Author's note - As always, sorry for the delay. My only excuse this time is that I really wanted to get this chapter right. And homework, of course...and exams. Well you get the picture! Anyway, thanks always to my amazing reviewers: Chicken Yuki, KCemployee, Alien-Child, HMAWLover and Ekoaleko.
Crossed Wires
Dawn broke over Forget-Me-Not Valley as beautifully as if it were any other day. The beams of light crept tentatively across the landscape at first, and you'd be forgiven for believing in the illusion of harmony.
But as the sun's light grew stronger over the Valley, the damage was highlighted with startling clarity. Broken trees and snapped branches lay all around, glimmering oddly in the bright sunlight. Several buildings had lost roof tiles to the wind which now lay shattered in the streets. It was definitely a far cry from harmony.
Nami was sat silently by the back window of her room, staring out at the beach below. As she watched, it occured to her how weird it was that everything seemed so normal. Too normal, in fact, given what had had happened last night. The waves were now lapping calmly against the sands as though they weren't littered with all sorts of debris; planks of wood, sheets of metal and, worst of all, the beautiful coloured lanterns that were now smashed into a million little pieces so fine they looked like rainbow dust.
After one last sweeping glance at the scene, Nami hopped down from the window ledge. It was far too quiet for her liking, but she didn't dare switch on the radio for fear of waking anyone. Flora was currently sleeping in the spare bed in her room, Rock had given up his room for Lumina and Robyn and everyone else was making do with the space they had downstairs. The weather had actually improved drastically by around two o'clock that morning, but Ruby wouldn't hear of anyone leaving at that hour and it wasn't as though anyone really wanted to either. So they all stuck around leaving Nami very grateful that she had Flora to take her bed, rather than having to give it to one of the other girls.
It wasn't that she desperately disliked any of them, it was just that it would be slightly awkward. Celia was always so chatty, Robyn - though she barely knew her - was evidently unnecessarily loud, Lumina didn't seem to like her and Muffy, well, truthfully she was perfectly welcome. Except for the fact that she wasn't around, of course.
Careful not to make too much noise, Nami paced the wooden boards somewhat restlessly. It irritated her no end, but, despite her best efforts, she couldn't stop wondering about Muffy and Rock. Damn stupid blondes, she thought grumpily, simply because she could hardly shout it aloud. Why couldn't they either get together or split up completely? All this hovering in between did no one any good and was incredibly annoying for those who got caught up in it. In other words: her.
She wondered vaguely about the reasons for Muffy running off like she did, when the decision to keep quiet was abruptly taken out of her hands by a knock at the door. "Rock!" she hissed out of instinct before she'd even opened it. But it wasn't him. Instead stood in the hall, shivering slightly in an old nightgown that was much too big, was the new brunette farmer, Robyn. "Oh," Nami mumbled, surprised. "Hi."
Robyn smiled, obviously unfazed. "Hey!" she answered. Her tone was pretty cheery, but it didn't quite meet her big, brown eyes. "I was wondering...where is everybody?"
This seemed an odd question to Nami. "Well," she said slowly. "Flora's staying in my room, everyone else will be downstairs, I suppose, and Lumina's in Rock's room with you. Right?"
"No, she left earlier."
Nami nodded, and was on the verge of closing the door, when it tranpsired that Robyn had more to say.
"So," she continued. "Where's Rock, then?"
Nami blinked, as this particular question seemed even odder still. "I don't know," she told the girl who, lets face it, was practically a stranger. Feeling her annoyance begin to rise steadily, she went on, "And why would I, anyway?"
At this reply, Robyn looked just as confused as Nami felt and it was that which prompted her to suspect she was missing something. But before she had time to ask, Robyn was yet again talking. "Weell..." she began, then paused for effect. "It's just...something Lumina said really." She stopped for a longer pause and after a moment of waiting, Nami suddenly realised she was expected to answer.
"Er...oh?"
"Talking about..." she continued gleefully, before yet another irritating pause. "Rock!"
That's it, Nami thought, knowing now more than ever that something wasn't quite right. "Why are you telling me this?" she asked, only really annoyed because this Robyn had captured her attention so much.
"I would have thought that was obivous," the brunette told her, mysteriously.
"Nope."
"So...the rumours aren't true, then?"
It was only then that Nami understood the full extent of Robyn's nosiness. She had arrived practically in the middle of a storm, been here less than twenty-four hours and was already devouring eagerly some damn piece of gossip dredged up from Goddess know where! Nami sighed as she came to her weary conclusion, "No, Robyn, they're probably not."
