DISCLAIMER: ALL HARVEST MOON products belong to Natsume, Inc.
CHARACTERS: Some Harvest Moon (even RF series) mixed together!
Warning: Alternative Universe.
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~ 9 ~
"Another Way"
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-Zephyr, 17 years ago-
Zephyr was the green emerald town in the hilly area at the northwest side of the Harvest Moon mainland continent. The town used wind power as its primary energy source. Large windmills were standing firmly between the green hills which were cleaved by creeks. The town had everything that a town needed: it was located near the sea at a strategic position, beautiful and within the reach of nature, as well as having well-funded science and education. Within a few decades, Zephyr had grown into an important world trading center with enormous financial strength. Unfortunately, this also made the competition with their neighboring country, Castanet, get worse. The tension between the two neighboring countries kept rising up. Beyond their green and beautiful nature, the two sides were preparing themselves for the worst. The cold war for years finally broke into armed warfare.
In the midst of this precarious situation, in a house in Zephyr, a girl named Claire was born. Ivan, her father, was holding her with happiness filling his heart. He thanked his wife, Freya, and told her how wonderful she was. Beside him, Dirk, his fourteen-year-old brother, was smiling with them, looking at the newborn baby. But the family's happiness was shattered when they heard a sudden loud banging on their door. Dirk opened the door and was surprised to see a big man wearing military clothes with royal emblem on his chest. Dirk knew the man. He was one of the great generals in Zephyr, Rod.
"Call Ivan," he ordered. Dirk immediately ran to his brother and told him about Rod. Ivan laid his baby down beside Freya carefully and then went to meet Rod.
"The Mayor commands you to come with me to see him right away," Rod conveyed the order abruptly.
"Now? But my wife has just given birth... why so suddenly?" Ivan asked, trying to refuse.
"Just come. You know he won't like it if you complain over his order," Rod forced with a threatening tone. Ivan sighed resignedly and then went back into his room to say goodbye to his family. Dirk, who had a bad feeling, asked his brother to take him along as an assistant.
Rod had brought a cart for them, so they just tagged along without prepared anything. Once they arrived, the Mayor told him to sit in his guest room. He asked his maid to serve them high-quality cookies and brewed tea. After that, the maid closed the door. The only souls in that room were Ivan, Dirk, the Mayor, and Rod.
"Sorry, but I guess I'll have to ask your little brother to leave us alone?" The Mayor showed the door with his gesture.
Dirk was about to go when Ivan halted him, "it's okay. This little guy is my trusty assistant. He knew everything about our project."
Ivan lied. Dirk knew nothing and though he always helped Ivan in the laboratory, Ivan never involved him in political-related things. Yet Dirk followed up the lie with a confident nod to reassure the Mayor.
"Well, that's okay then, I suppose," the Mayor then rested his back on his sofa. "So, how's it going? Have you finished deciphering those Rune Factory ancient manuscripts?"
Ivan replied that he had understood almost all the ancient manuscripts which had been found on some large rock in the old ruins of the city. He had spent more than two years deciphering them. The project to find all of the manuscripts took almost a year itself. The project had gone for three years in total.
"Speed up the process. Zephyr requires that knowledge to bring down Castanet," said the Mayor.
"What do you mean?" asked Ivan, who had no idea why the project was related to Castanet. He had only worked on the study because of sheer curiosity. Looking at his naiveté, the Mayor laughed loudly.
"The latest data you gave to me, it said something about a ritual to summon the Rune Factory's Blue Dragon, doesn't t it? Zephyr needs the Rune Factory's strength to beat that damn Castanet. No, not just Castanet... with that power, we can overpower the entire Harvest Moon World! Even the Harvest Goddess won't be able to stop us! Hahaha! "
Ivan and Dirk could only hold back their emotions after hearing such a terrible confession from their Mayor. They couldn't talk back nor leave the room before they were allowed to. With raging feelings –which they tried to cover–they left The Mayor's Manor. Ivan directly went to see Claire's face and kissed her on her forehead to calm his heart. His family had always been his strength and his only reason to keep working as the head of royal scientists. So much pressure he had received there. There were times when he had to ignore his heart and made dangerous plans, weapons, or poison for the sake of war.
In the evening, Ivan went to his study chamber and re-read his personal research note. Actually he had deciphered the entire manuscript and he could perform the ritual to summon the Blue Dragon anytime.
"But this is wrong..." he muttered to himself. He immediately closed his notebook when someone opened the door. He let out a sigh of relief when he noticed it was just Dirk who entered while holding a cup of cappuccino.
