The Second chapter for those who are reading it. And I'm sorry it's taking so long. But I'm only a teenager and homework is a killer in the second year of high school. So Enjoy this new placement of my Harvest Moon story.

Chapter 2: The First Talk

"Alright; all I have to do is ask her and then go on my way. Simple as that, right," Alex asked Joe hopefully. He was still very uneasy about going up to Gwen; he tried everything to avoid having to do that. But a promise was a promise…beside, it was Thursday AND he had little farm work to do. The odds were completely against him. Luckily, if there were two people who got up earlier than Gwen, it was Joe and Kurt, Alex's two best friends. Many of the townsfolk found it funny; Joe and Kurt were complete opposites in all sorts of ways. How Alex managed to befriend out-going Joe and aloof Kurt was beyond them. But the two carpenter apprentices got along well with the city farmer and he vice versa. They knew Gwen better than Alex, so he thought it would be best to ask them what he should do. Joe's advice was 'keep your horse nearby in case she wants to kill you'. Kurt's was 'pray to the Goddess for a miracle'. Neither sounded the least bit good.

Joe didn't want to put down Alex's hopefulness, but he deserved to be told the hurtful truth. "I don't think she's let you off that easily. The last time I asked her about Bob and she didn't let me off until I told her every single reason I asked. Just imagine how it's going to be when you ask her about Snowball."

Kurt took a small log and cut it in half. "Have you ever thought about how you're going to tell her?"

Alex looked at him blankly. "What do you mean?"

The quiet carpenter just focused on cutting more wood as he continued to talk. "I mean, you have a tendency to mumble when you're around Gwen and you sometimes don't get straight to the point. Not to mention you do that finger thing when you get nervous."

Joe laughed hysterically. "Oh yeah, that little finger thing," he said light-heartedly as he pushed two of his pointer fingers together, looking at the ground as though he was shy. He looked up to a slightly discouraged Alex and a VERY aggravated Kurt, who didn't seem the least bit pleased about this kind of teasing. "I'm not trying to make fun of you, Alex! It's just that you remind me of that little girl that always plays with her fingers in that ninja anime we watch at night," Joe quickly said, trying to encourage his friend.

It didn't work as well as he would've hoped. Alex looked up from his feet and sighed. "Yes, Joe, that's exactly what every guy wants to hear from their friends. That they remind them of a girl; Very encouraging," Alex remarked sarcastically. The sound of a chuckle suddenly came. And it was from the most unexpected person. Alex, along with a mouth opened Joe, looked at Kurt in bewilderment.

"Holy crap, my brother's laughing? Is it the end of the world already," Joe asked Alex in amazement.

Kurt looked up at the two with a very small smile. "It's not that; it's just that he sounded a lot like Gwen for a moment." His smiled went away and he went back to work. "That being said, you would be twice the man you are now if you were half as manly as Gwen."

"And he said that I'm brutally honest," Joe whispered to Alex.

Alex smiled; he knew the two brothers were just like that. He had nothing against them. "Okay, now that I have confidence, I will go meet the manly girl, Gwen," Alex said heroically, doing the most stupid Superman pose in history. Joe fell on the ground and rolled on the floor laughing. Kurt chuckled a little more under his breath.

"So I'm manly, huh," Came a growl.

"And now my confidence just flew out the window." Alex turned around sheepishly at Gwen, who was holding a rather large log over her shoulders. And the look on her face reminded him of the time he saw a hawk swoop down and capture a defenseless mouse. "Um, hey Gwen; didn't know you were behind me. We were just joking around with each other, that's all." Alex was about to do the little finger thing, but quickly stopped himself. "By the way, you said that Snowball is an endangered species, right?"

"Yeah, what about it," She asked him suspiciously.

"Well, um, you see…I've heard about a lot of lands not allowed to be constructed on because of the endangered animals around there…So why not make them aware of Snowball?"

"YOU WANT TO DO WHAT!?" Gwen stomped her feet toward Alex and met him very close in the face. Alex felt very intimidated under her glare. "So what you're saying is you want to exploit Snowball just to stop the construction here!?"