"Oh!" Robyn's cheeks flushed slightly pink and her eyes shone mischeviously. "Then...you and Rock aren't a couple?"
Try as she might, Nami couldn't stifle a gasp at that bombshell. "N - no we're damn well not," she spluttered. And forgetting all about Flora, slammed the door shut with a bang.
Nami knew full well that it would take something massive to overshadow Robyn's ridiculous theory about her and Rock, yet unfortunately such a situation did arise. Once everyone else had left later that morning, Ruby called a meeting of sorts in the kitchen.
At first, Nami assumed this was a family thing - and she was right. But the problem was Ruby seemed to consider her as family, so she had no choice, but to attend along with the others.
Rock looked utterly despondent as he trailed into his mother's spotless kitchen. So much so, in fact, that he couldn't even face the selection snacks carefully laid out on the side. Nami, though, had no time to be sympathetic.
"Rock," she hissed, as he flopped down at the table. "I need to talk to you - "
"If it's about Muffy, you can forget it. I'm trying to, at least."
Almost without meaning to, Nami rolled her eyes. "No, it's no that," she muttered hurriedly, wanting to give him a good shake. "Though now I think of it, why on earth are you giving up on Muffy? She didn't turn you down: she was upset and disappointed about Robyn being the farmer, and maybe you took things too fast, but it's not over."
"It is!" Rock insisted childishly. "She ran a mile from me, didn't she?"
"But that was because of the storm," Nami retorted, though there was an unpleasant knawing sensation growing in her stomach. She couldn't help wondering if there was more to the story than Rock had first let on...
Ah. Judging by the ever shifty look on his face, that was it. "Well..not quite," he admitted, eventually.
"What then?"
The silence and tension in the room grew steadily, but Rock didn't seem keen to reveal anything. "It's - well - " He squirmed awkwardly in his seat, as Nami sighed impatiently. "She ran off way before it even started raining, if you must know. I mean, she did kiss me back for a second, yeah, but then bolted muttering 'Sorry, sorry' over and over again."
"Oh." Nami didn't really know what to say to that, and in the end that single syllable was all she could manage. She already had her doubts about Rock and Muffy, the couple, and in truth this only heightened them.
Quick to pick up on her expression, Rock looked even more anguished than he had before. "See?" he whined. "It is over, you do think so too."
At that point, Nami supposed she should have said something about never giving up, no matter how bad it seemed, but she just didn't have the time. "Look Rock," she whispered again. "I'm sure everything will fine, okay? But actually, I wanted to ask you about something Robyn said. Or, more to the point something she claimed Lumina said - "
Yet again though, Nami was interrupted. And this time there was really nothing she could do about it.
Ruby had just entered the kitchen and the mere sight of her silenced the pair straight away. They both felt frozen to the core as they took in the tears sliding down her round, tanned face. It was such an unusual sight that Nami found herself blinking several times to convince herself she wasn't dreaming.
"What's up?" Rock asked, glancing anxiously from his mother to his father, who'd just walked in.
"I'm sorry for keeping you waiting this long, kids," she sniffed. "But I thought I'd better get you both here to tell you. I'm afraid the storm last night wasn't as victimless as we first thought..."
The days continued to crawl by in the Valley, seemingly drawing out an already sombre Fall. It wasn't just the weather - though that showed very little signs of improvement too - but the whole dreary atmosphere of the place. Every day was as eerily quiet as the next and no one, no matter how much they wanted to, could pretend it was just because of the rain.
Irritating drizzily, driving rain, that wasn't enough to warrant an umbrella but was enough to get you soaked if you were in it for too long, was currently falling on Nami as she battled her way up the high-street. It was little past midday, though to her annoyance the town was almost entirely deserted.
It didn't feel right at all, she realised as she passed by the entrance of the newly christened, Robyn's Ranch.
At that precise moment, she heard Robyn's loud, echoing laugh reverberating across the property as she worked, and hurried on. It sounded foreign in the still, silent air and suddenly Nami found herself cringing.
This was all so horrible; nothing seemed right, not loud nor quiet. The unnerving silence felt completely wrong, yet...deep down she knew it was far too soon for laughing and joking and life, even.
Sighing, the exasperated redhead rushed towards the Blue Bar. She nearly had the door open when someone else barged through it and right into her. Out of instinct, she opened her mouth to complain sharply, before realising just who the careless person was. Her mouth stayed open, gulping like a fish out of water.
