A/N: …I don't think an apology will make up for it, so hopefully this chapter will…

Thanks so much to everyone who asked me to finish this story, and everyone who reviewed, and everyone who kept me motivated. The death threats finally worked! (And the promises of cookies...)

Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon: Animal Parade, but I do own a whole lot of guilt… hoping you guys will forgive me…

Chapter Five: Rescue

What was the weirdest dream you've ever had? Think of it right…. now. GO! Got it? Ok, now, where were you when you had that dream? Most likely in your own, comfy bed, possibly someone else's, but most likely in a bed. Right? Ok. Now imagine you've had this weird dream while trapped in a dark cave. Your cave inmates are all the opposite gender as you. You pillow is your crush's lap. So you can probably go ahead now and multiply your dream's level of weirdness by 10, because that's about equal to how weird my dream was that night.

I was in the cave. I "woke up" from my sleep and yawned loudly. It was still dark, so I squinted my eyes and tried to take a look around. The fire was glowing dully a bit ways away from me. It wasn't bright enough to show me if the other guys were still sleeping around it. It must have still been dark outside of the cave, because the small hole that Luke and I had found earlier wasn't letting any light into the cave.

That's when I noticed Chase wasn't with me anymore. I had been asleep on the ground, not his lap.

Suddenly panicking, I spun around, trying to get my bearings and find out where Chase had gone. Maybe he was just getting some food? Yes, that was probably it. Just getting some-

Suddenly there was a blinding flash of green light, and lots of screams. I spun around to the back of the cave, previously pitch black, and saw the source of the green light that now lit the entire cave up.

A fifty foot-tall Bo, glowing green and smiling, was stomping his way towards me, arms outstretched like a playful zombie. At his feet where Luke and Owen screaming and running away, yelling things like, "Look out, here he comes!" or "We told him not to eat the radioactive waste, Elana, but he just wouldn't listen!"

What the hell?

I turned to run, but my feet were suddenly glued to the floor, and, no matter how much I struggled, I couldn't move.

"Luke! Owen! Help me!" I yelled after the two boys. But they didn't hear me, and just kept running. I was too panicked to question how Owen's leg had miraculously gotten better, or where Bo had found radioactive waste, or where Chase had disappeared to.

Luke and Owen ran past me, and suddenly the fifty-foot Bo was right above me, looking down at me, his mouth twisted up into a wide smile. Then he raised his foot, and brought it down upon me.

For a second, everything was dark. Then I opened my eyes again. I was lying on Harmonica Beach, the waves lapping over me calmly. I looked down at myself. I was covered in glowing green goo, and my clothes were sopping wet. Something was poking me with something… a stick?

I sat up suddenly, eyes wide. Toby, the fisherman's nephew, was poking me with a long stick. When he saw I was awake, his eyebrows shot up.

"Oh, Elana! You're awake! You better hurry, you'll be late for the wedding!"

For the what?

Toby grabbed my hand and hoisted me up, and next thing I knew we were running through Harmonica Town and up the hill to the church. I couldn't understand what was happening; one second I had been trapped in the cave, then radioactive Bo crushed me, then I was washed up on a beach, now I'm getting married?

But that wasn't what worried me most. "Wait, Toby! I can't get married! I'm covered in green radioactive goo and I'm soaked!"

"Oh, it's alright, Elana! So is the groom!"

Oh, that made me feel a lot better.

Then I was at the church. Toby shoved me through the door, and next thing I knew I was dressed in a long, white wedding dress. The church was filled with familiar faces. Paolo, Chloe, Taylor, Toby, Owen, Gill, Candice, Renee, Cain, Craig, my cow, and many of my chickens were all there. Someone pushed me from behind again, and I found myself walking down the isle, approaching the person in the front…

It was Luke, dressed in a tuxedo and his flaming bandana. However, he was also covered in the green goo. He smiled his large, goofy smile when he saw me, wearing the wedding dress yet still covered in slime. I smiled. That's cool! Luke is a cool guy!

Soon I was standing next to him, and Perry was going through the usual wedding speech. I beamed. This was ok! This was good!

I looked out at the people sitting on the benches, who were all smiling in unison. Even Craig was smiling, and Craig never smiled! But then I noticed someone who I hadn't noticed before, sitting in the front row, not looking in the least bit happy. It was a scowling, apron-wearing, orange-loving waiter. It was Chase.

That's when I remembered I didn't love Luke. I loved Chase. I couldn't marry Luke!