Alex's eyes looked at Gwen in sadness. It was one thing to get angry about using Snowball as an idea. He understood how she might feel about it. But to say that he wanted exploit the poor little guy. "No, I would never dream about doing that to any animal not matter how small. Everything deserves a chance to live." Alex looked to the ground and continued. "I know you hate my guts, but listen to me for a second." Gwen's silence was enough of an invitation for him. "If those people decide to construct on this land, then Snowball really will be in danger. But if we can show that she lives here, then they won't have a choice but to cancel the construction. Sugar Village, Snowball, and the rest of her friends will be able to stay here, being protected by each other……But I guess it just a long shot in the dark, thinking you would let me show Snowball's existence in Sugar Village. I mean, you hate me." He turned to walk but paused next to Gwen. "….Since you don't want me to, I'll find another way that doesn't involve Snowball. I'm sorry I bothered you." Alex ran off out of the place. He heard a few voices calling him back, but he just kept running. What he thinking; the day Gwen would work alongside him was the day the Harvest Moon turned blue. He didn't realize where he was running; all he knew was he wanted to get there as fast as he could…

Alex laid on the floor of the princess of a bedroom, keeping his eyes closed to get himself relaxed. Dia closed a book she had been reading for a while and looked at Alex. "So that's what went on; no wonder you looked so offended." Dia was a good friend of Alex that he always went to unconsciously for advice. Sure, it took her a while to open up to Alex, but the two became inseparable friends after that. Dia and Alex were like a brother and sister; they looked out for each other. She looked at him and continued to talk. "But you shouldn't have gone off like that; you have to be more assertive."

Alex sat up and pointed at himself. "Dia, do I look assertive in any sort of way?"

"……No, not really," She told Alex after looking at him up and down. "You look too mellow and kind of submissive."

"No wonder she picks on me."

"…I don't think that's the reason she gives you a hard time." Dia ignored Alex's confused expression. "But you have to give it a second shot, Alex. You might actually get her to change her mind somehow."

"But she hates me."

"She doesn't hate you; you're just assuming that."

"It's really hard NOT to assume it."

Dia smiled a little at Alex. "Even so, try again; you can't give up so easily. It'll make you seem weak in front of other girls. They all like a strong, independent man, who's stubborn and charismatic."

"Yeah, yeah. I came here for plan advice, not dating advice." Alex got from the floor. "I can't focus on that kind of thing now anyway. I want to find a way to save Sugar Village."

Dia pretended to read until Alex was outside, riding the horse. She sighed and shook her head. "And that's why she's giving you a hard time…"

Gwen looked out her window for the third time in a row. No; he still was gone.

"You were hard on him, Gwen." Woody, her grandfather, took some more ores that Alex had sent that same day before she had woken up. "He's not a bad person; you should've been at the bar with me. Everytime Tom would talk about him; I swear his eyes lit up. That boy was the very reason he worked hard on the farm."
Gwen scowled a bit at Woody. "What kind of grandson doesn't visit his grandfather in 10 years and not even show up with his family to his funeral? Oh yeah, I can see how special he is."

"Gwen, maybe he had a reason for not being there. I've seen him personally; Alex wouldn't do anything without a good enough motive." He placed some of the rare ore on the table and continued to talk absentmindedly. "He probably wants to amend for not showing up at the funeral by finding ways to keep this village from being turned into a theme park…and to be honest; he gave some really good points about Snowball."

"Not you too, Grandpa," Gwen groaned.

"I know how important Snowball is to you, Gwen, but, well let's face it, Alex is right. If we don't find a way to save our homeland, Snowball won't have a home anymore." Woody watched Gwen stomp toward the door. "Now where do you think you're going in the middle of the night?"
"I left something at Bob's. I'll be right back."

