Home

by littlev123

Neil is no stranger to loss. It was what destroyed his old home and forced him to leave everything behind four long years ago. After it visits him yet again, the one person he had never wanted to see again finds him. His friends are the only ones who have a chance of showing him that all is not lost. No pairings, but Tina does love to gossip. Oneshot.

Author's Note: Wow, this oneshot turned out a lot longer than I intended. I've had this story in mind for a while but only recently have I started to really write it.

I call the Harvest Moon currency dollars instead of G. It just felt more natural to write, so I hope that doesn't bother anyone too much.

Here are all of the people residing in town at the time this story takes place: Dunhill, Hana, Emma, Rebecca, Toni, Hossan, Niko, Clement, Klaus, Allen, Neil, Rod, Felicity, Iroha, Tina, Yuri, and Rachel.

Not all of them are important in this story, but just in case you were wondering, there they are.

I hope you enjoy!

---

Weak, shuddering breaths struggled to be heard over the loud pounding of rain on the barn roof.

And yet it was the only sound that reached through the blonde youth's silent trance.

Neil's gaze remained firmly on his hand as he continued to stroke the neck of the fallen animal beside him. He did not dare let his eyes stray even the slightest amount, for that miniscule sliver of his mind that still retained clear thought knew all too well how fragile the situation was. The rest of his consciousness easily overwhelmed it with numbness, leaving him unable to comprehend more than the sensation of sweat slicking his palm and the slight movement of the rise and fall of the creature's side.

The elderlybrown mare that held such influence over not only Neil, but also all of the barn's residents—the rest of the animals were quiet and still, almost as if in respect—was named Willow. Patches of gray speckled her brown hide and skin hung loosely over once powerful muscles. A light sheen of perspiration coated her body and the hair of her mane was stringy and dull. Her eyes seemed to stare at nothing, hazy and unfocused, as each breath required more and more effort.

Neil did not know how long he stayed like that, sitting next to her helplessly as she slowly, ever so slowly lost the energy to fight against death's unrelenting grip. One hour or three could have passed and he wouldn't have known the difference, nor would he have cared. Right now, his whole world contained only him and the weakening being beside him.

And then, after one final exhalation, she stopped breathing altogether.

Neil paused, his hand resting on her now unmoving flank. He stared at her side for several moments, as if believing that it was only a hitch and she would start breathing again if he waited long enough, but an inhalation never came.

His mind jolted out of its reverie and a sudden tightness gripped his chest. For a moment, his own heart ceased to beat.

He slowly dragged his gaze up her neck and toward her head, each millimeter a feat of willpower.

Her eyes were closed.

He hesitantly pulled his hand away.

She was gone.

Willow was gone.

Cruel reality crashed into him with the subtlety of a train, relentless and crushing everything in its path. His heart suddenly resumed beating, but now at an increasingly frantic pace until he could feel it pumping painfully in his chest. It was almost as if his heart believed that if it worked hard enough, he could keep them both alive.

The emotions that had deserted him suddenly returned in an overpowering rush. Boiling anger seared into his brain and freezing sadness bit into his soul. They viciously fought over who would control the broken youth, creating nothing but chaos in their wake.

Neil abruptly stood, harshly shutting out the conflicting emotions with a surge of steely determination. Some of the more timid animals jumped in surprise or warily stepped back.

He walked over to the rack where tools were kept and reached out for the shovel, but something made him pause.

His hand was shaking.

Gritting his teeth, he roughly grabbed the tool and tightened his grip until his knuckles turned white in order to stop the trembling. He turned and headed to the door, driven by both the responsibility he had taken upon himself and the overwhelming need to get away from the stifling building that held his dearest companion—the companion who now needed a resting place.

Neil pushed open the doors and trudged outside, heedless of the rain that instantly soaked his hair and clothes. Water and mud splashed onto his boots and pants as he all but started running. His breaths became sharp and quick, air leaving his lungs as soon as it entered. He ignored the burning in his chest and throat as his body struggled to supply proper oxygen.

Only when he reached a large oak tree did he stop, doubled over and panting under the tree's protection. He waited a few minutes to allow his breathing to regulate before viciously plunging the shovel into the earth. The force proved unnecessary due to how easily the tool sunk into the already soft ground, but he didn't seem to notice. He dug up the soil, flung it to the side, and continued the process. A few drops of water fell from his face as he worked, and if anyone had seen him they would have dismissed it as rain—but it had not come from the sky.

---

"Hey Neil, since I'm already finished, would you like me to help—"

"I'm fine."

Rod watched him uncertainly. Neil was currently brushing down a young calf inside the barn. After every few brush strokes he would stop to observe the animal, and just when Rod would think he would deem it satisfactory, he would start brushing again. The calf stamped its hooves, clearly becoming impatient as the minutes stretched on. Finally Neil gave up with a sigh and set the brush down, allowing the eager animal to go outside with its mother.

Rod would have shaken his head if he wasn't afraid that Neil would turn around and see him doing it. He had never seen Neil act like this before. He was usually sure and confident in how he took care of his animals; today he seemed uncertain and like he couldn't focus properly. Not that Rod blamed him. After all, Willow had died only two days ago.

As was expected in a small place like Echo Town, news about it spread fast. Everyone gave Neil condolences and one or two people even gave him some food. He had accepted it all silently. Rod and Rachel had attempted to speak with him, but gave up after a few tries. Deciding that he simply needed some time, they left him alone for the rest of the day.

Rod was just happy that at least he was speaking to him now, even if it was just short sentences. It was better than the unsettling quiet from the previous day. Even so, today was Monday, the first workday of the week. If Neil didn't feel like he could handle customers, then he didn't want him to force himself to.

"Okay." Rod finally answered. "I was thinking, how about you take the day off? I'm sure no one would mind and—"

"I said, I'm fine."

Rod nearly flinched at the sharp interruption, and probably would have if it were anyone other than Neil. The finality edging the other's words indicated that Rod could not convince him otherwise.

A few tense and silent minutes passed. Rod was shifting uncomfortably while Neil simply stayed where he was, not facing the other. It wasn't long before Rod felt like he was going to crack under the suffocating quiet.

"Alright." Rod replied a little too cheerfully. "I'm going to go ahead and go on, okay? I'll set up your table for you. See you there!" With that, he exited the barn.

Neil sat there for a few minutes more before letting out a sigh. He couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt—not that he would admit it—about snapping at Rod like that. He just didn't have any patience for anyone at the moment, not even the easygoing Rod. All he wanted was to focus on his work and nothing but his work. If he allowed his thoughts to drift toward…toward her…then he wasn't sure if he could survive the onslaught of emotions that came with it.

Feeling sweat begin to form on his back, he stood and removed his long red jacket. He set it on the stool he had been sitting on and glanced around the barn. All of the animals had gone outside where it was much cooler due to the light breezes. Picking up the brush once again, he started toward the shelves and rack to put it up.

As he walked toward it, his gaze automatically moved to settle on an area near the center of the building. The hay there was still slightly flattened, showing how there had been something rather large lying there—

He stumbled, his arms instinctively moving outward to balance him. He hissed as something sharp suddenly seared down his left arm causing him to immediately back up and clutch at the wounded appendage. Gritting his teeth, he looked down to examine the damage.

A long gash marked the top of his arm from wrist to elbow. Blood had already welled up and was beginning to spill out onto his arm, his good hand barely able to cover half of the wound.

He glanced to his side, realizing that he must have tripped close to the rack and cut himself on one of the sharp ends on the pitchfork.

Silently cursing at himself, he turned and quickly made his way out of the barn. He remembered putting a first aid kit in the storehouse next to the barn a few weeks ago; he hoped it was still there.

---

Rod reached over the low fence next to him and absentmindedly rubbed behind the ears of a small puppy. He looked to his right, where he had set up Neil's table and fence for him.

Worry drummed at his mind. It was already an hour past the time for opening their businesses, but Neil hadn't appeared yet. He debated leaving to go look for him, but since he had already announced the opening of Rod's Pets he knew he shouldn't. However, just sitting thinking like this was starting to become agony.

Finally coming to a decision, he gave the puppy one last pat and stood. If any customers came while he was gone, then they would just have to wait. Just as he pushed in his chair he noticed a familiar figure clothed in a red jacket appear over the hill. A crate containing two adult chickens was strapped to his back for easy transport while a few cows lumbered along behind him.

Rod's face broke into a relieved smile and he boundedover to Neil.

"Hey Neil! Thank goodness, I was starting to get worried! What took you so long?" he asked.

"I got…distracted." Neil answered.

