A/N: Whooowheee, this chapter is a bit of a genre twister. I haven't stuck to the rainbow, starry eyed Stardew valley and I'm not going to start now. So, enjoy this rollercoaster!
Chapter Eighteen: Turn back time.
Sebastian sat his desk and looked over at the shelf where there was a pack of cigarettes simply there. It was the pack he refused to use as it was Rina's attempt at "paying him back", and he saw no need for that. His eyes drifted over the shelf and wore a bitter smile at the sight of the book series that they loved reading, some CDs of bands they enjoyed. It was like everything reminded him of Rina and the horrendous way he'd treated her. At the end of the shelf, he lingered on the Obsidian she had gifted him and behind it, he spotted her old phone. Lurking and watching him like she said it would be. He shook his head, trying to repress and ignore his emotions as he forced himself to look away at his own phone in distraction. Idly he began to tap buttons.
'Bastian! I have missed calls from almost the entire town. What's going on? Where are you? Everyone is worried about you! When you turn your damn phone back on, please let your mother know that you're still alive! I don't know what's going on but clearly you've gone somewhere? I know you're upset about the whole bouquet thing but this isn't the way to go about handling shit! Please, call me back!'
'-but this isn't the way to go about handling shit! Please, call me back!'
'-about handling shit! Please, call me back!'
'-Please, call me back!'
'…Fuck,' Sebastian muttered to himself as he listened to Rina's voice message over and over again. It had been over three weeks since his… meltdown. He had really tried to convey his regret to his family and to Sam, making sure that they knew he was aware he was out of line. When it came to Rina though, Sebastian did the only thing he could think of; he gave her space. He had sent a message with an apology and let her know that he wasn't going to contact her until she said it was okay to do so. It caused him anxiety every day and he was always checking his phone but he knew that she would be busy with the new season and the babies that were due. He had poured himself into his work and doubled his efforts to find a new place in the city. Not that he wanted to leave at all as the thought of returning and finding that she had fallen in love with someone was terrifying. On the way back to town on that night she had explained her thought processes.
'If you leave and come back because it's not for you, well, at least you tried it. You discovered what you did and didn't like. If you stay for other people, you'll forever wonder "what if?" Call me selfish but I don't want to be one of the people you resent because you feel like you missed out,' Rina said honestly as they walked.
He knew that he wouldn't be able to tell her how he truly felt in that moment. Apart from the fact that she didn't feel the same way, she wouldn't want to be responsible for him staying in Pelican town. Also, there was no way that she would ever be comfortable with his unrequited love, the idea of hurting him or taking advantage of his feelings would be too much of a constant worry to her. The more he thought about it, the more it became clear that of course Rina would have rejected Sam. She had always known that Sam liked her and she had made sure to keep strict boundaries in place so that nothing could be misconstrued. Sebastian knew that he truly was an idiot.
-x-
Rina crouched and looked at the egg on the floor of the coop. It was nestled under some bedding and she would have walked right past it if it hadn't glittered in a small sunbeam that she created as she opened up a sky light. 'Hmm,' Rina said as she picked it up. The egg was heavy, heavier than a normal chicken egg, though it was the same size. It had a deep black shell which made it look unreal with how black it was. Like a shadow that absorbed light. Here and there though, it flickered with small red pin pricks. She held it up to the light to see if there was a viable chick to hatch and unfortunately, she couldn't see anything at all. The only clue she had was that it was warm, like it had been freshly laid.
She carried it over to her currently empty incubator and slotted it inside comfortably. 'Alright,' she said a little confused about it all, 'let's just see what pops out of you, huh?' Her chickens pecked around her feet. 'And you gals don't know anything about this, then?' She asked them, receiving silence in reply. 'Uh huh,' she said shrugging her shoulder. With her chickens dealt with she wandered into the next paddock and opened up the small ramp. 'Release the Quacken!' She cried as a flurry of feathers and loud quacks caused a moment of cacophony as her flock of ducks rushed towards the pond. 'Let's hope there's nothing strange in here,' she mused as she entered the coop to check bedding and food. She gathered the few duck eggs that she found, testing them against the small bracelet she had.
It was like a temperature strip, only for quality. She would only have to press an item to it for a couple of seconds and the black plastic like material would change colour. Hopefully. It would either be, silver, gold or iridium. If it didn't change, it wasn't anything special. With liquids she would just tap a bead onto the surface and it would do the same. 'Oh,' she said as one of the eggs made it glitter gold for a moment, 'well done, ladies,' she smiled. 'That's what I like to see.'
She placed that egg to one side of her basket and continued on in her rounds, it took most the day after she had seen to her vegetable patches, cows, sheep and mushroom cave. Her greenhouse was now complete and Robin was halfway through building a fish pond in her left fields. She decided to just take the rest of the day off and do some minor rearranging to the house, there was a new bookcase she had been putting off constructing and some tiling that needed finishing in the kitchen. By the time evening rolled around she was more than happy to fall into bed.
