"The sun don't shine in my backyard anymore,
And lately, it seems like my friends have turned to foes...
Hey, where you gonna go?
Hey, I don't know..."
-Art Guy, Where You Gonna Go
Guntz walked through his home, cleaning supplies in hand, trying to clean any dust that had settled on high surfaces and in hard to reach spots. He didn't usually like to clean, but today he'd seen just how rough it was getting, dust accumulating to concerning levels in some areas, and he decided he couldn't stand letting his dad's old house get in a worse state. After doing the kitchen and most of the other rooms, he stood in front of a particular door, and stopped to contemplate for a moment.
Since his father's death, Guntz had only occasionally entered his old bedroom. True, it could be considered a waste to just leave it to gather dust, but nonetheless it didn't quite feel right to use it. Even now, the fact that Batz was dead barely felt real, and sometimes he felt sure that his dad was about to come back through the front door from another bounty hunting job, just like he had all those years ago.
Nowadays, almost a decade after that fateful day, Guntz's memories of his father had grown fuzzy. He remembered a few snatches, a few distinct and fond memories but nothing felt concrete anymore, and that terrified him. The idea that he might one day forget more about his dad, to the point of perhaps even not remembering his face, was really scary. Thus, he always kept an eye out for old photos from his childhood, so he could try to rekindle those memories the best he could.
Sometimes, when the fear of forgetting him was especially powerful, he might bite the bullet and sleep in his dad's old bed. It had been cleaned in the time since, of course, but Guntz swore when he did that he could recall his dad more clearly. His well-built physique, the scent of those cigars he was often seen puffing on, and of course, his laugh which seemed to shake the house.
Guntz sighed through his nose and opened the door to his dad's bedroom to start cleaning. No use putting it off any longer.
As he was cleaning under the bed, having done most of the surfaces first, he spotted a few old and crumbling cardboard boxes that were falling apart with age. Deciding to throw them out, Guntz brought them out from under the bed, but stopped when he noticed one of them was unusually heavy, as if there was still something inside. Taking a peek, he gasped. It was a photo album, dusty but still intact, with his dad's name "Batz" written on the front.
He might have just hit the motherlode.
Immediately forgetting about his chores, Guntz grabbed the photo album and jumped up onto his bed, opening it to the first page to look through the different photos inside.
The first few pages were pictures of Batz and his wife (Guntz's mother) out doing the bounty hunter circuit, along with a couple of them in their downtime, talking and laughing. Guntz didn't remember his mother, she had died shortly after his birth, but she seemed the perfect match for his father, not least because she had supposedly rivaled him in physical strength. They looked quite young in these early photos, perhaps being in their mid to late 20s at the time if Guntz had to guess.
Guntz's brow furrowed, however, when he spotted a familiar face begin to appear in some of the photos. A light purple cat, much younger than Guntz had seen before. He didn't need any difficulty recognising them, though. Their name was one he had come to despise for a very long time.
Of course, he thought to himself, he should have expected to see Janga here. He and his Pops had been partners in crime for goodness knows how long when Guntz was a kid, working together as bounty hunting partners until that fateful day when the feline had betrayed him and struck him down, so he could follow Garlen's lead and plunge the land into Nahato's Darkness. Seeing his smiling face in these photos made Guntz sick, how he could seem so at home standing alongside the happy couple despite what he would go on to do.
The one saving grace, though, was that Janga had been defeated in trying to resurrect Nahatomb, and after trying one more time to deceive him and nearly killing Guntz's friend Klonoa in the process, he'd fallen into a crater on the moon and seemingly plummeted to his death. At least now he was gone, and he could no longer torment the world, and especially Guntz, anymore.
He tried to put it out of his mind. That wasn't what he was here for.
After a short time, he saw the first photographs of his new-born self start to appear, being held by his parents. It made him a little teary eyed, seeing himself so pure and untainted by the hardship that life would deal him. If only things had been different…
If only Janga wasn't in a lot of those photos as well, alongside them all…
His mood worsened further when he noticed his mother disappear from the photos completely, doubtlessly marking the point of her death. The only indication as to what happened was a single shaky photo of a gravestone, with her name on the front, Batz standing in front of it in a black outfit, paying his respects. Guntz hadn't known it existed, which made him feel bad. He would have to go out looking for it the next chance he got.
The photos continued, Batz putting on a brave face as he took care of his son on his own. Gritting his teeth, Guntz saw Janga remain present in many of them, almost seeming to increase in appearances, posing with his father. A lot of them were taken either during or right after bounty hunting jobs, likely done to brag about a job well done.
No doubt Janga had been trying to get closer to Batz and take advantage of his grief from Guntz's mother's death to get what he wanted, Guntz thought to himself. God, the man made him want to throw up.
It was a seemingly innocuous photo about midway through the album which made Guntz stop in his tracks, stunned, and a sick feeling began to form in his stomach.
It was of his father and Janga, the feline resting on Batz's shoulder and seeming to be asleep, or at least resting. It shouldn't have been such a worrying sight, but it seemed almost too intimate to be normal for a professional partnership.
Far too intimate…
He tried to block it from his mind and kept flipping through, seeing his infant self begin to grow into a toddler, taking his first steps, playing with his dad, that sort of thing. All the while, Janga's presence became increasingly prevalent, often being seen sitting with the two or reluctantly playing with the infant Guntz.
A lot of them didn't even show them out on jobs anymore. Others were just of the two hanging out at home, and going out on trips with an infant Guntz, spending time together.
God, with how much he was showing up, it was starting to seem like the two were living together. That they were growing abnormally close.
But no, that couldn't be so, his father would never-
There it was again, another photo that set off the butterflies in Guntz's stomach. Janga coming from behind Batz and giving him an affectionate embrace, a genuinely contented expression on both their faces.
A loving expression…
Guntz flipped faster through the album, not believing what he was seeing. The rest of the photos when they weren't of a young Guntz, who was slowly leaving toddlerhood and growing up, were by now almost exclusively of the pair doing things together. What they were up to varied greatly, but included them going out on jobs, chilling at home in casual wear, going on days out with Guntz, and seemingly heading out on a night on the town, hitting up local bars.
One photo was of Janga curled up like a cat asleep on the very bed that Guntz was sitting on at that moment, and it would have been amusing if not for the fact that he had been sleeping there at all just made the terror mount further.
No, no… this wasn't right… he couldn't accept this… there had to be some explanation for what he was seeing…
The last photos he saw, towards the back of the album, is what finally broke him.
It was Janga planting a kiss on Batz's cheek, who had an amused smirk at his face that made clear that he was very much appreciative of it.
The one next to it was more intimate… they were kissing on… on the…
Lips.
Guntz could take it no more, and he threw the photo album across the room, burying his face in his hands as he tried to comprehend what he had seen, unable to hold back the tears.
He tried to block it out, erase it from his mind, so that his psyche could be spared from the implications of what he had seen, his fingers buried in his temple as he barely fought back the urge to start crying right then and there.
The truth though, as much as he didn't want to accept it, was that Janga and his father were closer than he had ever known…
The photo album, thrown from the bed and out of his field of view, fell open on one of the very last pages. The photo held prominent there went unnoticed by Guntz.
It was a nighttime photo of Batz and Janga smiling in bed together.
Both of them looked happy.
Happy together…