•A Geniune Smile
She said ,
"Your Grandmother died yesterday..."
In that moment everything around me went silent and I realised that I was completely alone in this world.
×-×-×
'Good people , bad people. It's that easy to divide us humans.'
"When you read the comic about Heroes saving people you knew that such being doesn't exist..."
'Good people help others while bad people they just do bad things.'
"... you knew that there could never exist a being who would risk his life just to save a life..."
'Heroes are good people , they're kind , honest , strong and powerful'
"... you knew that a selfless human like Hero are only fictional."
'On the other hand Villains are bad people , they hurt , kill. Their selfish desires make them do bad things. They're just... born a villain.'
"Was it the Hero's ideals that you liked? Was it their actions?"
'Some support villains while some support heroes , but I... I was different. I wanted all of it.'
"No. You never cared about their ideals , you only liked their power."
'I wanted the joy of killing and getting away with it. Just like him.'
"You remember what 'he' said right? The satisfaction I get from killing can't be compared to anything in this world."
'It's funny that I can't even remember when I got so interested in killing people.'
"I can help you."
'Ah f*ck...'
"Just take this hand"
'... I want to kill a person so badly.'
"Just take it"
'I can't die yet.'
The tired Haki sitting on the ground with little strength in his body left suddenly started moving his left arm. His shaking hand reached for his other self.
'Not until I meet him and satisfy my hunger.'
'Hah hah hah'
"Where am I?"
×-×-×
"Your Grandmother died yesterday."
Few hours later.
"Archbishop Seven , don't you think Bishop Krev is just empty? His personality is so plain and... see I can't point out anything special about him."
While taking a sip from the cup filled with some kind of tea Seven replied ,
"Really?"
"?"
"Does he really look like a empty person to you?"
"..."
"Gray , you are only good at being an assassin. You can't read a person."
"Ugh , that hurt Archbishop Seven."
Seven let a chuckle out and continued drinking her tea in silence. Meanwhile Gray got up from his seat and took a bottle of beer out of the small refrigerator present in Seven's office.
"Lost."
"Hmm?"
"Lost. That describes Krev perfectly."
'Pop'
Making that sound the bottle of beer opened.
"Lost?"
×-×-×
The Next Morning.
Moving his lifeless body on the streets of city S Krev finally reached the destination , his uncle's house where his Grandmother's funeral was going to take place.
Everyone dressed in black surrounded his Grandmother , some washing their tears away while some shared their condolences. Looking at the situation Krev felt frustrated , he was frustrated by the fact that he couldn't get closer to her Grandmother and say her goodbye.
And so Krev hid himself in the crowd and attended the funeral.
"Few weeks ago my brother and his whole family were killed..."
His uncle got up and started speaking.
"... their son has been missing since then and the police thinks he died too. Ever since then my mother was deeply wounded by their deaths , one of her son and her grandchildren died. She couldn't take it , everyday she would get up and wait for the newspaper to get delivered and see if there was any new clues to find Krev."
'Don't...'
"Everytime I watched her getting up early to look for news related to her missing grandchild pained me."
'Don't you dare...'
"Every month or two my brother would bring old books related mythology or history for my mother , she was quite fond of reading novels and poems. Whenever all of her grandchildren united at a place she would sing them a poem or tell them a short story. While most of the kids played with their smartphones Krev sat right beside her and heard every word she said."
Just as his uncle said this Krev got up from his seat walked out of the house thinking ,
'You're not blaming her death on me.'
Leaving the room he was able to sneak in his Grandmother's room , filled with numerous books and novels the room looked more like a library. A huge bookshelf on the right and a bed on the left side with less furniture as the bookshelf took a lot of space in the room.
'History of Continent Alp Vol. 1' , 'Sol's Sword' , and many more were the stored in the bookshelf. Between the bed and the bookshelf was a small table with a book on it , walking close to it Krev found a bookmark popping out of the book.
"Mutant's Daily Life? What kind of book was Grandma reading?"
Out of curiosity he flipped through the first few pages until he decided to skip directly to the bookmark. He started reading from page number 146 of the book.
"It ain't that different , nobody at my work knows that I'm a mutant , none of my relatives know that I'm mutant. I've just revealed it to my family that's all , cause that's all it matters to me. Everyday I return to my home with a gift within me that could possibly lead to destruction of my whole family , a 'gift' that could completely ruin our future."
"But I don't care , cause after 15 years of living as mutant and going through the trouble of hiding my gift at the end of the day I return back to my family with a smile on my face."
Just as he was going to continue Krev noticed something , the ink on the next few sentences was spread out making the letters blurry and hard to read. After looking closely Krev noticed why the letters were so unclear.
'Grandma cried...'
He remembered what his Grandmother once said to him.
"Look at those people struggling on the streets , they struggle to get a meal and live a stable life. That person has a family of 4 to run , do you know what his job is? He runs errands , sometimes he works at construction site or at a random place doing a random job. Nobody respects him. Nobody acknowledges his existence."
"Grandma , how do you know so much about him?"
To his question Krev's Grandmother let a small chuckle out and said ,
"Let's just say that I'm getting older , after resting all day you notice things. Anyways do you know why that guys is better than your father?"
Krev moved his gaze at man resting on bench and said ,
"He looks... happier."
While his Grandmother let a smile out she felt bad for Krev.
"That's right. He doesn't need anyone's respect , he doesn't need anyone to know that he exists. As long as he lives a life he's satisfied with he struggles. For his wife , for his kids , for their bright futures he struggles and so he lives a happy life. My son , your father needs other's to acknowledge him , to respect him. There's nothing wrong with that , in fact that's a nice goal to have , but mixed with his stubborn personality this desire to get acknowledge by others becomes a poison."
"You know I would like to see you geniune smile once before I die."
"Sorry I couldn't hear you there Grandma."
"Oh. It's nothing."
It was a lie , Krev clearly heard what his Grandmother said. A geniune smile. A smile filled with emotions.
'No masks. No lies. I would like to see that smile of yours Krev. Maybe I'm asking for too much. It must be hard for you and your sister , but I still hope to see that smile that you had when you used play with me.'
Krev placed the book back to it's place and reached for his heart. He picked the pen infront of him and made a cut in his chest , he continued until the cut was big enough to fit his hand. Without waiting another second he 'literally' reached for his heart , after few seconds a small beating organ was in his left hand.
With his left hand still in his chest Krev walked upto the picture of his late Grandparents photo and looked at it. Slowly he started pumping his heart with hand.
A genuine smile. A smile where he felt nothing but pain , his eyes were filled with tears , but his lips were still curled up revealing a big smile.
Anyone watching this madness wouldn't believe what they just saw but to Krev it was his most geniune smile.
'It hurts... It hurts... It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. IT HURTS. IT F*CKING HURTS.'
"Sorry Grandma... this is the best I can do right now."