Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

‘Heroes’

The word was strange on White Lily Cookie’s tongue. By all accounts that what they were, they helped people, the saved people, everything the stories from the academy told them made heroes. But yet to White Lily she didn’t feel like one, sure she helped but that was natural, it's what you're supposed to do.

No White Lily didn’t feel like a hero because she couldn’t find an answer to her question, why do cookies crumble so easily? Isn’t there a way to make them stronger, to not have to survive such harsh environments? Those questions chew at her brain like a gummy worm in sand, which is why she was currently exploring these old ruins. It was said to be a massive library, said to once hold the secrets of knowledge itself.

White Lily was starting to believe it was just called that because of its size, it was like a castle, she would never get through all the material in her lifetime, plus if she went missing for to long then her friends would go search for her, and then she would get a lecture from the about taking care of herself. Ugh…

Two things brought White Lily out of her thoughts, first was the sound of metal hitting the marble floors making a distinct scraping sound. Second was the smell, it smelled like salt, as if the ocean had flooded right into the castle.

A loud crash as something stumbled into the room caused White Lily to jump to her feet, gripping her lily staff tightly, the soul jam of freedom shining brightly from the top. She glanced at the figure who had entered the room.

It was a knight of some sort, heavily armored, she would have thought it was Dark Cacao cookie in his new armor yet as far as she knew his armor was silver not black and didn’t come with a helmet. The cookie staggered, one arm clenched tightly across their chest, the other hand brought around the throat in a choking motion as black bile leaked around the hand, blending into the armor. The helmet of the armor tilted up, where glowing purple lines hinted where they eyes were at.

The figure fell to the ground with a thud, and White Lily rushed to the cookies aid.

…..

“What is your wish?” The voice of Mystic Flour asked.

“Right now, my only wish is to rest for a damn minute.” Dark Cacao said as he sat down on the steps, his back to the giant cocoon where the voice was coming from. He probably should be wearing his new armor but he’s glad he didn’t, especially having to go up all those stairs.

His grapejam blade was driven into the ground so he could rest on it, the little Cloud Haetae cookie looked at him offended though he wasn’t sure if it was the damage to this temple or the fact he swore in front of the prophet.

“Why do you bother?” Mystic Flour’s voice echoed. “Constantly fighting for something, even if it will never be enough? Wouldn’t it just be better for everything to return to flour? No pain or loss, just floating in the wind…”

Dark Cacao was silent for a moment as he thought about those words before he eventually spoke. “I can see why you think that way, there is a lot of terrible stuff in the world, wars, people that should protect you but end up being your enemies, returning to flour would be very appealing.”

Cloud Haetae opened his mouth as if to say something, but Dark Cacao kept speaking.

“Yet it is with those hardships you are also able to enjoy the happy moments in life. Finding a family of your own, a land that will accept you, a purpose in life. All those moments are made sweeter because of the hard times.” Dark Cacao said he smiled softly as he thought about his friends. “It’s not always happy, but it’s life and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

The cookie was met with silence yet again, nothing from the prophet hiding in the cocoon or the smaller cookie who worked for her.

“You asked me about a wish.” Dark Cacao said to the open air. “What is your wish, Mystic Flour?”

“...my wish?” Mystic Flour’s voice said, however this time was noticeably closer.

Dark Cacao jumped up to look at the source of the sound, outside the cocoon was who he assumed to be Mystic Flour, dressed in all whites, standing on the steps glancing down at her guest. She had a pair of beautiful bright red eyes that were nothing like Dark Cacao had ever seen.

“My wish…. would be to leave this place.” Mystic Flour admitted.

“Master?!” Cloud Haetae explained.

“Being a prophet, granting people’s wishes…it is what I was baked for and yet all it does is bring me pain.” Mystic Flour admitted. “For years I have envied my friends for their ability to leave. Yet I know this wish will not come to be, even now, I’m sure there are those who wait to attack and take my power…. it’s a foolish wish.”

Dark Cacao didn’t say anything at the words, causing emotions to flood the long apathetic beast, she was ready to feel anger, to scream at the cookie. But instead, he just held out a hand to her.

“Would you like to join me on my adventure?”

….

“I win!” Golden Cheese exclaimed as her enemy fell to his knees.

The spice cookie didn’t growl or yell about his defeat, instead he let out a bitter laugh as he allowed a few tears to flow from his face.

“You won; someone actually beat me…” The spice cookie said with a laugh. “A cookie finally beat Burning Spice Cookie.”

“Yes, I did, your treasures hand them over.” Golden cheese with confidence.

“There are no treasures, just the land, which you were trespassing in.” Burning Spice said with a hint of venom on the tip of his tongue.

“Oh...I apologized, I didn’t know.” Golden Cheese said before a smile brightened her face. “I am a merciful goddess so why don’t I make up for it. Name what you want! And I shall give it to you, anything your heart desires.”

“Anything?” Burning Spice questioned.

“Yes, anything!” Golden Cheese said with confidence.

Golden Cheese did not expect the spice cookie to grab her spear, twisting it to point the blade at his throat and slowly try to dig it into his skin. It was only because of Golden Cheese panic that she was able to pull it away before Burning Spice hurt himself more.

“What are you doing?” Golden Cheese screamed out.

“You promise me anything! Please just end my suffering!” Burning Spice yelled before he curled up and broke down.

The bitterness of the cookie came out in sobs, his curse to wander the earth, seeing the same thing happen again and again and being able to do nothing. Just fighting to numb the pain and yet even know that wasn’t enough. It cracked Golden Cheese’s heart to pieces as this cookie, a cookie nearly twice her size and scared her half to death, begged for his end.

Golden Cheese thought quickly and grabbed the man’s face, bringing it up to look at her.

“I know your problem, you've never had a day where you were just a normal cookie, come to my kingdom, you can be a garden or a bodyguard.” Golden Cheese explained. “As for your wish…I could grant it, however you have yet to prove yourself.”

“What?” Burning Spice said.

“Oh yes, a mercy crumbling from a goddess like me grants you an eternity in paradise, but you have to provide for yourself, you must defeat me in battle.” Golden Cheese said. “Come live in my kingdom, study my fighting style and should your heart still desire the path, I will grant you a merciful end.”

Burning Spice looked up at the golden cookie and just ended up leaning into her arms, either he finds his purpose, or he meets his end at the hands of a beautiful cookie.

Burning Spice could live with either decision.

…

Hollyberry had been used to people not liking her parties and her drinks, her adventures with Dark Cacao after all and he was a stick in the mud on a good day. But this place was filled with brightly colored flowers, and the residents so lively and just seemed like they were itching to have a good party. So, when she decided to throw a party, she expected the other cookies to enjoy.

What she didn’t expect was a cookie with wings to fly down and let out a scream that sent all the others scrambling.

“What are you doing?!” The pink haired cookie hissed out. “I’m trying to sleep.”

“I’m sorry, I had no idea.” Hollyberry quickly apologized. “I am Hollyberry cookie, I was throwing a party to express my gratitude and my passion for these cookies that have helped me. Just a way to show my happiness, haha. And your name is?”

“Eternal Sugar. Just keep it down. Why are you even doing this anyway? What’s the point?” Enteral Sugar said with a scoff.

“What?” Hollyberry muttered.

“Happiness doesn’t stay, doesn’t last. Why bother even trying to chase it when all it brings is disappointment. At least with sleep you can be in bliss for eternity.” Sugar said with a shrug.

Eternal Sugar had lived through a lot and had expected many different types of reactions, she however, did not expect the cookie to wrap her in a bone crushing hug before spinning her around.

“Oh, you poor thing! That is no way to live life!” Hollyberry said. “Your days should be filled with happiness not sleeping. You should stay by my side; I’ll teach you how to live life to the fullest.”

“Why should-” Sugar started to say before the words died on her tongue, witches above what did she have to lose? She was stuck in that tree sleeping for who knows how long? And a beautiful cookie offers her a chance to do something else, and they aren’t afraid of her? Sugar spoke up again, allowing pink to flush your checks. “Fine, whatever!”

“That’s the spirit! This will be the start of a beautiful friendship!” Hollyberry said, causing Eternal Sugar’s heart to flutter.
…

“Give it back, you don’t know how to-”

“I can feel your soul.” Pure Vanilla said. He had been asked by a village to check out a spire that appeared out of nowhere, there was nothing bad going on, just a few annoying pranks. He had not expected to find the beast that once held his Light of Knowledge, and for him to be bitter about it. But the cookie, named Shadow Milk cookie, just rant to the hero allowing Pure Vanilla’s soul to reach out ... .and it got back pain.

“What?”

“Your soul, I felt it, it’s crying out in pain. As I healer it’s against my morals to allow a person to continue suffering.” Pure Vanilla explained.

“Hmm it seems like all those games have finally drive you-HEY!” Shadow Milk started to say however his rant was cut off as Pure Vanilla quickly grabbed the blue beast and threw him over his shoulder. “What are you doing?! Let me go!”

Shadow milk could have disappeared to get free, but he would claim that Pure Vanilla’s iron grip would have made him lose jam if he tried. So instead he opted to kick and punch at the cookie holding him, not that it would do any good.

“Candy Apple, Black Sapphire, help me!” Shadow milk yelled out.

The two cookies appeared, weapons ready to stop their master from being kidnapped.

“You are Candy Apple and Black Sapphire; his children am I correct?” Pure Vanilla asked, the glance the two shared showed him he was correct. “I am not looking to hurt him, it would be against my morals, however his soul is hurt and with my vow I must heal it. You two are hurt as well and are more than welcome to join us.”

Pure Vanilla walked right past them, the beast still thrown over his shoulder kicking and screaming, the two cookies shared a look between them, before slowly following after the healer. They both knew they didn’t have the power to take on Pure Vanilla in a fight and it seems like he wasn’t planning to hurt Shadow Milk.

Shadow Milk found himself in the Vanilla kingdom, waiting on and being taken care of by its king and questioning the king's sanity at times. He thought Pure Vanilla had to be mad to think Shadow Milk could be redeemed or was worthy of redemption. It was laughable, downright impossible.

Yet the day when Shadow Milk heard the Light of Knowledge speak to him again, changed everything.

….
Pure Vanilla sat in his office, leg bouncing as he thought about what to do next, there had been rumors of bandits attacking his friend’s kingdom, and he was pondering how to send support.

A quick knock on the door got his attention, causing him to reach for his seeing staff. A figure opened the door and quickly walked in, beautiful blue dough with hair that held a galaxy of stars.

“Blue-Shadow Milk!” Pure Vanilla said, rushing to his lover and placing a kiss on his cheek.

“Hey, hey, stop.” Shadow Milk said, pushing Pure Vanilla away half- heartedly. “I’ve got something to give you, and I can’t give it to you if you keep trying to chew on my face.”

Pure Vanilla pulled away before making a grabbing motion with his free hand, causing Shadow Milk to let out a laugh. With a quick wave of his hand a necklace appeared in front of the king, silver in color, engraved with a flower and moon.

“Oh, Shadow Milk.” Pure Vanilla said as he took the locket in his hand as if it would crumble into flour.

“It holds some of my life powder.” Shadow Milk admits causing Pure Vanilla to gasp. “So, you’ll always have a piece of my heart and soul with you.”

“You didn’t have to do that.” Pure Vanilla said as he quickly put on the necklace. “You know I would never leave your side.”

“You can never know.” Shadow Milk tried to offer.

“Shadow Milk, look at me.” Pure Vanilla said, grabbing Shadow Milk’s face. “I will never leave your side; you will never be alone again.”

…

The Vanilla Kingdom was under attack, Dark Enchantress Cookie had taken their soul jams and Pure Vanilla had rushed forward, using one of the spells that the once Fount of Knowledge taught him. As he got closer, he saw Dark Enchantress face clearer, the face of his friend as she began to speak a spell under his breath.

‘I’m sorry Shadow Milk.’ Pure Vanilla thought as he allowed his eyes to close. ‘I didn’t mean to become a liar.’

There was a bright light.

Then nothing.

Chapter Text

It was warm.

He could hear a female cookie’s voice singing to him to sooth his tears, she smelled of flowers, like home.

There was another, he wasn’t as comfortable or soft as the female cookie, he wouldn’t sing but he would slowly rock him. He smelled of salt, of the deepest ocean, and he would always hold on tight, if felt as if nothing in this world could hurt him.

What was their names?

He could hear the nice voice say ‘ginger’ a few times, is that him? Or is it a new song?

The man’s arms were around him again, tighter than before, wind running past them. When it stopped something wet hit his cheek, were those tears? He was on the hard ground, something sharp was placed on his small chest, was that a rock? It warmed up, almost to the point of discomfort before it finally faded away to a comforting warmth.

The man with a salty smell opened his mouth, his voice came out painful and cracked but he would always remember the words.

“Pl…ple..ease….sur..viv…e”

It was dark yet again ... .and then suddenly it was burning hot. And a cackling was heard over him.

Gingerbrave’s eyes shot open, yes that was his name, Gingerbrave. His mind quickly raced, there were two beside him, that were the same age, they felt like family, siblings, his twins just the three of them against everything.

The second thing he realizes is there is a giant creature over them, currently eating a cookie and they are in danger.

Gingerbrave shot up from the tray, the monster wasn’t really paying attention, but it was still bringing one of its massive hands down reaching for his siblings. He quickly looked around for any weapon to defend himself and his siblings and that's when he saw it, a candy cane sword.

