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.