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Autumn in Pelican Town wasn’t Haley’s preferred season, but she didn’t mind it. Sure, it promised of the coming of winter, a frigid season, but the reds and oranges spattering the trees and grounds made for some beautiful recreational photos that highlighted the gorgeous beauty of the valley. Had she remained in the city, Haley knew she’d be missing all of these sensational colours, being surrounded instead by the grey monotony of buildings, cars and concrete.
Hence, Haley had found herself in her usual spot to the west of the community centre, where she came across Lara (“which is short for Ilari”, the girl had told her when they first met) - the farmer that she definitely was not harbouring feelings for. Lara today was wearing her usual red overalls on top of a dark blue sweater, her hair tied into braids, with little curls still framing her sun-tanned skin.
“Hey, Lara!” Haley called out first for once. Lara turned at the mention of her name, her expression breaking into a warm summer smile that made Haley’s heart flip like usual.
“Goodmorning Hal’” the farmer responded using the nickname that made Haley weak at the knees. She meandered over leisurely with her pickaxe resting against her shoulder.
Haley tilted her head towards it.
“You off to the mines?” Lara nodded in response.
“Yep! Level 90 today. I’m feeling confident that I can reach 100 by the end of the day.”
Haley’s eyebrows rose. “Woah, 100? Never thought you had it in you.” She replied off-handedly, letting the casual banter the two of them shared to seep in, internally smirking at the roll of the farmers eyes.
It wasn’t quite enough to keep the blonde’s concern at bay though. “That’s pretty far down…you’ll be careful, won’t you?”
The farmer grinned lopsidedly like she often did. “Woah, is Haley…concerned about me? I never thought I’d see the day.” She said jokingly….but when the blonde’s concerned expression didn’t falter, the farmer softened, taking the other into an embrace. “I’ll be careful, okay? I have plenty of snacks to keep my energy up.”
Haley nodded, breathing in the scent of her farmer. A few months back she would have commented on the odour of dirt and crops, as well as that faint musk of sweat, but today it just felt like home. “Okay,” Haley said, before pushing Lara away playfully, “go on then. Go get ‘em.”
The farmer beamed and waved, strolling upwards towards the mountains where the entrance of the mines would be. Haley waved her off, the farmers warmth still lingering amongst the crisp Autumn air, but that cold feeling of dread eating away prominently at Haley’s stomach lingered too.
******
The day wore on, and although Haley would usually have gone home, she stuck around the community centre, hoping to Yoba that she would see that head of brown curls come strolling around the corner any second then. The air turned colder with the night, and Haley ventured closer to the mines, swallowing the feeling that threatened to eat her alive.
Near the entrance of the mines, Haley saw Maru’s father at the lake, collecting some samples from the water. She quickly ran over, hoping that perhaps he would have some good news, and could soothe the pit of worry inside her.
“Demetrius!” His head whipped round at the call of his name, shoulders relaxing slightly when he recognised Haley. “Have you seen Lara today?”
The man’s eyebrows furrowed. “Yes, well, I saw her earlier when she went into the mines. Although…” he glanced at his watch, surprised to see the time as 9pm. “She hasn’t come back out again. How odd…”
Haley ran a hand through her hair distressed. She knew Lara well at this point, having learnt of her schedule a while ago, and she knew that Lara liked to be back at her farm by this time of night, on account of how early she had to wake up the following mornings.
“I wonder if something- Haley?!” Demetrius sputtered surprisingly after her as she suddenly broke into a sprint, running towards the entrance of the mines and towards the elevator. She threw herself into it, rapidly spamming the lowest button that was available, seeing it to be Level 95.
The doors slammed shut just in time for Haley to see Demetrius come running into the mines after her, shock and confusion etched into his face, before the elevator whirred as it took her down into the dark depths of the caves. Haley’s heel tapped nervously on the platform as she descended, and her mind whirled through many different thoughts, the most notable ones being ‘what the fuck am I doing’ and ‘stupid Lara, making me worry like this.’
It was certainly the furthest the blonde had ever gone from home, barring Zuzu City. As a child, she and Emily had been warned to stay away from the mines from the likes of Mayor Lewis and Willy, as well as some of the older folks in time. No one in Pelican town dared go near it - apart from the old eyepatch man, and most recently, Lara. Haley knew that there would be monsters down here…she would just have to deal with what she could. Her hand found its way to her necklace as she descended, and she gripped it, praying to whoever was listening that the farmer would be safe.