The young cookie quickly dove for the weapon, and quickly stabbed the approaching hand, causing it to leak out strawberry jam. It caused the creature to let out a yelp of pain, which was good, however the same leaking hand quickly wrapped itself around Gingerbrave lifting him up, which was bad. The young cookie struggled as he was lifted up and brought to the face of the monsters, who just smiled at him, its teeth stained with the jam of the cookie it just ate.

No, Gingerbrave refused to die, refused to be eaten. He was going to get his siblings away from this monster, he was going to see them smile.

Gingerbrave wiggled out of the monster's grip before he leaped onto the beast’s face, stabbing it, making more strawberry jam flow out, whatever he hit was a lot more sensitive than the hand. There wasn’t any time to celebrate as the monster quickly grabbed Gingerbrave with its other hand and threw him. The cookie was flying through the air before he hit the fall.

It hurt, by whatever higher power above it hurt like the fires of the oven. He could feel his dough cracking from the force before he was falling yet again hitting the table with a loud thud. It hurts to move, to even think.

Gingerbrave could feel someone picking it up, he wanted to yell at them to stop, that it hurt, but the pain had taken his voice away. He knew she was family, the warmth in his chest told him so.

As his sister threw him over her shoulder, his brother practically glowed with magic, his eyes glaring daggers at the monster who was still thrashing and stumbling around. His hand reached out, and a tall blue staff obviously designed for the monster shook and glowed. Soon the staff flew to the small cookie, shrinking down to fit in the cookie’s hands.

“You! You stupid little abominations!” The monster’s voice screamed out.

Anger filled his brother’s face, lightning cracked around him, his blue robes danced like the night sky. His brother, Wizard Cookie, that was his name, pointed the staff at the oven, a bolt of dark blue lightning flew out. It hit the oven, and the flames shot out engulfing everything in front of it in flames. The creature's clothing caught fire, the many jars which quickly exploded due to the heat. Wizard cookie quickly turned around, rushing towards his siblings but stopped to pick something up off the ground, was that a crumb?

The creature let out a scream of terror, signaling to the siblings that it was time to go. The three ran, Gingerbrave thrown over the shoulder of his sister, Wizard, who had an iron grip on his sister’s hoodie and staff trying to keep up with his faster sibling.

Gingerbrave closes his eyes as he allows darkness to take over him.

When Gingerbrave opened his eyes again he was looking at a ceiling and something else? He wasn’t a cookie, now he was too small, his skin too pink to be normal dough and he had a very long beard. Gingerbrave slowly tried to move but the man’s tiny hands found their way to his shoulders.

“Don’t move too much, little one, you had a nasty crack in your dough, your siblings brought you here.” The not cookie explained. “I’m the eldest sugar gnome here, though most just called me Grandpa Gnome. You three will be safe here…wow it’s not everyday I see a cookie survive those injuries; you have a big crumb missing from your head but look at you! Some icing and you're almost as good as new!”

“Gingerbrave!” His sibling’s voice cried out, they must have heard Grandpa Gnome speak.

The two rushed to the side of the slightly too small bed, each one taking one of Gingerbrave’s hands. His sister, dressed in a pink hood as her red eyes flooded with tears, Strawberry cookie, something in his heart told him that was her name. His brother gripped his hand tight enough to nearly crack it, his red eyes had a storm brewing behind them, Wizard cookie.

“Are you insane?!” Wizard cookie screamed out. “Stabbing a creature like that! You could have crumbled! You nearly did!”

Grandpa Gnome quickly tries to hush Wizard Cookie as Strawberry’s soft voice spoke up. “We nearly lost you…we would have lost you before even getting to know you.”

Gingerbrave looked up to see his siblings, the first expression he ever saw them wear was sadness and anger, and it was his fault.

“I’m sorry...” Gingerbrave squeaked out as tears began to fall. “I just wanted you to be safe...”

“GAH! Stop crying, you’ll mess with your icing.” Grandpa Gnome quickly said in a panic, taking away the two’s anger and sadness and replacing it with worry as they tried to calm down their crying brother.

Their first day on earth was spent together, they were hurt, but they were alive and together.

Time felt like it moved so fast for the three new cookies, well to be fair they had been just baked so they didn’t have much in the way of a concept of time. However, they had learned many new things.

One that had once been a place where Sugar Gnomes and cookies lived together however many of the cookies disappeared after the Dark Flour War, where the villainous Dark Enchantress Cookie had attacked five ancient heroes and destroyed many kingdoms in her wake. The three threw out the idea of maybe restarting the kingdom again, a place of their own in the world, which the Grandpa Gnome happily agreed to. The work in progress kingdom was promptly named the Ginger Kingdom, mainly because Gingerbrave was outvoted by his siblings.

It was amazing how just in a few days, the personality of each of the preteens shined through.

Gingerbrave was the eldest of the three, at least that what everyone agreed on considering his protectiveness and willingness to take a hit that left him with permit cracked scars across his face and body, as well as parts only held on with icing. He shared the white hair of his siblings, but his eyes were blue, almost unnaturally so. Speaking of unnatural, his kindness itself and willingness to help was somewhat odd, though that could have been because the Sugar Gnomes hadn’t experienced such kindness in so long. Once fully healed he is always outside, ready to clear forest of monsters, help build buildings and just be a joy to have around overall.

It wasn’t all perfect, Grandpa Gnome picked up on some small stuff, after all he wouldn’t live as long as he did if he hadn’t. His eyes always looked tired, though they may have just been the contrast of his blue eyes. He would also get anxious if his siblings were out of sight for too long, eventually abandoning whatever project he was doing to go look for them. Grandpa never brought it up, but he had seen many a night where Gingerbrave was awake while his siblings slept, maybe it was a part of his brain focusing on protecting them, maybe it was nightmares? Grandpa Gnome wasn’t sure but didn’t feel like it was his place to pry.

Grandpa Gnome remembered the conversation where all three learned that they had been rebaked, it started as an argument between the two brothers, during a rainy day, where everyone was forced inside.

“I’m telling you; I remember a time before that oven.” Gingerbrave grumbled out as he looped a piece of lace between his fingers, probably the only thing that’s keeping from accidentally destroying something.

“And I’m telling you that isn’t possible.” Wizard cookie grumbled, his voice muffled by his scarf. “Being baked is the very beginning of life, it must have been fumes in the oven.”

“Actually, Gingerbrave is correct.” Grandpa Gnome said, stopping the argument.

“Ha! Told ya!” Gingerbrave said.

“Wait, how?! All the books I’ve read say-” Wizard cookie started to say as he flipped through the book on cookie creation.

“You won’t find it in there.” Grandpa said. “It’s a process known as double baking, I think it’s also called rebaking though I’m not sure so don’t quote me on that.”

“Rebaking?” Strawberry cookie asked as she was pulled from her game.

“Basically, it’s the process of baking someone who has already been baked once.” Grandpa explained. “It's a rare process, there are only…two..I think reported examples of it. But it said cookies that had this process will have memories from their time before they were rebaked, though they might be fuzzy. It’s also said that rebaking can change one's flavors, one story said a chocolate cookie lost its flavor after being rebaked.”

“See, that must mean we were rebaked.” Gingerbrave stated.

“But as he said, it’s rare, there is no definitive proof.” Wizard countered.

“Actually, there is a way to prove if you were rebaked or not.” Grandpa Gnome said as he began to dig in the drawer closest to him.

“How?” Strawberry asked.

“With this!” Grandpa said as he pulled out a letter opener, a sharp looking one at that.

“A letter opener?” Wizard sputtered out.

“Yep. You see, dough is often soft and can be cut very easily.” Grandpa said as he pointed the blade side down into his palm with the lightest of touch, it soon produced a pool of sugary jam.

“Grandpa!” Gingerbrave said, jumping to his feet and rushing to the sugar gnome’s side.

“I’m fine, it wouldn’t be the first time I nicked myself on this thing. But it shows my point, not a lot of effort to show jam.” Grandpa Gnome said as he quickly whipped the jam from his hand and held it out. “However, if you are double baked, your dough is a lot stronger and harder, so the jam won’t come to the surface for a simple cut.”

Gingerbrave understood and held out his hand to the small sugar gnome, his siblings rushed closer to see if it was true. Grandpa Gnome took the blade and ran it very softly across the palm of the cookie, nothing. He then tried to add a bit more force, once again nothing. Grandpa tried yet again and this time the blade actually bent instead of breaking the young cookie dough.

“Whoa, so we all rebaked.” Gingerbrave said as the elder Gnome let his hand go.

“Yes, I think that was very clear proof, though keep in mind that your dough isn’t invulnerable, there are many blades out there that could easily pierce it, so always be careful.” Grandpa warned.

“That means we have a mother out there! I remember her, she smelled like flowers.” Gingerbrave said excitedly before his expression shifted. “Though I’m unsure what type.”

“We can plant many different types and see which one smells the most familiar.” Grandpa Gnome said.

“I remember someone else, like he smelled like…. I don’t know, he was just different.” Strawberry added.

“I remember bits and pieces, I think one of them had the same eye color as Gingerbrave.” Wizard commented.

“One of them has to have white hair, right?” Gingerbrave offered as he gestured to the white icing of his hair, which he shared with his siblings, causing them to laugh.

The siblings laughed and talked about their plans, what they would create for the kingdom. How they would find their parents, their theories about them and what they would create for them when they come back to their kingdom. Grandpa Gnome watched as these freshly baked children talked about the future as if all of Earthbread at their fingertips, it brought a smile to the sugar gnome face. Despite his old form, he wanted to do everything to protect these children.

One thing Grandpa noticed was that Strawberry was definitely the strength of the three triplets. She easily held her strawberry lollipop hammer like it was a feather duster while her brothers could barely lift the thing. Yet despite her amazing strength, she obviously wasn’t the most social, as she didn’t like talking to the sugar gnomes for a long time. However, that might be because of her voice, as the one time she spent the day talking and barking orders gave her a nasty cough that sounded painful. Which earned Strawberry not talking for two days and drinking tea every chance she got and practically hiding in her hoodie. Grandpa really hoped eventually she would break out of her shy shell.

If Gingerbrave was the happiness and kindness, and Strawberry was the strength and sweetness, then Wizard was the logic and power. Grandpa originally thought he was shy like his sister, considering his giant hat and scarf he didn’t like to take off yet that didn’t seem to be the case as he was more than willing to chat anyone’s ear off about books and knowledge. No Wizard loved talking and learning, he was always looking for stuff to learn, he had read through all of the sugar gnome’s books in the first two weeks he had been there. Grandpa quickly realized that Wizard needed to be learning something or in his boredom he would experiment .... which was bad. This became apparent when Wizard cookie offered to use his magic to help move some logs and apparently didn’t have a good control over it, as he destroyed an acre of forest they had been trying to clear. Sense then Wizard has been banned from ‘trying out’ any new spells.

They were chaotic little cookies, and Grandpa Gnome cared for them deeply, but he wanted something better for them, they deserve to have a normal childhood, not clearing out monsters from the woods, not acting like adults for ones that were just baked. Thankfully, his prayers were answered after the triplets' latest adventure.

“Grandpa, look what we found!” Gingerbrave yelled out as the three appeared from the woods.

There were no injuries this time at least, but Strawberry was currently carrying something big and metal, setting it out the ground so the other sugar gnomes could look at it.

“We tripped over it while clearing out some monsters, it has strange ruins on the inside.” Wizard stated, obviously annoyed he couldn’t read the ruins.

“That’s a special cookie cutter!” One of the sugar gnomes exclaimed in excitement.

“A cookie whatter?” Gingerbrave asked.

“Special Cookie cutters, there are said to be magic from the witches, they make doorways allowing you to summon cookies. It used to be popular for merchants, but you can’t exactly control who you summon.” One of the smarter gnomes explained.

“Amazing!” Wizard said, his eyes practically glowing with a hint of magic.

“Go on! Give it a try.” Grandpa Gnome encouraged Wizard Cookie.

Wizard cookie took a step forward, trying to calm his magic which was slowly shifting around him. He placed his hand on the cookie cutter and thought, 'cause that what you did when messing with new magic. His thoughts raced as he felt magic hum through him, they were summoning a new cookie, what would they be like? Would they be a scholar? Would they have some books on them?

The cookie cutter began to glow and suddenly rose up, causing Wizard and the others to stumble back in shock. The light became overwhelming, as if a small sun had been formed before it disappeared. The metal cookie cutter was gone, in its place was an older teen, dressed in black with bright red hair.

“Hey, what the hell?! Where am I?!” The girl screamed out, pulling out a pair of daggers and pointing them at the sugars gnomes.

“We’re sorry!” Gingerbrave quickly sputtered out.

“We summoned you with the cookie cutter.” The sugar gnome explained.

“Summon me? I’m trying to help my friend, send me back right now!” The cookie growled out.

“...we can’t exactly send you back.” The sugar gnome said weakly.

“I’m sorry, we didn’t mean to pull you away from your friend. I’m sure Grandpa can give you a map and we can point you in the direction of your friend.” Gingerbrave quickly said, trying to defuse the situation.

“Yeah you- damn kid what caused you to get so many scars? And who’s in charge here anyway?” The cookie said once she spotted Gingerbrave.

“I guess we are, if you mean cookie wise, I’m Gingerbrave, these are my siblings Strawberry and Wizard, but if you mean age wise that would be Grandpa Gnome.” Gingerbrave explained. “You're in the Ginger kingdom, and we’re slowly trying to get rid of the monster terrorizing the sugar gnomes.”

The new cookie was silent for a few minutes, it got to the point that the others were about to say something before she spoke.

