Winter - Part 1

The town was in mourning, everything so silent and solemn like everyone was just going through the motions. It hadn't taken long to determine who it was the authorities had shot while escaping. No further news had come to them about the body search. Lewis had petitioned for the remains to be sent back to Pellican Town and it had been agreed to, but no remains had come which meant they still hadn't found a body. Which meant it might have been washed out into the ocean, and if that was the case there may not end up being anything to send back.

Maru had wept upon hearing the broadcast the first time, broken down sobbing. Sebastian had heard her scream from his apartment and raced to find her only to discover her collapsed to the floor on her knees in grief. He'd gone right to her, holding her tightly against himself as she mourned. Abigail had called Robin and Demetrius to come to support their daughter and they'd arrived in minutes. It had been hard. It was hard on the whole town, but on Maru most of all.

Vincent and Jaz, gone. Harvey, gone. Kent, gone. Sam, gone…

They were all of course gone in different senses of the world, but the grief was still the same. Mostly. The town was dull and listless… Broken… Caroline couldn't bear to see it, anguish in her eyes as she watched her friends, the people she loved, moving like it was force of habit alone that kept them going. She would do anything, give anything, to make it better again… But she didn't know how…

She found herself doing what she hadn't done in years now. Picking her way through Cindersnap Forest heading towards the wizard's tower. It had been years… She couldn't fix this, but maybe he could… As she picked her way along, she saw a woman by the lake humming happily. Not Leah, but another. The farmhand, she realized. The one whose name she didn't know. Had she ever introduced herself, Caroline wondered? Nevertheless, the happy humming was a welcome change from how things were everywhere else. She found herself forgetting about the wizard's tower in favor of approaching the woman. "Good morning," she cheerily said. It was forced cheery, yes, but hopefully the woman wouldn't pick up on that.

The woman turned curiously and smiled. "Oh, Caroline, good morning!" she chirped happily. "What's on your mind?"

"It's just… nice to hear a happy whistle again," Caroline replied ruefully. "This isn't a very happy time for Pellican Town, I'm afraid."

"I've noticed," the woman replied, sounding sympathetic.

"How is it you've kept so positive through all of this? You've got to teach me your secrets. Maybe I can help others to feel happier again too," Caroline said, grinning sadly.

"You'd do anything to fix everything, wouldn't you?" the woman sympathetically asked. "I know the feeling." One of the first true things she'd ever said here, the witch noted to herself in a measure of disgust.

"I would," Caroline replied. "But I can't… The Elf King has long vanished, abandoning the valley, Harvey is dead, Sam is too broken to heal it seems, and Kent is suffering more than anyone here could ever hope to understand, I think. And now there's no Harvey to help him."

"You could try and find some standing stones. Maybe the elf king will hear you again," the woman offered.

"I don't think he'll hear any of us again," Caroline answered ruefully, shaking her head.

The woman was quiet, thinking. "You know… I read something in one of his books that was fairly interesting. Something that might make this all better," she said. "But it delves into risky dealings I must warn you."

"Something in his books? What was it?" Caroline asked, perking up a little and seeming hopeful.

"Well, there's legend about three mystical shrines; The Dark Shrine of Memory, the Dark Shrine of… Restoration, and the Dark Shrine of Night Terrors. Give these shrines gifts, and each one will do something for you in return. Maybe, just maybe, one of them can fix what's happened to your beautiful little town…" she hinted.

Caroline looked intrigued. "Do you think?" she asked. "Does the book say what each shrine does?"

"No, but it states the gifts they take and where they might be found," the woman replied. "For the Shrine of Memory you must pay thirty-thousand gold. For the Shrine of Restoration you must offer a prismatic shard. For the Shrine of Night Terrors you must give a strange bun, oddly enough."

"It sounds like either the Shrine of Memory or the Shrine of Restoration would be the one we wanted. I can't see it being the Shrine of Night Terrors," Caroline mused. "Where did the book say these Shrines would be?"

"In an abandoned hut in the swamp," the woman replied.

Caroline frowned in concern. "I… was warned never to go there once. By someone," she said.

"Who?" the farmhand asked, though in truth she knew the bitter answer all too well.

