When the Stars Fall (Stardew Valley Fanfic)

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She couldn't put her finger on how she felt.

After all, her mind just cued into the fact Maru's older brother Sebastian was likely the person she needed to contact regarding the internet. On top of this, her image of Sebastian was all wrong, not at all the red hair and freckles she'd expected from having met Robin before. Of course, there was a chance, given the dark state of the room, that Sebastian dyed his hair black just like he liked black clothing.

Her lips pushed together, ever unsure.

Particularly since she might have misjudged him, yet pushed it aside, watching Sam step into the room, speaking softly. "Hey, Seb?" Sebastian didn't respond to him even when his friend sat on the bed and placed a hand on his shoulder and simply continued sitting on his bed, his face tucked into his knees. "I heard the police were here last night."

"Doesn't matter," Sebastian muttered. "They took Maru's message."

The smile on Sam's face faltered. "Dude, your way too fixated on your sister's last message."

"They took her message," Sebastian repeated, which made Ardyce shift uncomfortably. Something in the back of her head told her something wasn't quite right about the situation, yet the not right she'd been thinking of from her, and Maru's conversations simply wasn't clicking with the situation.

"Dude. Are you..." Sam paused, glancing over at Ardyce, almost as if he realized bringing a literal stranger into the mix might not have been the best idea. He leaned in, whispering something into Sebastian's ear.

Whatever Sam said made Sebastian's head lift slightly, yet she still really couldn't see his facial features "What do you mean am I taking my meds?" Ardyce shifted with his sudden shift in tone. "How can I take my meds when they took them?"

"I..." Sam's eyes blinked. "They what?"

"They took..."

"I heard you. I'm..." Sam closed his eyes. "Why did they do that?"

"Because they're idiots."

"No, duh," Sam let out a laugh, though Ardyce could tell said laughter was half-hearted.

"Looking for drugs."

"Seb, your meds are..."

"They took Maru's message."

"Dude, you're overly fixated on..."

"It was her last message Sam," Sebastian looked Sam in the eye, yet seemed quite unaware of the other person in the room, almost as if he were super focused on Sam at that moment, disconnecting with whatever else was going on, almost as if he were forcing himself to make eye contact. He leaned forward slightly, then moved back. "I was going to tell her."

"Wait." Sam's voice tightened and he glanced at her, a look of worry on his face as if Sebastian was going to reveal something Sam didn't think he should in front of Ardyce. She simply shrugged his shoulders, catching onto the fact Sebastian didn't seem to notice the sideways glance. "Dude..."

"I was going to tell her Sam. I was going to tell her because of her last message. I told you, didn't I? About her last message?"

Ardyce shifted again, feeling slightly uncomfortable, nor did she think Sam wrong in saying Sebastian was fixated on Maru's last message. Sam let out a sigh. "That she wrote to you that she was going to try."

"Yeah. She didn't hate me. I don't care about the meds or my computers, but taking that message? I thought she did, but she didn't hate me, Sam."

The words were certainly unexpected, hearing Maru's brother speak about a message of Maru not hating him. From all the conversations she had with Maru, Ardyce knew Maru didn't hate her brother. The exact opposite in fact, but to hear that he'd thought she had certainly come out of the left field. Sam sent her a look, one of exasperated worry, though Sebastian didn't seem to pick up on this reaction.

"She didn't hate me, and I'd thought she did, but because she didn't hate me, she was..." Sebastian leaned forward again. "She was going to try and make things work. And I wanted..." Sebastian pulled back again, his head going back into his knees. "I was going to try, even though it was hard. I was going to tell her. About the depression. The autism. Why I struggled to be the brother she wanted. That I avoided her because..."

"... you hated disappointing her." Sam let out a sigh. "Sebastian, I know you wanted to tell Maru about that, but..." Again, he looked at Ardyce. "Dude, I'm not alone in the room."

"Mom and dad know. I mean, mom and Demetrius know, so it doesn't matter, does it?" Sebastian muttered, suddenly leaning forward, into Sam. "The three people I most in the world didn't want to know..."

"Seb, it's not your mom or Demetrius who's here with me."

"Who?" Sebastian lifted his head. His tone of voice turned to panic, though Ardyce might describe the tone as him being in a worse panic than before. "Please tell me that it isn't Abigail!"

"Don't worry. It's not Abigail," Sam sighed. "Your mom doesn't let Abigail into the house anymore. Something about overstimulating you, or something like that, and that you don't need that right now. Honestly, don't need the details of what goes on between the two of you."

"Nothing. I've told you nothing does," Sebastian muttered. He finally turned his head, glancing over at the stairs. "Then who..."

The way he froze, almost as if he were a dear in the headlights made Ardyce flinch. She was left with the impression having a stranger in his room was something he found quite uncomfortable. Sam, however, smirked a genuine smile that made her want to smack him on the back of the head for making light of the situation and Sebastian's obvious discomfort.

"Sebastian, this is Ardyce."

"Ardyce..." Sebastian continued looking at her warily, yet in the dark, there seemed to be some level of recognition, which made sense given that Maru likely name-dropped the names of her friends from high school.

Sam continued smirking. He got up and headed back to the doorway, flipping on the light which in turn made Sebastian's eyes blink. It also allowed her to pick up on his Asian facial features, meaning his black hair was likely not dyed, but strangely enough, he wasn't the white older half-brother she'd expected Maru to have, but instead, he was also of mixed ethnicity. What Sam said next was also unexpected.

"Ardyce, meet DrowningWizard."