“Witches above damn it! If Richie finds out I left a bunch of freshly baked kids alone, she will kill me before her dad does!” The cookie cursed before she let out a sigh. “Alright, I’ll help you, little cookies, however whenever we go out exploring I will be looking for Rich Cheese cookie, we need a place to lie low for a while.”

“Awesome, what’s your name by the way?” Gingerbrave said with the brightest smile.

“Chili Pepper Cookie.”

Chapter Text

Gingerbrave likes Chili Pepper cookie, she seemed so cool. The first thing she did once she got settled in (aka pick a house) in the Ginger kingdom was immediately teach them how to fight. Apparently Gingerbrave had not been using his candy cane sword correctly, Pepper told him he needed to swing it a certain way to cause the greatest amount of damage. She explained the same thing to Strawberry, apparently the reason her arms hurt after some of the battles was because of how she was swinging her hammer.

However, the same could not be said with Grandpa Gnome and Wizard cookie. Grandpa Gnome didn’t like Pepper much, he constantly grumbled about how she was a bad influence, the grumbling lesson a bit when she helped the group save a very smart sugar gnome who was kidnapped by some monsters and once saved helped by starting to repair the castle. But it was clear that Grandpa Gnome had wished they had summoned someone else.

Wizard cookie and Chili Pepper cookie do not get along at all, there was still a debate if they could agree on anything other than ‘we need to clear out these monsters’. Maybe it was because Wizard cookie didn’t fight with his fist but with magic unlike Chili Pepper who only used her knife’s and fire elemental magic, something Wizard had yet to use. Or maybe it was because Wizard found Pepper’s obsession with shiny things annoying, easily passing over the more valuable books. Especially from Wizard point of view, anything shiny only had value if it had some sort of magic connected to it.

Chili Pepper only earned Wizard’s respect after her reactions to Gingerbraves…. problem. So apparently the crumb on his head, set with icing had not healed like all the other cracks, and during one of their encounters, Chili Pepper’s fire had heated up the icing enough that the crumb, a piece of Gingerbrave’s head, fell off. Pepper reacted like any sane cookie would, by freaking out, quickly killing all the monsters and running the three back to the kingdom, despite Gingerbrave’s protest that ‘he was fine’ and ‘it looks worse than it actually is.'  When Pepper got them back, and Gingerbrave healed up with icing, she then proceeded to kick the three out so she could scream at the gnome. Something about that whole problem provided to Wizard that deep down Pepper at least cared for them.

After that there was less fighting and more working together between Wizard cookie and Chili Pepper cookie, now really only getting into fights when Pepper tried to pull the ‘I’m older than you’ card. But they all settle into their new normal really fast. They would clear the forest of monsters, help in the kingdom, either help the speedy sugar gnomes build or clear trees or help with gardens or grabbing jellies, and then retire in one of the homes built. In-between you had Grandpa Gnome trying to parent them, the chaos the triplets somehow created or Chili Pepper looking for shiny things, but it was normal.

The day where their whole adventure began just like every other one.

The group had done their normal sweep of the kingdom, aka make sure none of the cake monsters were too close. They had their breakfast, some jellies, and were debating on what to do for the day. Wizard and Strawberry wanted to help out the sugar gnomes build another farm, meanwhile Chili Pepper and Gingerbrave wanted to go exploring yet again.

This bickering was cut off by a loud crash and scream from a sugar gnome, coming from the castle causing the group to immediately run over to see what the problem was. In the castle, where a few sugar gnomes had started repairs, there was a cookie they had never seen before.

The cookie was pale, wearing a dark cloak covering his face. Added that he had not been invited, more like dragged, into the kingdom and was currently holding a crown, cackling that he finally found the power of legends, yep he was a bad cookie.

“Hey! That’s not yours!” Gingerbrave called out.

“Thief!” Wizard cookie screamed.

The cookie must have realized he couldn’t run because he quickly placed the crown on a cake hound and ordered it to run before he vanished with a spell. Wizard cookie was stunned at first but he didn’t have time to wonder because soon they were all chasing after a little cake hound.

It would be almost comical if they weren’t having to run after it.

They had to fight monsters that had decided instead of attacking the weaker cake hound they decided to go after the angry cookies with weapons. Even a Choco wherehound Brute tried to attack them, of course these preteens fought like their lives depended on it and eventually the brute was forced to run away, and they began their race after the cake hound.

Eventually the cake hound stopped running, only to get pets from a small cookie with blond hair.

“Hey little puppy.” The tiny cookie said he couldn’t have been older than 8 years old. He was dressed in simple brown clothing, looking down at the happy cake hound with bright blue eyes. A small crown woven out of flowers rested on his head. “Are you a royal? Auntie Raisin is convinced dad is a royal, and says he is kind enough to be one. I kind of believe her, you're kind like a king should be.”

The cake hound was happily getting a belly rub, too caught up in the positive attention to even notice the group approaching.

“Hey, hold onto that cake hound!” Gingerbrave called out.

“What? Yowch!!” The poor cookie ended up screaming as the cake hound bit him to escape, as the boy had gripped the puppy when he heard the yelling. “Bad puppy!”

The cake hound ran into the woods, leaving the young cookie alone before the group ran up to the crying boy.

“Are you alright?” Gingerbrave said, rushing to the little cookie’s side.

“I’ll be fine.” The young cookie said through tears as he cradled his injured hand to his stomach. “Auntie said not to trust outsiders.”

“You're hurt, we need to get you to grandpa.” Strawberry said weakly.

“I’ll be ok. Auntie!” The cookie said as he called out. He looked up towards the trees obviously looking for someone, however he couldn’t find them. “Auntie…Daddy…”

The young cookie burst into tears when he realized that he was alone in those woods. The group of adventuring cookies quickly began to comfort the lost boy and lead him back to the Ginger Kingdom. The young boy tried to insist that he could use healing magic, but trying to perform a spell through sobs proved to be useless.

Eventually they got the hand wrapped up, on its way to healing as the group introduced themselves.

“I’m Gingerbrave. These are my siblings Wizard and Strawberry cookie.” Gingerbrave explained, “That is Chili Pepper cookie and that is Grandpa Gnome, this is our small kingdom we are trying to build.”

“I..I’m Vanilla Custard.” The young Cookie said as he wiped away tears. “I was raised by my dad and aunt, I…I was just exploring, I didn’t mean to go so far.”

“Hey, It’s ok. We’ll help you get back home. What about landmarks? There must be something unique that can help us lead you home.” Gingerbrave tried to comfort.

“..There was a floating castle…a floating kingdom. Auntie said it was the source of our problems but you could always see the floating castle.” Vanilla Custard explained.

Gingerbrave paused for a moment, he had never seen anything like that before. He glanced over to Wizard cookie, he might have read something like that, but his brother had the same confused expression. The three eventually turned to Grandpa Gnome who looked as if he was thinking.

“The only kingdom that used to fly was the Vanilla Kingdom, but that was lost during the Dark Flour war, and there was no way to get to its ruins.” Grandpa explains, causing Custard to start crying.

“I’m never going home!” Custard cried out.

“Hey, no no no, don’t say that.” Gingerbrave said to the boy. “I promise you, we will do everything to get you back to your family.”

Custard tears dried once again, staring into Gingerbrave’s eye with his big blue eyes before Custard spoke softly. “You're telling the truth.”

“Of course I am! In fact.” Gingerbrave started to say as he grabbed a small crown the gnome’s had found in the castle and placed it on Custard’s head. “I think until we can get you home, you should be our brave king, as your knight it’s my duty to follow your orders.”

The crown was placed on Custard’s head and at Gingerbrave’s words the young cookie’s tears turned into laughter. Wizard cookie made a grumbling remark about crowning a child as king but was quickly shut up by Strawberry quickly elbowed into his side. Grandpa Gnome let out a laugh and quickly agreed, grabbing his walking stick and ‘officially’ declaring Vanilla Custard the King of the Ginger Kingdom. Grandpa immediately told them that this was cause for celebration and brought out some star jellies.

The group decided they would rest for the rest of the day, and then tomorrow they would start their adventure. First they would make sure the Choco Wherehound Brute was far away from the kingdom, then they would begin the long adventure of making sure Vanilla Custard cookie got home safely. That night, the group rested in one of the houses, not sleeping like they should have, instead they told stories of adventures they would have once they were out in the land of Crispia.

As they woke up and got ready, packing stuff like sleeping bags just in case their journey to the Vanilla kingdom spanned many nights. Before the group went out, Grandpa Gnome stopped them, handing them jellies as well as a weird gem?

“There are teleportation stones made by us sugar gnomes, we perfected them after the war…however I’m not sure how long they will last if cookies use them. Please use them as a last resort, hold it close and crack the candy. It should teleport you back.” Grandpa explained handing the gems to the group. “Please be safe.”

“We will, Grandpa.” Gingerbrave comforted before he hugged the older sugar gnome before his siblings joined in. The sugar gnome leaded into the hug before he let go, signaling to the cookies to let go.

“You should head West, the same direction where that cake hound went. There are rumors about the trials of the Vanilla Kingdom. I know it’s not a lot but it’s a place to start.” Grandpa Gnome said.

“Thank you grandpa, hold down the kingdom while we’re gone!” Gingerbrave said with a smile before him and his group left.

Left all alone, the sugar gnome frowned as he allowed a few tears to fall. “Please come back.”

The group began their adventure, thankfully sense it seems they cleared out most of the monsters the day before, it was just a lovely little walk, no fighting of any kind. Chili Pepper did grumble under her breath about looking after four children now, which did spiral into another friendly argument between Wizard and Pepper but it helped pass the time. Meanwhile Gingerbrave chatted with Vanilla Custard asking him what his plans were for the kingdom. The young cookie happily talked, completely unaware of how far they were walking.

The plants around them began to change, eventually Gingerbrave stopped as he noticed most of the trees were replaced with flowers, a specific kind of flower.

“Oh look, there are so many lilies.” Strawberry said softly.

“It looks like we’re in a lily garden.” Wizard comment.

“I…it smells like mom.” Gingerbrave admitted getting his siblings' attention.

“Mom?” Wizard and Strawberry repeated.

“The smell I remember, it was a flower…it was this type of flower.” Gingerbrave said as he picked up one of the lilies, holding it under his nose. He did his best to hold back tears as he thought of his mom’s voice.

“You brats are looking for your family too? Why didn’t you say so? I would’ve helped you explore earlier if you said something.” Chili Pepper said.

Wizard opened his mouth to argue with Pepper yet again however the words died when Cookie walked out of the lily garden. She was an adult cookie, that was sure. Pale dough, green dress, a lily staff in her hands, pretty red eyes, and long white hair pulled into a braid.

“Oh a cookie, hello there!” Gingerbrave walked up closer to the cookie, who took a step back first before she relaxed and allowed the smaller cookie to get closer.

“Who are you?” The cookie spoke in a soft voice, something about it just didn’t sound right, like she was talking through glass?

“I’m Gingerbrave, these are my siblings and friends.” Gingerbrave said with his signature smile. “What’s your name?”

“My name…my name is….” The adult cookie said before gripping her staff tighter and looking down. “I-I don’t think I remember….”

“Have you lost your memory? We can help you!” Gingerbrave said with confidence. However, it disappeared as the cookie seemingly vanished into thin air. “Huh, she’s gone? Did I just imagine that?”

“We all saw her, so I don’t think it was your imagination.” Wizard cookie said before bringing up a hand to clench his chest. “But my heart is warm, as if telling me we will meet again.”

Strawberry nodded in agreement before she muttered. “We should get moving.”

The others nodded in agreement, Gingerbrave was the last, his thoughts were swimming. Something about the cookie’s voice just sounded so weird and off, and her scent, normally cookies, had a scent baked into their very dough, yet Gingerbrave couldn’t pick it up because of the overwhelming smell of lilies. A part of Gingerbrave’s mind whispered to him, that adult cookie, surrounded by the familiar scent of his mom, what if that was her?

Gingerbrave quickly shook away those thoughts as he ran up to walk alongside his brother and sister.

‘No, they wouldn’t be that lucky.’

Chapter Text

Gingerbrave tried to block out the scent of lilies as the group marched ahead, focusing on their goals. Now since they had passed their previous path, monsters were starting to pop up again, however since the group had weapons most of the smarter ones just ran back into the wood to avoid them.

“Ow!” Strawberry cookies said as she tripped over a rock.

“You alright?” Gingerbrave asked as he helped Strawberry to her feet.

“I’m fine.” Strawberry said softly. “I just didn’t see the rock.”

“It’s a very strange looking rock.” Wizard said as he poked it with his staff. “It doesn’t appear to be the same structure of rock as the others we passed and clearly has different signs of erosion.”

“Translations?” Chili Pepper said with her normal snark.

“It shouldn’t be here.” Wizard replied, annoyance hinting in his tone.

“I know what this is. There are some fallen ones in our village, there are stones that they cut to look like important cookies.” Vanilla Custard said as he thought before stomping his foot in anger. “Ugh, what is the word?!”

“Statue?” Gingerbrave offered.

“Yes, a statue!” Custard said his eyes were practically filled with stars.

“That must mean there has to be a base around here. Why don’t we find it and repair it?” Gingerbrave offered.

“Why would we do that? We’re burning daylight here, and I don’t want to navigate at night.” Chili Pepper asked.

“Grandpa said to never leave a problem alone when you can fix it. Come on, it will only take a few minutes.” Gingerbrave countered.