"He… he was a wizard," Caroline replied. "He told me something lived there that was powerful and dangerous, and that to go there would cost me my life."

"Whatever it was, it might be gone by now, you know," the farmhand replied. Caroline shifted. "You said you would give anything to restore things to the way they were. Aren't the benefits that would come of it worth the risk? I could come with you, you know. Then you wouldn't be going alone." Caroline was quiet, undecided. "You may not have another chance," the woman said. "Think of it. Vincent and Jas back, playing in the forest and on the beach and in the park. Harvey alive and well, working away in his little clinic with no one remembering a single thing about spies and betrayals. Kent back to the way he once was, the father his children remember... Maybe we can get him to do it too just to be double sure the shrine, whichever one it is, works. My bet would be on Restoration shrine, as the gift we're looking for is a way to restore everything to how it was. And Sam, back to his happy-go-lucky self, no worries or cares in the world. Everything could be right again. Just a single gift, a single shard… The elf king stored them, you know. I know where."

Caroline was quiet, lips parted slightly and tears threatening her eyes. If there was a chance… She looked towards the wizard's tower uncertainly, then back to the woman again. "Alright," she relented. "I'll do it."

The woman smiled a knowing smile. "Alright. Go on your way home, then. I'll fetch the shards from the elf king's stash. Tomorrow I'll attempt to bring Kent into this as well, and tomorrow night we act. All three of us." Caroline resolved herself, set her jaw, and nodded firmly, turning and heading quickly and immediately back towards town. The farmhand smirked cruelly and chuckled a dark chuckle, turning and walking back towards the elf king's garden.

Stardew

Pierre looked up when the door to his shop opened. Caroline came in looking quite happy, which was odd considering he hadn't seen her happy for too long now, since… since all of this started happening… "Caroline, is everything okay?" he asked, somewhat concerned about how thrilled she appeared. Had she snapped? No, that was a ridiculous thought.

"No, my love," she replied, swooping over to him and taking his hands in hers. "But it will be," she added, grinning happily as if suddenly the world was at peace again.

"What? What do you mean, honey?" he asked with a chuckle, smiling back at her although he felt a little concerned.

"Nothing, dear. I just have a feeling that everything is going to be good again soon," Caroline replied, pulling away from him to go into the livable part of their house. Pierre watched after her in a measure of concern. That was almost suspiciously optimistic. Who had she been talking to, he wondered uneasily? Ugh, if whoever it was, was giving her false hopes, he'd punch them out like he did that dirtbag Morris.

Rasmodius dreamt that night. Of Caroline, smiling and happy Caroline, and of Abigail… And of the witch and of doves… He jerked awake with a sharp gasp of fear and blinked a few times, stunned. He wasn't sure why that dream had frightened him so badly, but it didn't sit well with him. Something in his subconscious insisted to him something was very, very wrong, and he couldn't shake that feeling. He sat up, disturbed, and went towards his library to see if he could figure out why such a dream had bothered him so much.

Stardew

The witch knew she had to act fast. Kent, fortunately, wouldn't be difficult to sway. The man wanted nothing more than to be the man he had once been. The man Jodi had fallen in love with, the man his children had loved and adored and felt comfortable around… He trusted her, and if she offered him this sort of a deal there was no way he could ever hope to refuse it. But she sensed the wizard had felt something was off. Which meant Rasmodius would be looking into it and had probably been browsing his library most of last night. Which meant she had a very narrow window of time to put this all into play.

She found Kent on the beach staring out over the ocean woefully. "Have you heard anything about Harvey?" she asked innocently.

"No," Kent replied. He wasn't inclined to elaborate further.

"How's Sam?" she asked. Kent was silent. "That bad?" she asked. Silence again. She paused a moment to give the illusion of hesitation. "I… found a book. A book of shrines. I read something interesting inside. Something that… that might help you to get back to what you once were again. Something that could turn you from a stranger back into a husband and father…"

Kent glanced over at her. "BS," he finally said.

"It was in the elven king's library," she said.

He was quiet. "What… what did it say…?" he finally asked. She gave him the exact same explanation she'd given to Caroline. He, of course, didn't respond at the close of the explanation. Which meant she'd have to push just a little harder.

