Sophia POV

Opening my eyes, I immediately scrunch them shut against the sunlight streaming directly into my eyes. I try to move my hand over my eyes, but something, or someone warm, is holding it down. Squinting, I find a mop of brown hair I've missed so much not hidden under a giant mage's hat.

"Ricken?" I whisper, wiggling my fingers and trying to wake him up. Not getting any response but him turning his head in his sleep to face me, I resort to pulling my hand away from his grip. Now freed, I can't resist the urge to run my fingers through his soft hair. "Wake up, sleepyhead."

He smiles without opening his eyes yet. "I would say the same to you, but then it wouldn't be quite so nice to hear, and you wouldn't be brushing my hair for me."

I yank on his ear lightly, just enough to make him look at me. "And I would pull your ear anyway."

He gives me a cheeky grin. "Well, Robin will be happy to hear that you're finally up."

My eyes widen, and I try to sit up, but my arms flop under my own weight. "Wait, where is she?! Is she alright?!"

He immediately helps me to sit up, and grabs a full glass of water on the table next to my bed. "She's fine, and is in a meeting with the Khans and Chrom, discussing tactics with them for how to best smuggle soldiers into Ylisstol without Plegia finding out."

I frown, taking a sip of the cool water, faintly tasting stone in it. "We're in Regna Ferox?"

He nods as I drain the glass. "Yeah, in Basilio's territory, just to keep us farther from the border with Ylisse, in case they send search parties into Flavia's territory for you."

"They will never get me back alive." I pass back to him the now empty glass, which he places on the table once again. "How could they do all of this to me? Don't I already have enough to live with?"

Ricken sighs tiredly. "Look, Sully and I are leaving the Shepherds, and Chrom plans to punish them for falling to old prejudices after gaining your trust. But I don't want you to think about it anymore, everyone will be so happy you've returned to us." he smiles, then stands up. "I'll be right back, I'm gonna go tell them the good news!" He pauses, then presses a light kiss on my cheek, face turning red as he walks out the door.

I feel my own face burn at his actions, and lift my hand to the spot on my cheek, happy that Ricken still cares so much for me.

The door opens a moment later, and Lucina dashes to my side, pulling me into a delicate hug. "I was so worried about you!" she whispers into my ear, and I lift my arms around her as well.

"Thank you, Lucina." I whisper even more quietly in her ear, and she tightens her grip on me ever so slightly before moving to sit next to my legs on the soft mattress. "How long have I been asleep for?"

She grabs my hand and smiles sadly. "You woke up midafternoon, so techinically thirteen days, but everyone else will call it fourteen days. You were given a lot of healings and potions to try restoring your strength, which kept you asleep so much longer." She lifts one leg up to the bed, wrapping an arm around her leg and resting her chin on her knee. "The others will hopefully be done with the meeting soon, and then they can finally be assured that you are fine."

"Lucina, I don't know how much more I can take of this. I've done so much bad, and so much more good, yet it never seems to make anything any easier." I pull my hand away from her. "What should I do? I'm so lost."

She leans forward and wipes my cheek with her finger, and I catch a glimpse of something glimmering on her hand before she pulls my head to her shoulder. "You just have to do what you think is right, and if that doesn't make you feel any better, just keep doing more, so that at least others will benefit."

I blink and pull away from her, and she looks at me with such understanding that I know she suffers just as much as me, but in a different way. She stays with me, and we talk about how the ride north was for them, learning about the blizzards and paths they took to avoid Ylissean patrols and search parties. An hour passes, and I laid back down at some point, resting my head on my pillow, when the door opens with a loud slam. Lucina is on her feet in the blink of an eye, drawing her sword, when it's revealed to be Basilio and Flavia.

"Whoa Marth, ease up, we're just excited!" Basilio laughs, making Lucina smile and put away her blade. "So, Sophia, feeling any better?"

I nod at them, unwilling to sit back up from my spot in the warm blankets. "Much, thanks."

Flavia grins wolfishly, giving me some concern. "Great! Then you'll join us for dinner in a couple hours!"

