This little story is just something I thought up when I heard the song "Painted Too Much of This Town" on the radio. I do not own Harvest Moon and related characters/themes. I also do not own the song "Painted Too Much of This Town" by Emerson Drive! I am currently obsessed with these songfic's, so please bear with me, and make sure you read and review! Thanks so much, I appreciate it, and welcome ideas for other stories!
It's a quite night in Forget-Me-Not Valley around midnight. The sky is clear, and the town is illuminated by the moon and the stars. Everyone is asleep in their beds, besides two lonely hearts.
On the old farm, a brunette girl packs her bags. She had worked her ass off on the farm left to her by her father, but she couldn't stay any longer.
She sniffles as she puts some clothes into a suitcase. Her little puppy, James, waits for her patiently by the door. He looks at her with big innocent eyes, and she can't help but smile.
Her suitcase is nearly full with all her clothes. She doesn't want to take too much with her. However, she pauses at her bedside table. There is a framed picture of her and a silver haired boy smiling and hugging each other. On the picture there is a written note that says Jill, Happy Birthday. Love, Skye.
Jill pauses for a second and then grabs the picture. She throws it in with her clothes and then she shuts the suitcase.
She hugs herself and whispers. "This town has only seven roads, and three stoplights."
The girl sighs, and puts on a warm jacket. While it was summer, it was still very cold at night. She grabs a pencil and a piece of paper, and begins to write a note.
Dear Takakura
Sorry I'm leaving without warning. But I can't stay here any longer. I'm going to my cousin Claire's farm in Mineral Town for a while. I don't think I will be coming back.
Tell everyone that I'll miss them lots, and that I'll think about them every day. I've called my brother, John, and he said that he'll come take over the farm for me. He's really nice and I'm sure everyone will like him. He'll be here in two days.
Until then can you watch my animals? I'm taking James with me, but I'd appreciate it if you could watch everyone else. Don't worry about the crops. They'll survive. I heard it's going to rain soon, so they'll be alright.
Thanks so much for having me here. It was a great couple of years, but I really can't stay. I'm so sorry.
Love, Jill
Jill sniffles and fold the piece of paper in half. She walks over to her bed and picks up her suitcase. Then she looks out of her window at the moon. It seems so bright and completely free of mundane issues as Jill whispers to it. "I'm finding out that's not much room, for a memory to hide."
She smiles at the house she had put so much work into. John would take good care of it. Jill walks to her puppy and ruffles the fur on his head. Then she opens the door and he steps out into the summer night.
Jill follows suit and shuts the door behind her. She sighs and bangs her head against the door. Her heart hurt so much. It was hard to believe that they were over, after dating for almost three years straight.
"Can't seem to find a single place that you and me ain't been." Jill whispers again to the door.
James barks softly at her and she turns around and walks to Takakura's house. The old man had his house right beside hers, and she almost smiled when she remembered a time she and Skye had pranked him.
She sighs and shakes her head. As she slips her note into his mailbox she voices her thoughts out loud. "It's like pieces of our love have covered every inch."
Jill turns to James, who's looking at her with those cute puppy dog eyes again. She bends down and momentarily drops her suitcase on the ground. James jumps into her arms and she holds him tightly as she talks to him. "I used to love this little town so much. But it will never be the way that it was."
On the other side of town, unknown to Jill, Skye is sulking around the street that leads to Lumina's house. It's a clear night, the only condition he ever came to this town in.
The ex-thief sighs. It had been about a month since they had parted. He hadn't been able to stop thinking about her the entire time.
Skye looks down the street and smiles slightly to himself. "There's a cottage behind Lumina's house, where we shared our first kiss."
Three years ago, that night had been bliss. Skye had first shown himself to Jill five years ago when she had first moved into the farm. As he was still a thief the first time they had met, he had gone by Phantom Skye and had been robbing Lumina's house at the time.
He almost laughed at the memory. Jill had seen him stealing and had punched him in the jaw. Unconsciously Skye rubs his jaw as he thinks about it. Skye had dropped the stolen necklace and Jill took it from him.
Skye had quickly become taken with this girl, instead of the other way around. He had always been quite the charmer, but he had turned out to be the charmed with Jill.
For two years, he tried to woo her. Just to prove to himself that he could. As he did though, he fell in love with her.
Skye walks down the street a bit. He whispers to himself as he walks. "That little bar on this street, where Muffy gave you that red dress."
His heart beats rapidly at the memory. He had been with her that night, though in disguise so the townspeople wouldn't arrest him. The blond girl, Muffy, had just gotten married to the bar tender, Griffin, and she had been cleaning out her closet.
