Stars

Summary: In which Jack decides to do something special for Leia, which ends up in a series of heartwarming events. Jack x Leia

Disclaimer: I don't seem to own the rights and to be the creator of – not limited to, but including – Jack, Leia and any of the other merry inhabitants of Forget Me Not Valley. On the other hand, I am the one who wrote this and had this idea, even if there are any stories similar to this. I copied no one, sonnies.

Major Premise: This was written as a present for dear Awesome Rapidash, who is most amazing and kind and is my wonderful beta for one of my fics; so this is a thank you oneshot is set under the game of the Harvest Moon series, Harvest Moon DS. I suppose in the normal role-play, in which Jack has a sort of, kind of romantic relationship with Leia. Warnings go for unbelievable fluff and sap.

Some Notes: I still know I should be working on other things, but this oneshot really dug its way to my heart.

My play list while writing this was a couple soundtracks from Final Fantasy X ("Via Purifico" and "A Dream That Will End Some Time"), some piano tracks from Shadow of the Colossus (especially "The Sunlit Earth").

But the most prominent music and inspiration was "Stars", by The Cranberries. See, it even named this fic.

I hope you have a happy reading!

Jack idly runs his thumb along the length of the cement border of the bathtub which contains a considerable amount of water, and inside that water is his friend.

The young farmer doesn't exactly have the notion of his motions; it is something rather involuntary, even – something to spend the time as he listens to Leia speaking about things of her life under the sea. He does enjoy listening to her speaking, with her kind, soft voice and mellow rhythm. And he is also rather happy to know the young mermaid trusts him enough to confide him of her life and other worlds his everyday companions don't know of.

So yes, he does treasure her words in his mind, and he keeps in his schedule always a space to spend some time with Leia.

Especially now. The ending of autumn season is less than friendly with the simple inhabitants of Forget Me Not Valley, so Jack is chilly and, seeing as it is his first winter lived in Forget Me Not, his house isn't exactly prepared for this sort of climate and it gets quite cold. If it were any other time, the farmer would be surely working with his animals and vegetables, but seeing as the upcoming winter isn't appropriate to raise crops, he gets much free time – too much for his own health, and he is bound to get terribly bored, since he can't spend too much time outdoors. So Jack is kind of thankful for Daryl letting him spend so much time in his basement.

"Don't you ever feel frustrated?" Jack asks of the blue.

Leia offers him a confused look. "Frustrated?" the mermaid asks, quietly and softly, like she always is.

"Frustrated… in the bathtub… uhh, I mean…" Jack stutters, "Aren't you used to swim freely around the ocean? Isn't this bathtub a bit too… small… for you?"

The mermaid gives him the fluttering of deep blue eyes, deep in thought. Her lips are paralyzed and her mind grows wings for a short moment in time, as she ponders. Leia simply doesn't know what to say to him. She had never given much thought to that matter; after she was thrown ashore into the land she is used to be thankful for Daryl's caring attention and kindness. She forces her eyes close and opens them once again.

And the jade haired mermaid nods and whispers a soft-spoken "Yes". Jack reckons this answer with a tiny smile at the corner of his lips and leans further towards Leia, attentively listening to her words.

Leia bobs her head to the side in amusement. "I suppose that when I was in the ocean I could freely swim to most places, yes," she begins. "Yes. I usually swam everywhere and I really enjoyed searching for corals and decoration things, they are really beautiful." The mermaid remains silent for a couple moments.

"You miss your home," Jack says with a chuckle.

Leia gives him a smile. "Yes, I suppose I do," she complies.

And the farmer shrugs in his stool and smiles, he smiles and nods. "Someday I will find a way to bring you back home," he confides Leia with all trust in his words he can possibly have. "Or maybe," he adds with a quick chuckle, "I will find a way to bring the sea to you. I know I will."

Leia isn't a mermaid prone to blushing like a silly teenage girl around her class' best, nor is she the kind of mermaid to shake her whip of a scaly tail and nervously toy with her hair. Despite these things, there is a slight hint of passion as she smiles at Jack and shakes her head, and says, "You don't need to, Jack." She still blushes, and she is still eternally touched by those words of Jack and the kindness of this person.

Truly, Leia never imagined humans to be this much interesting. Being the shy mermaid she usually is, she never liked very much to swim all the way to the surface to watch human ships pass by the territories of her own kind nor swimming to the shore to examine the humans living their lives on a much closer method. So it strikes her as quite the surprise to find herself this enthralled by a human, in fact, all humans. And it is also a pleasant surprise to see that humans – at least the two she meets, and the other many she hears of – are such kind beings.