"Wait, did I forget somethin' Flavia?" Basilio scratches his head, looking deep in thought.

"You great oaf! How dare you forget something like that?!" She grabs him by the ear and drags him to the door. "I gotta take him to the market, he needs to figure something out! See you at dinner!"

"Woman!" Basilio shouts at her, "Release me! I know how to get to the market!"

I roll my eyes, and look at Lucina. "Noisy Khans, isn't this an infirmary?"

She smiles a bit at my comment and the truth of it. "Yes, but this is Regna Ferox. Either go all out and be crazy or don't bother, right?" She then frowns. "I honestly thought it was kind of funny, but… aren't you amused by them?"

"Mildly entertained would be a better expression. I used to live here, so I'm a bit used to it." I raise an eyebrow. "Why do you ask?"

She shifts uncomfortably in her spot. "Well, it's just that… you haven't smiled, not even once since I came to keep you company. You always smile at the weirdest of things, and that had even me smiling."

I shake my head at her. "It's nothing, I'll be back to the way I was eventually. I just need time."

She looks doubtful, but nods in agreement. "If you say so, Sophia."

Robin POV

I finish tying off the black ribbon on the package wrapped in yellow paper, then add the note under the big bow on the top of the box. "I really hope she likes this." I whisper to myself. I then pick it up and leave my room, heading for the dining hall, where the Khans, Chrom, and Sully are already seated, and a small pile of boxes in front of the seat meant for Sophia, all colorfully and neatly wrapped gifts waiting for her to discover.

I take my seat to her right, between where she will sit and Chrom, who takes my hand under the table. "She'll love this. After all, I'm fairly sure we planned this fairly well for being a last minute surprise dinner."

I smile at him, squeezing his hand. "I'm glad she woke up on her birthday, so we could celebrate on the actual date."

The door opens again, Marth and Ricken supporting a still fairly weak Sophia through the doorway. She stares at the gifts for a second before we all shout, "Happy Birthday, Sophia!" Her eyes widen, and her jaw drops, before the ice in her eyes melts, and she gives a huge grin.

"It's today?" she whispers as Ricken takes over, guiding her to her seat and placing his own small gift onto the pile. "Thank you so much!" she leans over, hugging me with all her strength, which really isn't much.

Chrom chuckles next to me, and gestures to the gifts. "As much as I am sure you want to open these, I have a feeling you'll be wanting a solid meal first."

At the mention of food, her stomach rumbles loudly in agreement. As she blushes, she joins us in laughter, and Marth picks up the gifts and sets them all a few seats down the long table. Basilio is the first to calm down, and yells, "Let's have some dinner then!"

A couple of servants dash out of the kitchens, carrying plates of baked potatoes, roasted duck, and rice to each of us. Sophia gasps as she sees what's being served. "You remembered my favorites!"

Flavia smiles contentedly, and picks up her fork. "Of course we would, after all you were the best student we had. And you wouldn't let us do this last time, so we kept it on our minds. Dig in, everyone."

In a clatter of cutlery, we all dig into the fresh meal, and I have to wonder who they have cooking the food here, because it is the best. The duck is nicely cooked, and has a very sweet but slightly spicy honey glaze, and the rest of the food is the perfect portion for each of us, leaving plenty of room for seconds and dessert. Sophia doesn't make it to seconds like everybody else, but who knows how often she was fed and what her stomach can handle right now.

Finally, one of the servants brings out a tray with a small cake, covered with chocolate frosting, and the words 'Happy 14th Brithday Sophia' iced in blue on the top of the cake with pretty sugar flowers. I take the serving knife and cut a piece for her first, making sure she has two of the flowers, then serve everyone else. The cake turns out to be a two layered cake, the top vanilla, the bottom chocolate, with a strawberry filling.

Halfway through eating her cake, Sophia looks up to the Khans. "Thank you." She whispers, then looks back down, tears in her eyes.

I put a hand on her shoulder, rubbing it slightly. "What is it? Why are you crying?"

"Mother baked me a cake like this one when I was little for my birthday once, and… I guess I just wish she and Father were here." She whispers to me.

