Sasha and Haley said they had plans. They were supposed to be picnicking, but instead they happened to be at the theater with Jessie and her girlfriend.
"Hey, Faye..." Haley called out as she waved her hand to Faye, who happened to be beside Princess. She lifted her arm high, her chest rising with a quick, cheerful breath as she spotted them in the crowd.
"Hey, what are you all doing here?" Faye said.
"To watch the play..." Sasha said. She shrugged her broad shoulders, her breathing steady and calm under the high ceiling.
"I thought you had a picnic."
"Yes, we did. We are done, and we also planned to watch the play..." Haley said. She let out a small chuckle, her fingers twisting the strap of her purse.
"Hello, Faye..." Jessie said.
"Hello... Jessie..." Faye replied.
Jessie shook hands with Faye, and there was a girl with short pink hair standing beside her. Jessie acted like a normal person, someone seeing Faye for the first time, but Faye was the opposite, socially awkward as always. Faye’s posture went completely rigid, her fingers sticking straight out as they made brief, clumsy contact with Jessie’s palm, her breathing coming in short, uneasy hitching sounds.
After exchanging greetings, it was finally time to watch the play.
Luckily, the five couples happened to be in a single row, occupying the seats together.
While sitting down, Jessie and her girlfriend passed Princess to get to their seats, and Princess almost bumped into Jessie.
The moment she did, Princess caught something. Her entire body froze right in the middle of the row, her broad shoulders locking instantly as her chest rose with a sudden, deep intake of air.
A familiar scent.
Something so familiar that she had planned to kill on first sight. The sharp aroma hit the alpha’s nose like a physical slap, making her blue eyes narrow into icy, dangerous slits as her jaw clenched down so hard the muscles in her cheek twitched.
Finally, everyone was seated. The soft red plush chairs sank under their weight, the low chatter of the audience filling the darkness around them.
Faye noticed Princess staring at Jessie. She leaned her head to the side, her eyes tracking the way the alpha’s head remained turned, completely frozen toward the end of the row.
"Why are you staring at her?" Faye muttered. She reached over, her fingers pressing lightly against Princess’s forearm, feeling the muscle tight like a coiled spring.
Princess leaned toward Faye from her seat, her eyes still fixed on Jessie.
"Was she the one you fucked last year?"
Faye was stunned by the question. How on earth did Princess know? Her mouth dropped open, her breath escaping her lungs in one sharp, silent gasp as her mind went into a total tailspin.
For someone like Faye, who couldn’t quickly come up with a loophole...
"Just so you know, I didn’t actually sleep with her. We didn’t do it," Faye said. The words came out in a hurried, frantic whisper, her eyelids blinking rapidly as her heart started thumping against her ribs in a panicked rhythm.
"Really? But I smelled her on you." Princess replied, her chest rising and falling with long, slow breaths that felt incredibly heavy in the small space between their chairs.
"Okay, we did make out, but I stopped it. Nothing more than just kissing." Faye confessed, her hands wrapping tightly around the armrests as her face burned with a sudden heat.
"Where exactly did she kiss you?"
"Okay, fucking stop staring at her and making this look like infidelity. You have no right to complain because you and I weren’t together back then. So even if we had fucked, don’t fucking bitch about it because you have no right to." Faye snapped in a low, fierce tone. She leaned in close, her teeth bared slightly as she tried to force the alpha to drop the intense stare.
"You know, I did say I was going to kill her. Maybe that’s the reason why she’s here... to meet her end," Princess said. She finally stopped looking at Jessie and focused on her popcorn. She reached into the large striped bucket, her fingers moving with absolute calm as she shoved a handful into her mouth, her chest expanding with a relaxed breath.
Faye looked stunned. For a moment, she couldn’t speak. Her throat felt completely dry, her lungs locking up as she stared at her partner’s completely unbothered expression.
"Are you fucking kidding me? Why would you fucking kill her?"
"She had the audacity to touch what is mine. She is going to pay for it.." Princess stated simply, her jaw moving steadily as she chewed.
"Again, I wasn’t yours then," Faye sang out in a low tone. She rolled her eyes dynamically, though her heart was still racing a mile a minute.
