Whoo, another bad story. This should be better than my Kranna love story. I can't do romance too well. Too bad. So, anyway, please review, or I'm not going to continue this for very long.

A/N UPDATE: I revised this to take care of a plot error. It kind of...messed up the story. A lot. SORRY!

Everyone in Folia knew her. She was beautiful, graceful, and compassionate; the epitome of perfection. All the women envied her, and all the men ogled her. She had gorgeous silky black hair that reached down her back, and light blue eyes that mirrored whatever she saw. She always had a smile on her beautiful face, which went well with her seldom-heard voice. She enticed people with a sort of silent charm.

Everyone in Folia also knew her son. He, too, had that silent charm, that strange beauty, that grace. While they were equal in manner, however, they were opposites in physical looks. The boy rarely smiled unless he was trying to charm someone into helping him. His hair hung in crimson spikes over his face. But his eyes were what scared both children and adults, making him too strange to be accepted by the people. His eyes were chestnut brown, but they had a hint of red to them, the same as his hair. If he looked directly at a person, they had the impression of being examined by a higher being.

Yes, everyone in Folia knew Lacey and Kratos Aurion.

Rumors were rampant about the pair. The implications that she had left her husband, that he was nothing more than the punishment for her wrongdoing. She had shown up in the village carrying the baby boy in her arms, with no one else. Any visitor knew they didn't belong. Almost everyone in Folia had blonde or brown hair; they clearly looked nothing like the rest of the townsfolk.

Kratos had no friends at his simple elementary school. He was lessons ahead of the rest of his age group, inviting ridicule from other children. However, when punches flew, even if his foe was older, Kratos came out the winner; thus, no one got into physical fights with him.

Lacey ran an inn to keep the tiny family fed and clothed. Her son helped to keep the records straight, despite the fact that most children his age went out to play in the snow after school hours.

The two lived quietly in the background, always a topic of wonder for the villagers, until Kratos' twelfth birthday. The boy never had a 'normal' party. The only thing different about it than any other day was that Kratos wouldn't show up at school and his mother had one of her maids run the inn for the rest of the day. They would disappear, leaving the island that was just south of the Flanoir mainland, and return to the town without any presents or souvenirs.

On Kratos' twelfth birthday, they were packing for their usual trip. Kratos was staring out the window at the kids chasing each other in the snow, knocking each other down, throwing snowballs. He sighed, thinking of how much he hated his birthday. Every year, his mother found some excuse to drag him away from Folia. This year, she wanted to teach him to swim. She said that he didn't have as many opportunities to learn these things as the other kids. And every year, when they got to wherever it was that they were going, she would meet up with the same man and talk with him, all the while trying to divert her son's attention. He was never fooled.

The man was tall, a good deal taller than she was. Other than that, Kratos had no idea what he looked like. He always wore a hooded cape, keeping his face covered. The only thing Kratos noticed was the fact that he always greeted his mother with a hug, and that he always was close to her.

He wondered if she had a boyfriend. He didn't mind. He'd often had dreams about a father, someone to laugh with, to goof around with. The only problem he had was that every year, seeing the man reminded him that he was, and always would be, fatherless.

"Kratos?" Lacey called in her musical voice. "Dear, we should be going now. We'll miss the boat." He sighed again, hoisting a false smile onto his face as his mother came into his tiny room. It didn't fool her. "Honey, is something wrong? You look like-"

Kratos never did find out what he looked like because, at that moment, his mother screamed and fell to the ground, writhing in pain. He ran to her, trying to hold her still as she twitched and screamed. Suddenly, she stopped and turned on her side, vomiting and coughing up blood. Thinking quickly, he took off, running down the stairs and out into the bitter cold. He paid no attention to the fact that he had no coat or shoes as he raced through the snow, getting strange looks and giggles. He stopped when he reached the doctor's office, a tiny building that seemed miles away from his home.

The doctor was an old man who'd treated both Kratos and Lacey before. He didn't see them as any different from any other patient. Kratos burst through the door, calling for the doctor.

"My, my, what's wrong, my boy? Usually, you're gone by this time on your birthd-"

"My mama is coughing up blood!"

