Hey guys! Here's Chapter 2 of … dramatic pause.. The Defender ! This chapter came really easy , no writers block whatsoever. Thanks SO much to all those who reviewed and added my story to their Favs/Alerts. Thanks to all those who stayed on even though I had a little problem in the other chapters with the paragraphs. I will go back some time and fix them. I going to shut up now

Disclaimer: I do not own PJO , if I did I would have stolen the lightning bolt and started zapping random people. * insert evil laugh*

Normal talking,… Thinking

Chapter 2: Dream

The best thing about dreams is that fleeting moment, when you are between asleep and awake, when you don't know the difference between reality and fantasy, when for just that one moment you feel with your entire soul that the dream is reality, and it really happened. …...

I opened the door slowly and looked around. Aside from a few lights still on in the nursery it looked like everyone had turned in for the night. The coast was clear. I shuffled through the door cautiously , and slowly and very careful shut it , it was famous for being squeaky. Luck was on my side as the it shut without a sound. I turned around ,and walked straight into Ms. Anna . When I say the name Ms. Anna a lot of people imagine a little old lady who knits socks and takes care of the orphans. They couldn't be farther off. Ms. Anna was at least six foot two, totally dwarfing me .She had brown , stringy shoulder length hair that looked like all moisture had been dried out a long time ago. Those weren't the parts about her that scared me though. What freaked me out were her eyes. Her left eye was as green as a Christmas tree but her right was as brown as dirt. And they always looked, well , hungry. Like she hadn't eaten in a long time and I was her next meal. I asked her once about how she got her eyes and how did she end up at our orphanage of all places. She stared me down with her creepy eyes and gave a speech about how I shouldn't be poking into a ladies business. I didn't ask again. I gulped and quickly put a smile on my face, " Hey Ms. Anna , fancy meeting you here. Well , got to go ." I said as I made a quick dash towards the stairs. "Aleksandr" she yelled , " why do you smell like blood? Have you been fighting?"

I froze mid-step , and looked down at my clothes. I was positive I had washed all the blood off. Darn it,.. wait did she say smell?. "Because you know if you have , you WILL be asked to leave. Translation, we'll kick you out onto the street.I turned around to face her and put on my best smile. " No Ms. Anna , I was not in a fight today I just tripped on the way here , you know me I'm a klutz. Either my smile does have the affect that people say it does or I was a better liar than I thought because she gave a small " Hmph' and left. I let out the breath I didn't know I was holding and continued up the stairs to my room. Well I can't technically call it " my" room though cause I share it with two other people. One was my best friend and practically my sister , Alena.

She had come to the orphanage a year after I did and we've practically been inseparable since. The other was Marko , he was older then I was and always busy so I never really hung out with him much. But it was safe to call him a friend. They were already passed out when I made my way to my bed. I quietly reached under my mattress and pulled out the first aid kit I have for reasons like this. I stripped my shirt off and took a closer look at my side where a very colorful bruise was already forming on my side. I felt around on the skin and winced when a came at the spot. Defiantly bruised , I would be in a lot more pain if it was broken. I pulled the wrapping tape out of the first aid kit and set to work. Just more practice for when I become a doctor. When my side was completely tapped up I put my pajamas on and slipped under the covers. My adrenaline rush from earlier had faded away and I was knocked out as soon as my head touched the pillow. Then the dream started. I was in the middle of a grassy field , during the heat of a battle fully decked out in armor. Which was really uncomfortable with the sun beating down on my head. I was fully surrounded by men who were also in full armor but with spears and swords. I looked down at my hands. I was carrying nothing but a golden shield. I heard a horn bugle in the distance and I snatched my head up. They were attacking me, running toward me with swords and death intent in their eyes . I raised my shield and held of their attacks , turning their own swords back on themselves. I twirled around , striking out with my shield and knocking them to the ground.

