A/N: Hi people! I'm really sorry for not updating in a while; I was busy and had a bad case of writer's block. It won't happen again . . . I hope. Well, moving along, I hope you enjoy this chapter! Reviews are appreciated greatly along with criticism. (Remember people, Criticism and flaming/trolling are completely different things!)

Disclaimer: Harvest Moon and its characters belong to Natsume; I'm just a fan with no life. Seriously.


Molly groaned when she was awakened by a loud knock on the door. She slowly opened her eyes before tiredly glancing at her digital clock; it was 8:00 AM. Who could be visiting this early?
"I'm coming." Molly yawned before throwing the blankets out of the way and standing up, stretching her arms as far as they could go as another yawn escaped her mouth. She didn't bother to make the messy room more presentable or fix her hair before she answered the front door, still in her pyjamas.
"G'morning, Molly." Kathy greeted her from the doorstep. Ah, Kathy, Owen's western style wife. Molly didn't know her very well but from what she knew she was a nice and bouncy person. Her silky hair was down today, which was rare.

"Hi Kathy." The tired farmer yawned, blinking a couple of times, "Is there something," –yawn- "wrong?" she finished finally.

"Well," the blonde fidgeted a little, "I saw you knocking that door half down yesterday, y'know, at that old house?" she asked, receiving a nod from Molly, who was mentally sighing. Gossip seriously spread like wild fire on this island. They didn't even do it on purpose- it just seemed like everything excited them and so had to be shared. "I was just, er, thinking why? I've heard that house is as empty as- well, an empty house!" Kathy said awkwardly, gesturing wildly with her hands.

Molly stared before shaking her head. "No, it's not empty. That guy lives there." She announced matter-of-factly, receiving a confused stare from Kathy.

"Who?" She asked.

"That guy with the silver hair. Haven't you seen him before?" Molly asked. Wait, come to think of it…I didn't see him before that night either…She thought before Kathy replied, looking at her like she was crazy.

"Um, no. I've never heard of him." She denied before putting on a spooky grin, "I've heard rumours about a haunting though. Apparently, and I'm not saying it's true, people hear noises coming from that building sometimes."

"There!" Molly said excitedly, suddenly more awake, "It must be him."

"Well, um, I'll look out for any silver haired guys, then, Molly." Kathy chuckled with a nervous smile before quickly changing the subject, "So, have you heard the news about Selena?"

"Yeah." Molly nodded, "About her pregnancy, right? Chase told me." Kathy looked slightly disappointed that she'd missed a chance to dramatically announce the news, but covered it with a smile.

"I'm happy for her. She's going to be a young mother, though."

"Meh, they'll be fine. They're quite well off."

"I suppose."

"Would you like to come in for some tea or something?" Molly offered as her feet started to hurt from standing still for too long. The doorstep conversation was really dragging on too long for her comfort. Kathy abruptly shook her head,

"No can do Molly, but thanks for offering. I've got to work at the bar soon." She said apologetically, "You should come 'round for a drink sometimes. It's good to let go for once." And then she left. Molly nodded curtly before turning around and closing the door behind her, not bothering to watch the girl leave. She sighed before sleepily climbing back into bed, curling up into a ball and bunching the covers up around her, it was cosier that way. She was just about to drift back into sleep when the alarm rang, and so she was forced to get up again grumpy and deprived of sleep.

She whistled as she skipped past her animals – who she had forgotten to herd back into the barn last night- and towards Harmonica town. She made sure to collect whatever goods she could find on the beach before crossing the bridge- some of them could sell for a fair amount of money. She kept the sakura sea-shells thought; they were so pretty. The soft pink never failed to relax her and the surface was so smooth that she could vaguely see her reflection peering back at her with a slight pink tint to her skin.

Sadly no sea shells were to be found today so stuffed the hand full of sea urchins into her backpack to be thrown into the shipping box later or whenever she was near one. She'd asked the mayor to place a shipping town in harmonica so many times that she'd lost count, but he'd done nothing about it. That mayor seriously creeped her out sometimes.

Before his son had married Luna the tailor, he'd seemed to think that he had a thing for Molly! He'd always chuckle whenever they were within a mile radius of each other and grin freakishly. All because of that time Gill's face got sunburnt and the old man thought he was blushing because Molly was right next to him.

As soon as she got to town, her thoughts immediately wandered to the mysterious man from before, and she found herself glancing at his house, which was just about visible over the roofs of the shops. Why do you stay up there? No one even knows you exist…Isn't it lonely? She wondered to herself before shaking her head with a frown, Why am I feeling sorry for him? He's a rude little-

"Molly!" she was snapped back into reality by the girls calls. Heaven knows why she was being loud when she was standing right next to her. "So you came to get a drink?" the blonde asked happily, closing her eyes into a grin.

"Eh, what?" Molly asked in confusion before she realised she'd unconsciously wandered right over to the Brass Bar's entrance. "No, that's-" but she was interrupted before she could deny anything.

"I knew it! Come on Molly, there's an orange cocktail I know you'd love!" and so the poor farmer found herself being dragged into the shade of the bar. The place always made her feel so uncomfortable. It was so dimly lit and lacking in bright colours. The only life in the room was Selena, who was dancing energetically in the corner. The pregnancy bump wasn't showing yet, so she was still as slim as always.
Chase was glaring at her in disapproval from one of the tables; apparently he was there as a customer today and not the chef. His shift didn't begin for another while. The guy had been against her dancing like that, with his over-protective nature. He seemed scared that another man would target her; someone needed to remind him that all men were already married. Apart from one, that is. That reminded Molly, wasn't the bar meant to be closed?

