Another new story? GASP! Yes, fanfictioners, you've heard right; I've got a new story on the horizon! This one is about Angela and the Wizard. I really like writing from his point of view, so be expecting quite a few updates for this story soon! I'll also be happy to take suggestions for this story, as I don't know exactly where I'm going to go with it. Soooo, if you've got any suggestions/feedback/compliments/critiques that you would like to give me, please review! The more reviews, the faster I update this story :). I hope that you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon.

Gale took a sip from his coffee cup and sighed. Being the appointed "fortuneteller" in a town filled with hormone crazy teenage singles was definitely not the easiest job in the world. 'Read his heart for me!' 'Tell me what she likes the best!' Gale considered himself to be a patient man, but the questions just never seemed to stop; he couldn't help getting a bit exasperated by the daily throng of people that came in and out of his home.

Because of his constant visitors, he had grown to tremendously appreciate moments where he could just sit by himself with a cup of coffee and revel in his solitude. He liked his privacy, and enjoyed simply sitting alone with his thoughts more than anything else.

Gale loved to think. He supposed that it sounded strange, loving to do something that probably seemed an established part of life to most. He loved to ponder things, to consider them. He loved to analyze, to review, and to look at situations in many different lights. He would be perfectly content to sit quietly for a day, thinking about everything under the sun. Everything except for his past.

The wizard visible shivered as thoughts of the past came rushing into his head, through a floodgate that just wouldn't close. Even though he considered thinking his best of friends, nostalgia was his worst enemy. Every time he thought it had gone, thought that his past was officially behind him, it would suddenly come bouncing back. He'd often wish that he could just lock his nostalgia in a cage with a bunch of vicious, wild dogs. Unfortunately, Gale's memory was essentially photographic. He never forgot anything, which was why nostalgia wouldn't, and couldn't, leave him alone. He supposed that some wishes were just too good to come true.

Gale took another sip of coffee and the bad memories were nowhere to be found. Coffee is the cure to all of my ailments, he mused as the drink's rich scent traveled up his nose. At that moment, for one of the few times that he could recall in his entire busy life, the wizard was perfectly relaxed. So relaxed that, after he placed his coffee cup down on the table, he fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

At least, that's what he'd anticipated.

Gale's eyes opened, but he was no longer in his house. He was in a field. The field. The field where he'd gotten married to her.

He saw her and a slightly younger version of himself standing at the head of the field. It was nighttime, and there was nobody else around besides the two of them. Gale watched as his younger self smiled at her, brushed the short brown hair behind her ear, and then pulled her into a kiss.

"No!" Gale yelled, as he ran towards himself, but didn't seem to get any closer. He'd had the same dream before, and every time he tried to get close enough to warn himself of the horrible future to come, but to no avail. His younger self never noticed him until the last moment. And, when he did notice, young Gale always looked towards him with the same confused, ignorant expression, as if he were saying, 'What? What do you mean that I'm not going to be this happy forever? What do you mean that she's going to die?'

The scenes then began changing rapidly. He was with her at their new home. He was eating dinner with her on Christmas Eve. They were in bed together, falling asleep as they held each other. The scenes continued changing without hesitation, taking Gale through nearly every memory he'd had with her. It was as if his own mind was working against him, trying to make him feel the most pain possible.

Finally, the montage of scenes slowed, and Gale found himself in a hospital. This memory was always the last one that played, her last moments. Gale wanted nothing more than to wake up, but, to his dismay, he could not. He would be forced to watch her die, and he couldn't do anything about it.

There was his younger self again, although this younger self was a few years older than he'd been in the field. He was holding onto her hand tightly, tears streaming down his face.

"Essa," he whispered. "Please don't go…I still need you."

The woman, who had once been so filled with life, looked frail and sickly. She had come down with a horrible disease just a little while after they'd gotten married.

"I know you do." She told him, a slight smile on her lips. "We'll meet again someday, though. I'm sure of it…Our love will never die."

"I love you Essa." He said. The woman laughed lightly.

"I'll always love you, Gale." She told him with such sincerity that, for a moment, the younger Gale looked as though he thought that she might be alright. But the older Gale knew better. For, only a few moments after she'd said those words, her pale hand let go of his tan one, and her arm lay limp. Her heart stopped beating. She was gone.

Gale watched in horror as his younger self broke down into tears on her bedside. He knew that, a few days after that scene took place, his younger self fled the town they'd lived in together, never to return. He would then come across Harmonica Town, and settled down there in a small house, making good money as a fortuneteller. He would live in that house for eighteen more years before the younger Gale caught up with where the older Gale was in the present. He couldn't believe it. It had been eighteen years, and yet the memories still haunted him as persistently as if they'd only just occurred.

"Essa!" he cried. He found that he could not look away from the pitiful sight that was his living, sobbing body laying over her dead one.

"Essa!" he shouted again, this time louder. "I thought you said that you would love me forever! Why did you have to leave me! Answer me!"

"Wizard?" a outside voice entered into the dream, taking Gale by surprise. He didn't actually expect anyone to answer him. Essa was dead. She had been dead for eighteen years. There was no way that she could answer him, even if he wanted her to.

"Wizard, are you alright?" the voice persisted. That's weird, Gale thought. Was it just his imagination, or did it kind of sound like…No, that was impossible. It couldn't be.

"Wiiizaaaard!" the voice sounded again, this time accompanied by some prodding. Gale, who was undeniably awake due to the insistent voice calling to him and the prodding that had followed, felt momentarily thankful. The dream was over. He had managed to escape his past for the remainder of the day. Now, he thought, onto more pressing matters, like the person who shook me and called to me just then. If it's another one of those lovestruck adolescents, I swear-

Gale opened his eyes, and his thought stopped short, mind immediately running blank. He couldn't believe what his eyes were telling him was true.

"Essa?" he asked incredulously, looking up wide eyed at the girl who'd been calling him. She had the same chocolate brown hair, the same wondering eyes, the same everything.

"Who?" the girl asked, looking at him in puzzlement. Gale's breath hitched. Goddess, she doesn't just look like her, she sounds like her too!

"Are you sure you're alright?" she asked, skeptically. She then continued, figuring that she should explain herself. "The people around town told me that a Wizard lived here. I was curious, so I decided to visit. And when I came in, I found you asleep on your table! You were mumbling something…something about a girl, and…Are you even listening to what I'm saying?" Gale wanted to tell her that, yes, he was listening. He was hanging on every word. It was the first time he'd heard her voice in eighteen years. He wanted to speak, say something to her, but he found that his mouth could not form the letters.

The girl took his lack of response and his widened eyes as a sign that he needed help. "Are you feeling sick? Do you want me to take you to the clinic?" she asked, and put what was meant to be a comforting hand on his shoulder. Her touch sent shivers throughout his body, completely overwhelming him.

Gale then fainted on the spot.