Muffy had given Jill a red dress, and all three of us managed to convince her to try in on right there. She had looked beautiful.
Skye sighs and quickly walks by the street to Jill's farm. He wasn't quite ready to face her yet. In a few minutes though. He wanted to go visit the pond where the Harvest Goddess was rumored to live first. Maybe it would grant him enough courage to go up to the love of his life and show her he ad changed.
He walks down the flower invested lane. The stars twinkle merrily at him, and he smiles. Maybe she would take him back.
As he comes into view of the lake he voices a memory. "That pond is where we watched the summer sun come up."
Skye walks to the pond and throws a flower into it. He bows his head respectfully, and then turns around. As he takes a deep breath in, he gazes across a river on the other side of the lane.
He truly smiles. His silver hair covers his eyes when a slight breeze blows but he can still see the scene in front of him.
"That mine in that archeological sight, we saw we were in love." They had gone there late at night one time, careful not to wake Carter or his assistant Flora, on her birthday. That's when he had given her a framed picture of the two of them. He had told her that he loved her that day.
He sighs. That had been almost a year ago. His thoughts drift to what had happened only last month.
They had been taking another one of their daily strolls, down by the beach. The only place in town that Skye can't step foot in any longer, without thinking about that day.
It had been sunset. He had come early that day, to make it special. Skye had gathered her from her busy work early and they had gone for that walk.
While she had been admiring the beautiful colours in the sky and reflected in the water, Skye had taken a small box out of his pocket as well as a gorgeous blue feather. He had tapped her shoulder and she had turned to him, her eyes filled with love.
He had knelt down on one knee and Jill's hands had flown to her mouth in shock. Skye still remembered the conversation like it had been yesterday.
"Jill." Skye said as opened to small box to reveal a diamond ring. "Will you marry me?"
Jill's hands were pressed against her mouth and she didn't answer. Skye panicked and held out the blue feather. "Or we can do this old fashioned and you can have this."
Tears began to leak down her face. Skye drops both of the objects and rises. He gathers her in his arms and strokes her hair softly. She sobs into his shoulder as he stands there, confused, holding her.
He leans her back. "Jill, what's wrong? I got the ring honestly, if that's what you're wondering about. I worked every day for a year to save up enough money to buy it. And the harvest sprites gave me the feather. I didn't steal it, honest."
Tears stream down her face faster. Skye smiles at her and wipes away the tears. "Is that a yes?"
"Oh Skye." She hiccups on her tears. "I love you, but I can't marry you."
Skye's heart seemed to stop beating. "Why not? If you love me, then that's all that should matter!"
Jill grabs his hands. "Skye, you have to understand! I'm barely making enough money with the farm. I need someone who can help support me. And my family. They would never approve of me marrying a thief. They wouldn't stop me, but I'd be shunned by all of them. And the townspeople too. I'd be shunned by everyone and then my farm would fail for sure. No one would buy anything I ship, and I'd have to move away."
"But we'd be together." Skye said desperately. "Isn't that enough?"
Jill covers her face with her hands. "I can't put a child though that. You know I want children."
Skye knew that Jill knew he also wanted to have children one day. "Then why don't we have children?"
"I told you." She puts her hands at her side. "I can't put a child through that, no matter how bad I want one."
"Then why'd you go out with me in the first place?" Skye raises his voice. "Were you just leading me on?"
"No, of course not-" She starts.
"Then marry me." He grabs her hands.
She throws his hands off and yells at him. "I can't marry someone who steals for a living!"
Skye picks up the ring and feather and stuff them back in his pocket. "That's real cold you know. Leading me on like that, and then refusing me in the end."
"I wasn't leading you on!"
"Then why did you go out with me?"
"Because I loved you!"
"But that's not a good enough reason to marry me?"
"Skye, you need to get a life!"
"Okay, so now I need to get a life? Says the girl who spends her days cleaning up after animal poop!"
Jill visibly flinches at that statement. She loved her farm more than her own life. Tears streak down her face as she yells at him. "You know what Skye? Get out of here and get a life! I never want to see you again!"
She collapses on the beach in a ball of tears. Skye feels his heart breaking and he knows it's his fault.
He goes up to comfort her, but she pushes him away as she whispers three words that sear his heart. "I hate you."
Skye remembered how he had walked back home in a daze after that. Leaving her crying on the beach, one month ago. When he woke from a tear inducted sleep, he had immediately gone out to look for a job.