Kind people like Jack, who is the mostly kind and generous farmer who tells her of the life in the land. Jack, who enthralls her with kind words. Jack, who has managed to befriend the misunderstood Daryl enough to be allowed into the basement, Jack who brings her flowers from the earth and fish from the river. Jack always seems to be so happy and optimistic about life and people that it gets quite impossible for her to disagree, she really likes that about him, and how he loves simple things. Jack, who is so kind and devoted to his loved ones through and through.

The more Leia knows this human, the less she feels inclined to call him just that.

"I know," Jack calls out to her, snapping the mermaid out of her daydreaming. "Tomorrow night I will take you to the beach with me; there is no one in there at that time."

"Wh-what?" Leia stammers.

Jack's hand reaches out to Leia's hand and gives it a gentle squeeze, and he says, "I will; I promise, just trust me."

And with that, the for-now-unoccupied farmer leaves the basement with a new project in mind, feeling pleasantly busy, feeling that haze of boredom dissipating into puffy clouds of excitement for this new adventure. And yes, he is going to help his friend and it is such a good act. He barely notices Daryl as he leaves his house, tendrils of anxiousness guiding his footsteps.

And with that, Leia is left alone in her bathtub, bathing with her meandering thoughts on this sudden decision.

Oh, why are humans so intriguing!

---

Leia feels apprehensive as she looks down below and shifts her gaze upwards once again, gripping the fabric of Jack's jacket and surely some of the hard flesh of its user. In return, Jack's arms shift so he can hold her more safely in their way to the beach. She can't help but increase her grip on the farmer's back as she is carried by him, feeling herself growing unsure as his hold on her loosens with his footsteps headed to the beach.

"Could you just not grip me so heard?" Jack's voice inquires, and Leia nods and loosens her grip ever so lightly. She just can't help being afraid.

"I'm sorry," she mutters.

And she feels Jack's comforting touch, yes, he understands and he is here for her.

When did traveling in land become so frightening? Leia is a mermaid, so she certainly isn't suited for this kind of traveling, but she doesn't remember the time Daryl took her to his house being this frightening. Perhaps she was just too mellow from the storm, then. She can't help but wonder if the way back home will be like this, and then, when she is finally ready to go back home – her real home. It all leaves Leia so uneasy.

A swish of her thick, scaled tail, and she remembers she has Jack. And just that thought makes her comfortable, she is sure Jack won't let anything bad happen to her.

Some more moments – perhaps a minute or a couple, half hour; an eternity – of that swinging to the rhythm of Jacks swift footsteps and she finally, and barely, notices the muffled sound coming from below as Jacks boots press the sandy ground. Leia wants to sigh, but she can't, she still is too nervous, so she is just left with the intention of sighing. (After all, it is the intention that counts.) And she only has to wait a few more moments (and now the mermaid is sure that they are short) until Jack pauses his footsteps.

And he mumbles, "We are here. See, it wasn't that hard."

And Leia contains the retort that would surely come. It wasn't that hard! She is a mermaid! Mermaids aren't made for this madness! What was he thinking…?

Jack is oblivious to her thoughts as he chuckles and gently places her by the end of the pier, and then sits by her side. It was true; it really is cold outside, now that Leia puts her mind into it. She feels her skin tighten to the contact with the chilly sea-air; she really isn't prepared for this, in the sea, she didn't have to worry about such things as breezes and chilly wind. Leia's worries were set for the ever shifting sea currents and migrations of the southern fish.

Cold water isn't much of a nuisance to her when compared to this thing of northern winds.

Still, the fish-girl shifts her scaled tail, shimmering in the moonlight, and leaves it hanging off the pier. She balances it as its tip touches and dips into the cold, sea water. Perhaps her time spent at Daryl's bathtub with warm water and mixed salt has left her unused to the true face of the sea.

She ponders as she moves closer to the edge.

There is no voice coming from Jack's lips or any movement, and Leia wonders if he is still with her. She scotches closer to his sitting human body, and then another bit. She feels his body temperature reaching to her through the heavy winter coat he has insisted to bring with him. The side of her which is leaning against Jack is comforted; she ignores the other, tense with the cold. Her tail still soundlessly splashes in the water below, much better than the cold rest of her.

The farmer feels her presence and shifts against her, getting ever so slightly closer to her small frame. His body warmth catches and grips her. She crosses her arms around her chest, looking for a way to maintain her warmth inside of her.

Leia takes that chance to take in the entire environment surrounding them; much unlike she what she did so far. And after all, this is the first time she has seen any outdoors ever since the sea storm when she washed ashore.

