross my mind. "I-"

"It's either you live or die Alexander, I really can't see how hard a choice that is." She said my full name, and when she didd she was really serious about something or just nervous. And this was both.

"I'll think about it. I'll give you my decision tommorrow." I still wasn't sure about her paying the price for me. Even if it meant that I'd have to die for it. But then again, there's always a chance that I'll die.

"Alright, I want the answer tommorrow first thing when I see you. Bye." And she walked halfway down the road to her house and I went into mine.

It was 7:30 pm and 'dad' should be coming home soon. I went upstairs and put on 3 jumpers, 2 sweater vests, gloves, a hat, 2 leather pants and 3 pairs of socks. That way when he beat me, I would feel less pain. I did this since last year. Sometimes it worked, sometimess it didn't. It depends on what he uses to beat. I went downstairs, cooked myself some dinner. I knew that I would be too weak too eat afterwards. I cleaned up everything. After I was finished, I headed up to my room. Halfway up the stairs I hard the door click.

He was home.

I froze. He wasn't by himself. He was with someone. A woman. She had brown hair and brown eyes. She was carrying a black handbag. She wore a black dress, and black high heels. They were laughing. I guess they were out on a date. So I doubt he'd beat me now. There were rarely any guests that came here. So in a way, I was glad that she was here. "I had a great time Tom. Oh, who's this?" SHe asked after seeing me.

"Oh, him? He's just my son." Tom replied.

"Mind if I?"She asked him, wanting to talk to me. That's when I noticed Tom turned slightly turned red from anger. I was now the centre of attention.

"No, no. Go ahead." He said, holding back his.

"Hi, sweetheart. Do you want to come downstairs?" She asked me. I hesitated. Then I did. We all walked in the living room. The woman sat down next to me, while my 'dad' sat down on the other side of the room. "So, my name's Theirra. What's your's?"

"Alexander." I replied, a bit nervous.

"That's a cute name. But do you mind if I call you Alex?" I shook my head. "Thanks. So, green is an unsual hair colour for a person to have. Did you dye it?" She asked, ruffling my light green hair.

"Actually it's my original hair colour." I told her.

"Hmm, that's wierd." She wondered how I had green hair.

"You see, my dad has black hair, so couldn't have inherited it from him. So I probably got it from my mom." I thought if that was right. I never really knew my 'mom'.

"Actually, his mom had brown hair." Tom said, butting in. His fists were clenched. I guess he's jealous of all the attention I'm getting from Thierra. "His real parents must've had green hair."

"Real parents?!" She wondered.

"You see, I found him on the streets a few years back, lonely. His parentys must've left him to die." Tom carried on.

"OH, that's horrible! How could they?!?" Thierra screamed. I was found on the streets?!? Left to die by my real parents?!?

"So I took him in as my own. It's a sad story really." Tom said.

"Disgusting people these days!" Thierra kept ranting on about what Tom said. After about half an hour, she left. That's when he began the beats.

"YOU DISGUSTING LITTLE BRAT! TRYING TO TAKE ALL THE ATTENTION! HUH! LITTLE BITCH! SHE ALSO NEARLY FOUND OUT YOU WERE KIDNAPPED THAT'S TO YOUR FUCKIN' HAIR!" I stopped crying at his last words. But he carried on beating with a stick. I was kidnapped. Kidnapped. How could he!

"GET LOST TO YOUR ROOM, YOU TRAMP!" He finally yelled.

I did my best to crawl to my room. It took me 10 minutes just to get up the stairs. Once I finally got to my room, I began sob into my pillow. Not because of the pain. But beacause I found out I separated from my real family. After a while I stopped sobbing. I decided to go with Renai's plan.

Now anger took over my body. I began thrashing things around my room. Big mistake. Tom ran up to my room. He saw the mess. "You bitch!" Was he said and then he raised his hand, and as he lowered his hand on me, I didn't feel anything. All I heard was scream. I saw that there was this, thing, around me. It looked like a force field. Tom waas screaming because he hit that instead of me. He kicked the field. I saw a surge of electricity hit his body as his foot connected with the force field. He just lay there, now outcold. Probably because of the electricity in the force field.

Then, I saw a golden light. It was the size of an adult. It appeared out of nowhere. Then I saw a head. It was above the glowing light. Actually it looked like the head was part of the light. The head like a female. She had fair skin, orange hair and brown eyes. "Hello, young one." Her voice was calm and soothing. I stood behind my cupboard. "There's no need to be afraid."

"W-w-who are you" I asked her, scared.

"I am Oma guardian. And of the reaming Alterans or Ancients. Whichever you prefer to be called."

"Who are the Ancients?" I asked.

"The Ancients are a race of beings with special abilities, like you." She replied.

"You mean I'm an Ancient? Are there any more?" I asked, wondering if there were more people with powers.

"Yes, your family."

"My real family? Where are they?"

"I can only tell so much." Oma answered mysteriously.

"Why? They're my family aren't they? You have to tell me."

"I can tell you this - there is an evil power rising. On your destined path to defeat them you will find your family. Now, give me your hand." A hand appeared from the golden light.

I hesitated at first, but I trusted her. I gave her my hand. Then my body glowed upon contact. After a moment, the light around me faded. I noticed all the bruises were gone. And that I was in perfect health. "Thank you."

"Your welcome, Ethanios." She smiled.

"Ethanios? Is that my real name?" I wondered.

"Yes, that is your Ancient name. Your real,human name is Ethan."

"Ethanios, Ethan. Ethan, Ethanios." I realised the connection.

"I must leave now. Farewell, Master Ethanios." Then

the golden light encompassed her, and it faded away, taking Oma Desala with it.

"Master Ethanios." I said to myself.