This is a weird one. In honor of the winter season, I suppose. I wanted to do a cute little one, but my strange mind brought forth this instead :P

This takes place in the new timeline, where Grima's been killed. I don't know how old they are; teenagers, I guess.

Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem.


Lucina felt awful. She'd caught a cold the day before, and was confined to her room. There was a state banquet going on downstairs which her family was obligated to attend, and so she'd been left alone all evening. Lucina didn't particularly mind; she was too tired to talk. All she wanted to do was sleep.

However, she couldn't sleep, for the simple reason that her nose was completely blocked.

For the past hour, she'd been tossing and turning, trying to find a comfortable position to fall asleep in. Unfortunately, when she lay down, she couldn't breathe at all. Trying to breathe from her mouth irritated her throat and made her cough. Trying to blow her nose gave her a headache, and the different concoctions she'd been given were proving useless. The only thing offering some measure of relief was to sit up straight, but since she could hardly sleep that way, she was forced to lie awake.

Lucina whimpered, tossing her head restlessly. She couldn't disturb her parents, and she didn't feel up to going around trying to find a healer. She was banging her head against her pillow when the door creaked open.

Lucina sat up eagerly to see who it was. Her face fell when she saw Inigo peering in.

"Whad're you doing here?" she asked.

Inigo entered, pushing the door open all the way in. "I heard you were sick," he said. "I wanted to come see you." He rubbed his chin. "But I was told you were asleep."

Lucina coughed, shaking her head. "I can'd sleeb," she said thickly.

"Blocked nose? Yeah, that happens to me too," Inigo said, nodding sympathetically. "I usually try-"

Lucina cut him off, by sneezing thrice in rapid succession. Inigo winced and handed her a handkerchief. She blew her nose loudly, then broke into a coughing fit.

"Whoa, you're really badly off, aren't you?" Inigo said, after it was over. "Can I do something for you? Get you some milk? Some medicine? I tell you-"

"No, no, id's alrighd," Lucina said, covering her face with her hands. A part of her was panicking over how sick she was, but the other part couldn't get over the fact that Inigo was watching her coughing and sneezing and generally be disgusting. She fell back onto the bed, pulling the covers up to her face and praying that her cold would just go away. Her nose only got worse, and she whimpered.

"It's really bad, huh?" Inigo asked, concernedly. "Anything I can do?"

"I can'd breadhe, Inigo," Lucina said, miserably. "You can'd do anything about dad."

"Breath through your mouth," Inigo urged. "The more you panic, the worse you'll feel. Believe me, when I was little, every time I got a cold my nose got so stuffy I could barely talk. Just try to relax and take slow breaths."

"Isd't working," Lucina said, scowling.

"It will. Lot's of people are mouth-breathers," Inigo said.

"I can'd," Lucina said, a tear running down her cheek.

"Hey! Don't cry!" Inigo said quickly, alarmed. "What you need is a distraction." He thought for a moment, then clapped his hands. "Hey! How about I tell you a story?" he said. "That's what my mom used to do. She used to sing to me when I was sick. Got my mind off of it."

Lucina shrugged. Her mother had used to do that too, back when she and Cynthia had been little. She guessed it couldn't hurt.

"Well, let's see," Inigo said thoughtfully, pulling up a chair. "Hmm. Well, once upon a time, there was a young man…"

Lucina watched him ramble on. At first, her mind kept focusing on her nose, but eventually, she found herself listening to his tale. It was a silly little story, about a wandering minstrel who came across a lovely young girl disemboweling a bear. Soon, her eyes fluttered shut. Inigo, who'd come to a very exciting part about the girl's guardian finding them and trying to roast the minstrel, stopped and gazed at her. Her mouth was slightly open, her nose red, but her breathing was even and it was clear that she'd fallen asleep. Inigo smiled and patted her cheek.

"Good night, Lucina," he whispered, slipping out of the room.


Please review! :D