Chapter 2: The boy who had zero (2)

Useless. The boy with striking black hair and even more striking black eyes felt so useless after knowing that he had no magic ability.

He fell asleep on the chest of Cygmund while being carried after crying his heart out. He has never felt this useless ever since knowing that he had been left at the doorstep of the orphanage. It may have been his mother, it may have been not. Either way, they didn't want him.

But Cygmund have revived his spirits like every other child he has taken into the orphanage. He made them feel that they still have family; he has been like a father to them, much more so than their own blood-related fathers.

This time, it's up to Cygmund again to find out how he's going to console the child whose brittle heart shattered like glass thrown into the hard wall of reality. But first, he gave him time to rest. The former tucked the latter into the bed, and shot a concerned look at the boy before heading out to fetch back the other children.

Cygmund didn't get a chance to do his "magic" though. Tony locked himself in his room. He was simply so ashamed of himself, so disappointed, that he didn't want to show his face to any of the people in the orphanage. He didn't want his idol to see him even more so.

A day has passed. Two days. A week. Tony just locked himself in his own room, moping and cursing himself, wishing someone as useless as him was never born in the first place. How he survived 7 days in his room, well, as much as Cygnum didn't want this attitude, he didn't want to leave him alone either, so he left food in front of the door every meal time. He even left a makeshift potty. He understood the child's reaction, and respected his actions.

After a week, Tony has decided.

"I guess it's time for me to leave the orphanage. I'm just a burden, especially to Cygmund," Tony said to himself.

Deep within the night, when everyone were sleeping so soundly, Tony made his move. For the first time in 7 days, Tony opened his door for the purpose other than taking the food left in front of his door. He was very careful so that he won't notify anyone, especially not Cygmund. He slipped out the door, and into the darkness. He didn't know where he was going, he just didn't want to burden anyone any longer.

Cygmund woke up after he heard the the main door of the house close. He thought it was just another one of those times when one of his children went out to check the door for new orphans left at the doorpost.

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Several minutes passed. There was still no report to him. Maybe there was actually nothing outside? But Cygmund had a bad feeling about it. He got out of his bed and went down to check the door. There was nothing wrong outside. Still, his guts tell him there's something amiss. He checked the children if there was anything wrong. He checked the locks of the room doors. To his surprise, the door to Tony's room wasn't looked. He was pleased at first, thinking that Tony finally went out. He opened the door, and saw no one.

"He must have been wanting to potty that bad after holing himself up for a week," thought Cygmund to himself.

Just when he was about to close the door, he noticed a piece of paper on top of the blanket. Curiousity got the better of him, and he went and took the paper. He read its contents.

"I'm sorry father Cygmund for being useless. Someone like me would just waste your stuff. Thank you for taking care of me all this time. I'll be useful to you by going away. I will not waste your stuff anymore.

-Tony"

Cygmund rushed down towards the main door. He opened it, and saw the darkness of the night blanket the entire area. Tony is no longer in sight.

"Come, tracing winds. Locate."

Cygmund uttered a chant for his spell. He's summoning the winds to help him locate the poor boy.

Winds swirled in front of Cygmund, and after swirling like a ball, scattered into various directions. He entered back into the orphanage and into his room. Took his gauntlets and readied himself. After preparations he walked outside the house again. Winds gathered together and swirled to form a ball again in front of Cygmund. After a while a gust of wind flew past Cygmund's left ear. Cygmund has located Tony.

"Hex: Leg-strength!"

Cygmund put a magical hex to improve his legs. He used this to run as fast as he possibly can towards Tony's location. He blew past a few houses before he reached a certain alley near Tancam Academy. There, he saw Tony, curled up in a dark corner.

"Tony!" cried out Cygmund to the poor child. He could hear sobbing. He went nearer to the figure. "Come on, let's go back home."

Cygmund saw the child look at him with a pitiful face. A face smeared with dirt and tears and snot as he cried in a dark corner of an alley.

"Come, Tony, let's go home." Cygmund repeated, this time mentioning the child's name.

Obediently the child went towards his savior. Cygmund wiped away the dirt and other stuff from Tony's face. He carried the child in his arms and headed for home.

The child was rescued. They're headed home. Mission accomplished. Or so he thought.

The bad feeling was still there. His guts were still screaming. He prepared for danger. But for some reason the night was too serene. He disregarded his guts this time, choosing to ignore his feelings and go home.

Tony fell asleep in Cygmund's arms once again. He was just too exhausted mentally, from thinking about his own incompetence.

However, he realized something that was already obvious. The people who care for him isn't zero.

Some time later, Tony woke up from his sleep. He could feel the heat. He could smell smoke.

He opened his eyes. The orphanage was on fire.