Perry was still talking. "Do you, Luke, take Elana to be your beloved wife?"

"I do!" Luke yelled merrily, bouncing up and down on his feet.

He turned to me. I stared at him, terrified. "And do you, Elana, take Luke to be your husband?"

"No! No, I don't!"

There was a collective gasp from the crowd.

"I-I'm sorry, but-"

"Jerk!"

"How could you?"

The crowd was yelling and booing. Even my cow was mooing angrily.

"No, no, this is all a mistake! You don't understand!"

"Elana?"

It was Luke who spoke. I turned to him, nearly forgetting he was there. His cat-like eyes were wide and full of sadness.

"Yes?"

"You don't love me?"

I couldn't stand it, I turned and ran out of the church at full speed.

Chase wasn't sitting on the bench anymore.

When I exited the church, though, I wasn't in Harmonica Town anymore. I was in some sort of shop. It took me a moment more than it should have to realize it was the jewelry store. But it wasn't filled with its usual gems. Instead, it was filled with clothes, like Sonata Tailoring. Standing in the middle of the store was Julius, wearing his usual flamboyant attire. He was talking to a short woman with snow-white hair, red eyes, and pale skin. It was the Witch Princess.

"Julius, for the last time, I don't want to wear that!"

Julius was holding up a pink frilly dress in front of her and scowling. "But it would look so pretty on you! It'd really bring out the color of your eyes!"

The Witch Princess looked furious, her eyes blazing with anger. "I DON'T CARE!"

Suddenly the ceiling overhead was shaking, and a low rumble filled the perfume-scented air. Then the ceiling was collapsing, and Julius and I let out a collective gasp. I didn't want to be crushed for a second time that day!

Everything went black again, and the next time I opened my eyes I was looking up at a tiled ceiling. I was lying in a bed… but it wasn't mine. I was at the Choral Clinic. And the strangest part was the most unexpected person was standing over me. It was the Wizard. I didn't know him that well; he had helped me transform the witch princess back into a person and find the Green Bell, and for that I was grateful, but besides that I interacted very little with him. He never left his house. But now he was standing over me, looking at me with concern.

"Elana? Are you alright?"

I moaned in response.

The Wizard brought something out of his pocket. "Here. Someone left this for you while you were out."

I took it groggily and looked at it with sleepy eyes. It was a letter. It read:

"Dear Elana,

I'm leaving town for a few years. You're still asleep, so I can't say goodbye. But don't worry, Luke's here to take care of you. See you in a few years. Don't forget to name one of you and Luke's kids after me.

Chase"

I looked at it in silent shock. I raised my head back up again, about to ask the Wizard if this was legit, but he was gone. And guess who was standing in his place?

"Hi, Elana!" Luke chimed happily. "I know you were probably delusional at the wedding, so don't' worry, I already scheduled another one!" He gave me a confident thumbs-up, which I returned with a look of horror. "So, I was thinking, how do you like the name Juliette for our first born? Whaddya think she'll look like? Do you think-"

"Nooooo!"

I sat straight up, panting. The first thing I did was take a look around. It was dark and cold, and the floor was hard. I was back in the cave. It was a dream. I was still in the cave with the Garmon Guys. It was a dream. It was a dream!

And that meant…

I had still been asleep on Chase's lap. The waiter was propped up against the stone wall, his eyes closed and his breath even. I let out a sigh of relief. Everything was ok.

I was going to lay back down on Chase's lap and go back to sleep, even though a small amount of light was now coming in through the hole by the entrance., but something stopped me. It was a voice. A voice coming from outside the cave.

"Luke?"

I stared at the blocked entrance, which was a bit ways away from me, wondering if I had imagined Dale calling out to his son. But then another voice called, "Owen!" That was Ramsey.

They kept coming.

"Bo!"

"Chase?"

"Elana!"

"Hellooooo?"

"Where are you guys?"

"Are you in there?"

It sounded as if there was a whole search party out there. I recognized Ramsey, Dale, Irene, Cain, Colleen, Jake, Hayden, and a few other adults. My heart filled with joy. We were saved! We were rescued!

Chase finally woke up, slowly at first, but when he heard the voices he was doing just as I was: staring at the entrance in shock. I quickly scooted away from him, figuring now was not the best time for him to remember last night. There were more important things to take care of.

Luke, Bo, and Owen, who had all been curled up around the fire, were also now up and awake. Naturally, Luke was the first one to run over to the entrance, practically skipping, yelling, "WE'RE IN HERE! IN THE CAVE!"