"Really? That happens to me a lot too. Anyway, I'm just glad you're finally here! Oh, here, let me open the gate for you." Rod rushed ahead of them and went over to the larger enclosure on Neil's side of the town square. He opened the gate for him and waited as Neil moved aside to allow the cattle inside. The cows needed no encouragement; they were used to this routine by now. When the last one was in, Neil started to take the crate off of his back.

Rod stepped over to him and held the crate while Neil removed himself from the straps. Neil didn't try to warn him off; at least from behind him he couldn't see him wince as his wound protested the movements.

"How about I let you use one of my horses tomorrow? Then you can use your carriage to bring more chickens and other stuff without having to carry them." Rod paused, still holding the crate, as he realized what he had just asked. He immediately rushed into another sentence in an attempt to avoid a bad reaction. "Or you can just keep doing that too. That way you can get some more exercise and more exercise is always a good thing right? As long as you don't overdo it of course. But I'm sure you know that—"

"Rod." Neil cut him off. Rod went quiet, stopping his nervous rambling.

"Yeah…?"

"It's alright. I was actually going to ask you about that but I didn't think of it until I started on the way here." He responded evenly.

Rod blinked and then let out a sigh. "That's a relief. Hey, can I put this down yet? My arms are starting to get tired."

Neil nodded and moved out of his way. Rod set down the crate at the opening to the fence and opened the crate. The chickens looked at the entrance, seemed to hesitate for a moment, and then finally walked out onto the concrete. Rod pulled back the crate and set it next to Neil's table. Neil closed the gate.

They both sat down in their usual spots. They began to settle back into their normal routine of chatting—well, it was mostly on Rod's part but Neil interjected with a reply or opinion every now and then—until customers started to arrive.

Paying only half attention to the conversation, Neil glanced down at his arm. While his jacket covered the bandages wrapped around his arm well enough, he could still feel it throbbing uncomfortably underneath due to how much he had needed to move it earlier.

Neil looked up when Rod's words tapered off. A middle aged man was walking toward them. Neil straightened in his chair to address the customer, but didn't greet him. Rod could do that much better than him anyway.

A few minutes passed in expectant silence, but it wasn't long before Neil began to feel irritated. Not only was the man just standing there and looking, he seemed to be paying more attention to Neil than the merchandise. He kept glancing at Neil when he thought he wasn't looking, and Neil was becoming well and thoroughly annoyed.

"If all you're going to do is stare then I suggest you stop wasting my time and leave." Neil snapped.

The man blinked in surprise; clearly he had not been expecting that reaction. He cleared his throat in an attempt to regain his composure. "Ah, I apologize. I suppose I should be on my way then. Before I go, however, I would like to ask you something. Your name is Neil, correct?"

Neil rolled his eyes and pointed at the sign next to his table. "Read the sign. I would think that would make it obvious."

"That's all I wanted to know. I will take my leave then." With a displeased huff, he turned away and left.

Once he was out of earshot, Rod started up his conversation again. Neil was actually rather thankful for his friend's talkativeness this time; it helped to distract him and calm his nerves.

Meanwhile, the man who had walked away walked down the slope at the front of the town square. Once he had reached the bottom of the incline, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his cellphone. He dialed some numbers before putting it to his ear.

"Hello, Samuel? I believe I found him."

---

Neil handed over a bag of chicken feed to the waiting farmer standing in front of his table. "Here."

The farmer nodded and then looked back at Neil. "So you think if I try adding water to the feed to make it into a mush, the hen might be able to eat that?"

Neil nodded. "Yes, she should, but I suggest you go to an actual vet to see what he has to say."

"Right. Thanks for the advice." The farmer turned and walked away. Neil sat down and placed the money from the farmer's purchase into the metal box he kept under the table. He clasped it shut and then looked over to Rod.

"Today's Wednesday, right?" Rod asked. Upon seeing Neil nod, he continued, "Great! Felicity told me that they're having a special today at Chez Clement. How about we eat lunch there today?"

"Sure." Neil agreed. He tossed some fodder into his enclosure for the cows to eat while he was gone. Rod followed suit and gave some pet food to his cats and dogs. After giving a quick once over of the animals to make sure they would be fine, they started heading out of the town square.

"I wonder if the special is lasagna. I bet it is, otherwise Felicity wouldn't have been so eager to tell me about it. I can't wait!" Rod fist pumped the air in joy, accidentally brushing his arm against Neil's. Neil flinched involuntarily as a spike of pain raced up his left arm, but thankfully Rod seemed too preoccupied to notice. He sighed internally and wished not for the first time that it would hurry up and heal already. While it wasn't his dominant arm, it was still difficult to do his daily routine of taking care of the animals with only one, and sometimes he had to use both anyway. He was sure that he reopened it at least twice now, including once this morning. It had happened right when he was about to leave with Rod and he hadn't wanted to raise suspicion by suddenly leaving to the storehouse when he was already ready to go. So he had bit back the pain and followed Rod, hoping that the blood wouldn't seep through the bandages.

He swiped the back of his good hand across his forehead. He felt uncomfortably warm despite what Rod claimed to be unnaturally cool weather for this late in the season. While he did want to remove his jacket, he didn't want to worry Rod by revealing the injury. Neil also noticed that it seemed to require more effort to complete his daily chores, but he figured it was due to not sleeping well at night.

After eating a meal at Chez Clement, they left the restaurant and started back to the plaza.

"You know, I feel kind of bad that I didn't give Felicity a bigger tip. She's a really good waitress and she should get more." Rod said.

Neil barely managed to not roll his eyes at the statement. "Rod, you left her fifteen dollars. I'm pretty sure she's happy with that."

"I sure hope so. So, did you hear about…Neil?" Rod stopped as he realized that Neil was a few paces behind him and had apparently stopped. Neil seemed frozen, staring at something ahead of him. Rod turned to look to his line of sight and noticed someone walking toward their tables which Rod and Neil had almost reached.

"…I'm going to close early today. I'll pick up my animals later. Bye."

Rod turned around and opened his mouth to question Neil's abrupt announcement, but the blonde was already off, running toward the slope that led out of the right side of the plaza.

"Excuse me, do you know a boy by the name of Neil?" Rod turned to see that the man had walked up to him.

"Er…yeah, but I think he just left." Rod answered, glancing to where Neil had run off to. The man noticed his gaze and followed his line of sight before nodding.

"Thank you." He replied simply and started walking off in that direction, leaving Rod to watch in confusion. After a moment Rod shrugged and returned to the tables.

---

Neil rushed down the incline, pushing his legs as fast as they could go. His breath came out in ragged pants and his lungs burned, but he didn't dare slow down.

He cursed everything that his panicked mind could think of. How had he found him? And why was he here now?

It didn't matter. Neil wasn't about to face the man now, not after so many years. He had no idea what the other wanted to tell him, but he had a feeling that it wouldn't be anything good. That man never had anything good to say to him.

He turned a corner and ran straight into Rachel. He fell backward from the impact and Rachel would have too if Iroha hadn't reached out and grabbed her arm.

"Ow…geez, that hurt…" Rachel grumbled, rubbing her nose. After a moment she seemed to be satisfied that it wasn't broken and let her hand fall back to her side. "Thanks for the save there, Iroha."

"You're welcome." She replied.

"Man, why were you running like the police were after you anyway, Neil?" Rachel looked down at Neil, who was still on the ground and gripping his left arm tightly. "Hey, you alright?"

Neil didn't respond. He focused on evening out his breathing, trying to distract himself from the burning pain flaring in his arm. After a moment, he glanced behind him, only to see that the man had reached the bottom of the slope and was heading in his direction.

Without any hesitation, he jumped to his feet and started running again. A bewildered Rachel and Iroha yelled after him, but he ignored them.

The burn in his legs from so much running was starting to become unbearable. If he didn't slow down soon, he would collapse. But he couldn't let that person get to him. He couldn't.

Neil pushed open the door of the nearest establishment and rushed inside. He stopped just inside, panting harshly, and glanced around. Allen and Yuri were looking at him in surprise, Yuri instinctively tensed from the sudden interruption. Neil groaned inwardly; out of all places to hide, of course it would have to be his least favorite building in town.

Yuri calmed as she realized that it was just Neil, while Allen placed a hand on his hip, clearly not pleased with the disruption.

"Neil, what—"

Footsteps sounded outside. Neil whipped his head around, suddenly feeling trapped, before ducking behind the counter. As he heard the door open he covered his mouth in an attempt to quiet his breathing.

Allen and Yuri turned to face the newcomer, more confused by the second.