Chili Pepper rolled her eyes and grumbled under her breath as the group began to do a sweep of the area but eventually joined in as she figured it was better to get it over with then waste time. Eventually they found it, the same colored stone as the rock, with hints of words carved into it, however Pepper couldn’t make them out anymore. With some pleading from Gingerbrave and Strawberry cookie, Wizard eventually used his magic, placing the statue back where it once stood, fixing its cracks with magic.

“There, I’m sure the villages around will be happy that their statue is repaired. Maybe they’ll make one of us!” Custard said with his childish smile.

“It kind of looks like Gingerbrave.” Strawberry said.

“It does, doesn’t it?” Gingerbrave said before posing like the statue, his candy cane sword held out just like the metal one being held by the stone.

“I don’t see it.” Pepper said, causing the three to look at her. “I mean, the crack scars are the same, yes, but really I just don’t see it.”

“I agree with Chili Pepper.” Wizard said, causing the group to turn to look at him. “I mean, besides compared to what Gingerbrave has done, this guy is probably just the same average cookie.”

The group let out a laugh, Gingerbrave got closer to the place where most statues had something written about them. He had hoped his brother’s magic might have restored it, just enough so he could read it but no luck.

It did really look like Gingerbrave, at least the triplets believe so, same kind face, hair that looked like it could turn into clouds in the right light, cracked scars that dance across his face. To those three it looks like Gingerbrave’s future if he decided to be a knight, clad in fancy armor and a sword. To Chili Pepper and Vanilla Custard, the statue just looked like every other knight they had come across, this one had a face but forgettable like all the others, and Gingerbrave wasn’t forgettable.

“You think he fought in the Dark Flour War?” Chili Pepper asked as she began to walk away causing the group to follow her.

“Probably, that's when most of the heroes came to be right?” Wizard cookie replied.

“Beats me, I don’t know.” Pepper said with a shrug.

“Then why did you ask?” Wizard cookie said, annoyance began to drip from his tone.

Any possible fight began to disappear when monsters appeared yet again. The group rushed forward weapons out ready to clear a path. There was a tiny jelly worm that appeared to yell at the group, however considering he was the size worm, most of the group just ignored it’s yelling about how it was a threat. They saw some hint of the Chocolate Brute yet he always seemed to disappear right before they could confront the cake monster. The group ended up chatting away yet again, ignoring everything going on around them.

“It’s nice to see such lively company.” A voice said, causing them to jump.

They all turned around, it was the same cookie from earlier, with the red eyes and the lily staff.

“You can’t just sneak up on us like that! Not cool.” Chili Pepper yelled.

“Hehehe sorry, Oh, I’ve recalled my name by the way.” The adult cookie said. “It’s White Lily cookie.”

“You got all your memories back?!” Gingerbrave asked, excitement clear on his face.

“Not yet.” White Lily said as her face dropped. “I’ve been wandering through the forest, slowly getting fragments but I haven’t found them all yet.”

“You’ve been through the whole forest?” Wizard commented. “Then maybe you can help us, we’re trying to stop a big Choco wherehound Brute with a hammer that has been messing with our kingdom.”

“A hammer.” White Lily repeated. “I remember, that just passed through that area.”

White Lily cookie pointed ahead, causing Gingerbrave to smile brightly. “Thank you White Lily, if you want you could join us on our adventure.”

“I’m sorry….” White Lily said as her face twisted into sorry. “I think I need to spend some more time alone. Until we meet again.”

White Lily turned and ran into the woods leaving the group all alone yet again. Gingerbrave was going to say something however Chili Pepper cookie ran into the area Lily had pointed at, screaming about treasure with her chili daggers at the ready. Of course the Brute they were trying to hunt wasn’t there, instead Chili ran right into a hoard of cake monsters. So any thoughts the group had were quickly hushed away as they shifted into fight mode. The little gummy worm again, this time growing to the size of a giant to fight the group. Thankfully they were able to beat the gummy worm which was slowly shrinking and began to crawl back to its friends.

“Hey….what happened?” The little gummy worm asked. “I was a dragon..but I’m small again.”

“You fools! You were supposed to use it later, he was going to be our weapon!” The cookie in the robe said.

“Hey you ragged thief! Are you the boss?” Gingerbrave yelled out.

The cookie turned to glare at him with his yellow eyes, he had dark locs of hair with pale dough on his body.

“Ragged thief?! I am Licorice cookies, my mission is to find the treasures from old for my master. You may have slowed us down but you haven’t stopped us. I bid thee farewell.” Licorice said before using his magic, causing himself and the Choco wherehound next to him to disappear, leaving behind the jelly worm.

“But..you promise to turn me into a dragon…” The little jelly worm said to the air where the Licorice and the monster once stood, sadness filled his voice causing pity to fill in the hearts of the youngest of the group.

“You can’t just get strong like that. It takes hard work.” Strawberry said softly.

“But they promised me, they told me I would get big wings to soar in the sky.” The Jelly worm countered.

“Now that's your own fault, it was really stupid to-OW!” Chili Pepper started to say before Wizard cookie took his staff and smacked her leg causing her to yell in pain. This of course cause Vanilla Custard to laugh which got Pepper’s attention away from the little worm.

“Those cake monsters weren’t your friends; they were using you.” Gingerbrave informed the jelly worm, "I’m sorry you had to find out this way."

“I think you're right…I’m sorry.” The Jelly Worm said before a smile appeared on its face. “But I’m happy to become a dragon, even if it was for a short period of time! I’ve got to go tell the others.”

The jelly worm quickly buried itself into the ground likely to tell his friends all about his transformation. Gingerbrave smiled to himself, at least happy that the little worm was happy. He then turned to see Chili Pepper had gotten Custard in a headlock and was roughing up his hair while Wizard cookie was hitting her with his staff, causing Gingerbrave to burst out laughing.

“They really are a lively group.” A familiar voice said again, causing the unofficial leader to turn to see the white hair adult cookie again.

“Hey White Lily Cookie, did you get all your memories back?” Gingerbrave asked, causing sadness to dance across her face.

“No, sadly but I’ve learned a lot during my wandering in the forest. The dragon carcass brings new life, the old trees. I just want to know more about my world, and maybe I’ll learn more about myself.” White Lily said. “Maybe I’ll even discover another kingdom.”

“Then come with us!” Gingerbrave offered. “We’re trying to get Vanilla Custard back home but we will definitely be exploring and wandering. And as Grandpa Gnome says ‘everything is better when friends are around’!”

“I’m sure my fragrance will make you uncomfortable.” White Lily squeaked out.

“Fragrance?” Gingerbrave muttered before he could stop himself. He focused on the scents around them, he could pick out Strawberry and Wizards scent, they smelled of comfort and home. Chili Pepper scent was sharp, standing out next to Custard's softer vanilla scent. The only other scent he could pick up on was that of the lilies that were withering around them, a sickly-sweet scent as they tried to desperately call the bugs to them before they died.

Gingerbrave paused, he couldn’t make out White Lily’s scent, should he tell her this? Or should he just lie? She already seemed to have a lot going on at the moment.

“Your fragrance is no problem.” Gingerbrave said. “We all have different scents, but it doesn’t bug us, we’re all friends.”

“Hey did he just lie-?” Custard started to whisper before Pepper thankfully had the sense to cover his mouth.

“So I can join you…that way I can learn more about the world?” White Lily Cookie asked.

“Absolutely” Gingerbrave said, grabbing the adult's hand. “Come on! We’re having a great time.”

“Actually we need to find a place to rest soon.” Pepper butted in completely destroying the vibe. “The sun will likely set soon and the last thing we need to do is be sleeping in the forest.”

“There's smoke coming from there.” Wizard said as he pointed to a smoke cloud just past the treeline. “It doesn’t appear to be a forest fire, likely a building or a campfire.”

“Alright let's head there.” Gingerbrave said matter of factly, the others nodded in agreement.

The group began their walk, chatting as they left the forest, leaving the scent of withered lilies behind them. The environment was shifting, plants dying, and sand slowly replacing the grass they were walking on. As the sun started to set, painting the sky oranges and pink, they finally ran across it, a village made out of stone and other ingredients from the environment. The group walked up to the first cookie they saw, asking where they could stay for the night, which got them pointed to the direction of the inn.

They went into the cozy end, Gingerbrave quickly paid for their stay with some gold coins he had gotten from grandpa. It was somewhat nice, they even offered some dinner jellies for the group so they didn’t have to dig into their rations. Gingerbrave struck up a conversation with an elderly cookie, telling them their goals of finding the vanilla kingdom and the older cookie warning them of the trial they would have to face if they continued on their path, but offering to show them the enterience to the trial in the morning. He had even made comments that they had a statue of the king, which was pretty cool.

“I’m sure all you traveling folk have heard your fair share of stories.” One of the workers said, getting the attention of the crowd. “But had you heard of the stories of the horrors of the Dark Flour war? Started by the Dark Enchantress Cookie?”

The cookie unveiled a cloth… tapestry Gingerbrave thinks is the official name. There were five small cookies in the shadows at the bottom and one large cookie in the middle. Honestly she reminded Gingerbrave a lot of the monster that pulled him and his siblings out of the oven, similar wrinkles on her face. She had pale hair peeking out of a covering, two horns on her head and sharp red eyes that glared back at the viewer in anger.

As the worker began to tell the horror story, some cookies looked bored as if they had heard it a million times before. Wizard looked interested as he quickly took out his notebook and began to write down, likely writing notes to get the history timeline down. Pepper looked bored but quickly took her hands and covered Custard’s ears, either because the boy was already looking tired or she knew the next part was not age appropriate.

Gingerbrave realized it must not be a good story as White Lily quickly stood up and walked back to her room, leaving the group alone. It soon became their sign as not even 10 minutes later Custard was sound asleep and Gingerbrave decided everyone should head to be, yes that including dragging Wizard away from the history lesson.

The room was nice, with two large beds and a couch. Custard got one of the beds, Pepper insisted on the couch. Wizard and Strawberry were asleep on one of the beds, completely dead to the world.

Gingerbrave couldn’t get any sleep, now it wasn’t for the lack of trying. During their early days of the Ginger Kingdom, their bed consisted of a mattress on the floor they would all share, so sleeping in the same bed as his siblings didn’t bother him. But no, either it was because they were in a new place, or maybe it was the burning in his chest, he just couldn’t find sleep no matter how much he tossed and turned.

Eventually Gingerbrave found himself leaving and wandering down to the little lounge of the inn, hoping maybe spending some time by the fire will help lule him to sleep. However when he turned the corner, he realized he wasn’t alone.

“White Lily Cookie?” Gingerbrave asked.

White Lily turned to look at the smaller cookie, turning her attention away from the flames. “Oh, hello Gingerbrave. It’s late, you should be in bed. Are you alright?”

“I’m fine, I just can’t sleep.” Gingerbrave said as he sat down, close enough to the flames to feel their heat but hopefully not enough for the icing holding his crumb to fall loose. “Are you ok White Lily? You left during the show, was it a bad memory?”

“No, no memories.” White Lily said as she gripped her dress. “It’s frustrating, I feel things, I feel scared as they talk about the war, I feel at peace around the lilies yet when I go to remember why there is just….nothing…”

“I understand, you can’t find the reason for why you feel the way you do.” Gingerbrave said. “I feel the same with my memories.”

“You're missing them too?” White Lily asked.

“Grandpa Gnome says that we’re baked long before the oven. And I have fragments, mom and dad’s scent, mom’s voice, just a feeling of peace at times.” Gingerbrave explained. “Yet I can’t find any memories about why or how. I can’t close my eyes and see the face that belongs to that voice. And…I'm scared… we’re supposed to be a family, my siblings should have a mom and dad. And yet what if we never find them?”

White Lily didn’t originally say anything at first, just wrapping her arms around the young cookie child and bringing him in close, just to hold him. “The world hasn’t been kind to you, even though you're so young.”

Gingerbrave hugged the cookie back and allowed the tears to flow, the ones of scared and doubt he hid from his siblings. The ones he kept inside to make sure Wizard and Strawberry knew they could count on him. White Lily didn’t make any sound of protest as she felt the wet tears just rocking the young cookie.

“I’m sure you will find your mother, she must be somewhere, waiting for you.” White Lily encouraged with a smile.

“I hope mama is as kind as you.” Gingerbrave muttered, loud enough for White Lily to hear and let out a laugh.

It wasn’t long before Gingerbrave drifted to sleep, curled up next to White Lily, the fire being the only light source. White Lily started into the fire, the sound of laughter and crunching filled her mind before she quickly chased it away, doing her best to focus on the young child that she had joined in his adventure.

How does a young child get so many scars? Who did this to him?

Her mind brought back to a memory, a cookie in armor, his helmet off revealing a face that had been cracked. Who did this to him?

Chapter Text

Gingerbrave opened his eyes, he found himself sleeping in the same bed as his siblings thought he noticed he was on top of the cover verse under it like Strawberry and Wizard. He swore he hadn’t been in this room when he fell asleep, he had been talking to White Lily cookie. Gingerbrave gave a small smile, White Lily must have been nice enough to carry him to bed. Thankfully not waking either of his siblings during the night and making it easier for Gingerbrave to get up.

As daylight peaked out through the window, Chili Pepper let out a loud groan waking up most of the group. Both Strawberry and Custard wined about having to get up, meanwhile Wizard tried to bury himself. Strawberry didn’t take the idea of Wizard getting more sleep and promptly shoved him out of the bed, producing a yelp from the boy. With some laughter and yelling the group quickly got ready, heading down to the inn where they met White Lily cookie.