"Flora...I'm..."
"Sorry?" the archeologist cut in. "Yes. You're not the only one. Everyone is by the seems of it."
Nami shifted awkwardly from one foot to the other. "I meant about the door really...But still..." She trailed off slowly, too caught up in Flora's appearance to carry on. Her friend's usually shiny dark blonde hair, now fell in limp, lank folds around her thin face. Her clothes looked dishevelled to say the least and clearly hadn't been washed in days. They hung limply off her skinny form.
"What?" Flora snapped, following Nami's gaze. Her velvety, purple eyes narrowed and darkened suddenly, in a way that was most unlike her.
"Look," Nami ventured. "It's really not your - "
"Fault?" Flora laughed bitterly. "Well, sorry for second guessing you, but I've heard it all before. It's textbook, isn't it? It's what they've all told me, truth or not."
"Well, maybe it's really not your fault," Nami told her quietly. She was trying to be as careful and tactful as possible, but it didn't really work.
Looking unconvinced, Flora shrugged. "Whatever. I've really got to go now, actually. Work to do. I'll - I'll see you around, okay?"
It most definitely wasn't okay, but there was nothing Nami could do about it. She watched as Flora marched off into the worsening rain before turning defeatedly back to the door.
There was no one in the bar when she went it, except for Muffy, of course, who was cleaning glasses. She leapt up at the sound of the door, but gave a small smile at noticing it was Nami.
"Oh!" she sighed. "Boy am I glad to see you!"
Nami came and sat at the bar. "Why's that, then?" she asked. To be honest, she didn't really care anymore. Seeing Flora like that had been so freaky and she just knew that getting that image out of her head was going to take a while.
"Flora," Muffy explained, already in the process of pouring Nami a drink. "I thought she was back again."
A horribly familiar, queasy feeling had settled in Nami's stomach at Muffy's words. "Oh," she muttered, feeling increasingly deflated. "So...why would that worry you?"
"Well, I thought she was gonna kick off again, didn't I? And I don't need that sort of thing at this time of day. You expect it in the evenings, sure, but not in the mornings."
Though she was pretty certain she knew the answer, Nami felt she'd better enquire further.
"Wanted to drink herself half to death, I expect," Muffy answered. She then stopped to let out another breathy sigh, the sadness in her voice lighting her soft, green eyes. And despite the circumstances, Nami felt a tiny bittersweet smile creeping onto her lips. It was just nice, that was all, to see someone acting properly human for a change. For days on end it had been vacant stares, glazed eyes and distant, faraway conversations. Life in Forget-Me-Not seemed to come to a standstill when blighted by death and somehow, despite promising it would never happen, Nami had been dragged down into their spiral of despair. "'Course I didn't serve her," Muffy continued. "She wasn't too happy though."
Nami swallowed her generous measure of Stone Oil, feeling ever so slightly hypocritical as she did so. "Poor girl..." she murmured sadly.
"Yeah. Poor Carter too. I mean, I never really liked the guy - " Muffy clapped a hand over her mouth suddenly, looking a bit guilty. "Still," she went on. "You can't speak ill of the dead, can you?"
"No," Nami agreed, though, in truth, she wasn't really listening anymore. Her mind had wandered to the night of the storm, the night Carter died. It had changed everything, really. Shattered the whole rosy, community glow of the Valley. Everyone had rushed off to the safety of the Inn, but no one had remembered Carter and his supposedly wonderful find. Nami certainly hadn't, that was for certain. She wondered, for a moment, if Flora had remembered him, though something about her anguished expression earlier told her not.
Muffy was still babbling on about rights and wrongs, so Nami quickly cut through her. "Look Muffy, there was something I actually came to ask you today," she explained. "It's about you and Rock - "
Much to her confusion, the blonde barmaid burst out giggling. "Don't you mean you and Rock!"
It was a struggle for Nami not to scream at that point. Damn Robyn, she thought, damn her stupid rumours. "You've heard, then?" she muttered grudgingly.
"Who hasn't?" Muffy laughed. She grinned childishly at the look on Nami's face, though poured her another drink by way of apology. "In all seriousness though, I expect someone just told her how close you two are."
Nami nearly choked on her Stone Oil. "We are not!"
"Are too! Well...Rock's always saying he likes you," Muffy retorted. This time her voice shook a little as she mentioned him. Probably due to the fact that they hadn't seen each other since the party, so technically speaking he wasn't telling her anything anymore.
