Dead Roses, My Fanfic for "It's A Wonderful Life", love story...;) Options

[showchoirgirl]

Dead Roses
Please read and review this for me. If you see something is wrong with it, tell me! I want to know what you think as long as no flames or cussing is involved! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/jack_wink.gif)
---Another thing is the simple fact I do not own any of these characters, places, or anything concerning Harvest Moon. That would be Natsume!:)


Chapter One: Loving is Letting Go, Sometimes...

[/indent]Staring out to the fields of flowers, I sat on the edge of the fence. Usually they didn't plant flowers. But this was for a special reason, more so a sad one. He had died. And he was her brother. And the other one's boyfriend. He had died of pneumonia. We were best friends, and he never told me what was really wrong with him. He didn't only have pneumonia, he had an immune system disease. That was what killed him. And nobody even knew, except her.

The 'her' I'm speaking of is Vesta, his sister. The 'other one' is Celia, his girlfriend til the day he died. Marlin was the one that died, but most of us felt like it was the other way around. He was not very well-known in the village or even well-liked, but some of us had managed to befriend him and were really close to him. I knew his girlfriend missed him most, Vesta next in line, and next came me. I missed Marlin like crazy. He was my best friend. Now he was gone.

"Tony... Are you ready?" Celia asked, inferring about my preparation for his funeral.

"As I'll ever be..." I got off the fence and dusted my dress pants.

She stood there, in her plain black dress, like a statue. Her dark hair blew listlessly in the wind. Her face looked the same as her hair. Before, she had seemed so full of life and was always so cheerful and polite. She seemed like she had lost her identity and had taken over Marlin's reclusive attitude when he had first arrived in the village. This would be the last way Marlin would want her to act in the event of his death.

"Celia, you know he'd want you to be happy, right? He'd want you to go on with your life..." I looked her in the eyes.

"You don't understand... Since I saw... Since I saw his lifeless body--- It'll never be the same... God, I loved him!" Celia fell into my arms and cried.

"Now, now---That's no way to act... If Vesta hears you cry, she'll cry, too!" I rubbed her back gently.

She calmed down after a few minutes and Vesta came out, also wearing a black dress. After we had gotten everything together, we led the long line of people up the hill toward Mineral Town, where Marlin was to be buried since he was a member of the Baptist Church there. Celia, him, and me went every Sunday. But Marlin really loved going there, I mean me and Celia liked going to church a lot, but Marlin? He loved going. I think he had some calling to be a preacher, but he got too sick before he could be ordained.

We arrived at the cemetary, and the funeral proceeded like all funerals. The only difference was the person. Despite the funeral's sameness, it was still Marlin's funeral. And I missed him even more. Celia couldn't look at the casket, and Vesta wouldn't talk to anyone. I tried my best to be friendly to people for them, but it was hard. The hardest part was facing Marlin and Vesta's mother, Nadia. I couldn't speak to her and if I did, I'd burst into tears. The lady was heartbroken over her dear Marlin.

I don't know for sure if I remember that day quite correctly, but it was a strange one. It felt like a part of me died with Marlin. Or maybe Marlin hadn't died. Maybe it was a figment of our imaginations. Marlin would still be there. Or maybe we just couldn't accept the truth. Our dearly beloved Marlin had left us for good on the Earth.

* * * --A Few Weeks Later...

Within two weeks, things had gotten worse. Celia wouldn't quit donning that danged black dress, Vesta let all her plants die, and I just didn't have any get-up-and-go. Losing Marlin had taken its toll on us. But we had to get over it. It wasn't right to keep doing this to ourselves. So I went to visit Vesta and Celia that day...

I walked down the dirt path and across the bridge to Vesta's farm. I walked in the door after knocking to see no one in the living room. I looked up into the loft and called for Celia, no answer, but I heard someone up there. So I climbed the steps that ascended to Celia's room.

"Celia?" I asked, once I had spotted her sitting on the side of her bed.

"What...?" she wouldn't look at me, but looked at something she was cradling in the apron of her dress.

I stepped closer to see what she was preoccupied with, "What's wrong?"

She looked me square in the eyes, "He was going to propose!"

