The visit to the bar seemed to be about the limit to which Candace was willing to be social. All throughout the rest of the afternoon she stood quietly off to her sister's side and watched as she affectionately reconnected with a fair portion of the town. Aside from the occasional "H-Hello" or "Yeah" she was hardly called upon to say much else, essentially ignored in favor of her sister. It made sense given that it was Luna's grand return home; rather, that was at least what she considered to be a lie to tell herself to try and keep her spirits up. Negativity still ran rampant through her mind, keeping her convinced that no one paid her any mind because, as per usual, she simply wasn't worth their time.

It seemed like a more logical reason to her given that she'd never presented herself as one eager to talk, giving everyone who knew her an excuse to just ignore her.

Even upon visiting Julius he hardly spoke a peep to her despite his previous proposal of a potential business venture between the trio. Luna's intent to make practically every word directed at him part of a backhanded compliment, however, caused him to stay on the defensive for most of their brief encounter and left him no room for much discussion of any sort. Still, it left her puzzled that for how often the two could engage in a war of childish insults against one another there was still more than a handful of times in which they'd manage to get along, even going as far to call the other a legitimate friend. Yet for her all it took was one instance of accidentally pushing Molly's buttons and suddenly it was fair to say that they'd never speak again.

Her ghostly silence continued into the promised meal Shelly had waiting for them once they returned home. Even around the kitchen table their grandmother's focus practically remained exclusively on Luna, turning to Candace every now and again only to ask trivial non-questions such as "Now doesn't that sound nice?" and "How interesting, right dear?" Each time, much like before, Candace would only momentarily looked up at her and answer with a weak nod before staring back down at the distorted reflection contained within her bowl of mushroom soup. Her appetite appeared to have left alongside whatever positivity she had managed to feel upon hugging her sister, leaving her to uninterestingly stir the contents of her meal about in what may as well have been a desperate cry for help.

"Is something wrong Candace?" Shelly finally asked.

Candace continued to gaze down at the broken image of a girl looking back at her, her head resting firmly upon her hand.

"Candace…?"

"H-Huh…?" Candace asked wearily as her eyes unenthusiastically wandered up to her grandmother.

"Is everything alright?" She asked again. "You've barely touched your soup or said a word all evening."

If Candace were a bolder person she might have taken it upon herself to point out that her extreme silence was the result of no one seeming to care enough to try and have a genuine conversation with her and not just due to her reserved personality. Of course, that was far from the person she actually was and instead she took to slumping further in her chair, drawing concern from both Shelly and Luna.

"I'm… I-I'm fine…" She murmured. "I just… I don't f-feel good right n-now…"

Shelly gave her dish a slight nudge forward before leaning over towards Candace. Gently, she brushed the bangs that nearly concealed her granddaughter's eyes out of the way and rested her hand atop her forehead. "What's the matter, is it a fever? You aren't coming down with something are you?"

Candace's arms dropped down to her side. She was hardly lying about her current wellbeing but knew that she lacked the courage to admit to even her family that she was speaking about her state of mind rather than her physical condition as Shelly interpreted.

"I don't know… m-maybe…" She answered, beating herself up on the inside for choosing to go along with the lie.

"Maybe you should get some rest." Shelly suggested. "I'd hate for you to start getting sick now that things are starting to pick up around here."

Candace looked up at her with a tired smile before darting her eyes back down to the ground and scooting out of her seat. Luna watched her sister with a troubling gaze as she proceeded to sluggishly drag herself around the table and back to their room. Inside, Candace turned and carefully shut the door before resting herself atop it. Through the paper-thin walls of the home she could hear as Shelly and Luna remained in silence for a while before slowly returning to their conversation, albeit with a more somber tone than before. Slowly, she wrapped her arms around herself for comfort as she turned to face the dark prison she had forced herself into for the rest of the night. Hanging her head in shame she gradually started to carry herself over to her bed, as hopeless as ever.

Back in the kitchen, upon finishing dinner sometime later Luna assisted Shelly with the dishes before going about fulfilling her promise of setting her things away. She was sure to tiptoe her way into the backroom as to not disturb Candace while wheeling her set of suitcases carefully behind her. Even in the dark she could see as her sister lay in her bed facing off towards the wall opposite of her, shaking ever so slightly in time with her breathing. Setting her luggage up against the wall beside her own bed she attempted to sort through her mess of various clothes and belongings but quickly found the task too difficult while in the darkness of the shadows. Again, she looked back at Candace just as she'd begun to hold herself for comfort.

