II

City Lights and Skyscrapers

"Ladies and Gentlemen! This is the last destination before we head back to **** mountains. We hope you enjoyed your stay and hope we see you again." The captain shouted, as he and the crew waved good bye to the left over passengers who were leaving the ship. After their 5 day trip, they have reached the city. The neon signs were blazing through the darkened alleys and helicopters were soaring through the pitch black sky. Everybody who left the boat slowly walked away from one another, parting ways to do what they needed to do in the city, leaving only one person alone on the pier, Claire.

"So this is the city?" She murmured, looking around her surroundings, she clutched onto her bag a little tighter, nervousness filling the pit of her stomach. Never before had she left the mountains or wandered anywhere far from it since she was a child.

The mountains where she lived just so happens to be on a big island in the middle of the - - - - - - [fill in made-up name of your choice] ocean. The whole population of the island was made up of 196 human bodies, including Claire herself. Every now and then, a ship would pass by the island to take passengers to places on their agenda. In a year, about 10-15 people would leave the island, thus the reason why the population is so small. From the day Cliff left the mountains, it has been 5 years since before the boat passed by again.

Clueless as to where she should go, Claire started wandering in the streets, continuously looking at the tourist guide book that she received from one of the sailors. It seems that there was a resting spot for tourists nearby that was cheap enough for the amount of money she kept with her.

It took her some time before she approached the shabby-looking three-story shack. In front of the building was decorated with old, cracked flowerpots and there was a sign hanging on the door saying 'Moby Dick's Inn'. There was the famous white colored whale sticker plastered on the doors, which looked as if they would come down any second. The building was aged no doubt due to the sound of creaks every now and then as she walked on the floor or someone on the upper floor strode by. It was safe for her to say that her house in the mountains was a lot more presentable than 'Moby Dick's Inn'.

"What could I do for you hon'?" The overweight woman with a cigarette sticking from her mouth asked, while flipping through a hip woman's magazine without glancing at Claire.

"Um…" Claire started to hesitate, she didn't know what she should say since she never done this before. "I would like a…room? Please?"

"Yeah…seems like today's a full day, sorry hon. You should try somewhere else." She waved her hand to shoo the blonde girl away, eyes still looking at the magazine.

Without another word, the lady pulled out a sign that says 'FULL' in red letters out from under her desk to place in on the desk. Claire winced as she walked out of the building, feeling three pairs of eyes watching her as she did so. Her stomach let out a loud grumble as a couple waltzed pass her, both holding food in their hands. Claire swallowed the saliva building in her mouth as she went over to sit on a bench nearby. Grateful for the street light next to the bench, she took out the guide book again to decide what her next move should be.

"Hey lil' darlin'. Whatchu' doin' out here all alone at night?" A group of 3 thugs walked up to Claire. Claire looked up from her book and answered them, oblivious to their intentions.

"I don't have a place to stay since 'Moby Dick's Inn' was full. Do you have anywhere to recommend?" She asked, her large blue eyes filled with hope. To the dense men, it seemed as if she liked them back and was willing to let them get in her pants. They smiled and signaled her to follow them.

"Yeah, we know a place, come with us." One of them invited as the other grabbed her arm to be sure that she wouldn't run away. Before Claire felt the hint of danger vibrating from the three men, she was unable to move due to their grasp.

"No!! I changed my mind, please let me go!!" She yelled while tears were already streaking down her eyes unintentionally. Thoughts of pure hatred towards the city passed her mind as she was wriggling and kicking in attempts to escape, but to no avail did their hold loosen. They were about to slap her when a voice came from behind them.

"There they are officer!! Catch them!" Without a second thought, all three men cussed loudly as they dropped Claire onto the ground and ran. Claire was still crying her eyes as the man who rescued her came up to her.

"Hey now, you're safe, did they hurt you anywhere?" The man asked, he was tentatively touching her to see if she was hurt. As Claire looked up to see her hero, there in front of her was a huge muscular man in a deep blue tank top and black cargo pants. She timidly shook her head, her tears running out slowly as they turned into mere sniffles.

"T-thank you…"She squeaked, her voice still a little strained from crying. She received a kind, playful smile in return.

"It was nothing, there were no police anyway. But don't tell them that." He teased, giving her a wide smile, showing all his pearly whites. "So…what's a pretty girl like you doing here?" He asked, it was weird to see a girl who looked innocent and pure in one of the darkest and dangerous place in the city.

"I just got here…I was looking for someone actually. Are you from around here? Perhaps you know the person I'm looking for, he should be here for 5 years or so." Her voice trailed off into silence as she approached the end of her sentence. Although her heart still aches every time she mentions him, she could not stop herself from wanting to find him to demand answers.

"Nah…I'm not from around here, but I do come here often. Tell me his name, maybe I heard of him before. Maybe." He couldn't help himself from giving her help, seeing how she almost got raped and she was crying a few minutes ago, he wanted to do nothing more than help her.

As she explained to the nice stranger about Cliff, his name, how he is, his facial features, every little detail she could muster from her memory, his eyes widened even more. What were the odds that the person she was looking for was someone that he knew?

"Cliff?? Yeah, I know him, but he isn't here. You got the wrong place, he was here once, but that was before he went to Mineral Town with me 3 years ago." Claire's jaw dropped dramatically, shocked about how lucky she was to meet Cliff's acquaintance.

"Can you take me to him?" Her eyes desperate and pleading, he thought for a moment before agreeing to take her to Mineral Town.

"It's a one day trip to the island, I'll take you on my boat when I'm done with my work here…which will be when I deliver this to the market." With that he lifted the box of produce at the back of him and walked forward, Claire following him.

"I'm Zack by the way. What's your name?" He asked.

"Claire, call me Claire." She smiled. Maybe the city wasn't so bad after all.


Wooo...yeah...how late was I? Months? I have a great excuse for my lateness. Well, I did move into a new school, so that took time. I lost my motivation to write, that's a big reason why I didnt continue writing. Luckily, I got my motivation back, for now, so I should be able to upload some more if people still want to read my stories.

Yupp, so that was chapter 2, Cliff isn't here yet, but he's coming, so Cliff-fans, hold your horses. :) He'll come for sure. I already almost finish the next chapter for this story, so i'll just see how people respond to this chapter, or story, and then i'll upload it for sure.

Btw, woahhhh, 6 reviews for the short chapter. I'm so happy I could cry! XD So thank you:

LovinHoneyXDHoneyLovin (sry to burst your bubble, but there won't be any drama between Kai, Cliff, and Claire. ^^;;)

.Amberleaf.

teacupz

Gwendolyn368

Lov3yHart

Tara Blossom

Thank you very much!! And i'm sorry for the wait, but here you go!! Chapter 2!! I hope it's okay!

Disclaimer: i dont own harvest moon. (they wont mind me putting it here would they? Whoever 'they' are...)