"It will give you back your life, Kent. Give you back your wife, give you back your son, and when you're all okay again the elf king will bring back Vincent too. You can be a family once more. This is hope, friend. Hope in the darkest period of Pellican Town's history. You can have your son back. Both of them. You won't be a stranger anymore…" she finished. And if that wasn't enough to convince him, she could always bring up the doctor.

Kent was silent. "You said you have the prismatic shards," he finally remarked.

She nodded. "Caroline and I could use a third party to join us in traipsing through that place anyway. Who better than a war veteran?" she asked.

He was quiet, grinding his jaw. "I'll… I'll do it," he finally said.

She smiled and said, "Meet me and Caroline tonight by the bathhouse." He nodded an assent and she left, him watching after her before turning back to the ocean, feeling an inkling of hope starting to creep up. Maybe, though, he should discuss this with Jodi first. No more secrets from her, he promised himself. No more.

Stardew

Jodi looked overwhelmed when her husband told her about this possible chance to get Vince back. It seemed she wasn't sure what to think. She was torn between being hopeful and skeptical. "Do you realize how insane this sounds?" she finally asked.

"Yes. But it's a chance," Kent replied. "A chance to fix everything. Not just Vincent and Jas, Jodi, but our family. And Harvey." At least if Caroline's enthusing was anything to go by. She'd sought him out immediately upon being informed by the farmhand that he was in. She'd filled him in on everything else this opportunity might do for them, and if he hadn't been sold before, he was certainly sold afterwards.

"And if it doesn't work?" she asked.

"I don't know," Kent replied. He wouldn't say 'what's the worst that could happen', because rule number one was to never assume you knew what the worst even was, let alone whether or not it would happen. "We deal with it."

Jodi was quiet. "I don't… I'm not sure what to think about this," she said. She looked up at him. "Let me go with you. Just in case. If something goes wrong… I don't want to lose you too, Kent."

"I won't stop you," he replied, brushing a strand of her hair behind her ear. "We'll do this together. No more going at it alone, Jo. I promise."

She nodded, nuzzling him gently. "Then I guess we should get ready to go," she said, smiling weakly. "It'll be an adventure." He kissed her forehead softly and nodded, squeezing her hands and standing up to prepare an emergency bag. Jodi rubbed her arms uncertainly. This seemed almost too good to be true. She knew better than to trust that feeling.

Stardew

To say Pierre was distracted was the understatement of the century. He agitatedly drummed a pencil on the counter, fidgeting and looking generally uncomfortable. An ominous feeling pricked incessantly at him screaming that something was wrong, but he couldn't imagine what. By Yoba, he hadn't felt this level of anxiety since he didn't even know when. And this foreboding feeling inside of him… He hadn't felt a sensation like it since Abby had been a little girl and gone suddenly quiet. Caroline had told him Abby was probably napping, their girl had been tired, but he couldn't shake the unease and when he went to check it out, he found her almost strangled on her curtain lines. Those curtains had disappeared in record time and curtain ropes hadn't been a feature in this household ever since. He'd been damn certain of that.

He frowned and picked up a phone, dialling his daughter's—Caroline's daughter's, but even if Abby wasn't his by blood like he suspected, she was still his daughter to him!—number. He waited two rings. On the third she picked up. "Hi daddy," she greeted cheerily.

"Hi sweetheart. Everything okay?" he asked.

"It's fine," Abby replied. "Things are kind of depressing around here given Sam's family drama, and it's sort of really hard to deal with and watch, especially for Sebby, but I mean, he can't mope forever, right? Can he?"

"I wish I could answer that for you, sweetie," Pierre replied. "Are you sure everything's okay?"

"Huh? Yeah, dad, I'm fine," Abby replied. "Why?"

"Nothing, just… jumpy I guess," Pierre replied. "Not sure why."

"You should take a break, dad. Maybe you're working too hard," Abby replied.

"Maybe," he agreed.

"Maybe you should hang up and do that now?" Abby said.

Pierre sighed. "Alright. You win. Goodbye honey," he said.

"Bye daddy," Abby replied, hanging up. Pierre frowned in concern and hung up as well.

"Pierre, I'm going out for a walk for a bit," Caroline said, coming out of the back.