When I needed to go offence I pressed a switch and the sides became sharp rivaling any blade. The shield was my weapon , it defended me and attacked for me. Every time I smashed it upon someone's head it was like a gong , ringing in another death. I felt powerful , I felt strong. It felt right, like I was born to do this. A laugh escaped my lips , and it scared the crap out of me. I was enjoying this, but it goes completely against my nature. I want to be a doctor , to save lives not take them . Yet I kept on slashing and bashing. Then there were no more men left , they all lay at my feet. I reached toward my shield and pressed in the middle ,like it was the most natural thing I would do. The shield collapsed and folded up until it was a gold band on my wrist. It was a simple gold band nothing really special about it .But it was familiar ,yet different, like I had worn it once or had seen it before. I looked closer and saw that their was something carved on it. I froze , now I knew why it was so familiar. On the top side of the bracelet was γνῶθι σεαυτόν. " Know thy self " I whispered . Now I knew why it was so familiar, even though it was bigger, it was my bracelet. It was something magical and ancient and it had been on my wrist my entire life. What does this mean? Suddenly it got bright , so bright I couldn't see my hand anymore. I covered my eyes , for fear of being blinded. Just when I thought when I was going to fry I heard a voice. " Get ready" it whispered. I felt a pain in my side as the dream faded away.

I woke up yelling and with spots dancing in front of my eyes. It took me a second to realize what had happened. According to Alena , I was 'difficult' to wake up. So instead of pouring water on me or yelling in my ear for me to wake up , she jumps on me. But Alena doesn't know about the bruised side. She fell off as I writhed and grabbed my side, blinking my eyes real fast so she wouldn't notice the tears that had popped up. When the pain had faded away I relaxed my muscles and tried to catch my breath. I couldn't tell if it had left me because of the dream or having 14 year old girl jump on me. I looked over at Alena , she was sitting on the floor where she had fallen , her eyes wide and full of questions. I shook my head ,trying to figure out what had just happened. That dream was so real , I felt everything and my bracelet… MY Bracelet! My eyes widened and I jerked the golden id bracelet up to my eyes , examining every inch of it for a clue about what had just happened. Nothing was different about it , just the same as it had been for the past 14 years of my life. Its impossible , my bracelet isn't that old. I mentally shook my head. For God's sake it " magically" turned into a shield. So why was I still freaking out?Alena jumped up and pointed her finger at me . " What the heck was that!", she yelled "you scared the crap out of me. You started yelling like you had seen the devil and you're the same color as our walls . She pointed to our very bland egg-shell white walls and let out a string of curses in Russian. I winced . Although I am pretty much her big brother I had nothing to do with her , um , very un-lady like vocabulary. " Lena shut up , what if Sister Hannah hears." I whispered.

Alena stopped in the middle of her colorful speech. Having to write 500 times , I will not swear or curse, again , was not very high on her fun list. I pulled myself out of bed and started getting ready for school. School doesn't except a weird dream as a excuse on a tardy slip. Alena finally, after me ignoring her questions, gave up and went downstairs. I grabbed whatever smelled the least from my dirty pile and slipped it on. I was to busy thinking to worry weather it matched or not. I ran downstairs , grabbed an apple and my backpack and walked out the door. Usually Alena and I walk to school together but I couldn't deal with her questions right now. Especially since I don't even know the answers. I made it halfway to school before I heard her yelling after me, asking me to wait up. Should I just pretend I didn't hear her , just keep on walking?. No ,she'd hunt me down eventually. I stopped and turned around to face her. She closed the distance between us and stood for a moment panting. When she had recovered she crossed her arms and gave me her signature glare. Tell me everything NOW! I sighed and put my hands up in surrender. I told her about the fight yesterday and the dream/nightmare I had. When I was finished she stood for a second, with a thoughtful look on her face. Then she stepped forward and punched me on the arm " Ow, what the heck was that for." I protested. "For scaring the crap outta me" she yelled, " I thought something , like, REALLY bad had happened. Like Ms. Anna kicking you out or you killed somebody or something like that. That's seriously it?" She rolled her eyes. " Your such a drama king Aleksandr. The fight , well what Ms. Anna doesn't know won't hurt her and the dream, probably just a result of that food they made us eat a lunch yesterday at school." she shuddered at the thought of yesterdays school lunch. All the stress and worries faded out of me.

