Entry for TVSF Contest theme: War and Peace (this one was hard D: )

This is my first Cliff ficlet. I'm not sure if I like it, and its really biased seeing as how this is how I mostly saw the Cliff/Claire pairing with his cutscenes. I mean its nice that he got a job and ectect and faced his inner demons. But I think it would have been better for Cliff to have actual heart events as opposed to his own mini story within or whatever. Maybe I just looked to much into his heart events.

But here is to Cliff- Harvest Moon's damsil in distress.

I don't own HM

War was too powerful a term for what I did every day.

Though I can see why she would refer to it as that.

Divide and conquer, pluck each individual piece from play and try to keep them coming. It was important not to over pick, incase that part of the vine ended up barren, unable to produce the prized plump round possession.

War upon the vines was not the appropriate term. Though it did at times seem more or less a battle.

But it wasn't that battle that wore me out and kept me sullen and silent every day. The silence among the fruit baring vines was enough to leave me to my own thoughts, much like at the church. Only in this area, there was no wise preacher to bring me from my inner turmoil.

It had been at least four years since I had come to Mineral Town. And it was becoming time to make a decision, a choice that would impact my future more than one would think.

I had three of them.

The first one was the easiest one, simply to pack my bag and leave. I could slip away quietly in the night and leave the creeping dawn before anyone would notice. But as my roommate had so callously told me recently, that was the cowards way out.

Be a man and make a decision. It can't be that hard…you can't love them both.

But I did.

It wasn't like I was deciding what country to invade, which person to start a war with…

But that was what I would do.

Whichever woman I chose, the other would be left bitter, heart broken, and possibly seeking some type of retribution.

Which one is better suited for you?

It was a hard opinion to voice. They each had wonderful qualities.

With one…I was grateful, indebted. Of course I cared about the woman in my own way, but I couldn't stand the idea of hurting her. She had done so much to help me, getting me this job, saving me from dying in the snow. I had come to accept my past, to learn to live with it. She'd helped me in ways no one else could, and for that I loved her.

But on the other hand…

With the other, I could easily be myself. There was always this knotting and nearly uncomfortable feeling in my stomach when I looked at her, this tightening feeling my chest. A passion that I seemed to hold, only for her. She made me forget my past, my troubles, and worries. She was like a spring rain, washing away the pains of a cold winter, healing me and preparing me for new things, new horizons.

I would never harm her.

But I could never harm the other as well.

I didn't have it in me to plant that seed of pain in either of their warm hearts.

If you ask me you're just selfish Cliff. You like having two women trailing behind you. It makes me so sick I can barley look at you. If you don't choose you'll just hurt the both of them.

I heard a familiar giggle, and carefully picked around the vine, scouting out the source of the sound through the foliage that hid me well from the path of the road.

I saw the blond, hair floating around her heart shaped face as her eyes lit up with a deep sparkle that I saw every now and then with me. There was some incoherent muttering and the giggle filled the air again. It was quiet, almost like a tinkling bell, and held a since of curiosity.

I watched her male counterpart shifting nervously and pushing his glasses up his face. The glare from the sun head his bright green eyes as he whispered to her, his long boney fingers coming up to brush her hair over her shoulder.

If you ask me you should just let Claire go. After all…she'll be fine. Some one else is waiting for her to realize how much they love her.

My eyes widened as the words echoed, and I realized I had been wrong. I had been unwilling to let her go, because I thought…with her gone, all the progress, all the healing I had done…would disappear.

But seeing her there with him, watching as she blushed and interlaced her fingers with his own, turning her back to where I stood and leading him to her farm…a blue feather twirling in her fingers…

I didn't feel despair and anxiety. I felt wonderful…

A weight had been lifted off my shoulders and I felt at peace.

Because I wouldn't have to hurt her. By leaving her or by being with her.

Being with Claire would have been a good life, but…it wouldn't have been fair to her with my feelings for Ann being so deep.

So the war was over, the choice was made. I had been saved from retaliation by un expected treaty. And I couldn't think of a better person for Claire to be with. Because the chicken rancher would let her be herself, and would support her, and be able to love her more than I ever could. His heart no longer belonged to another, and it was solely for her.