"So late?" Pierre asked, frowning a bit at this. The last time she was taking evening walks, she'd been slinking off to that tool wizard's stupid tower. Freaking magic man. She could play innocent all she wanted, he knew damn well what those two had been up to there.

"I'll be back in a little while," Caroline replied, going to him and kissing him gently.

"Are you going to him?" Pierre bitterly demanded. Caroline's smile fell, and she paled a bit. She was silent, staring at him for a beat. "You honestly thought I was that blind, didn't you Carol?"

She frowned. "I'm not going to him," she said. "I stopped going there when you asked me to, I promise you I did. I had been wanting to call it off even before! I didn't… I didn't want to hurt you like that anymore!"

"Was that the reason you really stopped, Carol? Or was it because you found out you were pregnant with his child and didn't want me to know?" Pierre demanded.

She was silent, eyes blazing furiously at him. Turning, she marched away without answering. Pierre didn't even care. Let her wander off in her little tiff, damn her. Dammit, if she was going back to him… Screw him! He growled in his throat and stormed out from behind the counter, marching from the shop and slamming the door shut behind him, locking it and putting up the 'Closed' sign. He stormed towards Cindersnap forest. If she was going there again, he wanted to damn well know! And he intended fully to confront that stupid wizard this time instead of pretending he didn't know what was going on like a coward. Maybe he'd walk in on them together. Maybe he'd reach the freak show before her. That would be best, he decided. Then he could make it clear 'Rasmodius' wasn't fooling anyone!

Stardew

Rasmodius was pouring over the latest book he'd pulled out, bags under his eyes. He was near exhausted. He grimaced, rubbing his eyes, and looked at the book again. Just then he heard loud, angry pounding at his door and quickly turned, blinking. That was… unusual. The pounding sounded again, louder and angrier this time. He frowned and approached said door with caution. "Rasmodius, open the fu… freaking door!" a man's voice furiously shouted. Rasmodius froze, eyes widening. Oh no. Pierre. He stayed rooted to the spot. "Open the door!" Pierre shouted, kicking it violently.

Rasmodius winced and hurried to it, pulling it open and looking guardedly at the shorter man, though certainly not shorter by a significant enough amount to matter if things got physical. Pierre was built sturdier than him besides, with a lot more muscle. In a physical matchup, he knew full well he came out the loser. "Can I help you?" the wizard icily greeted.

"If Caroline is here, you piece of sh…" Pierre began. Rasmodius zapped up a mouth cover. Pierre started, scowled, and ripped it off, eyes furious. "If she's here or coming here, you're a dead man! You stay away from my wife you freak!"

Rasmodius started in surprise. "What? Pierre, I haven't seen Caroline for two decades now, say for passing glimpses of her in the woods! She left to go back to you!" he replied. He supposed there wasn't even a point in denying it at this point. It seemed Pierre had always known after all. He'd suspected as much, but he hadn't thought too much on it when no cuckholded husband had stormed up to his door demanding retribution. "Why do you think she came here?"

"Because she went to take a 'little walk around town' not even a half hour ago?" Pierre sarcastically sneered. He paused, though, suddenly realizing what that meant. "Wait. If she isn't rendezvousing with you, where did she go?"

The wizard was silent. "She left?" he asked.

"Yes," Pierre replied, a bit uncertain now. "Which isn't at all in character for her."

"Well did she say anything?!" Rasmodius demanded.

"No! If she had, I wouldn't be on your doorstep figuring she'd started to miss that magic di…" Pierre began. A covering on his mouth again. He looked vaguely annoyed and peeled if off again with a disgusted expression. He sighed, willing himself to cool down, and thought. He hesitated, shifting, then said, "She came home strangely happy yesterday."

"Strangely happy?" Rasmodius asked. "She's always been a happy, optimistic woman as far as I knew."

"Not since… since everything went to pot in town…" Pierre replied, glancing away a bit sadly. He turned back. "But then yesterday she came back spouting something about how soon everything was going to be okay again. I figured she'd been talking to someone giving her false hope, decided if I ever figured out who that was I'd punch them in the face for doing that to her, then went about my business."