I looked closer to see she was cradling a blue feather with a beautiful diamond ring. She had probably found those going through Marlin's old things. The old codger wanted to tie the knot with her. They would've been a nice couple, too. My question to myself was would it have been more painful for Celia to have married him and never found out he was sick until he was dying or just to have him die when she was dating him steady. Would it have been more painful to have married him and to come find out she was carrying his baby or to have never loved him as that?

"Celia... I know you loved him... But you have to know-- he was a sick man... What would you have done if he had married you and you ended up carrying his baby? What would you do if the baby had the same disease? You would've had to have gone through all this again with his child.--- Celia, you've just got to accept God's will, there's nothing more to it..." tears welled up in my eyes.

"Tony, you were his best friend. I know you loved him like a brother... but I loved him! He was the man I wanted to marry and wake up beside every morning! I wanted to have his baby! You don't understand! How could you understand?" she yelped painfully.

I didn't argue with her, but hugged her when she almost fell from bawling. She was right, I didn't know what it was like to lose someone I loved romantically. I did love Marlin like he was my brother, but Celia... she had lost the love of her life. So I held onto her for dear life and cried with her. We were aching on the inside for something. Some hope things would be normal again. Some hope that order would be restored.

So that's how we spent the next few weeks. Just in hope for something. A sign that would tell us that everything was going to be okay, but until that one day, we hadn't seen it. The day was Fall the 5th. It was the day Marlin so looked forward to, and also the day we had met. We weren't exactly friends then and he had responded to my presence almost coldly that first day. But we eventually and unexpectedly became like brothers. Anyway... The day was the Harvest Festival, a day to give thanks to God for the good harvests.

I arrived at the Inn and found that Celia had finally given up wearing black and had started wearing her green dress again. Vesta was about the same, still not talking much. A few other people had come to the Inn for the festival, but not many. Just a few of the old folks from the village and a few kids and people about my age. Beside the point... Celia was helping Ruby, the cook and co-owner of the Inn with her husband Tim, cook. She looked achingly at a finger sandwich in her hand as she assembled it. I tapped her on the shoulder, and she jumped like I had a gun to her back.

"Oh! Tony... Um... Hi!... I guess--" she hesitantly said.

"Celia, I'm sorry for scaring you... How're you doing?" I looked compassionately into her eyes.

She stared into my eyes as if looking into my thoughts, "Better, I guess... This festival won't be the same---"

I interrupted her, "Celia, you can't dwell in the past... As much as I hate to say it, you have to let him go to the point where he isn't stopping you from getting on with your life! You've had two months to mourn... Hasn't it been long enough? Hasn't the two months of pure torture to yourself been enough? Aren't you making yourself sick over this? Look... Come with me! Sorry, Ruby!" I whisked Celia away before she could object, Ruby smiled approvingly and said 'okay'.

By the time we had reached the lobby, music was playing. I danced with her to a few fast tunes. We were having so much fun. Spinning and stepping our way around the lobby. Finally, they put on a slow waltz for couples to dance to. I almost went to sit down, but Celia started to her position for the dance and put her hand on my shoulder and the other in my hand and I put my hand on her waist and gently grabbed her free hand. We stood a decent distance apart and danced around the room.

When the dance ended, it was time for dinner and every boy or man that had on a cap took it off and bowed their heads. A preacher from Mineral Town that had attended said the blessing over the food.We all got a plate with food and found our spots either in the kitchen, lobby, or outside. Celia and I went outside and sat on the bench under the veranda of the front of the Inn which also served as an awning to the ground floor. It wasn't terribly cool, but rather comfortable, so it was okay to eat there.

"So, do you feel any better now?" I asked her.

She laughed gently, "Oh, yes... Tony Vernon... You're the best thing that's happened to me since him. I appreciate you, a lot..."

"You're the best thing that God's given me..." I looked into her eyes and she looked into mine.

We both sat there, looking at each other until Celia broke the silence with a story of Marlin...

"Mmm... The wind is so... Nostalgic. It makes me think of when I was a child and I visited this place. Marlin was always my friend. Even when we lived in the city, we knew each other. I was about eighteen when I came to this place. Seems like forever ago, twelve years looking back. And I remember... I remember Vesta had broken down, crying for her brother. At that time, I had no idea that it was Marlin. And she was telling me about how... Marlin and his girlfriend had been in a bank that was being robbed. Marlin was badly beaten, but not dead. His girlfriend didn't fare as well... She was shot through her heart... She didn't live more than five minutes after it happened. And Marlin was heartbroken...

