"Hey-o, Morgan!" Henry casually greeted as he walked up to his son. It was early in the morning, but it was no shock to find Morgan studying over some tomes; he wanted to be a great tactician like his mother, but was also proud of his Dark Magic roots from his father. His attention shifted from the tomes to his father, a warm smile already on his face. "How about you and I do something?"

Without any hesitation, Morgan closed the tomes and rose to his feet, ready to bond with Henry. "You bet! What are we going to do?"

A sly grin spread on Henry's cheeks. "I'll tell you when we get there."

Since Morgan's arrival, he and his mother already bonded, but Henry was having trouble finding a way to bond with his son. In many ways, Morgan was like his father, but in many ways, he also was not. For instance, Morgan did not like the sight of blood and gore, and this baffled Henry. How could someone not like blood and gore, especially during a war? Not experienced in the Dark Arts enough to handle the more potent spells, Henry had tried helping Morgan with that, but Elena was unsure if he should be handling such powerful magic. She took all the fun out of things anymore, it seemed. Regardless, Morgan loved spending time with Henry when they could.

Through a dense forest, Morgan followed Henry, talking all the while about things he had learned while studying and such. He talked about Owain, how he was both crazy and hilarious and their budding friendship; he felt guilty for forgetting about Owain, for they had been best friends before coming to the present, but much like everyone else from the future, Owain shrugged it off and helped him in his efforts to gain his memory back. Used to Ricken's constant talking, Henry listened patiently to his son, whom was just as bubbly as his mother. While they walked and Morgan talked, it appeared that Henry was looking for something. He would bend down around trees and shrubbery, look around for a moment or two, then stand upright and continue walking. In due time, Henry reached down and gently grabbed something off a tree and showed it to Morgan.

"This," he said, "is what we're looking for."

"A centipede?" Morgan asked, examining the black creature with hundreds of tiny legs. "Oh, are we bug-catching? I love bugs!"

Ah, something he did not get from his mother. This would be perfect.

"Neat-o!" Henry grinned. "But, we're not bug-catching! We're gonna play a little prank-a-roo on your mother."

"With a centipede? How so?"

"We're gonna put it in one of her tactical books!" Henry exclaimed excitedly.

"That is not a good idea, Dad," Morgan quickly pointed out, his face contorted in fear. "I recall Mother hating bugs."

"That's the idea!" Henry cupped the centipede in his hands. "Maybe us doing something like this together will trigger something in that head of yours! I'd say you and I got into loads of trouble doing stuff like this, nya ha!"

Morgan's look of fear changed to humor. "Yeah, maybe so! You're a genius, Father!"

"I know," Henry grinned. "Now, let's get back to camp."

When they returned, they waited behind a tent with Henry as the watcher for Elena to leave her tent. It was around this time every day that she would go and talk to Chrom about tactics and war, and Henry never followed her there; that stuff bored him nearly to death, and that was not a joke. When she left, they waited until she was for certain out of sight and entered her tent.

"Which book is Mother reading right now?" Morgan questioned Henry.

"Ooo, this one!" Henry said as he grabbed the book and opened it. He put a twig in it. "Don't want to squish you, Mr. Centipede!" he smiled as he placed the centipede in it afterward. He shut it, and then he and Morgan walked out of the tent, sniggering the whole time. Unexpectedly, they heard the flap to Elena and Henry's tent open, and when they turned around, Morgan nearly fell over when they saw who walked out of it, Elena's tactical book in her arms. All laughter stopped.

"Noire!" he called out to her, trying to hide the nervousness in his tone.

Noire had been one of the newest recruits, and she was the product of Tharja and Virion. She was a beautiful young girl with her father's silver hair and her mother's looks. Capable of fighting and used a bow, but she had a weak constitution and would get sick often, leading those in the Shepherds to keep a close eye on her. Also, it was known that she was not very outspoken, perhaps due to her mother. It was known, however, that Noire was terrified of bugs- including butterflies, and certainly centipedes.

She looked over at Morgan, Henry standing behind him, what she thought to be his usual smile on his face. What she did not know was that the smile was ridden with uneasiness. She made her way over to the two, Elena's book hugged closely to her chest. Morgan had to get that book from her, no doubt about it.

"Hello, Morgan. And Henry," Noire greeted meekly. "I just saw Elena heading over to talk to Chrom. She sent me to get her tactical book."

"Great!" Morgan squeaked. He coughed in embarrassment then straightened himself. "Uh, I can take that to her. Save you the trouble."

