A/N:

My first Harvest Moon story. It will be multi-chaptered and potentially decent length, and said chapters will be longer than this prologue. So without further ado, here it is.

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the plotline and an overactive imagination.

Every Reason Why

By Catsitta

Prologue:

'Tonight, I was to steal your heart away, only to find that you gave it to another.'

The stars above never looked so far out of reach, and he, ever the optimist, always hoped to one day touch them. Tonight, however, all delusions of such wonders and grandeur were forgotten. His world had been snatched out of his control and thrown into disarray…All because he had made a mistake.

He, Skye the Phantom Thief, had fallen hopelessly, desperately in love.

There was no future any longer in his mind of living life without her…Without Claire.

All he wanted was for what he had seen to be a bad dream. He wanted to know that his beloved farm girl had not strung him along for all of these seasons, assuring him that he was the only one she adored. He wanted to be the one who held her affection. Who she gifted the Blue Feather.

Was it wrong of him to want these things? Was it wrong that he would give everything up, his life of crime and wanderings, just to spend the rest of his life with her?

And if Claire did not feel the same for him as Skye did for her, why did she do things she did, say the things she had? Why would she say she loved him? Why would she protect him from the law when she caught him stealing? Why did she lie for him? Why did she lie to him? Why did she promise him forever and then walk away?

"Why?" Voicing aloud the question that echoed painfully within his heart gave no respite…no relief. Sickened with grief, he dared not speak again, lest he admit that he did this to himself—he had fallen in love.

As the Prince of Thieves, love was a weakness he could not afford. He knew it from the beginning. Yet he allowed it to seed and mature, even blossom and bear fruit. He had foolishly believed that he would reap the reward in the end, taste the splendor of victory so sweet. Instead, he was broken-hearted and left with the bitter flavor of rejection on his tongue.

'Pick yourself up,' Skye silently scolded,'and move on. You are the Phantom Thief, after all. The infamous thief of women's hearts. What is the worth of one maiden's heart in the end? What is the worth of something as petty as love?'

He stood up, eyes of turquoise flicking from the sky above to the dappled surface of the Goddess Pond before him. It was a beautiful Winter night, one of the last before Spring would steal away the snowy blanket that enveloped the landscape. And the water reflected the pale shimmer of the moon above, giving it the hard impression of frosted glass.

'What is the worth…?' Skye repeated, the words becoming a numbing mantra, as he tossed what he held clutched tightly in his fist, since his midnight arrival in the Forget-Me-Not valley, into the pond. His eyes lingered just briefly, in order to watch the item sink below the surface, before closing as he turned to walk away.

"I wish I had never met you Claire." He muttered frostily, dipping his shoulders and burying his hands in his pockets. Silky, silver bangs fell like a veil over his face, shadowing his newfound anger and masking his pain. "If we had never crossed paths that night so long ago, then I would have never lost myself. I would have never been so stupid as to believe someone like you could love a thief."

Skye felt his eyes burn with restrained tears, but he refused to allow them to fall.

Instead, he hurried into the night, disappearing in the thick shadows of the forest, leaving behind no trace of his presence save for footprints in snow.

Little did the Prince of Thieves know that his wish did not go unheard. Nor did it go unanswered. As a crumpled feather of rarest blue touched the bottom of the pond, a spirit remembered by many in name and legend, cast her gaze into the world of mankind. She listened to what the mortal asked for and sensed the sadness that plagued his soul.

It was against the rules set by the Harvest King to interfere with matters of the heart.

But she, the Harvest Goddess, had a weakness for love and all that it entailed.

"I accept your offering," she murmured,"While I cannot change the past and make it so that you and she never met…I can make it so that neither of you remember the other. Perhaps that will ease the burden your carry." With a spell cast in a language as old as the world itself, the Goddess stole away every memory of Skye from the villagers. But, as she tried to find the man who made the wish in order to clear his mind of anything relating to Claire, she realized that he was gone.

Skye had left Forget-Me-Not valley and was out of the reach of her magic.

-TBC-

A/N: I adore reviews and idea cookies!

Word Count: 848