Disclaimer: This is a Harvest Moon AU story based sometime in our modern world. There will be cars, internet, and yes, even cell phones, though those will be rare in this story. There will also be Harvest Moon characters from several games, instead of just from one select game.

Drip drop drip.

Drop drip drip.

Drip.

Drip.

"Ugh..." Pain throbbed everywhere. In every joint, every muscle, even in the bone. It was awful. Nothing, though, was as bad as my head. As I moved to sit up, I felt my stomach rebel harshly. Choking, I scrambled up to wretch into some bushes that had been covering my lower half. My body trembled as I slowly sat back, drawing my knees to my chest and pressing my head against them as if that would stop the throbbing pain in my head. And everywhere else...

Drip drip drip.

Drip drop.

Drip.

The sound that had waken me from... What was I doing? I couldn't have been sleeping could I? Why would I be out here? Turning, I gazed into the pond that sat just to my left. I was all but falling into it. How had I gotten here? Why was my head hurting?

Leaning over the side of the pond, I peered into the water. I could just make out my reflection despite the rippling of the water. Long hair, dark, floated around my face. I couldn't tell if it was black or a very dark brown, there wasn't enough light. My eyes were slightly almond shaped, and my cheekbones high. My lips were full, but smaller then what most would consider normal, and my chin below came down to a slight point. My face was slightly heart shaped as well, giving me a sort of pixie like look. And there was a long gash right above my left eyebrow that I knew would scar. But, besides the gash, there was one more pressing problem.

I didn't recognize my own face.

Jolting backwards, I pressed a hand to my cheek, as if that would help me remember what I looked like. As I searched my memory, I realized I couldn't even remember my name. Who was I? And where? What the hell was going on?

I turned to look back at the pond, as if it had betrayed me somehow, given me the wrong face in the reflection or maybe made me forget my name somehow. But that would be silly wouldn't it? It was just a pond...

Moving back, she gazed into the water again. As expected, the reflection staring back at me didn't change. Not that I could hope it would change into a familiar face. How could I hope that, when I can't recall a familiar face? When I can't recall my face?

I shook my head and sighed. Moonlight played over the surface of the water, making it shimmer silver. I tilted my head, looking up at the patch of sky I could see through branches of the trees. Stars glittered like cold diamonds above my head, and strangely seemed so close that if I reached out, I may be able to grab one and hold it in the palm of my hand like a real gem.

"Silly," I said softly, and was a little disconcerted by my own voice. It had a slight accent to it, lilting strangely. I sighed when I realized I wouldn't be able to place it. "Bloody brilliant..." I rubbed a hand against my temple, taking care to keep it away from that gash. It hurt like hell, and, as seemed to be the norm tonight, I couldn't remember why or what happened.

My gaze shifted from the sky when I saw a shimmer from the water. I stared for a long while as a vague glimmer of a woman hovered over the pond, smiling serenely. Okay, so the whack to my head made me insane. I can deal with that.

Maybe...

"You don't remember who you are." Though her mouth didn't move, I knew it was the ethereal woman talking to me. Her hair seemed to be an odd shade of green, but the way her form seemed to glitter, it could have just been the tree behind her. Hell if I knew.

The figure tilted her head, and smiled again. "Riona." The name felt familiar. It was hard to explain, like a buzzing in the back of my head.

"That's my name..." The woman nodded, and swept forward until she was standing at the edge of the pond, the waterfall behind her glittering like falling diamonds.

"Yes, Riona." She reached out, brushed a hand gently over the gash on my forehead. It tingled, warm and soothing. The pain slowly ebbed away, until it was just a vague memory. The woman smiled, and her features where still misty and shifting. I was almost sure now though that her hair was green...

"My name is Riona?" I asked hesitantly. The woman smiled and nodded. I didn't know if I believed her or not. What was she? Considering she was glittering and barely visible, it was hard for me to say "Who is she?"

