"I need to sleep," Alice says after looking ah the darkening sky, stars popping up above her head, signaling the arrival of the moon. It had already been so long since she stopped to take a rest, after all, she had an important job to finish.

Alice had just finished hunting down a fair number of nightmares and was in the process of cleaning her blood-stained clothes in an attempt to prevent the heavy, metallic smell on her dress from getting any stronger. She was standing by a river, just about to put on her freshly dried clothed, when she spotted movement nearby. A large shadow seemed to move, snakelike across the trees, approaching the river. Alice took her sword in hand, not worried about her own undignified appearance, ready to strike down whatever monster tried to attack her

After waiting for the shadow to reveal itself, however, her grip on the sword loosened. What she saw was not a creature, at least not in the conventional sense. Instead, she came face to face with a large culmination of briars, moving together to form a sort of mobile ball. What shocked Alice more than the sentient thicket, however, was what the thicket seemed to be carrying atop its form: A young girl

No more than fifteen years of age, but with a rather young looking appearance, the girl was reminiscent of a doll. Like someone had played dress up with a life-size doll, giving her a yellow, sleeveless nightgown fit for a young princess, and braiding the girl's hair into a crown on her head. There was a peaceful look plastered on the girl's face, a sort of look that would imply she had just had a wonderful day full of joy and wonder.

Of course, Alice was well aware that was impossible. In the Library, if there was anything to be missing from the world, it would be joy. There was not a single thing worth smiling about in the world where the only purpose to exist was to slaughter monsters in exchange for a single wish to be granted. Alice knew full well that this girl had to be like her. She had to be a character on the same sort of mission as her own to bring back Lewis Caroll from the dead. She had to have killed so many nightmares, so why? Why did she smile the way she did?

While Alice thought about the young girl, she got dressed, ready to depart, when she heard a small yawn, accompanied by a series of rustling noises coming from the direction of the briar carrying the little princess.

"Ahh..." the sleeping princess yawed out, rubbing her eyes groggily, "I'm tired… should I, sleep?"

Alice was disappointed. Obviously, she knew the young girl was alive, but her almost perfectly porcelain-like appearance would make anyone think of her as an object. As a doll worth putting on the shelf, neatly tucked away and out of reach from curious hands, ready to be admired from afar

The princess turned to see Alice right before she lay down and got off the briars as they sunk to the ground into nothingness below.

"Hello..." she said in a tired voice, "You didn't… wake me up"

"Yes" Alice responded, unaware of how to speak to the fragile-looking girl, "I didn't want to disturb you"

"That's good…"

The two were silent, the only noise coming from the leaves around the two falling, lightly touching the ground above a pile of the dried leaves that had fallen before. Little Briar Rose turned around, looked for a tree with a nicely dented trunk, and sat down, closing her eyes ready to fall into slumber. As she lay down, Alice got a better look at her. The girl's feet were bare, along with her legs and arms. Though she had been atop the thicket of thorny vines, not a single wound was to be seen on any part of her soft, radiant skin. Rather, it was unnerving the lack of wounds on the girl's body, considering how strongly the smell of blood clung to her. Her feet, though soft and small, were stained red all the way above her ankles. The yellow nightgown and the girl's hands were also colored in the same shade, releasing the same smell.

Once again, she had such a peaceful smile, making it hard to imagine how such a carefree face would be capable of committing such an atrocity, the sin of taking a life. How could she sleep so peacefully knowing she had to kill? That the girl's fate dictated she would be forever forced to hunt down the seemingly never-ending swarm of nightmares?

Well, to Little Briar Rose it was simple. All she wanted was to sleep. Sleep was the answer to all problems in the world. She could do as she pleased in a dream, she could be whoever she wanted, see whomever she wanted. She killed that prince because she had no need for him. She could be a prince herself while napping away, no reason to have one in real life.

