March 13, Spring, year 21
I can't… write.
Claire hadn't slept for more than a couple of hours the past nights. Grief, and the blinding pain had shot that ability to shreds. She mostly lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling, thoughts too tangled together to properly unravel, and to painful to touch willingly.
So the sound of her front door opening and shutting, as well as the feet thumping in and the door to Jack's old room clicking shut didn't wake her. But they pierced the bubble of deliberate unawareness, making her climb out of bed to see what was going on.
Muffy, who had been sleeping in the bed opposite Claire, groaned slightly, more tired than not, but got up when her cousin did.
"Something's wrong," Claire said quietly.
It was the most she'd said to anyone in two days, which woke Muffy up more. Claire slipped silently out of the bedroom, across the hall to the room where everything that Skye had given her resided.
Skye himself was leaning up against the wall, breathing heavily. When the door opened, he looked up into familiar blue eyes and winced.
She stared down at him, baffled. The numbness wouldn't let her feel anything else.
"Why're you here?" Muffy demanded, moving past Claire. "You know you're not welcome…"
Again, the silver haired man winced.
"Damien's stirred up the town," he replied lowly. "He claims that I murdered Lauren…"
"Did you?"
"No!" And the double reply made Muffy jump.
Skye blinked at Claire, trying not to hope.
"No," she repeated even more quietly. "She was one of his kind, he wouldn't do that…"
They could hear them now, through the window that had been left slightly open so the air in the room wouldn't grow stale.
"Stay," Claire's voice was solemn. "I'll keep them out."
She left, moving to where she had last left her boots. Muffy rounded on Skye with a furious look.
"You have no right to be here, endangering her like this," she hissed. "Not after what you did to her."
Skye looked away, shamefaced.
"I need to explain things," he said softly. "But I don't know how… I've never been very good at explaining my feelings for someone."
"Well that failure cost my cousin her heart," and Muffy's eyes flickered with a dangerous fire. "You'd better have a damn good explanation after all of this."
"Will she listen to you?" his eyes were pleading. "Please, let me explain…"
And despite herself, Muffy closed the bedroom door, and sat. The expression on her face was annoyed, but she was going to listen… Maybe, just maybe, something could be fixed tonight.
Claire opened her door into the early spring night and stepped out, waiting for the mob. Damien was at its head, encouraging others to capture the thief, and string him up as punishment.
They all slowed to a stop in front of Claire's door, nothing that the blonde looked as though she had spent some very sleepless nights, and wasn't in the mood to deal with stupidity.
"What are you all doing?"
Then calmness of her voice was a whipcrack demand, and Damien stepped forward, lifting his chin.
"Skye killed Lauren!" he shot back. "And the coward ran here."
"So?"
"So..?" Vesta's jaw dropped. "Claire, he killed your friend!"
"No, he didn't."
On the left hand side of the mob, several people started to slip forward to stand with the farmer.
"What proof have you that Skye killed her?" Claire continued.
"He's the only one who goes out wandering at weird hours!" Rock yelled.
"He stole from us," Vesta boomed.
"And? If that's it, I'm not convinced."
The flatness of Claire's voice was emphasized by the folding of her arms.
"Claire, we know you're his girlfriend and maybe--"
"Shut. Up." Claire growled. "You're all being stupid! Yes, fine he stole from you. In case you hadn't been paying attention, he's stopped, and if I'm not mistaken has actually paid some of you back! I paid some of you for what he did, and he's worked it off for me repeatedly!"
Her voice was rising, getting a shrill edge to it. Lumina reached out and wrapped an arm around the farmer, glaring down at the crowd.
"If anyone should be looking to blame someone it should be me," Claire continued fiercely. "Lauren was my best friend, my confidant. You all just want an easy solution to this difficult problem, and you let this idiot," she gestured at Damien, voice full of contempt, "give you that easy out!"
"B-but…" Rock was silenced as Lumina shot him a very precise glare.
"Go home," Claire snapped. "Get off my land already! I don't have the patience to deal with the rampant stupid in the air!"
Damien stepped forward, trying to recapture the mob spirit.