"Hey, isn't the bar supposed to be closed at this time?" Molly asked as Kathy sat her down at a table. Kathy chuckled condescendingly,

"We've decided to open early on Saturdays. Everyone likes a nice drink after a hard week, don't you agree?" she explained, waving her hands in the air. She always did greatly exaggerate her gestures.

Molly stared, "I don't think I've ever actually tried alcohol." She admitted, her cheeks flushing red for a minute. Before Kathy could reply, Selena, who'd seemed to have heard her confession, raced over to the farmer, placing her hands on her shoulders,

"You've never had a drink? My, my!" she chuckled mockingly, "Kathy, an orange cocktail for the farmer please. My treat." Molly stared at her suspiciously, she was probably planning something. Like for Molly to get drunk? Molly widened her eyes at the thought. What if she was a really embarrassing drunk?

"Coming right up!" Kathy sang before sweeping towards the shelves which were packed with darkly coloured glass bottles. Selena winked before dropping a few coins onto the table.

"Enjoy." She chorused before returning to the dance stand and proceeding to start where she left off. She had an interesting style of dancing; it mostly consisted of hip movement, twirling around and waving her arms around in time to the music. Molly hated to admit that it was quite impressive. Even Chase, who hated the idea of his wife dancing so publicly, was mesmerised.

It made Molly feel kind of jealous. Not because she had Chase in particular, but because the love was so obvious it was practically oozing out of them. You could see the adoration in their eyes- especially Chase's. She'd never had someone gaze at her like that before.

She was distracted by the clanking of the glass being placed on the table in front of her. Kathy grinned, balancing a tray in her hand. "Enjoy your drink, Molly."

Molly stared at the drink as if it would bite her as the waitress bounced off. It was a vibrant orange colour and the ice-cubes were bobbing around slowly. The striped straw swayed gently with the flow. "You're supposed to drink it, Molly," Selena called from across the room, "Not stare at it!" Molly scowled to herself, pretending she hadn't heard the arrogant woman. She seemed to be forgetting that Molly wasn't bloody mentally retarded.

She took a deep breath, I'll show the cow…She thought to herself in triumph before picking up the cup, avoiding the straw completely and gulping down the whole glass. Kathy stared at her in disbelief before nervously shouting, "Not so fast!" in alarm. Everyone knew alcohol wasn't to be drunk quickly like that; it was meant to be taken sip by sip. Everyone could only watch as Angela's face flushed bright red and her lips curled into a goofy grin.

"That…was great." She mumbled. Everyone's eyes were on her. How could alcohol even take effect this quickly? They kept staring as the farmer stood up, wobbling a little bit before staggering over to the counter, almost tripping over in the process, and seating herself on one of the stools. She leaned forward on the tiled surface. "I'd like…Another one…But…Don't put any bicycles in it. I don't like oxen." She muttered, making no sense at all. Kathy shook her head, her eyes closed. If her father were here to see this he wouldn't know how to react. Luckily, though, he was sick in bed with a cold. Kathy had always told him to dry his beard after showers, but he never listened.

Time went quickly after that. Kathy had no choice but to obey as the farmer went through one cup after another. By evening, she had an audience. Most of the older and tougher men of the island were surrounding her, clapping as she chugged down the drink. Kathy was almost surprised she didn't have alcohol poisoning at this point. Chase sighed as he scrubbed dishes in the background. Everyone was so loud; he felt like his head was going to explode.

Molly stared around her in awe with the same goofy smile as if she were day-dreaming before she finally reached her limit. Everyone backed away as the farmer fell backward onto the floor, almost bringing the stool down with her in the ruckus. Thankfully for her Owen caught her head before it hit the floor and so she received no serious injuries.

"You really shouldn't have encouraged her, guys." Kathy scolded them, making her way through the crowd to kneel down and examine the unconscious girl with a concerned frown, "She's out cold." She sighed before smiling and pecking her husband on the cheek. "Well done for catching her." She congratulated before returning her attention to the girl.

It was silent for a few moments, until Chase spoke angrily, "Well don't just leave her there! Is no one going to get her out of the way? I'm busy enough already!"
In the end, it was decided that Owen and Dale were going to carry her out. The dragged her along, one arm each, into the dark streets. She'd actually spent the whole day at the bar; it was already dark. "What a fierce drinker," Dale laughed loudly as they walked, "Even I'd probably've been out far earlier."

"Yup. Who would've known she was such an impressive drinker?" Owen joined in the laughter, his frame shaking with mirth. He continued laughing, not paying attention to where he was going. And then he tripped. One of the paving stones was slightly raised, and the blacksmith was unlucky enough to catch his boot on it. "Whoa!" He called as he fell forward, letting go of the unconscious girl who fell to the ground with a slapping sound. He landed beside her on the ground, groaning.

"You should pay attention to where you're going." Dale sighed, trying to decide whether to help Owen or Molly first. He decided on Owen, but before he could do anything he heard a voice.

"What…Are you doing?" the voice asked calmly. The two men spun their heads around to stare at the figure in the shadows. The figure stepped out quietly. It was almost scary how his shoe made so little sound on the stone.

"Who are you?" Owen demanded, jumping up to his feet.

The figure sighed, "No one seems…To know…Me." He said, not answering the question before kneeling down next to Molly, who was sprawled out across the paving. "I'll…Take her."

"H-Hey!" Dale protested as the mysterious man started to pick her up with ease.

"What are you doing?" the ginger asked through his teeth.

"I…Have something to discuss…With her." The wizard announced. Owen gulped. Somehow his piercing mismatched eyes freaked him out. "Well, I'll…be leaving."


A/N: Well, that's the end of that chapter! What does wizard want to discuss? You shall have to wait and see! I'll update soon! There, I did a nice long chappie to make up for not updating. Aren't I nice? No? Well, okay then…