"Ivan," Dirk opened their talks as he sat on the chair next to Ivan. "I think you shouldn't fulfill the Mayor's order. I get a bad feeling about this," he let out exactly how he felt.
Ivan looked at his little brother's serious face and nodded. Though nobody would believe it, he always thought that his brother had a kind of special power. Dirk's premonitions were always right. And there was a time when suddenly the winds became uncontrollable around Dirk when he was in rage.
Ivan turned his chair and stared at his brother's golden eyes. "Actually, I've completed the entire manuscripts, Dirk."
"Really? What is it about?"
"It's about a sacred ritual to summon the Rune Factory's God, the Blue Dragon. Just like the myth we have about the Harvest Goddess summoning, the Blue Dragon could fulfill the wishes of humans. The difference from our goddess is… the Blue Dragon will grant any kind of wish. There's only one wish for one summoning ritual. And as I said, any wish."
Dirk gulped. He could understand why his brother tried to hide this from the Mayor, not to mention the Mayor's ill intentions.
"But as the compensation," said Ivan, "it takes human blood as summoning condition. It requires a pure human soul to be a death sacrifice."
Ivan inhaled a deep breath, and then put his hands on Dirk's small shoulder.
"You know what I mean?"
Dirk nodded, "rituals that sacrifice humans or living beings are generally intended for evil deeds..."
"Exactly. Because of that, this knowledge should not fall to someone like our mayor… no. It shouldn't fall to any soul in this world," Ivan closed his message.
~ 000 ~
Gray took the grilled fish and put it a little further from the fire to prevent overheating.
"So? What happened after that?" Gray asked.
Claire was hugging her knees, directing her gaze to the big fish eye.
"They stole my father's notebook, and killed me..."
Gray's eyes widened as he heard her statement, "killed... you?"
Claire closed her eyes, and then continued the tragic part of her story...
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Ivan's eyes widened to their full capacity, though it only last for a second. He couldn't hold his eyes any longer as the pain and tears bursting out of him. He was petrified at the sight of Rod who threw his little baby's dead body onto the ancient altar in the ruin. He was dragged here by force, along with Dirk.
"Claire... it can't be... Claire!" Ivan cried hysterically as he tried to reach the baby. But he couldn't. His arms were held tightly by the Mayor's bodyguard. His breath became even more uncontrollable when he remembered his wife who was supposed to be with Claire.
"Freya! What happened to Freya ?!" asked Ivan in panic, aimlessly. Looking at the usual composed and intellectual Ivan losing his common sense, Rod smiled sarcastically.
"I don't know. She's not dead… yet, I guess,"
Ivan felt like his heart was being hit with a sledgehammer. He couldn't think about what to do. His body was limp instantly. Dirk, who was still a teenager, couldn't even react. He was petrified, watching his first niece bloodied corpse just laying still. The blood was still flowing from her body. It was so terrible that Dirk's body started to tremble.
"If you don't want Rod to slay your brother's belly, you have to perform the ritual right away!" the Mayor ordered.
Ivan looked at Dirk with his teary eyes. Dirk's eyes looked empty in shock. Obviously, it was too heavy of a scene for a boy in his age.
After a very long pause, Ivan finally agreed to perform the ritual, "….alright. I'm going to do as it. But release Dirk first. I'll need him to help me," said Ivan.
Woken up from his shock, Dirk immediately tried to detach himself from another Mayor's bodyguard. "You can't Ivan! Are you crazy?!" Dirk shouted.
The Mayor let out a wicked laugh, "Maybe your brother really is crazy. After he lost his wife and his baby... how could he stay sane? Hahaha!"
Dirk clenched his hands and teeth, fed up. He didn't know what to do. The helpless feeling filled up his lungs and tightened his chest. The only thing he could do was following his brother's direction to paint a big circle with Claire's blood. That was indeed a heartbreaking scene–for someone in his age, using his beloved niece's blood to perform a ritual which went completely against his morals.
The Mayor had prepared everything needed for the ritual. He and his subordinates actually intended to perform the ritual by themselves, but they couldn't read the spells that were written in ancient letters. Ivan and Dirk were the only people with knowledge to read those letters.
Roughly, Rod put Claire's body on the center of that circle.
Ivan opened his notebook, and then read the spells. Dirk who was standing behind him felt the ground around them shaking for about one minute. After that, from that circle, a huge blue dragon appeared. He was floating right above the circle. He had a long body just like a legged-snake and his big and thick scales were shining in turquoise light-color. Dirk's eyes got hurt for seeing the light. It was beautiful, indeed, but too beautiful to the point that his body were trembling in fear.
The dragon then asked their request.
"Those who calling us, tell us your one wish."