"Don't worry about who I am now, Riona." The woman dropped her hand and stepped back, and the moonlight seemed to gleam around her like a tangible thing. "Right now, you have to worry about finding yourself." I blinked, and opened my mouth to speak but the woman was gone, if she was ever there to begin with. Doesn't that sound like some odd cliché though? There she was and oh there she went. Not that I really had a better way to explain what had happened. Maybe my brain wanted me to remember, and imagined the glittering, glowing woman as a way to tell me who I was?

"Riona..." I whispered my name softly under my breath. It felt familiar, so it had to be my name... Right?

"Hello?" An voice drifted through the trees around me into my little clearing. I turned around, but didn't have time to duck behind a tree or something when a man stepped out from around a corner. He jolted when he saw me, blinked once. I could tell he thought he had heard something, but wasn't convinced he was actually going to see anyone. "Well then..."

The man stared at me for a moment, before he held up his hands in a symbol of peace. "Are you alright?" He asked me. I just blinked, unsure of what to say. Was I? Though my head, the worst of my aches and pains, had stopped hurting, the rest of me was throbbing in time with my rapidly beating heart.

"I... Don't think so..." He nodded and took a step closer, into a shaft of moonlight. His hair, I noticed was blond, though that was really the only thing I could tell about him easily. The moonlight turned the blond hair to an almost silver color, and his eyes were shadowed and mostly hidden.

"That's good. What happened? You're covered in dirt, and there's blood on your forehead. Did someone attack you?" For the first time since I woke up, I felt tears prick at the back of my eyes. With a strength of will I had no idea was there, I shoved it back.

"I don't remember..."

"Okay, that's okay. Can you tell me your name?" He was talking to me as if I was a frightened animal. Maybe I was. Maybe I would bolt if he took a misstep.

"Riona... I think..." The man nodded.

"Okay Riona. Can I call you that? My name is Ivan." He smiled and took another step closer. Now he could touch me if he stretched out an arm. "Can you walk? There's a village not far from here, I can take you there. There's a doctor."

"I think so..." My voice was wavering, I knew it. But I couldn't stop it. Would you be able to, if you just woke up with no memory of who you are, where you were, and of what happened to you? Not to mention seeing something that shouldn't have been there.

I felt a slight pressure on my hand, and looked down to see he had taken it. Thinking he had scared me, he tried to draw away, but I clutched at his hand. I needed the contact, some sort of physical presence to keep the tears at bay. He only nodded, he seemed to understand.

"The village is just this way," He said gently. "Not even a ten minutes walk." I only nodded as a response. I didn't feel like I could speak.

The going was hard through the forest at night. Ivan was kind enough to help me whenever I stumbled or tripped, and ended up having to piggy-back me back to the village when I twisted my ankle too bad to walk. "I'm sorry..." I said softly after a few minutes of silence.

"Don't worry about it, Riona," He said gently. "You're scared and hurt. It isn't your fault."

I didn't reply. I didn't know how. Instead, I rested my head on his shoulder and sighed as he walked into the village. I was embarrassed, but I was more tired. I hadn't noticed the fatigue before, not until Ivan had offered to carry me back to the village. Now, the soft sound of his voice telling me we were almost there was lulling me into a light doze, until he shifted me on his back so he could free one arm to bang on a door.

"Doc! Open up!" He shouted into the still night. I had to wince, it had to have been three in the morning. Cars sat idling in driveways and the streets were empty of anyone.

Oddly, there weren't any streetlights along the roads, though I didn't have time for further scrutiny when the door banged open and an annoyed voice asked, "What is it? Goddess Ivan, don't you know what time it is?" His gaze shifted, and his dark onyx eyes landed on me. "Oh Goddess. Get in here, Ivan. What happened?"

"I found her in the forest," Ivan said as he walked in and gently set me on the floor. I winced when I put pressure on my bad ankle, but at least it didn't hurt as bad as it had a few minutes ago. Limping, I moved to sit on one of the beds the doctor motioned to, and grunted when I found a new ache in the back of my right shoulder. It felt like someone had wrenched it out of place and shoved it back in.