"Just because he shows one face to you doesn't mean he doesn't hide things," he spat.
Claire didn't speak, just gently broke free of Lumina's hold and stepped forward herself.
"You're lying to yourself if you think you know him," he continued. "Who's to say he didn't kill her? Some lovesick-"
That was as far as he got before Claire slammed her fist into his jaw.
"Leave," she said coldly. "Or there's going to be more than one murder in this town."
Most of the mob stood there in shock. Their tiny farmer, good-natured, cheerful, and bright, had just threatened Damien. The started murmuring, whispering, and fell silent as she turned to look at them all.
"Look at yourselves," she said quietly, anger burning under every word. "Who are you going to trust, the city boy who doesn't know the first thing about our tiny town, or the person who's lived here all her life?"
Marlin nodded, stepping forward from his place against Claire's home.
"Even though he stole, he's never been anything but polite and friendly," the farm hand said.
"Yeah!" Celia chimed in, taking her husband's hand. "He more than made up for it Aunt Vesta, and Claire did too!"
Griffin nodded sagely.
"Most of you are drunk," he said quietly. "But even so, this type of behavior is inexcusable."
"It's not like we haven't dealt with problems before too," Lumina added. "And he's been good for Claire…"
"It's not in me to speak against everyone," Gustafa continued, "but this isn't what our Valley is supposed to be like, y'know?"
"The people here used to be happy and content. Now they're letting stupid things get the better of their judgment," Nami finished.
As Damien struggled back to his feet, the people in the crowd began exchanging embarrassed looks.
"You're fools," Damien winced, spitting blood. "You take her word, that of a girl who was covering for him this whole time?!"
"She wasn't the only one!" Lumina shot back. "I was too! Because Claire needed someone who treats her like she's precious and worth more than the world, like all of us!"
Nods followed that statement, from the five still forming a line between the house and the mob.
"I'll say it again," and this time Claire looked at the entire crowd. "Go home. Sober up. And leave Skye out of your stupid witch hunts, when he's done nothing wrong."
Slowly, in twos and threes the people began dispersing back to their homes. Claire turned a furious look on Damien.
"If you ever, ever pull something like that, so help me Harvest King, I will not hesitate to kill you. I'm sick and tired of you, your schemes and your obsession. Stay away from me!"
He actually took a step back, surprised by her genuine fury. This was a side of Claire that he hadn't ever seen before… it was actually a little frightening.
After a minute, he just snorted, whirled on his heels and stalked away. Claire, exhausted by her emotional outburst, collapsed to the ground. Celia and Lumina hurried forward, worried.
"Tell Skye," she whispered. "Tell him he can leave now. It's safe."
"We'll tell him," Lumina promised. "It's okay Claire."
With that promise gained, Claire's body simply shut down, casting the farmer's mind into grateful darkness.
"Man…" And Gustafa shook his head. "It's like… "
"It's indescribable," Nami interrupted. "And I hope to the Goddess that we never have such a scene happen again."
The door behind them opened, and everyone turned to see an uncertain looking Skye followed by a shocked Muffy.
"You should probably get out of the Valley for a few days," Griffin said to the silver-haired man. "Give everyone some time to cool down."
Wordlessly Skye nodded, then tried to look around the bartender at Claire.
"Was she… will she be?"
"No one laid a hand on her," Marlin said gruffly. "She did the punching."
"Her exhaustion is understandable," Muffy said quietly. "Too much happening, shorting her out, making her unable to function properly. But… when you come back, you owe her the full story. No delays."
The former thief nodded, head drooping a little bit. Everyone gave Muffy curious looks, and she mimed an 'at the Bar' signal.
"Griffin, maybe an escort… at least halfway?" the blonde asked. "I don't think Claire would be too pleased to have something happen even after her impressive intimidation act."
"Glad to," and the bartender lightly clapped Skye on the shoulder. "Come on laddy-boy, let's get you to relative safety before that Damien kid tries something else…"
Slowly they left, and between Marlin and Gustafa, Claire was put into her bed. Muffy smoothed her cousin's hair out of her face, before leaving herself. There would be several drinks needed to properly tell this story…