There's nothing worse than a man that can be everything to everybody else except a father to their own child.
Mickey was a little kid forced to beg for his alcoholic father and when he wasn't able to beg enough money, the man shoved a burning wooden stick inside his son's eye just so people would feel pity and give more money to the kid when he begged.
And as if this incident wasn't enough to tear Zane's heart, the kid had a smile on his face. An innocent smile as if he didn't know he was being wronged.
[[ Art for Mickey. ]]
Blood rushed inside Zane's veins and wiping the tears in his eyes, he asked one simple question to the kid:
"Where is your father right now?"
Mickey scratched his head.
"He hasn't come home yet. I don't know. Maybe he is with that skinny lady again?"
"Are you angry at him?"
"For what?"
"He hurt your eye, right?"
"Yes. But that's because I didn't earn enough money. He will be happy when I earn lots of money. I will be a good child."
Zane clenched his jaw.
You can't be a good child to a bad parent.
He didn't clenched his fist as he still held Mickey's hands and after taking a deep breath, he controlled himself.
"Have you eaten something?"
"Yes. Someone gave me two Ember Dumplets outside the church in the morning. They didn't want it as it had fallen on the stairs."
"That's all?"
"Yes. It was the sweetest thing I ate. I looked for more around the stairs, but I found nothing."
"You have only eaten those dumplets in the whole day?"
"Yes? Is it bad?"
Zane smiled. "No. It's fine. It's just you need to eat more to become like those uniform soldiers."
Who am I kidding? I ate nothing as well.
Mickey frowned. "People can eat more than once in the same day?"
Zane patted Mickey's head.
"Yes. They can. And you can too."
Mickey beamed. "I can?"
"Yes. Why don't you wait here for me? Play with your friends while I finish some work and then we will go to my house. I will make something for you and you can play with Milo too. Isn't that great?"
"But she is sick."
"I know. So don't make her run. You can just talk to her."
"Okay."
Zane let go of Mickey's hands and the kid resumed playing and running around with the other kids.
Seeing the other kids, Zane figured they would also have similar stories like Mickey.
Zane only got to know about Mickey's because he knew the kid.
When Milo used to walk around, she had become friends with Mickey.
Zane had felt bad about her being friends with a boy, but when he saw Milo laughing and having fun, he allowed the two to play.
Nevertheless, things had changed in the last years and Mickey and Milo stopped meeting often with each other.
Only Zane was able to see Mickey everyday while going off to work. He had developed friendship with the kid and seeing such an innocent kid suffering because of the greed of his father, Zane felt something he had only felt for the Halocrats.
He stood up from his knees and looked around.
He didn't know where that skinny prostitute stayed and worked as it was better to stay away from such things. But now he needed to know.
Fortunately, there were enough poor men and pleasure seekers to go to that woman daily after their shift.
There were more women like that in the Cinder Row but since hierarchy was everywhere, the woman was the most popular among the men.
Zane wouldn't want to know why.
Therefore, Zane followed one such swaying man and soon enough at one corner of the slum, right beside where the garbage was dumped, a small shack was placed.
Moans and cries came from there and Zane walked towards it.
Many men were already present outside the shack, waiting for their turn and among them, Zane didn't see Mickey's father.
He knew the man so he could recognise him and his best guess was, the man would be inside.
Mickey only said his father could be here. He wasn't sure. But if he is…
Zane clenched his fist.
Rage ran amok his body as after destroying the child's eye, the man was devouring pleasure.
He gritted his teeth and walked towards the shack.
But he stopped the next moment.
What will I do?
Even if Zane found the man, what would he do?
Murder? Stab the eye in return? Talk sense? Preach about parenting? Can he do that?
And if he killed the man what would become of Mickey? What would he say to the kid? I killed your father?
He didn't have enough money to look after Mickey and he couldn't bring him to the Citadel as only one person was allowed with him.
Should I ask Xavier to threaten him? He is a Commoner so that might scare the father? He is a nutcase to top that off.
Zane thought but moment after, he shook his head. Xavier's matter was still pending. He would solve it first before asking anything else from him.
Screams continued to ring out from the shack, consisting of both male and female and after the loudest sound, silence reigned in.
Zane stayed outside the shack, no one paid any attention to him as he waited for the man to come out.
Other men were waiting for him too as they needed their share of relief as well.
Soon, the green curtain acting as a door shifted to the side and out came a smiling man adjusting his pants.
Without any second's wait, the next man bolted inside.
"Let me take a breath, bastard."
"Shut up, whore. Turn around. I want your moans not your tantrums."
SLAP!
Zane stopped listening to the noises after the slap and focused on the man coming towards him.
And he didn't know whether it was for worse or good, the man was really Mickey's father and today, he wasn't drunk.
Him being not drunk meant Mickey was right, not that Zane had a doubt.
He really uses Mickey's money for drinking. Does he not earn himself?
The man had brown skin like most of the people living here as working under the sun and surviving in the dirt stole the glow from people's faces.
Zane didn't know the name of the man and the man probably didn't know Zane as well.
The man walked towards Zane and as he got a closer look on the man's face, his nails dug into his palms.
There was no care on his face and a slight annoyance as if it was his son who had failed him.
I know what you meant now, Xavier.
The man walked past Zane and all those questions that he had, submerged under one answer.
It is not wrong to feel sad about your parents' death if you didn't kill them yourself.
Zane turned around and walked behind the man.
"Hey." He called.
The man stopped and looked over his shoulder.
"Who the shit are you?"
Zane shoved his hand inside his pocket, felt the hard coin and took it out.
The man frowned but before he could understand, Zane threw that coin at his face with full force.
"Anghhhngg!"
The man groaned as the coin hit right in the center of his forehead.
Zane wasted no time, grabbed the coin again, kept it back inside his pocket and jumped.
He landed right in front of the man's face, his legs hanging on his shoulders.
The man jerked himself but Zane locked his thighs around the man's neck, stopping himself from falling all the while smelling the man's stinking breath.
Ignoring the smell, he raised his right hand and aimed his elbow right above the man's right eye.
"The world may go blind…"
Zane lifted his elbow high up and with full force, he brought it down on the man's eye.
"But I'll always take an eye for an eye."