"Hello, do you know where a boy named Neil went? I thought I saw him go in here." The man asked, smoothing back his short blonde hair.

Neil waited, the blood pounding in his ears. His tired muscles were still bunched and ready to move at a moment's notice, believe that at any moment Allen would give him away.

Allen readjusted his glances as if to regain his composure. "No, I can't say I have." He responded.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. I haven't seen him."

"Maybe you didn't see him when he came in. Do you mind if I look around—"

"I do mind, actually. As I told you before, he's not here." Allen's tone was quickly becoming impatient. "Now, as you can clearly see my salon is closed today, so you have no right to be in here. I suggest you leave before I am forced to report you."

"Surely it wouldn't hurt—"

"You must not have been able to see clearly through those bottle caps you call glasses. Yuri and I are the only ones who have been in here all day. Now leave." Ice seemed to coat Allen's tongue as his chilling words refused any disobedience.

The man paused, clearly surprised by the younger's vehement demand. Finally, he simply nodded, then turned around and left. A few minutes passed before Allen let out an irritated huff.

"Um, Allen…I don't think that was really necessary…" Yuri quietly said.

"Are you kidding? That was completely necessary. Besides, something about that guy really rubs me the wrong way." He added. "Neil, you can come out now."

Neil hesitated, still in shock at what had happened. Allen had…protected him? But Allen hated him…right? It was rare for him and Allen to have a conversation that didn't involve throwing insults at each other. Yet, he couldn't deny what he had heard. Neil finally stood and walked out from behind the counter.

Neil opened his mouth, closed it, and then opened it again before he finally spoke. "I…thanks."

Allen blinked; clearly he hadn't expected that. It took less than a second before he recovered and a smile crossed his face. "I would say no need to thank me, but you really should. I was getting sick just looking at the man. Who was he anyway?"

"No one." Neil quickly answered.

"Obviously it wasn't no one if you hid from him here. You owe me now."

"Allen…"

He waved Yuri's protest off. "The least you can do is tell me who it was."

"No." Neil refused.

"Alright then. What if I ask you what's stopping me from telling the whole town about you running from that man?"

"You wouldn't dare." Neil growled.

A sly grin formed on Allen's face. "Oh, I would dare. Unless you want to make a deal, that is."

"What do you want?" Neil asked through gritted teeth.

Allen held up two fingers. "Two things. One, you tell me who that guy is—"

"No way!"

One of Allen's eyebrows rose as if to say 'Did you really just interrupt me?'

Neil sighed. He really didn't have the energy for this. "Go ahead."

"And two, you have to let me give you a haircut."

"A haircut? Why?"

"Why? I've had nightmares about that bird's nest of yours." Allen retorted. He seemed about to say something else, but then Yuri reached forward and gently tugged on his sleeve, stopping him.

"Hm?" he questioned, turning his head to look at her.

"Allen," she said, her voice so quiet that only Allen could hear, "Wait. Look at Neil."

Wondering about her request, he looked back at Neil. He nearly stepped back in surprise. Now that he was really paying attention, Neil did not look well at all. His breathing, although evened out enough to speak properly, was still a tad faster than normal. His crimson eyes were glazed over with an unhealthy sheen and he was clutching his left arm tightly.

"He looks awful. Even more than usual." Allen mumbled back. Yuri nodded.

"Neil, are you feeling alright?" Yuri tentatively asked. "Do you need to go to Klaus…?"

"No, I don't. I feel fine." Neil denied.

"Look, we all know you're lying. Go to the Clinic before you collapse on my floor." Allen responded.

"I'm not going!" Neil insisted.

"Okay, if you say so. I'll just go find Tina and tell her this great story about Neil hiding from—"

"No! No." he repeated with a sigh. "I get it. I'll go after a put up my animals for the night, okay?"

"Good." Allen stated. "Make sure you don't fall on your way out. The floors were mopped just this morning."

"Yeah, yeah." Neil muttered under his breath. With one last irritated glance at Allen, he walked to the doors and left.

Allen snapped his fingers moments later, startling Yuri. "I forgot to ask him who that guy was."

"Actually…I think I might know who he is." Yuri said.

"You do?" he asked.

"I believe so." She confirmed. "I remember seeing him in newspapers a long time ago."

"Alright then. Who is he?"

"I think…I think he's Neil's father."

---

Neil slowly opened his eyes. Met only with fuzzy blurs at first, he closed them again and inwardly sighed. His body felt sluggish and tired, the muscles in his legs still aching from overexertion. He was tempted to just give in and go back into blissful sleep, and would have if one thought hadn't crossed his mind.

When had he fallen asleep?

His eyes popped open. He blinked a few times to adjust to the light and then looked around. Plain white beds surrounded him and the smell of disinfectant hung in the air. Realizing he must be in Klaus' house, he sat up in the bed and glanced to his right, where his red jacket was draped over a chair.

"Ah, finally awake I see." Neil looked up as Klaus entered the area.

"Uh, yeah…what happened?" Neil asked.

"According to Rod, as soon as you reached him in the plaza you collapsed. Rachel and Iroha carried you here." He explained.

Neil nodded slowly, his memory returning to him. It then occurred to him what Klaus had said. He sighed. Two girls carried him? Talk about a stab to his pride.

"That was very irresponsible of you." Klaus commented.

"What?" Neil questioned in confusion.

"You did not show me your injury. Apparently you did not tell anyone about it, and I believe I am correct when I say that you did your daily work without giving your arm any rest. Not only did I see evidence of the wound having reopened, but it also looked like you did not bother to change the bandages afterward."

Not wanting to admit that the doctor was exactly right, Neil shifted his gaze to his arm. It had been freshly bandaged, but otherwise he could not tell anything else about it. "How bad is it?"

"An infection has set in. Luckily for you it has not progressed far yet." Klaus answered.

"Yeah, lucky me." Neil mumbled.

"Before you attempt to get out of bed I will inform you that you are not allowed to leave until tomorrow afternoon." The doctor informed.

"I can't stay here!" Neil immediately protested.

"I hear yelling. That must mean Neil's awake." They heard Rachel's voice just before she walked around the corner. She stopped at the foot of the bed, her gaze flickering between them before settling on Neil. "So, what's got you worked up?"

"Klaus says I need to stay here until tomorrow afternoon." He sent a heated glare toward the doctor. "But I don't need to."

"I know for a fact that if I let you go now, then you will continue to work and further stress your injury." Klaus stated.

"He does have a point, Neil." Rachel agreed.

"Fine, I'll take it easy." Neil insisted.

Rachel shook her head. "No you won't. I know how much you love those animals, and you would never shirk your duties toward them."

His glower shifted to Rachel, hating how she knew him well enough to deduce that.

"I am glad that one of you understands how important this is." Klaus interjected. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I must go tend to something upstairs."

"Now will you tell me what's going on?" Rachel asked once the doctor had left. "I'd still like to know why you were running this morning. Rod said that he thought it had something to do with a guy you saw."

Neil remained silent and shifted his gaze down.

"Can't you even give me a hint or something? Something's obviously up if you're acting like this."

"It's none of your business, alright?" he quietly replied.

Rachel watched him for a few moments. He had just confirmed that there was something going on, but it was clear that he wasn't going to say exactly what. She bit back a sigh.

"Fine, I get it. I guess I better go so you can get some more rest." She said, turning around to leave. "Oh, and don't worry about your animals. Rod and I will take care of them for you." Not bothering to wait for an answer, she left the building.

As she started to walk down the worn dirt path—one of these days she was determined to turn it into a nicer concrete road—she saw Tina walking out of Iroha's house and heading back toward her house. Rachel picked up her pace to catch her. An idea had already started to form in her mind.

"Hey, Tina!" she called out.

Tina turned and stopped, smiling when she saw who it was. "Oh, hey Rachel."

"You're just the person I wanted to see." Rachel stated. "How fast do you think you can spread an announcement?"

A grin spread across Tina's face.

---

"Okay, looks like everybody's here." Rachel mumbled to herself as she scanned the restaurant. All of the young people currently residing in the town—except Neil, of course—were sitting at one of the largest tables in the establishment. Felicity informed Rachel that Clement had left the town earlier that day to go handpick certain spices from a city nearby, meaning that they could use it while he was gone.

Rod sat in between Tina and Felicity on one side of the table, happily chatting away with both of them. Iroha, Yuri, and Allen sat on the other side. Allen seemed to be doing most of the speaking, but Yuri didn't seem to mind and simply nodded every now and then, while Iroha remained quiet. She had never been much of a socializer.

