Chapter Text
“Oh Mister Artful, I love your shows! It inspired me to do acts I was afraid to do, oddly enough it also helped me learn some French! Hehe~ here! You can take this Teddy Bear as a gift~!”
“Oh thanks mon cher! I love it, now scurry on, have fun with the others!”
Why?
She was so innocent.
They were all innocent.
You could’ve spared her, but you didn’t, your meaningless anger blinded you.
Jean “Degaré” Fromage, you irredeemable murderous fuck.
Why, why did you kill her? All for one miserable act, for one slip up, a singular problematic fuck up, and still, you let your anger control you, you disgust me Artful.
“What... ?! Non, non, ce n'est pas possible ! Laissez-moi tranquille, s'il vous plaît ! Arrêtez... de me tourmenter... s'il vous plaît… Just leave me be! JUST LEAVE ME BE!’
And still, you still keep on killing, all to avoid what you deserved. You’re truly pathetic.
“No please! PLEASE JUST STOP! Arrête de me le rappeler ! S'il te plaît, arrête... Ça fait mal…”
You’re a disgrace, belonging to such a royal, high-ranking family, and this is what you do.
“Mister Artful! Please stop! You’re hurting my parents! No, stop approaching-! NO-!”
Oh Lizzy, she was such a kindhearted girl. And now look where she is at? She’s dead. Dead because of you. You deserve to feel hurt, afterall, if you wont let justice get to you, isn’t this the closest thing to it? You will never escape your past, stop trying to do so, it’ll always come back to haunt you.
The alarm rings, it reads 8:00am, but it still feels like Artful hasn’t escaped the nightmare, his brain banging inside of his skull, as if it was exploding.
“Je déteste ça, je me déteste, je déteste tout.” The Despaired Magician murmured under his breath, maybe what it was saying was right?
He looks inside his bag, trying to find his anti depressants, only to be met with an empty container.
“Oh, putain ! Évidemment, ça s'est épuisé maintenant ! Putain de merde !” He angrily blurted out, laying back down in bed out of frustration, he knew that going outside would be risky, and he just didn't have the energy to do so.
Maybe he should give up on trying, just accept the fate lying in front of him. Maybe it would bring some relief to all those loved ones that lost someone that day. Maybe he should face the consequences. Stop trying to run away.
He looks towards a cream colored teddy bear with a pink ribbon, the same one Lizzy she gave him, lying out of place inside his grayscale room.
A flood of memories instantly flowed to his brain, although looking at it always made him remember the trauma, he still kept it as a memento of the innocent little girl.
He stayed on his bed, replaying each second of the catastrophe, the clock reads 12:00pm, he only got up when he heard Killdroid and Badware leaving, saying their goodbyes towards the other killers. He went outside of his rooms, seeing nobody in the house, with the only evidence someone else lived here was faint footprints left behind by Harken’s sandstone body and some blood from Pursuer’s last victim. He was still replaying all of those memories, feeling like he was still stuck in the incident. His senses were blinded by regret and guilt, not wanting to feel anymore of it, he decided it would be time, time for redemption, time for the long overdue relief to those who got left behind by a special someone that day. He found the boxcutter that some killers would use, and went inside of the bathroom. It was time.
Harken was outside, gardening and tending to her plants, as it was one of the few things that made her joyful, calming her down even if the world around her doesn't make sense. She would always be ecstatic whenever Artful would sneak in town to buy her another plant. Although she couldn’t speak any languages due to her unique anatomy, she would always try to repay Artful, whether it be trying to make him happy by learning his tricks, or to act as his special bodyguard and caretaker.
She noticed that Artful hasn’t gone outside his room for the whole day, he usually has a tight routine, always waking up at 8:00am and preparing himself for the day. Usually if he closed himself off it would be because of a depressive episode which all of the killers knew but only Harken and Pursuer really knew how to handle. She stopped gardening and went back inside and hurriedly made her way to his room, but she saw nothing except an opened bag with Artful’s medicine container, being completely void of any anti-depressants left. She already knew that he was likely going through something. She went back down stairs, her headwings flared up and her singular emerald-green eye opened examining the base the killers called home, she noticed nothing until she heard a familiar yell from the bathroom. She went towards the door, fearing the worse, only to find it locked. She immediately sent out worried ticks, having a tinge of desperation, only to be met with another yell, although this time a bit more muffled.
Without any other way left, she aggressively rammed the door in, breaking it and damaging herself in the process, multiple cracks formed on her body, some parts of her fell out. She unfortunately found Artful bleeding on the bathroom tiles, multiple cuts on his wrists and forearms. The sudden sound snapping Artful out of his trance, looking down at what he had just done to himself, spontaneously breaking into sobbing. Harken quickly swiped away the boxcutter, scolding the others to hide it was for now unimportant. She went to the medical bay to grab some bandages, medicine, and ointment, her uniquely frustrating hands making it hard for her to grab the items and hold it. Her headwings are completely flared out and her pupil darting around shakily, she rushed out the medical bay and went to Artful’s aid, who was now in a fetal position and suffering from blood loss. She immediately added ointment and the healing potions Caretakers always had with them, before wrapping it up with the bandages. It wasn’t much but she hoped it’ll help.
Pursuer was hunting, as usual, since his diet only mainly consists of fresh meat, which mostly consists of civilian meat but animal meat could also act as a substitute. He would always try to be affectionate to Artful, although it would be a bit unsolicited, but Artful acknowledges that he was animalistic so he probably doesn't really understand social cues well.