After a week of searching, he found an agent that was looking for new people to write books. Skye wrote a quick short story for her that he finished in two weeks, and it secured a writing job for him. It even allowed him to work from home, so he could spend all day with Jill. Maybe even help her with the farm she loved so much.
His book, My True Love, was due to publish the coming morning and he wanted Jill to be at the opening. She was his inspiration for the book, and all his writing. He wanted to prove to her that he could do something better with his life and that he was worthy of her.
Skye smiles as he looks around the pond again. "Yeah, everything around this town stays the same. And I pray to God it never has to change."
As Skye begins to walk back down the flower invested path, Jill crosses the bridge just beyond there.
She looks down at her little puppy beside her, explaining to him why they were leaving. "Cause we painted too much of this town."
They pass Vesta's farm, where she, Cecilia and her husband Marlin sleep. "If I was gonna stay here, I'd have to burn it down."
Jill walks to the end of the street with James until they reach a dirt road. Then she turns and looks back on the town. "Not a sidewalk or a street sign. A building I can pass by, or a corner I can go around."
Jill looks down at James, his little tail wagging. It was breaking her heart to leave the only place she had known Skye, but it would break her heart more to stay. Her heart was already broken enough from when she had to refuse his marriage proposal, and when he didn't come around after that (though she stayed awake long nights waiting), it left her nearly a shell of herself.
She shrugs as if to convince herself that it didn't matter. That he didn't matter. Though trying to deny him was like trying to deny herself air. It couldn't be done. This was why she was leaving.
They begin to walk along the dirt road but they're quickly stopped by Jackie; the harvest sprite that protected the roads. He just has to give Jill a look to prompt her reason for leaving.
"Cause we painted, yeah we painted, too much of this town. I gotta leave it all behind me. There's just too much to remind me." Jill's voice drips with sadness and her broken heart shows in her words.
Jackie nods and steps aside for her to pass. Just as Jill is about to leave Forget-Me-Not Valley forever, a scream slices through the night air.
"JILL!" The masculine voice calls out. Skye was at Jill's farmhouse, but Jill wasn't there.
Tears stream down his face as he runs out of her farm, faster than he's ever run before. He calls her name out over and over again, nearly bawling his eyes out at the thought that he was too late.
"JILL!" He calls out again. Surprisingly no one woke up at his calls, but it was probably a good thing.
Skye runs by Vesta's house, when he hears a small bark. He looks up and through his blurred vision, he sees Jill with her puppy James and a suitcase by the harvest sprite Jackie.
"NO!" He cries out desperately, a sob wrenched from his throat. At this time he didn't even care that he looked like a hormonal chick. All that mattered was Jill.
Skye sprints to her as fast as he can. Jill blinks her eyes, as if she can't believe that Skye was there. Then when she finally realizes that he was real, she drops her suitcase and closes the last few meters between them.
They fold into each other's arms, like they'd never been away from each other. Their lips press passionately into each other, both of them crying through their many kisses.
Skye holds on to her tightly when they stop kissing.
"I'm so sorry Jill." He weeps as he apologizes. "You were right, I needed a life."
Jill wraps her arms around his neck and sobs into his shoulder. "No, I'm sorry Skye. You were right; I should have told you from the beginning that I could never marry a thief."
Skye kisses her again. "But guess what? I did it. I got a job as a writer. My first book is being published tomorrow. I'm not a thief anymore."
Jill smiles. The first real one in a month. Tears drip down her face. "Did you really? I'm so happy for you! That's great!"
"It's called My True Love. It's based off of you." Skye strokes the side of her face as she grabs his hand.
Suddenly he smiles at her. He releases her hand and then kneels down on one knee. He fishes in his pocket and takes out a small box and a blue feather.
"Jill, I love you." He smiles through the tears that were still falling down his face. "Can we try this again?"
She nods he head and falls to the ground in front of him. Neither one of them cares though. Skye takes the blue feather and tucks it into Jill's hair. Then he opens the box to reveal the diamond ring for a second time.
"Jill, will you marry me?" He looks into her eyes and sees them fill with love. Even more than before, if that was possible. Without being told, he knows she sees the same look in his eyes.
"I do." Jill whispers as she leans over to pull him close to her. Skye smiles as they kiss, reuniting their love.
Rain starts to fall from above and James barks happily and runs circles around the two. Jackie smiles happily at the kissing couple. The rain covers them and soaks them to the core, but Jackie knows that the Harvest Goddess is washing them of all their pain and bathing them in her blessing.
Come on. Press the review button! You know you want to! It would make me very happy. Just a word or two. Come on, move the mouse just a little bit... :D