Rasmodius was quiet. There was realization in his eyes now. And fear. Pierre frowned. "Rasmodius?" he asked wariliy.

"Oh no," Rasmodius whispered. He turned, striding quickly back inside his tower and heading for his library. Pierre stood outside a bit awkwardly, then decided to brave stepping into the lair of the beast. He cautiously looked around as he followed the wizard, his steps tentative. Rasmodius was scanning his books. "Has she been talking to someone out of the ordinary?" he demanded.

"Not that I'm aware of. Except whoever told her everything was going to be okay again, but I have no clue who that was. Maybe the farmhand?" Pierre replied.

Rasmodius shouted a curse that made Pierre jump a bit, blinking rapidly in surprise. That was unexpected language from the wizard. "Wh-what's going on?" Pierre asked, uneasy now. "What do you think is going on?" The wizard pulled out a book, reading through it, and gave a cry of dismay, hand shooting to his head in alarm as he clutched his hair in terror. Pierre started. "Rasmodius, what's happening?!" he demanded of the now deathly pale man who looked like he'd just experienced the most horrifying thing he'd ever experienced in his life. The wizard was starting to shiver. "Rasmodius!" Pierre shouted angrily and agitatedly.

Rasmodius looked at him, pale as a ghost, and suddenly that dark, foreboding feeling was back full force, twisting Pierre's gut like a rope. "Abigail," the wizard whispered in horror. Pierre went ghostly pale. Suddenly the wizard bolted. Pierre didn't waste time asking questions, just followed blindly. Why had he said Abigail's name? Why had he sounded so horrified? He didn't even want to know, he just knew that whatever the reason for it, this couldn't be good, and now every part of him was screaming at him to find his daughter! Their daughter, he inwardly corrected.

Stardew

Abigail was trying to figure out this cooking game she'd started getting into now that she and Sebastian were on their own. Kind of. Their parents were just a phone call or short walk away so they could get tips from them about cooking at any time, but still! The door was suddenly knocked frantically on. "Abby! Abigail, open up!" she heard her father call frantically.

She gasped, looking over and forgetting the food. She shut off the burner then ran to respond to the cry, pulling open the door quickly. "Daddy?" she asked. "What's wrong? Is mom okay?"

"Are you okay?!" Pierre demanded, taking her arms.

Abby opened her mouth to answer then paused, slamming it shut upon seeing the wizard standing behind her father looking anxious and just as panicked, albeit in a more reserved and less expressive way. The man was wringing his hands together nervously, scanning her over for any injury. She could only stare in silence. She'd… had suspicions about him in the past… They'd begun when she was a teenager and had started to realize just how unlike her father she actually looked… She'd tried once to press mom about it. Mom had gotten quiet, for a moment she'd looked like a deer in headlights, but then she'd recovered, smiling, and spouted something about her genes being more dominant than Pierre's… Then she'd found her mom's old diaries… They'd given her answers… Not all of them, but enough for her to puzzle together that… that her father probably wasn't her father, and that her actual father was someone wholly unexpected until that moment…

"Why is he here?" she asked quietly, staring at the wizard. Rasmodius was his name. She'd crossed him often as a little girl, when she'd gone to play in the woods… He would sometimes appear to watch over her, and sometimes he would play little games with her... The man looked away a bit painfully, closing his eyes.

Pierre looked back at Rasmodius, then to Abigail again. "Are you okay?" he repeated.

"Yes?" she more questioned than stated.

"Have you seen your mother?" Pierre asked.

"She dropped by a few minutes ago. She wanted to see Sam. She, um, she told him not to worry. That soon everything would be alright again. I told her off for telling him something like that so soon. She just smiled mysteriously at me and apologized and told me she was going to go for a walk before bed. She said she was going up to the train station."

Rasmodius blanched. "Oh good Yoba!" he exclaimed in horror, turning tail and racing away. Pierre just reacted, bolting after him.

Abigail, flabbergasted, snapped out of her shock. "W-wait, dad! Dad, wait!" she shouted, racing out after him.

"Abby?!" she heard Sebastian call. She looked back. He was racing from the apartment after her.

"Something's happening Sebby! I'm going after my dad!" she called back. Sebastian started. Not about to be left behind if something bad was going on, he took off after her.