Alena was right, I over-reacted. How's a fight and a dream going to change my life forever ?. " Thanks Lena , what would I do without you?' I said. She tossed her hair to the side all diva-like, " I like to imagine your life without me a zombie ridden waste land filled with nuclear cows and no pizza ." she said dramatically. " And I'm the drama king." I teased as I started toward school. " You coming Lena." I yelled back at her . She ran up to beside me and we walked to school. Shoulder to shoulder. Me and my sister. …... Right after lunch time the we all headed outside for our free time. Even though we live in a climate that is mostly cold and snowy our teachers insist we have a right to outside time. More like get rid of the kids for 45 minutes . Me , I don't have a problem with it , I like being outside. But the other kids think its awful . But its not like they lock us outside in below freezing temperatures, well there was that one time. I was sitting next to Alena at a picnic table. She was reading her favorite book , Eragon , and I was just sitting. Enjoying the smell of the snow and the warmth of the sun. A few inches had fallen last night, covering everything in a blanket of snow. With the snow shining down it looked just like a postcard. .Out of the blue Alena grabbed my arm so hard I jumped. "Alek , I just saw a snake…. Stop looking at me like that! It was just sitting right there." She pointed at a spot a few feet away from the table. " Alena, its too cold for snakes. Your just seeing things" I said , hoping she'd drop it . She crossed her arms and glared. " How do you know that Mr. Smarty-pants ? Where'd the snakes go then?" I laid my head on the table and groaned. " Ireland , they all went to Ireland." She didn't responded but tugged on my sleeve. I groaned and lifted my head up. " I already told you , they all went to Ire-" I stopped. Because standing in front of our table was my " friend" from yesterday. And by friend I mean the guy who gave me this nasty bruise on my cheek. The leader , the guy who threw the first punch. " Hey , buddy" he said with a evil grin on his face, " I didn't know you went to the same school as me and my buddies do. Neither did I . Great , just freaking great. He noticed Alena sitting next to me.

His eyes gave off a hungry glint as he examined her. My eyes widened and I clenched my fists. He moved closer and closer to Alena , completely ignoring the death glare she was giving him. " Will you move" she spat , " your dirtying up our air." His smile grew wider and he put his head in his hands , not even hiding his roaming eyes. Do something coward ! He's going to hurt her!. But I stayed frozen. " Me and you could have some fun together honey." he drawled. My jaw clenched tighter and my vision went red with anger. " Not on your life" Lena yelled. He laughed like her refusal of him was the funniest thing ever. Then he reached out to touch her. My vision went white , completely blinding me. I couldn't see anything for a second but I heard screaming. Alena! When the spots faded I found out the screaming wasn't coming from her. My "friend" was running around screaming, with his pants on fire. I jerked my head back and forth. I guess I should have been more interested on why my vision had just conked out but I was more concerned about what had just happened. In that split second something had happened and I had missed it. Alena was laughing so hard she fell out of her chair and was rolling around on the ground , clutching her side. I zone out for a second and the school yard goes into chaos. I reached down and shook Alena. " What happened? How is he on fire?". She set up and wiped the tears from her eyes. " I don't know", she said in between giggles, " one second he was standing there and the next he was on fire. How could you miss it?" I stood up and ran a hand through my hair. Yeah , how did I miss it. He was standing right there. I'm just over-reacting , again. "Mr. Aleksandr!" I heard a voice yell . I looked over toward the school and saw the principle standing next to my " pal" who was completely covered in fire extinguisher foam. " Please come join me in my office." the principle yelled. Oh crap.