Part 3: Time Breakers
Chapter 1: You Reap What You SowSummer 29, 2108 (Forget-Me-Not Valley)Eric was tossing and turning in his sleep. Ever since he kissed Flora, everything in his heart turned into a giant mess. A part of him is telling him to just forget Mary, he'll never get home. To marry Flora, who's actually there in front of him. The other half is telling him to not give up. That there is a way home. He was just too scared to go and look for it.
The soul-searing arguments give him many a sleepless nights over the past week, and tonight it would reach it's climax. He finally gets to see Mary again in his dreams, only she looks very upset and angry. He has never seen Mary upset and angry before. He tries to speak with her, but all he gets was one, powerful, blood-drawing slap to the face.
He never saw it coming, the shock causes him to fall on his butt. He silently rubbed the stinging cheeks, his eyes looking at her tearfully, as if asking 'why?'.
Mary exploded when she saw that look.
"YOU!!! I SAW YOU! DON'T THINK FOR A SECOND YOU CAN PLAY GAMES WITH ME HIKARI! I SAW YOU KISSING HER! YOU SWORE ONLY I COULD! YET WHEN I SEE YOU, YOU'RE KISSING ANOTHER WOMAN! I HATE YOU ERIC HIKARI, I HATE YOU! YOU'RE NOTHING BUT A LIAR!!!!"
By now, Eric can feel the tears falling down his face, not even getting a chance to explain himself. He felt so......so guilty and dirty inside himself. Mary vanished, and he couldn't even say a word.
When he woke up, his cheek still hurt. Seeing that Flora was still asleep, he grabbed his things and went over to Ruby's inn and took his daily morning ritual of brushing his teeth, bathing, and putting on some new clothes before leaving.
With his now confused and hurt heart and soul, he doesn't want to go back to the tent. He doesn't want to see anything that would remind him of Flora today. So instead he heads north, to Lumina's mansion. When he reaches the big house, he remembers that it's very early in the morning, so she wouldn't be up yet.
As he turned around, Eric noticed something he missed every other time he came to Lumina's mansion. He saw a little wooden shack next to the big, stylish place. It was so out of character, he wondered why he hadn't seen it before. He went up to the door and gently knocked, wondering if anyone was home.
Summer 14, 2008 Mineral Town Things are just as bad in Mineral Town. The library remained closed ever since Mary saw Eric kissing another woman in the Harvest Goddess' window. The pain she feels in her heart is too great to bear. She trusted Eric with her heart and soul. Then he suddenly vanishes without a trace, and the next time she sees him, his heart already belongs to another. Many things floated in her mind as she sat on her bed hugging her knees.
Day after day, Mary's parents knocked on the door to see what may be bothering Mary so much. But no matter how loud they call, Mary refuses to answer the door. She hasn't eaten in days, they fear that she will become seriously ill. Bu even though they have not gotten a direct answer from her, they can tell that it has something to do with Eric.
Many of the other Mineral Town folk have already given up hope that Eric will come back. Knowing Eric and his grandfather Tony, they feel that Eric did not just abandon the farm. But nobody has seen him in any of the nearby villages, he just simply disappeared.
They can only assume the worst may have happened to him. They feel that he may have gotten lost in the woods, and was never seen again. Or maybe he returned to the mines, and the curse has consumed him this time. So on the fourteenth day of Summer, the older villagers of Mineral Town decides to hold funeral services in Eric's name. Even though they have no proof that he may have died, Eric abandoning the farm was not something that they are willing to accept.
Not everyone in Mineral Town thinks that he died. Karen and Cliff continues hope that he will come back. They had a huge debate over the future of Eric's farm. Since Mayor Thomas is convinced that Eric may not be alive anymore, he wants to sell the farm to some new owners. But Cliff and Karen oppose to that idea.
The decision came out that as long as Cliff and Karen continue to work on the farm, it will not be sold. But now that Mary is not helping anymore, things may become too difficult for them. Now that they have one less helper in the farm, they have to spend more time on the farm, and less time with their normal daily lives. They are still young, and could barely handle the responsibilities of both their normal jobs, and Eric's job. They only hope that Eric is okay, and he returns soon.
Back in the goddess pond, the Harvest Goddess panics as she continues to fulfill her duties. It has been a while since she has felt the presence of her Harvest Sprites, and the other goddesses has also mentioned that their sprites have gone missing as well. The only sprite left is Flik, who went on a journey to the future. So now the goddesses are on their own, and the rope of time continues to break slowly.
Summer 30, 2108 (Forget-Me-Not Valley)Eric wakes up in one of the bedrooms of Ruby's inn. As he brushes his teeth, he thinks of what happened when he knocked on the old shack's door. As soon as he touched it, he felt a chill run down his spine. A powerful dark aura radiates from the old house. He could not tell if the darkness he felt was evil, or anger. After taking a step back, he looks at the old shack, and thinks that it may be haunted.
He leaves the villa completely, and has been staying at the inn until now. All day yesterday, he had been thinking about what he plans to do. He had decided to do two things, end whatever relationship he has with Flora, and move out of the tent. Since Flora comes to the inn often, he will not be able to stay there either, so he needs a new place to stay.
The first thing he needs to deal with is Flora. It's not going to be easy for him, Flora has shown him a lot of kindness, she took him into his tent, and offered him a job. Being so close to her is making their relationship awkward. They are both adults looking for some companionship. But they have allowed their loneliness to get the better of them.
