AN: here's the next story! BEFORE YOU READ: please read Onyx, it has her background so you won't be confused.

Bleeding Hearts

Once, long ago, there was a war among the humans. The war was terrible and bloody; it was as violent as it was sickening. The war lasted for many years until one night a mortal woman sent for her husband to come home, as she was due to give birth soon, and for him to be safe on his journey. This was, incidently, on the night of a new moon and so it was the goddess Onyx that heard of her predicament. Curious, she decided to see for herself what was happening to cause the woman's distress. She shifted shape into a collected looking young woman with a wise friendly air to her, people would trust and respect her from the moment they saw her face. Arriving at the barracks she was drawn into the midst of a battle.

"Halt!" she shouted, "Why must you fight? You gain nothing but bodies to be buried and more grief."

"We fight to bring vengeance for those that have been killed," said one particularly brave soldier, "We know of nothing else."

"The longer you fight, the more you lose. The more you lose, the more you fight. It's a never-ending cycle." Onyx looked around, distraught and disgusted at the scene. "If you cannot remember the reason you are fighting in the first place, perhaps you could grieve together as brothers? End this or you will have to face the wrath of the gods."

All the soldiers were gravely frightened and dropped their weapons. Onyx approached the woman's husband and spoke.

"Your wife requests your presence for the birth of your child." The man smiled and walked off to gather his things, on his way he was congratulated by both sides. Onyx addressed the remaining soldiers, "You wish to remember those lost?" she questioned, "There is a better way than senseless killing. Remove their hearts from their corpses and plant them in the ground. Do not walk on the sown earth for a full year and on the same day of the next year you will find a plant growing. Plant the seeds from this plant in your gardens."

The soldiers did as told and when the plants bloomed in their gardens the flowers were the color and roughly the shape of the hearts carved from the bodies of their brethren. They referred to the plant as the bleeding heart and continued planting them in gardens all over Greece to remember the war and those they had lost.

AN: hope it was better than Onyx... I had a lot of fun writing it... please review!