Cries of a new birth came from a tiny farm house settled neatly in the middle of broad, grassy fields. A weary mother gazed lovingly upon the father and infant, her pain forgotten in the joy of the new moment. The father stared with wide eyes at the crimson haired baby girl, the feeling of becoming a parent overwhelming him. He was in awe of her, even as he cleaned her and swaddled her into a pink baby blanket.
"Ignis.." His young wife's voice brought him back to his senses, and he turned his head to see her awaiting arms. She had been patient with him as he cared for their child, but now it was her turn to hold and feed her. The celestial being lowered their daughter into her arms, smiling as she placed her lips upon the infant's forehead. "Don't cry, baby. Mommy's here.." She whispered, brushing her fingers across the smooth skin of her cheek. The baby's cries had died down, now tired from the strenuous day.
"Hikari, what will we name her?" The fiery god asked from her bedside, lowering himself to sit beside her. The mother looked up, meeting her husbands eyes as he laid his hand over hers which cradled their child. "Akane." She whispered, her lips curling up in a small smile. Ignis stooped down, kissing his wife tenderly. "It's a good name."
As the months passed, the girl grew exceedingly well. Not only that, but from the moment she could crawl, she proved to be a trouble maker. She would often get into things that should have been left alone, and more than once created a disaster that her mother had to clean up after scolding and punishing her.
By the time the girl was six, she was going off on her own to explore the large island that they lived on. Her father, being the harvest god, was unable to live with them due to his celestial duties. However, that didn't stop him from keeping a watchful eye on her and her exploratory tendencies. More than once he had to break away from his duties to fetch his daughter from a potentially dangerous area, but even after his reprimanding, she still continued to explore.
Hikari tried to keep a constant watch on Akane, but with her farm work it wasn't always possible. When her mother was busy tending to the animals or watering the crops, she'd run off to find new things to get into. The poor stressed mother had considered getting a child's leash, but couldn't bring herself to go through with it.
Despite being a mischievous child, she had grown up mostly in the likeness of her father. Her hair was a stunning red like his, but only a shade darker. Her eyes also followed in suit, being a bright crimson color. Because of her frequent adventures, her mother ended up getting clothes for her that she could get dirty in. That, at least, was less stress for her later when she had to wash and mend clothes.
On a cool autumn's evening, Akane had slipped past her mother's gaze as usual, taking off down the farm road towards Harmonica Town. She knew the way to town, as she had traveled it many times before when her mother took her to the tiny island school. As she ran along the dirt road, she passed over one of the many shorelines that were decorated along the edges of the island. Voices were heard above the sound of the waves, peaking her curiosity.
She walked onto the sandy shores of the tiny beach, searching for the source of the voices. She saw four of the other children that lived on the island. Heath, Lucy, Roy, and Vivian stood in a circle, arguing over something. "You're stupid, Heath. There's no such thing as ghosts!" The mayor's daughter, Vivian, scoffed, turning her head away as her arms folded daintily across her chest. "Really, I saw one! I was in Fugue Forest with Roy. He saw it too!" Heath insisted, looking to his friend for help. "It's true, it was this big," The blacksmith's son stretched up on his toes, reaching his arm up as far as he could, "and was glowing really bright!" Lucy, the daughter of the local lumberjack, seemed interested in their story, but scrunched up her nose dismissively when the boys looked to her. "I don't believe you. I have to see it for myself, first." She put her hands on her hips, her eyes narrowed in a scrutinizing fashion.
"I believe you! I wanna see it too!" Akane exclaimed as she rushed over, her eyes sparkling with excitement. The four children looked over to her, the boys grinning in relief that someone had believed them. Vivian huffed, rolling her eyes. "It definitely has to be fake now, if Akane thinks it's real." She scoffed, looking over to Lucy as if for confirmation. "We can all go look together." Heath suggested, to which Roy and Akane nodded. Lucy hesitated, then nodded as well. "Okay, I guess I'll come too." She smiled, making Vivian gape in shock. "Y-You really believe them?!" She sputtered, then pursed her lips stubbornly. "Fine! If you all think it really exists, then I'll come too, just to prove you all wrong!"