"Hey… are you still awake Candace?" She quietly asked.

Candace lied silently beneath her sheets for a moment, regrettably finding herself willing to ignore her sister's question. Guilt began to soon naturally creep up to the bedside prompting her to shuffle about to turn back towards her. "Yeah…"

"Oh… are you feeling better...?" She asked sounding noticeably uncertain of what she really wanted to say.

Candace rolled back over towards the wall. "I-I… no… not really…"

While Luna was relieved that her sister was deciding to be honest about her feelings for once it did nothing to lessen its troubling implications.

"Well… Grandma and I both hope that you'll start to feel better soon…" She replied gently. Whether it was the right thing to say in a situation like this she wasn't entirely sure but she knew at the very least she had to try and encourage Candace somehow.

The cerulean haired girl remained still in bed for a moment before turning back to her sister once more. As she sat up in bed she looked upon her with a dimly lit smile that appeared as fragile as herself. It conveyed a genuine effort to try and appear grateful for the compliment she'd just received but looked just as hopeless at the same time.

"Th-Thanks…" She muttered as her view strayed off to the side.

"Candace… you know, if there's ever anything wrong… you can tell us…" Luna spoke softly.

Candace's head started to sink ever so slowly as her legs curled up to her chest. Her face became buried in her knees as she proceeded to wrap her arms around them.

"I… I-I…" She was practically choking her words out. "I'm f-fine… h-honest…"

In an instant Luna seated herself besides her sister and embraced her as tight as she could.

"Candace it's okay…" She soothingly whispered into her ear, pulling her in closer. The sound of Candace's crying was muffled by her legs. "Everything's alright…"

Candace simply responded by further constricting her legs as to silence the sound of her tears even further.

"What's wrong?" Luna calmly asked as she began to stroke her back. "You can tell me."

Candace violently started to shake her head, incredibly reluctant to look back at her sister more than ever.

"Candace… if something is wrong… I need to know…" Luna tried her hardest to speak as unintimidating as possible while still expressing the necessity of her claim.

She continued to sob into to bottom of her nightgown for a moment before pulling her head away slightly. "Luna… p-please… I'm o-okay…"

Candace could practically see her sister's heart sink through her deep blue eyes as she attempted to look at her with a trembling smile. Luna stared back at her before closing her eyes with a heavy sigh.

"Candace… please… just know that I'm always going to be here if you need anything." She proceeded to hold her sister once more. "I love you Candace… and I want to see you happy more than anything else in the world…"

As her eyes tightened Candace gently rested her head on Luna's shoulder. She desperately pleaded with herself to let her sister's comforting words reach her but her mind remained too distraught by how much stronger she was than her. Down in her heart she could feel as a tiny glimmer of hope attempted to continuously spark up into that sensation of joy that she longed for before fizzling out into nothing.

Slowly, she pulled away from her sister and looked down upon her hands in her lap, unable to look Luna in the eyes.

"Thanks…" She uttered.

"I mean it Candace…" Luna replied. "If you ever need anything you just come and let me know."

Eventually Candace found the courage to spare Luna a momentarily glance, taking specific note of the genuine smile on her face and how it failed to trigger even the slightest reaction in her.


Upon waking the next morning Candace found that Luna was still very much the morning person she had been before leaving. With her bed barren and a good deal of her belongings already sorted away, if the half empty suitcases scattered about the floor were any indication at least, it only left her to wonder if there was anything her sister couldn't do. After almost literally rolling out of her bed unenthusiastically with a sigh she wandered over to the kitchen door. If she were just a tad bit more awake she may have managed to take note of the voices coming from the other half of the house and how it sounded like there was company over but such a level of critical thinking was at least another hour away for her.

Rather, it would've been were it not for the unanticipated wake-up call she was seconds away from receiving.

With a great yawn Candace placed her hand on the doorknob and began to tug it back just as someone on the other end proceeded to open it from their end as well.

"She still must be sleeping." Luna's voice replied back to someone. "Let me che-"

She could hardly finish the thought before she abruptly found herself walking head first into her sister, having been distracted by whomever she'd been speaking to. As if they were perfect reflections of one another the two sister's both fell backwards in perfect harmony while rubbing their respective foreheads.

"Guess I found her…" Luna grumbled before climbing back up to her feet.

