It's funny how times change us; how easily our first impressions can be proven wrong. We miss out on so many things by going off the first thought that pops in our heads. We end up jumping to conclusions, worrying, stressing, avoiding, and worst of all remaining ignorant. If we just took the time to get to figure things out slowly and learn to understand, we'd all be better people.

I almost missed my chance to be with him.

I am glad that I didn't.

"It's not too much farther, Aida! Come on!" A little orange blur flew out into the light ahead, its voice ringing back into the enclosed cavern. A young woman, no older than twenty-one, could only help but smile as she walked up from the previous floor of the mine.

"Not so fast Finn! I can't keep up!" She answered as she finally made it to the natural stone archway, leaning against it as she caught her breath. She knew he was excited to finally be summoning the person who could heal the Goddess Tree, but he could wait up. She did not have the luxury of flying nor did she possess the seemingly limitless energy he had. Getting here had been some of the hardest work she had done in her entire life, and that included the past several months!

The little orang blur flew back around to her and stopped long enough to maintain a physical form. A small, pixie-like sprite sat floating in the air for but a moment before flying around behind her. His little arms began to push at her back, failing to do anything as her weight did not shift in the slightest. "Come on! Hurry up! We're almost there!" Finn muttered as he kept trying to move the weary girl from her position.

She chuckled slightly at the sight of him pushing against the stone with his legs in a further attempt to move her. He certainly was cute when he got like this; something that had made all of the work a bit easier. Tiredly, but happily she took a couple steps forward and out into the mountain air, laughing even harder when Finn went flying out into the open air from all of his effort.

He quickly regained composure, blushing in the progress, and stuck his tongue out at her before racing off towards yet another set of stairs. "Come on, Aida!" Her laugh picked up again until she saw the stairway; a sigh passed through her being as she began to trudge over to it. Why did this place have to have so many stairways? Better yet, why had the Harvest Goddess chosen to make her walk all the way up here? Surely they could have summoned whoever they were summoning on her farmland? Right?

Pushing the negative thoughts from her mind for the moment, she finished making her way up the stairway, smiling as she noticed the Harvest Goddess and the Harvest Sprites.

"Thank you for coming, Aida." The Goddess' voice resonated even more so here in the mountains. "Now we can summon the Harvest King and restore the Goddess Tree to her former health." She beamed at Aida, who could not help but smile back. All of her hard work since coming to this island from the city was about to pay off.

"Let's begin!" Alan, leader of the Harvest Sprites, said as he gathered them into a circle.

One after another, the Sprites rang their respective bells, their individual melodies combining into a unified harmony. Bright lights began to dance around the altar and fill the morning skies as the clouds surrounding the mountains lowered, creating a dense fog all over the island. From higher in the sky, a sort of gateway began to open and a fiery warmth began to splay over the altar.

Suddenly in a flash of light, he appeared in a similar fiery aura, power radiating from his very being. Long and wild hair, the color of the setting sun sprawled out everywhere yet remained in one place at once. Flowing robes made of the finest of silks and jewelry taken from the richest of golds and silvers decorated his being. He finally landed on the ground making not the slightest bit of noise, his eyes opening to reveal ruby hues as sharp as knives.

Aida's own sapphire orbs went to meet him, but when he laid eyes on her a frown spread on his face. Pain. The farmer's smile quickly faded at the sight of his displeasure, a sharp twang hidden deep within her being. She averted her gaze and took a step back only to have the Harvest Goddess keep her from doing so by pushing her forward slightly. Aida gulped as she was forced to look at him once more and take in the disgust that was apparent on his face.

To answer her previous question, no. No they could not have.

"This is the one who summoned me with the bells?" His voice boomed and echoed off the rising and falling mountaintops. His eyes sharpened even further on the human in front of him, before glaring over at each of the Sprites, waiting for an answer. When one did not come he looked over in the direction of the girl, whose lips remained pursed as she silently nodded. The antipathy plastered on his visage flared, though his look immediately softened as he glanced at the Harvest Goddess.

Immediately he moved from his spot, pushing the human aside, he looked the weakened Goddess up and down. It only took a moment before he nodded, turning to look at the girl who had summoned him. "Come to the Goddess Pond." His demand echoed even after he, the Sprites, and the Goddess disappeared in a flash of brilliant light.

Aida stood there with her mouth wide open for a full minute. It was only after that minute that she shook her head wildly in disbelief before she began to subconsciously walk down the stairs and towards the mine once again. It took her the entire trek down the mines and to the Goddess Pond to fully assess and understand the situation. But even when she got to the pond and the tree was restored she could not believe it.

She had spent the entire past few months working to save the island and all of the people on it. Some of which included spending hours in the mines, toiling in the sun, working in the snow, catching wild animals, and staying up past midnight on top of keeping her farm in tact. And what was her reward for working so hard to keep the Harvest Goddess alive? Nothing. Not even a thank you, just a demand to keep working and an awoken deity with a bad attitude.

She walked home alone that night. For the first time since she came to the island, she was totally alone. And it sucked.

A/N: Alright! So, I was disappointed by the lack of stories dealing with the Harvest King and decided to write this. This'll be my new (solo) project, which I'm very excited about! It's not much right now, but hopefully you guys will stick around because I've got a lot planned for this. You're probably wondering why this is rated M, well, later on I may or may not be a bit of Lemon (depending on what you guys have to say) and this will definitely become a more adult story. I hope you guys like it and I can't wait to see what you have to say!

~Xavier Rains