"Oh, it's no trouble. I was heading that way to get some breakfast, anyway," Noire smiled at him. Henry could have sworn to see Morgan's cheeks blush at Noire's smile. "I'll talk to you la-"

"Let me take it!" Morgan yelled, catching Noire off guard. She jumped back and held the book out in front of her, as if it were going to protect her. "I… uh… I mean, I insist."

"Aren't you spending time with your father, though?" Noire asked. "I wouldn't want to intrude."

"We're done for the day," Morgan speedily replied. "I'll just be taking the book now."

"You're being really weird," Noire pointed out, poking her head over the book. "Look, it really is-"

She froze in mid-sentence, and her eyes drifted from Morgan to her hand. Instantly, they widened in the utmost terror as she looked at the centipede which crawled from the book onto her hand. Henry's and Morgan's faces visibly tensed up as they watched her entire body shake, her mind taking in the fact that her worst fear was on her hand. Then, a shrill scream filled the air.

"CENTIPEDE!" She threw the book to the side, where a very unfortunate Vaike and Maribelle happened to be walking. The book crashed onto Vaike's head as such a force, he knocked him into the barrels he was walking by, leaving an extremely confused and upset Maribelle to give him aid. "GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!"

Morgan ran to her, concerned for her. He reached to get it, but she would not be still long enough for him to grab the bug. "I- oof!" he grunted as one of her flailing arms slapped against his cheek. "I'll get it, but you've got to stop moving!"

"And I'll stop moving when you get it!" Noire protested, much to Henry's humor and Morgan's aggravation. The centipede crawled up her arm and onto her chest just as Morgan went for it, so naturally, he missed. Noire's screaming intensified as she stared at the centipede, which then crawled down into her cleavage. "G-GET IT OUT!"

"I can't do that!" Morgan cried out, his cheeks a vicious red.

"Sure ya can!" Henry instigated, merely standing by and watching the spectacle with a laugh the entire time.

"You're not helping, Dad!" Morgan fussed as he glanced back at his father. Just as he looked back around, Noire fainted onto the ground. By this time, all of the Shepherds were coming into view to see just what all the commotion was all about. Virion and Tharja ran through the crowd and to Noire, and Elena and Chrom ran up to Henry and Morgan, exasperated looks on their faces. Vaike came to, and Maribelle helped him to his feet; the book had left a huge pump knot on his forehead, and a bruise was already forming. All eyes were on Henry, Morgan, and Noire as Tharja examined her daughter. An irritated sigh escaped Tharja's lips as she reached and pulled the centipede out of Noire's cleavage and held it up for them to see.

"Idiot girl," Tharja fussed. "How could she let something such as this affect her so?"

"Remarkable," Virion exhaled, relieved that it had just been a mere bug to have caused the problem. "We all know of her trepidation for these sorts of creatures. How did this happen?"

"I think I know how," Elena spoke, frustration in her tone as she crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at her husband and son. "Well? Am I thinking correctly?"

"Yes," Morgan submissively answered, his head hung. Henry merely stood by Morgan's side, a smile on his face.

"What do you have to say?" Elena prompted.

"We're sorry for causing such a commotion," Morgan quietly apologized.

"Henry?" Elena darkly called, pressing him to apologize as well.

"Yeah, what he said!"

"HENRY!" Elena fussed.

"Okay, okay! I'm sorry."

"Ugh," Elena moaned as she rubbed the bridge of her nose. "I'm so sorry, everyone."

After everyone had resumed their tasks from before the incident and Vaike and Noire taken to the infirmary, Elena gave both Henry and Morgan a stern talking-to about them scaring Noire so. Then, after she was through, a laugh erupted from her, and she had to turn away from them so they would not see her laughing. While it had aggravated her greatly that the two had planned the trick for her and poor Noire had been caught in the crossfire, she could not help but to find the entire ordeal hilarious. Innocent bystander Vaike always had a knack for catching books to the head, it seemed. Maribelle had to have been angry at them, and she would be certain to have Henry apologize later since it was his idea to begin with.

Elena and Chrom returned to his tent to discuss tactics and battle, leaving Henry and Morgan alone together. Morgan's head was still bowed in both chagrin and defeat. Worried that his son may be upset with him, Henry nudged him with his elbow to get his attention.

"Yes, Father?"

"Sorry for getting you in trouble, kiddo," Henry spoke. "If you want, I'll curse them all to have colds for a week. Sound good?"

Morgan let out a chuckle. "No, it's okay. Don't do that."

"This wasn't exactly what I had in mind for bonding time." The smile on Henry's face was almost forced. Morgan could tell he was getting frustrated, and he hated that. Henry was trying so hard, but it only came back to bite him. "I'll have to think harder."