She daringly looks around, and everything is dark. But her mermaid eyes are used to the everlasting darkness found in the deep ocean (not that she has ventured there that many times, Mother never lets her), and she manages to capture a little more details than the human eye. She is left in awe as she examines the shoreline and the little beach sun-shades and the little structure made of white wood around the beach; she doesn't exactly know and understand each of these things, but they all look positively fantastic through her curious eyes. (All in all, she knows nothing of the human world; she understands some things and manages to identify a handful of them through what Daryl and Jack have revealed along time, but she is quite surprised and confused. Leia can't even understand a tree; according to Jack, it is the equivalent to algae in the sea, but they have trunks, which are made of wood, which can be used in construction, and they are also harder than the rest of the tree.)

And all is silent but the sea, which gently roars and cries against the sand in its ever-ending dance with land; sea and land are never quite apart from each other. It is a soothing, grave sound, and Leia is sure that she can almost hear the voices of the ancient mer-people chanting with it. On the other hand there is a melodic song in the direction of the inner land, paused and coming in waves of loud, acute notes; the mermaid can't figure out its source, but it still leaves her fascinated just so. There is also the intense smell of salt and sea, which seems to linger on the empty, lifeless seashells and starfishes Daryl keeps in his basement, those which Leia sometimes holds on to as she pictures home in her mind.

She must have made some sort of noise, as Jack turns to her and she can't help but notice the cheeky grin adorning his face. "You like this, huh? I knew you would like this," he says.

Leia looks at him, chuckling. Yes, now that she isn't traveling in the arms of the farmer she can see that the land is quite beautiful and that she was in dire need of getting out of Daryl's basement for a start. But still, she can't quite admit that to Jack; it would be synonym of saying he is right and she is wrong. And Jack is always right. So she just nudges his ribs with her elbow in a childish way, lightly not to hurt him – she still wants him to take her home.

She watches his legs balance off the pier, not quite touching the water surface. Even if Jack's legs are long, they still aren't just as long as Leia's tail.

"You know," Jack says, "you might want to swim for a while, I don't know." There is a hint of suggestion in his voice, in the way he lures her into the water, just like those of her species are supposed to.

Leia sighs. "I know, and I will," she says.

And Leia's hands reach out for the edge of the slightly rotting planks of the pier, and she contemplates the moment of dipping. It can't be too hard, can it? She is kind of afraid of getting back into the sea water. There might be some current that might take her away, away from Daryl and she can't thank him for everything; it might take her away from Jack and her smile. There is a moment of tension as she pierces her nails into the wood as much as she can and she finally throws herself into the water.

The last thing she can account as she falls into the water is a surprised noise coming from Jack.

There is a pang of cold as she dives gracefully – after all, this is what she does better – and that cold leaves her quite dumbstruck at first. She didn't figure it would be this cold inside the water, she remembers being the opposite. But still, she deems this quite interesting and great, as she swims around the base pillars of the pier, not really paying attention to anything but this sensation, this feeling threatening to overcome her; this excitement of being back in the water. And it is so dark she can't see much but the flowing image of the moon up above.

But still Leia knows she isn't ready yet to adventure that much around the water. The cold is almost unbearable, making her spine all convulsing twitches and shudders.

And more, because she sees Jack's face poking out of the pier, looking for her in the dark waters.

So Leia resurfaces in front of Jack and the old pier.

The first things she notices are Jack's worried face and how he opens his mouth to say something to her; but no sound he makes. And then, she notices how he had adopted a position of laying on the pier, gripping the edges as if he had been looking at her.

"Why did you do that?" Jack questions, a flushed tone to his voice. "Are you trying to kill me? The water is too cold!"

Leia opens her lips, and closes them again. Wait, didn't he just tell her she could swim for a little bit? What made him change his mind? What? Leia can't quite grasp this change of mood.

Jack whispers, "I was worried about you; when I told you could swim I was just joking, I am sorry you took it seriously."

Oh. Leia presses her lips and then offers him an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, Jack," she says and pauses. "I'm sorry," the mermaid repeats. And then she blinks and her smile changes to a face of elatedness. "But you know," she cries, "I did have fun and enjoy myself. I really missed swimming."

And suddenly there is this warm smile upon Jack's lips as he bends over further into the water and her. A warm, dry hand reaches out to her cheek and places a lock of her teal hair behind her ear. "Really? I suppose that is good, then."

Leia feels her cheek burning ever so lightly and nods. She then looks up to the sky beyond Jack, asking to herself why she hadn't done this before. She stares in awe at the million flurries of stars that lighten the dark skies. The stars are so bright and gorgeous, and Leia just feels like reaching out a hand and touching them, surely they are fluffy and fresh. She had never seen stars before, but she surely heard about them from Mother, and then from Jack. Leia had never seen them, but for once in this human world, she is sure that she exactly knows what something is; and she is sure that those shiny tears are stars.

"Wow… They are so beautiful, the stars," she sighs in wonder.

And Jack's neck turns just so he can see the stars. After a short moment he turns back to her and nods. "Yes, they sure are. You have never seen them before, right…?"

