Chapter Text
After the goverment finally got exterminated, the civilians and now ex-killers agreed to finally live as a normal society, making the killers do the stuff they actually enjoys.
Pursuer went back to take a long nap, as he couldn't keep himself awake, Harken could finally find a room without noise annoying her — because the civilians helped her to deal with noise, to a point where taunter even gave her noise cancelling headphones — and Killdroid removed his missiles, as he felt that there was no need to use them anymore.
Now, you have been wondering...
What about Artful?
Well, he has been practicing more magic tricks as he always wanted to be a magician, but sadly, never got support from others — even from his now deceased parents...
Actually, they were the ones shaming him onto stopping this career, as they deemed it to be "stupid" and wouldn't get him to get famous nor anything.
And with the others also booing out of the stage, he realized that he was indeed alone in this world, causing him to go insane and start killing the civilians one by one, as the phrases from his parents repeated inside his head while doing so.
Now that he doesn't have to kill people anymore, he has slowly going back into performing magic tricks.
And at first, it has been really difficult, because once he picked up his magic wand, all of the thoughts he supressed for years started resurfacing
"Useless"
"Stupid"
"Worthless"
Were one of the very few insults that Artful used to hear from the people that should've cared the most about him — his own family.
He can also remember how his family thinks that only doctors and lawyers are sucessfull people. Calling art, the thing that always writes the story about humanity as a whole, as something entirely futile.
But, as he realizes that everything that he made sure nobody could see was slowly breaking through, he ended up starting to cry as he repeat the same words that everyone made him think that he was.
That he was worthless,
Useless,
And that anything he does was stupid.
The sobs that were once almost silent, invisible, started to hearable from a meter away from the room, catching a specific person's attention.
The person is Loveshot
After the goverment chacine ended, those two became closer friends as he started doing magic shows around the town as a form of entertainment for the people as a way of repaying for everything he has done towards them.
Loveshot started slowly approaching the place that the sobbing magician was inside, until he was fully inside a small room on the backstage, which he spotted Artful, with tears running through his eyes — making the wooden floor has the spots of the falling teardrops, and a wand, that was being held by his shaky left hand.
Hey... What made you cry like this? — asked Loveshot, worried about how his mood changed so drastically in the span of 3 minutes.
Its nothing. — responded Artful, not wanting to disturb the peace that the other can have by not having to deal with problems that isn't his.
I know that is not true... — the other reminded him, showing him that he knows something has happened, that made him feel the way he is feeling right now.
If you want, can you tell me what has been bothering you recently? You aren't being a burden by talking to me about it. — also reminded him, assuring him that he could trust him.
After all, everyone needs someone to rely on. You are still a person living in society, even if you think you aren't fully here. — was spoken softly by him, hoping that he has helped Artful to leave his shell, at least a bit.
"Well..."
Artful spoke, as he started sighing to be able to breathe properly, as it has been hard with his nose basically being clogged.
My mind doesnt leave me alone. — said the magician.
It keeps repeating in my head everytime people has judged me for the thing I'm most passionate about.
My family calling me useless, worthless, stupid for choosing this as my career path.
At first, I tried repressing everything, my thoughts... But now I think it has been catching up to me as a whole now. — explained Artful, noticing that he had no other way of dealing with this problem, as Loveshot wouldn't be satisfied of him running away from answering his questions.
Maybe, you cannot change the past.
But you can influence the present.
And help with your future. — was told by the purple ex-shooter, while he built the sentences that he would use as advice for the struggling "friend" (he has a crush on him)
"I understand, it is really hard let go of the experiences you had when younger, I truly do..." "But you cannot make it so that it defines who you are today, and especially, who you are tomorrow."
"People are rude, cruel... But at the same time, they are the ones supporting you the most."
"What you can do to change this, is to focus on those that supports you..."
"You can notice that every single person in the shows you host also supports you too, just like me."
"You cannot let your past define yourself, nor let it dictate how you should think about your skills."
As Loveshot concluded the advice he has for him, he approached Artful even more and asked him this...
May I hug you now? — was the question asked by the friend, and he agreed to hugging him, making both of them put their arms around each other, just enjoying the moment as his sobs slowly faded away too.
Thank you. — whispered Artful, as he kept hugging him as tight as he could, even though his strenght was slightly affected by the fact that he was on tears.
After minutes of hugging each other, they finally let each other go, as Artful remembered he has a show to host today. And he wants to practice for the show as much as he could to have a good performance.
Timeskip --
On the show, that Artful was hosting, he performed a bunch of tricks to the audience.
Some of the tricks that were performed on this colorful stage were:
Bunny appearing from the hat
Floating cards
Card guessing
But, one of the tricks actually caught the attention of the audience the most.
That trick, he asked a random color at first, making the audience wonder... Until they said the colors.
Most of the audience asked for the color purple, wondering what he was up to.
Alright folks! Purple it is! — exclaimed Artful, excited to show them the trick.
And as he removed his tophat, he started putting his arm inside of it... Revealing bright, beautiful and healthy purple flowers, that looked beautiful.
Those flowers are lavenders.
Someone lucky will get the flowers today! — Artful spoke, throwing them at Loveshot's direction as he shouted happily.
And ladies, gentlemans and variations thereof... The show has its conclusion! Thank you everyone for appearing! — was said by the magician, going to the backstage after concluding the show.
Once he was fully in the place, he started getting ready, noticing how relieved he was for the help that he got from the supportive other.