Warning: if you're looking for a happy ending, you won't find it here.
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Just went up the mountain to catch some fish! Be back soon~ Your amazing dad :) P.S.- Kenta invited you over for lunch. Don't forget to feed Hokuto before you go over!
Gingka read the crumpled note for the twenty sixth time before shoving back in his pocket. He returned to staring out the open window at the path leading up to their house. His dad had gone up the mountain this morning while he had been asleep. By now, it was already dark out. Ryo had never stayed so long on the mountain. He had always been back before nightfall. It was dangerous to be up there for too long.
Dad... Where are you?
He sat there until his eyes were slipping closed and his head was drooping. It was only then that he closed the window and went to bed, praying that he would wake up to Ryo's easy smile and contagious laughter.
That night he dreamt of glowing eyes and fangs in the mist.
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"Is he still not back?" Kenta sounded worried.
"No." Gingka didn't lift his head from his arms, still exhausted from his the previous night's fruitless vigil.
"Did you tell an adult yet?" Madoka fretted, hands wringing together as she eyed a teacher as if considering whether or not to call her over.
"As if that'll help", Kyoya scoffed. "Adults are all bluster and talk. They never do anything."
"...Maybe it's the Guardian." Yuu sounded half in awe, half in fear.
"Yuu! Don't say that!" Tsubasa snapped at his little brother. At the little boy's huff of irritation, the silver-haired boy sighed, ruffling his Yuu's bright orange hair as an apology. "I'm sorry Gingka. Yuu didn't mean it. If there's anything we can do to help..."
Gingka's head shot up, his eyes pleading. "Will you help me look for him?"
Everyone at the lunch table immediately looked uneasy. Yuu and Kenta exchanged scared looks, Madoka studied the table's wood grain with wide eyes, while Kyoya and Tsubasa sported equally grim faces.
Gingka took one look and dropped his head back on to the table with a thump. "Never mind. Forget I said anything."
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That night he packed his bags with everything he thought he would need. Both of the flashlights, a few extra batteries, his dad's hand-scrawled map, and some food and water. After a moment's hesitation he added a first aid kit, a change of clothes for both him and his dad, and his blanket. He wasn't sure how long he would be on the mountain, or in what condition he would find his father.
At dawn, he filled Hokuto's bowls with plenty of dog food and clean water. Though the dog was admittedly smart and almost seemed to understand what people were saying at times, Gingka did not want to risk him getting loose in the woods. With a final scratch behind Hokuto's ears, he turned to leave.
Before he left, he scribbled a hasty note for Kenta, who he walked to schoool with every morning. Gingka taped it to the outside of the front door:
Gone after dad. Be back with him soon- Gingka:) P.S.- Someone please feed Hokuto while I'm gone.
He could hear the dog's whines and scrabbling paws through the door. "I'll be back soon, boy. Someone will take care of you until then. Promise."
With that he turned and didn't look back until he was alone and far past the town's outskirts. He was on Mist Mountain.
He didn't hear Hokuto's anguished howls behind him.
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"Listen to your parents, or the demon will come and eat you!"
"I dare you... to go up the mountain." "No way! I'll be eaten alive!"
"Don't go out. It's too foggy tonight; the Guardian must be on the prowl."
Gingka had heard the stories. Everyone in the village had. The Guardian was the equivalent of the bogeyman. He was the monster under little kid's beds, the cause of mysterious disappearances, and the reason why people stayed away from the mountain, despite the rumours of treasure on it. He was the demon born of the mist and guardian of all that the mist concealed.
He'd never believed the tales. He's just moved here shortly after his mother's death a few years ago, so he hadn't been raised hearing the stories like the rest of the village children. Not only that, but his dad periodically went up the mountain to fish. Nothing tasted better than the fish from the creeks up there. His father always joked that the Guardian had never been interested in eating him because he was so tough and muscley. Everyone in the town knew where he went to fish, and they all regarded him with mixtures of fear, amazement, or disapproval.
Gingka himself had been subject to the opinions of some of the townspeople. A few kids in the village refused to even come near him, and a couple of older boys started to bully him. Thankfully, his close circle of friends always supported and banded around him, so he continued to look forward to school. (Well, he liked lunchtime at least; the classes were kinda boring.)
To him, the Guardian was just a story, a way to keep naughty children out of trouble.
But now his father was missing. And Gingka was starting to fear that the culprit was the Guardian.
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It was cold. Gingka had wrapped his blanket around his shoulders like a cloak, but he still shivered in the chill. Though it must already be mid-morning, the mist was so thick that the sunlight couldn't burn through.
He squinted at his father's badly drawn map. Ryo had made it as neat as he could, but with all of the marker colours he had used bleeding together, it looked like a rainbow had just barfed on the paper. On top of that, he had random notes and doodles scrawled in the margins: a reminder to buy more dog food, a lopsided horse with wings, and a blue-eyed stick figure wearing a dress.
Gingka sighed as he attempted to decipher the names of the landmarks he was supposed to find.
The...does that say Scratched Tree?
At that moment, he tripped over something and ended up sprawled on the forest floor. Groaning, he picked himself up gingerly. At least I didn't sprain my ankle or something, he thought as he examined a shallow gash on his forearm. He turned to see what he had fallen over.
Oh, so it is the Scratched Tree.
He had tripped over the carcass of a dead tree. Deep gouges were dug into its rotting trunk, ripping diagonally across the bark.
They looked like claw marks.
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After he had left the tree behind and passed "The Rock Shaped like a Fat Hippo" and "The Tree with Wet Noodle Branches", he finally found the creek (dubbed The Most Awesomest Fishing Place Evah!) where his father always fished in.
The water was fresh and cool, which felt like heaven to his tired and aching feet. He rested a moment to fill the empty water bottles and to snack on some of the chips he had packed. Then he started up the brook, looking for any signs of his dad.
He had only walked a short while before he came upon Ryo's fishing gear. The old wooden fishing pole was leaning against a tree trunk, and the dented tackle box with Hagane stamped boldly on the lid was set neatly beside it. Gingka peeked inside the box. It was empty.
Gingka frowned; his dad usually had the box filled to the brim with cans of bait and tackle. There was no way that he had used it all.
"What are you doing here?"
Gingka jumped. He whirled around. A boy, who looked to be around his age, regarded him coolly. The stranger had pale hair fluffed messily around his head, tanned skin, and bright blue eyes. He was wearing a strange robe, and wore long, fingerless gloves
"Who are you?!" Gingka stammered, surprised to find anyone else on the mountain.
"It doesn't matter who I am. You need to get off the mountain. Now." The boy snapped, his eyes sharp and flinty.
"I can't leave; I need to find my dad!" Gingka protested hotly as his hands curled into fists.
"Do you want to get eaten? Your dad is probably already dead. You have no business here. Leave." The boy stated hauntily before striding forward to brush past him.
"My dad is not dead! And what business do you have here?" Gingka demanded, turning around to follow him. "You can't tell me to leave and then stay yourself. That makes you a hypocrite!"
The stranger paused, his form just barely shrouded in the ever-present mist. "A hypocrite?" He laughed mirthlessly. "I guess I am."
His eyes seemed so old and sad as he stared back at Gingka.
"You asked what my reason to be here was? I am here to kill the demon."
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A/N: So I know I should be working on Whispers in the Dark, but this plot bunny has been eating away at me. ^_^' Apologies if anyone seemed OOC. So what happened to Ryo? And does the Guardian exist? Tell me what you think in the comments!