Leia nods.

A couple moments spent in a silence that is almost pleasurable – because it is just that way between the two of them, the inexistence of things such as uncomfortable and heavy silences. She then sighs and draws Jack's attention to the now. He looks at her and she feels his gaze upon her, probably considering what to do with her, now that she has entered the water.

"Now I have to get you out of the water or you will get a cold," he halfheartedly says.

Leia nods once more, smiling at the thoughtfulness of this young man. She really can't deny herself and live in denial; she really is enamored with this farmer. It isn't much like the burning desire she has read about in the little shady books hidden in between other massive ones in the dusty bookshelves at Daryl's. No no, not ever that! It is much more subtle and natural and beautiful; it is much like a chain of satin ribbons, linking their soul and heart and whole beings; and she doesn't want to be too sappy or too silly, but she knows she is being sappy and silly – but that is how these things go, right? To her, Jack is someone whom she would truly and completely offer her trust and heart; she is sure.

The mermaid feels some kind of creeping hesitation, for she knows that she is what she is and that Jack is what he is; and that can never be surpassed. She knows his biology is not hers, their flesh and bones are not the same. It would not work. She knows her skin would feel too cold, too distant. And she knows that she would be eternally longing for the crashing of the waves or he would drown for love.

But this, this affection and love feels right. And perhaps – perhaps – Jack feels this way as well, she knows it; she feels it flooding her whole being.

He reaches his hands out to her, two pillars of safety. "Come on, hold on to them, I'll help you get out of there," he requests ever so softly.

And Leia draws in a breath, drawing in control, reason, and a new resolve. And she breathlessly says, "Yes."

Her small hands latch onto Jack's warm, human ones (without the small patches of scaled skin the semi-transparent membranes which let her cut the water) and she feels her wrists being pierced by ten points of distinct warm perfection as Jack's grip increases. And then she is pulled onto the pier at some effort from the farmer and her waggling of her tail. They are both kind of breathing out loud after the exercise, and then she looks at Jack, who manages to give her one of his cheeky grins in between long breaths.

Maybe it is the sudden proximity or the simple fact of Jack having done this simple, nice act of taking her to the beach and being so perfect, but she is feeling so infatuated. Up this close, she has the freedom to watch each of the brown hairs of Jack's wild lock which always manages to get free from the hat.

"Thank you, Jack," she says.

He smiles and nods, saying, "It was nothing, Leia; you truly deserve more than this."

And those words make Leia feel a wave of conquering gleefulness taking over her insides. She takes a daring hand to Jack's face, to try and take that rebellious lock away from his face, and then poke his nose. There was the retort of Jack throwing his head back at the poke, and then one of his hands grabbed Leia's and reached out for the other, taking her hands in his warm ones.

Leia feels elated as she looks down to see her hands encaged by Jack's. And then she looks up once more, at Jack's brown, brown eyes to find them staring down at her rather innocently, only inches away from her face. The farmer's face leans down and presses his lips against hers. And she can taste the feeling of a human's lips, so soft and warm and completely sweet. In between a flurry of blinks, she lightly notices how this is the kiss of someone inexperienced, so sweet and heartfelt. Jack's kiss falls on her as wholly tender and honest.

In a moment, as it began, the kiss ends and Jack's lips pull away from her. His eyebrows are knitted together as he pulls away with a confused expression. And he says, "I'm sorry, Leia. It was really silly of me."

And his hands pull away from hers.

"Oh," Leia whispers in an almost silent voice, reaching out to get a hold of Jack's hands once again. "Yes, it was quite the silly thing to do," she agrees with a halfhearted chuckle, much unlike the heavy beatings of her heart. "But I really liked it." Why, yes, it is a most wonderful feeling.

A very light pink stains the fair of Jack's cheeks and he says, "Yeah. It was really nice."

Leia shudders from both the happiness and the cold, and Jack responds by stripping himself of his heavy jacket and wrapping Leia on it with a smile.

A few more moments soaked in gleefulness and Jack says, "I believe I should get you home before you get too cold."

The stars are shining high in the sky.

Leia inhales very slowly and says, "Yes."

The stars are shining high in the sky as Jack carries Leia home to her bathtub in a mellow silence.

The end.

Well, I hope I didn't invent too much while writing this. At least badly. I haven't played any of the Harvest Moon games for a while now and I kind of feel that there might be some incompatibilities, such as personality. But from what I remember, Leia was something like that (not that I can take personality from the two-liners the game offers us).

Also, I hope I didn't invent too much in the mermaid part, I do love picturing them more like the traditional way.

And lastly, I hope you enjoyed reading this! I hope there weren't that many mistakes. Also, review, please review and tell me what did you think of this? That would be uber amazing! :D

23.12 – 27.12