Walking alone by a path next to a river, Cinderella begins to lose her patience. It had been almost a day in the Library world, but she had yet to find even a single living creature. Her fingers were growing impatient to pull the triggers on her twin revolvers, while her heels were beginning to ache from trekking in the forest's soft dirt
"Not a single damn nightmare," she snarled, "why the hell did they get so hard to find!?"
Cinderella continued her walk across along the river, ready to call it a night when she began to hear a familiar sound. A sound she had become accustomed to long ago. A beautiful sound that brought her nothing but the highest level of joy. She was hearing the sound of a nightmare begging for its life, it's moans and growls as it cowered on the ground, attempting to resist the fate brought upon it. Cinderella rushed across the river in an attempt to find the owner of the voice but was met with a shocking sight
In front of her, by a growth of shrubbery, was a pile of immobilized, unflinching, dead nightmares of all shapes and sizes. There were wolves, rabbits, snakes, and spirits on the ground, many of the spirit types were beginning to disappear, while all the physical kind were oozing blood from the wounds that led to their demise
Close by the trail of corpses was a lone woman with blue hair, a blue dress, and a mature air around her. A smile was on her face as she bashed in the skull of a dragon laying by her feet. Though she did not speak, her eyes spoke the dying creature of disappointment and failure. Cinderella always had a similar look in her eyes, looking down on those she killed for sport, but in that woman's eyes was a hint of longing, of sadness, and maybe something along the lines of an underlying desire.
Though it had been years ago, Cinderella too once had that look on the night of the ball. When she first wore a dress, rode on a carriage, and lost her glass slipper. For the years of torment she went through, she was given a single night of joy, though not enough to make up for the suffering she had endured. The look on the mysterious woman's face was the same as when Cinderella looked in the mirror in the pumpkin carriage.
And yet, it was not. Something else filled the woman's eyes more so than desire and disappointment. Could it be? Would it be possible? That feeling, that sin, directed towards a nightmare?
"Hey!" Cinderella called out, approaching the woman soaked in blood, "Who are you?"
The woman turned around with a frown on her face, which quickly became a grin after licking her lips gently
"Oh?" She asked, acting slightly charmed, "Such a pretty face, but what a cold tone you directed at me"
The woman took a step forward examining Cinderella, eyeing her dress that seemed to show off as much skin as it covered.
"Huh?" the dark-skinned beauty asked, her face showing confusion, "What, do you think you can win me over with a comment like that? What's your name?"
"How can you be so cold…" the woman asked, her smile growing wider by the second, "Are you willing to use force for your answer?"
"It's not that important to me, but if wanna pick a fight, let's do it"
"It's Kaguya," the woman replied, drawing out a staff, with a hungry look in her eyes, "Could you be strong enough to overpower me…"
Cinderella pulled out both her guns, pointing them at Kaguya-Hime's chest, ready to pull the trigger at any moment, however, before either could utter another word, a loud roar was heard beside the two, coming from the direction of the river
A massive black snake with glowing blue eyes slithered into view, opening its mouth to reveal numerous fangs. While it flicked its tongue, a few drops of its saliva fell onto the ground, dissolving the grass that cushioned their fall with a soft "Tssss"
"Shit," Cinderella remarked upon being interrupted, "let me take care of it before we start our own skirmish"
"Ahhh," Kaguya-Hime let out, seemingly on reflex, "I don't care if you're a nightmare! Let's see if you have what it takes to bring me to my knees"
Kaguya-Hime pounced passed Cinderella, who stood confused at the words she had just heard being uttered under the breath of the moon princess. Could it be Cinderella was right? Was it truly that sort of emotion that drove such a refined-looking woman such as Kaguya?
Without even batting an eye, Kaguya was smashing her staff into the snake's side, though the tough hide was preventing it from taking much damage. A laugh erupted from the attacker, who kept on repeating the words "Yes!" and "Please last more!" hungrily while the water snake fought back, striking the princess with its tail and head
"No way..." Cinderella breathed out in disbelief. It had been her intent to bring Kaguya-Hime despair and to feel the joy of her face in pain from an onslaught of attacks, but she now knew it would be impossible because "This chick's a damn pervert"
Even if it were possible to bring her to her knees, it would have been exactly what she would have wanted, giving her pleasure. It was pleasure that Cinderella wanted to feel. The pleasure of having others grovel at her feet, deriving a wave of ecstasy from the pain she gave others
Kaguya-Hime, however, while fighting the massive snake, being bashed and cut by the beast, was showing signs of satisfaction, of joy, every time she received a blow to any part of her body
"Yes, be strong! Don't give in!" she screamed with a twisted smile, "Punish me for hurting you!"