"What? No, don't say that! This was fun!" Morgan laughed. "Heck, even us getting into trouble was fun, too!" He hugged Henry, and they both could feel the warmth of the embrace. "Thanks so much, Father. We'll have to do this again- er, minus the getting into trouble part."

"Maybe next time, I can call on my crows!" Henry beamed.

"I said minus getting into trouble…" Morgan sighed. Just then, an intense pain jolted through Morgan's head, causing him to cry out. Alarmed, Henry began to examine his son.

"What's wrong, Morgan? Did someone curse you? I'll hex them to smithereens!"

"No," Morgan winced. The pain eased off, and he looked into Henry's eyes, an affectionate smile on his face. "I just remembered something about you. When I was little, you and I would go catch bugs all the time. My favorite bug to catch was fireflies, and you would catch them and put them into a lantern for me. Later during the night, I would release them, and the whole place would light up." He closed his eyes at the fond memory. "Mother loved it when we did that."

"Awesome," Henry laughed. He rustled Morgan's hair. "I'm glad you were able to remember that. And you did it without me having to curse you!"

Several hours later, Noire awoke in the infirmary. Morgan requested that Maribelle tell him once she did, and she kindly did so. Elena and Henry noticed him slipping out of the mess hall, and they knew he was going to check on Noire. Curious, they followed him to do a little spying on what he would do or say. It was no secret to the both of them that Morgan found Noire to be quite beautiful, and he became flabbergasted whenever she was around him. They watched him enter the tent, and they huddled down beside it to listen.

Morgan could feel tiny beads of sweat pop up on his forehead as he saw Noire lying on the bed, a hot cup of tea in her hands. Guilt washed over him for putting her in this place, and he could only anticipate that she was not too upset with him. Libra was in the tent at this time, and when he saw Morgan enter, he took his leave, allowing the two privacy. When Libra left, Noire turned her head and looked at Morgan. Her face lighted up in a smile, and this caused Morgan's apprehension to dissipate and a smile appear on his face as well. He made his way to her, pulled up a chair beside her bed, and sat next to her.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Much better now," she replied. "I'm so sorry, Morgan. Everyone said you and Henry got in a lot of trouble."

"What are you sorry for? We were the ones who put the centi-"

"Eww, don't remind me!" Noire cut him off.

"Haha, sorry," Morgan chuckled. "Anyway, I'm glad you're doing better."

"Thank-you," Noire nodded. All of a sudden, her face reddened, and her eyes transfixed in horror. "Oh gods! I just remembered! I asked you to get that thing out of my…"

Morgan felt his cheeks burn, but he retained his cool. "Don't worry about it. You were just scared. Just know I would've never done it." He laughed briefly. "Father is such a jokester. He urged me to. Did you hear him? I think he wanted me to get slapped."

Elena cut her eyes at Henry, whom tensely smiled at her. "You did what?" she whispered.

Noire smiled. "You're really sweet, Morgan."

Morgan's blush intensified. "N-not at all. Anyone would have done the same." He then cleared his throat and urged the blush to disappear. "So, have you always been that scared of bugs?"

"Gods, yes!" Noire shuddered.

"But why? They're harmless! Not to mention really cool!"

"Maybe for you," Noire laughed as she poked Morgan's chest. "I'll tell you what's cool about them. Nothing! Gross!"

Morgan let out a chortle; Noire's fear was not something to laugh at, but for some reason, she was making him laugh. "Oh, hey!" he piped up as a brilliant idea crossed his mind. "I got it! I'll help you get over your fear of bugs."

"What?" Noire asked, confused. "I don't think you understand just how bad it is, Morgan."

"No, I understand. I saw it firsthand, remember? You can't be afraid of bugs your whole life. They're all over the world. Sooo, I'll help you."

"Think it'll work?" Noire wondered aloud.

"Of course it will!" Morgan beamed. "And I'll be with you every step of the way!"

Henry let out a sigh. "Looks like I'll be catching a hex of a lot of bugs now."

"Looks like Morgan has a crush," Elena giggled. Her eyes rested on Henry, and the fond memories of when they first met filled her mind. Almost from the start, she had been smitten with him, and she could recollect when she had held back the revelation as long as she could. Almost unable to bear it anymore, she was ready to tell him when he revealed his feelings for her. And now, they were witnessing their child go through the same emotions they had felt almost a year ago. She wrapped her hand into her husband's as they stood up and walked away to allow Morgan and Noire full privacy.

"Just so you know," Henry piped up, "I can have my crows watch them. Saves us time and the chance of us getting caught."

"Henry-"

"I know, I know," Henry smiled as he leaned in and gave her a kiss on her cheek. "No crows."