Sorry for the long wait! I've been done with this for a while, but every time I remember to update it, my Internet is always down, and then when it's working, I completely forget. But not this time! I remembered! I really hope you guys enjoy it. Thanks for all the reviews and favorites. :]

Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon.

Chapter 3 - Reality


"What do you mean you won't get people to help us search for our son?" Chase growled, his voice roaring throughout the room, his hands slamming onto Hamilton's dark oaken desk. Hamilton's eyes widened slightly but not enough to give Chase the satisfaction that he had scared the daylights out of him. "He's my son. I want him found."

"I'm sorry, Chase, but it just cannot be done. People have their own lives to live through. You can't just interfere and force people to search for your son," Hamilton proclaimed, nervously drumming his fingers. His eyes shifted quickly over to a planted pot next to the corner, away from Chase's eyes. He was great at lying, oh yes, but there was something about Chase's eyes that screamed at him and made him shake in his seat.

"I'm not forcing anyone to search for my son," Chase started out slowly, anything to force Hamilton to understand that he just wanted his son safe. "I'm asking you to politely gather people to volunteer to create some kind of search party. I need help with this. I can't do this alone."

Hamilton hummed a monotonous tune and pursed his lips. "I don't think it can be done, Chase..." he trailed off, not sure of how to avoid the situation. There was no way that he could let Chase know that the main reason... was well, his wife. "It just can't happen."

"Why, Hamilton? Is this because you know that everyone hates Akari?" He narrowed his eyes at the elderly man. "That's not a good enough reason for me."

"No one hates Akari," Hamilton laughed, his voice shaky and throttling with a false undertone. "You know here at Waffle Town, we all appreciate each other."

Chase's response dripped with a poisonous venom, as he replied. "Everyone hates Akari. You know it. For God's sake, you hate Akari too! Don't try to deny it and especially don't try to pretend that everyone's all goody-goody with each other. You and I both know it's not true. All I want right now is my son. I want my son home, safe and sound."

"I don't know what you're talking about, Chase. Don't you dare use that tone with me. I'm the mayor of this town. What I say goes. This town loves Akari; don't you dare tell me otherwise. And as for Aiden, I don't know how I am able to help you. You can go ask people yourself for their help, but I highly doubt that they'll participate in this search. I'm sure your son is just wandering around, and he'll find his way back soon in a matter of hours, Chase."

"Aiden has been gone for at least twenty hours! And you want me to just wait for him to come home? What if he doesn't come home, Mayor Hamilton? What if he's in danger? What if he's been kidnapped? I want to find him now. I want him home with me. I want him safe."

"Why would anyone in Waffle Town kidnap your son? That's ridiculous, Chase."

"Because everyone has it out for Akari, and you know it! Just about everyone in this town has the motive to kidnap Aiden just to spite her."

"I've told you, Chase. Everyone adores Akari. Stop worrying over nothing."

Chase wiped his hand over his face, his lips pursing into an even larger scowl. He was done with him. "You are hopeless. Going to you is probably the most idiotic move I could have made since you just love being delusional and pretending everything in this town is okay. It's not, got it? So get over your little fantasy, Mayor Hamilton, and get a grip. If I don't find my son in a few weeks, I will find a way to sue you, do you understand? So you better start learning how to get off that stupid chair of yours and actually do something to run this crazy town."

And with that, Chase left the room in a huff, slamming the door on his way out, leaving Mayor Hamilton completely stunned and immobile in his chair.

Akari sat in the lobby, waiting for him to come out of the Mayor's office. She saw him storm out of the room, meet her eyes for a few seconds, and proceed out the doors of the Town Hall. She quickly gathered her stuff together and followed in pursuit. "What happened?"

"Mayor Hamilton's a complete bastard, that's what happened. Doesn't deserve to run this town," Chase growled.

"What did he say?"

"He thinks this town is perfectly fine. If you ask me, he has some mental issues."

"What? Perfectly fine?" she exclaimed in confusion. "I'm being ostracized by the whole town, and he thinks it's perfectly fine? He's just like everyone else in this damn town. Perfectly fine my butt. This town has some major problems."

Chase halted at the beach, Akari's favorite place of the town. Her thinking spot. She jogged over to the edge of the water and let her feet sink into the sand. Closing her eyes, she felt the soft breeze fly past her wispy strands of hair. A breath of fresh air. Something relaxing for once.

"You have some problems, too, Akari," Chase murmured quietly as he sat on the dry sand a feet away from her.

