Stardew Valley Fanfiction:
'The Farmer Witch'
Chapter 42:
Sebastian's POV:
Tired of being gawked at, and overwhelmed by all that he'd just learned, and angry and confused Sebastian took off towards Cindersap Forest.
He felt betrayed. He'd been told all his life that his father had abandoned him and his mother after learning she was pregnant. He was told that the man was a deadbeat and a loser and not worth trying to find. He'd hated him. Hated his own father for not wanting him. Hated this nameless, faceless idea of a man for not thinking he was good enough to love.
Sebastian had never really cried before. He'd never been that type of an emotional person. But it was obvious, standing beside Damon as the man spoke with Lewis, that his own father had had no idea that he existed at all. One of the defining beliefs in his life, that his father abandoned him and his mother, it was all a lie. And now, somehow, Sebastian had to wrap his head around accepting that and accepting that it was his mother that had lied to him all along.
He ran until he reached the trees. Maybe he would just keep running until he ran straight into Cindersap lake and drowned himself. It seemed like just as good an idea as anything else right now. He didn't even hear the man calling after him until he broke down, kneeling on the forest floor and letting the angry tears fall.
Damon wasn't far behind him. The warlock didn't even stop to catch his breath as he reached Sebastian. He just flung his arms around the young man, joining him on the ground.
Sebastian's first reaction was to push him away, but he didn't have the strength of will to even try that. Damon was holding him tightly, insistently, and Sebastian soon found himself forced into a hug with his father. He sobbed angrily as he rested his head on the man's shoulder. He couldn't bring himself to words yet. But Damon didn't seem to be able to speak either; he just held Sebastian and refused to let him go.
Sebastian had always thought about how things would go if he ever did meet with his biological father. In his imaginary scenarios, he would always be calm and collected, never showing weakness or vulnerability. He'd want the man to think of him as successful and mature. He'd want his father to know that he hadn't needed him. That he'd never needed him in order to make it in life. This felt like the opposite of that – crying pathetically into this man's shoulder, shaking and at a loss for words.
Damon's eventual words only made the symptoms worse. Worse because they were the words he'd always secretly wanted to hear from the man who was his father. "I'm so sorry Sebastian. I'm so sorry." The warlock's voice was shaky too. Sebastian knew Damon was probably in just as much shock as he was. The man had just been told he had a son. A twenty-one year old son. Twenty-one years they'd missed together. Twenty-one years stolen from them both. "I had no idea… I never would have left if I'd known."
Sebastian felt the man squeeze him tighter. He knelt there like a small child, letting his father comfort him through unimaginable pain. All along he'd had someone out there who might want him. All these years stuck in a house full of people he had grown to despise, just to learn now that he might have had other options.
He'd been a little jealous of Alice in truth. Damon wasn't her biological father, but he treated the farmer so well, like she was his own. He was dependable and understanding and protective of her. He was interesting and smart and kind. Sebastian recalled thinking about his own step-father and wishing that he could have had someone like Damon instead.
He supposed he sort of got his wish in the end.
"It's going to be alright." Damon urged. "I'm going to make this alright somehow, I swear." They both knew that nothing could make this situation any better, but for some reason his words had a calming effect on the younger man anyway. Sebastian wasn't used to being comforted by anyone but Alice. He wasn't exactly the type to accept comforting. But somehow his father's words had him relaxing, pulling back to wipe the humiliating tears away. He still wasn't keen on having his father thinking of him as some weak, pathetic child.
Damon let him go slowly, wiping his own tears away. It was clearly Sebastian's turn to say something. "Sorry." He couldn't think of much else to say. He wasn't great with words apparently; getting to know Alice had taught him that.
Damon shook his head, smiling at he boy. "You have nothing to be sorry about. If I hadn't cut ties with everyone in town, this wouldn't have happened."
Sebastian shrugged. "I get it. If Alice dumped me, I'd probably get the hell out of this place too." She was pretty much the only reason he had stuck around after his big fight with Demetrius as it was.
Damon forced an awkward smile. "You two are pretty serious then?"
Sebastian turned red and looked down. He had forgotten momentarily that Damon was still a father-figure for Alice too. Talking about his 'daughter' like that was probably weird. He had tried to tell Damon back at the festival that things were pretty serious between them. He had tried to ask Damon for his blessing… but they'd been interrupted by the Mayor.
The warlock stood up, offering a hand to Sebastian for assistance which he took. Damon pulled his son up to his feet. "Do you… want to head back?" Damon asked.