When the Mayor opened his mouth to say that he wanted to borrow Rune Factory's strength for the sake of winning the war, Ivan immediately silence him.
"SHUT UP!" Ivan shouted. "My wish is... can you heal my daughter?" Ivan asked tearfully.
The Dragon looked at the baby for a while, and said, "She was dead. And her blood had been used as an offering to summon us. We can't give it back. But we may lend her our blood ..."
"Please do!" Ivan exclaimed spontaneous. Mayor, Rod, and other officials were surprised to hear the sudden change of plan. They stood up and cursed him.
"Ivan! Are you nuts?! That's not what we paid you for! Cancel your request!" ordered the Mayor, followed by protests from his subordinates.
"Just shut your mouth up, you bastard! If we let Zephyr and the Rune Factory unite, then the whole world will be destroyed!" Ivan shouted furiously.
Disputes between people who had called him apparently made the Blue Dragon get impatient.
"So, what do you want?" asked the dragon once again.
"Revive Claire! Please!" Dirk cried with all his might.
"You! Shitty Boy!" one of the bodyguard who was standing close to Dirk, kicked him directly. The kicked was too strong for his tiny body, so that he was flying and landed near his niece's dead body, just below the dragon.
But Dirk's request was taken by the Blue Dragon as their fixed request. The Dragon was immediately pressed his muzzle onto Claire's forehead, and the bright light was emanating from there.
Then, an earthquake, a much bigger one than before, happened in the ancient ruins. No, not just in the ruins, actually. It happened to the entire town of Zephyr. Ivan spontaneously jumped towards Dirk and Claire, holding them in his arms.
When the earthquake had stopped, Dirk opened his eyes, and found Ivan on the top of him, embracing him and Claire.
Ivan's head was covered in fresh blood. Both his head and back were pressed by a heavy large stone that fell from the ceiling. His breathing was very heavy. Somewhere in his mind, he knew that his brother's life wouldn't last for any longer.
"Dirk... Take care of Claire. While you yourself are still a kid, your big brother only knows how to get you into trouble, huh... I'm sorry, Dirk..." Ivan said it using all the strength left in him.
Dirk knew how hard it was for him just to keep breathing. Ivan's body was not strong at all because he spent most of his time reading books, but he held the big stone on his shoulder. Even his thin arms holding them were trembling…
He might leave Dirk… in no time.
"No… You can't die! Ivaan!" Dirk cried tearfully.
"Go away. I can't take it any longer. You can get out through the exit slit... go..." said Ivan, smiling.
"Ivan... I don't want to..."
"Please, Dirk. You're the only one… I can count on now, my brother..."
Dirk could only hold back his tears. He knew it was the only way out. He and the-now-breathing Claire were small enough to escape, but not his older brother. Dirk bit his lower lip strongly to gather all his courage, and then took the baby away with him.
When he finally managed to escape, another big earthquake occurred. At that time, crying was the only thing he could do. Surely, his brother died along with those wicked politicians, buried inside the ruins.
Holding the baby Claire in his arms, he took his first step and left Zephyr. It would be bad if someone from the government found him and forced him to do the ritual. He decided to forget everything and went to a distance place –far, far away to the west.
Little Dirk struggled to survive together with Claire, and finally they arrived in Konohana: a small, peaceful village, isolated from the bustle of politics. Its remote location was the reason that magic still existed here, as it was protected by the wise hands. Here, Dirk found out about his magic talent and met his best friends, Kana and Hiro. Claire grew up in that village, all the villagers became her family.
When she was 17 years old, the imbalance of the two worlds increased. For the first time, a permanent crack appeared at the peak of Konohana's mountain. A beast with great magical powers made an uproar in the calm village. Actually, this imbalance had been happening for a long time, but it used to be a small hint and nobody ever found any strong evidence about the dimension's crack. When the elders held a plenary to discuss the incident, Dirk finally revealed the story about the Blue Dragon summoning ritual.
Sheng, one of the elders of Konohana immediately contacted Oracle so that she could talk about it to the Harvest Goddess. However, it seemed that the Harvest Goddess wasn't able to do much.
"The Blue Dragon is different from me. He was such an old-fashioned and stiff old man. I managed to talk to him, though. If you want to cut the connection between Harvest Moon and Rune Factory, he said you should return everything that came from Rune Factory," said Harvest Goddess to Oracle.
"Everything?" Oracle raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, including the blood in Claire's body. You know that her blood is not just ordinary blood, right?"
"I know. But does that mean... she'll have to die?" asked Oracle with fear in her face.
"It's not only her. But every living or non-living thing which is associated with Rune Factory in this world will have to disappear. This way there would be no more disturbances between the two worlds. In other words, we have to sacrifice Claire."