"Well, obviously," she sniffed. "But at least I admit it. Everyone else thinks they're right, and I'm in the wrong. Little do they know that everyone's in the wrong. Maybe if they'd actually try to understand from other people's perspectives, this town wouldn't be in so much trouble, but since they can't, it's just another reason why I should leave this place for good."

"You can't leave," Chase answered desperately, his fists clenching. "You can't."

She opened her eyes and turned her amber eyes towards him, feeling the tension in her body softening. It broke her seeing him like this, seeing him so... weak. So in need of her. She smiled wryly at the thought. Who knew that he'd need her instead of vice versa? Not her, for sure.

"I won't," she responded softly, coming over to sit next to him, grasping his hand for confirmation. "Not until we find Aiden, anyway. And then after that... well, I'll see."

"You'll see," he said dryly.

"Chase..."

"No. Don't say anything. I don't want to think about it."

"Then... what do you want to think about?"

"I want to find Aiden, Akari. We have to find Aiden. I know he's not just wandering around. He's a smart kid. He knows how to get home from wherever on this island. Something had to have happen to him. Something... he couldn't handle."

"But... there aren't many beings on this island that could really get to Aiden. He loves almost all the animals, and the only animal that's really potentially dangerous is the bear, which is herbivorous, not carnivorous, mind you. Plus, you know I used to visit them, and I used to bring Aiden along, so there's no way they would've harmed him. Aiden knows how to swim, and he would never go out into the ocean alone, so he couldn't have drowned unless something... purposefully drowned him... Really... nothing could 100% damage him unless something did it to him... It couldn't be something... more like... someone..." she drawled, an idea formulating into her head.

"Someone who hates us."

"Or me."

They were silent, as their words surrounded their thought process. Only one line filled their minds. One line that Chase had gone over that morning when he was yelling at Hamilton.

Everyone was a suspect because everyone hated Akari.


Akari bit her lip, as she knocked on the door. Chase had done most of the knocking and the talking, as they wandered to each house, and she hated being there. Being so... vulnerable to all of these people, asking for their help. They all hated her. They all thought she was weird, different, someone to be completely avoided.

No one had agreed to helping them search for their son.

But... Anissa... she was different. She had to be. She had to understand. Akari needed her. Chase had agreed to come along while she attempted to convince her, but he wanted her to do the talking because Anissa had been her best friend when they were younger. It used to be them against the world.

Akari knew Anissa didn't really care for her anymore, but she had to understand too, right? How painful it was to lose your child? She had a son who had died seven years ago when he was left in a house fire, and no one knew until after it was hosed down. She had to help them. She had to.

The door opened, and Anissa in all her glory stood before them. Her long, dark hair framed her pale, thin body so perfectly. Anissa was naturally gorgeous in a way that no one could possibly ever achieve. "Akari..." she greeted unenthusiastically, shifting her gaze from them to the inside of her house. When her dark eyes landed on them again, she asked, "I'm guessing this is about your son."

"You have to help me," Akari managed to spurt out. "Please."

"I don't know, Akari..." she answered nervously. "I don't think I can."

"You know how much it means to lose a son!" she exclaimed furiously in reply. "You have to understand how much this hurts, knowing he's out there but not knowing if he's safe or not. You used to be there for me, Anissa. What happened to us?"

"People change. Things change. The town changes, and sometimes, there are just some things you have to follow to secure yourself from other things. I really... I really can't help you, Akari."

"But Anissa—" Akari was cut off when Jin stepped out to interfere between them. His dark eyes were cold and glassy, even worse as they hid behind his slim glasses. She had never liked Jin despite for her former best friend's love and admiration for him. He was always so distant, as if he wanted nothing more than his own isolation from everyone. She could never understand that, never understand his want to different, to be lonely.

She couldn't understand because she hated the feeling.

"Jin," she greeted with a flat tone.

He stared at her blankly. "Akari," he replied. "What do you want with my wife?"

"Why did you take her away from me?" she countered back furiously.

She knew. She knew that the reason Anissa had left her in the first place was because Jin had forced her to. If he wasn't there... If he wasn't in the picture, she might have actually had a friend in the town. She might have actually still been sane.

"You weren't good for her," he said flatly, his dark eyes staring at her, as if she meant nothing. Nothing. How did people do that? How could anyone look at someone as if they didn't exist? She would never understand. She couldn't. It hurt to think it. He removed his gaze from her and pointed it at Chase. "Why don't you go dilly dally somewhere else, Chase? And take your little, naïve wife with you."