Woody continued to organize the ores as Gwen shut the door behind her. "That's the worst lie she came up with. She didn't even go to the Brownie Ranch today." Woody laughed. "That girl is so stubborn…"

Gwen looked to her side to see if anyone was looking. Nope; everyone was mostly asleep right now. She took a quick turn around the corner and followed the path to Tom's farm. She just couldn't wrap her head around the idea that someone that lived from the city could run a farm just like Tom did. Especially not someone as quiet and meek as Alex. Jack? Sure, the oldest grandson was already good with farmland from what she heard. Chris? Maybe; he's been learning about agriculture and plants a lot since he was little. Alex? HECK NO. He had no experience, much less idea, about running a farm at all. The first time he came, he got so lost that he ended up sleeping in the Brownie farm's pasture with the horses and cows. Then when he did part time for Bob, he ended up riding one of the cows as if it was a horse. What kind of person rides a cow anyway? The other grandsons could've been great farmers around here, but NO. Only the middle child didn't have a job in the farming business, unlike his more successful farming brothers. All of the others were outgoing, well-known, and had a natural talent as farmers. But Alex, oh man, Alex, is the oddest out of all his family. When it comes to a farming talent, he scores a 0. Gwen walked into the farm and saw how it looked today. The barn and chicken coop looked so much better than his house. Maybe he was putting more thought about his future animals before his own well being…this guy was going to die before her old man if he kept neglecting himself like this. It made her frown as she looked at the well kept barn so she just went to the door. She knocked hard on his door.

No one answered.

She knocked a little harder.

Still no answer.

"How hard do I have to knock before he wakes up!? That lazy, no good-" Gwen stopped mid-sentence when Alex did open the door.……Shirtless……..with a pair of blue boxers……..in other words, he was half naked.

Alex tried to focus at Gwen, but he was still half asleep. She kind of still looked like a blurry blob at the moment. "Gwen, why are you here? It's 10 o'clock at night." He noticed that Gwen was avoiding to look at him. "What's wrong; did Woody want to ask me about something?"

"……clothes," Gwen mumbled, trying to hint the half-asleep farmer.

He didn't get it. "He wants to ask me about clothes?"

Gwen's face continued to get a little red. "Put. Clothes. On."

Alex looked down and his face slowly turned red. He quickly slammed the door. Then he thought about what he did. "Wait there; I'll be out in a bit!" He quickly grabbed a pair of sweatpants and slipped them on. Alex had wondered for a moment if he should grab a shirt while he was at it. Then he concluded he didn't need it; it was too hot to be wearing one anyway. He opened the door again, but saw Gwen's back turned on him. "Um, it's okay, I have clothes on," He told her as a huge sweatdrop came down his head.

Gwen peeked at him from the side. "Any special reason you don't have a shirt on?"

"It's too hot to be wearing one."

"…Hey listen, remember what you said about Snowball? I-I want to try it." Gwen finally met his gaze and suddenly felt very intimidated as he looked at her intensely, almost questioningly. Then, to her surprise, he narrowed his eyes

"No."

That caught Gwen off guard on so many different levels. "What's with the sudden change of heart?"

His sea green eyes were very serious. "You're still not sure about it Gwen. And when you get connected to animals, they can feel that too. Snowball is your animal, in a sense. If you feel uncertain and scared, she won't want to go out in the open with me around. I'm not saying I don't appreciate the offer. But I am saying you should sort out what you really feel about this. Not because someone tells you this is the right thing to do, but because you want to do this yourself." He gazed out to the exit of his farm. "It's really late right now. I'll walk you home."

"No, you don't have to do that," Gwen answered hastily.

"I can't just leave you to walk home alone. And I'm not taking 'no' as an answer either."

She sighed; something told her he was going to say that. Gwen allowed Alex to take lead as he began to escort her home. Even though it wasn't a long walk to being with from his house to her own, Gwen noticed something about him. He wasn't as weak as she had thought. His clothes were always baggy, so she couldn't tell whether he was strong or not. But she could see his lean but firm build from behind. His sweat reflected that he hadn't been sleeping all that long. Maybe he was busy and only got to sleep a few minutes. Which meant she had disturbed him from getting rest for tomorrow's work.

