Mother Nature intensified tenfold with the banishment of the Witch from Stardew Valley. The town square was already on the verge of flooding and the winds blew rain and tree debris in all directions. The only meager source of solace was...nowhere. It left the Wizard, Sam, Sebastian, Abigail, and Penny beyond drenched as they observed Faye still mindlessly manipulating everything around her, eerily mute.
"Seriously? How would that work?" Abigail asked the Wizard in disbelief. He held up his prepared mixture: a gas in a light blue hue contained in a phial.
"All of you, including Faye, need to breathe this in at the same time," he answered simply, "I assume we all know how to subdue young Faye for this?" The four young adults looked at each other, and a quick, silent understanding passed through all of them.
"You won't be coming with us though?" Sebastian asked him. The Wizard shook his head.
"I must stand attentive to your bodies in case I must forcefully bring you all out of Faye's mind realm," he replied shortly.
"Are we still impervious right now?" Penny asked curiously. The Wizard nodded.
"Yes. We got rid of the Witch as quick as I expected. Though imperviousness does not seem to be all that necessary in one's mind," he went on thoughtfully, "Apart from being able to enter her mind, there's not much more I can do to influence what you must do."
In no time at all, atop the roof of Pierre's store, Faye had her senses knocked out of her as Sam tackled her from behind. Disoriented, she struggled to fight back against his hold with her newfound strength, only to be further subdued with a punch to the head from Sebastian. With her temporarily knocked out, they brought her down to the yard beside Alex's house, where Penny, Abigail, and the Wizard waited against a tree with a considerable lengths of rope.
"That was TOO surprisingly easy," Sam noted with a blank stare as the two girls quickly bound Faye's wrists and ankles while she lay still on the ground. The wind and rain around them dulled from typhoon-esque to mere thunderstorm.
"The real torment is in her mind," the Wizard muttered, "Now, I trust you all will keep your wits about you. Kindly get in position…"
"If something happens to us in there…" Penny trailed off quietly, Fearfully, Abigail grabbed her arm.
"Don't think that way, Penny. We can do this," she urged. The Wizard watched her hesitatingly, unsure whether or not to talk to her as he reached for the phial in his robes, eventually deciding against it.
And with the five of them lying star-pronged on the ground, the Wizard dispersed the light gas over them. A single breath, and all five bodies lay still.
The next moment that Sam, Sebastian, Abigail, and Penny came to, there was no trace of Stardew Valley at all. Instead, they found themselves in craggy plains reminiscent of once-glorious lowlands poisoned by the same unhealthy mist that had just earlier wafted through Stardew Valley. Sparse trees and struggling flowerbeds dotted the land as well as what seemed like miscellaneous trash.
All of this was punctuated by swirling green skies with gray clouds that flashed purple lightning in the current dry storm. As boundless as the environment seemed, the lightning cracked in such a manner as to give this dimension its own boxed-in feel.
"This...is Faye's mind?" Sebastian gulped as they treaded slowly, looking around wildly, "It's like calm chaos in here." Faint screams echoed through the air around them, sending chills down their spines.
"You hear all that?" Sam asked quietly, "It sounded like they were coming from the top of this mountain."
"It doesn't seem like there's much out there to check," Abigail squinted into the valley distance, "Let's get going."
"Makes you wonder how much you really knew her, huh?" Sebastian agreed as he eyed a young girl's ripped and bloody lace dress on the barren soil. Not far away were some bloody daggers and frayed rope.
Penny, meanwhile just followed silently as she found a half-buried photo frame along the mountain trail. Curiously, she reached for it and wiped dirt off the scratched glass. As soon as it cleared, she let out a surprised gasp.
"Something the matter, Penny?" Sam turned to face her. She cradled her hand gingerly as gashes bled profusely.
"No big deal," she muttered as she fumbled to rip a piece of her shirt for a bandage, her hand shaking violently. The other three ran over in concern as Sam rushed to fix up her new wounds. "I found that, and the glass slashed me."
A lovely family photo, now spotted with scarlet and dirt, came to, depicting who they saw to be childhood Faye surrounded by a boy close to her age with black hair and green eyes as well as a regal-looking mother and a strong, dependable father the young boy represented. All of them were smiling happily amidst the bright setting of the picture, which contrasted with the broken glass and a wilted rose that lay nearby.
"This is heartbreaking. We have to find her now," Abigail murmured as Penny recovered, and they all ran as fast as they could up the hill. On the way up, a silhouette formed.
"Faye? Faye!" Sam hollered after it. As they struggled to reach its position, the silhouette turned as if to come to them before falling out of sight as if something had dragged it back. Multiple shrieks followed.
"Be careful. We don't know how everything behaves in here," Sebastian warned him as they finally reached the top.
The lightning storm intensified immediately as they overlooked a vast volcano crater that smoked weakly. Surprisingly enough, it was not hot.
"Faye!" Penny cried as she dashed away from the others. They followed in hot pursuit until Penny knelt at the rocky edge and reached down with her bandaged hand.
A little below, Faye held on for dear life as she hovered over the murky dark vortex that filled the volcano crater. Within it swirled streaks of red and purple as well as discarded weapons, broken toys, tattered storybooks, and frayed rope and chain links. The center was something unseen, yet something that could potentially lead into dark abyss beyond the mindset.
"Penny...You guys," Faye smiled weakly, her face streaked in blood and dirt as she kept her grip firm, "Why are you here?"