In fact, at that very moment, Little Briar Rose was dreaming of a world where the Library was filled with happiness. She was dreaming that the nightmares weren't nightmares at all, but instead just creatures of the land, living as they so desired, speaking to the young princess as a companion rather than being afraid of her. She was napping blissfully by a river where the nightmares nearby warned others to stay quiet, for the young girl they had met was having a rest. She could hear the giggling and small hushes they would give one another, how they were happy to have met the young girl, how they wished their world could stay like that forever, deprived of sorrow, of sin, of despair

But that was all just a dream. After all, good things must always come to an end, and Little Briar Rose was awoken suddenly by the sound of fighting. The young woman, or girl just a bit older than herself, was engaged in a battle with a creature over twice her height. It was a dragon, a green one, who kept on trying to bite the girl while she herself was trying to take the dragon's life by cutting its head with a sword. Little Briar Rose stood up and glared ahead. The girl she had just met was trying to remain silent, falling carefully on the ground and made her best attempts not to scream out loud.

The dragon, however, made no attempt to silence itself, letting out a defiant roar every moment it had the chance. It was the dragon that woke up the poor sleeping princess, and as such, it would pay the price

"I'll… help you" she said as loud as she could to Alice, who tried to find an excuse to deny the request

For such a young girl to help her, it would be disgraceful to Alice as a human. However, to make her wish come true, to kill every nightmare, the two puppets never said she couldn't get help. Besides, it seemed that this girl had already chosen her path. She was in the Library after all. Her fate had been bound from the moment she was born.

Alice said nothing, but nodded her head, backing away to allow the young princess to move forward. The girl walked towards the dragon, her hands wide open and pointed at the ground, a series of vines snaking out from the moist dirt and rising into the palms of her hand. They banded together, coiling and smoothening each other out until they formed a sort of club. It had a smooth, wooden curved handle, with the head reminiscent of a steering wheel one would find on a boat, covered with thick purple glowing thorns. The weapon was almost as large as the girl, though she herself was short, the size of the weapon was impressive regardless, considering it had been made in almost an instant.

Without even giving it a second thought, the girl lifted the club above her head, and jumped up in the air, assisted by the thorny vines below her, swinging the weapon down with all her might, clobbering the green dragons head and throwing the beast over to the river a few meters away.

"Death sentence~" Little Briar Rose sang in an irritated tone, "First your wings… then your head..."

"I was right," Alice muttered under her breathe, "She's like me"

Refusing to let the young princess show her up, Alice joined in to help. Alice alone would have been able to take care of the nightmare, but it seemed that the young girl had something personal to settle, so she had no choice but to allow her to help. That was what she told herself anyways

It didn't take long for the dragon to collapse, its final heavy breathes escaping from its throat and into the open air. Alice was too far away to hear what Little Briar Rose did, but the princess was well aware no one else would have understood anyways

"..."

"Is something wrong?" Alice asked, noticing the fire in the girl's eyes had vanished at the dragon's death

Little Briar Rose turned around, rubbing her eyes and responded with, "I'll take a nap," the look on her face implying there was more to the story

Alice decided against prying in further, as it was not her business. It didn't have to do with her mission, so there was no reason to dig deeper. She watched the young girl fall to sleep in the tree she had been so rudely awoken from, the smile on her face smaller than it had been before, her beautiful pale skin showered in red.

She left, crossing the river in search of a place of her own to sleep, where she wouldn't have to drag others into doing her work. Alice continued on, thinking about the dragon, about the nightmares, and why they were so quick to attack, knowing full well they would die, the bigger question yet being why their numbers never seemed to end.

To every question, there is an answer, and sure enough, the sleeping princess had found out the answer herself long ago. In her heart, the answer had the weight of a mountain, of ever-growing darkness. Little Briar Rose slept to avoid that darkness, she slept to escape the reality of the world she was trapped inside

"I want to die"

Those words echoed in the girl's mind even within her dream. How many times had she had it spoken to her? How many times had she been asked to kill not by those two rude puppets, but by those she killed herself. Even that dragon, it's last words were that it wanted to die, and yet, it didn't say them as though it was about to achieve its wish. Instead, it was as though the death Briar Rose had given to it was not truly a "death". As if to it, "death" was not final, as though "death" had lost all meaning long ago

Little Briar Rose shook her head frantically. She slept to forget, she slept to escape the world she was stuck inside of. She had only one wish: to revive her authors so she could sleep for eternity without interruptions. She knew she had to kill, but at that very moment, all she wanted was to sleep. Within her dream she was tired, she found a place rest, and fell into a deep slumber, engulfed by the world of dreams, losing all sense of the outside, simply wanting to be happy

Simply wanting to indulge in her sin, in languorous, eternal rest