Now that I could see Ivan, I studied him. His hair was a dark sandy blond that would have been called dirty on girls, but seemed to suit him well. His eyes were a bluish-purple, but it was hard to tell their true color. He had a gentle, friendly face that just by itself would make friends with even the grumpiest of people. He smiled at me now, and I felt awkward when I realized he knew I was studying him. So I turned to the doctor when he stepped close, moved my hair from my forehead to look at the gash that was there.

"Does this hurt?" He asked as he gently probed it. I shook my head. Whatever that figure in the pond did, if she did anything, it was keeping it from hurting. As he frowned and began to clean the wound, I studied him instead. He had a slight oriental cast to him, with his short dark black hair and onyx eyes tilted slightly up at the corners. He had a serious face, and looked to be concentrating hard on his task and probably wouldn't talk while he was working, unless it was to ask if this or that hurt.

It went on like that for fifteen minutes. Him poking and prodding, asking if this or that hurt and wrapping up any cuts or gashes. Turns out my right shoulder had a gash longer then my forehead, but I hadn't noticed since it had been a few days older then my forehead, so it was partially healed. "All done," Trent said. I found out his name while Ivan was asking him questions about how I was doing, to which Trent grunted a reply every time. I found it oddly amusing. After a few minutes of that and getting no response, Ivan had muttered something under his breath, then told Trent what he knew about me. It wasn't a lot, but hey, I don't know a lot about me either.

"The amnesia might have been from the blow to the head that caused the gash," Trent said as his fingers danced over the said injury to make sure the bandage would stick there. His voice was low and almost melodic, but instead of it being annoyed as it was earlier it was kinder now, softer. He was still baffled by why it didn't hurt. I hadn't told him why, I was afraid he would think the blow had scrambled my brains instead of just making me forget everything.

"You need a place to stay though..." He frowned at me, then looked back at Ivan who shrugged.

"I'll take her to the inn. They're used to people wandering in at all times of the night." Trent only nodded, agreeing that it was a good idea. He had wrapped my ankle up, and had given me a crutch though I didn't plan on using it. My ankle wasn't hurting, and wouldn't so long as I didn't have to run.

Ivan nodded and said his goodbyes to Trent and we left, with Trent's parting words that he wanted to see me again in a few days to check on my forehead and shoulder. I only nodded, too tired to speak. I could barely walk, though I wouldn't let Ivan know that. He'd already done too much for me.

"Thanks again," I said softly. He smiled at me and shrugged.

"Most anyone here would have done the same," He said. I wondered for a moment why he had been out there in the forest so late at night, but before I could ask we were standing outside a large building. Ivan pushed open the doors, and together we stepped into the inn. There were a few people in the cafe/bar area, we could hear them dancing and singing even this late at night. I was a little surprised at that, I figured they'd have kicked everyone out by now.

"Ivan, what happened?" A woman rushed out from behind the counter, her voice high and tinkling and her blond curls bobbing. She ran to me, despite the fact she'd never seen me before, and wrapped an arm around my waist to keep me upright. As odd as it was, I was grateful for her. She didn't know me, yet she helped me as Ivan had. "Goddess Ivan, couldn't you have helped her at least! She's about to fall over!"

Ivan flushed slightly, embarrassed by the girl's scolding. "Uh... Daisy, this is Riona. She needs a place to stay for a few days..."

"We have a room open. Oh you poor girl," Daisy said as she tut-tutted at Ivan and and motioned for him to help me as she lead us upstairs. I was glad Ivan was there to support me, as I almost toppled up the stairs more than once.

"I have no money..." I said, confused. Wouldn't they want some?

"That's fine," The girl named Daisy said as she opened a door. "We let anyone who needs a room as bad as you stay so long as they promise to work at the inn to pay off their room." I only nodded.

"Yeah, okay," I said blearily. "I can help."

"Not now though." Daisy shooed Ivan out of the room, shutting the door smartly in his face as I collapsed onto the bed. She helped me out of my shoes, and smiled. "Just sleep," She said, and I couldn't argue. Didn't want to argue. I laid back, pulling the covers almost over my head, and fell asleep before Daisy had left the room.