Candace's eyes remained clenched for a moment until the throbbing pain in her forehead began to dissipate.

"L-Luna, I'm so s-sorry…" She apologized hastily. Looking up she saw as her sister extended her hand out for her and reached for it. "I was j-ju-"

Her train of thought came to an immediate stop as her eyes caught sight of Molly standing off to the side a tad behind Luna, appearing to be giggling. Even as her sister attempted to help her off the ground she became frozen solid with embarrassment. She'd been up for not even five minutes and she had already managed to humiliate herself by demonstrating her clumsiness. Slowly, she allowed Luna to resume lifting her up at full speed.

"Th-thanks…" She muttered once up on her feet. Naturally, her attention was focused off on the floor to her side while she engaged in her typical habit of yanking on the long sleeves of her cotton blue nightgown.

"It's alright Candace, accidents happen I suppose." Laughed Luna with a cheerful smile. "I probably should have knocked first."

Candace continued to focus elsewhere in silence.

"It seems you got yourself a visitor this morning though, Candace." Shelly noted as she gestured towards Molly.

"Hey Candace." Molly gave a cute wave and smiled.

Candace meekly glanced up at her and gave a smiled ever so slightly as she gently rubbed her right arm, creating a crooked frown upon Luna's face.

"She got here just a bit ago looking for you." Luna explained, hoping the news would elicit some kind of positive reaction in her sister.

Candace rather unfortunately only grew nervous at such news. Surely Molly's presence could only mean that she'd grown tired of waiting on an apology and came to force one out of her. Her cheery attitude was just a façade until they were alone. Then the anger she'd provoked the other day would return directed at her full force.

"Hehe, I was just hoping to see you again for once." Molly clarified with a childish laugh. "Though, it sounds like you might be getting sick? I don't want to bother you if that's the case. I can come back some other day if you want."

Candace brought her hands close to her chest and shook her head, gazing down at her feet. Despite her inner most fears her heart urged for her to remain positive. "N-No… I… I feel better now…"

From out of her view the girls began to all break out in an uncoordinated smile.

"Well isn't that a relief to hear?" Shelly rhetorically asked. "Say, why don't you go on and get dressed for the day then and I'll whip us all up an extra nice breakfast for when you come back out since we have company. Does that sound good to everyone?"

"Oh? You don't have to do that for me." Molly replied modestly. "I don't want to impose on you like that."

"Nonsense, it's quite alright." Smiled Shelly. "I don't know how it goes back in the city but here in Castanet we treat our guest's right."

Molly briefly paused. "Well, thank you, you're all so kind here…" As her voice trailed off she glanced over at Candace who seemed to have felt her gaze and looked back. She had the same uncertain look on her face as when she had been complimented at the bar the previous afternoon.

Shelly gestured to the back door. "Go on then Candace. We'll all be waiting out here for you."

"Yeah, come on Candace, hurry up already. I'm starving over here." Luna teased with a giggle.

With a series of rapid nods Candace turned back over towards the bedroom and left. Without delay she proceeded over to her dresser and outfitted herself in her predictable all blue ensemble. Before returning to the group in the kitchen she paused for a moment and gazed at herself in the mirror. It wasn't hard to tell by the way she remained retracted within herself that she was hardly ready to figure out Molly's true purpose for stopping over. There wasn't much she could do at this point though, she simply had to brace for the worst and keep the faint hope within her heart alive.


"Fishing and fireworks? Wow, it all sounds so fun." Molly excitably remarked.

"It always has been." Luna agreed with a smile as Molly went back to finishing her cheese omelet. "I've never bothered with any of that fishing junk though. Urgh, just imagining one of those slimy little things coming out of the water right at me all slippery and covered in mud? Yuck! And to think a girl like Renee actually enjoys handling them all the time."

"Oh come on Luna, it's not all that bad. It's actually pretty fun." Molly argued.

Shelly lowered her fork down beside her plate and rested her free hand upon her cheek, breaking out in a faint blush as she started to reminisce. "Hm, I remember spending the long summer nights out over on the pier to fish with your grandfather back in the day. Hoho, but that was before even Candace was born if I believe."

"Sheesh, you too grandma?" Luna asked, almost rolling her eyes.

"Well, it was mostly your grandfather but I won't deny that it was fun." She replied with a bit of a giggle.

"You should give it a try Luna." Molly suggested. "You might actually enjoy it."

