Disclaimer: I don't own any of them (except maybe Rufus' mother and the story itself).

A/N: I found this story the other day in my writing journal. They were originally written for a challenge and the theme was angst/tragedy. I chose to make the themes into one story about Rufus dealing with the loss of his mother. He's about 9 at the beginning of this story. The chapter names coincide with a theme from the challenge. Some of the stories are a little shorter then others, but it goes along with the story.

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When he heard the door close in the main room, Rufus dropped the toy he had in his hand and ran to the door. His mother told him that she had somewhere important to go and that he had to stay home. To Rufus, this was unusual since his mother preferred having him with her at all times. Even though a Turk was with him, just as there was one with her, she preferred knowing the whereabouts of her son at all times.

Rufus ran into the living room, the Turk on duty following behind him. When he got there, he stopped dead in his tracks and stared at his mother. He had never seen her without a smile on her face. Today, she looked very sad, almost like the worst thing possible could have happened.

'Mom? Is something the matter?' The youth asked, 'How come I had to stay home and not go with you today? Did you get me something? Or did I do something wrong?'

Elizabeth Shinra snapped herself out of her sad state when she heard her son's voice. She didn't want to overly worry him. She had always been sure to be happy around him; seeing her like this would lead him to believe that something was very wrong.

Not that there wasn't something wrong but she didn't want to dump it on him like this so soon. She wanted to sit down with him and talk about it quietly and try to get him to understand what was going to happen.

Smiling, she walked up to her son and hugged him. 'No sweety, you didn't do anything wrong. I did buy you something though, well kind of anyway.' She went and retrieved the bag by the door and gave it to him. 'It's a new toy for Dark Nation; I thought you'd like to give him a new toy.'

Rufus smiled and pulled out the toy from the bag. 'Thanks mom! I'll give it to him later.'

'Why later? You don't want to play with him right now?' She was hoping that Rufus would go play with Dark Nation. It would at least give her some time to try to think up an explanation that he would understand.

Rufus shook his head. 'No, not right now. I would like to know why couldn't I go with you today first.'

Elizabeth sighed and shook her head. She knew that Rufus would keep asking her until she told him why. Once he wanted an answer to something, he didn't stop until he got it.

Reluctantly, she nodded at her son. 'Alright Rufus, I wanted to talk to you about it after but I guess it's ok to tell you now.' Looking at the two Turks in the room, she addressed each of them. 'Rude, Tseng, could you both wait outside please? I would like to speak to him alone.'

Both Turks nodded, one understanding her request, the other confused. When they were outside the suite, Rude turned to his boss. 'Do you know what she's going to tell him?'

Tseng nodded. 'Yes I do, and I sincerely hope that he'll be able to deal with this without falling apart.'

Realisation hit Rude in that statement. 'She came back from her physician, didn't she.'

'Yes Rude, she did.'

'It wasn't good news, was it.'

'No Rude, it wasn't.'

Rude let the matter go and made himself comfortable on one of the chairs in the hallway until they were asked back into the room.

Rufus watched the two Turks leaving, slightly confused as to why his mother would send them away. She usually didn't mind if one or two of them, especially the two that she just sent out, stayed in the room with them when she talked with him.

'Why did you send them away? There's something wrong, isn't there, and you want to tell me about it alone.'

Elizabeth sat on the sofa and motioned for Rufus to come join her. He walked over to his mother and sat on her lap, waiting for her to talk to him.

'Yes Rufus, something is wrong and I'm not sure how to explain it to you.'

'You can just come right out and tell me, don't run around it. What's the matter? Where did you go that I couldn't go with you?'

'I went to the doctor today. I didn't want you waiting outside in a stuffy waiting room so I decided to ask Rude to keep you company at home.'

Elizabeth could tell that Rufus was working what she said in his head. Even if he was only 9, he was very intelligent and usually figured things out pretty quickly.

'Did you tell the doctor that you still feel sick a lot?'

His mother stared at him in shock for a moment. She thought she managed to completely hide her illness from her son. 'How did you know that I feel sick Rufus?'

'Because you look sick mom. That and I've heard you get sick too.'

'Oh, I'm sorry sweety, I didn't mean to have you hear me. But yes, I told the doctor that I still feel sick a lot.'

Rufus looked up at his mother. 'He either told you that you're going to be sick for a while or you'll get sicker didn't he.'

The fact that he was able to figure it out so fast didn't really surprise her.

'Yes, he did.'

Rufus hung his head, 'Are you going to still be sick, or get sicker?'

'I'll get sicker Rufus. He promised me that he was going to make sure that I felt good enough to take care of you as long as possible.'

Rufus was smart enough to catch on to what his mother meant by that statement. 'You're going to die aren't you and he can't help it can he.'

Elizabeth stared at him for a few moments then put her arms around him and pulled him close. 'I didn't quite want to put it that way, but yes honey, I am.'

Rufus hugged his mother and they stayed that way for a while. Elizabeth was expecting more questions about her illness from him, like how long before she died but she didn't get any. When she looked down at him, she understood why, he had fallen asleep in her arms. She quietly got up and laid him on the couch, gently wiping the tears from his face, then quietly watched him sleep. After kissing him gently on his head, she went back to the door to tell the two Turks that they could come back inside.