"Alright, everybody!" Rachel shouted to be heard above the conversations. She waited a moment to allow the others to quiet down before continuing. "Now, I'll just cut right to the chase. The reason I gathered you all here is because I want to talk about Neil."

"Neil? Has something happened to him?" Felicity asked.

"Yeah, he's at the doctor's right now, isn't he?" Tina added.

"Don't worry, he's fine. Well, sort of. Apparently he got hurt a couple of days ago, but he should be fine after some rest. Anyway, that's not the main issue. Neil—"

"Oh my. What kind of gathering do we have here?"

Everyone turned to look at Dunhill. He rubbed the back of his head in a sheepish manner as he stood just inside the doorway of the restaurant.

"Er, well…" Rachel struggled to think of an excuse.

"I thought I heard something about Neil." Dunhill said, and then glanced around the room. "But he's not here, is he? I remember hearing that he has to stay at Klaus' for a while."

"He's there." Rachel confirmed.

Dunhill walked up to the table. "Ya'll know that I normally don't like people talking about other people without their permission, but I do have a great story to tell."

"Really?" Rod asked before anyone could stop him. Everyone in the room, excluding Dunhill and Rod, groaned inwardly. Dunhill's long stories were infamous to the residents in the town, and Rod had just sentenced them all to one of them.

Oblivious to the others' displeasure, Dunhill began his tale. "It all started about four years ago now…"

"Come on girl. You want to be strong and healthy for when your child comes, don't ya?"

Dunhill was met with an indifferent stare.

Letting out an exasperated sigh, he set down the bucket of water he had been holding up to the cow. He winced at hearing his knees pop as he slowly stood from his crouching position. Next time he would make sure to bring a stool to make it easier on his aging joints.

Dunhill observed the pregnant cow in front of him. Her belly was large, revealing how far along in her pregnancy she was. Yet, no matter what he or any of the villagers tried, she absolutely refused to drink or eat anything.

They figured that it was due to depression after being left behind by the town's animal dealer a few days ago. The dealer had decided to move somewhere else in order to find better business, but he had been unable to bring along all of his animals. He managed to sell all of them except for the pregnant cow to a friend of his in a city nearby. Dunhill and Emma had been taking turns taking care of her ever since.

After one last glance at her, he left the barn and closed the door behind him. He walked back into town to see Emma setting some items into the shipping bin outside of her house. She looked up as he walked by and smiled, but upon seeing his sullen face her expression fell.

"Still not eating?" she questioned, although she already knew the answer.

Dunhill shook his head.

She sighed. "I'm sure she will soon. Maybe she just needs a little time." Emma stated hopefully, although by the way she cast her eyes downward it was clear that she wasn't as certain as she sounded.

Dunhill gave her a halfhearted smile, but didn't say anything. After a minute of silence, Emma suddenly whipped her head around to look at the town's eastern entrance.

"Do you hear that?" she asked.

Dunhill waited, straining his hearing in an attempt to hear what she had noticed. Then he heard a clopping noise approaching quickly; the sound of a horse's hooves.

They walked over to the entrance to see a brown horse running in their direction.

"Wait, do you see that?" Dunhill asked, noticing something hunched over on the animal's back.

"Yes…it's a person!" she exclaimed. They took a few steps forward onto the path so that they were directly in the horse's line of sight. The mare let out a whinny, as if to indicate that she had seen them, and steadily slowed down as she approached. They walked up to her as she slowed to a stop.

Dunhill walked over to her side to examine the young boy on her back. Even though the child's arms were still holding tightly onto the creature's sweaty neck, his eyes were closed and he didn't seem to be aware that there were other people around him. A few beads of sweat slid down his forehead and his face was flushed a light red.

Dunhill reached out to the boy, but the horse gave a neigh in warning and stepped to the side to avoid him. Emma gently grasped the mare's head to allow her to focus on her.

"Sh, it's alright. We just want to help." She explained, lowering her voice in a soothing manner as she stroked the horse's nose.

The animal now calmed, Dunhill took the opportunity to move closer. "Wake up, young man." He called out, but the boy didn't respond. Dunhill placed his hand on the youth's forehead and frowned when he felt the heat radiating off of him. He then carefully unlaced the other's fingers from each other and removed his arms from around the horse's neck.

"Emma, I'll need your help to get him off." Dunhill stated.

"Alright." She replied. She slowly put her hands down from where she had been petting the horse and walked over to him. Together they managed to move the boy from the horse and into Dunhill's arms.

"Are you sure you can carry him?" Emma asked, looking at him worriedly.

"If I can push a stubborn cow into a barn then I should be able to carry a boy." He reassured. However, he couldn't deny the burning that was already beginning to settle in his muscles. "Thankfully Hossan's inn isn't far away."

Emma nodded. "Okay. I'll take the horse to the barn and then meet you there."

He nodded and started walking, not wanting to waste any time. The unnatural warmth coming from the youth was definite cause of concern. Determination surging through his veins, he ignored the growing ache in his arms as he continued on his way.

"Hossan!" Dunhill called out when he reached the inn's door. A few moments later, Hossan opened the door. He opened his mouth to say something when he caught sight of the boy and stopped in surprise.

Dunhill stepped forward. "Sorry for barging in on you like this, but I'm afraid my arms are about to fall off." At this Hossan moved out of the way to allow him inside and then directed him to the nearest open room. Dunhill set the youth on the bed and then sighed with relief, rubbing his aching arms.

"Not bad for an old man, I'd say." Dunhill commented.

"Dunhill, who is this?" Hossan asked.

He shrugged. "I'm not sure. Emma and I saw him on a horse at the town entrance, so I brought him here."

"He doesn't look well." The innkeeper noted.

"No, he doesn't." Dunhill agreed. "He's definitely overheated."

"I'll go get water and a cloth." Hossan informed before rushing out of the room. He returned a few minutes later along with Emma and Hana, who must have followed Emma there. Hana walked over to the bedside and glanced over the boy.

"We need to get him cooled down. Take off his shirt and I'll take this." Hana ordered, taking the pitcher of water and cloth from Hossan. While Hossan and Dunhill worked together to remove the shirt Hana set the pitcher of water on the table and dunked the cloth into it. She took it out, squeezed out the excess water, and dabbed it across the youth's face.

"You three should go out to the lobby." Hana decided. "I'll come get you if anything happens."

"Are you sure?" Dunhill asked.

Hana nodded. "I'm sure."

Dunhill, Emma, and Hossan reluctantly left the room. They sat down at a table in the lobby of the inn. No one spoke, preoccupied with their own thoughts and worries, even though they knew that the boy would more than likely be alright.

Dunhill looked up when Hana walked into the lobby. "How is he?"

"He's waking up now." Hana explained with a smile. "I came back to get him some water to drink."

"I'll be right back." Hossan promised and quickly dashed off. He returned with a glass of water. Hana nodded, took the glass from him with a reassuring smile, and headed off to the room. Hossan and Dunhill followed at her heels.

The youth turned his head to look at the people entering the room. He seemed to tense before carefully raising himself up to a sitting position and regarding them with a guarded expression.

"Drink this before you try to talk. Don't drink too quickly or you'll make yourself sick." Hana advised, handing the water to him. He accepted it without responding and put the glass to his lips. He took a few deep, long swallows before lowering it. Dunhill waited a few moments, waiting to see if the boy was going to speak. When it was clear this wasn't going to happen he stepped forward. The youth's piercing red gaze landed on him. Dunhill hesitated for a second, surprised by the intensity in his slightly feverish eyes.

"We're glad you're awake, young man. My name is Hana, this is Hossan, and that crazy old man there is Dunhill." She gestured to each of them as she introduced them. "Can you tell us your name?"

There was a heartbeat of silence before he answered. "Neil."

"Well, Neil," Dunhill began, "Would you mind telling us what happened? We found you unconscious on your horse at—"

"Where is she?" he interrupted in a tone of warning.

Realizing that he must be talking about the horse, Dunhill reassured, "She's just fine. She's been taken to a barn nearby to rest."

Neil gave a slight nod, satisfied, and seemingly calmed down slightly.

"So, can I ask what happened?" Dunhill repeated.

Neil shifted his gaze downward to stare at the blankets, his mouth set in a tight line.

"You don't need to ask him so soon, Dunhill." Hana reprimanded.

"Ah, right. Sorry." He apologized. "Well, can you tell me who your parents are so I can call them?"

Right in the middle of the sentence Neil's free hand suddenly fisted the bed sheets and his grip on the half empty glass of water tightened so much that Hana actually feared that he might break it. She gently set her wrinkled hand on his and he reluctantly allowed her to take the water back. She set it on a table next to the bed so that if he needed it he could reach it.