"Blergh, no thanks." She pouted before turning to her sister. "You agree with me don't you Candace?"

Candace, once again, was found picking at the scraps left about her plate when she was finally addressed. Unlike the soup from the night before she had actually been taking to slowly pecking away at the food provided for her this time around, likely as a result of having neglected dinner in the first place.

"H-Huh …?" She questioned, having been mostly ignoring the others' chatter for much of the conversation.

"That fishing is just… blech, gross." Luna replied.

"Fishing…? I mean I-I don't know… I don't know how. I probably wouldn't be very good…" She answered quietly, still a bit uncertain at what exactly she was being asked.

"Hey, I, I bet you'd be great at it. It's not that hard to figure out." Molly voice sounded just as soft. She looked down at her barren plate and scratched at it with her fork for a moment before addressing her again. "Yeah, haha, I… I bet I could teach you a thing or two before the festival in a few days so you could compete. Heh…"

Candace became flustered and her cheeks began to shift towards a redder shade prompting her to immediately drop her view down to the dish in front of her.

"O-oh no, no, no… I couldn't…" She stuttered.

"Now why not?" Shelly asked. "I think it sounds like it could be fun. Plus it'd give you an excuse to go out and enjoy the last of this beautiful summer weather. I can't remember the last time we had a season this pleasant."

Molly smiled and looked somewhat off to the side as if to conceal something other than the newly appearing color on her face.

"Yeah Candace, what do you say?" She then asked a moment later.

Candace glanced back up at Molly's smiling face before looking over at her grandmother. She proceeded to give her a nod causing her to then look over at Luna who simply offered her a shrug.

"I-I mean I guess you can… i-if you want to you know…" She answered back, looking down at her place setting again. "If you don't I understand…"

"Really?" Molly chirped with a hint of glee. "Sounds great. I can't wait."

The side of Candace's lip curled upwards as she tried to mimic her excitement. Much like with Luna the night before she could feel a faint flicker of hope emanating from within her heart. It was new and felt almost scary, but somehow in a good way.

"Well it seems like everyone's just about done here. Why don't I clean up then?" Proposed Shelly as she rose from her seat. "Luna, would you care to give me a hand.

Luna just about winced in her chair. "Oh geeze, I'd love to grandma, but I still have to finish up unpacking." She held her pinkie out and wiggled it about. "A promise is promise."

Shelly rolled her eyes and shook her head, admittedly amused by her granddaughter's clever excuse as she watched her scurry from the kitchen. "What about you Candace."

"Actually, I was kind of hoping to have a quick chat with Candace if that's alright." Molly asked. "It's the whole reason I came here."

Candace felt as her heartrate steadily increased towards a full on sprint. The sense of fear she had towards Molly's possible intentions that had been kept at bay by her family presence was now essentially free to run rampant. It all depended on Shelly's answer.

"Well I don't see why not." Shelly responded. "It'd be rude of me to keep you here any longer than you need to be. I'm sure you've got plenty of work to get to back on your farm."

"Really? Thanks." Molly turned to Candace. "What do you say Candace? Would you like to go on a quick walk with me?"

Her heart was virtually pounding against her ribcage at this point.

"S-S-Sure…" Her tone sounded woefully defeated, having accepted that whatever Molly had planned to discuss with her was unavoidable.

The disheartening implications of her characteristic answer were lost on Molly, however.

"Great, let's go then." She beamed as she rose from her seat. "I'll try not to keep her long."


Something about Molly became noticeably distressing once they stepped outside and out of the view of Candace's family. Much like at the bar it was evident now more than ever that something was clearly eating away at her, likely the same thing she so desperately seemed to want to speak to Candace about.

"So… Wherever then?" She asked.

Candace failed to understand. "Huh?"

"For the walk." She clarified. "I didn't really have any particular place in mind for where to go."

"Oh, s-sure… that's fine…" Candace replied.

Molly's expression appeared glum at first before she attempted to break it with a smile, only to revert back to her original look. "Right… We can just head over towards my place I guess."

Candace didn't even as much as nod and simply followed at Molly's side as she began to head down the trail. Even as they passed through the imaginary boundaries between Harmonica town and the fields Molly remained silent in deep thought, appearing to be carefully considering her words.

"Candace… I… I'm just so sorry…" She finally confessed.

"What…?" She asked.

