Yes, I am still alive. I have been this whole time. I've just been too lazy to update... -.- Except for the last three weeks; I was on vacation. So then I had an excuse! But I don't now, and school's starting on Tuesday, so I decided I might as well get this chapter up before then. :)

Anyways, hopefully you guys'll forgive me for disappearing off the face of the earth. :3 I'll try to be way more active with my stories.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon or any of its characters.

The Clock Strikes

Vaughn and I stood outside Mirabelle's house, hand-in-hand. We had told her we wanted to go check out the islands, and luckily she had to stay and man the store instead of going with us, and Julia needed to take care of Aileen.

I started walking towards the boat dock and Vaughn quickly started walking alongside. Natalie was outside her house raking leaves, and I could hear muttering under her breath. Charlie and Eliza were playing around in front of Chen's Shop, throwing leaves up in the air and building piles to jump into. I smiled at them, and continued on past the local Diner and Pierre's house. Glancing inside the window, I could see the short blonde man busy at work in his kitchen.

When we reached the boat dock, Vaughn and I clambered inside.

"Where to?" Kirk, the boatman, asked.

"Mystic Islands, please," I said, gripping the edge of my seat.

Kirk nodded, and turned on the engine. It roared to life, and the three of us sailed away from Verdure Island. We passed by Volcano Island, a small island that was home to, of course, a volcano with a mine inside of it. Said volcano was calmly spewing lava, as Mirabelle had told me it always did. Kirk turned at the barren island, and continued left. I could see two islands grouped closely together and connected by a bridge in the near distance.

It didn't take long to reach the islands. After steering around some large rocks, Kirk landed us on the Mystic Islands dock. Vaughn and I climbed out, telling Kirk to come back for us in about an hour. Even though I knew he wouldn't need to.

The boatman nodded and sailed off, heading back to Verdure Island.

Vaughn and I walked up the dock towards the bridge connected the two islands, which was attached to the dock. Looking both ways, I saw a spring and Church on one island, and a mansion on the other. Mirabelle had explained the one with the spring and Church was named Harvest Goddess Island, and the one with the mansion was called Witch Princess Island, as people claimed a witch lived in the mansion. But hardly anyone ever saw her, and people were apparently too afraid to go visiting.

Taking in a deep breath, Vaughn and I started walking towards Witch Princess Island. The gentle tapping off our boots against the wood and the sudden calmness around us made the walk seem all the more longer.

And then, before I really even realized it, we were standing in front of the mansion's doorway. Reaching out a hand to knock, I felt as if I was back at Mirabelle's just last night. It seemed so long ago...

My fist tapped the door lightly, but hard enough for it to be heard. I tapped again, this time a bit louder.

A few seconds later, something could be heard shuffling around inside. Then footsteps. A slit suddenly appeared in the doorway, and behind it pinkish-red eyes.

"Oh, it's you Chelsea," a voice said. It sounded a little bored. The slit disappeared and the door swung open, revealing Witch Princess. "I knew you'd show up here soon. And Vaughn's with you, of course."

I nodded. "Yeah, Witch Princess," I said. "Can we talk?"

"Sure," Witch Princess said, opening the door wide to let us in. "I've got nothing else important to do."

Vaughn and I stepped over the threshold and into Witch Princess's house. Closing the door behind her, she swept past us to the middle of the room, where there was a giant teddy bear sitting on a fancy purple carpet.

"So," the witch began, leaning on the giant bear. "What do you want?"

"To turn back time," I said flatly. Why be blunt? There's no point.

Witch Princess raised an eyebrow at me. "You want to turn back time?" she questioned, standing up straighter.

I nodded again.

"Why?"

"Because of all the stuff that's been happening to me since Winter," I said. "I want to get rid of it all. Like it was just a bad dream."

"Time is a very serious and complex subject," Witch Princess said, all the boredom in her voice disappearing. "Even the tiniest mistake can mess up the entire world!"

"Yeah, I know," I said.

"Do you?"

The curly blonde turned on her heel and walked towards the large bookcase that lined the whole back wall of her house. After searching for a moment, she pulled out a book.

"I've done so much as turn time back a few minutes," she continued. "Never whole seasons! And three, at that!"

"Can you at least try?" I begged. "Please?"

The witch sighed. "There's no trial-and-error in the subject of time," she explained. "You either do it right the first time, or everything gets messed up with almost no chance of reversing it. Besides, things happen for a reason."

I crossed my arms and frowned. "Just do it." I said. "Please, please, please, please?" I uncrossed my arms and put them at my sides.

Witch Princess pursed her lips together. She opened the book she had been holding and scanned through it, looking for something. A few moments later, I decided she must have found it as she was no longer skimming through pages but reading one and muttering something.

"Fine," she said after what seemed like forever. "But if anything goes wrong I'm placing all the blame on you."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever!" I said, with a wave of my hand.

"When I turn back time, no one will remember anything,"

"Wait! Can you make sure to keep my, Vaughn, Vaughn's brother Jonathon, and my sister Jill's memories intact?" I asked.

The Princess frowned. "I'll try." She said, nodding. She spread her feet apart and held the book in front of her, balancing it on one hand.

I reached for Vaughn's hand, and he grabbed it, giving it a reassuring squeeze. Closing my eyes and feeling extremely cliché, Witch Princess began reciting what was in the book. Vaughn's hand remained tightly closed around mine, and I took in deep breaths.

This is it, I thought. Soon all of this will be a memory that never happened...

The next thing I knew, it was silent. Completely and utterly silent, like it had been on the bridge outside. Except there had been the silent sound of wind and water and leaves outside. Now there was nothing. And then...

There was noise again.

And not just any noise. Talking. People around us were talking. I recognized the voices. Hardly believing it, I opened my eyes and found myself sitting on Mirabelle's couch on Sunny Island, covered in a thick wool blanket beside Vaughn, listening to Mirabelle talk to Jonathon.

I have a few ideas for some songfics. I'll probably be using songs by Paramore (I've gone into a recent obsession with them). I must get myself known to the new users! Haha, yeah. ^o^