When the Stars Fall (Stardew Valley Fanfic)

Wash Away

"You know it's too good to be true, right?" said the voice in Sebastian's head which sounded just like he remembered Maru sounding, though the voice didn't always sound like his dead sister. Often, the voice sounded like the person he might feel the most guilt towards.

"Too good to be true would be you still being alive in addition to this, Maru," Sebastian thought to himself, enjoying the thoughts of ocean waves taking away the numb emotional feeling he felt, though in the back of his mind he did know that his emotional high would be met with an equal low without his medication. He didn't want to think about that at that particular moment, instead focused on the good.

The good made him think that Demetrius could like Ambrose said, be family. The good made him not react overly negatively to Jodi's shock, let alone think that he'd caused some kind of trouble for her by crossing some kind of social boundary he shouldn't, yet he recognized from the smile on her face that she likely felt happy for him, which also felt good. The voice telling him that the bad was just around the corner he ignored, but he enjoyed the way Sam squirmed.

He also didn't let go of Ardyce's hand for one moment, as that felt good, the change that was happening in his life.

"In another world, we might have met differently," he remembered from the conversation they had the night before, yet the thought that in another world Maru might be enjoying it with him also made him feel good, as they laid out plans for the day. Sam, he, and Ardyce would head back to her apartment. No, Vincent could not go along, despite the fact they didn't tell Jodi that they would be working on figuring out what happened to Maru, but the good mood continued as they stepped out of the door.

"Really. I've never seen..."

"What the hell!"

Sebastian recognized the voice, yet in the back of his head he honestly didn't understand why Haley was suddenly yelling, but he did recognize the sinking feeling, the feeling of numbness start to return as the smile started to falter on his face. The hot weather from the sun, exasperated by the heatwave didn't help, but he heard Alex call out to her. "Hold on. What are..."

Blinking his eyes, Sebastian turned to see Haley hurrying towards them, watching her pull her fist back so she might sock someone. The first thought was that the person she wanted to hit was him, which would mean bringing up his arms to guard his face, but then Sebastian's eyes decerned her actual path. Letting go of Ardyce's hand, he sidestepped and felt Haley's fist land a punch on his left eye.

He staggered back just as he heard Sam say, "What the hell! What was that for Haley!"

"Honestly..." Alex muttered from behind her. "I'd like to know what's gotten into her as well."

"Ow," Sebastian muttered, not bothering to look back at Ardyce, wondering if she, like Abigail, would throw a fit about someone fighting her battles even though Abigail often never stood a chance, his mind quickly thinking of all the times he or someone else from the Adventurer's Guild would have to go into the caves and rescue her, but there was a reason she was refused membership'; that, or Marlon revoked membership due to struggling to get past the first few levels of the mine.

As the tears welled in the corner of his eyes from the pain, he heard Haley say, "Are you an idiot, Sebastian?"

"You're the one going around punching people for no reason," Sebastian muttered, not at all pleased with what she did.

"It's not for no reason! That girl..." Haley turned to look at Ardyce. "Not only did she come into town not telling us the real reason that she'd come, but she also seduced you from Abigail and hasn't told you of all people the fact she's here to look into Maru's disappearance! Worse, you're just going to get hurt!"

Alex let out a sigh, but Sam said, "Actually, Sebastian knows why Ardyce came here, but he's the one who contacted her as she's Maru's friend from high school and the last person to see her that day. And..."

"No. The last person to see her that day was Abigail, but she'd told Emily and me as much."

"What?" Sebastian's eyes blinked, his throat tightening. "Why would she..."

"I don't know. You've not exactly been talking to her since Maru disappeared, but..."

"Abigail and Sebastian weren't dating," Sam stated. "But that's really not cool of Abigail to not tell anybody if that's the truth, particularly with the fact Seb got hauled in by the police for questioning the other day."

"Wait..." Haley's eyes blinked as Sebastian looked at her, trying to figure out what was going on. "I thought everyone knew they were because they were. Even you talked about it, and..."

"Am I the only one who realizes Abigail has an unhealthy obsession with vampire boy?" Alex said, but then followed up when everyone looked at him. "What? Sebastian suddenly going all Goth was definitely weird. He used to be all bright colors when he was little."

"Seb, bright colors."

"Oh. I forgot. You moved here after Seb started his Goth phase," Haley muttered, sounding amused, but then she looked at Sebastian. "You two weren't dating?"

"No. That really hurt," Sebastian muttered.

"Yeah. You guys should probably get that checked out at the clinic," Alex stated. "Then maybe have a word with Abigail to see if she's telling the truth about seeing Maru that day."

"I'd thought she'd told people. I don't know why she..." Haley pushed her lips together. "When I see her."

"No." Alex grabbed her arm. "On top of me needing to get to my job at the ice crème stand, you need to let vampire boy take care of his own problems rather than acting like an alpha bitch."

"Yeah, but..."

"No buts Haley, or Emily will likely go alpha bitch on you, and that's never fun for either of us."

Sam let out a sigh. "Clinic then?"

Sebastian nodded his head, but they headed over so that Harvey could take a look at his eye, which was in itself a major pain in the neck. He saw Ardyce stand there, her mouth pushed together, wondering if she thought him not worth the hassle, what with how strange things could be, and even got to be just today in Stardew Valley. He didn't think twice when Harvey handed him some temporary medication to hold him until he could get his meds returned from the police, taking a dose quickly before they headed over to Abigail's place.

His head spun as they headed over to the general store, feeling dizzy despite the fact Harvey gave him a pass, but then, his head had a lot to process.