Hi everybody! Long time no see! So yeah...this school year is just plain insane. SO MUCH HOMEWORK. SERIOUSLY. Between that and school projects and play practice and friends and the three other clubs I'm in currently, I've been a bit busy lately. Sorry. I've been trying to fins time for this, but whenever I have time to myself I usually just sleep. HahahaxD

Anyways... enough excuses and such...

I noticed that some people were heartbroken that Coryn and Chase broke up. I'm sorry:( It had to happen eventually though. It was inevitable. It's in the summary. Hehe. So here we have chapter 23- probably the longest chapter I've written for this story so far. ACCOMPLISHMENT! HUZZAH!

Haha,well I hope you all enjoy it! Read on!

Btw, thanks a million to the three people that reviewed last chapter: The Yoshinator (My wonderful loyal reviewer), candycake313 (Who I loved hearing from for the first time!), and an anonymous Guest! (Thanks so much for reminding me to write! It's all thanks to you that this chapter is out! Haha:)) LOVE YOU ALL!

Disclaimer: ShermanTheWorm does not own Harvest Moon.


Chapter 23- Take the Pain Away

~Coryn's POV~

I'm pretty sure I cried until my eyes ran out of salt water. I felt numb and miserable as I watered my crops, spacing out every minute and going back to that moment constantly. A lot of my crops were probably drowning in the excess of water I was giving them, but I was just too far gone to care.

It had been almost a week since the breakup. During this short amount of time, I'd been staying secluded near my farm, not wanting to run the risk of seeing him and widening the hole in my heart that hurt so consistently. I wouldn't be able to look into his beautiful amethyst without choking up and exposing my defeated mentality. Chase probably didn't want to see me anyway. He was obviously stilled pissed at me.

The only place I could go without having a chance of seeing him was the Garmon Mines District. I would occasionally take walks there to stretch my legs. I would say hello to Owen and little Chloe at the Blacksmith's, then talk to Luke in front of the Carpenter's, where he could usually be found swinging his axe around for practice. I was actually talking to Luke a lot lately. His enthusiasm about every little thing made me happy and relaxed. It helped me forget.


"Hey! Coryn! I have an extremely AWESOME idea!" Luke exclaimed, grinning goofily as he ran towards me on my daily walk.

"What is it, Luke?" I asked, a bit curious as to what was so "extremely awesome". With Luke it could be anything from mayonnaise to being chased by a bear.

"We should, like, go to the forest! Ya know, where we cut trees and stuff! It's EXTREME there!" he replied. I laughed.

"Sounds good! But what exactly are we going to do there?"

"Uh…I hadn't thought about that. I guess we'll figure it out when we get there!"

"Okay, then!" I said happily, grateful for a distraction and to hang for a while with Luke.

"Sweet! Let's get a move on!" he grinned strapping his axe to his belt and running ahead. "Hey, let's race!" he challenged me. Only Luke. I merely smiled and ran quickly after him. I tried my best to keep his blue hair and flaming bandana in sight, because he was a MUCH better runner than I was. We ran past my house, down the path and to Flute Fields. As we ran through Flute Fields, me lagging far behind, I spotted…his house. I had forgotten that he lived here. Come to think of it, this was just about where he kissed me for the first time…

I swallowed audibly as I breathed heavily from running. I was about to cry, but I turned away quickly, sprinting towards the forest entrance and leaving the memories behind me so that they couldn't catch up.


"Dang, you're slow, Coryn! Ha-ha!" Luke laughed raucously, not out of breath at all.

"Shut...up!" I wheezed, still regaining my breath. I tried to hide my smile as I playfully pushed him. Then suddenly, he hugged me.

'What the-' I thought as I blushed.

"SORRRRYYYYYYY!" he exclaimed, crushing me into his chest.

"C-can't…br-breath..." I gasped. Luke let me go and laughed heartily. He then grabbed my hand and led me, him skipping merrily, into the forest. I hid my face, sure I was blushing. We made it in, and Luke looked around, still holding my hand firmly with the rough leather of his gloves rubbing against my skin.

"Um…Luke? You can let go of me now." I said nervously.

"Wha-" he looked down at our entwined hands. "Oh…sorry!" he said, releasing his hand from mine. I could've sworn I saw his cheeks go pink, but he was now turned around.