Nami tried to distract her as best she could. "You know, I think Robyn actually got the rumour from something Lumina said."
"Huh. That figures. Probably fancies Rock herself."
While sipping her drink in silence, Nami tried to steel herself to ask. She fully intended to be quite subtle about it, but somewhere along the line her plan went awry. "Why d'you run off Muffy?" she blurted out.
Muffy stopped in the act of wiping a wine glass, her mouth half-open. She stared at Nami. "Huh? What do you mean? When?"
So, as calmly as she could manage, Nami told her. She was pretty sure she already understood though. They both did.
"I guess I was just scared," her blonde companion admitted eventually.
"Scared? Of Rock?" Nami knew she sounded highly incredulous, but she couldn't help it. The words Rock and 'scared' just didn't go together, in her opinion. In fact, they couldn't be further apart.
She heard Muffy swallow nervously. "No, scared of his reaction really. 'Cause I'm afraid. Afraid I just might love him."
Over the next few days, life slowly began to return to something like normal in the Valley. News of Carter's tragic death seemed to have finally sunk in - with some people at least - and the mood had started to lighten.
Nami hadn't told Rock the exact details of her conversation with Muffy, but when he'd finally emerged from his lair, she'd given him a vague enough idea. He could have been more thrilled, admittedly, but the return of his usual cheeky smile was certainly a start. He even managed to laugh about Robyn and her rumour.
"Are you ever going to get together with Muffy?" Nami asked for about the fifth time. It was a bitterly frosty morning torwards the end of the season and her and Rock were wandering back from the beach.
He shrugged, then laughed mysteriously. "I'm waiting for the right moment that's all."
But Nami shook her head. "There'll never be the right moment if you carry on at this pace. Just get on with, I say." She spun around, taking in the landscape which was currently bathed in weak, wintery sunlight. Then, spotting just the person, a cunning grin crept onto her face. "How about now?"
"What?" Rock glanced up suddenly, visibly alarmed. Looking like a deer caught in the headlights, he saw who Nami was looking at straight away. Standing on the wooden bridge across the river, with her back to them, was Muffy. Her long, blonde hair and trademark red dress were unmistakeable.
Rock laughed again, only this time it sounded nervous and hollow. "No," he said. "No, no, no. I can't!"
"You can!" Nami insisted, and, without really thinking about it, she grabbed his hand and dragged him up the hill. "Oi! Muffy!"
It wasn't the best plan in the world, she realised afterwards, but amazingly it did work. Only days after leaving them together by the river, she spotted them wandering up the street together. And not just that, but holding hands too. For them it was clearly a beginning, yet, oddly enough, for Nami it felt like an ending.
The ending of her time in Forget-Me-Not Valley.
She'd seen so much there, experienced more than she could have ever imagined. Too much, probably. And the longer she stayed, the harder it would be to let go eventually. The possibility of living there permanently didn't even enter her head at that point.
As Winter arrived in a flurry of snowstorms, the feeling only got stronger. In truth, only the thought of Flora was keeping her in the Valley. Her unrepaired friendship with the archeologist felt like an annoying loose end in a novel. One that was never tied up.
But despite her efforts to speak to her friend, Flora was completely unresponsive. She stayed at the dig site day and night, working tirelessly to continue Carter's legacy. It was the guilt, Nami realised, that was festering away inside her, eating her from the inside out.
Every time they spoke, Flora seemed so distant. It was as though all she could see was the party and all she could hear were her catty comments about Carter. Nami kept remembering that night too. Most of all she remembered Flora's laugh.
It was Flora at the forefront of her mind the night she left. And Muffy and Ruby and Rock.
As she marched up the road out of town, Nami remembered telling him she was leaving. He wasn't really listening though, he was thinking about Muffy no doubt. These days he always was. Still. At least he was happy.
He might not be tomorrow though, she thought, nearly laughing, as it occured to her that Rock might not have grasped that she would really be gone.
Suddenly she stopped, staring down at the village she was leaving behind. All she could see from her current vantage point were street lamps glowing in the darkness and the talk, hulking forms trees being blown in the wind.
Before finally turning away, she sighed. This moment felt so much like an ending, that she was convinced Forget-Me-Not Valley would soon be nothing more than a memory.
Unbeknownst to her though, this was really only the beginning.
A/N - Phew, that's got to be my longest chapter in ages! I hope everyone enjoyed it. Feel free to tell me how you think through a review, or a PM if you wish.
Next chapter, enter: Cliff. I'm really looking forward to it! See you all next time!