The water snakes eyes widened, understanding what it was being told. Cinderella could see the fright in its eyes trying to back away from the perverted princess and into the river. It did seem strong enough to put up a fight, but it seemed rather than physical and magical damage, the poor beast was suffering from immense mental damage, embarrassed for even coming out of the river in the first place
It was the first time Cinderella could properly see emotions coming from a nightmare
Never before had Cinderella wanted to break a beast more than in that very moment
Charging ahead, she took four shots at the snake, earning Kaguya-Hime's attention, a glare indicating that it was her prey, and hers alone. The snake, of course, let out a defiant roar and tried to back away by taking advantage of its pursuers diverging attention, only to realize there was another princess after its life.
"Let me test it! It should make me kneel before it, not you to it!"
"Don't make me laugh!" Cinderella exclaimed, her eyes lit up with excitement, "I'll take it down, then take you down right after you perverted princess!"
"Ah, your words hurt like blades," Kaguya said, faltering while clenching her chest, "I wouldn't mind being overpowered by a cute young lady such as yourself… though you'd have to beat me first"
Willfully ignoring Kaguya-Hime's remark, Cinderella began to unload a barrage of bullets at the snake's face, succeeding in taking out one of its eyes before Kaguya slammed her staff right on its nose, stunning the creature, forcing it to fall on its side to be attacked by two demented beauties
Before long the snake breathed its last breath, one of sour regret for its own birth, the last sight it saw being that of a princess from the moon, and a soot-covered beaut.
"Could it have taken me down?" Kaguya-Hime asked, biting her lower lip, sorrowful to the reality that two were more than enough to kill her attacker
"Not even a chance," snorted out Cinderella while wiping the blood of barrels of her weapons with the bottom of her dress, if it could be called that.
"Well, it does seem you could do better…"
"Huh?" a bewildered Cinderella let out, taking a step back
"I don't care for the form, be it man, woman, or even a beast like those nightmares" Kaguya explained with a tear welling up in her eyes as she approached the ever-so-slowly retreating Cinderella, "As long as you have the power to subdue me, I will be at your side, succumbing to your every whim, waiting to be tormented"
"What the hell..."
Cinderella was at a loss for words. She thought what Kaguya-Hime was a prisoner to was the sin of lust, but that was a led her to wonder, when did she become the way she did? She wanted to ask why such a gorgeous woman had been led astray by such repulsive thoughts, though Cinderella, consumed by depravity, accepted she was not one to talk
That question, however, of "when" and "why", was something Kaguya-Hime asked herself quite often. So much so, she had the answer ready in her mind in case she ever came to ask herself the reason for her tastes.
It must have been that night. That night in her story, where those five men were presented, where she was to choose one's hand in marriage. Yes, the look she saw in their eyes was not the looks of men who had fallen in love, but of beasts who found prey they could toy with to their heart's content
Yes, she had been driven mad by the "love" that those "gentleman" held for me. Of the way they gazed upon her bosom such vulgar eyes. Of the thirst they held to rip away her dress and of the way they would feel her body with those disgusting eyes of theirs. She felt tortured by their potent stares and unsightly desires.
Their lust was so unbearably pleasant, and yet, none was worthy
All she wanted was for a strong person to command her. She yearned to suffer, longed for that body of hers to be punished for thinking she was strong enough to fight back
The questions of "when did I", and "why did I" always led to "Will a wonderful partner who will torment me to satisfaction ever arrive?"
She knew the answer. She knew why she needed her author, for he was the only one she knew who could make her kneel, the only one she could not overpower
Turning to Cinderella, Kaguya-Hime shivered while stuck on the thoughts of what her author could make her do upon his revival.
"Kawabata-Sensei, ah…"
Not knowing the face belonging to the name, Cinderella knew it was Kaguya-Hime's author, a dead give away the two were on the same journey to bring back different people. Seeing the sadness in Kaguya-Hime's eyes as she cursed the snake for being weak, Cinderella backed away and left the selfish princess alone with the corpse. Though she had gotten her first kill in what felt to her an eternity, the encounter left her more disturbed than content. It had been the first time she had seen someone with a sin as twisted as her own, but somewhere in her heart, she knew there were more.
In the cursed world she resided in, The Library, she was bound to run into others bound to the same fate as her own.
It was only a matter of time before she met other damned like her