"Tell me what's going on!" Pierre pled frantically, coming alongside the wizard. He knew their daughter and son-in-law were close behind, maybe within hearing range, but he didn't care. He wanted answers!

"She's going to the swamp! The witch's swamp!" Rasmodius said.

"The what?!" Pierre demanded.

"She's been lied to, Pierre. She's about to do something horrible! We have to stop her before it's too late!" Rasmodius replied. "In the swamp there are three wicked shrines; the Shrine of Night Terrors, the Shrine of Memory, and the Shrine of Selfishness. The witch, that wicked woman… She despises me! She wants for nothing more than to cause me pain by hurting the ones I love most! She's lied to your wife! She's offered her a solution to the sadness plaguing this valley, but what she'll give instead is more. Anguish untold! The Shrine of Selfishness… It takes your children away from you forever!" Pierre went white, gasping. Abby! Caroline was going there hoping to save the valley, but instead she was going to lose her daughter! "Caroline! Don't!" he screamed as loudly as he could, hoping against hope she would hear him. If they weren't running full-speed before, they were now.

Stardew

Caroline, Jodi, and Kent looked around uneasily at the swamp, unsettled by the location. The farmhand went onward like nothing at all was wrong. "I don't like this," Jodi whispered softly to Kent. He was quiet, holding her hand firmly. He didn't either. They approached a hut sitting in the middle of the place totally unguarded. The farmhand cautiously pushed open the door, looking around, then turned to them. "It's clear," she said, beckoning for them to follow and entering.

"This place is horrible," Caroline said, looking nervously around. It gave her the creeps. Kent entered the hut first. Jodi followed him, then a hesitant Caroline who was feeling more and more like this was a very, very bad idea. The three stopped, gasping as their eyes fell on the three shrines standing ominously in the room, the farmhand in the middle.

The farmhand turned to them. "I have the shards," she whispered, withdrawing two. For a moment no one moved, but soon Caroline approached, taking one of them. Kent followed cautiously after her.

"How can we know which shrine is the Shrine of Restoration?" Jodi asked.

The farmhand pulled out a book, flipping through. "It's this one," she soon said, approaching one of the shrines.

"Oddly comprehensive book," Kent gruffly said, getting antsy about this place.

"Written by a scholar," the farmhand replied, examining it. "So… who wants to go first?" Neither Kent nor Caroline looked inclined to volunteer. The farmhand frowned. "Will someone please man up?" she bit at them. "Nothing's going to get done if no one feeds the shrine. Pelican Town will just… stay like it is now. Do any of you really want that?"

It was Jodi, surprisingly, who finally moved to act. She took the shard from her husband's hand and approached the shrine, looking it warily over. What was the worst that could happen, after all?

The hut was in sight. They were almost there…

Jodi took a breath. Finally, she lay the shard down. The shrine took it within itself with a rumble and Jodi gasped, stepping back in concern.

Sam, sitting in his room, felt a tingling sensation and frowned a bit. He felt strange. What was happening to him…? He suddenly let out a sharp gasp and gave a cry… And then there was only weightlessness and soothing winds and astounding views…

"See? Nothing bad happened," the farmhand said, smirking darkly. Caroline was quiet. Finally she approached the shrine too and held the shard over it. "Let it go, Caroline. And all your problems will just… fly away," the farmhand said. Caroline took a deep breath then let the shard go. It seemed to fall through the air in slow motion.

"Caroline, no!" frantic voices cried out as the door as thrown open. She gasped, turning quickly with eyes wide, and paled. Standing there were Pierre and Rasmodius!

"Pierre, Ra-Rasmodius…" she breathed in shock.

"No!" Rasmodius screamed in anguish and alarm, casting a spell to try and stop the shrine from taking the shard… But it was too late… His heart stopped, his eyes wide in horror.

"No… No, no, no, Caroline! Caroline no!" Pierre numbly said, holding his head in his hands and shaking it.

"Dad, mom!" Abigail's voice cried out. They gasped, turning. There in the doorway appeared Abigail. She stopped on seeing them. "Dad, mom?" she asked, unsure of what was going on here. "What…" she began. She suddenly stopped, a light feeling coming over her. She wavered a bit with a little gasp, hand going to her head. A light began to glow around her body.

