He sees the message, but is devoid of feeling anything. He looks down at his hands and sees the blood drip down onto the ground seeing nature be soiled turning necrotic. "I did this" he says in distraught.
'Cleanse'
Freya cleans him up lifting into the air and removing all the blood from his body and clothes. He stands there looking at himself, cleansed from the incessant blood that convoluted his mind.
"You're thinking hard about something that had to be done." "Feeling guilt or compunction is normal as you have just killed somebody, but don't you dare feel sorrow for that monster" "You did what you had to do to save lives".
"Equivalent Exchange"
"You gave his life so that so many others may live."
She says walking past him towards the rift exit. Arthur stands there watching her walk away contemplating the horror and evil this guild would create in the future, soon after he follows her to the exit walking in silence with his hood up.
As soon as they exit the rift, she sees swarms of journalists, EVOLVED employees and civilians surround the area watching the rift. She walks to the podium already set up for her before she entered the rift, as she walks up and gets comfortable before starting her speech, some journalists whisper "Did someone come out after her?", but quickly forget as the speech is about to begin.
The loud voices get quieter as she clears her throat and then silence. She looks around one last time looking at all the faces there.
"Greed" "A basic human instinct that is the driver of our daily lives. People live in all kinds of circumstances and one thing connects them all." "Greed" "Today, the reason why the raiders guild are extinct"
They whisper amongst themselves looking at each other confused "Raiders guild?" "Extinct??".
"Yes" she replies to them.
"There greed led them to not check the resonance of the rift properly and get an accurate by EVOLVED and instead they went in and succumb to their deaths." She continued to talk, but it fell on deaf ears.
Arthur holed up in a hotel room for several days sitting in the darkness with only the light from the TV illuminating the room. He watched her speech on loop, feeling nothing. A hollow body seeking some human connection but fears that, that part of himself will show once more.
The media quickly moved on from the raiders guild and co to Lucifer stopping an A rank rift release. High class orcs came out including riders and tankers. Because of the swift action by Lucifer and POTW, the rift was contained and not much damage was sustained.
A panel is held to discuss Lucifer's actions. "So what does that mean Mark". "Overall the swift action that POTW took was amazing, to the point that the release stopped before a category boss monster could come out." "I agree!" "POTW are a vital...".
The voices are drowning out as it continues to praise Lucifer and Arthur starts to feel numb to it. He slowly closes his eyes and immediately it takes him back to the day his father died. His fears rile up again and he rises up from his sleep, having not slept properly for several days.
BUZZ BUZZ
His phone rings and it's a number he doesn't know. He answers it but does not speak. A soft gentle voice talks to him "Hey... so you may not remember me, but I just wanted to say thank you" "I didn't get a chance to say it that day and it just felt wrong" "If you're listening to this" "You're my hero" whimpering as she says it and like he could hear her crying on the other end of the call. "I'm sorry for taking up too much of your time and thank you again" she says at the end before hanging up.
Arthur grabs his chest as tears roll down his face. All the names he has been called over the years and it's the first time he was called something nice. It felt good, to the point where he laid his head on his pillow and slowly drifted.
[Calm Mind Activated]
He slept for the first time in several days because the nightmares and the horror kept him awake. He stayed at the hotel for one more day before leaving and returning home.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
Arthur knocks instead of opening it with the key he has, because he feels conflicted with what he has done. "Coming" she says on the other end and opens the door.
"Hey..." she starts to greet the person but notices who it is. She doesn't have the energy to get angry and just looks down in disappointment.
"Where have you been?".
Arthur didn't answer her calls or respond to any of her texts. She knows what he does and her anxiety has not been the same since her husband and the fear of losing her son always looms over her.
"What have you been doing all this time?" "Why have you not answered my calls?" "or my texts?". She questions him and for the first time he smiles as she says these things like he wanted to know and feel that somebody in this whole wide world missed him.
"I'm sorry" he says crying while he goes in for a hug.
The guilt weighing him down like giant hand coming down from the sky pushing him down. They stay like that for a minute as she knows from that look on his face that a lot has been weighing on his mind. They sit at the table across from one another.
"How are you?" she askes with an attentive look.
"I'm fine" he says with red eyes and a haunted look on his face.
She looks at him once more before walking away and going into the kitchen saying "That's good." "Always focus on your health" she says with her back turned to him.
She understands that she is powerless and has accepted that he will keep walking the tight rope until something happens, but she can't help feeling this way when he is gone.
He catches up to her and hugs her from behind. "I'm doing alright Mom" he whimpers with tears flowing down his face.
"I know this is going to keep happening, but i just can not worry about you art" she says as she starts to cry herself. Arthur didn't know how to respond to that and just kept silent.
All humans are wired the same. We all have desires and one that resonates with every is comfort. Knowing there is a place you can always go to and know that there will be nothing but happiness.
Within that comfort, it can create Apathy and that is fine for Arthur as he wants to enjoy that feeling for as long as possible.