"I think he's old enough not to rely on his parents." Hana stated. "You're what, fifteen, sixteen?"

He hesitated for a moment, just as surprised as Dunhill at the turn in conversation. "Fifteen." He finally confirmed.

Hana nodded. "See? He doesn't need anyone calling his parents. Why, at age fifteen I was already running my own store."

"It may have been like that back then, but nowadays a missing child is very serious." Dunhill reasoned.

"He's not missing. He's right here." Hana pointed out. "And like I said before, he's more than old enough to make decisions for himself."

Dunhill sighed, reluctantly conceding. Whenever Hana decided on something, nothing could change her mind otherwise.

The door opened and Emma stepped in. "How is Neil's horse, Emma?" Dunhill asked, glad to change the subject.

"She's exhausted, but after some rest she'll be as good as new." She answered. Neil let out a barely audible sigh of relief.

"While I was there I also tried to get the cow to eat, but she's as stubborn as ever." Emma added.

"A cow?" Everyone looked over to Neil at his question. He set his jaw, having not wanted to grab all the attention, but didn't go back on his inquiry.

"Yes. Our town's animal dealer left a few days ago, but he had to leave her behind. We've been keeping her in the barn just outside of town. But no matter what we do, she won't eat or drink." Emma responded.

"What's worse is that she's pregnant." Dunhill added.

Neil nodded, taking in the information, but didn't say anything more.

"I'd better be heading out." Emma announced. "I need to prepare a few items for shipping."

"I suppose I better return to my shop as well." Hana said. "Dunhill, you better get on those papers you've been avoiding. I'm sure they're due soon."

"I was hoping you would forget about that." Dunhill said with a mock sigh, but his smile gave him away.

"I'll be right back with some food and more water for you, Neil." Hossan stated.

"Make sure you give him something light. We don't want anything to weigh too heavy on his stomach." Hana advised.

Hossan nodded. Everyone left the room one by one, leaving Neil alone in the room.

---

Dunhill trudged down the eastern trail leading out of the town. After a few hours of sitting at his desk and shaking his head at the declining number of people in Echo Town, he had finally finished. Even though he knew that Emma was supposed to take care of the cow at night, he wanted to get out for some fresh air after being stuck in his study for so long. He might as well do it trying to help her.

He exited the town and walked toward a few buildings. Here, just outside of town and a safe distance away from the wilderness, there were three structures. A large barn, a small barn, and a storage shed. Knowing that the smallest barn was empty only reminded Dunhill of how the town's condition was worsening and had no signs of improving.

Shaking off the morbid thoughts, he noticed someone peeking into the large barn through the open doors. The red hair revealed that it must be Emma. He walked up to her, wondering why she wasn't inside.

She turned when she heard him approach and quickly put a finger to her lips. When he rose an eyebrow to question why, she silently pointed to the inside. Dunhill edged up next to her to look inside and nearly fell over in shock.

The cow was leaning her head down and calmly drinking from her pail as if she had never stopped. The small bits of fodder amongst the hay on the floor indicated that she had eaten as well.

Neil stood next to her, murmuring something too quiet for Dunhill to hear as he patted the cow's side. His face was the picture of content; while he wasn't smiling, the muscles were relaxed and his eyes held nothing but care.

Dunhill smiled and tapped Emma on the shoulder. When she turned to look at him he pointed back to the town, indicating that they should leave. Her expression turned into a slight pout at having to leave the tranquil scene, but she nodded in understanding. They quietly crept away from the barn and returned to the town, knowing that the cow was in good hands.

"A few days later we asked Neil if he would take care of the cow for us. As I'm sure you can guess, he said yes. Ever since then he's worked his way up to become one of the best animal dealers I have ever seen." Dunhill finished.

Silence filled the room when Dunhill's long story came to an end. When they had all realized that the tale might actually have some useful information, they had listened intently, and now they were contemplating over it.

"That was really interesting…but that doesn't help us with Neil right now." Tina spoke up, breaking the quiet.

"Actually, it might. What if it has something to do with how Neil came to the town?" Iroha pondered.

"Do you think that guy might have caused it somehow?" Rod asked.

"This is a great conversation and all, but you don't need to worry about figuring all that out." Allen announced. All heads turned to him in question.

"What do you mean?" Rachel asked.

He gestured to Yuri beside him. "Yuri here happens to know quite a bit about this mystery man of ours."

"Really?" Rachel questioned.

Allen nodded. Yuri hesitated and bit her lip nervously, clearly not comfortable with all of the attention now on her.

"Well…I mostly know about it from newspapers and talk around high school a few years ago." Yuri tentatively began. "I used to live in the same city as Neil. I didn't really know him, but I heard a lot about him in school. His father was reported for child abuse. He was accused of locking Neil in the family barn for hours with no water or food numerous times…however, they had no evidence, so he was set free. A lot of Neil's friends stopped hanging out with him and said that he had only reported his father just to get attention. A few days later Neil didn't go to school and had apparently run away. His father searched for him, but from what I heard never found him."

"That's…that's awful…" Felicity whispered.

"So…so if that's Neil's dad…" Rod said slowly.

No one spoke for a moment, wrapped up in a blanket of concern and shock.

"Alright." Rachel stood from her chair, determination shining in her eyes. "We know what we have to do. We have to get Neil's dad out of town and never want to come back. And let's make sure Neil doesn't know."

"Why can't we let him know?" Tina asked.

"Because if he finds out then he'll try to make us stay out of it. He's too proud for his own good and wouldn't want out help." Rachel explained. "Now, Dunhill. Can we trust you not to say anything about this to anyone else in town?"

Dunhill nodded. "I won't say a word."

"Good. Okay guys, I have a plan."

---

Meanwhile, back at the Clinic, Neil felt ready to tear his hair out in boredom. He had already counted the ceiling tiles four times now—and he was pretty sure the second to last one was just a slightly different color than the rest. He wondered if Rachel noticed that when she built the place.

"Seriously, doesn't Klaus at least have some magazines or something?" Neil grumbled under his breath. Sighing, he turned his head to look out the window. Streaks of red and orange cut across the darkening sky, but he wasn't tired enough to sleep.

He sat up in the bed when he heard footsteps approaching the patients' area. Klaus stopped just around the corner so that Neil could see him.

"I will be leaving for a few minutes to pick something up from Hana's General Store. Do not even think about—"

"—leaving. I know." Neil finished for him in annoyance. Klaus gave a curt nod and left. For a few minutes he debated on the idea of trying to escape, but in the end decided it wasn't worth it. After all, he didn't want to risk making his injury any worse than it was. He also didn't feel like facing Klaus' reprimands.

The opening and closing of a slightly creaky door echoed throughout the otherwise quiet clinic. Neil glanced at the clock on the wall and raised an eyebrow; for an older guy, he was pretty fast. Shrugging it off, he sank back down into his bed and wondered if he should attempt to go to sleep.

"Neil?"

Neil froze. He knew that voice. The one voice that he had never wanted to hear again.

Samuel slowly walked up to Neil's bedside, his hands behind his back in an almost formal manner. Neil snapped out of his surprise and swiftly edged over to the other side of the bed, nearly falling over when he ran out of room. He recovered and stood, his heart pounding in his ears.

"What are you doing here?!" The defensive statement oozed pure hostility. Despite this, his muscles were bunched and edgy. The desire to flee threatened to engulf him, but he did everything in his power to swallow it down. If he wanted to leave, he would have to give up the shield that was the bed between them, and he couldn't risk his father getting any closer.

Samuel set his jaw before speaking as if to ward off Neil's animosity. "I'm here for you, of course."

"As if I couldn't figure that out." Neil growled. "Why couldn't you just leave me alone?"

"I am your father." Samuel responded simply.

Neil could practically feel the anger bubbling in his veins. "After four years, you still say that? You act like just because I'm your son that means I have to submit to everything you say. You haven't changed at all."

"I understand that you're angry," Samuel calmly began, "but—"

"You don't understand. You could never understand." Deadly certainty coated Neil's words and flashed in his crimson eyes.

Samuel opened his mouth to speak, but instead a third voice interrupted him. "Excuse me, but I must insist you leave. It is past visiting hours." Klaus approached them with his normal impassive expression.

"I'm sorry, but if I could just have a minute…" Samuel insisted.

"No, you may not. As I stated earlier, it is past visiting hours. You also seem to be disrupting my patient's rest, which I cannot allow." Klaus refused, his tone holding a subtle hint of disdain.