Ricken grabs her hand and rubs circles into her palm. "They wouldn't want you to cry, I'm sure. Just thinking of them would be enough to have them here." He then turns back to his cake, although he keeps a hold on Sophia's hand. "So, let's just enjoy what you have here, okay? You still have all of us."

She smiles again, and we all finish our cake. Once all of the final crumbs have been cleaned off of the platter by Basilio and Chrom's eating contest (and Chrom calls Ricken immature, hypocrite), we move down the table some so that Sophia can open her gifts while the table is being cleared of all the plates.

She opens a rather bulky box wrapped in white paper with a navy blue ribbon tied in a rough bow, and finds a finely crafted black leather tome carrier, filled with brand new tomes of dark and anima magic, stamped with her name on the inside and with magical symbols to protect the bag and its contents from any kind of damage or wear. She turns to him with a new light in her eyes, and he offers her a hug, murmuring something along the lines of her always running off without a way to carry tomes.

The next box she grabs is a long, thin box wrapped in red paper with a silver bow slightly better than the one on Chrom's gift. She opens it to find a lovely new cape, made with an outer layer of tan leather and bronze trimming the edge, and the underside outfitted with sleeves made of fine cotton and lined with several pockets. She finds a couple of Elixirs and a small deck of cards in the pockets, as well as sheaths for her knives. Sully grumbles that it also is lined with a light chain mail and spelled to protect the wearer in heavy combat.

She reaches for a small, flat green wrapped box with a brown ribbon, opening it to find a small booklet, opened to find drawings of various landscapes and cities, then various animals in the next section, finding a portrait of every person present drawn in perfect detail at the end of the book. Ricken blushes, saying that he had been unable to think of anything to draw until we arrived here, then decided to show her the world without the need to travel to see everything.

A long box wrapped in dark gray paper and a cream ribbon is next, opened to reveal a matching sword and dagger set, in identical leather and metal trimmed sheaths, looking ordinary at first. Sophia draws the dagger to find an inscription, reading aloud, "'There is always a way to start again.'" She then draws the sword, finding it to be etched with flames and shimmering with the colors of flames at different angles. She looks around, trying to figure out who gave these to her out of me, Flavia, Basilio, and Marth.

Basilio sighs, and grins at her. "I thought that it would be pretty neat, and you have been traveling so long that I thought it to be a fitting gift."

She nods in thanks, then we all realize that there are only two more boxes on the table, but she doesn't seem to care, reaching for the box furthest from her, wrapped in a shimmering silver paper with red ribbons in an elegant bow on top. She opens it to find a polished wooden box, opening that to find a new dagger to match her current set with an expensive weapons cleaning kit, stocked to clean her weapons for at least three years, if not slightly longer. Flavia raises her chin, proud of herself. "Only the best for you, kid, you deserve it."

Blushing, she finally gets to my gift, opening it to find a series of books of maps of the world, charm making guides with sample charms, and books on healing, complete with a variety of brand new healing, rescue, and fortifying rods. She stares at me, and I smirk slightly, seeing the awe and confusion showing in her eyes. "You mumble in your sleep, and mentioned other branches of magic. And don't think I haven't noticed you watching the healers everywhere we go."

She pulls me in for a massive hug, stronger than before. As I pat her on the head, she whispers, "Thank you, Robin. This is the best birthday ever."

Marth clears her throat. "I didn't bring my gift here, because it's actually not finished being made yet. I'll have it tomorrow afternoon though."

Sophia smiles, and then yawns. "I'm tired."

Ricken looks just about ready to burst at this. "You've been asleep for how long, and you're still tired? We haven't even gone to the library yet!"

She rolls her eyes as Marth helps her out of her seat. "Exhaustion does this. You'll be back up and about soon though, just take it easy until your body is back into a waking routine again."

Okay, enough fluff so that the future things I bring up make more sense for everyone, mainly cuz I don't want to be blamed for later confusion and other stuff that ensues on your end. I hope you enjoyed, so please leave any reviews and comments you make be itching to leave me.

I do not own Fire Emblem Awakening.