“Hello, did you guys sleep well?” White Lily asked. She got replies ranging from ‘yes’ to groans of annoyance, causing White Lily to just laugh. “I’m glad you slept well, should we get going?”

The group walked down back to the inn, the man Gingerbrave was talking to the night before, the village elder, waved them down. After some breakfast jellies, the older man explained about the trials and he would happily show them around, however there was the problem of Ginkgoblins, a group of thieves making travel nearly impossible.

“That’s no problem, we’ll keep you safe.” Gingerbrave said with his normal positivity.

The elder let out a laugh but agreed to follow, however a few steps behind just in case the fighting got too bad.

As soon as they stepped out, they were attacked by some Ginkgoblins that tried to rob them for money. They were politely told no, by Strawberry taking her strawberry lollipop hammer to one of the monsters and sending him flying. Most were smart to run away after that but those that stuck around were met by Gingerbrave’s sword or the magic from Wizard’s staff.

The Elder cookie was stunned, ready to ask how they accomplished that, however Vanilla Custard began to chat once again, mainly talking about his home to the elder. Custard talked about the village that loves to care for the crows, the castle in the sky that was so big you could hide in its shadow to escape the sun.

The group walked through the desert, chasing away any possible thieves. The elder stopped for a moment to point out carvings on the side of the mountain.

“Woah! Look at that!” Custard said, practically jumping with excitement.

“One, two, three…there are five statues.” Strawberry said counting the figures.

“They must be some noble Kings and Queens, I mean why else would they make statues of them.” Custard said, causing Wizard to roll his eyes and the Elder to shake his head no.

“Those five rescued our village long ago, at least according to legend.” The elder explained.

“One of them kind of looks like you, White Lily.” Gingerbrave said as he squinted and pointed towards one of the figures in the back, nearly blocked by the one in armor. “At least, I think it does.”

White Lily let out a laugh. “That’s very sweet, the figures kind of look familiar, maybe I read a book about them.”

“One of them has wings.” Chili Pepper stated with a grumble. “We should probably get moving.”

“She is correct, the sun is not kind during the day.” The Elder said getting the group to move again.

As they went walking yet again, the Ginkgoblin boss showed up, very pissed about his workers not being able to threaten people for their money. The elder was smart, running to one of the closer buildings when he saw that mechanical monstrosity that the boss was driving. However, even the metal wasn’t enough to stop the group, as Pepper, who must have been angrier than normal as her fire magic burned hot enough that even Gingerbrave took a step back. She moved at a great speed and sent the boss flying, before she quickly had to get off the vehicle as the metal began to warp under the heat.

Once that problem was taken care of, they looked around to see where the Elder had gone. That immediately got put on hold when they saw a familiar bat creature, one that hanged around a cookie clothed in darkness.

“Hey it’s you! What are you doing here?!” Gingerbrave yelled, tightening the grip of his sword. The anger clear in his voice made a few like White Lily and Vanilla Custard take a step back.

“Stop yelling, we’re taking part in the Vanilla Kingdom trials.” Licorice said, annoyance dripping from his voice.

“Really we are to-” Custard started to say before Pepper immediately covered his mouth.

“Hahaha, you fail.” The Choco Wherehound Brute laughed along with the little bat monster.

“What are you laughing about?” Strawberry asked, her normally small voice, now louder caring the same anger as her brother.

“The difficulty for these trials is legendary.” Licorice said, talking down for the group. “Do you think your sorry bunch can even attempt it?”

“Compared to you, I think our odds are great. Now get!” Wizard yelled as his staff crackled with magic, bringing lightning down on the group, causing them to flee.

“Nice job.” Gingerbrave praised before placing his sword back by his side and slapping his brother on the back causing him to stumble.

“Amazing, I’ve never seen anything like it.” The Elder voice said, grabbing the attention of the group. In his hands it looks like a container of drinks?

The Elder seemingly noticed what the group was staring at, “Oh the building I hid in was a coffee shop. I figured the least I could do is buy you all some coffee considering you got rid of all those ginkgoblins.”

“Ooo, can I have one?” Custard asked.

“No!” All the responsible ones of the group replied at once, causing the smallest member to pout.

Despite Vanilla Custard pouting, the group soon went back to the goal at hand. They ran into Licorice cookie again, this time calling for Schwarzwalder who was apparently the Choco Wherehound Brute from earlier. He obviously didn’t like his true name and refused to fight because Licorice had called him that. Gingerbrave did stand up for the Wherehound Brute, I mean it was a dick move to call someone by a name they disliked. When Licorice realizes he truly had no way to fight against the group, they fled once again.

It didn’t take long for the group to arrive at the Hero’s gate, it looked like a doorway carved into the side of the mountain, however considering they look to be a giant cake blocking it they couldn’t exactly just walk in.

“This has to be the Hero’s Gate.” Wizard cookie said his eyes practically lit up with excitement.

Chili Pepper walked up to the sleeping thing blocking their path, hitting it with her foot while screaming. “Hey, move!”

The creature woke up with a roar, White Lily quickly pulled the triplets and Custard behind her, as if to protect them. Thankfully the creature didn’t seem to have much energy to attack as he tried to stay away through yawns.

“What…challengers…it’s been so long..” The Brown Sugar Guardian said through yawns. “I have slumbered for too long, I require something…”

“What do you need?” White Lily asked.

“You shall seek the blackest, burning hot drink! Venti size!” The Guardian yelled out as if it was an order.

“It wants us to grab it coffee..” Pepper muttered under his breath.

“Phew, at least we have these on us.” Wizard said as he grabbed one of the coffee’s the elder gave them and walked over, much to White Lily dismay, and handed the Guardian the drink.

The guardian didn’t drink so much as he grabbed the cup and chewed it, but it was still obviously he was much happier now that he had his coffee.

“You have passed the first trial!” The guardian said.

“Awesome, can we go through the gates now?” Gingerbrave asked with a smile.

“You cannot do that!” The guardian yelled out. “Defeat me in combat and you shall be allowed to pass!”

“Alright.” Gingerbrave replied, much to the Guardian's stunned confusion.

The Guardian was not expecting a fight, most people that had heard of the trials and glory often ran away in fear once they saw them. They certainly didn’t expect a group consisting of a barely legal adult, three preteens, a child and a very confused adult to actually fight them. But they had a job, and they did try to fight back. But whatever these kids had was powerful magic wise, he finally yielded when the one in blue called down lightning.

“Ouch! You fought well! You have passed the second trial! The gate is now open.” The guardian said as he stepped to the side before sitting back down. “It’s been a long time since we had challengers. Everyone hopes you do well, including myself.”

“Thank you Mr. guardian!” Custard said with his normal smile.

“Wait before you go!” The elder’s voice called out, holding out his staff. “For the little one, I’ve noticed his use of healing magic is more suitable for a staff, this is one of my old ones.”

Vanilla Custard took the staff before he started to jump in place from happiness. “Thank you Mr.!”

“Thanks again!” Gingerbrave said waving to the elder.

The elder waved back as Gingerbrave and the group walked into the Hero’s Gate, he was sure they would pass. There were no hidden agendas for the group, sure the older one talked about treasures or the youngest one wanting to be a king. But he could see in how they act, they were just some kindhearted kids traveling with their mother, at least the elder assumed she was their mother.

Gingerbrave did have a point, White Lily looked exactly like that statue, and young Vanilla Custard looked like another, just as if they had carved him many years younger…

Odd.

Chapter Text

“Woah look at this place.” Gingerbrave said as they entered the Hero’s Gate.

The room was cool blue, decorated with crystals, nothing like the hot desert that was right outside the door. Each crystal seemed to spark, more hidden behind its surface. This must be the fantasy world Grandpa Gnome would tell the children about before they drifted off to sleep.

“Amazing.” Wizard said, his words muffled by his scarf like normal.

“What do you think White Lily- annnnd she’s gone.” Gingerbrave said as he looked around noticing the only adult of the group had disappeared into thin air.

“How does she do that?” Strawberry asked, probably wanting the ability to avoid being seen.

“Would make my life so much easier if I could move that quiet.” Chili Pepper said, throwing one of her knives and catching it.

“We should get going, who knows what dangers lie ahead.” Gingerbrave said naturally, taking the lead. “Everyone stay close and on your guard.”

The group nodded in silence before they began to move through the cave. The odd thing was after going through a forest filled with monsters and a slight desert with bandits, the silence of this cave felt off. There was no snapping of tree branches alerting you to an oncoming attack or a dust storm that had been kicked up by bandits, just silence. Gingerbrave was scanning the area for possible attacks, always looking back to make sure the group was alright.

Eventually during the quiet walking, they found a couple of tapestries decorating the walls. Wizard happily explained what tapestries to Vanilla Custard, that they often depict history or mythology.

The first one was a simple scene, a cookie on a mountain looking at what was in front of them. It was beautiful but it was hard to figure out what it was trying to show, if it was the start of a myth or something to do with history.

The second tapestry was a lot more interesting.

“Look at this.” Gingerbrave said pointing at the new tapestry.

This tapestry had a more active scene, on the fabric had five cookies, one was the same cookie from the last tapestry but there were four more. There was a flying cookie with wings, one wielding a sword, another holding a shield, and another…

“Isn’t that White Lily Cookie?” Gingerbrave said pointing to the last figure on the tapestry.

The others quickly crowded around to see, and Gingerbrave was right. The last figure had to be White Lily cookie, either that or her clone. Same long white hair, her green dress, even the staff she held onto was the same.

“Woah.” Custard said before jumping with excitement. “Look! White Lily Cookie fought a dragon!”

The others followed his pointing, and he was correct, on the far side of the tapestry stood a fearsome dragon, the five cookies obviously locked in combat with it.

“Amazing.” Strawberry muttered.

“How does someone forget they fought a dragon?” Wizard asked no one in particular. “She would have muscle memory or maybe have felt off with the dragon skeleton in the forest.”

“We can’t know what she’s been through.” Gingerbrave said, turning away from the fabric. “But it is scary to think about, forgetting something so important.”

Wizard Cookie gave a hum of agreement.

A loud crash shook the group of cookies away from the tapestry and caused them to run toward the noise.

“Hahaha treasures, treasures everyone!” A Ginkgoblin laughed with a pickaxe. “Take them all.”

“Hey, what are you doing?! Those crystals aren’t yours!” Gingerbrave yelled out, grabbing his candy cane sword.

“Ooo I’m sure they have lots of treasures.” Chili Pepper said with an evil grin, likely thinking about all the gems she could take with her.

“How do you always find fights Gingerbrave?” Wizard said with annoyance before he launched a spell at the Ginkgoblins.

Strawberry, Wizard and Gingerbrave launched themselves at the thieves, a few hits and cuts and they soon dropped everything and ran. Vanilla Custard quickly began to use his magic to heal Gingerbrave as the preteen didn’t notice the nasty slice he got in battle. Chili Pepper tried to pick up some crystals but got smacked by Wizard for it and those two began to argue again.

Eventually Gingerbrave got healed up and separated the two before they began to fight, and they continued on their journey. Once again, this time greeted by silence, that unnerving silence. It had gotten so bad that Gingerbrave opted to sing a little song he made up on the fly, until of course Pepper got annoyed and covered his mouth.

By some miracle they stepped in front of another tapestry, which caused Chili Pepper to release Gingerbrave so they could all stare at the new piece.

Instead of a scene of a landscape, or a fight scene against a dragon, this one had a cookie in the middle, a sort of cone crown on his head, other cookies surrounding him, bowing to the cookie.

“That’s it!” Wizard said, startling the others. “These tapestries must be telling the story of the Vanilla Kingdom’s founding and this...”

“Must be the founder cookie, their king.” Gingerbrave continued with a smile.

“You kind of look like him, Custard.” Strawberry added with a soft smile.

She wasn’t lying, Vanilla Custard had the same tan dough and light hair as the cookie in the tapestry. They might even have the same eye color, but they couldn’t really tell since the cookie had his eyes closed.

“I look like my dad.” Custard said with a pout. “But he’s probably from the Vanilla Kingdom…he had to be, we live in its shadow.”

Custard expression shifted to sadness that gripped Gingerbrave's heart, reminding him the reason they were doing this trial to begin with.

“It will be alright; we’ll get you back to your dad.” Gingerbrave said, putting his hand on the smallest cookie’s shoulder, squeezing it offering his comfort.

Custard nodded and immediately smiled, as he began to run deeper into the cave, probably looking for more tapestries or whatever trials they needed to do. The others followed, keeping their focus on the stuff around them, the uncomfortable silence as they waited for something to pop out of the shadows.

“Hold on.” Gingerbrave paused, unlike before there was a scent in the air, not Pepper’s or even Custards, it was familiar like…

“It’s the scent of lilies, from the forest.” Wizard Cookie said finishing Gingerbrave’s thought for him.

Gingerbrave followed the scent of the flowers, remembering what the adult cookie had asked of them when she joined the group. He turned a corner and spotted their missing member, White Lily Cookie.

White Lily was kneeling on the ground, under the shadow of a statue surrounded by ruins. Gingerbrave walked over to the older cookie and quickly realized that the statue was the same cookie from the last tapestry, the cookie that founded the Vanilla Kingdom.

White Lily turned when she heard the sound of feet hitting the marble floor. “Oh, where did you guys go?”

“Eh, your kind of the one that went missing.” Gingerbrave said scratching behind his head. White Lily was definitely shocked by his answer, she must not have registered them separating until she was deeper into the cave.