The other man let out an exhalation bordering on an irritated huff, but nodded. "Yes, of course. You're right, I should have come earlier. I will," at this he sent a quick look to Neil, "talk to him later." He walked past the doctor and out the door.

"I suggest you get some rest, Neil. I intend on turning in myself in a few minutes." Klaus announced, leaving the room.

Neil blinked, realizing that he was still standing beside the bed. Now that the source of his hatred was gone, the anger-fueled adrenaline quickly ebbed into physical and emotional exhaustion. He let out a long, weary sigh and allowed his tense muscles to loosen. He collapsed back onto the bed, vaguely aware of his wounded arm throbbing.

He rolled over onto his back and stared at the ceiling. Despite the fatigue plaguing his being, he knew that he wouldn't be sleeping well that night.

---

Light knocking sounded from the other side of the door of the inn room early the next morning. Samuel closed his suitcase and walked over to open it.

"Yes?" he asked. A young blonde girl shyly smiled up at him.

"Good morning, sir. I'm here to give you this complimentary dish on behalf of the Inn." Felicity sweetly responded and then held out a dish to him. Slightly bewildered, he accepted the plate and looked down at the food on it. From what he could tell it seemed to be some kind of red curry, the warmth of the plate indicating that

"Well, thank you—" When he looked back up, she was gone. He glanced down the hallway, but she was nowhere to be seen. Shrugging, he returned to his room and closed the door behind him.

He picked up the fork lying on the side of the plate and scooped up some of the curry. He put the food in his mouth and chewed it thoughtfully before swallowing. He couldn't help but be impressed at the sweet yet spicy taste that coated his tongue. He ate the rest of the food and set the empty plate on the table next to the bed. With a full, content stomach, he walked over to his suitcase to search for something.

Then it happened. It suddenly felt like flames from the sun had sprouted and engulfed his tongue in a hellish bonfire. He practically jumped up and raced out of his room, panting harshly. He skidded to a stop in front of the inn counter and desperately banged on the bell a few times. Time seemed to slow as the unbearable pain continued, and in a matter of seconds he decided that no one was coming and raced out of the inn. He ran, to where he didn't know until he saw the distinct shape of a well beside the dirt road. Feeling like he had just found salvation, he sprinted over to it and noticed that a young raven haired woman seemed to be using the crank to bring some water up.

"Need…water…!" he panted out.

"It should be up shortly." Iroha stated. Whether time had just slowed down again or the girl was just moving the crank agonizingly slowly, he didn't know, and could only stand there fanning his tongue with one hand as he waited.

Finally, finally, the bucket reached the top. Without waiting for her permission he leapt forward and grabbed it. He chugged down the water as quickly as he could, nearly half of the cold water spilling down the sides of his face. Only when the bucket was completely empty did he stop and set it down, trying to catch his breath and thankful that the torture was over. When he looked up to return the bucket to the girl, she had disappeared. Shaking his head at the strangeness of the situation, he decided to brush it off for now. He set the bucket on the edge of the well, wiped his sleeve across his face, and turned around to start back to the inn.

"Excuse me, sir."

He turned around to see a girl struggling as she attempted to lift up one side of a stone bench.

"Do you think you could help me with this?" Rachel politely asked.

"Of course." He responded. He hooked his fingers under the other side of the stone bench and lifted, grunting in surprise at the effort it took him. "Where to?"

"Just past the inn." She answered. With that, they shuffled along the trail until they reached the desired destination. He sighed in relief when they set the bench down; his arms had started aching terribly halfway there.

"There you go, miss." Samuel said.

"Thanks, but…" she put a hand on her chin as she observed the bench. "But I think it would look better over there." She then pointed at a place farther down the path.

"Are you sure we can't just leave it here?" he questioned.

"Well…I guess I can try to do it myself…"

He bit back a sigh and reached down to pick it up again. Rachel did the same on her side, hiding her smirk.

This happened four more times before Rachel finally gave him mercy. Samuel was practically doubled over, his arms burning from the strain.

"Thanks for the help mister!" Rachel called out. Moments later she was gone.

Far past the point of asking why people were leaving so quickly, he straightened. Just as he was about to take a step, he felt a hand grab his sleeve, making him turn.

"Oh, it's you two." Samuel muttered before he could catch himself. Allen held the man's sleeve between his thumb and index finger in obvious distaste while Yuri stood behind him.

"Yes, it's us." Allen greeted, putting on his best smile. "Look, we're…sorry about what happened yesterday. We decided to give you a complete wardrobe makeover to make up for our behavior." He started pulling Samuel along, his grip surprisingly strong despite using only two digits.

Before Samuel could protest, he was being walked and then pushed into a building. He found himself in what looked like a clothing store.

"Yuri, start bringing the clothes." Allen ordered. He glanced over the man in front of him. "This is going to take a while."

Yuri brought some clothes over to Allen, who in turn shoved them into Samuel's hands and pushed him into a changing room in the back of the store. That's how the process continued for the next hour; Yuri handing Allen clothes and Allen practically forcing the man to put them on. Allen kept his mouth running with comments and jibes the entire time, not giving the other male anytime to object whatsoever. Both Yuri and Allen knew that Yuri was the actual expert on clothes, but they also knew that for this particular job was much better suited for Allen.

"Alright, I give. I'm afraid there's simply nothing I can find that looks good on you." Allen announced with a mock apology. "You can go now."

Samuel blinked. "I can…go? I can finally go?" he questioned, not believing it for a moment.

Allen sat down behind the counter and waved him away. "That's what I said. Now shoo."

Shaking his head, Samuel changed back into his own outfit and left the building. He started walking back to the inn when, once again, he saw someone walking toward him. He swiftly turned on his heel and quickly started the opposite way, hoping to avoid yet another annoying young person.

Unfortunately for him, Tina was much faster.

Before he realized it she had started walking beside him. "So, I heard you're staying at Hossan's inn." Tina began. "Did you know that Hossan left the town for a while and then came back? I heard that the place he went to was really uptight and boring. That's what Niko said anyway—"

"Excuse me, but I should really be heading back to the inn." Samuel insisted, increasing his pace to get ahead of her. Moments later she caught up to him, having increased her pace as well.

"That's where I was going to go too! We can go together." Tina stated. "Speaking of going together, Iroha said that Rachel said that Rod and Felicity have been hanging out a lot lately. I heard that Rod even left her fifteen dollars as a tip yesterday. That has to mean something, right? People don't just leave tips like that unless they really like the person, and not just because of how well they did their job." She gasped. "I wonder if he likes her! They would be so cute together! Don't you think so? Not to mention…"

Samuel would have smacked his palm against his own face if his arms weren't still aching from moving the stone bench earlier. He tuned out her gossip and tried to walk away, but no matter what he did he couldn't shake her off. Whenever he would drift off whatever path she seemed to have in mind, she would jump over to the opposite side of him and not-so-subtly steer him back. She never stopped talking the entire time. Samuel had never felt so tempted to tell someone to just shut up, but he decided against it. Barely.

Before he realized it he had walked all the way through the town and had finally returned to the inn.

"We should talk again sometime! Bye!" Tina waved and then ran off. Samuel exhaled slowly, glad to finally be back to the safety of the inn. He walked inside and headed over to his room. The door was open; he must have forgotten to close it in his rush to find some water earlier that morning. He stepped inside. His mouth fell open.

Everything in his room was either chewed, torn, wet, or a combination of the three. His suitcase—thankfully closed—had the corners ripped while the blankets on the bed had been absolutely torn to shreds. The table had been knocked over and shards of the plate that had been previously sitting on it were strewn around it. Slobber lined the floors and coated torn fabrics.

Sitting in the center of it all was the culprit, a small husky puppy with the most innocent eyes a person could ever see.

"Oh, there you are Richie!" Rod called out from behind Samuel. The puppy yipped in response and bounded over to Rod. Rod picked him up and gave Samuel an apologetic smile.

"Sorry about that. He must have gotten out again. That's the third time this week." Rod said. He then gave a hurried farewell and rushed out of the inn.

Samuel was too shocked to say anything before the pet dealer left. At the sound of the inn's front door closing he closed his mouth and let out what felt like his tenth sigh that day. He walked into his destroyed room, tossed aside the damp blankets lying on top of the bed, and collapsed onto the mattress, wondering if he had thought to bring headache medication.

---

"Klaus?"

"Just one moment." Klaus set down a few papers he had been reading before turning to see Rebecca along with her son Toni at the entrance to the Clinic. "Yes?"

"I'm sorry to bother you, but could you help Toni?" Rebecca asked.

Klaus nodded. "Has he injured himself again?"