As hard as it may be to do, he takes a deep breath, and heads out to the tent so he can speak to Flora after he is done cleaning himself up. He has no idea what to say, he has nothing prepared to break the news to Flora without hurting her. Because of what happened earlier, Eric figures that Flora must have deep feelings for him. Since he never mentioned Mary before, he game the false impression that he was single. This was his mistake more than it was hers, so he'll need to accept responsibility, and try to set things straight.
He knocks on one of the wooden supports of the tent. He is not sure if she is going to be inside, she might be in the mines by now. But he figures to check the tent first. to his surprise, he hears Flora's faint voice say, “Come in,” from inside the tent. This only worries him a little more, she doesn't sound sick, but her voice did sound a bit hoarse. Like if she was up all night worrying. He did sleep at the inn without letting Flora know where he was, so it shouldn't be a surprise that Flora might have been worried about him.
He takes another deep breath, and goes inside the tent. Flora is sitting on her futon fully dressed and ready for work. But she also has deep dark bags under her eyes, letting Eric know that she has not even slept a wink. Talking to her will not be easy, seeing her in this condition only makes it even more difficult.
“I waited for you all night. . . You never came back to the tent. . .” said Flora in a sleepy tone.
Eric sighs deeply, and replies, “I'm sorry. I was at the Inn. . . I'm. . . sorry that I worried you. I was going through a lot since the night before.”
There is a long pause of silence. Eric wants to say something, but the words do not come out. They stay stuck in his neck, almost choking him to death. He almost wish it could, living right now is not easy for him. Worst thing is that he knows that it's going to get worse before it gets any better.
:I'm sorry about what happened the other night.” said Flora finally breaking the silence. “I know you told me that you had someone you care about. But I just couldn't help myself at that moment.”
“It's not all your fault.” said Eric. “I'm sorry too. . . I should have said something earlier. I should have been more clear about my situation. But when I got here, I didn't know what to think, or what to say. I was confused and stupid. I guess I still am.”
Flora moves closer to Eric, but he quickly moves away. Eric knew that Flora was going to try to comfort him. He looks away in shame, not because of what Flora tried to do. But he felt ashamed that he was thinking about accepting her comfort for a moment. He knew that if he came back to the tent, this would happen. They are attracted to one another, like opposite ends of a magnet. But his heart already belongs to someone else, and he has to be strong for her sake.
“Flora, I'm afraid that we can't work together anymore. We can't continue living this way, it's too uncomfortable. I'm going to stay at the inn from now on.”
“I understand,” answered Flora. Saying those words were not easy for her. Her feelings for him are strong, and her heart is not willing to let go so easily.
And so, Eric leaves the tent, and heads back into the inn. Inside his room, he counts the money that he has. He then realizes that he has a problem. With the money he has, he cannot stay at the inn for too long. He is no longer employed, and he has not even the slightest clue how to get back home.
Summer 15, 2008 Mineral TownThings are becoming desperate in Mineral Town. Mary still secludes herself in her room, and shows no sign that she is coming out. Her mother and father are worried sick, and they still can hardly get a word out of her. And there is still no sign of Eric or the Harvest Sprites.
The Harvest Goddess figures that she needs to do something, and she needs to do it quick. The first thing she decides to do is try to patch things up with Mary. Hopefully she can get Mary to understand that there is probably a misunderstanding somewhere (she herself doubts it) hoping that it will at least slow down the damage to the rope of time.
After she sees that Mary's family is out of sight, she teleports herself to Mary's house, outside her room. It's against the rules for a goddess to leave the pond unless summoned. But this is an emergency, and she will have to break a few more rules to set things right.
But just as she is about to knock on Mary's door, she hears someone coming. She swears that her parents have gone out, so there should be no one else in the house. Rather than returning to the pond, the goddess uses some magic to make herself invisible.
She is shocked to find Gray walking around in her house. The goddess feels that something is a bit off, Mary's parents are out, so the front door should have been locked. And Mary is not herself, so nobody is running the library. If nobody is running the library, it should be closed. How did Gray get in? And more importantly, why is he there?
The Harvest Goddess continues to watch in invisible mode. Gray goes ahead to Mary's door, and knocks on it. “Mary, it's me Gray! I want to talk to you!”
Gray stands there waiting for Mary. At first, the Harvest Goddess thought that Mary would ignore him, just like the many people that she ignored. But after a few minutes, the Harvest Goddess gasps as she sees her doorknob being opened from the inside. Mary then peeks out of the door, and looks at Gray with such sadness in her eyes. Her face is clammy from days of crying, and she looks skinny from days of skipping meals. She is in a nightgown, and she left her glasses on her dresser. Her hair is a mess, no longer in a braid hanging just inches off the floor.
Before she allowed Gray to say anything, she jumps out of her room, and throws herself into Gray's arms. She doesn't say anything, all she does is cry some more. Even after days of crying, she still has so many tears left to shed. Gray smiles victoriously, and says, “Don't worry Mary. I am here for you. I will never abandon you.”
Things are looking grim for the goddess. Since Eric was found with another woman, Mary has decided to turn her heart to the other person she cares about. She knows that things will only get even more difficult from this point on. She only prays that Eric will come back before it's too late.
Meanwhile in Forget-Me-Not Valley, the Witch Princess laughs in satisfaction seeing that the next phase of her plan has set in motion perfectly. As the Witch Princess looks at Mary and Gray from her crystal ball, she shakes an empty vial of potion, and says, “What a stupid boy he is. Now that I made him drink this potion, he is under my control. I shall use his love for Mary to my advantage, and turn this work upside-down!” She then lets out a wicked cackle. It will take a bit more time to complete the process of her plan, but without the sprites or Eric, she feels that there is nothing that can stop her now.
To be continued.