An amused father watched from the peaks of Garmon Mountains. He sat upon his icy throne, listening to the children chattering on as they made their way to Flute Fields where the entrance to the Fugue Forest was. "A ghost... How absurd." He mumbled to himself, but was obviously entertained by it all.
The dark forest seemed to loom all around them, intimidating the five children even though they hadn't yet opened the gate to the depths of the forest. "A-All right, Heath. Where's the ghost? I don't see it anywhere." Vivian hugged her middle as if to protect herself from something scary that might jump out. "It was in there." Heath pointed to the rickety wooden gate that blocked their path. "You're crazy! We can't go in there without an adult, we'll get lost!" Vivian cried, her brow furrowing in panic. "Nu uh, I know where I'm going." Heath walked to the gate, reaching up to remove the chain that held the wooden door shut. "Me too, I've been in here a lot of times too." Roy added in, wanting to seem just as cool as Heath was to the girls.
Akane stood back with Vivian and Lucy as the boy's tugged on the heavy chain, eventually freeing it from the loop. The wooden door groaned and squeaked as it swung open, making Vivian squeal in fright, and Lucy stiffen nervously. "We really shouldn't go in here! We'll get in trouble, or worse!" Vivian pushed, desperate to get them to change their minds. She stared in shock as Akane entirely ignored her, walking ahead to go into the forest. "H-hey!" She cried, clutching onto the ends of her sundress. The two boys quickly followed behind her, not wanting to be bested by a girl. Lucy looked over to Vivian, reaching to take her hand. "We can wait here for them to come back, so if they don't, we can go get help." She was just as frightened as Vivian was now, and couldn't work up the nerve to follow the other three into the forest. Vivian nodded, then glanced worriedly back to the dark pathway the three had just walked into.
"Guys, wait, slow down!" Akane called inside the depths of the shadowy woods. She could see the two boys ahead of her, making their way through the thick foliage. She was struggling to match their fast pace, avoiding the thorny plants and broken branches on the ground. "Come on, Akane, it's up here somewhere." Roy glanced back to her, gesturing for her to hurry up before continuing on. She rushed her cautious footwork, her fear growing as their figures became more and more shrouded in the shadows of the forest.
"Heath! Roy!" Akane yelled frantically, when she could no longer see them in front of her. She circled around, her hands lifting up in front of her chest and clenching shut. She couldn't see them anywhere now. She turned back in the direction she had been walking originally, hoping that if she continued on for a little while longer she might find them. She called out for them, her voice shaking with her fear. It was dark and quiet, and she was all alone now.
Outside the forest, Vivian and Lucy watched as the sun had begun to set. "Lucy, we need to go find an adult now. They haven't come back out yet." Vivian tugged on her friends arm, and together they ran to find someone to help them.
Akane had begun to snivel and whimper. It had been five minutes and she still hadn't found her friends, or the way out. From the corner of her eye, she could see something glowing at the foot of a tree. She jumped and shrieked, thinking it was the ghost. But upon closer inspection, it was only a strange purple mushroom with spots. She shuffled towards it, then reached down to poke the cap with her finger. It didn't seem dangerous to her, so she picked it up and held it in her hands to closer inspect it.
A twig snapping behind her startled her back to her surroundings. She turned around quickly, staring in the direction of the noise. It was silent, then suddenly the bushes began to rustle. Akane whimpered in fear, her eyes watering. "Daddy! Daddy, help!" She cried, her tears spilling over. She knew that he was always there whenever she got into dangerous situations. Why hadn't he shown up already?
At the mountaintop, Ignis paced anxiously. He knew everything that was happening to her. He ached to go down and get her out of that forest, especially when he heard her cries for him. However the circumstances this time were very different from that of the few other times he had to save her. This time, other mortals might see him if he appeared to rescue her. Not only that, but there was another man searching in the woods close to her location. The man was another island resident, and had been so for quite a number of years. He was a magical being, a wizard, but not a god like Ignis. His wife was too far away from Akane to reach her before dark. He had no choice but to use his magic to guide the wizard to his precious daughter's location.