"It's okay; I wasn't really sleeping much anyway." Alex turned around to talk to Gwen more directly. "I was thinking about a few things."

Gwen tried to rip her attention away from the full view of his toned chest. Strangely though, it was harder than it looked. It was like his body was shining under the moon's gaze. "What were you thinking about," Gwen asked, trying to get his voice to distract her instead.

"Ways to make this place stay."
Gwen stopped walking. Why did Sugar Village seem so important to him. A boy from the city, no less.

Alex had noticed her stop and eyed her wonderingly. He suddenly shrugged and sat on the long log near Kurt's and Joe's cutting area. He smiled at Gwen and patted a spot right next to him. Gwen had to remind herself that she needed to breathe to survive. In an attempt to avoid this, she shook her head no. Alex wasn't the least bit fazed by this. And he decided to test out Dia's advice. He got up and slowly strode to the carpenter's granddaughter, reaching out his hand. For the first time Alex saw her tense up and move away from him, as if he was going to hurt her. He stopped once again; she was uneasy. That was new. He took his hand back and walked back toward the cutting spot, this time carefully placing himself on Kurt's cutting stump. He then patted an area a good couple of distance away from him on the long log. Gwen tried to come up with good reasons to go to Woody's house right away, but the warm smile that was on Alex's face was making her forget them.

"It's a bit of a mini story; you'll want to sit. I won't take too much of you're time." Alex watched the tense girl make her way toward him. He didn't make any sudden movements. She was reminding him of Snowball. It was like any tiny move he would make was going to make her a little uneasy. When she was making herself comfortable, Alex looked at the moon. "When I was a little kid, my brothers and I went to Grandpa's farm to stay for the summer and fall vacation. I had the time of my life meeting another member of the Harvest family. It made me feel like I was really one of them."

"What do you mean?"

Alex smiled a little sadly. "My real parents abandoned me when I was only 5. It's something you don't really forget. Finding yourself suddenly alone in your house, walking down stairs looking for any trace of your parents…and then finding a letter explaining it all." His fist clenched at the memory. "They literally wrote, 'We need to support ourselves and the new baby coming soon. You're on your own from now on. May the Goddess watch over you.' I was found by my older brother in the yard of their house and the Harvest family took me in."

Gwen froze. "You aren't…related to them?"

Alex couldn't meet her eyes as he hung his head and shook no. "Not blood-wise. Kind of shows; I'm not a natural farmer like half of them are. I have a hard time remembering to keep the crops watered, I don't know that many ways to get cash without getting animals. I just don't have those kinds of talents or that Harvest way. But they still treated me as though I really WAS a Harvest. I don't know if there can ever be a way I could repay them for half of the stuff they've done for me." He finally turned to Gwen. "Grandpa was one of those important people in my life. Most people outside my family always told me I'm wasn't meant to be a farmer. But I love it; that's one of the things I actually had in common with them. My Grandpa believed in me the most. Thanks to him and my brothers, I, at least, have some kind of idea about farming. I need to protect this place; it's the least I can do for everyone. That…and I made a promise."

"Promise?"

Alex smiled a bit and closed his eyes. "That's for another time." He jumped down from the stump. He held out his hand to help Gwen down. She just went down on her own, ignoring the offer of help. Alex let his hand go back to his side and strode steadily away. He paused at area that would lead him to his farm. "Thank you Gwen."

She looked back at him stunned. "For what?"

"Letting me ramble on like that…and showing me there's more to you than meets the eye." His green reflected the moon in a very mysterious way. "I hope I get to see the other parts of you soon."

Gwen swallowed hard. "And what do I get in return for that?"

"I'll tell you even more about my past, to keep things even." That moment he showed her a new smile that reminded her of Fall for some reason. But she didn't get time to understand why because he left not long after, like the breath of the wind. In the end, Gwen saw that it was her time to go too. But she made sure to make her heartbeat steady before she got in the house….

I never really intended to make Alex like this but then I thought, 'how interesting would it be for someone NOT related to be trying to save the homeland. If anyone has complaints about this, I'm all ears [Err, I mean eyes].