Bo hurried over to do the same. Owen stayed sitting, his leg still a mess, but also joined in with the yelling. Chase and I glanced at each other quickly, and in a second we were up and sprinting to the entrance.

"WE'RE IN HERE!"

"HELP!"

"IT'S US!"

"DID YOU BRING BREAKFAST?"

We all gave Luke a look.

"What?"

Finally, they heard us. "Luke, is that you?"

"POPS!"

"We're going to get you all out of there! Is everyone alright?"

"Owen can't walk, but we're all alive! All four of us!"

There was a pause, then Dale yelled, "Wait, four? What happened to the other one?"

Luke quickly counted on his fingers, then chuckled nervously. "Oops! Sorry, Pops, I meant five!"

I heard Dale grunt with disapproval.

Then a new voice spoke up. It was a slightly flat, soft, mysterious voice. On normal circumstances it would have taken me a few minutes to recognize who it was, but I had heard it recently; just a few minutes ago, in fact. It was the Wizard.

"Clear the entrance. Get back as far as you can."

The guys and I looked at each other, confused, but did as he said nonetheless. Maybe the guys questioned the Wizard's true power, since most townspeople merely viewed him as a fortuneteller, but I certainly didn't. We all turned to run, Luke and Chase heading for Owen so they could help him, and then, suddenly…

BOOM!

The rocks that had trapped us in the cave were blasted away in a flash of blinding light. We all dropped onto the ground, covering our heads protectively.

I don't know why I was the only one to get hit. It might have been the spot I was standing in, or maybe I didn't get down fast enough. Whatever the reason, a rock, not big but big enough to hurt, was blasted from the entrance and hit me square in the back of the head. For a second, the world was lit up with bright, flashing lights, dancing through my vision. Then it all went black.

And this time, it wasn't a dream.

Everything was dim and foggy. My head was aching dully, and the world seemed to spin where I lay. I think it was the voices that woke me up. Again.

"Yes, she has a mild concussion and some bruising, and her elbow is swollen, but noting is broken, thankfully."

"I see. Well, it's a miracle we found those kids. Hopefully the blacksmith's great-nephew will be alright."

"He should be fine, eventually. There was some shattering of bone, but nothing worthy of amputation. No, these kids will be just fine."

"That's great to hear."

I finally opened my eyes. My vision took a few seconds to focus, and when it did, I saw just what I expected: I was in Choral Clinic. Irene and Hayden were speaking quietly a few feet away from my bed. When Irene noticed I was awake, she gave me a warm smile.

"Nice to see you're finally awake, Elana. How are you feeling?"

"My head hurts, but beyond that I'm pretty good," I answered groggily, not bothering to sit up.

"That's good. You had us worried when Mr. Wizard accidentally knocked you out with that fancy little trick he did. You have a minor concussion, but it's nothing a little rest won't heal right up."

"Thank you, Irene."

She nodded. "Any time, dear. Luke and Bo were telling me what an amazing nurse you are! How very responsible." She winked at me. "Way to show those boys, hm?"

I laughed. "Yeah."

Hayden said goodbye and left quietly. There was no one else in the room.

"Irene, how are Chase and Owen?"

"Chase is fine; he has some bruising to his back and head, but he's just fine. As for Owen, it's not so serious that it needs to be amputated, but there are some major fractures and breaks. It'll be in a cast for a bit, but I think he'll be just fine."

I let out a sigh of relief. "Thanks so much, Irene."

"You're welcome. Now, if you don't mind, you have a visitor that has been very eager to talk to you."

I sighed. I knew this was coming. I knew Luke would want to see me the second I was awake. "Alright."

Irene left for a few minutes, probably to fetch Luke. I stared up at the tiled ceiling, thinking. Everyone was alright. We were back in town. But there were still questions to be answered…

Irene came back a few minutes later, during which I sat up against the backboard of the bed. However, with her was not who I was expecting at all. With her was a small woman with snow-white hair, red eyes, and pale skin.

Witch Princess?

I didn't know her well. I rarely visited her. Her house was a bit creepy and hard to access. She didn't seem like the friendliest person in the world, either. That's why the most surprise of all came when she ran over and hugged me around the neck.

"Oh, Elana, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean for you to get trapped in there with all those boys! I didn't mean for anyone to get hurt! I'm so sorry! I'll make it up to you; I'll make you any kind of potion you want! You name it, I'll make it! Love potion, invisibility potion, poison potion, even-"

"W-Witch Princess?"

