Welcome to the Theatre of Domination | Kalpas ff

XXVII

I opened my mouth to speak, but only silence remained. My mind.

"Come with me. I'm not leaving you here," 
Kalpas whispers smoothly in my ears, his hard mask almost touching them.

I stared at him in disbelief, wide-eyed. The feelings I had for him started bubbling up crazily like fizzy soda. Is this some sort of fairytale?!

I steadily wrapped my arms around his neck, reluctantly getting comfortable in this position. Kalpas tensed up at this, but he gradually seemed to get comfortable.

"Okay," I nodded my head. "Let's go."
                     
...
 
"Ah. Well if it isn't the reunited couple," said the puppet that stood beside a long red carpet staircase. She awkwardly stared at the position we were in.

"Couple?" Kalpas grunted as he looks away. "What the hell do you want?" He gravely asked. I felt his grip around me tighten a bit more.

"I just want to say, we don't need you two anymore! We have already achieved 1000 humans into puppets of sorrow, despair, madness, hatred, and the desire to be destroyed, imprisoned, and dominated."

"What?!" I exclaimed. "The puppets we saw throughout the theatre... they're... they-they're humans?"

"They were humans. But they've realized humanity's love and hope is good-for-nothing. So they gave up, and turned to resentment against the world. This is how each one of our stories end. Hopeless. Unloved. Lonely."

My heart started racing. I almost became one of these puppets. Dominated puppets that only have misery left in them.

"Why do you spotlight human trauma and pain? You choose to ignore the good times they had in their lives. You control humanity to give in, but you ignore their inner voice," Kalpas got up to the puppet's face, "I- We'll free mankind from you damn honkai minions by destroying this theatre!"

Huh?! Did Kalpas just... ?

"Hah, fine. The final stage has been set up. Come on! Up next... is the war between the heroic couple and the malicious!" The puppet waved to the staircase layered with a long red carpet with gold trims ahead of her. I half expected glitter to appear.

"Stop calling us a couple. I'm not even dating anyone!" Kalpas angrily spat. While he muttered, my mind lingered with thoughts of the puppets words. War?

I looked expectantly at the staircase, waiting to climb up in Kalpas' manly arms. But nothing happened. A single step hadn't been made forward until I noticed Kalpas hesitating to climb the staircase before of him.

"What are you waiting for?" The puppet glowered. "Hurry and walk. You don't want to miss the final stage! It will be so exciting to watch you both fail!"

Kalpas turned his head to the puppet and sent her a threatening scowl. It wasn't visible, but I could feel that it was there. Anyhow, he had not move an inch towards the polished staircase. Instead, he inspected the room, his head darting in all directions.

Is Kalpas scared? I've never seen him hesitate like this. He's never afraid, even when he should have been.

I leaned in and brushed his shoulder, "Kalpas, we should go. This might be our only chance," I softly soothed, my lips pressed against his visible ears.

Kalpas' ears were now painted cherry red.

"... No. I'm not stupid like you to make a move like that," he grumbled. My heart skipped twice as many beats as he leaned in so close until his mask touched my nose. "Something there is going to hurt you."

My heart fluttered despite his unnecessary comment. Kalpas has never been this close to me. Our motorcycle rides don't even come close.

A high pitched voice interrupted our moment and fixed a dirty look on us. "Can you two just wrap this up? The curtains will open soon, and arriving late is considered rude."