"Go ahead, Toni. Tell Klaus what you did." Rebecca sternly said.

Toni guiltily looked down at the floor and shuffled his feet. "I climbed a tree after Mom told me not to." He mumbled.

"That's right." Rebecca confirmed. "Now show the good doctor your arm."

Toni lifted up his right sleeve to reveal a rather nasty looking scrape just above his elbow. Klaus leaned down to examine it closer.

"Normally I would deal with it myself, but it turns out that I've already used up all the bandages I have." Rebecca stated.

"It's perfectly fine." Klaus replied, straightening. He walked over to a cabinet and picked out a few supplies. "Unfortunately, children are known for their antics."

"I'm glad you understand." Rebecca responded.

"Are you going to use the stingy stuff?" Toni asked, watching the doctor warily. At the doctor's nod, the boy's face turned into a pout.

Rebecca's reprimanding attitude melted at her son's expression. "Don't worry, it only hurts for a moment." She reassured.

Toni nodded, although he still wasn't looking forward to it. Within minutes Klaus had efficiently disinfected and wrapped the wound. Just as the doctor finished Neil walked toward them, intending on going around them to return to the patients' area.

"Oh, hello Neil. I forgot that you were here." Rebecca stated. Neil paused to regard her; his version of a greeting.

"Do you happen to know what Rachel and the others were doing this morning? I saw Rachel moving a stone bench alone with another man, and then later Hossan told me that one of Rod's puppies completely destroyed the same man's room. Now, we both know that Rod would never let something like that happen with his animals unless he wants it to." Rebecca added, her tone suggesting that Neil had to know something about this.

"What?" Neil questioned. At his sincere confusion, Rebecca's eyebrows lifted slightly.

"You really didn't know about it?" she questioned. "Well that's odd. I wonder what they were up to."

"I wonder that too…" Neil muttered, his voice trailing off as he thought over the new information. It wasn't too hard to guess who this man was; there was currently only one person residing at Hossan's inn. His brow furrowed as a spark of something akin to fear lit in the pit of his stomach. Could they have figured out…?

"Well, we should get going." Rebecca decided. "I need to finish up a building design for Rachel to pick up in an hour. Let's go, Toni."

"Okay." His normal energy dampened by his recent injury, Toni followed his mother. Everyone in the room knew it was no cause for worry; he would forget about his injury and be running around town within the hour.

"Neil."

Neil looked up at the sound of his name. "Hm?"

"You may leave as long as you do not use that arm and you come straight to me if anything happens to it. Understood?" Klaus said.

Relief swept through him. "Yeah." As if afraid that Klaus might change his mind at any second, Neil quickly walked out of the Clinic. Closing the door behind him, he glanced around. He thanked whatever deity that existed that his father was nowhere to be seen. Although he was surprised that the man hadn't showed up yet, he was not about to question it.

A few minutes after walking down the path away from the Clinic he noticed a familiar figure with blonde hair and a black and white cowboy hat. He quickened his pace to catch up with her.

"Hey." He called out. Rachel turned around, her eyes widening a fraction at seeing him, but quickly hid it behind a smile.

"Hey. Looks like you're finally out. How was the Clinic?" She asked.

"Boring. What were you doing this morning?" He questioned without skipping a beat.

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean. Rebecca said that you were forcing the man staying at the inn to help you move a stone bench, and then later one of Rod's dogs apparently chewed up his room. Was it another one of your harebrained ideas?" He demanded.

"My ideas aren't harebrained!" She defended.

"So it was your idea."

She drew back, realizing her mistake. "I think I have somewhere to be—"

"Rachel." His dangerous tone made her stop. "Tell me what you were doing."

She sighed. "Alright, alright. I'll tell you. You see, we—me, Rod, and a few others—saw him come into town. We, uh, said hello to him but he didn't say hello back and…said that he hated animals. None of us liked him so we decided to try to make him want to leave." Her smile turned a little shaky.

He stared at her. Rachel shifted slightly, but remained silent.

"So…" Neil drawled, "You expect me to believe that you, the person who has worked her fingers to the bone to get travelers to come to this dying town, are now trying to make one leave just because he didn't say hello?"

"And he said that he hated animals."

This time it was Neil's turn to sigh. "You're terrible at lying, you know that?"

She shrugged. "I thought I was pretty convincing."

"Just tell me. I need to know." His tone turned serious. "What is the real reason you're trying to get him to leave?"

Rachel looked away. "Well…I may kinda sorta know that that guy is actually your dad and—"

Neil felt like someone had squeezed all of the oxygen out of his lungs. "How…how did you…?"

"That doesn't matter. What does matter is that now we know and we want to help—"

Anger flared unbidden to Neil's heart. "Why didn't you tell me that you knew?!"

"I just told you! We wanted to help and we knew that you would try to stop us if you knew about it!" Rachel matched the volume of his voice.

"You're right, I would have! That is exactly why you shouldn't have done it."

"Why are you so angry about it, anyway?! We thought you hated him!"

"That doesn't mean you have the right to just take control! He's my dad!"

"Then what are you going to do about it, huh?! All you do is run away!"

Neil froze, his mouth slightly agape in shock. Rachel stopped, her fiery anger suddenly doused by a bucket of guilt.

"Neil, look, whatever I said I'm so—"

Neil fiercely shook his head, his eyes closed and his hand fisted in his shirt over his chest, almost as if he couldn't breathe. He suddenly turned and took off running.

"Neil!" She called after him. She followed after him as quickly as her legs would allow her, but it was obvious who had the advantage. Neil had worked hard with animals all his life; Rachel had become a farmer only a little more than a year ago. She was forced to stop at the eastern entrance of the town, doubled over and panting. She had long since lost Neil.

"Rachel?" Rod walked over to her, looking at her in confusion. "Are you okay?"

She nodded her head, gulping down a few more breaths before straightening. "Yeah, but…I really screwed up and…Neil ran off. Now I have no idea where he is."

Worry sparked in Rod's eyes. "I know where he would go."

"You do?" she asked.

He nodded. "Whenever I see him get stressed, he always goes to the same place."

"Lead the way." She insisted.

They jogged out of the town and toward the largest barn. Rod slowed down and stopped a few feet away from the entrance looking rather uncomfortable. Rachel stopped as well and turned to give him a questioning look.

"Since I don't really know what happened, I think that it would be best if you went in there alone. Besides…I don't really like seeing Neil like this." Rod explained.

She gave him a reassuring smile and nodded before walking inside. Her smile dissipated the instant she set her eyes on Neil.

He was standing in the center of the barn, his back to her and his head tilted down slightly as if to stare at something on the ground. All of the animals were outside, leaving only Neil and Rachel. A sense of suffocating loneliness seemed to reside in the air around Neil. Rachel wanted to say something to ease the tension, but she had no idea where to start. She nearly jumped when she heard Neil speak first.

"You're right." He quietly admitted.

She blinked. "Right about what?"

"About me running away. It's all I ever do, and it's pathetic."

She stepped forward. "Neil…"

"Don't bother denying it. I know it's the truth." He stated it with absolute certainty. "You know what makes it worse?"

Rachel didn't answer. He continued anyway. "I'm always trying to run back to mom. Back to the time when she made me feel like I still had a home. Even after she'd died I always thought that as long as I had Willow I still had some sort of connection to her."

"Willow…" Rachel murmured the name before she could stop herself.

"When I was really young, my mother and I helped a horse give birth to Willow. Mom said that she was our horse." He swallowed hard. "But now Willow's gone. And now I realize how stupid I am to have thought that as long as I had Willow, I had a home."

He went quiet for a few moments before speaking again. "But I was wrong. The moment my mom died I lost my home and I haven't had one since. My dad proved that to me."

He stopped speaking again. Rachel didn't respond, mulling over his words and silently surprised at how much Neil was giving away of himself. She had never heard him talk this much about his personal life before. By saying this much he was making himself intentionally vulnerable, something she knew he despised. It was obvious that he was stressed and needed someone to talk to, but she felt like even then he typically would have never said anything for fear of it being used against him.

Unless…

Realization suddenly dawned on Rachel. "You…you're thinking about leaving Echo Town, aren't you?" her words were careful and slow, as if just by saying it he would disappear.

Neil hesitated before giving a small nod.

Panic flickered in her gaze. "Don't!" She stopped herself and let out a breath, forcing her voice to lower and hopefully sound less forceful. "Please, don't."

"Why?" The question came as expected, nothing but honest confusion.

"You were wrong about what you said before." Rachel began. "While you may have lost your old home, you do have one now."