"We came to help you get rid of all this evil," Sam called down to her as he, too, reached out to her, "Just grab our hands. We'll get you out of there."
"These are all my own issues. You should have left me be," Faye murmured as she peered towards the volcano abyss, "I'm sorry you had to be dragged into all this."
"Don't be stupid. We're your friends," Sebastian scoffed at her while Abigail scrambled around to pick up pieces of rope scattered around nearby, "Now hurry up so you can tell us what to do."
Wordlessly, Faye looked up and mustered enough strength to swing upwards. Both Penny and Sam made a grab for her wrist when the volcano trembled violently.
Faye yelped fearfully as Sam's and Penny's grips slipped. Her ankle was tugged violently by what turned out to be a ragged and wasted form of herself, puppeteered by the dark silhouette of Morris where the center of the abyss drained.
At the same time, three more figures erupted from the vortex and effectively blocked Sam, Sebastian, Abigail, and Penny from Faye. As they began forming, the four of them stepped back warily.
One formed morphed into a version of Faye with heavily accented curves and features more than the real Faye would ever allow herself to show. Clad in a tight black halter dress, knee-high boots, and fingerless gloves, they contrasted amazingly with her vibrantly bouncy and full maroon hair and her flashing blue eyes. A dagger rested at her hip whilst the garter belt holster of a pistol teased dangerously upon her thigh.
The next transformed into whom they guessed as teenage Faye in a traveling cloak that hid the rest of her outfit made for agile combat. The sheathes of knives within the long green cloak dulled the dangerous silver glints of all of her weapons. Her face was covered by the hood, yet the pale pink lips were curled into a taunting smirk.
And finally, the last figure became that of the little girl in the family photo, staring at the four of them with wide, curious blue eyes, her still-ginger hair tied back in an elaborate ponytail atop her head. She clutched a beaten teddy bear to her chest.
"The Wizard never told us anything about multiple forms," Abigail groaned as she unsheathed her own sword against the Cloaked Faye uncertainly. "Can we do this?"
"Or make it easier on yourself and don't so so at all," Cloaked Faye answered quietly. With a flourish quicker than the blink of an eye, she flung one of the knives from within her cloak, and it sliced Abigail's hair straight across.
Now sporting purple shoulder-length hair, Abigail's eyes widened. "You did NOT have to do that."
She lunged at Cloaked Faye, and they entangled themselves in an all-out blade spat. Sebastian and Sam started towards them until a dagger boomeranged in front of them, effectively stopping them in their tracks.
"And where do you think you're going?"
The Sultry Faye walked towards them, power in every sashaying step as she caught the dagger that returned to her. "Abi can take care of herself. But as for you two...Care to take on a real woman?"
"You're not real at all," Sebastian shot at her, "You're just lodged here in someone's mind."
"Oh Sebastian, you would know about being in one's head," the Sultry Faye hissed, "Just as much as Sam would know about being dependable for loved ones…"
"Don't drag my family into this," Sam retorted as he and Sebastian drew their weapons, "You wanna go?"
No further words were needed as the Sultry Faye quickly drew her pistol and fired a shot, deflecting a parry from Sam as well as a shot from Sebastian's own pistol with her dagger. They staggered back in surprise as she grinned wickedly ready at them.
Penny watched them from afar helplessly as she was without a weapon and with a throbbing, still-bleeding hand. She looked frantically for anything to distract the hostile Fayes until she felt a slight tug at her skirt. Alarmed, she looked down and saw the youngest form of Faye staring back at her with the most painstruck eyes she has ever seen from a child. She could see faint blood stains all over the lovely white dress where this Faye walked and stood in awkward positions.
"You have to help us," she whispered pleadingly, "We can't fight back…"
Lo and behold, puppet strings from Morris's marionette control lashed themselves all over Baby Faye, and she cried out meekly as she staggered to the floor. As such, for all her new welts, she struggled to stand up. Penny, out of pity, engulfed little Faye in her arms.
"You don't deserve this," she whispered. In a flash, she was whipped at lightning speed. Is this what Faye had gone through prior to arriving at Stardew Valley?
"You have no business protecting that little urchin," Morris snarled darkly, a monstrous tone etched into his otherwise annoying voice, "Do what's best for yourself and leave her be, intruder."
Penny hugged Baby Faye close as she received the oncoming whiplashes against her back, her eyes narrowing. "Make me."
All the while, the real Faye fought with all her strength against the beaten, battered, and bloodthirsty version of herself to tighten her grip on the rocky cliff. She was getting tired, having had dealt with this for who-knows-how-long now.
"These people know us now," hissed the raggedy Faye excitedly, "We can't let them live now, can we?"
Her two bony hands gripped Faye's ankle in a death grip and yanked. She gripped onto an outlying vine just as her grip on the cliff slipped. Pushing through her fatigue, she used her free foot to kick against the fingers dragging her down. A temporary feeling of relief rushed through her as the anguished yelps of pain resounded and the grip loosened.
"Says you."
Faye scrambled as fast as she could, albeit clumsily, to get onto the cliff overlooking the dark vortex. Things had been going relatively well for her until whatever it was that inhabited the Stardrops got under her skin. It was going to be another hell of a fight, but seeing her friends there and willing to help her fed her with a newfound strength she thought she had all but lost.
A/N: I know it's taken me a while, but ARGH. Life and stuff keep giving me writer's block. So sorry! If anything though, this story is close to ending nyehe Hope you like! :)