"What?" she asked, releasing me from the hug.

"What are you talking about?"

"It was me who trapped you in the cave! You see, I was collecting some bee carcasses from a hive I poisoned in a tall tree for a potion, when I saw that annoying boy Luke walking through the woods! I hate that kid! He's always chopping down trees on my property line and scaring away all the animals that live in my swamp! All I wanted to do was scare him, honest, and I didn't see there were other people with him! I saw him stop to look at a cave, so I decided to make some loud noises with the rocks to scare him. But the spell went out of control and they all fell! I didn't know what to do, so I went to go get Gale-"

"Who?"

"The Wizard!"

"Ah."

"Anyways, I went to get Gale because his magic is stronger than mine, so then we got a search party to look for you, and… yeah, that's about it."

I stared at her for a second.

She stared back at me, looking very guilty.

Then I burst out laughing.

The Witch frowned in annoyance. "What's so funny?"

I kept laughing, wiping tears from my eyes. "Everything! The fact that we were trapped in there because you wanted to scare Luke is funny!" The Witch still looked slightly distressed, so I did my best to stop laughing and continued, "But it's alright, really, I know it was an accident."

She looked relieved. "Oh, good. I don't care if the boys are mad at me, as long as the only sensible one isn't!"

We laughed together.

When we were done, I added, "But actually, there is one potion that would be really helpful if you could make it…"

She flipped her hair triumphantly. "Of course! I can make almost anything!"

She came closer to me and I whispered my idea into her ear.

She gave me a skeptical look. "Are you sure that's what you want to use it on?"

I nodded, more than positive, and she sighed. "Alright, alright."

Just then, a familiar, bandana-wearing, blue-haired, fiery carpenter burst through the door of the room. His face was still covered in dirt, as were his clothes; he must not have gone home to shower yet. Either that or he just doesn't shower at all.

"Elana, you're awake! I was so worried when-" He stopped short when he caught sight of the Witch Princess.

His eyes narrowed.

Her eyes narrowed.

"Witch Princess," he said curtly, his mouth a straight line.

"Luke," she responded, spitting out the name like venom.

They glared at each other for a few more seconds, until the Witch finally flipped her hair, gave me a wave, and marched out of the room. Luke waited until the door closed behind her. When it did, he was right back to talking. "-you got hit in the head and then you were unconscious and we had to bring you all the way back and-"

"Why do you hate the Witch Princess?" I asked out of curiosity.

He laughed. "Oh, I don't hate her, I just like to mess with her." He gave me a playful wink, and I laughed, too.

"So anyways, Pops was really mad, but really happy, and everyone else was happy, so we're kind of like heroes. Well, heroes in a whole lot of trouble. You're so lucky you don't live with any adults, Elana, I'm grounded for a million gazillion years and-"

Someone standing behind Luke cleared his throat loudly. The carpenter spun around and was face to face with none other than Chase. I shivered. How had he gotten in here without anyone noticing?

For a second they just looked at each other, Luke looking surprised and Chase looking bored, as usual. He had new, clean bandages wrapped around his head. His clothes were still dirty, but he must have washed his face, for it was sparkling again. At least he followed the simple riles of proper hygiene, unlike some people.

It must have been a guy thing, but I could have sworn Chase and Luke were having a telepathic conversation just then. After a few seconds of silence, Luke spun around back to me, gave me a toothy grin, and chimed, "Well, Elana, I'll leave you to it!" Then he left without another word, shutting the door behind him.

Now it was me and Chase's turn to just stare at each other. I wish I could say we had some awesome telepathic conversation, too, but I couldn't read his expression. What else is new?

Finally, looking down at his feet, he asked, "How's your head?"

"It's fine," I answered. "How's yours?"

"Fine."

There was another long silence. We were both looking at anything other than each other. Then the waiter let out a sigh. "Well, I think Luke and company probably wants to keep talking nonsense to you, so I'll make this quick…" He then walked over next to my bed, and before I knew what he was up to, planted a small kiss on my cheek. Then he said, "Scare me like that again and you're dead." He left the room before I could notice how red his cheeks were, or before he could notice how red mine were.

I stared at the door. Then I smiled.

Who says being trapped in a cave with your crush is a bad thing?

A/N: Epilogue time! Hopefully it won't take me a year to write it like this chapter did.

Did I earn some reviews? :D

~blue-eyed-cow