The wizard trudged through the dreary forest, searching for the one thing he came all the way out here to find. It was a certain purple mushroom, that glowed with a magic aura. He needed it for many of his spells, otherwise he wouldn't bother coming into this maze of a forest. He saw a glimmer of light ahead of him, in the bushes just past the trees. He approached it, thinking it was the mushroom he had been searching for. But as soon as he reached the light, it faded away, only to reappear again further in front of him. His eyes narrowed in confusion, and he once more headed towards it.
"Daddy... Momma..." Akane sniveled, crouched down on the forest floor, the purple mushroom held tightly to her chest. She regretted going into the forest. She should have listened to Vivian's warnings. No, she should have remembered all the times she had been scolded for her dangerous outings and decided early on to not go into the forest. She heard the rustling in the bushes once more, much louder than it had been before. She cringed up, scooting back up against a tree so that her back was protected. When she looked up, she saw a figure emerge from the haze of the forest.
The wizard stopped when he saw the female child curled up on the ground, holding the very thing he had been searching for. Despite that, it didn't explain the lights he saw that had lead him to this place. "Who.. are you?" The small voice asked, her red eyes staring up at him in awe. The wizard took a closer look at her features. The red hair and eyes, reminded him of... Ah. So this was the Harvest King's child. The lights he saw must have been the god guiding him to help his child. "I prefer to be called... wizard..." He walked towards her, outstretching his hand to help her up to her feet. She took his hand, standing to her feet as she wiped her eyes with the back of the hand that still grasped onto the mushroom. "Can we find my other two friends? They're in the woods too. I got lost." She looked up to him pleadingly, her hand refusing to let go of his. The wizard studied her, then gave a small nod.
"Akane!" Heath called, his hands cupped around his mouth. Roy stood behind him, searching desperately. "She's lost, and I think we are too." He chewed on his bottom lip, beginning to sniffle. "I wish my dad was here to get us." He was getting more paranoid with each passing minute, the forest seeming to get even darker than it had been. "Don't say that, we gotta be tough!" Heath tried to encourage him, but couldn't hide the fact that he was trembling himself. Footsteps drew them to attention, and they grabbed onto each other as if it would somehow protect them. "WHO is making all this racket?!" A highly irritated female voice snapped, and with the voice followed a figure from the shade of the trees. Her silver hair and scornful gaze was illuminated in the small amount of light coming from between the thickly branched trees. Upon seeing the boys cowering in front of her, she let out a groan. This meant she'd have to take them all the way to the entrance of the forest, otherwise they'd wander around and continue to disrupt her peace. "Stop your sniveling and follow me, brats." She grumbled moodily, turning around to guide them to the exit. The boys looked to each other, their faces pale, then rushed after her.
Akane called for her two friends as the wizard led her around. He hoped this would be over soon, and that he could go home. After all, this was incredibly close to his rival's territory. Not long after they had begun searching, a faint reply came from deeper in the woods. The girl gasped, rushing forward towards it as she tugged the wizard along behind her. "You heard it too, right?" She asked excitedly, to which he only nodded. He heard it all right, but he also sensed something else that caused his mood to sour.
Finally, their back and forth yelling had guided the two groups to each other. The silver haired woman scowled at the wizard, then smirked casually. "Well, since you're doing so well, I'll leave the rest to you, wizzy." She cooed, turning and leaving before he had time to react. The wizard glanced down to the three children who were staring up at him hopefully. A sigh left him, and he allowed them to cling onto his coat as he led them out of the forest.
Outside the forest once more, the children were greeted by furious parents. Akane's head bowed as Hikari scolded her mercilessly, unable to do much else other than mumble 'I'm sorry'. Hikari looked up to the wizard, a familiar smile creeping to her lips as she bowed her head to him. "Thank you so much for helping her." She nudged Akane's back, encouraging her to thank him as well. Akane glanced up at him sheepishly, then held out the purple mushroom to him. "Thank you, wizard." She smiled for him, one that looked exactly like her mother's. "You're welcome..." He murmured as he took the mushroom from the girl. He stared after the mother as she left with her daughter, a squeezing sensation left in his chest from the smile she had given him so many times before. He cast his gaze to the ground, then returned to his empty home.