"You were always mine. It doesn’t matter whether we were together or not. Faye, you’re mine."
Princess’s voice was low, but it carried dominance. She truly meant every word.
"Okay, I get you... Remember when you said you don’t ruin people’s relationships? She has a girlfriend, so don’t fucking kill her. Just let it go. It’s all in the past," Faye said calmly. She reached out and placed her small hand over Princess’s large knuckles, squeezing them gently to smooth out the lingering tension.
"Okay then, I won’t kill her."
That was all Princess said, and the matter was dropped. She picked up another piece of popcorn, her eyes turning toward the big red stage curtain as if the conversation had never happened.
Faye wasn’t sure whether to feel relieved... or even more worried. She let out a long, slow breath through her nose, her fingers remaining tangled with Princess’s as she stared blankly ahead, her mind wondering how she was going to survive the rest of the night.
Then the theater went dark, and the stage curtain opened. The heavy crimson fabric glided apart with a soft, sweeping sound, the overhead spotlights flicking on to reveal a dark, painted set.
The play started.
"What is this even about...?" Faye asked as she watched the actors. She leaned closer to Tisha, her voice a quiet murmur in the dim lighting.
"It’s called The Hungry Fool," Tisha said before turning her attention back to the stage. She sat up a little straighter in her seat, her chest rising with interest.
"It happened long ago. There was once a village cursed by a volcano that erupted every year, claiming countless lives. Desperate, the villagers prayed to the Moon Goddess, begging for salvation... but no answer ever came. Believing they had been abandoned, they turned instead to the Black Moon."
On the stage, frightened villagers knelt beneath a darkened sky as a sinister Black Moon appeared overhead. The heavy cardboard prop lowered from the ceiling on thick ropes, glowing with an eerie, dark violet light that cast long shadows across the actors’ faces.
"The Black Moon answered them," Tisha continued. "But every miracle has a price. It demanded a sacrifice... a hungry fool."
An orphan boy appeared on the stage, dressed in ragged clothes and clutching his empty stomach. He moved with slow, staggering steps across the boards, his chest heaving with deep, dramatic sighs to show his starvation.
"He was an unwanted orphan, starving and alone. The villagers offered him to the Black Moon. They threw the poor fool into the volcano, and the moment his body disappeared beneath the lava, the fire died. The volcano fell silent."
The blazing mountain on stage slowly darkened until not a single stream of lava remained.
"The villagers rejoiced. Their chief held a grand feast, celebrating the miracle that had saved them."
Music filled the stage as actors danced in celebration. A lively tune played from the hidden speakers, the cast spinning around the center of the platform with wide, happy smiles.
"But as the years passed, they forgot the Black Moon. They returned to worshipping the Moon Goddess as if nothing had happened." Tisha whispered, her eyes tracking a dancer who was lifting a small silver idol toward the sky.
The celebration faded.
Darkness swallowed the stage. The bright spotlights snapped off instantly, plunging the entire room into a pitch-black silence that made Faye hold her breath.
"The Black Moon grew jealous."
A deep rumble echoed throughout the theater.
"So it awakened the Hungry Fool once more. But he was no longer a starving orphan... he had become the volcano itself."
A towering figure of molten rock rose from the mountain, its body glowing with rivers of lava. The actor was wearing a massive costume, bright orange lights shining through the cracks of the dark fabric as he loomed over the set, his breath coming out in loud, mechanical bursts.
"The Black Moon had only intended for the Hungry Fool to punish the villagers, to remind them who had truly saved them. Instead, the fool’s hatred consumed everything."
The molten giant swept across the stage, and the village was swallowed by an endless sea of lava.
"He burned every living soul, turning the entire village into an ocean of fire." Tisha murmured, her voice filled with fascination as the stage turned completely crimson.
The giant then looked toward the Black Moon itself. He lifted his massive, glowing arms toward the ceiling, his body shaking with a simulated roar.
"And in the end... he even consumed the one who had created him."
The stage fell silent, leaving only the crimson glow of molten lava beneath a sky with no moon. The lights dimmed down to a faint, bloody red, the quiet breathing of the actors the only sound left as the scene finally came to a complete stop.