Pursuer enjoys spending time with Artful, enjoying every bit of Artful’s magic tricks, the only thing he loves more than eating fresh meat.
Finally, Pursuer found an unfortunate, lost civilian in the woods, with one quick lunge with his sword, the civilian’s fate was sealed. Pursuer was bringing the corpse of the victim back home, although he prefers fresh meat, he would still take the remains to act as leftovers if he wasn’t in the mood to hunt. And besides, it wasn’t like the meat was too spoiled in his eyes. He opened the door to the base and placed the carcass on the kitchen table. Just as he was about to devour some more of the corpse he smelled something odd, his sensitive nose smelled fresh blood and medicine… Wait, fresh blood and medicine? Shouldn’t the only blood be from the victim? And even then wouldn’t the blood from the victim already smell off? It seemed too fresh to be a scent coming up from the body. He managed to track the scent down, leading to the bathroom, “This… no good.” he mumbled to himself before peeking inside of the broken door, which immediately made him suspicious. When he peeked he saw an unconscious injured Artful, bandages wrapping both his arms, with blood strewn across the tiles and sink, he also saw Harken removing the blood using a towel, with the blood getting infused to her sandy structure. Harken noticed him and tried to get him to leave, but Pursuer refused. “What… Artful… happen?” The beast asked the construct, only for her to respond with a few angry ticks, which promptly made Pursuer leave, albeit worried.
“Is… Artful… okay?” The monster asked himself while walking back towards the kitchen table, suddenly not feeling the urge to eat due to his anxiety, this wasn’t the first time Artful did something like this, what could’ve happened while he was outside? Before he could answer that he saw Harken bringing Artful and seating him on a couch, his eyes half-lidded. Harken then picked up a piece of paper and pen, and wrote on it.
“Artful hurt himself, I’ve tried patching him up but for now he’s not talkative, I'll ask him later once he’s got more energy.”
“Oh… What… we do… for him?” Pursuer asked, although he wasn’t the best at english in any way shape or form, he could somewhat understand what Harken wrote even if it admittedly was messy, he didn’t really know what to do with this unexpected predicament involving Artful.
“I noticed his anti-depressants ran out when I searched for him earlier, can you help me get them? You’re the ambusher of the team.”
“Anti-depressants..? What… those?”
“Here, I'll show you what they look like.” Harken went upstairs, getting Artful’s medicine container, showing it to Pursuer.
“Okay. thanks… Harken.” Pursuer said before rearranging his skeleton, somehow going invisible, the only trace of him was the door swinging open.
Pursuer came across a nearby clinic, although it would be quite difficult to hide from multiple civilians, especially since it was guarded by Blocks and Revolvers. But he managed to take the right anti-depressants, even if it took him 30 minutes to find the right one. Although the Caretaker did catch a glimpse of him, they chalked it up to being sleep-deprived.
Pursuer rearranges himself once more, contorting to inhuman forms then going back home. Once he arrived, he noticed something odd, Harken’s garden was destroyed, he stepped inside and saw nothing but chaos, items strewn across the living room, everything broken to pieces, he then saw Harken, sobbing uncontrollably, holding a deceased Artful, with a bullet hole that was directly shot towards the side of Artful’s head, the projectile still lodged in the bloody mess. A revolver sat next to the two, being the same revolver Killdroid brought in after defeating Robloxia’s Greatest Sheriff. He tried getting close to the two, only to be met with a punch sent by harken, which would’ve knocked him unconscious if he didn't dodge it, after Harken hits a wall, she buckled to her knees, breaking down completely. It’s too late, isn't it? Was this truly the end for their beloved magician? The weight of it all eventually came down on Pursuer, making him buckle to the floor too, unable to comprehend what happened to his beloved.
Killdroid noticed the ruined garden, and scanned the area for anything that could’ve caused it, [SCANNING PERIMETER: AREA SEEMS TO BE IN DISREPAIR. 2 LIFEFORMS DETECTED, 1 LIFEFORM DECEASED.] his systems blared out, although he is somewhat emotionless, more serious than his virus counterpart, he felt fear rising in the air. Before he could continue forward, Badware cut him off. “W3LL_1SNT_TH1S_S0M3TH1NG!_LET’S_CH3CK_TH1S_TH1NG_0UT! :P”
“[TREAT THIS WITH DIGNITY AND SERIOUSNESS BADWARE.]” Killdroid retorted
“W3LL_AR3N’T_Y0U_4_M00D_KILLER,_W3_L1TT3R4LLY_JUST_M4D3_0UT_10_M1NUT3S_34RL13R_BUT_P0P_OFF_BR0 -_-” Badware teased
[SILENCE YOURSELF.] Killdroid’s system retaliated.
The duo entered the ruins of what was their home, spotting broken objects that were strewn everywhere, then saw Pursuer and Harken, both sobbing over a dead Artful… wait? Dead Artful…? No this can't be!
[BADWARE LOOK OVER THEM FOR ME, ILL GRAB MY ITEMS. CALL YOUR PEONS.] The droid commanded the sentient computer
“Y33SH_TH4T’S_0N3_H3LL_0F_4_M3SS,_BUT_1T’S_4RTFUL_S0_1_B3L13V3_H3’S_JUST_UNC0NSC1OUS.”