A shadow cast over Chase's violet eyes. "Shut the hell up, Jin. We were only asking for your help. Don't talk about my wife as if she were nothing," he furiously growled in reply.

"Your wife, you say? I heard gossip that you two were planning a divorce."

"Fuck off. You don't know anything," he growled, grabbing hold of Akari's arm and dragging her away from the house, past a few trees. Akari was too numb to resist. She felt as if she was on automatic; her legs and feet were like they had a mind of their own. Chase tugged her harder because he could feel her dragging behind. "Come on, Akari. It's pointless asking the people here. We're going to have to figure this out on our own."

"What's the point?" she whispered. "What's the point anymore? I don't know what to do, Chase. No one will help us. I just... I just want my baby boy back. Why do they have to take what happened to me and force it all upon him? Aiden's a good boy, Chase. He doesn't deserve this. If anything, I deserve this, not him."

Chase stopped abruptly, his grasp on hers softening. He turned around and looked into her eyes. They were brimmed with tears; she looked vulnerable, weak even. He hated seeing her like this. He leaned forward so that their foreheads touched with the slightest feeling and firmly grasped onto her shoulders. "Akari, you need to listen to me when I say this, okay? You do not deserve being hurt. You don't. What happened was never your fault."

"It was my fault! It was," she argued softly, her voice dying. "I shouldn't have let it happen... I shouldn't have... I—"

"You didn't know it would happen, Akari! It's not your fault. You had no control, whatsoever. I know Aiden doesn't deserve this, but you don't either. Look at me, Akari. Look. At. Me," he firmly stated, grabbing her chin and directing her eyes at his. "We can find him. If we work together, if we stick together, we can find him. I know he's out there, waiting for us to be there for him. We can do this, okay? We can save him from whatever hell he's in. We can."

She could only nod numbly, her sight blurring as velvet tears dripped down her florid cheeks. She leaned in closer to Chase, only to start crying silently.

Please let him be safe.


"You're pregnant? What do you mean, 'you're pregnant?'" she heard him say as she stood on the dock. She couldn't see him. Where was he? Where did he go? Why wasn't he there? "I haven't seen you in three months, and you're a... month pregnant?"

Her eyes hurt. They hurt from crying, from being rubbed with by her raw hands over and over, from constantly wiping her tears away with the stupid napkins and tissues she was provided with. They hurt, and she couldn't see him. Too many tears. Too many fucking tears. "Chase," she whispered, "it's not what you think." She could see other things though. She could see people. Too many people. Why was everyone watching them?

"It's not what I think? What exactly am I thinking? Please do tell. I'd like to know."

She could hear the iciness and the sarcasm in his voice. She could hear his anger and could feel it radiating off his body. She didn't like it. She couldn't stand it. She had to tell him. She needed to make him understand somehow, but she didn't know where he was or even how she would. She wanted to come to him, to hold him in her arms, to assure him that it wasn't true.

But it was. She was pregnant.

And it wasn't his baby.


Akari woke up suddenly. She could feel a warm arm hold her tightly, as she slightly moved to view her surroundings. She was home. Her body was trembling, as cool sweat trickled down her face. She reached up to touch her tear-stained cheeks. Her eyes felt plump and swollen, her face felt dry and cracked from the dried up tears that had constantly fallen on her face throughout the night; her whole body just felt... disgusting.

She felt disgusting.

"What is it?" Chase murmured, as he felt her shift consistently in his arms.

"It's nothing," she whimpered. "Go back to sleep."

"It isn't nothing."

"It's nothing I want to talk about."

He was silent for a few minutes, as he stared at the back of head, the quaking of her body, and the trickling sweat along the hem of her clothes. He took it all in, absorbed every detail of what he could see. "You had that dream again," he said flatly, coming to a realization.

"It's not a dream..." she trailed off, her voice caught up in her throat. She forced herself to spit out the next few words. "It was a reality."

A cold, horrible reality. A reality she hated to think about, to remember, but it was hard to forget the pain she felt when Chase's eyes bore holes of hatred into her own pools of amber, the pain she felt when he turned away from her. The pain she felt as if he would never love her again.

It was something she'd remember for as long as she lived.


THIRD CHAPTER IN. Well, I hope you guys are starting to get a gist of it. I'm sorry if it's so complicated! Agh. Feel free to ask any questions. I'll be glad to answer them!

Thanks for all the reviews! I appreciate every one of them. :]

xxenchanted