Proof of Humanity (RWBY - Lies of P)

Fable of Pinocchio V: The Carlo in Me

When P left the opera house, he didn't push forward. There was no willingness to explore or jolt of adrenaline. The pleasure that came with a challenging fight quickly left as the King of Puppets, the true King, crawled out of that massive shell.

P never understood why he enjoyed fighting. For him, primal combat had been almost up there with music in terms of fun. Suddenly, that part of him was gone. P had already theorized why. It was yet another question of was P becoming less like Carlo, or was Carlo starting to show himself more in P? The thought of P having a self fulfilling prophecy of becoming Carlo made him sick.

This time, he waited outside the hotel. The pouring rain reminded P of that time that Sophia spoke to him in the garden. Where she assured P that he was his own person, and not some mindless fighting machine like he originally thought.

"Pal?" Gemini asked quietly, the chirping of his lamp barely above the sound of rain.

P set Gemini's lamp down beside him. The cricket had complained once about how it sometimes got uncomfortable to be swinging from a belt the entire time, so P now set him down any chance he got.

"I've got a couple questions..." He mumbled, "I just wanted to wait for you to calm down a little to ask."

P nodded and silently waited for Gemini to ask. He hadn't looked up from the ground since he arrived at the hotel. The sound of the King of Puppets last speech of anger was still fresh in his head. Somehow, P had understood what the King was saying when the fight was coming to a close. The cries of anger, all directed at P, or more likely, Carlo. Which only lead to another question, who was Carlo and why did he know the King?

"Back there, at the opera house, you told the truth..." Gemini said with confusion, "How?"

P glanced up at Gemini. His lamp was the only source of light in the bleak darkness. It was nice. Even in areas that don't need it, P always kept Gemini's lamp turned on. It was comforting. He wondered if Carlo was the type of person to use nightlights as he slept.

"I know." P said, which meant that he didn't. It was still impossible to understand why he suddenly gained the ability to speak regularly in the King's final moments.

"That's fair." Gemini muttered, "I wasn't really expecting a straight answer there."

The two waited in silence. Gemini could tell how confused P was. After the amount of time the two had spent together, Gemini had gotten a rough idea of the tells for P's occasional mental breakdown or existential crisis. One tell is how still he was. P was an active person, always doing something. If he was idle, then he'd be fidgeting with his metal arm. The boy just couldn't sit still, unless in cases like this.

Gemini made sure to have a clear, gentle voice when he asked again. "Why did you cry for the King of Puppets?"

P finally looked up from the ground. Now, he was staring into the night sky. The storm was still raging on, bringing cloud water aplenty. Sometimes, P would recall the Saint Frangelico. One of the few foes that nearly brought P to his knees. The priest and nuns, they all believed in a God. Just like how the creator of the puppets is Geppetto, the humans have a creator is well. A man in the sky that brought everything into being, and supposedly had a plan for all his creations.

P wondered what the plan would be for him, if he was a creation of the man that humans called God.

P didn't know how to answer Gemini's question at all. So he just shook his head, clipped Gemini to his waist, and walked inside.

P was greeted by the sound of music. Sophia was in the lobby, sitting beside the record player by herself and enjoying the first song that P brought to her. It reminded him of the woman that he lied to, and the sin he committed by leaving her with a fake child. P shook his head and walked towards her.