Rina wasn't sure what time it was when she woke up, it was dark and Mochi wasn't on her bed so she assumed he had gone out hunting. It wasn't like her to simply wake up during the night so she took a moment to figure out what could have possibly disturbed her. Then she heard it, or in fact she didn't hear it. The lack of sound. Her generator wasn't running. It created a loud hum when running, at first it had annoyed her but soon became like white noise, a comforting sound that her farm was safe from monsters. 'What the…?' She said as she forced herself to get up. Rina got dressed and tried the lights, nothing. 'Fuck!' She swore. Over the last year, her use of profanities had certainly become more second nature.
The fuse box for her property wasn't far from the house but enough to make her wary. With a sigh, Rina grabbed her weapon and tool belt, felt around for her shoes and made her way outside. It was cold and she moved quickly, using her phone as a flashlight. She could hear familiar noises that did indeed mean that monsters were around. She had to get the red-light generator up and running as soon as possible. She shoved her phone into her cleavage as she quickly but as quietly as possible, opened the metal casing to the fuses and wires. 'They've… been cut?' She said in hushed surprise as she found that several of the wires had been sliced through and others had simply been torn out. Who the fuck would be running around cutting wires? She thought and looked at the casing. It was a bit battered which could mean that maybe there was a squabble between monsters and this just happened to be an unfortunate side effect. Or the more likely option is that someone is trying to destroy my business with unrepairable damage, she thought bitterly as she examined it.
'Yoba… damn it,' she muttered as she began to twist and strip wires in order to connect them. With a pair of pliers, she finished one connection easily, causing beeping and some lights to flicker on inside her house as she re-established the power line. She was just about to start on the other broken fuse; not being experienced enough to know what was linked to what, she could only hope that this was the generator. Fear coursed through her as she heard angry bellowing from her barn. 'My cows!' She gasped as she stood up to look over her fields. She could see some sort of creature throwing itself against the wooden walls, causing a lot of distress inside. 'No!' Rina screamed. Her animals were family and although she knew and respected the natural cycle of life and death, she sure as hell wasn't going to let this happen. She looked at the wires, it would take too long for her to reconnect them. She had to make a choice.
Desperately she ran towards the barn and scrabbled around in her tool belt, finally finding her emergency flare. The monsters would be attracted to the bright light and hopefully with enough yelling, leave the cows and her coops alone. If I can get them far enough away from the farm, I can return in relative safety and fix the wires, she planned. Rina ripped off the top, allowing the chemicals inside to oxidise and explode with an obnoxiously blue light. 'Over here!' She screamed at them, the crowd of creatures that had been gathering on the edge of her paddocks and flying overhead. She waved her hand around in the air and once she was sure she had their attention, she bolted. Rina had planned to run towards the forest and throw the flare as far as she could into the trees before doubling back but unfortunately that plan went sideways as she reached the bracken. A couple of giant slimes, much more than she could handle at this point, rolled up towards her.
'Fuck!' She swore skidding to the side and turning around in a fast pivot. She now had to run past the horde she had attracted against herself. Don't think, just move! Rina screamed in her mind as she took off like a greyhound from the gates. All she had to do was get into the house. The cacophony of sounds and scents assaulted her senses as she ran, panicked, with her arm over her head to protect herself. Rina pelted through the crowd of bats and slimes, feeling them cling and scratch at her skin in an attempt to capture their prey. It caused her to stumble and cry out, dropping the flare as she scrambled to her feet. Tears streaming down her face as she ignored the pain and fear cloying at her heart. I've just got to get a little closer, just get to the house!
Rina tripped up the porch and tore her door open, slamming it behind her just as one of the smaller slimes, threw itself against the wood. Sure, she had fought some of these things in limited capacity in the mines but that was different. She had prepared for that, she would be wearing appropriate clothing, not a pair of pyjama shorts and an old tank top. Boots that weren't even laced up and her hair loose. Rina could hear scratching at her roof and the door was dangerously close to buckling. Even though she had dropped the flare, the monsters now had her scent. That and her house probably reeked of sugars and proteins with the amount of artisan goods she created in her kitchen and stored in her back rooms. 'Oh, Yoba,' she moans covering her face with her hands, trying to ignore the way the door shuddered against her back. Her breathing was erratic and her heart was beating so fast she wouldn't have been surprised if she dropped down there and then.