The lights ticked downwards, informing her spiralling descent, and the blonde could only swallow her fear and face it.
The elevator pinged, signalling that she had reached the bottom, and Haley stepped out nervously. The mines weren’t as dark as she would’ve expected - the walls bled a ruby red that reflected torch lights that flickered away on the ground. Hayley looked around at the littered evidence of her farmers presence; broken pieces of rock, bats wings and slime dotted around here and there.
Haley steadied herself with a breath, and crept forwards, taking a torch with her to light her path.
The shadows flickered uselessly at her as she walked through the gloom, her heels clicking across the stone causing the sound to echo through the empty cobbled walkways.
“Lara?” Haley hesitantly called out, doing her best to keep the waver from her voice. After exploring a little more, she found a ladder that descended further into the darkness.
“Lara!” She called down it, but heard nothing except her own voice eerily echoing back to her. Haley gulped, cursing the farmer out once more for the situation she had been placed in before grasping the wooden rungs of the ladder and descending further.
This process continued twice more, with Haley roaming the empty halls littered with strange monster artefacts, a continual reassurance that her farmer was still alive and kicking. Strangely though, Haley found more and more gems ignored in some areas, as if the farmer had instead chosen to move to the next level instead of mining them. The air reeked of desperation, and Haley didn’t like it. With a forced air of determination, she confidently climbed down the next ladder…and then yelped suddenly when one of the rungs snapped under her foot and she fell into the darkness.
*******
There was a desperate huffing and groan of pain that woke Haley up. The blonde kept her eyes shut for a bit, listening to the panicked breathing and wondering why Emily sounded like that, before she sat up with a jolt, remembering that she wasn’t at home and had instead fallen through the mines.
Blearily, Haley’s blue eyes cracked open, the pounding of her head beating almost in sync with the panting next to her.
Lara was knelt on one knee in front of her, gasping, the exhaustion on her face worryingly painful as she held out a black ebony sword in front of her, swinging it about wildly. In front, three red slimes took turns hurling at Lara, and she batted each one away with strength that seemed to be ebbing.
“Stay…away…from her.” She snarled at the slimes, who didn’t seem to be listening. Her arm shook with exhaustion that tugged dangerously at Haley’s heart. The girl pushed herself to her knees, one hand reaching for the torch that had fallen harmlessly to her side, the fire miraculously still burning, when she heard a screech coming from a hole in the wall nearby, and a red bat came hurtling out of it.
Haley shrieked, her arms raising to protect her face, but she felt a whoosh of movement beside her and watched as Lara sliced through the bat like it was butter, standing protectively over Haley. The farmers eyes burned with hell fury, her body trembling with anger, and then she turned back to the slimes with her newfound adrenaline and slashed at them, screaming out at them as she did so.
Haley could truly only stare in awe, trapped between feelings of fear, shock, and…well, veneration, because that was definitely the hottest thing anyone had ever done, period.
With the slimes defeated, Lara’s chest rose and fell a few times as the imminent threats faded into the darkness; Haley yelled as she quite literally watched all the adrenaline disappear from the farmers body as she collapsed forwards onto the ground, limbs trembling with ache and chest heaving as she sucked in deep breaths. Haley crawled over to her, pulling the farmers head onto her lap.
“Shit, shit! Lara, wake up!” The blonde yelled uselessly, patting the farmer gently on her cheek in an effort to get her to rise. The farmer lay still, deathly asleep. Haley made a noise of frustration, cradling her farmer close to her chest, whispering apologies before taking the time to look around.
The torch and Ilari’s black ebony sword lay around them. Haley eyed the sword warily, before opting for the torch, deciding that she would sooner hurt herself with the sword, and at least if the farmer woke up again she would be able to defend herself.
Taking a deep breath, the blonde closed her eyes for a moment. The elevator had buttons for every fifth floor, and she had travelled down three ladders and fallen down the fourth…meaning the next fifth floor would be below them. They would have to travel down one more level to be able to get to the elevator….meaning that Haley would have to find the next ladder down.
Haley looked back at her farmer, who was sleeping fitfully, and sighed. She could do this. She would do this. For her.
