At that moment, my heart began to pound like drums inside me. The beat of my heart was like the sound of a danger alarm.

"There's no hope... it's all over," End said, cold sweat dripping down his face.

******

Zero froze in place. The children's eyes were filled with despair. They had completely lost hope of survival. Her twin whispered, 'Don't resist... come on... why are you standing there... come on... get up... show them what you've got...' Zero began to resist these whispers, and when she turned around, she saw the dolls rushing towards them like meteors about to fall on them.

Zero didn't realize what had happened until she found herself turning half of them into shattered pieces with superhuman speed. She got to her knees and turned to the children, saying, "It's not over yet... trust me."

At that moment, a strange smoke spread throughout the area.

"Run away quickly," Rêve said, emitting the smoke from her hands, her face filled with worry and fear.

The dolls began attacking Zero, but she easily fought them off, smashing one after the other with her wand. Some of Rêve's dolls intervened to help her, until the smoke cleared, and Zero saw a person in front of her. He began to raise his hand to move something, and she saw something dangling from his hands. When the smoke cleared completely, she found the man who had been with her on the bus and at the show, with strange threads dangling from his fingertips.

"Huh... that man," Zero said in surprise.

"Run, girl," Rêve screamed.

Zero turned to the children and found them frozen in fear.

'What's wrong with them... are they that scared?' Zero said to herself, turning towards them. When she tried to get up, she suddenly stopped in place without moving. Zero wondered what was happening, so she turned to the creature and he moved his fingers. Zero suddenly stopped without feeling anything.

'Wait... what's happening... why... I can't... control my body,' Zero said strangely, and her limbs moved involuntarily.

She turned to the children and said, "You... why?... What's going on?... Tell me."

She turned to the creature and found him moving his fingers.

"Wait... is it him?" Zero realized, looking down to find threads tied to her limbs.

"Is he controlling me?"

The creature began to direct Zero towards the children, but Zero began to resist strongly, but she couldn't. She began to walk towards the children, and expressions of worry and fear appeared on the children's faces.

Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

*****

"Don't get any closer...(turning to Rêve)... didn't she wake up? She's still unconscious." End said.

"No... she hasn't woken up yet." Rêve said worriedly.

"What do we do now?" Lost asked.

End turned to Zero and said, "Resist..."

"I can't...' what do I do... what do I do... what do I do... what do I do... he's controlling me... I can't stop... he's going to use me... he's going to force me to kill them... what should I do... ...'."

Zero heard this whisper, and turned to her right to find the evil twin.

< I knew you would do it. >

"You... again..."

"Stay away from me... it's enough that one person controls me..."

< (Laughing) ... Zero... you're right... but... don't you want to help?... Don't forget who helped you... to escape from those monsters... think carefully... >, the twin walked in front of her with a disturbing smile.

"I won't listen to you this time... you're like those monsters... you want to control me..."

< Hmmm... you're right... you can say that (heading towards the threads) but I'm different from them... Zero... what I'm going to do is not to help... but to convince you... that I'm stronger... than those monsters... that I'm not like them at all.>.

At that moment, the twin cut those threads. Zero couldn't believe what she saw, and she stopped, barely holding her wand to fight.

The children were surprised by what had happened, as they thought Zero had cut the threads.

"What just happened?" Zero asked in confusion.

"Come on... hurry up and get on."

"Don't stop." At that moment, Zero rushed towards the boat and climbed aboard.

********

"Put... the earplugs in," Moan suddenly whispered to Rêve.

"Huh... guys... put the earplugs in," Rêve said. Everyone covered their ears except Zero.

"Wait... why?" Zero asked in confusion.

"You'll understand everything," End said.

Zero covered her ears, then turned to find the monster coming towards them. At that moment, she began to sing. Zero didn't understand what was happening until the monster's steps began to slow down.

"Huh-" Zero was about to speak, but End put his hand over her mouth to stop her from talking.

'I understand... so that's how it is,' Zero thought to herself. Suddenly, Moan fell from exhaustion, so they pushed the monster with all their strength.

At that moment, Zero grabbed her necklace, and it glowed, weakening the monster.

"Row," Zero said forcefully, so the children began to row hard to get as far away from the monster as possible.

"We have to row harder," Lost said.

"We can't row any harder than this," Rêve said.

"At least... we have to get away from the monster... and from this place," Zero said as she helped Moan.

Zero turned around to find another group of dolls swimming towards them.

"Damn it.... come on... let's hurry."

Zero began to hit all the dolls that came near the boat.

"Girl... try to keep them away from Moan," Rêve said.

At that moment, one of the dolls jumped and landed on the boat, rushing towards Zero. She knocked Alice onto the boat, trying to put her hand in the pocket of her skirt, so Zero punched her, shattering her wooden head into pieces.

"She didn't rush towards the singer... but..." Zero put her hand in her pocket, and took out the glass ball.

'.. Huh... I understand,' at that moment, Zero brought the ball close to her wand, and suddenly, the ball entered the glow of the glass crystal, emitting an ethereal green light. Zero understood what was happening, and turned to find a large group of dolls jumping towards her.

"We're doomed," Lost said.

"What are we going to do... End?" Rêve asked.

".. I... I don't know," End said.

"What?" Rêve said in surprise.

"Don't worry... just... put on those earplugs."

The children were surprised by what Zero said.

"What do you mean?" Rêve asked.

"Trust me... do it," Zero said, closing her eyes and repeating, "Moan... Moan... I understand."

At that moment, Zero hit the bottom of the boat with the lower part of the wand, making a loud sound like a bell, shattering all the dolls, and all the broken pieces fell into the sea.