A/N: This is my first completed fanfiction! It's just a little oneshot I thought up on a whim, but I hope you enjoy! Please read and review, your feedback would definitely be appreciated!
Disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon.
Envy
The church was quiet. Carter loved the quiet. The calming silence, and the peacefulness that accompanied it.
Warm sunlight filtered through the stained glass windows of the church, casting a soft glow over its interior. Carter could see the specks of dust that floated in the sun's rays, and the flickering flames of the candles lining the walls.
He glanced up at the beautiful windows that bathed the room in shades of various colors. Most of them depicted water in some form, from vast, tranquil lakes to small, swiftly flowing streams to powerful frothing waterfalls.
Some pictured sunny hillsides and meadows dotted with wildflowers in bright red and yellow hues. A few pictured serene woodland scenes in every shade of green, from deep forest green to a light, leafy green.
However, his favorite stained glass window stretched across the back wall of the church, the largest and most magnificent window of all.
It portrayed the Harvest Goddess in all her natural beauty, rising up from the gently bubbling waters of her cool forest spring. Her lovely jade green hair was set in two elegant buns, one on either side of her head, and a long braid lay gracefully down her back, nearly brushing her feet.
Her light blue gown, almost white, flowed around her body like a river, capturing the essence of moving water perfectly, while her eyes sparkled with the brilliance of emeralds.
Carter loved to gaze upon her divine portrait, hypnotized by her ethereal beauty. If only he could meet the Goddess in person someday. Oh, how he longed to glimpse her gorgeous heavenly form!
For years he had visited her spring out in the woods, bringing offerings of flowers and fruits, but his efforts had been in vain. Despite his undying loyalty to her, not once had the Harvest Goddess ever appeared to him.
Sometimes he thought he heard her voice, speaking to him in a lovely musical tone, thanking him for his devotion to her. But he was unsure as to whether it was real, or simply his fantasies getting the better of him.
Sighing, Carter turned from the window and left through a back door into the dark of the church's confessional. One of his jobs as Mineral Town's sole pastor was to listen to the villagers' confessions, and then grant them reconciliation.
Minutes later, he heard the front door of the church creak open, and steady footsteps made their way across the hardwood floor into the confessional. Carter cleared his throat and sat up a little straighter as the door was pushed open and a figure entered the dark room.
To his faint surprise, it was the brown haired farmer Jack, who very rarely visited the confessional. In fact, Carter could only remember one other time, when Jack confessed to him that he had littered in the road after catching a few old metal cans while fishing off the pier. He had been forgiven immediately- after all, everyone makes a small mistake like that sometime in their life.
Jack entered the room and sat down hesitantly, giving a little cough before speaking. "I… I want to confess something."
"What do you wish to repent for?"
"I… I want to… I would like to marry the Harvest Goddess."
And that's when Carter snapped. "Wh-what!… You say you want to marry the Harvest Goddess? Th-that's blasphemy! You cannot marry an immortal goddess! It is a sin! It… she… the Harvest Goddess will never forgive you! Ever!"
Startled by Carter's sudden angry outburst, Jack fell backwards out of his chair and scrambled to get back on his feet. He staggered out the door as Carter fumed behind him in the dark confession room.
Carter, meanwhile, could barely contain his rage and frustration. "That little son of a Kappa! How could he? Marry the Harvest Goddess? That's preposterous! Marriage to the Goddess is a sin, one that cannot be forgiven! The nerve of him!"
He took a deep breath to calm his temper, when a small voice entered his thoughts. 'Yes, marriage to the Harvest Goddess is a sin, as with any other immortal, but is that the real reason behind your anger? Or is it something else? Perhaps you, too, are capable of sin?'
Suddenly, his anger evaporated, to be replaced by a feeling of sadness and confusion. 'How did Jack do it? Did he see her, did he speak to her? How could he have captured the heart of the Harvest Goddess, when I have failed? The Goddess- why does she not appear to me?'
Mystified, Carter set out to the Harvest Goddess's spring, searching for answers.
At the Goddess Spring, a graceful waterfall splashed into the crystal clear waters of a pond, surrounded by the trees and wildlife of the forest. Further down the trail lay the Hot Springs, where many villagers would come to bathe and relax. At the moment, it was deserted.
Carter ran up to the Goddess's pond and collapsed before it, tears in his eyes. "Harvest Goddess! Please, show yourself to me! I…I love you! I have always loved you! Why do you keep away from me?"
The pond was quiet, but for the pounding of the waterfall. Carter hated the quiet. He wished to hear something from his Goddess, anything, but was left with no response.
Frustrated, Carter yanked a flower out of the ground nearby and threw it into the pond as an offering, but still the Harvest Goddess did not show herself.
Giving up, the pastor angrily tore himself from the spring and left the way he had come, pain reflected in his eyes. 'Jack… this is all his fault! That wretched farmer will have to pay.'
Beyond the waterfall, a pair of beautiful emerald eyes watched him leave with pity, for they were already in love with someone else.