"Is there really no other way aside from sacrifice?"
Looking at her friend's troubled expression, the Harvest Goddess smiled, trying to reassure her.
"We're just going to restore everything back to how it should be, Oracle," she said.
"You are right."
"For the good of the child, you should let her go to Zephyr accompanied by the strongest woman in your village," added the Harvest Goddess.
"Only a woman?"
Harvest Goddess smiled gently, "Even if you refuse to do that, the wheels of destiny are going to keep running, Oracle."
~ 000 ~
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The fish that were caught by Gray had turned into bones. He just heard an unbelievable story, but he knew that it was true. Claire's eyes that were staring at him from behind the fire somehow felt cold.
"I'm sorry, Gray," said Claire, followed by teardrops coming out from the corner of her eyes. "I'm sorry..." she sobbed.
Gray didn't react immediately, he just looked at her crying in silence. He was bad at this kind of thing. He was not used to consoling someone. But seeing her crying like that…
"Why sorry?" he asked.
Claire hugged her knees again, hiding her crying face, "because… my existence… caused all these disasters happened... and I... might… make you disappear..." she replied haltingly.
Disappear. Somehow Gray didn't really care about that word. Even though he would disappear, he didn't think there would be any difference to the world around him. He lived without being tied to anyone–except his father and Cliff–but Claire was different. She had a lot of people who loved her in Konohana, and of course her uncle.
"About disappearing... I don't really care," said Gray. He looked straight at Claire's eyes at the other side of the fire. "And also... if it was not because of the dimensional crack, I would have never been here. My mother couldn't have crossed into this world and I would have never been born."
Claire was still trying to stop her tears when Gray continued his talk.
"Maybe it sounded like I don't give a damn about the world, but I guess I have to thank you and your father? I can live, see the world, and find a very good friend... I think it's good enough. Haha, I'm talking like Cliff," Gray said. These were the longest and the sweetest words Gray had ever said since they had first met. Claire wiped her tears and smiled. Just like Gray, this life of hers had given her so many wonderful memories, and she should be grateful about that.
"You're right. I also have to thank my father. Although I have to give my life back in the end, but if I died at that time, I wouldn't be able to meet you, Gray!" Claire was laughing while her eyes still glimmered in tears. Hearing her laughs made Gray's lips form a gentle smile.
After the long story, Claire was lying with a blanket wrapped her body. Her eyes were still wide open. She couldn't sleep.
"Gray..."
"Hm?" Gray replied shortly. He was lying down at the opposite side of the fire.
"After hearing that you're going to disappear, aren't you scared?" asked Claire.
Gray thought for a moment.
"I don't know. I don't want to think about it," said Gray honestly.
Claire raised her right hand up to the sky, and tried to catch the distance stars with her fingers.
"You're amazing. I'm always thinking about it. If I disappear, what will happen to me? How about my memory? Am I going to dissolve just like those monsters, alive? Does it hurt? And suddenly I feel so scared. You know, when I think the magic couldn't even track my whereabouts, I'm so afraid and am not sure about my own existence... It's as if… I'm disappearing…"
Gray was waiting for her to continue, but she just left her melancholy talk hanging. He heaved a sigh.
"Aren't you being too negative? Since you're talking with me right now, of course you're alive and exist here," Gray said. He started to feel very sleepy, and he began to feel that Claire was talking too much. After that Claire didn't say anything, but Gray believed that Claire hadn't fallen asleep yet.
"Are you sleeping?" Gray asked.
"Not yet..."
"Sigh..." Gray lifted his sleeping bag and moved close to Claire, making the girl wonder in confusion. She was getting even more confused when Gray laid beside her and wrapped her cold right hand in his palm.
"Warm?" he asked quickly, without any expression showing on his face.
"Ye, yes ..."
"It means that you're alive and existed here. Just sleep, I'm tired," Gray said with a slight tinge of annoyance.
"So-sorry..." Claire tried to pull her hand off of Gray, but he didn't allow it. He grabbed it even tighter.
"G-Graay…?" the helpless Claire started to feel super nervous, but Gray seemed like he was in a deep sleep already.
She felt that her right hand was becoming warm. No, not only her hand. The warmth was creeping into her heart and made her heart start pounding like crazy. Claire looked at Gray's sleeping face. She never got this close to a man at her age, nor did she ever feel her heart beating like this. But she didn't hate this feeling. Rather, she felt more comfortable. A disturbing feeling, but she liked it. Claire thought that she didn't need to define this feeling. Yeah. Because she knew that soon, she and her feelings would have to disappear.
