This is my first fanfiction. So go easy on me, but I do appreciate reviews! Good, bad, sucky, tell me what you think!
Harvest Moon:
Summary: Vincent Matthew Goodwill is born mute. No other explanation from the doctor other than, "His vocal cords just didn't form. I'm sorry, Ma'am." Regardless of his muteness, however, he grew up to a splendid young boy. His older cousin, Chelsea, is constantly by his side. They played games together, went to parties together, and even studied sign language together with Vincent. When Vincent meets Gray, they become fast friends. Chelsea still showered them with love and kindness. When Vincent is 9 and Chelsea is 18, Chelsea moves away from Mineral Town to start a new life in Sunshine Island. This fanfiction is told from the P.O.V. of Vincent.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. I do not own Harvest Moon nor the characters of harvest moon. The only thing I own is the storyline and Vincent Matthew Goodwill as well as any other OC there are.
Setting: This fanfiction starts in Mineral Town, long after Jack has moved into the farm. He has helped the small town thrive into a bustling suburb where there are hotels other than Doug's Inn, storms and even cabin houses for travelers on the mountains. Later, Vincent ,moves to Sunshine Island where there will be a little bit of change. The town people have no changed so I'm going to make Jack's arrival in Mineral Town BEFORE Rick, Gray (and many of the other villagers) were born.
P.O.V. The P.O.V. may change from third to first, but first person is always Vincent.
R&R!
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"Are you sure you don't want any help with your-"SLAM. Enough was enough. Vincent sank onto his bed with a sigh and looked at his report card, "Congratulations on being valedictorian, Vincent Matthew Goodwill! Have a splendid summer and we wish you the best in your future plans!" It read. Vincent sat back up again and walked towards his study desk ruffling around the drawers looking for thumb tacks or staples. Finding neither, he looked around for his small ball of blue tack. Ripping off two small pieces he tacked the report card onto his wall and stepped back to admire his work, "Another hundred to add to my proof."
After that was done he didn't know what else to do. He was bored. He had finished his classes as of yesterday so there was no homework to be due tomorrow, not to mention tomorrow was Saturday anyways. He didn't want to leave his room. His mother was probably guarding the stairway downstairs to catch him coming out of his room.
Vincent had enough of his mother. She was kind, gentle and very much a good mother, but sometimes he felt that his mother was too much and too good of a mother. He hated it. Everywhere he went, "Where are you going? Be sure to return by 5pm!" 5pm, not even close to the average time other children returned home from their midday wandering around Mineral Town.
"Vincent, it just means I love you. I care for you. You know how special you are." His mother had told him whenever he questioned his curfew. Rick didn't have such a early curfew, neither did Gray or Kai, or whoever. Not to mention, Vincent was 18!
Vincent was born mute. Trent's father, who had helped Millicent birth Vincent, almost died of a heart attack upon Vincent's birth, as did everyone else in the room. "He's not crying! Not crying! My baby's not crying! Doctor!" Grandma had always told me whenever she felt like telling me about my birthday.
"The Doctor almost died on the spot. The baby was not crying and everybody thought you were dead! But no….. my little Vincent was a strong boy! You weren't dead, just not crying. HA! I remember your mother's face." There was no other explanation from the Doctor other than, "Genetics" and "Vocal cords just did not form!" That was that. One Spring 24th, Vincent Jacob Goodwill was born to a single mother, Millicent Jennifer Goodwill. Other than not being able to utter a single word or make a single sound when grunting and crying or laughing, he was perfectly healthy, perfectly happy. Not only was he a healthy little boy, but he was a smart boy as well. Never was there a subject that he did not understand. Vincent graduated high school as valedictorian, top of the class, pride of the family.
One year older than himself was Gray Blacksmith, the grandson of the local blacksmith, Saibara. Gray was a quiet boy and was constantly alone and most probably the grumpiest boy in class. Millicent was introduced to Saibara when she was looking around for a necklace for her friend, Amy, for her 20th birthday. "Look for the an old man." They told her, "best blacksmith in town!" So she did. She wheeled her 11 month old son in and went to look around for a necklace. When she returned she almost died from freight when she found the baby stroller was empty. After a few minutes of searching she came across Saibara's grandson, playing with Vincent. The two quickly became fast friends and at times, when Millicent was out doing her job, Saibara became, not only a blacksmith, but a baby sitter as well.