The old man froze. Then he said, "Well, boy, we haven't got much time, have we?"

The pair ran as fast as they could towards his house. However, it was slow going as the doctor wasn't the most agile of people. They finally made it there, pushing through the crowd of people who had heard Lacey scream and were converging on the house.

"Move!" Kratos yelled. Although the scream had stopped long ago, he was afraid that his mother might be in pain. He led the doctor up to his room, where his she lay covered in her own blood.

The doctor had Kratos gather blankets and pillows, as he thought it would be unsafe to move her. He checked her heart, her throat, and her lungs. Finally, he sighed and let her lay there, shivering and still vomiting blood, this time into a bucket Kratos had gotten.

"Young man, we have to get her to Flanoir. I don't have the proper equipment to treat her here. Hurry, go to the dock and stop the next boat before it leaves. I'll send for one of the stronger men to carry her to the boat."

Kratos nodded, only half aware of what was happening. It seemed like a dream to him. He ran out of the house, barefoot once again, and sprinted to the docks. The boat was still there.

"Hey! Hey!" he screamed, trying to get someone's attention. "Hey! Don't leave yet!"

He was in luck. One of the sailors stopped and let him talk. They promised to hold the boat for another hour. Kratos ran back, meeting one of the men who worked in a mine carrying Lacey. They set the two up in a tiny room with a cot and left Folia. All the way to the mainland, Kratos talked to his semi-conscious mother.

"Don't worry, Mama," he whispered. "When we get to Flanoir, they'll heal you. It'll be fine."

"Kra-Kratos…" her voice was faint and weak. "Sweetheart, I lo-love you."

"Don't talk!" He paused, then said, "I love you, too, Mama."

"Dear, if I…leave you, go to Meltokio. Find a man named Benjamin. He'll explain it all to you and look after you." She then stopped to shiver and turn on her side.

"Mama! Don't talk like that. We'll get you to Flanoir and get you better. I promise."

Lacey sighed and closed her eyes. If it hadn't been for her breathing, Kratos would've thought she was dead. He sighed and curled up by her feet, feeling himself falling into a dreamless sleep.

"Hey! Hey, kid, wake up!"

Kratos opened his eyes to see a burly man standing above him, holding his limp mother in his arms. "Good, you're awake. We're at the Flanoir mainland. We sent someone to bring a protozoan to carry you guys through the snow to the hospital." He nodded to the stairs that lead to the deck. "They're waiting for you. Hope she gets better." With a nod, the man departed with Lacey, Kratos scrambling to follow.

As they stepped into the swirling white mass, he became painfully aware of the fact that he had neither coat nor shoes. He sighed and found his way to the protozoan that awaited him. His mother was laid gently in a covered cart hitched to the animal.

The ride to Flanoir was short and cold. The man who'd come to lead them to town didn't say a word to Kratos until they reached the hospital, at which point he said, "Here we are. I'll get her inside."

The man lifted Lacey and took her into the hospital. Kratos climbed off the protozoan and landed on his now numb feet. He ran into the hospital as fast as possible, just in time to see his mother whisked away on a gurney by a person he assumed to be a doctor.

"Hey! Where are you taking her?" he questioned angrily.

"She has blood in her lungs. They have to get it out," a young woman in a white uniform said kindly. "Don't worry, son, she'll be out soon. Why don't you just wait here until she gets back?" She gestured to an uncomfortable looking chair beside her.

Kratos sat down and waited. And waited. And waited. After what seemed like an eternity, the doctor came out of a door and spoke to the uniformed woman in whispers. Kratos waited impatiently in the chair, recalling what he'd always been taught about interrupting adults. The woman sighed and kneeled down to the twelve-year-old's eye level.

"Where's Mama?" he demanded.

She sighed. "Your mother is…fine, for now."

"For…now? Is she going to get better?"

"Sweetheart, your mother isn't…going to get better. She's been poisoned, and we don't have an antidote. …You should go see her."

Kratos ran past her and tore down the hall. Why was she poisoned? How? The questions bounced around in his head. He finally saw her, lying in bed in one of the many rooms. He rushed in to find her awake.

"Mama! You're okay!" he yelled. But he fell silent when he saw her face.