The blonde kissed the brunettes forehead, and then stood, taking the farmers pickaxe and torch and walking ahead into the mines, breaking whatever rocks she could. It was by no means fast, and after only a few rocks her arms shook with exhaustion. Haley cursed herself for never being even remotely good at manual labour, and then took a moment to appreciate how much work Lara truly put into her lifestyle.
She thought of how lean the farmers body was…and how strong those curved muscles would be…
Haley shook her head swiftly, chiding herself silently for thinking of such things when the two of them were in such a perilous situation.
After what felt like years of bringing the pickaxe down onto many small boulders that she came across, the young blonde felt like crying when one eventually gave way to a rickety old ladder. She quickly poked her head down it, and from her upside-down view, she heard and saw the light ping of a bulb flickering on above the mine shaft elevator.
The girl stood, running back to her farmer who was still unconscious on the floor, and frowned. Getting the farmer down to the elevator shaft would be a task in of itself. Albeit, easier than climbing four levels to the other elevator, but still hard.
Vainly, she tried waking the farmer again, gently patting her sun-kissed cheeks and caressing her forehead, but to no avail. The blonde whispered, begged in the others ear…yet, it was evident there wasnt a speck of energy left in the farmers body.
Haley squeezed her eyes shut frustratingly. They couldnt stay in the mines like this. Sure, Demetrius knew that they were down here, and he could be assembling a rescue party right now…but Haley didn’t know how long they had been down here, nor did she know how long they would last before more monsters got curious. Her aquamarine eyes looked back at the farmer’s ebony sword - she would never be able to wield it.
Traiterously, Haley’s stomach rumbled. Wonderful, she thought, let’s pile more problems into this situation. Neither of them had any-
Fuck. Food.
Haley rummaged through the farmers pockets, crying out when she found what she was looking for. Holy shit, it was one of Pam’s Energy Tonics. No freaking way!
Haley cracked open the can and lifted the farmers head, before dropping a few small droplets into the farmers mouth. This small amount wouldn’t heal the farmer, but with Yoba’s blessing, it would hopefully be enough to get the farmer awake long enough to get down the ladder.
With bated breath the blonde waited, and she twitched when the farmer made a noise of discomfort.
“Lara….Lara, it’s okay….come on, honey, open your eyes…” Haley encouraged, propping the farmer up a little more. Beautiful brown eyes cracked open slightly and stared into the deep ocean of Haley’s.
“I actually died…” the farmer whispered as she gazed up at the blonde. “An angel…”
Haley flushed hard, suddenly grateful that the farmer was definitely delirious and hopefully wouldn’t remember this later on.
“Come on, Lara, we need to stand. Can you stand?” Haley coaxed, pushing her back lightly. The farmer cried out in pain as Haley did so.
“I-it hurts!”
“I know, I know darling…but we need to leave. It isn’t safe here, do you understand?” The farmer looked around, as if suddenly more aware of her surroundings.
“Okay…the elevator…”
“I’ve got it all worked out…let’s just try standing, okay?”
Haley stood, taking the farmers arm with her and slinging it over her shoulder, biting her tongue to keep in a grunt of surprise as the farmers put all her weight onto her. Jesus, she was heavy…or perhaps Haley was too weak, she wasn’t sure.
With many words of praises, and great difficulty, Haley and the farmer lumbered towards the ladder, and half-climbed, half-fell, down its rungs. But the sheer relief that flooded Haley’s body as they reached the elevator shaft and she pressed the button for floor zero was unbelievable.
“Fuck…I’m so proud of you.” Haley exclaimed with tears flowing fresh down her cheeks. Lara glanced up at her, and a shaky hand reached out to wipe away a tear.
“No, I’m proud…of you.” The farmer whispered back, leaning her head down onto Haley’s shoulder and closing her eyes once more. The blonde sobbed anew, the stress of the situation finally hitting her, as she truly allowed herself to view her farmers injuries and see the damage that had been caused.
The elevator doors pinged and opened, revealing a concerned Demetrius, a rational looking Harvey, a frantic Emily and a shocked Mayor Lewis.
“Please, help her!” Haley sobbed desperately from where she was sat on the floor, and she watched helplessly as Harvey and Demetrius cradled away her farmer. Emily ran in afterwards, taking her sisters wracked form into her own, and cuddling Haley in her arms whilst the blonde cried her eyes out.