Chelsea was Vincent's older cousin by 9 years. "Favorite cousin in the whole wide world," Vincent called her. "The best dinosaur and the best princess in all the world too!" he told to everyone. When Chelsea was around, everything was perfect. Everyone was kind. Everything was as it should be. Chelsea left to a new life, outside of Mineral Town, when she turned 18. "I'll come back," she had told Vincent and Gray. "I'll bring back suitcases full of candy and all the action figures you want." Nine years went by and she never did show back up in Mineral Town. She did write to Vincent a couple of times, but her letters abruptly stopped with her last one three years back explaining her marriage to a guy named William and that she was pregnant with what she hoped was a boy and what William had hoped to be a girl.
Vincent sat back down on his bed when he heard his mother ascending the stairs and walking towards his bedroom. She never was one for patience, he thought to himself. He blew a sigh of irritation and curled into his bed, knowing that even if his mother had the keys to his room, she would never bother him if he was sleep. Since he often took afterschool naps to balance out his early morning/late night schedules, his sleeping wouldn't be a strange thing.
Apparently, today was a different story though. Millicent did unlock the door and at the sound of her key's clicking, Vincent attempted to loosen up his position into a more natural and relaxed sleeping position to make it more convincing. Millicent waltz in his room like a queen and shook him, "Wake up! Vince dear?"
"Vince dear" meant she wanted something from him, usually something he would hate her for, "Vince? Vincent? Wake up." Vincent mentally sighed and opened his eyes, "What ma?" he signed. "I was asleep." He tried his best to imitate his early morning gestures, pretending that they felt lead heavy from being too tired in the morning.
"Yes. I know, but this is important." It never was important. Important would be that she finally got the letter from her husband that was proof that he was done with her and that he had divorced her and that she needed to stop dreaming. Important was that she needed him to support him through the divorce process as her dreams fell apart. It never was "important" though. She never let him do anything that was truly important.
Millicent was ignorant. Of the 18 years of Vincent's life, she had never known him to be an "intelligent being." To her, Vincent's muteness was no different from mental retardation. She treated him slow. Nothing could shake her of her belief that her son was "in need of a gentle caretaker" because he may start crying or was so fragile he may break. She considered him to be slow enough that she had once sent in a special education tutor, who didn't come back the next day, "He doesn't need me ma'am," he told her. She wouldn't have it. "My son needs you! He needs a teacher!"
It wasn't until she had gotten mad at her son, one time too random, and locked him in the cellar that Trent came up with the conclusion that she of bipolar disorder with hints of delusion. "She misses her husband. That's all." On her good days, her manic days, she treated him like a living teddy bear, incapable of surviving on its own. On her bad days, she wished him dead. She wished him gone. Whatever day or mood she was in however, she considered him useless. One moment she'd say, "No, my dear love. These letters are important. These letters are too difficult for you to read. You won't understand them. No…no…it's just too hard for you, dear." and the next she would flat out ask him, "What are you? Stupid?," she'd drink herself to sleep for several days at a time until her good side came back. On those days, Vincent stayed with Gray.
"What is it? Can I help?" he always asked that. He had a slight flicker of hope in him that he held onto, Maybe it's actually important and she actually needs me this time?
WRONG.
"I need you to go and dump the trash okay? If it's too hard I can-"
"I'll do it. I'm awake." I smiled, leaping out of bed, "see?" she merely nods and walks out. It was the calm before the storm, the transition from good to bad. Maybe I should head over to Gray's to see if I could stay with him again. See if Saibara would allow me to stay over again. It was usually fine, Saibara pitied him after all, along with half of the villagers in Mineral Town, most of the time they were the mature adults. They pitied him for his mother's behavior, not his muteness. In a sense, they were more of a family to him than his mother in denial.