"Abigail!" Rasmodius screamed in terror, racing to her desperately. Pierre followed. "No, don't go! Don't go!" the wizard pled, catching her hand frantically. He was weeping, Abigail realized in shock. But-but why?

"Abby!" Sebastian cried out in fear.

"Abigail!" Caroline shrieked, mortified. But why? Why were they acting like this, Abigail wondered in concern? What was wrong? Why did they look suddenly so much lower than her?

"Please! Please, Baba, stop this! Stop it! You win! I surrender to you everything and anything you want, just stop this!" the wizard begged, struggling to hold on and trying to cancel out the magic.

"Abby!" Pierre cried out, reaching out to catch her other hand along with Caroline in a desperate attempt to hold her back.

"Abigail!" Sebastian cried out, leaping up for her and catching her around the waist in tears, clinging desperately to her. She looked down at him in fear and uncertainty. She didn't understand what was happening. What was-was happening…?

A gasp left her mouth, her head tossing backwards, and then her parents and husband were all on the ground staring up and then… then there was weightlessness and lulling wind and such beautiful sights far below… From up here the eerie swamp didn't seem so eerie anymore… She heard anguished screams of a name she felt like she should recognize but didn't, and not once did she look back...

The elf king stared in utter silence up at the beautiful little bird flitting away in the wind, cooing its innocence and diving and swooping with the breezes before disappearing high in the sky. The little girl on her knees in front of him sobbed her eyes out. She feared she had done something bad that had done this to her friend and taken him away.

She had done no ill, but someone had… And he would stand idly by no more…

This slight against nature, this-this desecration… It would by no means be tolerated…

Stardew

If it were possible to die of a broken heart, Caroline would soon do so. She lay in her bed unmoving, Ill with no sign of recovery in sight… She only became worse and worse… That day in the swamp she collapsed in her grief and hadn't woken since… Pierre felt in his heart like she never would, and all he could do was watch her slowly fade away. He and Rasmodius had taken turns carrying her to the wizard's tower where they had lain her. And that was all they could do.

She seemed almost like a princess in a fairy-tale, lying so cold and still and beautiful…

Pierre's shop was closed indefinitely, and the tower became his home. He refused to leave his dying wife. The wizard didn't begrudge him it in the slightest. Kent and Jodi had raced blindly back to the town in a panic, terrified for their son. Sebastian had gone with them. There was no Sam to be found. Only a single dove's feather resting on his bed…

They had heard Jodi's anguished scream all the way from the tower…

The town died that day…

Kent toyed with death. Often he could be found swinging a pistol back and forth between his fingers. Jodi began to drink. Heavily. Most of her time she spend passed out now... They'd speculated double suicide…

The broken Sebastian moved back home, shut himself away in the basement, and left only to use the bathroom. He never ate, he never slept. He drank only to appease his begging sister who pled in tears for him not to go or to leave her like Harvey had… But he wouldn't stay long, he decided. Eventually starvation or sleep deprivation would take him. He didn't care at this point. He just didn't care… She was gone, and Sam was gone, and he was done. He was just done.

No words were spoken between the townspeople except when there was necessity for it. Necessity boiled down to telling someone the price of something and offering little more. Grief was drowning it slowly. All of them.

The valley would never live again…

Stardew

Shane watched in silence as the tearful Emily went through the motions of the day-to-day. Get up, work on her designs, go to the saloon to serve drinks, get the night done and go home. She moved around the bar listlessly. It seemed she always cried now… He hated it… It didn't suit Emily… She offered brave smiles, she offered encouraging words to the broken Jodi and all the other broken fools who staggered in, she offered everything she could find it within herself to offer, and she was drowning. She was drowning just like the rest of them. Hope was dead, joy was dead, there was nothing to celebrate anymore, there was everything to mourn. She let everyone else share their pain with her… But she shared hers with no one…

He sat still as she walked passed him, heading to the storage room and sniffing, wiping her eyes after a particularly depressing conversation with Jodi had ended, and Jodi had gone to stagger home. He didn't move. Finally he took his drink, finishing it, and rose, pursuing Emily quietly. He followed her into the storage room and watched her as she tried to gather together the stock she needed while valiantly attempting not to cry. She failed, of course, and a sob escaped her lips. She covered her mouth, closing her eyes tight.