"So where exactly are we going again?" I questioned warily.

"Nowhere in particular. We're just going to explore the epic forest and climb trees! It'll be EXTREME!" he pumped his fist in the air.

I giggled. "Alrighty then!"


We wandered around for an hour or so. Luke kept making funny comments on trees and mushrooms among other things, keeping me entertained. Then the mood suddenly went a bit somber.

"So…is there anything you wanna talk to me about?" Luke asked tentatively, serious all of the sudden.

"Like what?" I asked, confused as to what he was referring to.

"Um...well…what's up with you and…Chase?" he asked.

I looked down at the ground, scared I would cry. I didn't get over things easily, as you may have noticed. Luke noticed I looked on the verge of tears and got frantic all the sudden. He lifted my face up and wiped the edges of my eyes, ridding them of small tears.

"D-don't cry, okay? You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I'm sorry I brought it up! That was stupid…I know a joke instead? Wanna hear it? It's not very funny, but…" Luke rambled on and on. I guess it was true that men are weak to women's tears. Huh. It made me smile.

"Luke, really. It's okay. I'll need to tell you sooner or later anyway."

Luke and I found a place to sit down. He waited expectantly, staying silent for once. That was a pretty big feat for him. I sighed, thinking about where to start.

"Well he broke up with me, if you hadn't already guessed." I said. Luke nodded. His eyes were sad and angry at the same time.

"What happened?" he asked. "One minute you guys were all lovey-dovey, then the next you're avoiding each other like the plague."

"It was horrible. See, Gill "invited" me to go to the Summer Festival with him. Well, more like forced. But, I already said I'd go with Chase, obviously, so we snuck out of my house to avoid him." I said, stopping when I heard Luke chuckle a bit. I shot a pointed look at him, effectively making him shut up.

"Anyway, the next day Gill came to my door, pissed as anything. It was terrifying. Then…he kissed me. I didn't pull away because I was in shock! I guess Chase saw the whole kissing part, but missed the part where I regained my senses and slapped Gill. Hard."

At this, Luke said, "You slapped him? EXTREME! I wish I could've seen that!"

I ignored that comment.

"The next day, Chase calls me a slut among many other things, and says bye-bye…" I said, trying to make it funny so I wouldn't cry AGAIN. Luke then reaches out and hugs me again, this time gently but firmly. He's so close I smell the scent of the forest on him. It calms me.

"What an asshole, that cook. Let's go climb some epically big trees to get your mind off of him." Luke consoled me. I smiled and consented.


Luke led me over to a rather large tree and we both began scaling it, helping each other out along the way. Well, he mostly helped me. Luke would go ahead and help me along by grabbing my hand and hoisting me up bit by bit.

Once we got as high as we could go without breaking the branches, I smiled in sheer delight and laughed happily. I excitedly looked around, taking in the sight of the forest from a higher perspective. It was beautiful. Then I turned my face and saw Luke smiling dazedly at me. I lifted an eyebrow. What a goofy guy.

"Earth to Luke!" I said. He blinked a bit, then blushed deeply and looked away from me. What was up with him?

We stayed up there for another half hour or so, talking and enjoying the view. But eventually our bums started to hurt from sitting on tree branches, so we began our descent, which was much scarier than the ascent. Luke was above me so he couldn't help me much. 'You'll be fine.' I assured myself.

I was about seven feet from the ground when it happened. My foot slipped on a slippery piece of bark. In surprise, my clenched fingers loosened their grip on the tree. Bad idea, fingers. I fell, closing my eyes tightly the whole way down.

"CORYN!" I heard Luke yell frantically. I heard a sickening crunch as my left foot took the impact of the fall. The weird thing is that I felt no pain. My eyes grew heavy.

The last thing I saw was a flash of bright, concerned and frantic yellow-gold cat-like eyes.

Then…nothing.


ERMAHGERD. What's going to happen to Coryn? What's up with Luke's weird behavior (If it isn't already obvious) haha.

SO MANY QUESTIONS. GAH. Hahaha:) Well I hope guys enjoyed this chapter! I'll try to post the next one whenever I get the chance! AND SORRYYYYY FOR THE CLIFFHANGER! ;)