That was when Marlin came here. He was in pretty bad health. And he often grumbled to himself and wasn't very sociable. I guess you've heard that from many people, and that's why Marlin's never been well liked. But I knew him. I knew he was a gentle soul, from the ways he would act as we played together in the city.

One night, not long after he had arrived, I went downstairs when I thought everyone was sleeping to get a drink of water. As I stepped down from the loft, I heard a gentle mumbling. It was Marlin, praying to God. I could finally understand what he was saying, and he was bargaining with God for his girlfriend, fiancee I should say. He looked up to see me and grumbled angrilly to himself.

'You aren't supposed to bargain with God...' I had said. The tears he had been holding back for so long let loose, and he was crying on my shoulder. I led him outside, so as to not wake Vesta. He confessed to me he didn't think that he had a will to live without her. I told him that any person God leaves on this Earth has a pupose. He stopped crying, and we looked into each others' eyes... much like you and I did... and kissed." her voice was eased and at peace.

"I need to give you something I found last night... I was cleaning out my sock drawer, looking for this," I held out a sealed envelope, "It's for you, from him. He told me to give it to you, if there should ever be a reason to. And I think it's perfect reason now."
[indent]

She looked hesitantly at the envelope. I had no idea why she wouldn't pick it up immediately. But she didn't. I guess maybe it was because she didn't want to have to remember being in love with him.

[showchoirgirl]

Chapter Two: Leading On...
---Thanks to hmbabe for helping me come up with an idea for this chapter. It didn't turn out like I thought it would, but I think it turned out okay. Tell me what you think.

So that night after the Harvest Festival, I walked Celia home. She still hadn't read the letter, and I didn't even know if she would. Maybe giving her that letter had been a mistake in itself. Gosh, I was worried about her. Celia just wasn't the type of person to act like this...

With being a farmer, I couldn't very well dwell on Celia too much. After all, I had crops to harvest and fodder to get before the beginning of winter, right? No matter was right, I had to. And working made forgetting Marlin's death a bit easier.

It wasn't that I wasn't over Marlin's being gone, it was the simple fact I was a bit worried. Marlin was about my age, just about two years older, and you just... I never expected Marlin to die. The same as I thought I would live to be at least ninety. His death gave me the awful reality check I could be done in at any time.

Along with the worry of death, I was still surrounded by farm work that had to be done, and quick before the end of fall. I had so much to do and little time to do it, and with my procrastination, that wasn't good. So, on the tenth day of fall, I got Hugh to help me out a little for about three dollars.

And of course, I spent a bunch of time explaining the what-nots of farming. But he was a dedicated and good worker once he knew what to do. He helped me get done in three hours what would've taken me two days, which was more time than I had.

So, after our bright and early start at six, and finishing around nine, I had a bunch of time to kill. I started to go visit Vesta and see if I could badger any info on how Celia was doing, because Celia would lie and say she was perfect. But I stopped myself, Vesta was going through a lot, too, and I had no business putting my nose where it didn't belong. And, if I kept hanging around Celia, Vesta would try to rope me into marrying Celia. It would be like marrying my sister if I married her.

Still thinking of what to do with the time, after I paid Hugh for his hours, I walked down the hill that led to my farm. I took my habitual look around the Valley, and I saw a rare sight. The blonde-headed bar maid was at the bridge. She rarely got out, and seeing as how I didn't pay visits to the Bar, I'd never seen her before.

I edged closer to see what she was doing. There was a tall, dark headed man beside her. They appeared to be arguing. So I just went over casually to the river to fish. They were having quite a heated battle. I didn't pay attention to every word, but it concerned me.

"You said you loved me! How could you?! You're no different than all the other men!" the blonde yelled.

"Love is fleeting!" the man added.

She slapped him in the face, "I don't need to waste my time with scum like you! It's over! Don't ever call me or anything! If you do, I'll get a restraining order!"

The man started walking away yelling, "I tried to apologize, Muffy! You'll be sorry once I'm gone!"

