Sumia was waiting anxiously at the castle gates as only a mother could. Clumsy or no, there was no stopping her from rushing to her daughter's side when she came through. She so rarely stopped by anymore. If it were not for Morgan, she doubted if she would come by at all.

"Lucina, dear," Sumia stepped back from her hug to look her over, "Are you feeling okay? You look pale."

"I didn't find him," Lucina replied, seemingly ignoring the question.

"I'm sorry," Sumia sympathetically pushed some of her daughter's hair out of her face, "Why don't we get some tea? We could catch up."

"Sorry, but I was going to meet with Morgan and see where I should go next."

"Oh, I see," Sumia frowned at the admittedly expected response, "You've been running yourself ragged."

"I'm used to it," Lucina replied all too casually, "It's the least I owe him, Mother."

"I understand that, but Robin wouldn't want you to sacrifice your health. Dear, you're burning up."

"I-I," This at least got Lucina to stop, "I can manage."

"Then why are you shivering?"

Lucina clutched her arms and looked away, "I'm used to pushing myself."

"Lucina," Sumia grabbed her daughter by the shoulders, "You're like your father. You almost never get sick, but when you do, it's serious. You've weakened yourself by all this non-stop searching."

"Are you going to detain me?"

Sumia sighed at her daughter's stubbornness, "No, but, please, at least consider spending the night. I know Morgan would like to spend some time with you."

"She should get to spend time with her father," Lucina replied as she walked away, causing Sumia to sigh once more.

"Lucina. It's not your fault."

"Wow, um, are you feeling okay?" Morgan asked as Lucina walked, or rather stumbled into her office. Morgan was busy coordinating the effort to find Robin. As much as she wanted to go out and help find him, her skills were well suited to working behind the scenes.

"Nevermind that," Lucina tried to force a very weak smile, but it was offset by her pale complexion and profuse sweating, "Where should I go next?"

"Bed, it looks like," Morgan, usually the cheerful one, was not smiling. She knew her mother was working herself to the bone trying to find her father. She did not know the full story, but she knew it was partially due to guilt as well. Try as she might to get Lucina to rest a little or spend some more time with her, her mother was persistent in getting a new location to search.

"Morgan, please."

"You can barely stand," The young bluenette pointed out the obvious as Lucina clutched the back of the chair across from her daughter, "Mother, I want to find Dad too, but you can't find him like this. Please, Mom, for me?"

"Morgan, I'm doing this for you as well," Lucina panted as her vision swirled, "I-I…you should have a father. He was your world. I…I…so tired."

With that, Lucina collapsed. She vaguely heard Morgan calling out for her as her chair fell over, but she could not formulate a response before her world went dark.

Lucina awoke sometime later in her own bed. It took her a few moments to realize as much though both from the delirium and fact she had not used this bed in months.

Slowing down a second to catch her bearings, Lucina quickly realized that she felt absolutely awful. Her head hurt, her stomach lurched, her clothes were drenched in sweat, and her vision still swirled somewhat. However, fighting through all of that, she noticed a mess of blue hair on the side of her bed stirring.

"Mmm," The younger girl looked up with strands of hair still sticking to her face, but her expression immediately brightened upon seeing her mother was awake, "Mom! You're awake!"

Lucina felt distinctly unworthy of the hug she was receiving, but her lack of reciprocation did not seem noticed. Morgan at least did not noticeably react if it was, "How long was I out?" Her voice sounded unfamiliar with just how gravely the words came out."

"A couple of days. The doctor says you'll be okay, but you'll need rest."

"Two days," Lucina tried to force herself up, to little avail, "I lost two days."

"Hey," Morgan gently replied, "You only got this sick because you pushed yourself too hard. You can't find Dad if you collapse three feet out the door."

"But I…"

"Please, Mom, for me?" Morgan put on the biggest puppy dog eyes she could muster, and it finally broke Lucina's will.

"Very well, but the moment I am able, I intend to be looking for him again."

Morgan smiled sadly for a moment before the cheerful mask took its place, "Alright, stay put. I'll go get you something from the kitchen. I think they were having ham!"

As her daughter left her alone, Lucina frowned before looking up at the ceiling. How long would she be unable to look for Robin? She was not the type to enjoy sitting idle, not when there was work to be done.

