DISCONTINUING - Fairytale Dreams [Diluc x Reader x Kaeya]

ｃｈａｐｔｅｒ ２４

Tap, tap.

A pair of feet hovered slowly step by step over the cement pavement. With each noise her shoes made, [name]'s hand traced higher and higher up the wall beside her. The moonlight had only barely brightened her way at a slanted angle hitting against the rooftops of the buildings surrounding her, while the windmills swinging in rotations one direction had been slightly corroded with moss breaking through the bricks of their old age.

There was something about their age that reminded her of her memories of youth一a memory of her own mother, who had sat her down to tell her stories in their days by the windmill:

"Do you want to hear ma's favorite tale, [name]..? Once upon a time... There was a happy home blessed with a happy family. A wife and a husband, entwined together by fate, but however, could not covet a child. The couple prayed and prayed, but could not receive a miracle. So, the two consulted a magical seer.

The seer read their fortune, telling the two, 'Do not worry. Fate has it's way towards you. However, I warn you: with fortune comes misfortune. If you are blessed today, you will be condemned tomorrow一if not tomorrow, a day in time will fall upon you.'

As the couple were too desperate for a blessing, they did not heed to hear the seer's warning a second time, and rushed home that later evening. Months later, almost miraculously, like the seer foretold: fate bestowed a loving daughter into their family, Cinderella.

The days grew long, and memories piled higher than the tallest of mountains, all that remained were happy moments for the joyous family of three. Eventually, Cinderella had learned to walk and run. Had learned to read. Had became a beautiful, loving daughter with a pure, kind heart unmatched to no other.

Those years had made the family forget the seer's words: with fortune comes with misfortune, and thus, Cinderella's mother had fallen ill and passed.

Cinderella's father, now widowed, had eventually decided to wed a second wife who was also widowed with her own daughter. For maybe, if a pair of widowed parents were to marry, it would make for a joyous family as well, correct? A joyous family that needed a consulting partner or parent of their own.

The step mother was a beautiful, kind lady. Yes. She was. She would ask the maid to cook Cinderella's meals. Ask her daughter to play with her, even despite Cinderella's step sister's plausible disgust. But... But, something was off. Something dearly, it seemed as though, she almost lacked love, the epitome key to a happy family.

It wasn't the same, and surely, years after when Cinderella's father had passed, it truly was not the same.

For Cinderella had replaced the maid and became a servant to her step mother and step sister. She finds herself cooking the meals for the family, and yet, had starved some nights despite being the one who had cooked the meals for the two to eat. She would find herself scrubbing the floors and heels to her step mother and step sister who had ridiculed her ceaselessly of insults. Yet, there was something stagnant in Cinderella, something that refused to utter a word, refused to complain, refused to hurt.

For she was kind hearted Cinderella, and kind hearted Cinderella, remained the same."

It reasoned hatred for the story.

To be kind hearted, was to be garnered with hurt. To be unkind was to be fated with misfortune. To live as a person was to be cursed a life of grief. In the end, it was all to live for naught, in the end, what would it all be for?

How could her mother favor such a sad story with a stupid, kind character?

Ding..!

The noise made her stop in her tracks. The might of a cold breeze glided past the tips of her fingers that hung on the edge of a wall. It was a familiar sound that soothed her thoughts, but curiously made her wonder what such a delicate, light sound could be.