Mochi broke her spiral of anxiety as he came through the cat flap in a ginger blur and ran straight underneath her bed. Rina slapped her face. 'Come on, you, silly cow,' she scolded herself grabbed a kitchen chair and wedging it against her door handle, which also kept the flap from moving. Quickly she looked at her phone, it had connected itself to the audio system. 'Call Robin!' Rina said as she began to strategize and moved around her kitchen, grabbing the side of the table and pushing it against the chair. The screeching from bats and the gelatinous glops from the slimes were almost deafening. She could also hear buzzing like a hacksaw from several large insects. Her phone began to beep with the dialling tone and then made a frantic distress chime. 'Fuck!' She said as she glanced at the screen. It was on low battery. 'That's what I get for not plugging you in before I go to bed!' She groaned as with one last heave, she shoved the table against the chair and ran to her bookshelf, docking her phone into the port, giving it power. 'Call Robin!'
I will not let this ruin everything I've done; she thought in anger looking at the door and the hinges as they complained. I can do this, I can, I can! I will not go crawling back to my father because of shit like this! Her fury overrode her fear and she became indignant to the situation. Someone had cut her wires. Someone had tried to sabotage her. That someone, whomever they were; they were going to fail.
-x-
Sebastian rolled over under his quilt and groaned, the house phone was ringing and it was the middle of the night. He sat up and it stopped. With a muttered curse, he started to settle once more. He heard it go off again and with a rather vicious swearword he got up. The desk to the shop was right above his room so it might as well have been ringing next to his head. This time he was at his bedroom door when it cut off.
'If that damn thing rings again, I'm tearing it out the damn wall,' he muttered as he trudged back to his bed. He picked up his phone and looked at the time, three-thirty. He had only been in bed an hour. With a sigh he threw himself back onto his mattress and closed his eyes.
*Vrrrt. Vrrrt*
His own phone began to vibrate and he shielded his eyes as he looked at the ID. 'Pheebs?' He said as he answered, half in relief, half with concern. He couldn't hear anything but snippets of clashed sound. 'Hold on, Pheebs, I'm switching to video,' he warned as he clicked a button on his screen. If she was holding her phone, she would have to click the button as well to allow the visual recording, if it was in her dock, it did it automatically. 'Hey, did you ring the house…phone?' He started to say as the picture loaded and he began to watch:
-Rina was thrown from her feet as something large crashed through her window. She slid across her floorboards, a trail of blood following her body. She unsteadily got back up, glass falling from her clothes and stuck in her skin, brandishing her sword, she swung while yelling at the bat that seemed to be determined to tear her to shreds. 'Get the fuck off my farm!' She screams-
'Pheebs!' Sebastian shouted at his phone in panic as he watched. A large slime broke through her front door and glopped over the table, rolling towards her bedroom. He could hear Mochi hissing at something. Sebastian was frozen, as if he was watching a horror film, waiting for the jump scare, incapacitated with the tension.
-Rina noticed the slime advancing on her cat, 'I don't fucking think so! You leave my cat alone you, poor excuse for a sneeze!' She ranted as she reached out, attempting to dodge claws and grabbed the bat by the wing, viciously throwing it towards the slime; causing it to lodge in the viscous material and screech. The bat's flailing claws and wings tore the slime from in the inside out. Rina ran into her bedroom and reappeared a few seconds later with Mochi in her arms-
Sebastian had finally seen sense and had begun to get dressed. He shouted for his family to wake up as he made his way into the hallway, holding his phone in front of him and trying to get Rina to hear him. 'Pheebs! Pheebs! Can you hear me? Just get somewhere safe! Phee-' He swore, there was clearly some sort of connection failure. He could hear her but she couldn't hear him.
-Mochi yowls and hisses, digging his claws into her skin as she carried him to the kitchen. She opened one of the empty pickling barrels and placed him inside, making sure to knock out the drainage cork with her heel so that he had an air hole. 'Just stay in there,' she said as she clipped the lid shut, and then with a shove, wedged the barrel under her breakfast bar. He would be safe in there, for the time being. He would reek of salt when he came out though. Rina didn't have much more time to think as more and more creatures flooded her home, intent on making it her last night on the farm-
'No…' Sebastian moaned, terror causing his voice to break. 'Ophelia! No!' He screamed at his phone as something clearly hit her electronics and the connection was lost completely making the screen go black.
He had already caused enough noise to wake up his mother and sister. They were running down the corridor to find he had returned to his room, looking for his keys. 'What's going on?' Robin asked in a worry, she hadn't ever seen Sebastian so… scared before. Worked up and frantic.
'Red light power cut at Rina's farm,' he said concisely, giving her all the information, she needed. 'Keys?!'
'Here!' Maru shouted as she grabbed them off the side and threw them at him.
Robin had a hard expression, 'help her, Sebastian. I'll grab everyone else,' she said simply. Sebastian nodded and pulled on his helmet as he ran to his bike, hoping that he wasn't too late.