A/N: Hello reader. This is my first Harvest Moon fic. It's sorta short and rushed. I needed to get this idea outta my head so I wrote this. Flames aren't accepted but opinions are.
'' Theses mean thought
"" Theses means talking
*** Theses mean scene switching
Cliff was leaning on a tree trunk, hiding his face in the shade. His friend, Cain, was perched on a branch above him. 'God, it's been a long day.' he sighed. It was sit sunset and it annoyed him greatly. 'Slleeepp….need sleep…' he crawled over to a not-as-sunny area and stopped. 'Aw man, does it have to be this place?' Cain flew across him and settled himself on a cozy puff of leaves. 'Stupid bird.' He grudgingly got up and sat near the Goddess pond. He watched himself smiled when he gazed upon it. Ever since he's heard of the goddess, he would take trips to the library to read about her. He's seen drawings and statues of her. He even fell in love with her. What pained him so was that she was just a fairy tale. She was so perfect in every way. She cared about animals and the vegetation around them. Cliff still believed in her. He took out a berry and tossed it in the pond. He then shut his eyes and mumbled a wish. Cain squawked at him.
"I am not a stupid human! Besides," he stiffly said, "It might work this time." Cain just flapped his wings as to say "I give up". Cliff muttered about not fishing in the morning. The rippling of the water in the pond increased suddenly. The partly blond man stumbled back with his hand propping him up. A human-like figure rose and hovered above the water. A pair on blue eyes widened. Cain was even surprised. It was the Goddess herself.
"Well," she softly spoke. "What do you wish for?"
"I-I…." The words were choked his throat. 'She's real!'
"I'm not really real."
"You read my mind! That was scary…"
"Geez, Cliff. Why do you think they call me a Goddess?"
"So…so you know…that…" he blushed and turned his face away from the goddess.
"Yes I do, Cliff." She brought her slightly glowing hand to his cheek. He stiffened. No one has ever touched him so gently in such a long time.
"I've even watched it grow." She helped him up despite the fact that he felt numb.
"You're…you're solid…" he breathed as he glided his fingers on her palms. She was pretty tiny compare to him. His heartbeat quickened.
"Yes…I am…" she whispered. He looked up from her hands to her face and drank up her beautiful self. She giggled.
"You don't have to be so nice." She smiled at him.
"Wow…."
"Have you been reading Shakespeare?" Cliff was still in a dazed. She tilted her head.
"Do all mortal men act like this to Goddesses?"
"Only to pretty ones." Was all he could say. She giggled again.
"You're a nice guy, Cliff. But…I have a wish to grant." He snapped out of his trance and nodded. He took a deep breath and began.
"I wish I could find someone like you who…who is pretty…and nice and loves animals as much as you do." He then sighed. 'I know I can't have you.' The immortal held a tint of sadness in her eyes.
"Cliff…" she put his hand in hers. "Everyday I see you wandering around his forest, fishing, gathering, or yelling at Cain once in a while. You've grown a tough skin and became…well…non-social. There are pretty girls in the village close to here. I will still watch over you. I'll watch over your future wife and kids. And…for the record…I love you too, but I can't have you either. Please realize that. I don't want to hurt you any longer." She moved her small frame towards him. "Now…you will be blessed by a goddess." She held her eyes shut and pushes her lips to his. He froze on contact. The form of the woman soon broke into a glittery trail of sliver and flowed back to the water below. She was gone.
Cain was still petrified from his beak to his tail feathers. Cliff, on the other hand, slumped down onto the grassy floor. He didn't know if he should to happy or sad. He clutched something in his hand. He presented it himself. It was a blue jewel carved into a shape of a teardrop. 'So she was crying…' he laid down on the floor. 'Maybe I should cry too…' he thought as he drifted into sleep.
***
The sun rose with a cheery glow, unlike Cliff. His mind was still on the thought of last night. 'Was it a dream? Or was it some illusion.' He touched his lips. 'No…it was real.' He took the Goddess' words to heart and tracked to the village. Cain hitched a ride on his backpack. He met up with many paths, but he took the one in front of him. He ended up in a ranch with a field full of livestock. What caught his eye was a strong, quiet horse. He walked up to the steed and patted its neck.
"Hey you!" a shrill voice called at him. Cliff turned around to see where the voice was coming from. An angry looking girl stomped up to him.
"What are you doing?!" she demanded.
"I was…I was just petting the horse…" he replied.
"Oh. As long as you're not hurting him, then that's fine." Her face changed to a friendly look.
"Say, I haven't seen you around before. What's your name?"
"Cliff."
"Wow!" she clapped her hand together. "That's the name of this horse! Well, his real name is Clifford but we call him Cliff 'cause it's shorted and you know Clifford has two syllables while Cliff has one." She sounded out the names to compare for him too. "Erm…do I talk too much?"
"Oh, no you don't." he lied. Her light blue eyes brighten.
"Good good! So you like animals huh? I like horses and stuff, like in the forest or around town like the cats and the cute little doggie in a farm near by. The foxes are cute but really hard to catch and the bird are so cute too!" She continued to babble on and on about animals. Cliff didn't mind, he liked how her braid swung left and right.
"Are you sure I don't talk too much 'cause my mean old brother yells at me going 'Shut up Ann' or something like that. Oh, I guess you know my name is Ann now huh? Oh duh, you're not that stupid." Maybe being non-social can be a good thing.
A/N: Yeah, I know that sucked.