So her name was Muffy. I looked at the poor girl's face, and she looked back at me. Surprisingly, she came to where I was standing.

"I guess you got a show today... I'm sorry if we scared all the fish away..." the girl glanced at my face and then her focus was again directed at the water.

"Ah, it's okay. I know it's none of my business, but that guy was a real jerk! But just so you know, we're not all like that... I'm Tony," I flashed a smile.

"Oh... You heard that? I'm sorry, but the heat of the moment... you say some things you really might regret sooner or later... and I'm Muffy," she laughed nervously as we shook hands.

"Nice to meet you...Well, it was nice talking to you, but I've got to go get some lunch... Would you like to go with me?" I asked her.

She blushed a bit before answering, "Sure... It's my day off anyways..."

So I gathered up my fishing tackle and we headed toward the Inner Inn for lunch. Once inside, We went to sit down at a table in the kitchen. Ruby Minh was the only person I'd ever known that would put her restaurant's dining tables in the kitchen. Pulling out the chair for Muffy, I was reminded of Celia. I felt almost like I had betrayed her. I regretted making her believe I liked her like a girlfriend.

Ruby saw us and handed us two menus. I couldn't believe she bothered giving me one, but she quickly caught herself and nodded as she took up my menu. Muffy looked puzzled, not hearing me order.

Ruby declared as she looked for the ingredients to my usual dish, "Of course. Pork chop with extra spice and creamed potatoes... How could I forget?"

Muffy looked through the menu carefully as I struck up a conversation with Ruby, "So Ms. Ruby, how's Rock these days?"

She laughed, "As girl crazy as ever! He's already going with a girl from Mineral Town," she frowned a bit, "I don't like her... but don't tell him that."

Ah yes, Rock's many exploits trying to find 'Ms. Right'. Lumina was the one he had dreamed of dating, but she was underage at sixteen. And her uncle, who had taken over after her grandmother decided she was too ill to look after her 'little girl', told Rock he'd have a pound of lead in his behind if he got anywhere near Lumina. Especially since he tried to kiss Lumina. Thinking of the many girls Rock had dated reminded me of Celia, again. It wasn't going to be easy to have a pleasant conversation with her popping in my head every five minutes.

Just as Muffy was about to order, Ruby exclaimed with her focus to the door, "Oh, Celia! It's so nice to see you!"

My thoughts registered what had just spewed out of Ruby's mouth. Celia was here. And she would see me with Muffy, and worse than that was that she would see me with Muffy before I got to explain that I made a mistake in leading her on...

And she spoke, "Oh... Tony? Are you here with her?"

I looked back toward her and saw the same disappointed face I expected to see and regretfully said, "Yes..."

Celia's face turned red, "I'm sorry, I forgot something Vesta asked me to bring!" She dropped the basket of vegetables that were for Ruby.

I apologized to Muffy and leaped over the spilled vegetables to retrieve Celia and explain. Muffy was right about me. I could be a real idiot sometimes. Maybe all men were destined to be jerks all their lives. It looked pretty promising that I would be, no matter how much of God's help I had...

I ran out the door and called to Celia, "Celia! Please, let me explain!"

She tripped and fell just before she reached the bridge and I double-timed to make it to help her up. If I didn't straighten things out now, they never would be straightened out. So I picked her up and helped her to the bench that existed lazily by the edge of the river.

"What's there to explain? It's not like you professed your love to me..." she whimpered, lifting her dress to inspect her ankle.

"I owe you an apology... I shouldn't have led you on like I did. I'm sorry, Celia. And you have the complete right to never want to speak to me again... but I really wish you'd forgive me so we could have a really nice friendship... Please?" I pleaded with her face-to-face.

"That's all we ever were... I forgive you... It wouldn't be very Christian to hold a grudge... But I really have to get going, Tony... I really did forget some things that Vesta wanted me to bring to Ruby... I'll see you around," she sullenly spouted.

"Bye, Celia..." was all I could say.

I watched Celia that day almost like I was watching her walk out of my life. I regretted the feelings I felt for Celia that possibly still existed. I regretted just letting Celia walk off like that. I was attracted to Muffy, she was pretty and nice... But so was Celia... And then, I remembered Muffy was still waiting at the Inn.