********
Haley sat by the bedside of Lara, comforted by the slow beeping heart monitor that continually spoke of her farmers will to live. It had been a few hours, and many people had since been in and out of the room. According to Demetrius, when the elevator had descended without him, the man had run through the whole town like a bat outta hell and woken essentially everyone up. Demetrius and Harvey had been discussing who should go down into the mines when Haley had returned.
Harvey and Maru fixed up Lara to the best of their abilities, reassuring Haley that it wouldn’t be long before she woke. Emily had gleaned what little information she could from her sister, and for the moment she had gone to visit Marlon (Haley discovered this was eye-patch-man’s name) to see if he could retrieve Lara’s belongings from Level 99 of the mines.
Mayor Lewis, upon seeing how dangerous it was for particular farmers (and reckless residents) to be going to the mines on their own, would see what he could do about an emergency radio to be carried by miners that could be used to contact help when they were in desperate need of it.
But for now, this left Haley, shell-shocked but comforted at her farmers side.
Fresh tears tracked down Haley’s face. Distantly, she thought of the paves these tears must be making through her makeup, but she also knew that she just didn’t care. She was probably a mess of plasters and bandages herself, having sustained a few cuts from falling down the ladder. And hitting her head. She was being monitored by Harvey now too, but nothing was expected to come from it. Just a bang on the head.
Haley snorted to herself. Yeah, just a bang. Her farmer had sustained the most of the damage protecting the dumb blonde from harm. She was probably fine before Haley had gotten down there; probably just lost track of the time, like usual.
Haley berated herself for her stupidity - how could she have thought she could save Lara? What would Haley have actually contributed? Nothing. It was her fault that the farmer was in this mess. Lara would be better protected if she stayed away from her. Haley didn’t belong in this town anymore, and it was painfully obvious.
“Angels shouldn’t cry you know.” A hoarse voice said from nearby.
Haley’s eyes flew open to meet the farmers warm brown ones. She was doing that goofy, lopsided smile again, despite her eyebrow being contorted with mild pain. “Especially an angel as beautiful as yourself.”
“I’m so glad you’re okay.” Haley breathed, taking the farmers hand into her own and squeezing it lightly.
Lara chuckled. “That’s my line,” she said playfully, her smile gently falling away. “You shouldn’t have been down there, Haley. It’s not safe.”
Haley’s features scrunched annoyedly. “You didn’t come back! It had been hours, and you weren’t back, and, and…. you worried me so much, you horrible farmer!”
Lara’s concern faded to guilt, and then sadness, and she sat up as best she could. Haley, despite her anger, helped the girl up too.
“I know, I’m sorry…I just-“ the farmer suddenly exclaimed frustratingly, making Haley jump. “Agh! I was so close to Level 100, I could practically taste it! So I kept pushing myself, when…when I know that I shouldn’t have…”
For quite possibly the first time, Haley saw the farmers eyes go dark and lifeless. “It…it was just supposed to be me dying, you know? I think…I think a part of me gave up down there. I gave in…” she turned to look at Haley, whose deep marine eyes were filled with such concern. “…and then…you were there. You fell from heaven, quite literally.”
“When you came after me…I found this spark. Suddenly, I didn’t want to just sit there and die anymore. I wanted to live.”
Haley had stopped breathing.
“Hal. You’re the reason I want to live. You’re the reason I go the long way round to Pierre’s every day, because it means I get to pass your house. You’re the reason I travel past the community centre to get to the mines. You’re the reason I want to wake up in Stardew Valley every day, and why I want to work hard every day…Haley, you make me want to live.”
“I left behind a past I wanted to escape from in Zuzu City, and I found a new life here. A life that I want with you. And this is so not the way I wanted to ask you to be my girlfriend, but-“
The farmer abruptly stopped as Haley’s lips crashed into hers, and wide brown eyes softened before closing and returning the kiss with the same enthusiasm. With one arm, she gently moved Haley from the chair to the bed, tilting her head upwards to meet Haley’s downward angle. Haley’s hand carved through brown curls, slotting in place perfectly, and when the blonde reluctantly pulled away, she breathed out a sigh that promised all would be okay.
Because she finally had her farmer, and her farmer had her. And they would protect each other from the world, as it was meant to be.