She looked oddly peaceful, but not in a good way. The eerie happiness made Kratos want to run back to Folia, or farther. But he shakily approached her.

"Mama, the doctor said you were…poisoned?" He asked it with false hope, as if the doctor was playing a joke on him.

Lacey nodded and pulled her son in a hug. "Kratos, my baby, listen to me. I'm not going to be around for very long. You have to do what I say. First of all, I've told the doctors to check you for the poison. I want you to be safe. Secondly, don't worry about money. I told them what I'm going to tell you now."

She sighed, just as her son always did. This time, however, the sigh brought a stream of blood out of her mouth into a bucket by the bed. Kratos went to call a doctor, but his mother held him close.

"Kratos, listen to me. I have to tell you something. I know that you've noticed that I spend time with a man outside of Folia. I want to tell you who Benjamin is."

Kratos closed his eyes, still held by his mother. Now came the part when she would confess that she was in love with this man.

"Kratos, Benjamin is your brother."

His eyes snapped open. Brother? No, he had no brother. No father, no brother. How could he have a brother, particularly an older one, one he could've mistaken for her boyfriend? It wasn't possible.

"Years ago-" She coughed up more blood. "Oh, my. I have to make this quick, don't I?"

"No…" Kratos felt the tears roll down his face, into his mother's hair. She couldn't be dying, she was going to live, to get better. He buried his face in her hair. "Mama, no…"

"Listen carefully. This is the shortened version. Years ago, I was married to an important man. I don't want you to know who he is. I never want you to meet him." Kratos listened, not really understanding.

"It was an arraigned marriage, and I didn't love him. But, I went along with it, because I was young and poor. I married him, lived with him, stuck by him even when he did some of the most horrible things. We had a child together, a boy. That's Benjamin. When he was fifteen, almost sixteen, I got pregnant again, this time with you." She sighed. "That's why I ran away. Your father had turned Benjamin into a soldier of fortune, a man whose whole life was sin. I didn't want my other child to be like that, so I left. Benjamin contacted me a year later. He said he'd changed his ways and wanted to see you."

Lacey stopped to cough some more blood out. Kratos moved to allow her to reach the bucket. She smiled, despite the fact that she had tears in her eyes and blood in her mouth.

"Benjamin knows who you are. He's been watching us this whole time. Every year, I take you away so Benjamin can see you. He warned me that your father knew where we were and that he wanted me to pay for embarrassing him. I wasn't scared. After all, I thought, what could he do to me?"

Kratos held her hand and sat next to her on the edge of the bed. "Mama, who is he? I'll get him! I'll have him give me the antidote-"

She shushed him and shook her head. "Oh, Kratos, you shouldn't know who he is. You're better off without him in your life. But, I do want you to find Benjamin. Please. He'll watch out for you. Go to Meltokio and find him. There's some money in my coat pocket." She motioned to the bloodied coat in the corner before letting go yet another cough, this one much more violent than the last ones.

Kratos walked over and reached into her pocket. He pulled out a dark green pouch that held more money that he had ever thought they had.

"Mama, where'd this come from?"

Lacey chuckled darkly. "Well, now, you didn't think I would just leave empty-handed, did you?"

He put the money in his pocket and returned to his spot on the bed. "You're going to die. Soon." He felt like crying again.

"Don't be sad, my love. I'm going to a much better place, and you can take care of yourself for a while."

She coughed again, and this time much more blood came out. Kratos felt tears coming to his eyes again. She sighed and fell back onto the bed.

"Does it hurt?" he whispered.

She hesitated, then said, "Yes."

"I love you, Mama."

"I love you, too, Kratos. And promise to tell Benjamin I love him, too."

"I promise."

She moaned a little, and then her eyes closed and her breathing stopped. Kratos cried beside for a few moments before the woman from the entrance came in.

"Oh, dear. Come on, darling, let's get you home. Where do you live?"

Kratos didn't want to go back to Folia. He had no home left, not without his mother. And he'd promised to pass on a message to his brother.

"Me-Meltokio." His voice was hoarse from crying. He looked up and saw, through his tears, his last glimpse of his mother's body, being wheeled into a dark room.

"Mama."