Family – A Tales of Symphonia Fanfiction.

It's been too long since I posted, so here I go. It can be read as slight Kratos/Yuan but mostly it's brotherly affection. This time I just wrote because I wanted to, not because I promised Frosty a fic.

Disclaimer: I always forget this. I don't own Tales of Symphonia or any of the characters. I own a copy of the game which I play obsessively, that's all.

I was howling like a little kid. My eyes were streaming and I was shaking all over. I was pathetic. I could hear the shouts telling me to run, but my legs wouldn't obey. I closed my eyes, waiting for the blow.

Unexpectedly, I felt myself getting yanked backwards out of harm's way.

"Yuan! Move now!"The harsh tone jerked me out of my fearful reverie and I turned and sprinted, gaining speed by the second until I felt like I was flying.

At first I was running blind, completely unaware of my surroundings, seeing nothing but my home in flames, my mother in tears, my father telling me to get out, hearing nothing but my ragged breathing, still sobbing and the gasps from my best friend, forcing air into his lungs.

I don't know how long or far we ran before he stopped, catching hold of me to stop me sprinting on through the dusk. I spun around, throwing myself forward, ignoring the warnings that had been drummed into me from an early age.

You're already a half elf so you can't afford to have any weird things about you. People are going to hate you at first anyway. You mustn't ever give them a reason to hate you. That means no matter what goes through your head you don't act too smart or too dumb. You don't try to date girls but you act interested in them. And no matter what, you never ever show any affection to another guy. You're already a freak Yuan. Don't give them a reason to suspect you could be gay too.

For once, those words didn't matter. I was too afraid to care; I just clung to him and cried like a baby. I've never really touched him before. Not because of what my parents told me, but because I knew he wouldn't like it. He didn't like to be touched.

This time, I really must have looked a sight, because he held me tightly and whispered that I would be okay.

"How can you say that?!?" I demanded, suddenly angry, "My home is burning as we speak. My parents are probably dead; maybe if they're lucky they've been captured as mine slaves. It was me they came for. How the hell can you promise that I'll be ok!?!"

"Because I won't let you not be ok." I stopped dead. His red eyes were burning with rage. My mind finally clicked, my parents lived north of town, and he lived south of it. It was the middle of the night. We hadn't arranged anything. The only reason he was here tonight was because he came to protect me.

"How did you know?" I whispered, trembling again. He paused briefly, seeming to be considering things carefully.

"I heard Noishe. He was very unsettled. I got up and went to my window. Even from there I could see the flames. Only one family lives all the way out there."

He seemed startled when I lost control again and pressed close to him again. After a moment a little of the tension left him and he hugged me back. As my mind became clearer I realised that I shouldn't be hugging him. Guys weren't allowed to hug other guys.

I mumbled as much as I tried to squirm free. He seemed thoughtful and I watched him. Suddenly I was struck by a realisation that made me feel sick. I was only twelve, just starting to become aware of relationships on a "romantic" level. Kratos was fifteen, going on sixteen. For all I knew he had a girlfriend. It wouldn't be the first time he kept something from me. He's kept bigger secrets. And here I was hugging him. Once again I was the freaky little kid who still, after seven years, I suspected he only hung out with out of pity. After all, there was no way in the world that he'd let me hug him like this for any other reason.

"Y'know, you're wrong." He told me bluntly. I stared at him in confusion.

"For one thing, my Dad says that people who say you can't love someone the same gender as you are as stupid and prejudiced as those who hate half-elves. For another, you're allowed to hug someone if they're part of your family." This all made a satisfying kind of sense... except...

"But we aren't family."

"Mom once told me that everyone has two families. There's one family that you're born with. Sometimes you don't love them or like them, but you get them without trying or asking. Then there's a family that you choose. That's a family that never dies, because as long as you're alive you can keep finding new members."

"Am I a part of your chosen family?" I asked curiously.

"You're my kid brother, okay? That means I protect you when you're going to get hurt and you come to me when you're sad or scared, or even just lonely." I stared up at him, feeling a warm glow spread through me.

I always knew that my parents cared about me, but I also knew that they were ashamed of me. This was different from the unconditional love of a parent. This was someone choosing you, over everybody else, to be part of their family, because they cared about you. It felt warm and safe and special. It made me feel like I belonged.

I looked at the trickle of smoke left in the sky. It was going to be a lot of years before I could let myself remember my home and parents without screaming, but I could do it. I wasn't going to give up and die.

Who knows, as I get older I might end up with a big "family." Maybe, thanks to my "big brother" I'd one day be an uncle. I giggled at the thought. Kratos looked at me curiously, but let me be. I followed back to his home, my new home.

A/N: Hmm... The endings a bit weak, but this was my best attempt. The two of them are more OOC than I'd normally write, but it's because they're so young. They haven't come into contact with the war directly yet, so they're a lot more innocent. I'm going to write a companion to this in Kratos' POV, although that may end badly...

P.S. Okay... I just checked for the fun of it, but the actually story is exactly 1,000 words long... freaky.