Morgan sighed as she rolled a coin back and forth on a table waiting for her mother's next meal to be finished. Her mother was not doing particularly well. She had gone from hardly ever there to shut up in her room. Chrom and Sumia had tried talking to her, but she would not let them in. It took a decent amount of pleading for Lucina to finally agree to allow Morgan in.

What she saw every time she delivered the meals was less than encouraging. She was still bed ridden and often mumbling to herself. Morgan only picked up bits and pieces, but none of it was particularly pleasant.

Morgan wanted to help her, but even as the only one Lucina would allow inside, she was unable to get her mother to open up to her. It pained her to see her mother like this. After everything that had happened, she wanted her mother, but instead she got a heroine who did not know when to take a break. Morgan loved her mother, but she felt powerless to help her.

Snatching the coin up, Morgan stood with determination. She was no quitter. Now was no time to mope. Her mom needed her. She would just have to keep trying to reach her. After all, Robin would not want to find her in that kind of shape when he got back, so she would do this for both of them.

Running out of the room, she was determined to do something, however, she quickly ran back into the room realizing that she had forgotten the food.

Lucina was laying on her side holding the covers and framing her face. Her eyes burned, but she did little but stare at the wall and think. She hated that. There was a reason she worked herself to exhaustion nearly every night since Grima's defeat. Kept her from having to think unpleasant thoughts.

Now, it seemed she had nothing but unpleasant thoughts as she whittled away valuable time in bed, but she supposed that she had no one else to blame but herself. Ironic, Robin had insisted she take better care of herself, but here she had been neglecting her health trying to find him. She decided she would rather he scold her once he was safe with her.

Assuming he would even want anything to do with her. One of her last memories of him after all was her pointing a sword at him. The past week had been filled with nightmares. About half of them were about that day. No wonder he did what he did after she had threatened to kill him.

Whether he survived or not was supposed to be predicated on his bonds with those around him. Yet, here she was, his own fiancee, and how many times had she told him that she loved him? She would not blame him for thinking she hated him despite how strong her feelings truly were.

While she expected to sulk a bit longer, the door to her room slammed open with considerable force, startling her. Of course, it was her daughter. She was really not in the mood to see anyone, but once she started begging, Lucina did reluctantly start letting her into her room. She normally knocked first though.

"Mother! It's a wonderful day out. Do you want to go for a walk?"

"Not today," Lucina retreated deeper into her covers causing Morgan to puff out her cheeks.

"Come on, you've been holed up in here for almost a week. I want to spend some time with you."

This did manage to get Lucina's attention as she rolled over to look at her daughter, "Why?"

"Um, because you're my mom? Do I need a reason?"

"But don't you see? How can you not blame me for losing your father?"

"Blame you?"

"I," Lucina froze for a moment before proceeding to explain what happened after their escape from Plegia Castle. The whole time she could not bring herself to look at her daughter for fear of the anger and disgust she expected to see. However, she found none of that when Morgan finally spoke.

"Mom, you were scared. Logically, it would have made a degree of sense."

"But I turned my sword on the man I love!" Lucina was barely holding it together at that point.

"But you couldn't do it. He knows that. Coming from someone as determined to stop Grima as you, that means a lot."

"Even still, I should have been more affectionate with him. What if…what if he didn't survive because our bond wasn't strong enough?"

"Of course it was strong enough!" Morgan stood up with determination, "Father knew you loved him, just like I know you care about me. You might not be the best with words, but no one I know loves their family as much as you do."

"Morgan…"

"And just cause we haven't found him yet doesn't mean we can give up hope! Maybe he's just farther away. We never knew where he'd show up. I've been working on a theory, so, please, mom, don't give into despair. You would always say how hope never dies. I don't blame you so neither should you."

"I believe the exact line is 'Hope will never die.'" Morgan grinned as did Lucina, "Very well. I shall hold onto hope."

"Great! And when you're better, we can go look for him together."

"But what about your efforts here?"

"Well, the plans are mostly done for Ylisse, and the others are close. We can start looking together."

Lucina smiled softly, "Very well. I could use the company."

A/N: Well, may not continue that story. May stick mostly to occasional one shots for a while. I do have a potentially sad idea for one.