~ 000 ~
It was still dawn when they set out to another long horseback ride. The brown horse looked refreshed after an overnight break, just like Gray and Claire. As usual Claire hitched a ride behind Gray and held on to his waist hesitantly. The dawn had broken when they finally took in the sight of the Castanet Palace. As they had planned, they just passed through suburban areas of Castanet and had not entered the city in order to avoid any unwanted encounters with monsters. At noon, they were passing through mountains around the Castanet territory.
"Hold on tightly, Claire," Gray said as he was about to jump over a rocky area. Claire tightened her grip on Gray's waist, but still her body was nearly jumped off of the horse's back. They continued riding at high speed and only stopped when the horse looked exhausted at midday. Lucky they found a spring with a lot of grass around there.
While letting their horse to graze and rest, Gray was taking a nap and Claire was soaking her feet in the cool spring water. Claire's attention was attracted by bubbles which appeared from the middle of the spring. Suddenly, it was as if the wind around her stopped blowing. No, not just an 'as if'. The wind actually stopped blowing, as the falling leaves hung on the air, motionless. Gray and the brown horse, too, they stopped moving altogether. Time had stopped.
"Hi, Claire!" a cheery greeting from the spring made Claire immediately shift her gaze from Gray to the spring. Her eyes widened as she saw the unbelievable sight in front of her. There was a long, green-haired women floated above the surface of the spring. She had no legs. Her legs were replaced with a green scaly fish tail. Apart from all the abnormalities, Claire admitted that she was very beautiful. And although it was the first time Claire had saw her, Claire swore that the woman looked exactly as the description she always heard from the myth...
"Harvest... Goddess?" Claire finally managed to say something.
"Yep, I'm the Harvest Goddess!" the woman confirmed her identity. Aware that Claire began to step back, the Harvest Goddess immediately told her to stay and not be afraid.
"I just want to see you before you get to Zephyr… and thank you for your willingness to resolve this matter," said the Harvest Goddess. She swam closer to Claire, then looked closely at her face.
"Prepare yourself. After this, your journey won't be easy... Zephyr is filled by negative auras. They're still trying to put themselves above anything else..." warned the Harvest Goddess. Claire blinked, trying to keep her eyes on the Harvest Goddess, but failed. The Harvest Goddess was too beautiful; too dazzling that Claire could only land her eyes on the rippled water.
"Uhm… If I die before I offer my blood to the Blue Dragon, what will happen?" Claire asked. The Harvest Goddess put her index finger on her chin, posed as if she was thinking hard.
"Hm... I think things will remain as today. The new gates may stop appearing, but the opened gates would continue to let the monsters enter our world. If that happens, it's just about time that mankind would be wiped out from the world," replied the Harvest Goddess.
Claire was stupefied. She once suggested that maybe she could just killed herself somewhere, but the elders stopped her. They said they didn't know what consequences might occur because of that stupid decision. So the elders were right. She had to stay alive… and make sure that she gave her blood back to the Blue Dragon.
"Hey, have you ever thought that there's another way to save yourself and that boy?" asked the Harvest Goddess. Claire frowned and shook her head.
"There's no other way, is there?"
"Indeed, no."
Claire frowned to hear the Goddess' indifferent response. She thought for a moment.
"Hmm... Harvest Goddess, I heard from Oracle that you can talk to the Blue Dragon of Rune Factory?"
"Yes, I can. Something's on your mind?"
Claire took a glance at Gray, and then expressed her wish, "can you talk to him once again and convey this plea of mine to him?"
The Harvest Goddess was aware of her feeling. She smiled and guessed her plea, "you don't want the Blue Dragon to take that mixed-blood-boy's soul, do you?"
Claire smiled. She moved closer to the Harvest Goddess and whispered to the Harvest Goddess.
After that, the Harvest Goddess swam back into the spring, and the time that had stopped was moving back. Claire looked at Gray's peaceful sleeping face. That warm hand of his had saved her life and her heart several times. She wanted him to keep living and smiling forever. She wished that he would get a better life, even though his best friend was no longer there… and Claire wouldn't be there to see that smile.
"Gray, I think I love you..." Claire whispered softly, with a warm smile curved on her lips.
~ 000 ~
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(To be continued)
N/A:
Thank you for reading my fanfic! And thanks for your review at the previous chapter, Mnemah-san and Fre! As always, I want to thank Mnemah-san for helping me fixed my mistakes so you can read this story in a lot better form :)
Oops, Fre, I'm sorry I use the wrong word for it. I mean I'm going to finish this story, of course xD
There's still three chapter ahead, and I hope you enjoy this chapter as well...
