This is my first My-Hime fanfiction, a one-shot at that. It is rather brief, but it is by no means sweet.
I have heard many a tale of the fandom within this corner of the website by one Hildebrant and what many readers have a preference for in their stories. I will only warn you now and so do not blame me if you do not heed my word: This is not for those who have a particular sensitivity to their beloved characters. If you want to keep them as pure and perfect in your mind as possible, it is advised that you leave. Now.
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the My-Hime franchise. If so, I would have ended it differently.
The Box
It began as a normal, average day at Fuka Academy. Nothing out of the ordinary had occurred that would have signaled that the day was one that would not be soon forgotten. Not even the occasional battle with an Orphan by the resident HiMEs were notable enough to signal a great change in the normality experienced by those who attend the school.
"What are you doing Mikoto?" Mai asked the young cat-like middle schooler, who was occupied with a strange black lacquered puzzle box in her hand. Despite Mitoko's virtual man-handling of the antique item, its surface never lost its brilliant polish as she dug into the barely visible seams of the pieces as proof of its unparalleled workmanship.
"Oh, hi Mai!" Mikoto turned away from the item in her hand and turned towards her well-endowed sempai. "This weird guy gave me this pretty looking box and said that if I solve it, I'll be rewarded with pleasure beyond anything I felt before or something like that. Though I'm not really sure he would like to eat bugs rather than normal food…" The brunette girl's mind trailed off for but a moment.
"Really?" Mai raised an eyebrow from the statement.
"Hai! I'll get a hundred Mais to cook me a hundred meals!"
"Why am I not surprised that she expected something like that?" Yuuichi mused from the young girl's expectations.
"Say? Can you solve it?" Mikoto showed Yuuichi the puzzle box, to which the young man refused.
"It'll just be a waste of time, never was fond of puzzle boxes."
"Is it because you can't solve them?" Mai teased, much to Yuuichi's chagrin.
"Well how about you then?" Yuuichi countered. "Or are you just as bad?" This started one of many arguments that Mikoto simply tuned out as she returned to the puzzle box in hand, the reflection of her face seemed to taunt her in how she is unable to move even one piece despite all the strength she could summon within her fingertips. It frustrated her to no end, since she is able to lift Miroku with little effort yet something so miniscule in weight had given her trouble to even move a single part of the puzzle box.
With a daily quest accepted by the trio, they sought anyone else who could move a single piece of the puzzle box, let alone solve the antique and open it up to reveal whatever prize was hidden within. First, they went to their fellow classmates to see if they could solve this strange conundrum, but none could even see where to begin. Shiho, who had searched for Yuuichi just then, attempted to one-up Mai in Yuuichi's eyes through opening the puzzle box. Sadly for the quad-pig tailed girl, there was no such outcome but frustration. Midori attempted the problem that now plagued the ever growing group, though her attention span was severely limited when she was offered the task to solve the object's physical rhyme. Even Reito was unable to solve the antique puzzle box, much to the surprise of those who witnessed the failure.
By the end of the day, it was Natsuki's turn to solve this problem. Amazingly she was able to move a single piece, but failed to progress beyond it though many noticed that the puzzle box emitted a kind of short rondo not unlike a music box. The tune was strangely seductive, yet it was not enough incentive for the elder First-Year to move any more pieces.
"Is there something the matter Natsuki-chan?" The assembled group, combined with their curiosity as to what lie within the puzzle box that was given to Mikoto, turned and saw the president of the Student Council happen upon them.
"Oh, kaichou!" Mai exclaimed before she showed Shizuru the aforementioned black lacquered item. "Mikoto was given this puzzle box earlier today yet no one is able to solve it."
"Even I am curious as to what is inside." Natsuki admitted, which only made Shizuru smile.
"That's just too cute of you." Shizuru stated as she took the puzzle box and began to not only move the pieces easily, but also solve the puzzle that was engineered within the wooden item. The group watched as they heard the music emitted from within, even Shizuru was enchanted by the tune that urged her to continue her navigation of the puzzle pieces.
Five minutes have passed since Shizuru and suddenly there was the tolling of a bell that could be seemingly heard from a distance. The tone of the bell sounded more mournful, as if it preceded a funeral. "Was that the chapel?" Mai asked.
"Does it even have a bell?" Akane asked as Shizuru solved the puzzle box to only find that it was void of any prize.
"Aw," Mikoto lamented. "There was supposed to be a prize-" However, she was interrupted by when the puzzle box began to reassemble itself all on its own while it sat upon Shizuru's hand. A mere moment later and flashes of strange energies preceded the appearance of horribly disfigured humanoids who donned black leather that would not look out of place in S&M Club. The flesh that was visible from the leather bindings showed horrible wounds and tortures, yet the beings were unaffected as if they were not there. Then out from the group that emerged came a man whose head was covered in pins and had the aura of the leader of this band.
"Wh-what are you?" Shizuru asked.
"We are Explorers of the vast realm of experience." The pin-headed man answered. "You have solved Lament Configuration, and so we came. Now you must come with us, taste our pleasures."
Suddenly, wicked hooks lanced out from seemingly empty space as they dug themselves into Shizuru's skin. She screamed in horrible pain as she was lifted by the hooks themselves and felt them pull upon her flesh as the hooks ripped through her skin and muscle. "Natsuki-chan! Help me!" She pleaded.
"Stop it! You're hurting her!" Natsuki barely called out.
"Pain…Pleasure…they are the same to us." The lone female Cenobite corrected the now horrified Natsuki as she caressed Shizuru's limbs in a macabre yet perverse manner.
"To many, we are demons." The pin-headed leader stated. "To others, we are angels." He then turned towards Shizuru whose joints began to scream in pain from the tension alone. "We have such wonders to show you, sensations to experience, all for you."
"No, please! Let me go! Natsuki-chan!" Shizuru pleaded, yet if fell upon death ears as one of the hooks ripped a notable chunk of her gristle from her bones.
"You're going to kill her!" Takeda warned.
"Yes, but it is but a moment." The female Cenobite perversely assured the group. "So long as it is done by our hand, she has no fear of death."
"For this is but a taste of what we offer to those who solve Lament Configuration." The pin-headed leader then offered the antique to the group. "That is the exchange presented before all who wish to experience something beyond their mortal senses." Shizuru could do little but experience her own body slowly torn to pieces, and the promise of far worse to come as the very words of the Cenobites prophesized an eternity of torment, one that she could not escape from death itself even if she wanted to embrace the escape. She could feel that she was mere moments from the tragedy that would forever scar the assembled group, yet a footnote in her own history as the hooks slowly but surely undid her own skull.
This event would be forever etched into the mind of those who witnessed horror and the lesson terribly learned: Some puzzles were not meant to be solved.
To be Concluded
Yes, I did it. And I am not ashamed. Expect this of me in future iterations in my participation of the My-Hime fandom. Many will denounce me for what I have done, precious few will praise me, but in the end I did what I felt was a palatable story at the very least. In fact, it is something that must be done, something that I can no longer be silent towards and I will be vocal in my stance. For those of you who disagree with the conclusion I have wrought, loath me as you wish, write your own version of the events presented above, just don't expect me to rewrite what I have completed. It is a one-shot and will stay that way and will be as it has been written, no more and no less.
I would typically say "As always, flames and brutally harsh reviews will not be tolerated", but something in my bones tells me that none will listen. And with that said, I bid you all "adieu".