He grabbed the trash bags around the house, only leaving the ones that were less than half full or were only filled with paper. Heading out of the second floor bathroom he noticed his mother's bedroom. The door was closed. It was only closed on her bad days. Gotta get the hell outta here before hell blows a fuse, Vincent thought to himself. He tied up the trash bags and descended the stairs. Instead of his usual two stairs at a time feat that his mother often scolded him for, he went down the stairs as quietly as possible.
Slipping out the front door he could see that the sun was still high in the sky. It's probably noon. He glanced back at the house. The last time he was out was this morning to get his report card out of the mail and that resulted in Millicent trailing behind him in case he needed to know how to open the mailbox, as if he didn't know from his 18 years of experience. There was no sign of Millicent following him this time. Vincent dropped the trash in the bin and scurried away from the house that was now a time-bomb.
XXXXX
"Gray! It's Vincent!" Saibara called out to the back of the shop where Gray often worked on his own training jobs. Vincent knew Saibara was often harsh and very critical of Gray's work and wondered if Gray had been yelled at today; "That's too thin. The metal will break!" or "That's too thick! The hammer's too heavy!" As Gray appeared from the back furnace, the sour expression on his face answered Vincent's question. "Take a break. It's lunch time anyways." Gray only grunted in response to Saibara's annoyance. He didn't yell at Gray though. He hardly did when Vincent was around.
"Give me a moment to clean up, Vince," and with that he went into the bathroom.
Saibara turned to Vincent, "How are you, young lad?" he asked.
"Mom's about to blow a fuse again. It's the calm before the storm. You can feel it like an old man feels the rain in his bones." Vincent scribbled on a notepad he had manage to find around the house. Other than Chelsea, Gray and his mother, nobody else truly knew sign language. He had seen Gray teach Saibara simple praises but after a few lessons he dismissed it with, "I'm too old to learn a new language." Doug, Elli, and Trent knew a couple of greetings, but nothing they could communicate with Mineral Town's only mute, so they quickly gave up as well, suggesting that him writing it out might as well be a quicker way.
"Ah. I'm sorry lad. If she comes this way I'll tell her I have not seen you."
"Thanks Saibara. I'm going to camp out with Gray again. The weather is nice enough to spend a few days in the woods."
"Come on!" Gray said, his tone laced with anger and attitude, earning him a glare from Saibara. "Gray! This sweet boy is offering you to camp out. Behave yourself. Do you understand?" he asked sternly. Gray only nodded and with a grip almost as painful as a lobster's, he dragged the brunette out of the blacksmith.
The first few minutes of the walk towards Doug's Inn was silent. It wasn't an awkward silent. It was pretty common. One of mute the other was fuming, and usually grumpy and silent on the average day anyways. Knowing Saibara was the reason his best friend was angry, Vincent skipped the "What's wrong?" question and went right on to "Too thin or too thick?"
"TOO. !" he growled, kicking a rock. Vincent gave out a laughed, almost a soundless laugh. "He means well." He signed. That was something he told him every time Saibara was disapproving of his work. "Besides aren't all masters harsh to their apprentices?"
"Blah. He's not a master. Just a mean, senile, old man." He said kicking another stone. He glanced at his best friend, "You?"
"She'd gonna blow. I'm thinking of staying away from like…a good two weeks." I grinned. "Camping? For two weeks?! Gramps is gonna kill me." Vincent shrugged, "Camp as long as you can and for the remainder I'll…" Vincent gave a good deep though into that.
Gray smacked his shoulder, "Lighten up bud. I'll camp for a week. That's more than enough time to think of a place to stay." Vincent nodded.
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At Gray's place, Vincent watched as his best friend looked for his usual absurdly large green camping bag. Vincent having the notepad helped by making a decent checklist of the things they needed. "Water, food and snacks?"
"Check."
"Tent kit?"
"Check."
"Flashlight? Matches?"
"Check. Check."
"Mattresses? Blankets?"
"Check."
"Fishing poles?"
"Got that too."
"Then we're set," Vincent grinned.