Sebastian shook his head. "No. Not really. Do you?" He looked up at the man, noting for the first time all the similarities they shared. They kind of had the same nose, a similar facial structure, and of course the hair. Sebastian had to remind himself that he dyed his hair to keep it dark though. It was the best kept secret in Pelican Town. He'd done it for so many years now that there were probably very few residents that remembered he shared his mother's red hair naturally.
He wasn't even sure if Alice knew that. But he hated his red hair, so he wasn't in any rush to tell her.
Damon rubbed his neck. "Not really… but I'd go back if you wanted to."
Sebastian could tell he meant that sincerely. He smiled. It was small and short-lived, but it was a genuine smile.
They ended up walking through the woods and talking. Damon asked Sebastian about when his birthday was, what types of foods he liked, what things he disliked. Things he felt a dad should know. Sebastian asked Damon about Pelican Town before he'd left, how he'd learned magic, and where their magical lineage came from.
The warlock explained that his own father was, in fact, a deadbeat. He'd never known him, but he knew that the man had partial magical blood in him. His mother had too. She had lived in a small farming town somewhere else in the valley, but she didn't practice magic much at all. She was a drunk who let the farmland turn to ruin. Damon had run away when he was pretty young, ending up on the Old Farmer's land. Alice's grandfather had taken him in and in exchange Damon had worked as a farm hand for the man. Then he'd met Rasmodius and started to learn the science of magic.
They talked and talked, just like they usually did on the phone. It was easy and natural talking with Damon for some reason. Sebastian wasn't sure if it was because they were secretly related or just very compatible people. They ended up walking through the forest for hours, just talking. Eventually Damon lead the way to his old Master's tower.
He knocked, calling out for Rasmodius, but received no answer. The wizard was still likely at the festival, overseeing the maze that he and Linus had set up at the north end of town. Damon pushed the wooden door open, inviting himself inside. "He won't mind as long as we don't touch things too much." He informed Sebastian, holding the door open for his son.
Sebastian stepped inside the infamous wizard's tower. Ever since he was a child, he remembered his mother warning him, Sam, and Abigail never to go near it. He'd been told how dangerous magic was and how people who used it were 'crafty'. Maybe that's why when he got older and more rebellious, he'd gotten into fantasy games and comics so much. In his early teen years, anything he'd been told to avoid he would dive head-first into instead; and magic had been one of those things his mother had always tried to keep out of the house. Looking back on it now, it was pretty clear that his mother had an issue with magic.
Sebastian watched as his father walked to the back of the tower, examining the old spell books that lined the shelves there. "Ah, I remember reading these. I would always come down here and beg Master to let me read from his collection. I'd wait outside his tower until he gave in and let me pick a new book to read." He turned to Sebastian with a grin. "I built those wooden steps out front you know. So I'd have a place to sit and wait~" He chuckled.
Sebastian found himself laughing softly too.
"I missed this place." Damon said, looking around at the stone walls that stretched up into the sky. "I always dreamed of making my own tower one day." He sighed. "But the city wouldn't exactly be very welcoming of that, I imagine."
"What about on the farm? Alice doesn't really even use the acres to the southwest. They're just grass lands right now that the animals wander around in sometimes." Sebastian took a seat at the large wooden table in the corner.
Damon shook his head, coming to sit beside Sebastian at the table. "I don't want to waste her time and space on me. She's doing so well out here, I'd only be a hinderance to her work."
Sebastian protested immediately. "You have no idea how badly she misses you. Nothing would make her happier than having you live nearby… You should be here." He wasn't just speaking on behalf of Alice anymore. Maybe it wasn't fair to ask, but… he wanted his father around. He couldn't leave Alice. Going to the city to be with Damon wasn't an option for him anymore. But he couldn't just watch Damon return home to Zuzu after all of this. "I know that's selfish… but what if you stayed?" He looked at Damon hopefully. "You wouldn't have to even go into town. You wouldn't have to leave your tower! Alice says you don't go out much anyway."
Damon looked a bit embarrassed at that. Maybe he didn't want his son thinking he was a recluse. Except, well, he WAS a recluse. "Well, I don't but… I'll think about it, okay?" He didn't want to be a bother to Alice, and he wasn't fond of the idea of moving back to Pelican Town…. But he had a son now… He owed it to Sebastian to be around. He'd just have to find a way to make it work.
They talked for a while longer and into the early morning. When Rasmodius returned to his tower, he found the two men slumped over at his table, sleeping. He merely rolled his eyes and let the two pitiful men rest their heads for a few more hours. He'd kick them out in the morning.
Extra long chapter to catch the boy's up to current date! They'll be fine though. Let them sleep it off. - Mystical Jelly