“Are you praying?” Wizard Cookie asked curiously.

“No, not praying. He is...was my friend.” White Lily Cookie explained. “Pure Vanilla Cookie, he used to insist on being called Vanilla, said his name was a mouthful. I just…I see his face and I feel sad.”

“Did something happen to him?” Gingerbrave asked.

“I..I don’t know. The last thing I remember was him protecting me. What happened? Why can’t I remember!” White Lily said, slamming her staff to the ground, allowing tears of frustration to flow out.

There was silence, as White Lily silently wept, the cookies stood a few feet back not sure what to do. Gingerbrave sat down next to her, throwing his arms around her.

“It’s ok to be frustrated, we’re here to help, you're not alone.” Gingerbrave offered.

His siblings must have picked up on something, sense Wizard cookie quickly walked down and sat down on the other side, taking White Lily’s hand and squeezing it. Even Strawberry picked up on it as she walked up and wrapped her arms around White Lily’s neck from behind. White Lily allowed a smile on her face as she slowly led into the affection. Custard, seeing what was happening immediately jumped to add in a hug as well, but just accomplished knocking them all over with a laugh, causing Pepper to shake her head in annoyance. White Lily cookie slowly began to stand up, the other cookies releasing her from the hug.

“Thank you, I shouldn’t have gone off on my own.” White Lily said, patting Custard’s head. “Let’s finish this trial, shall we.”

The others nodded in agreement, and they went back on their journey. They went back to the silence yet again; they did have to find some torches after it got very dark. And a few times some monsters try to pop out but after a few good swings from either Strawberry’s lollipop hammer or Gingerbrave’s cane sword, the monsters realize they were in over their head.

Eventually after all their walking and trials they come across a large ornate door.

“This must be it, the gates to the Vanilla Kingdom.” Gingerbrave said, taking note of the beautiful carvings.

“I don’t thin-” White Lily started to say.

“I wanna go first! I wanna see my dad.” Custard said pushing through the group running up to the door and grabbing one of the big handles.

“I guess I underestimated you all.” The Elder cookie said, appearing out of nowhere making the group jump. “But…sadly, I come with bad news.”

“Bad news?” Strawberry cookie repeated.

“The Vanilla Kingdom you are seeking, it disappeared during the Dark Flour War.” The Elder cookie said.

“Disappeared, but me and dad live in its shadow, it’s still around.” Vanilla Custard tried to argue.

“The Dark Flour War, that’s what the story time was about wasn’t it?” Wizard Cookie asked. White Lily Cookie flinches at the words, tightening her grip on Wizard and Gingerbrave’s shoulders as if trying to chase away a bad memory.

“Yes, the Dark Flour War, Dark Enchantress Cookie and her armies would burn away cookies, leaving nothing but ashes, hence the ‘dark flour’. Pure Vanilla Cookie managed to banish Dark Enchantress cookie away but at a great cost.” Elder cookie said as he looked at the doors with a sad expression. “The whole vanilla Kingdom just seemed to vanish, along with Pure Vanilla cookie.”

“But we need to get to the Vanilla Kingdom.” Custard said.

“Poking around will only upset things, possibly bring back our greatest foe, that’s why I made these ‘trials’ to keep any bad cookies away.” Elder cookie explained.

“But we’re not bad cookies, we’re just trying to get Custard home.” Gingerbrave explained

“Yes, I can see that. As for that lot.” The Elder said as he pointed to a group they hadn’t realized was following them. “I’ve been watching you, you cheaters!!”

At the elder’s words, a sugar sphinx came to life and began to chase after the group, it looked like the cookie from before. Licorice cookie and the cake monsters following him were soon chased away, with the sphinx hot on their heels.

“Phew, the cake monsters have been acting odd lately, a mix of aggression but also like something bigger is going on.” Elder said. “I think they're trying to get to the Vanilla Kingdom to find a way to break Dark Enchantress Cookie back.”

“We won’t allow that to happen; how can we help?” Gingerbrave asked.

“You are children.” Elder tried to counter however a quick look from the trio made the old cookie let out a sigh. “They will likely turn toward pomegranate villages; there have been some rumors about a bad omen and a prophecy that way. The monsters will likely go there.”

“Alright, how do we get there?” Gingerbrave asked.

“I can use a spell and make these doors open to the forest outside the village.” The elder said. “But please, rest first.”

“But if what you say-” Gingerbrave started to argue.

“It is late at night; I will not be sending tired children to a forest possibly filled with monsters. Please just rest for the night, and I will send you through the door in the morning.” The elder cookie explained. “I’ll find some cots for you to sleep on.”

Sure, enough elder cookie disappeared and just as quickly reappeared with some mattress he quickly laid on the ground with some blankets. Gingerbrave, realizing he wasn’t going to talk the other cookie into opening the doorway, sighed, and plopped down on one of the beds accepting defeat.

The others took note of Gingerbrave’s defeat and quickly sat down on their own beds. Chili Pepper took some of the random branches that were left around and quickly lit a fire for the group. Wizard cookie pulled out some jellies for the group to enjoy for dinner, the jellies were passed around, some were roasted over the fire while others ate the jellies as they were.

Gingerbrave and White Lily didn’t eat their jellies right away. Gingerbrave always ate last, making sure his siblings had enough, however he did take a few glances over at White Lily cookie. Why wasn’t she eating?

Strawberry cookie finished her jellies, yet her stomach still let out a very loud growl, causing her to turn pink and try to hide in her hoodie. Gingerbrave was about to get up, but White Lily was faster.

“Here, take this.” White Lily said, placing the jellies next to Strawberry. “I’m not really hungry. I ate earlier.”

“Hey that’s a l-” Vanilla Custard said before Chili Pepper quickly covered his mouth. Making it clear to at least Gingerbrave that White Lily was likely lying.

Gingerbrave did try to silently offer his food, but the adult cookie shook her head no, and soon they were all eating what was left of the jellies. Once dinner was all gone, the group flopped down on their beds, Custard, Pepper and Strawberry fell asleep as soon as they hit the bed.

“White Lily Cookie.” Gingerbrave said, getting the adults' attention.

“Hm?” White Lily replied.

“Do you want to talk? Maybe about your memories?” Gingerbrave offered. “Whenever I feel like I’m losing a grip of them, I talk about them, recreate them with my words.”

“He doesn’t shut up.” Wizard grumbled from his bed.

“Hey.” Gingerbrave said before quickly quieting down when he realized how loud he was. “I’m just offering, I’ll listen.”

“I could try.” White Lily said as they all laid down on their beds, the lost adult combing through her memories. “I remember, a hurt knight, dressed in dark armor.”

Gingerbrave fell asleep to the sound of a soft voice, and the scent of lilies.

Chapter Text

The group was slowly awoken by Elder Cookie, who informed them that it was morning and he was willing to send them to the pomegranate village if they still wanted to go. The Elder had hoped the night's rest would take away their foolish need for adventure but that didn’t seem to be the case as they quickly packed up and were ready. So with a heavy sigh and some magic, the doors opened, revealing a forest of deep purples and pinks. With a quick wave and thank you to the Elder cookie they were off on their next adventure.

The group began, trailing off into the woods, Gingerbrave knew they were going to a village to try and figure out how to stop Dark Enchantress from coming back but that was about it. But it’s the journey that’s the fun part of the adventure, and so far it was going well. Sometimes a cake hound will run out of the forest but most had shown to be just very lost pups rather than actively trying to attack them, it was cute until Custard tried to pick one up to take home. Which thankfully Chili Pepper stopped him, and the group was back to exploring the forest.

“White Lily’s steps are so light,I don’t hear her half the time.” Strawberry softly said before whispering to Wizard. “And she’s always so serene…”

“I am?” White Lily said with a soft smile.

“Right, sometimes she looks hazy.” Chili Pepper said elbowing Gingerbrave. “Make me wonder if she really exists at times.”

“Stop being so impolite.” Vanilla Custard replied, giving Pepper a light smack, the way a child does when they're upset.

“It’s alright.” White Lily said. “I remember, I used to joke like that all the time with my friends…it feels like so long ago. But with you guys it feels like those days are back.”

With those words, laughter and smiles spread across the group’s face. There was something about bringing back pleasant memories to a confused White Lily that just made them all feel warm and fuzzy. However the smiles were taken away when a harsh wind pushed the cookies away and dark mist began to take form.

“Dark spirits?” White Lily asked.

“Everyone get ready for a fight.” Gingerbrave barked out.

Soon they began fighting, eventually chasing the spirits away from them. They decided no more screwing around and began an almost run through the forest, fighting whatever spirits and hounds came out. Eventually the forest path broke revealing a village, however even if the monsters weren’t fighting, there didn’t seem to be anyone around.

They continued to walk the path, as it led to a giant tree, pieces of paper were tied to the branches.

“This must be Pomegranate Village.” Custard said before cupping his hands to be louder. “Hellloooo, anyone here?! I’m Custard! These are my friends!”

Wizard cookie smacked his face in annoyance, causing his siblings to laugh a bit. They soon realize the red spots they thought were gems of the tree were actually cookies as they turned to the group with terror in their eyes.

“They avoided our traps, this must be an omen.” One of the cookies, she looked like a priestess, spoke.

“We’re not an omen, the Elder from the Pilgrim village sent us to help with the monster problem.” Gingerbrave said.

“Is this true?” The other priestess, the one with sad eyes, asked. “High Priestess shouldn’t we trust them, they overcome our traps and considering who-”

“The Sacred Tree will decide.” The high priestess said before turning to the group. “Beyond the walls of our village you will find a cursed altar, destroy it and prove your bravery and truth!”

“So get rid of a cursed altar, got it! Which direction?” Gingerbrave asked.

The high priestess seemed stunned as if not expecting the little cookies to agree, and pointed to another road, revealing a path branching off to the side of the village. It didn’t take long for them to find the altar, it reeked of the dark magic that made up the spirits they fought earlier. Vine wrapped around it and the gems glowed a bright red.

“This must be the altar?” Strawberry said.

“Welp, let’s get to work!” Gingerbrave said before taking his candy cane sword and slicing through one of the vines.

The others followed suit, Wizard began to use his magic to take the structure apart, Strawberry used her lollipop hammer and took swings at it. Even Chili Pepper used her daggers and helped Gingerbrave in cutting away the vines. White Lily cookie stayed back observing with Vanilla Custard as the altar was slowly torn down by the four other cookies. Eventually the altar was reduced to crumbles and the group made their way back to the village.

Once in sight of the priestess, the group immediately went to question the travelers.

“Is the altar destroyed?” The high priestess asked.

“Yeppp.” Gingerbrave said with a smile.

“There was something on the altar…it sort of look like Cookie Dough…” White Lily informed, causing the priestess to let out a gasp.

“Are you sure? That would mean someone tried to place a curse..but that.” The other priestess stuttered out. “High priestess!”

“I thought the same thing, she and her followers must be back.” The high priestess said hatred clearly in her voice.

“What’s going on, who is she?” Wizard asked the question his siblings were thinking.

The priestesses began to explain their story, about a cookie that poisoned their tree and fled with others that followed her mindset. Leaving them only with a few seeds that thankfully regrew back into their beloved tree.

“That’s awful, who would do such a thing?” Gingerbrave asked.

“Pomegranate cookie, she was the high priestess before me. When she was banished, some of the other cookies followed her.” The high priestess said. “If she is the one behind these attacks then she will stop at nothing to achieve her goals.”

“That means she must be trying to bring Dark Enchantress cookie back.” Gingerbrave said anger rising in his voice. “Don’t worry, we’ll do whatever we can to stop her.”

“She is likely going to target the Sugar Swan.” The priestess said, horror filling her voice. “Our old village, north from here! That’s where she’ll be going.”

“Then let’s go!” Gingerbrave said.

The group begin their journey, following the priestess directions, thankfully she decides to join them in protecting the Sugar Swan. They went through a mushroom forest with little difficulty, most of the monsters seemed to realize that the group wasn’t one to mess with. Soon the forest began to be replaced with thorns.Thankfully Gingerbrave used his cane sword and began to clear a path for his friends, it wasn’t perfect so White Lily did her best to make sure the others didn’t accidentally get pricked by the thorns. They finally got past it, entering another patch of mushrooms, all going well until Vanilla Custard literally ran into a giant mushroom, causing the boy to tumble back to the group.

“Ow!” Custard said as Strawberry helped him to his feet.

“Did you hurt the ground?” Chili Pepper asked with snarkiness, causing Wizard to smack her with his staff.

“Owww, that hurt.” The mushroom said as they finally got their feet settled.

“A talking mushroom?!” Gingerbrave sputtered out.

“Owww, I’m not a talking mushroom, I’m Poison Mushroom cookie…” The cookie said before finally getting a good look at the group. “Ohhh…cookies, I’m like, suppose to fight you.”

Poison Mushroom cookie let out a wave of poisonous spores with a wave of their hands, causing the group to scatter. They quickly regrouped, some like Gingerbrave and Custard didn’t exactly want to fight and hurt a small cookie. However Wizard and Chili Pepper obviously didn’t care as they soon launched into attacks. A few got close however the cookie quickly got out of the way, but it was clear their fight was gone.

“Oh, I thought I would win, bummer.” Poison Mushroom said before their face shifted to one of anxious panic. “Oh super bummer, Pomegranate cookie isn’t going to like this.”

“Wait, Pomegranate cookie, you know Pomegranate cookie?” Gingerbrave asked.