Bounding down the stairs of the inn, Vincent almost toppled down the stairs. Doug looked up from his spot at the counter. "What's the rush boys?" he eyed the large bag Gray was carrying, "Going camping again?"
"Yep! We're heading to the woods near the hot springs. It's perfect and according to the weather channel, perfect weather." Gray answered. Doug sighed and came over to Vincent patting his back, "Please take care of our little Gray. He can be a bit trouble sometimes," and with a wink he disappeared into the kitchen. Gray rolled his eyes, "Whatever."
"He's teasing."
"Don't care. Come on!"
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They set up camp in the woods south of Mark's farm and by 5 o'clock the tent was up and the fire was going. Marshmallows and chocolate were being passed between the two as they ate their before dinner snack. With one hand busy holding the stick of sweets to the fire, Vincent was not able to sign and resorted to writing again.
"Congrats, again, by the way." Gray said, poking another marshmallow onto his stick which already held about 5 of the fluffy candies. Vincent looked up and tilted his head for a second, his gesture for "speak more."
"For being first. For being top notch in brain power dude!" Gray said smacking Vincent in the back enough to make him choke. Vincent returned the smack, only to the back of the head and a lot less harder than the smith, "Trying to kill me?" he wrote. He looked at the paper before adding in, "but thanks. I tried hard for that. See? Those long weeks before summer vacation that I never hung out with you was worth it eh? Straight A's!"
"What did angel-devil say about that?" Angel-devil was their code name for Millicent.
Vincent shrugged, "Straight A's from me is no different to Straight F's to her. She didn't even care. Went straight on to asking if I needed help with putting my report card on my wall." After a moment he went on, "Sometimes I feel like she isn't bipolar or anything. Just vicious. Just using the word "bipolar" to mask her intentions. She told me I was the reason for Tyler's disappearance." Tyler was Vincent's father and the husband of Millicent. Gray rubbed Vincent's back, "I totally believe that. She's delusional."
"That's what the doc said."
"Being cheated on and doesn't' even know. Every sign in the world and every person in the world knows Tyler's a player, everyone but her."
"I know." I wrote and then added, "You know…she's been refusing her medicine lately."
There was a moment of silence after that and Vincent watched his marshmallow melt off the stick. He tossed the half charred stick into the fire and laid his head on Gray's shoulder. He sighed, more tired than ever. "Gray…I'm scared of what Millie will become."
XXXX
Blink, Scott and Devin Buggles were the bullies of Mineral Town. They came from a rich family. "Too rich to be in a place like Mineral Town," Gray had once said. They were the worst of the worst. The scums of the earth and all they knew how to do was pick their nose and spit on the ground walking down the streets. They dressed themselves in brand named clothes and polished their hands clean. "Smooth skin is the skin of lazy people." Saibara had once said. He had shown his own hands afterwards to Vincent and then Gray's hand. Saibara's hand was rough with years of hard work and Gray's was getting there as well.
Their parents were no better. Just as the three brothers sat around, spoiled rotten, their parents merely sat on their beach chairs 24/7 as their balance books and wallets got fat. "Money rolls like smooth rocks and pebbles down a mountain. Money is all that matters." Mr. Buggles had once said. Vincent swore that if you cut open their veins money would flow, rather than blood. "Money and butter," Gray corrected him. The Buggles were fat enough that the local movie theaters, restaurants, and other seated facilities needed to order special two seated chairs for both of them. Scott and Devin were no different. It was Blink everyone feared the most. He was 267 pounds of pure muscle and his fists were the size of a small grape fruit and his knuckles hard as rock. He threw rocks at Barley's cows and Rick's chickens. He threatened to kill May and Stu in their sleep if they didn't surrender their dolls over to him. He didn't play with them. He merely set them on fire and threw the ashes at them. He wasn't a fake bully either. He wasn't one of those bullies from the movie who had fought with their empty threats rather than their fists. No. Blink was the definition of scumbag, evil, and dangerous. He had a criminal history of robbery, attempted and failed, with and without weapons. He had beaten people into comas and with every crime came a heavy bail in which each were easily paid by his parents. The only person who intimidated the boy was Millicent on her bad days, in which Vincent wasn't the only victim. He didn't know whether to be relieved or scared of that fact, however.
