The World We Do Not Know - 146 Red Eyed Faust

“Give me the reports from our house.” As soon as he entered the ship, Skiouros, a captain that came to Mindoro to pick up the young talent and headed back to the Mainland with the assistance of Gus.

In the journey, he gets the name of the doctor who fled the mainland with the humanoid. He immediately goes into the control room to check the reports. His aura immediately changes from a cheerful elder person you met in the park in evenings to a vile, ruthless murderer hidden beneath the kind smile.

“Contact the house and tell them we are coming there with Gus Hughes.” Skiouros orders his men with an evil smile taken over his face. One can easily say that he is plotting something big in his head.

For the next 10 days, Faust lives on his own, cooks his own food and for Bella. He trains all by himself.

He built a training ground all by himself in grass fields after being turned down by Yang to train him.

Even though things are hard at school and with any person he makes contact with. As they look at him like a loser. He started to ignore the insults and curses and moved forward with positivity.

He knows he won’t be staying long on this island anyway, so he does not bother about the villagers and the kids of his age making fun of him and calling him a loser.

“Bella oi! Eat up your food fast! Grandpa will be coming today.” Faust says as he pushes a plate of dog food towards Bella with a bright smile on his face. It is the 10th day and he cannot wait to meet Gus.

“Yosh! I cooked spinach and fried tofu with spices, I hope they will be sufficient for lunch! Grandpa will be tired all these days so I shouldn’t tire him more by burdening him with work as soon as he arrives.”

“Mmm and fresh, sweet tangy mangoes as dessert! Nicely done.” Faust gives a pat to himself on the shoulder for the work he has done.

“Let’s goooo!” He and Bella heads out, he ties a rope around his waist with the other end of the rope tied around the collar of Bella.

It is to be cautious while getting down his hill. He could not leave Bella alone on slippery snow. The villagers and the old people that come across him in the path stares at him in an odd way.

Finally, as he reaches the tip of a hill a little far from the port, the ship is already here in the port and many people seem to be walking out of the ship.

“Ahhhhh! We must be late, Bells, let’s go soon.” Faust hurries quickly once he sees the ship, he is not able to hold his emotions back. He laughingly reaches the port and stands in front of a huge ship.

It is a cruise ship so Faust is caught off guard with the vastness and beauty of the ship. Faust stays in awe with his mouth open. He walks slowly while his eyes are still fixated on the shining colors and the material of the ship.

“Oh! If it isn’t Faust, Fausty! I’m here! It’s your grandpa!” A voice is heard from a distance. The face of Faust instantly lit up with what was before him.

Gus is running towards him carrying his bags, “Woahhhh! Grandpaaa!” Faust immediately takes a leap and hugs Gus tightly, his arms are wrapped around Gus’ neck and his body covers his face entirely.

“Ow ow ow. I-i’m I’m nowt ab-ble to br-brweathe” Gus suffered with Faust covering his face and choking his neck, he repeatedly taps on Faust’s back to let him go.

“Ohh! Grandpa!!! I missed you so much! Look at you, you became chubby in these 10 days. You must be eating lots of new foods and slacking off on bed huh?” Faust lets go of Gus’ face and starts evaluating Gus as tears roll off his eyes.

It is just frustrating for Faust that Gus left him and spent a long 10 days on the mainland while he is left alone in his small house.

“Anyway, I’m so happy to see you again, so did you make sure my friends are settled well and in a good neighbourhood? In a good school? Is everything good for her?”

“Especially Nick! He needs a place with lots of food. So does that place have a lot of food huh?” Faust attacks Gus with a question after question while showing concern towards his friends.

“Ah, let’s talk about these things at home, I’m hungry, let’s go eat and talk.” Gus replies.

“Heh, sureee, let’s go. I have cooked delicious food for you, your mouth will be filled with water instantly as soon as you see the food I prepared heh” Faust climbs the back of Gus and goes for a piggyback ride while boasting about his cooking.

“Faust!” As he and Gus are about to go, a voice is heard from behind. Gus stops moving forward and Faust turns his face back to see who called him.

Gus however does not move or talk or show any emotion, he hides his face as he looks down without taking a step.

There are a bunch of people who seem to be standing in a circle, a person who seems to be lying unconscious in between the circle.

“How did he faint suddenly?”

“Did you see someone attacking?”

“I don’t think so, Yang is here too.”

“What is happening? He suddenly fainted while standing here.”

The crowd gathered around and kept talking about the fainted person.

*”Huh? Fainted while standing? What kind of pathetic person is he?”* Faust thinks to himself while being a bit annoyed. He wants to go home and eat with Gus but it seems like it is being delayed for him.

“Faust!” The voice is heard again. Faust being surprised, he looks either way to see who is calling him.

“Let’s place him on the table under the shade of the shelter.” The crowd of people decided and carry the fainted person and placed him under a shelter and are trying to wake him up.

“Faust! Wake up” the same voice is heard again. Faust slowly opens his eyes. His is in between a crowd and on the table in a shelter.

He is confused as to how he ended up here. “Are you ok Faust? You suddenly collapsed.” One of the crew members of the ship asks Faust.