“They're probably on the same side.” Pepper added malice dripping from her voice.

“What is sh- hey!” Gingerbrave started before noticing Poison Mushroom cookie disappearing into the forest. “We can’t let them get away.”

The group began to chase after the cookie, however it wasn’t easy. They had to dodge carnivorous plants that had a taste for cookies, dark spirits tried to stop them. This whole path just reeked with dark magic. As they got closer to the old village it was like more spirits and darkness tried to stop them.

“This is all Pomegranate’s doing, she cursed the very land she once called home.” The priestess said.

“It’s getting dangerous, you should really stay back.” White Lily said to the two priestess that joined them.

“We know, but we can’t just stand by as Pomegranate destroys our old village again.” The high priestess said. “I sense a curse with tremendous potency, we must be cautious.”

They continued on their journey, Gingerbrave and his siblings made sure to keep an eye on the priestess as they didn’t really have any weapons to defend themselves with. They were muttering spells under their breath, likely trying to reverse the curse that was placed on the land. The two priestess stopped and gasped when they saw another red hair cookie up the road, that must have been Pomegranate cookie. She looked like she chanting a spell, a mirror swirling with magic in her hand.

“Stop!” Gingerbrave yelled as he ran, he swiped his candy cane sword at the cookie, who just barely had time to step back otherwise her mirror would have broken.

Pomegranate responds by trying to blast Gingerbrave with magic, letting out an annoyance, “I have been expecting you.”

“And I’ve been waiting to teach someone a lesson, and it seems like that certain someone will be you.” Chili Pepper said as the heat began to drift off her. All the damn spirits and traps had been getting on her nerves.

“We will not let you harm the forest and the villagers!” Gingerbrave said, trying to get another hit on Pomegranate.

“Let me?” Pomegranate said as she let out a laugh. “You are in no position to make demands, not be gone from my sight Gnat! You won’t stop me from achieving my master’s will!”

A fight broke out. The priestess stayed back alongside White Lily as the rest began their attack on the false priestess. If it wasn’t for Pomegranate’s magic, she would have probably been sent flying by Strawberry’s hammer. Pomegranate’s magic kept most of the cookies back, Wizard was the only one with any luck during the battle, as his magic was the only one landing hits. Eventually he launched another lightning spell, causing Pomegranate to drop her mirror, breaking her concentration.

“Ugh!” Pomegranate yelled out. “You may have bested me at the moment, but you have only delayed the inevitable. My master will prevail and you will be powerless against her!”

White Lily pulled the children back and stepped in front of them, as if expecting Pomegranate to launch another attack.

“The darkness has already consumed the Sugar Swan, the so-called legendary protector of this pitiful world, we have won! My master has won! Dark Enchantress has won!” Pomegranate yelled out. “We’ll use the Swan’s power to take back the Vanilla Kingdom and my master will be reborn!”

“The-! What have you done to the Sugar Swan!” The high priestess screamed out.

Pomegranate didn’t answer, just disappeared in a cloud of magic.

“She's doing Dark Enchantress’s bidding, how? I thought that monster died with the Vanilla Kingdom’s disappearance.” the priestess exclaimed in panic.

“Dark Enchantress cookie, she was strong at conjuring illusion.” The high priestess explained. “So lifelike, in any case that not even friends or family could tell the difference.”

“Illusions?” Strawberry asked. White Lily had place her hand’s on her and Gingerbrave shoulder tightening her grip at the word illusions.

“So she faked her death?” Wizard cookie asked.

“That isn’t important, we need to focus on the fact that the Sugar Swan is cursed.” Gingerbrave butted in.

“The Sugar Swan is known to travel the world bringing sweet peace, nowhere is off limits to her.” the high priestess explained. “She must need the Sugar Swan for something.”

“There must be a way to free the Swan.” Gingerbrave said.

“It’s likely that the curse is held in totems, if you destroy those and place a branch from our tree.” The high priestess said, handing Gingerbrave the branch she was carrying. “Then it should free the Sugar Swan from whatever curse was laid upon her.”

“We’ll do whatever it takes! Come on!” Gingerbrave exclaimed.

“Wait, it could be too dangerous!” White Lily tried to warn him but was not really heard by the group. So she was forced to follow after them to make sure they didn’t die.

Pomegranate cookie was doing her best to make sure the group didn’t get to the totems, they were easy to find because in Wizard’s words ‘they reek of dark magic’. However they often found fights waiting for them, cookie eating plants, spirits, Poison Mushroom cookie again. Yet it didn’t stop the group and soon all the totems were destroyed, running back to the altar from before, they placed down the branches and watched as magic swirled the air.

Soon the Sugar Swan appears, or at least that’s what Gingerbrave assumed she was. Her bottom half was that of a swan, dark feathers crawled up her body. Any hint of the light she once was, was her hair, still a pale pink that sparkled. The once Sugar Swam let out a powerful scream, sounding a mix of anger and pain, it caused White Lily to pull the children behind her once again, as if second nature.

“I can’t believe my eyes.” Wizard cookie muttered, tears were beginning to form.

“I don’t think the Sugar Swan will be able to understand us.” White Lily warned.

“I guess we’ll just need to smack the curses away.” Chili Pepper grabbed her daggers before launching herself at one of the glowing crystals that floated around the swan, shattering it with a swing.

The corrupted Sugar Swan let out a scream as the gem was broken and some of the darkness around her seemed to disappear.

“Hey it’s working!” Wizard yelled out.

“I can’t believe that worked.” Pepper added.

“Everyone, target those crystals!” Gingerbrave barked out.

It was surprisingly simple, the group spread out and began to target the glowing red crystals, either with swings, magic or just full on brute force. Maybe because they weren’t not a big group and more like single targets which made it harder for the corrupt swan to fight back. Eventually the last gem was broken, the corrupted swan let off a shriek as the darkness swirled around before disappearing. In place of the once corrupted Sugar Swan, sat a beautiful swan, colored in pinks and blues as she looked down at the group with pink eyes.

“What transpired here?” The Swan asked, looking at the cookies in confusion.

“Pomegranate used your magic to find the Vanilla Kingdom, she’s going to try and bring back Dark Enchantress.” Gingerbrave exclaimed.

“I see, you’ve saved me and by result this world, but the battle is not over. If Dark Enchantress cookie is trying to return then you need to find Pure Vanilla cookie, we will require his wisdom.” The Sugar Swan explained.

“But didn’t Pure Vanilla disappear after the war?” Wizard cookie asked as White Lily let out a gasp as if she was remembering something.

“Not all is as it seems, go young cookies, I shall send you to Blueberry Yogurt Academy, there you should learn the spell he used to seal Dark Enchantress cookie away!” Sugar Swam explained.

“But what about you?” Wizard cookie asked.

“I shall watch over the world, now go young ones. Do not falter.” The Sugar Swan said as her magic swirled around the group. “Be wary of illusions young ones, even if the promise sweet lies.”

And with that, the group was ripped out of the forest, plunging into somewhere unknown.

Chapter Text

And with that, the group was ripped out of the forest, plunging into somewhere unknown.

They eventually hit the ground with a thud and a groan, Gingerbrave was the first to pull himself up.

“Any idea where we are?” Gingerbrave asked.

“No, it looks like we’re in a garden, that is a castle in the distance, maybe a school?” Wizard cookie added as he dusted himself off.

The others got up, taking note of the surroundings, they looked like they were in space. A galaxy of stars so close that it felt like you could reach out and grab one. Vanilla Custard looked around for a moment before he finally spoke up.

“Where is White Lily cookie?” Custard asked. Causing the others to look around, the youngest of the group was right, there was no White Lily.

“With how she wanders off, we should really keep her on a leash.” Chili Pepper commented.

“I’m worried about her, I know she disappeared like last time, but we actively went through the door together, this time….you know…” Strawberry said, trying to explain her feelings.

“I understand Strawberry, I’m worried too. But I’m sure if we explore and call out to her we’ll find her again.” Gingerbrave said with his normal optimism. “White Lily! Where did you go?!”

The others sort of nodded and went along, they didn’t yell like Gingerbrave but they looked around, trying to catch any hint of her white hair or green dress.

“Where are all the students?” Custard asked. “This is a school, or a castle right? Shouldn’t it be filled with cookies?”

“There’s hints of spectral energy, meaning there are ghosts but we can’t see them. Which means without a doubt something terrible has happened here.” Wizard said as he pointed towards what was likely a greenhouse, however it was now covered in ivy. “Nothing has been taken care of for a long time.”

“I’ll deal with the bushes.” Chili Pepper said before taking her daggers slicing away at the overgrown vegetation.

The vines began to fall, again and again until Chili Pepper let out a huff, and put away her daggers. The building had been revealed, it was small in nature, glass windows, probably just big enough for a group of ten cookies. Definitely more of a greenhouse than whatever else it could have been.

“Whoa it looks so pretty!” Custard said as he stared at the glass, it wasn’t completely see through, the glass had ripples almost like waves. “Let’s go inside.”

They quickly found the doorway and stepped inside the greenhouse, there was overrun vegetation on the walls, that was expected. However, it sort of looked like a hideout, there were books, supplies for experiments, even chairs with blankets making it clear someone had used this place to sleep. Their attention was quickly taken away once the mirror in the room shone, revealing the reflection of White Lily cookie.

“White Lily Cookie?!” Gingerbrave asked.

“How did you get inside the mirror? Do you like it there?” Custard asked, curiosity filling his voice.

“She looks…” Strawberry started to say.

“Hazy.” Chili Pepper interrupted.

“When the Sugar Swan talked I remembered something. I survived the Dark Flour War but I lost all my friends. Maybe that’s why my memories are split, I was just so devastated I didn’t want to remember it.” White Lily said.

“All because of Dark Enchantress cookie.” Gingerbrave spat out.

“That doesn’t explain why you're currently trapped in a mirror.” Wizard cookie butted in.

“I’m surrounded by ghosts, students who were killed by Dark Enchantress cookie.” White Lily explained.

“Maybe you were split like your memories? If we gather your memories you’ll be whole again and come back to this world?” Wizard cookie offered.

“You probably have the power to confront Dark Enchantress Cookie, maybe that’s why she attacked and split your memories.” Gingerbrave offered. “Don’t worry White Lily Cookie, we’ll find your memories for you and help you!”

“You are very kind and sweet children, thank you.” White Lily said with a smile.

White Lily began to walk away from the mirror as Gingerbrave turned back to the group and spoke.

“Come on guys, let’s find some of White Lily memories.” Gingerbrave said.

“And look for spells, remember, we are in a magical school after all.” Wizard cookie offered. “Who knows if you give me the right book I may find a spell to summon gold.”

“Really, you think there's a spell like that?” Chili Pepper asked.

“Nothing is impossible.” Wizard cookie offered.

“Oooo could you summon me a crown?” Vanilla Custard asked.

“I have to find a spell first.” Wizard cookie said.

The group continue to walk around, entering the seemingly endless castle. They approached one of the hallways, and it was like ghosts suddenly appeared. Two figures became clearer, obviously students considering the uniform they were wearing.

“Woah, top of the class again White Lily cookie?” The blond haired boy asked. He looked so much like Vanilla Custard, if only his eyes matched up.

“When did I let you see my report card, Pure Vanilla?” The girl, a younger White Lily, snapped as she grabbed her report card. A mixture of embarrassment and anger was clear on her face.

The boy, a young Pure Vanilla, held up his hands in a surrender. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to, I just found the paper and was trying to get a better look at it. And when I saw it, I came to congratulate you.”

The young White Lily was quiet as she held her report card close before she tried to break the silence. “And how did your exam go?”

“I’m way below you, but still in second.” Pure Vanilla said with a smile. “You could probably skip a level with your grades.”

“I could…but that would mean leaving my friend behind.” White Lily said.

“You're stuck with me.” Pure Vanilla said with a smile giving the girl a playful shove.

The two figures began to fade, disappearing leaving behind a paper that had been rotted away by time.

“That was White Lily and Pure Vanilla?” Gingerbrave said, just to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating.

“Likely one of White Lily’s lost memories.” Wizard cookie stated.

“Hold on, I have a question. Why in the name of the witches do you like that little Lily?” Chili Pepper asked, snatching Wizard’s hat away from him.

Without his hat casting a shadow, Wizard’s eyes sparked their true red color, and his white hair that was part way resting in the hat fell down revealing the long braided hair. It was scarily true, if Wizard cookie had been in that uniform, it would have been impossible to tell them apart.

“Hey, give that back!” Wizard said immediately, trying to grab that hat back.

Chili Pepper turned away, to keep the younger cookie from reaching his hat, Wizard cookie reacting by jumping on the teen’s back. Both squabbling as Pepper did her best to keep that hat away from its owner. Gingerbrave, Strawberry and Vanilla Custard watching with amusement as the two continued to bicker.

“You also look like one of the cookies.” Strawberry said as she turned to Custard. “You look a lot like a Pure Vanilla cookie. If one of your eyes was yellow, you would be a copy.”

“Huh? I can’t look that much like him, Auntie always said I look just like my dad.” Custard protest. “Plus my eyes are the same color too.”

“I wouldn’t say that.” Gingerbrave said.

“Huh?” Custard replied.

“Both eyes are blue but the more I look, the more they don’t look like the same blue.” Gingerbrave said as he brought his hand up and tapped the right side of his face. “Your right eye, it looks bright almost?”

“....what?” Custard replied.

“Like, it’s just not the same blue, but it’s not darker like my eyes, but….witches above Strawberry how do I explain this?” Gingerbrave said turning to his sister who just gave a shrug as she certainly didn’t know how to explain it.