The Buggle brothers caused trouble wherever they went. Whether it was at Jeff's grocery store, the doctor's, the church or the poultry or barn stores, the results were always something of the lines of destruction and/or violation of private property or robbery. The town was small, even if it was a bustling tourist attraction. Harris and his new apprentice, Arnold, alone couldn't handle the three.
In the town, the worst usually came from the stores, but at times, the worst was when school was out for good for the summer vacation and Vincent was free of school property. As the town's only mute. He was as easy of a target as anyone could get. Gray stuck by his younger friend as much as he possibly could, but the teen smith had to work on his career too. "I'll be fine." Vincent often said. "I'll be fine," often ended up in a black eye accompanied with about five to six other bruises and a broken rib or two. The worst part was Millicent. She changed from manic to anger in an extremely predictable way. It was easy for the Buggle brothers to figure out when to stay away from Vincent's home and when to ambush him. They knew where he went, half the times, and the best of their work; they hid their evidence like top ranked villains.
That's why Vincent and Gray weren't surprised to see the three of them standing outside of their tent on the fourth morning of their camping trip.
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"What the fuck do you want from us, Blink?" Gray sneered. Vincent crawled out, sleep still threatening to drag him back to the mattress in the tent. Only, the sense of panic overcame all of that and in an instance his panic became anger. Blink followed him here. He followed the two of them into the woods. I knew it was a bad idea to come here. I knew it! Just damn knew it! Goddess protect me…and Grey…
Vincent let out his own menace. Despite him being a couple inches shorter than Grey and the Brothers, he still gave out a menacing aura, all 5 foot 5 of him. Knowing one of the reasons he was constantly on top of Blink's hunting list was his "funny little hand signals," he didn't dare sign to Gray, but rather, with a few exchanged glances they were able to communicate. 17 years of friendship did that.
We're pretty deep into the woods.
Yeah so?
So how'd he find us?
He's a stalker.
I thought so too. What do we do then?
What else? Gray you know you can't fight anymore!
Vincent knew that fighting meant a couple of broken bones. Blink wouldn't kill them. He was the cat of a cat and mouse chase and Vincent and Gray were his toys. Nobody liked their toys broken. Elli could always help patch up a few broken bones and bruises later on. Trent would most definitely lend a shelter to Vincent if he was too wounded to go anywhere, especially to his mother who was most definitely in her rage state as of now.
Who he was worried about was Gray. He was already in hot waters with Harris from last time. While Harris was a nice person, he had to do something and could not ignore the law breakers. Blink got away as he usually did and Harris let Gray off with a warning, "I'm sorry Gray." He had said, "I have to. Just don't cause any more trouble." Gray had gripped both of Vincent's wrists to prevent him from signing or writing and all he said to Harris, as his friend writhed, was "I got it. Sorry Harris." That was the worst day of his life, because on that day Vincent had started the fight with Blink, not the usual other way around. He had used his second strike of the year and one more meant that he would either be charged a hefty fine or "arrested" for a week or so. While there was no official jail in Mineral Town, there was house arrest or community service. There might be a small fine, but small was only so small. With the girls and Mark being the major source of customers for the blacksmith, who made jewelry and refined farming tools, Saibara didn't make too much.
Vincent heard the sound of knuckles cracking and glanced at Gray just in time to see his blur as he rushed forward. Then his wrist started to hurt…
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Well there's the first chapter. My apologies if you found it bad. It's my first. This is part 1.5 out of 2 of Vincent's past and in the next chapter there will be some sort of life transition or something like that.
Sneak Peek?
"Why? Why must you?"
"There's no other way. Plus, Blink never targets you. Just me. It's better this way. A new life for me. A better chance for you."
"Please don't do this. Saibara will understand. I'm sure he can take you in as well."
"No…Gray…I promise…I'll be back."
"That's what Chelsea said!"
"I'll be back. I'll be back." I handed Gray my bracelet. "I'll be back to get that from you. It's a promise."