*”Huh? I? Collapsed? Fainted? How can I?”* Faust holds his head while trying to remember what had happened.

Suddenly a stroke of lightning hit him in his head, his eyes widened and his breath became heavy.

“Wh-who was the one?” Faust asks in a shock.

Wh-who was it? Where is my grandpa?” Faust asks with confusion, he doesn’t know why he is in-between a crowd or when he has fainted.

“Faust, I- you just fainted after a crew person spoke to you and left. We have not seen Gus till now.” A villager who is kneeling beside Faust tells him.

“Faust? Is he the loser kid? Haha who else would faint in broad daylight? Of course this weak kid!”

“We all wasted our time with him. Let’s go! Let’s go and do our work.”

“Aishhh! You really wasted our time kid.”

The crowd of villagers who had gathered around started to leave while complaining that they have wasted their efforts by coming to aid a kid who has fainted. Faust just sat down with his head lowered, he did not talk back or reply.

“You are that crew member.” Faust says to the person who is still kneeling beside him.

He turns his face towards the person slowly and asks again. “Y-yo-you were the one who spoke to me earlier right?” Faust asks as his voice is trembling.

The person beside him lets out a gloomy sigh and places his hand on the shoulder of Faust. “It was me. Do you remember what I told you?” The person asks.

Faust starts to tremble, tears roll out of his eyes and he breaks out completely. “We tried to save him. But, it is a heavy storm and he fell inside square waves. We couldn’t do anything than watch him drown. Gus had died in the shipwreck.” The person tells Faust.

The entire world seemed empty for Faust, these are words that Faust heard when he came into the port at first and fainted after hearing what happened to Gus. While he passed out, he dreamt about Gus coming back from mainland and him spending happy times with Gus.

“I’m sorry kid!” The person says and goes away, Bella who is sitting before Faust barks at him suddenly after noticing changes in Faust.

“N-no… no… n- he… grandpa is” Faust is trembling and gasping for breathe, the tears are not stopping and he seemed to be lost in despair.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHH!” Faust holds his face as his nails are digging into the skin of his forehead. He screams loudly as his cries resonate all over the village.

“Dammit! Dammit! Ahhhhhhhh” His cries are mixed with anger and sorrow. He drags his hands from his forehead to his chin as his nails peeled his skin.

Bella

is barking at the sudden change in Faust’s behaviour. The poor animal does not understand the human language and does not understand why Faust is crying with a broken heart.

“Wh-what happened to that kid?”

“Why is he crying like that now? Let’s go have a look.”

The ship’s crew who are docking by the ship rushes towards Faust, but before they reach him, an old man cuts between them and stops them with a gesture of his hand.

“Chief Yang! That kid just fainted a while ago, and now he is crying in pain.” One of the crew members tells Yang who is standing in the way between the people and Faust.

“Let him cry… he will be relieved later on,” Yang says in a cold voice while staring at Faust, he sends all the crew members back to the ship and he too walks away.

“Can you guys do me a favor? Once that kid stops crying, carry him to his home and leave him there.” On his way back to the village, Yang asks a favor from a group of fishermen who were standing and watching the whole scene from a while.

“Definitely chief.” The group replies.

*”Why you Gus? Why does it have to be you?”* Yang clenches his fists as he walks.

Faust is still crying without the care of his surroundings.

–

“Grandpa! Where is my mom and dad?” Faust remembers the first time when he asked Gus a question at the age of 6.

He went to school and saw that every kid was holding the hand of their parents while coming to school. Mother and father of all kids, came and happily took pictures with their kids on the first day of school.

Faust have an aunt, uncle and a cousin in the same village. The aunt is like an elder sister to Gus, who grew up with him.

Whenever Gus had to visit the mainland with Yang to get the resources and food. Faust was left behind with the aunt to stay for a month or two.

He always noticed little.things between him and the cousin. His cousin slept with his parents on a comfy bed while he slept on the ground with just a cloth under him.

His cousin however did not like Faust and refused to communicate or to play with him.

“Brother Zeref! Let me also play tag with you guys.” With a bright smile.on his face and excitement filled eyes and innocent face. Faust asked his cousin who is the same age as him.

“Tsk! How many times have I told you? I don’t like you. You can’t play with us.” Zeref replied in an annoyed voice.

Faust still had his smile on his face, while feeling a little sad in his heart, he lowered his head and stood at a distance as he saw his cousin and his friends played.

He did not move an inch from where he was standing, he continued staring at them helplessly. He did not understand why his cousin hated him, nor did he know that hate is a strong word that the other person does not even like your presence.

“Zeref! He is your own cousin, why not let him play? He looks sad.” A kid from Zeref’s friends spoke up as he questions Zeref words.

“I don’t like him, if you feel sad for him then you are welcome to go join him. You don’t need to play with us anymore.” Zeref replied his friend and turned towards Faust who was standing in a corner.

Zeref picked a small pebble and threw it towards Faust, targeting his leg. Faust immediately trembled with a jolt. “Brother Zeref!” He shouted as he was surprised.