LUCAS

Lami couldn't wrap his head around what he'd just been told. He had asked his father, afterward, why he kept Voodoo locked up; Lami believed it was bad enough that Houngan made Voodoo use his powers for his selfish reasons, and locking him up was extreme. His father had replied that locking Voodoo up and keeping him hidden was the only way to keep him in check and prevent him from ending up a tyrant like his parents.
But knowing now that Voodoo was as much a living individual as he was, and not just a doll, made Lami even more sympathetic and endearing towards Voodoo. Later that night, he snuck into the attic to have a conversation with Voodoo.
"What does it feel like when you use your powers?"
"Nothing extraordinary, unless I'm trying to control a large number of people in which case it feels like my life is being sucked out of me; sometimes I pass out afterward."

Lami contemplated telling Voodoo the truth, but he didn't want to betray and disappoint Houngan, so he left without a word.
Things went on as usual for a while, until one day when a man came to Houngan and requested his help; he was up for a post and he had a lot of opposition, which he wanted to be taken care of. Houngan asked if he brought photos of those who were opposing him, and he brought them out. Lami was watching from an adjoining room, and when he saw the man bring out quite a several pictures, he remembered what Voodoo said about using his powers on multiple people simultaneously. Without thinking twice, Lami rushed out to stop his father.
''Father, stop it. You're going to kill him.''
''Quiet!''
''You claim you're keeping him in check but you're the tyrant who's been using his powers for your selfish reasons. For how long will you continue to deceive the people?''
''Quiet! You dimwit!''
The man who came for help was confused.
''What's going on, Houngan?''
Lami didn't allow Houngan to respond.
''He lied to you. He has no power and I'll prove it.''
Lami went into the attic and fetched Voodoo.
''Voodoo here is the one who has the real power, not Houngan. He saw Voodoo as a child and saw an opportunity to feed his greed.''
Lami turned to Voodoo.
"My father didn't create you. He's been using you. You're free now, go!"
''Come here you silly boy!''
Houngan angrily hit Lami severally, causing Voodoo to feel such anger he had never felt before in his life. This made his powers go out of control and, without meaning to, he made Houngan pick up a knife and stab himself to death. It all happened so fast, Lami was bewildered.
''Wha- Voodoo, what have you done? You've killed him! You've killed my father! You're a monster. I tried to save you but you killed my father.''
Voodoo did not understand what was going on; he didn't mean to kill Houngan, but he was trying to protect Lami and didn't understand why he was so mad at him. The rage in Lami's eyes was heart-wrenching for Voodoo, and he just darted out of the house and kept running until he could run no more. Days later, Voodoo found himself in Bluemore, a tattoo parlor piqued his interest and he went in. Fascinated by what went on there, Voodoo decided to make the place his new home; there was nothing the owner could do about it, as he was placed under compulsion by Voodoo.
Before long, Voodoo mastered the art of drawing tattoos and he became the best artist there. However, he found it hard to adapt to the sudden exposure to society after being hidden away for so long; more often than not, the selfish nature of people reminded him of the time he spent being Houngan's slave. Resolved to fight against it, Voodoo decided to punish everyone who reminded him of Houngan; he did this by controlling them with the tattoos he drew on them. The effect of this was that such a person would be plagued by nightmares and would not be able to sleep and, as the body can only go for so long without sleep, some of them started dying after a few days. Doing this made Voodoo feel good about himself, and he didn't care what the consequences were. Eventually, Voodoo got so power-drunk and addicted to inflicting punishment on others that he started punishing innocent people whenever he couldn't find a selfish, bad, person deserving of punishment. This went on until he had an encounter with a man named Horace…
***BACK TO THE PRESENT***
Lucas interrupted the flashback.
"And that's how you found yourself here. The end!"
"It's my story and I'm the one who decides where it ends."
"It was getting too long and boring, man. I dozed off at some point, isn't that right Keto?"
Lucas noticed that Keto had been silent all through; he must be lost in thought, otherwise, his usual self would've found a way to interrupt. But Keto only grinned mischievously.
"Ok, here's another one, Voodoo. If you made a doll of me, you can scratch my butt for me, right? I mean, the other day we were performing and I had this intense itch on my left butt, but I couldn't scratch it because the spotlight was on me. So it got me thinking you should be able to do that, yeah?"
The others burst into laughter while Voodoo decided he'd had enough teasing for one day, so he left them. Later that night, Kudi was curious to know what his brother was thinking about.
"You were thinking of something back there, weren't you?"
"Nothing serious, only about how fascinating it is to know that a whole world awaits us out there, and we're going to leave this circus to start our own thing soon enough."

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