"I…I do?" Pity stirred in Rachel's heart. The words were so tentative, so afraid to hope. So afraid that even if it were true, he would lose it in an instant.

"Yes, you do, and you always will." She stepped forward and, after a moment's hesitation, carefully placed a hand on Neil's shoulder. She could feel his muscles instinctively tense at her touch. "This is your home now, here in Echo Town. We all care about you here, and not just because you're the animal dealer." She gently squeezed his shoulder. "We care about you as a person."

After Rachel finished, silence reclaimed the barn, but this time it was different than before. The suffocating tension had shifted into a calm quiet, one that needed no words to be understood.

She felt the slight rise of his shoulder as he inhaled a deep breath and released it.

"You know…even though I was thinking about leaving…I don't think I would have gone through with it." Neil stated, his tone bordering on calm and contemplative. "I never really noticed it before, but…something is keeping me here. Something that I don't want to leave behind."

Rachel smiled even though she knew he couldn't see it.

Neil swiped his sleeve across his face before turning to face her. His posture appeared tired, but his eyes seemed brighter, as if a weight had been lifted.

"So…what do you want to do about your father?" Rachel asked. She didn't want to ruin the moment, but it was something they needed to figure out.

"I think…I think I'll try talking to him."

"Really?" Rachel questioned.

He nodded. "Yeah. I realized something before you got here, and I'm only more sure of it now."

Rachel waited for a few moments, expecting some sort of explanation, but when one didn't come she decided not to push it. Neil had already revealed more than she could have ever thought; making him go farther would only hurt him.

"Okay. Well, if you need help or something just tell me. Or Rod, since I know that he's still waiting outside worrying over you." Rachel stated with some amusement.

"He is?"

"Yep. For a guy that's usually all puppies and sunshine, he can get really depressed when he thinks something is wrong with his friends."

She noticed his lips curve the trinities bit upwards.

"Let's get going. We don't want to keep Rod in suspense." Rachel said.

"Wait, one more thing."

"What is it?"

"Don't tell anyone about what I told you."

Rachel smiled. This was the Neil she knew. "Of course. Now come on, let's go!"

---

Neil walked inside of the inn. Hossan greeted him, to which he nodded in return and then headed over to the first inn room. He stopped in front of the closed door and took a deep breath. Ignoring the nervousness bubbling in the pit of his stomach and attempting to calm the anger threatening to boil in his heart, he knocked on the door.

For a tense minute, nothing happened. His racing mind briefly wondered if Rachel and Rod had followed his orders to stay away from the inn until he was done. Honestly, he doubted it; they were probably standing right outside, waiting for him to come back out. For some reason, however, that thought helped to soothe his rising nerves.

Neil almost jumped when he heard the doorknob being turned, but he quickly composed himself.

"Yes, who is it…?" Samuel questioned in exasperation as he opened the door. The moment he caught sight of his visitor he paused, his eyes widening in poorly disguised surprise. "Oh. Hello, Neil."

"…hello." Neil returned. He was rather surprised at his father's appearance as well; he looked disheveled and exhausted, much different from the uptight and calm exterior Neil was used to. Rachel, Rod, and the others must have really done a number on him. He felt a flicker of gratefulness at the realization.

"Well, I suppose you can come in." Samuel said, stepping to the side to allow him in. Neil hesitated and then walked inside, although he made sure to keep distance between himself and the man.

Samuel closed the door. "It's a good thing you're here. I wasn't sure I could stand to be in this crazy town much longer." He commented.

"You wanted to talk to me, right? So what do you want?" Neil questioned.

"Right." He let out a long sigh before continuing. "I wanted you to know that I am sorry for what I did to you and that I want you to return home."

"You're…sorry…?" Neil repeated slowly.

Samuel nodded.

"That would've been nice to hear after the fifth time you locked me in the barn and blamed me for our farm losing money." Neil scoffed.

His father looked away guiltily. "I know. I wasn't in my right mind, and I started drinking. After your mother—"

"Stop that!" Neil growled. "Stop calling her 'your mother.' She has a name."

He hesitated, surprised at the other's vehement insistence, but then nodded. "After Delilah passed, I thought that my life was over. I wanted to keep the farm going, because it was all I had left, but I got frustrated when sales started dropping. I took it out on you, and I shouldn't have. I'm sorry."

"That's it? That's really all you have to say? I lost my friends, my home, and my life because of you, and all you can say is 'sorry'?!" Anger dripped from every word.

"I know that it must have been hard for you—"

"No. You don't know, and you didn't try to understand. Back then all you cared about was your beer and money. I was just a free worker to you. Someone you could work to the bone and could punish whenever you wanted to for whatever reason just because I happened to be related to you. I couldn't stand living in a place where no one wanted me. That's why I left, and I still stand by that decision."

"You're right. If I had been you , I would have done the same thing." Samuel admitted. "I wasn't thinking about what you had to be feeling. It was selfish of me."

Neil let out a short breath to bring his hatred back under control. For this conversation, he knew he needed to keep a level head.

But he didn't say anything. He wasn't going to argue against that.

"When you left I realized what I had done and how wrong I was. I searched all the nearby cities and towns for you…I didn't think that you could travel this far out." Samuel continued. "But now that I have found you, I want you to know that you can come back home with me. The way it should be."

Before he had even finished the sentence Neil had started shaking his head. "No."

"I've changed. I promise that I will never treat you badly again." Samuel pleaded.

Neil met his father's gaze and held it. "It's too late for that now. No matter what you do, that place can never be my home again. This is my home now, and nothing can change that."

Samuel opened his mouth as if to argue, but then closed it. Neil's voice contained nothing but a heartfelt sureness that reverberated with every confident syllable.

"And before you ask, no, I can't forgive you. I've lost too much for that. But that doesn't mean I still hate you." Neil continued. "I'm tired of hating you and I'm tired of running. I want to move on."

Samuel's confused expression slowly shifted into one of acceptance. "…alright. While I can't pretend to understand, I will trust your judgment. You know, Neil, you have really grown up." He added, something similar to melancholy filling his gaze.

"So have you." Neil admitted.

"I love you, son."

An unknown emotion flashed in Neil's crimson eyes, but he only nodded in response. He couldn't say it back, at least not yet. But that nod showed that maybe, maybe he could someday.

"Goodbye." With that final word, Neil opened the door and left the room.

Neil walked out of the inn and stopped. There, standing a few feet from the entrance were Rachel, Rod, Allen, Yuri, Tina, Felicity and Iroha. They all turned to look at him, Tina a little sheepishly. Ah. Rachel must have told her and then Tina told everyone else. No wonder they got here so quickly.

Warmth sprouted and blossomed in his chest, chasing away any negative emotion that lingered. He could see it now; the way Rachel looked at him apprehensively; the way Rod prepared a reassuring smile; the way Allen nonchalantly readjusted his glasses to hide any sign of concern; the way Yuri anxiously bit her lip; the way Tina's jaw clenched; the way Felicity's hands fidgeted nervously; the way Iroha looked away to conceal the emotion flickering in her dark eyes.

They all cared. They were what made Echo Town his home.

Everyone looked relieved to see that Neil appeared to be calm and well.

"Hey, guys, look!" Tina exclaimed, pointing at Neil.

"Is he…smiling?" Rod asked.

"Yeah…yeah, I think he is." Rachel confirmed.

"I didn't think he knew how." Allen commented.

"It's…different," Yuri started,

"But nice." Felicity finished.

Iroha only nodded in agreement.

Neil fought back the blush threatening to rise in his face. "Is it really that big of a deal…?" he muttered under his breath. Despite that, no matter what, he couldn't stop the telltale curve of his lips.

"Oh, hey, Neil! I have something for you. Or, someone." Rod announced. The others parted to reveal a brown colt that had been hidden by the crowd. Neil walked over to Rod and looked at the young horse.

"For…me?" he questioned in disbelief. He reached out and ran his hand down the colt's neck. The colt gave a rather loud appreciative whinny.

"His name is Chance. He's not old enough to pull your carriage yet, but…I thought that he would be perfect for you." Rod stated.

"Thank you." Neil responded. Something in his tone indicated that he wasn't just talking about the horse.

Neil rubbed behind the colt's ears before pulling away. The horse gave an indignant huff when he stopped.

"I would really like to bring him back to my barn with you, but I have something else I need to do first." Neil said.

"Don't worry about it. But what is it that you have to do?" Rod asked.

With some reluctance Neil responded, "I promised Allen I would let him give me a haircut. I might as well get it over with."

Yuri and Rod had to catch Allen when the hair stylist nearly fainted out of sheer joy.