He moved towards her, silent as a ghost. She gasped when she felt his presence, his hand slipping around hers. She turned to him quickly, lips parted and eyes wide and brimming with tears. Upon realizing it was him, her fear melted away and she stared up at him, anguish in her eyes that didn't belong there. He scanned her quietly then pressed his lips against hers. He half expected her to shove him off. Instead her mouth quivered and she wrapped her arms around his neck, holding onto him for all she was worth like he was her last lifeline. How had he suddenly become the town's least depressed person, he dryly wondered to himself as her lips danced against his in longing and as her fingers gripped onto him tightly, alternating between loosening and digging in.

They just went with it, honestly. They didn't think about it. She wanted his touch and comfort, he wanted to be her pillar of strength. She'd been his enough times, now it was his turn. Why should she have to carry the weight of the world alone? It just happened as it happened. Her hands found their way beneath his jacket and she pushed it off him before pushing her hands beneath his shirt, desperate it seemed for skin to skin contact. They both realized where it was going. Neither of them cared. His shirt was the next thing to go before he pulled her close and worked on getting her out of that dress of hers as quickly as she would allow. Then he was bare, and she was bare, and they were up against the wall, and the kiss had escalated into a dizzying affair and oh she definitely was big on skin to skin contact, and then there were soft and breathy gasps and whispers and sounds. There were soft cries and mewls and moans, and light panting and nails digging into his shoulder blades and tears not of grief but of gratitude wetting his skin that he wished would disappear and never, ever make an appearance in her eyes again.

He felt briefly guilty, to be fair. Guilt that they were doing this now, guilt that it had taken something like this to bring it about, guilt because he knew how much Clint loved Emily and knew that if he found out about this it would destroy him, but Shane wasn't about to let her go because Clint loved her. Clint had had his freaking chance, and now it was his. Guilt was erased from his mind when the wall became the floor and her legs and arms were wrapped so tightly around him it was almost painful, and when the warmth of her body and the feel of it squirming beneath his own struck him full force, and when her kisses became short and frantic and sweet and desperate, a silent plea for him to keep on when she thought he might be slowing it down. Which he definitely, definitely wasn't. And he made that very clear to her very quickly to put her mind at ease.

It ended with them tangled together on the floor clinging to one another like they were each others' last tethers to something good and worthwhile, her panting softly against his chest and him burying his face in her hair holding her tight. It ended with a sudden and unexpected whispered marriage proposal too long in the making, a breathless yes, and just like that they became perhaps the last beacon of light and hope in this bleak, miserable, dying land…

The wedding was somber, but joy could for a little while be felt permeating the air, even if only a little bit. Even Sebastian had dragged himself out of his basement to be here for it, and Pierre and Rasmodius, and that was so, so good. Only Caroline didn't come, still in what could only be described as a grief-induced-coma… Dying of a broken heart… Shane hadn't believed it possible until now. He pushed the thought aside. He wanted to feel only joy in his own heart now. Well, as much as could be expected. They kissed, long and tender and adoring.

This time Emily's tears were tears of happiness…

For the first time in a long time everyone's tears were…

They had become a sliver of hope and light in a world of despair and darkness…

Stardew

The elf king observed the wedding in utter silence from his hiding place upon the cliffs overlooking the town square. A small ray of light in an otherwise darkened world. He had not expected it to come from the likes of Shane and Emily. Thunder rumbled in the distance, quiet and somehow comforting. The wedding slowly dispersed, the groom leading his bride along the road towards the ranch. He scanned the square and saw the bride's sister in conversation with her young man, her favorite. He was asking something of her. Her response was to throw herself into his arms, kissing him adoringly. His elven hearing picked out the term 'spring wedding'... He would be sure the wedding would be nothing short of a celebration, he determined. They would not have to be a second beacon of light in darkness because there would be no more darkness… He could not shun this place any longer… It was not in his heart to be able to… Now there was much work to be done to right the wrongs. He had best be started.