"About… well, about the last time I actually spoke to you." She came to a stop in the middle of the road as she further explained herself. "Over by the mailbox…"

Candace remained silent and deeply focused on her.

"It's… it's just been bothering me the whole time since then…" She continued.

"What do y-you mean…?" Candace asked.

Molly's head hung down in shame. "About how I just, well, blew up on you out of nowhere…"

Candace's mind began to grow confused. To her she was supposed to be the one who had to apologize for pestering her, not the other way around.

"It was wrong of me Candace, so wrong…" Molly's voice sounded broken, as if the weight of regret had been suffocating her to death. "You were just being curious like any good friend would be and I just lashed out at you for it for nothing…"

Candace's hands came close to her chest as empathy flooded over her.

"I don't know why I've been so afraid to apologize to you for it and I've just been using work as an excuse to put it off…" She admitted. "It's been bugging me all night and day and I should have just tried to say it sooner… I'm a terrible friend Candace… I'm really sorry." She hugged herself and looked off towards the distance. "I didn't deserve all those nice things you said to me yesterday… not if I'm going to treat you like that…"

Candace remained still with her mouth agape in disbelief. This far from what she had expected to happen, far, far, from it. She had been prepared to throw herself at Molly's mercy and ask for her forgiveness in regards to the aggravation she'd caused her, even attempting to brace herself mentality for when Molly would give the official announcement that they were no longer friends. Now she was left without a clue as to what she was supposed to do.

"I understand if you think it'd be better if we don't see each other as much anymore… or at all…" She mumbled that last part. "It's okay… You don't deserve someone like me who treats you like that…"

Candace lowered her head, the waterworks of her eyes strangely prepared to activate. She felt sorry for Molly. The weight of her words, her distressing body language and general unhappiness at the moment, she sympathized with it far too well.

"Molly… I… I-I… I still want to be f-friends…" It pained her to know that to a certain extant she knew the driving motivation for her to say that was her own benefit, not Molly's.

Molly looked up at her, her expression a mixture of surprise and relief.

"Really…? You… you don't hate me for all of that?" She asked.

"Molly… I… I t-thought you were the one m-mad at me this whole time…" She admitted.

Her eyebrows lowered in confusion. "What? Why?"

"Because I was the one that b-bothered you…" She answered, her arms falling to her side. "You t-told me to stop asking about your f-f-family but I kept doing it anyw-way…"

Molly started to give a light laugh at the growing absurdity of the situation. "Really?"

Candace exhaled deeply as her head began to wilt. "It's… it's just t-that… every time you've t-talked to me it's… it's made me f-feel better… I just thought that i-if I tried talking to you… I'd make you feel b-better too…"

She stood motionless before her, as broken as ever. She didn't know what provoked her into admitting such a personal fact such as that but now that she had all she could do was feel embarrassed for herself at how pathetic it must sound.

Soon she felt as Molly embraced her, placing her head off to the side of her own.

"Thank you Candace…" She whispered. "Thank you…"

Candace remained still in her grasp.

"I've never had someone care enough to try and help me like that…" She admitted before backing off. "You really are a good friend you know that?"

Candace looked away from her, deathly afraid to accept her words.

"I mean it Candace." She argued, seeing that she had to convince her friend that was speaking the truth. "Anyone would be lucky to be friends with someone as caring as you."

Slowly, Candace started to look her way, seeing that typical smile painted on her face. "R-Really…"

"Of course." Molly replied before pulling her in for another quick hug. "I'm really glad we met."

As Molly drew her close enough to start feeling the warmth emanating from her own body Candace began to feel that spark within her heart begin to flare up once more. She had never felt anything like it before in her life. It was like feeling butterflies in her stomach only something about it felt more joyous, more wonderful.

All she could say for certain about this mysterious sensation coursing through her body was that she liked it, and above all else, she wanted more of it.


A/N: Originally this chapter was planned to be combined with the next one and act as the first half but I've ended up adding more to it than originally planned and had to break it up in order to not make it completely overwhelming. (Admittedly a lot of the plot aside from the big points is actually improvised as I write, more so than I'd care to admit, and it somehow manages to make sense when I fit it into the storyoutline.) I've also gone ahead and edited the story description ever so slightly since Candace's bout with depression has become a bigger point than initially planned, not that anyone seems to have an issue with that though. Unimportant details aside I hope you enjoyed the chapter and I'll see to getting the next one out as soon as the schedule permits!