Their attention was drawn away by a loud ‘thud’ and a swear from Chili Pepper. They turned to see her lying on the floor, Wizard quickly got up to get his hat and walked back to the group. Ignoring while Pepper got up.

“What were we talking about?” Wizard asked.

The group shrugged and quickly began back on their quest to find White Lily’s lost memories. They, meaning Gingerbrave, decided their next action was to go into one of the buildings. It took them a while to find a way inside the building which quickly revealed itself to be a library. Pepper let out a growl of annoyance while Wizard smiled and quickly ran to one of the shelves, pulling down some books. He skimmed over them, muttering about the spells inside before he placed them in his bag.

“Is he stealing those?” Custard asked.

Before Gingerbrave or Strawberry could speak, Pepper spoke first. “It’s only stealing if you get caught.”

This earned a smack from Gingerbrave and a ‘no’ from Strawberry.

Suddenly a mist appeared as a ghost of the two children from before, meaning another memory appeared. The two children talked in hushed whispers, before the young Pure Vanilla sneaked over to a section, quickly grabbing a book and handing it over to the small White Lily.

White Lily began to run, her shoes making a tapping sound against the floor, getting the attention of a taller cookie likely a teacher.

“What are you doing? This section is reserved for staff only!” The teacher yelled out as he marched over snatching the book from the child’s hands. “You are banned from the library for a week!”

White Lily looked down at her feet as if hoping the floor would swallow her up as she slowly walked out of the library. The teacher gave an approved look as he stalked off to patrol the halls of the library. As White Lily turned the corner, the young Pure Vanilla cookie met up with her with a smile.

“I got the book.” Pure Vanilla said with a smirk.

“You're the best Pure Vanilla.” White Lily said as the memory faded away.

“So it seems that those two were troublemakers as well.” Chili Pepper said with a loud laugh.

“No talking in the library!!” A voice screamed out as the creature it belonged to rounded the corner, it had one big eye and looked more like it was made out of mist and stars rather than dough.

“What is that thing?” Strawberry asked.

“No idea.” Wizard quickly replied before dragging Custard out of the way of an attack.

“Let's get out of here.” Gingerbrave said.

Wizard quickly launched a spell of somesort at the monster, as the group began to scramble to get out of the library. The group ran, the monster chasing after them, being slowed down by ether spells being thrown at him, or Strawberry knocking over some of the bookcases. Eventually they saw a doorway and ran through it, and Wizard quickly used a spell to lock the doors which apparently worked as the group heard a thud followed by what was likely cursing.

“What in the name of the witches was that?” Chili Pepper asked.

“It sort of sounded like that teacher from the memory.” Wizard commented.

“Well let's just get moving, just in case it escapes.” Gingerbrave replied.

The group quickly nodded in agreement and began to move through the halls of the school. There were echoes of students but never full staying around unlike the memories from before. However as the echos got deeper, the group decided to follow it, leading them to a secret room hidden behind a bookcase. It was a small room, some ruins had been drawn on the ground as books layed scattered. White Lily face was buried in one of the books, her brow made it clear she wasn’t happy with whatever was written.

“I knew I would find you here.” The echo of Pure Vanilla said as he walked into the room, startling White Lily. “I was worried when you didn’t show up to class, are you alright?”

“I’m fine, I wouldn’t have learned anything in class anyway.” White Lily said.

“But it’s very boring without you, could you try to come next time?” Pure Vanilla asked.

“...fine, even if it takes time away from our experiments.” White Lily said with a sign as Pure Vanilla sat next to her. “I just know I’m close, I’m sure I can find the reason as to why cookies crumble so easily, and find a way to make them stronger.”

“You're always trying to find ways to help others, I’m sure future cookies are already thankfully for your experiments.” Pure Vanilla said.

“But that isn’t enough, just a hit too strong can leave a cookie completely crumbled or with scars throughout their dough.” White Lily said, causing Gingerbrave to flinch and bring a hand up to his face to trace his own scars. “There has to be some way to make cookies stronger. We have the book that has all the recipes, even the cookie cutter and yet nothing helps.”

“We’ll find the answer together.” Pure Vanilla affirmed his friend before the echoes faded away.

The group allowed a few seconds of silence as the process of what they had just seen.

“She was running experiments?” Strawberry asked.

“But she was trying to help cookies.” Gingerbrave offered as he rubbed some of his scars.

“Please don’t think less of me.” White Lily's voice echoes as they say her adult form passes by a mirror.

“Come on, we can debate all we want but the sooner we finally of White Lily’s memories, the sooner we can get out of here.” Wizard said as he practically pushed his siblings out the door.

The group agreed and began to wander through the halls, a more ghost-like form appeared, it seemed like finding the memories was actually doing something. Now this did present problems as some of the ghosts did try to attack, but a spell from Wizard or a hit from Gingerbrave often sent the spirits running.

They found another memory of White Lily, it was clear her experiments were taking up more of her time, she was drifting away from Pure Vanilla. Strawberry commented on how thin she looked. Gingerbrave made a comment that the smell of lilies had come back, the flower scent brought comfort to the eldest of the triplet.

They walked deeper and deeper into the school, taking note of the memories and ghosts they saw along the way. Yet they definitely didn’t expect to see another cookie when they turn the corner down the hall, chasing the lily scent.

“Um, hi?” Gingerbrave said waving at the other cookie.

“Are you a knight?” Vanilla Custard asked as he noticed the sword he was caring.

“No, I’m not.” The cookie replied. His dough was darker, likely with a lot of chocolate in it. He was dressed in dark armor, almost looking black. He has dark hair with a chunk of his bangs being pure white. He looked at the smaller cookies with one red eye, his other was close as a scar ran over it.

“Well you should be, what’s your name Mr. Knight?!” Custard asked with a smile, definitely stunning the cookie in front of them.

“…Dark Choco cookie…?” Dark Choco replied, he didn't expect the conversation to go this way and wasn’t really sure how to react.

“Then Dark Choco, I will name you a knight when I become king.” Custard said with determination.

“Wait! Dark Choco cookie?! Rich Cheese has been looking for you, you a-“ Chili Pepper started to said before getting smacked by Wizard cookie. “You dick.”

“Not any better.” Wizard muttered.

“Oh cool, your a friend of Chili Pepper’s friend.” Gingerbrave said with a smile. “Then you're more than welcome to join us. Were following some memories, let go-“

“I can’t let you do that.” Dark Choco said as he stepped in front of Gingerbrave, stopping him from going forward. “Pomegranate says no one should mess with the chambers.”

“Pomegranate? You're working with Pomegranate cookie?” Wizard cookie spat out.

“...Face me, or leave this place.” was all Dark Choco said as he brandish his sword, the gem on the handling glowing a fierce red.

“Hey, your friend won’t be upset if we knock some sense into him right?” Gingerbrave asked.

“If she is, she can get over it.” Chili Pepper said as she cracked her knuckles.

The fight quickly started when Wizard tried to shoot a bolt of lightning at the cookie who quickly dodge and kicked the teen sending him flying back. That quickly pissed off Strawberry who took off her strawberry lollipop and swung it at the cookie. Dark Choco flew back but quickly got to his feet, just enough time to grab his sword as Gingerbrave launched at him with his own candy cane sword. The two traded blows until Chili Pepper appeared and sliced him, causing him to fall back and stopping the fight.

“I shouldn’t have lost, I have the sword, how?” Dark Choco cursed out as he got to his feet, grabbing the sword.

“You shouldn't be working with Pomegranate cookie, she is likely lying to you.” Gingerbrave said. “You can come with us.”

“Yeah, Rich Cheese might take my head if we let you walk this path, come on dude.” Chili Pepper said, holding out her hand as if she didn’t just kick his butt.

Dark Choco looked at them for a second as if they had grown two heads but his eyes softened as he took a step forward, like he was considering it. Yet as he finally got close enough to take her hand, the gem on the glowed brighter, Dark Choco winced as he grabbed his head, the pupil of his eye turned to a white instead of its normal black.

“Hey-woah!” Pepper said as Dark Choco swiped at her with his sword, before running down the hall.

“What wrong with Mr. Knight?” Vanilla Custard asked.

“It looks like he didn’t want to be part of this.” Strawberry said.

“That sword of his, there was something off about it.” Wizard commented.

The group didn’t have much time to process what Wizard said as more of those spirits appeared. Forcing the group to fight yet again. It was brutal, the spirits were not giving up, eventually one of them spoke up claiming to be the headmaster.

When they finally stopped fighting, the headmaster told them the story of the school, that White Lily experiments lead her to try to use forbidden Dark Moon Magic, which opened up a portal and twisted all the students in the school into spirits. The headmaster said the White Lily was imprisoned in Moonstone at the top of the school's tower and that the group should have crumbled her for their own safety. As the headmaster disappeared, likely to deal with more cookies getting in, the group was left to wonder.

“I’m so sorry….” White Lily’s voice echoes through the many mirrors. “I should have just died that day, I was so stupid.”

“Hey, don’t say that! It shouldn’t have happened but you survive. It means you can make up for what you’ve done, maybe you’ll find a way to bring them back.” Gingerbrave offered. “You are not evil, I know that.”

“Where are you at?” Strawberry asked.

“What is the point?” The spirit of White Lily said weakly. “You should allow this place to crumble, allow it to shatter me.”

“Don’t think like that! Think of who you're fighting for, the reason you want so badly to make cookies stronger.” Gingerbrave offered. “Come on White Lily.”

The spirit of White Lily, hazy as if she could disappear at any moment began to walk away from the group, but they still followed her. She was silent as she continued to put distance between them. And then White Lily’s voice slowly rang out as she sang.

‘Hush, little one, let me sing you to sleep.’

Gingerbrave stopped following for second as familiar nostalgia washed over him.

‘Moonlight has come, now, drift off to a dream.’

“Gingerbrave, what’s wrong?” Wizard asked.

“It’s her voice.” Gingerbrave muttered weakly.

“Who’s voice? White Lily?” Strawberry asked confused.

“No, the scent, the song…It’s the same one mom would sing.” Gingerbrave said. “Mom..mom is White Lily, she was here the whole time.”

Gingerbrave began to run after the voice, following the scent of lilies ignoring the yells of his siblings and his friends.

‘Sail from the day to the wonders awaiting you out there, in the deep’

Gingerbrave ran ahead of the other, on a big staircase seemingly made up of stars. Tears welled up his eyes, as the familiar lullaby played out.

‘Off little one, chase the wind on the waves, adventure is calling, so go and be brave. But if you get lost as you're tossed in the dark of the sea, look for me’

Gingerbrave flung the doors open to the towers, inside he could see White Lily’s form, trapped in a giant chunk of Moonstone. Her eyes looked right at him, familiarity and fear filled them. Right to the side of the crystal was Dark Choco cookie, his eyes glowing that horrible red and sword raised, ready to shatter the crystal, and White Lily into pieces.

“No! Don’t!” Gingerbrave screamed out running forward trying to stop the older cookie.

The sword struck the side of the Moonstone, causing cracks to dance across it before shattering. Gingerbrave heart stopped as he kept running, trying to grip the fact that Dark Choco just killed White Lily cookie.

However soon a form become clear, just hiding behind the gem shards.

White Lily had survived.

“MOM!” Gingerbrave yelled out throwing his arms around the freed White Lily cookie.

Chapter Text

“MOM!” Gingerbrave screamed as he closed his eyes, throwing himself in the arms of the freeded White Lily cookie.

Gingerbrave couldn’t believe it, allowing tears of happiness to flow out. Some part of him had whispered he would never find his parents, that the witches had destroyed them long ago. But here she was! She was alive! She was here! Gingerbrave could feel his mom wrap her arms around him, returning the hug, she must have been startled at first. Gingerbrave leaned it, the smell of lilies still clung to her, just like in his memories.

“GINGERBRAVE!” The group voices screamed out.

Gingerbrave moved his head away from his mom, arms still wrapped around her as he turned, ready to convince his siblings to join him in a group hug. And the first thing he saw was fear.

Pure fear in his friends and siblings' eyes.

Vanilla Custard was hiding behind Chili Pepper cookie, his blue eyes staring forward as tears pricked in the corners, he shook and gripped his little staff like his life depended on it. Chili Pepper took a step forward, her chili daggers out as she tried to step in front of Strawberry and Wizard cookie. Her posture lacked its normal confidence, she was grabbing her daggers so tightly her dough was losing its red tone. Pepper glared forward, despite the fear in her eyes, she still possessed her anger, as if daring the person behind Gingerbrave to hurt him, but why is she doing that? His mother wouldn’t hurt him?

Seeing the looks on Wizard and Strawberry’s face made a pit form in Gingerbrave’s stomach.

Terror was clear on his sibling’s faces, they looked forward, their eyes mixed with emotions but one stood out to Gingerbrave. It was that look they gave each other, when they were too far away or when they had been separated for too long, just a pleading to come back. With that look came a burning sensation in Gingerbrave chest, almost like it was punishing him for being away from his siblings. It was only as he looked at his siblings did he notice the scent that surrounded him, it no longer smelled of fresh lilies.

It smelled of the wilting lilies and cake batter, the scent that clung to monsters.

Gingerbrave began to pull back to look at the cookie he was hugging, White Lily’s arms never leaving his back as he pulled away to look at her...

...It wasn’t White Lily cookie.

It still looked like her, but it just wasn’t. Her dough was just a bit darker, looking more like burn scars than actual dough, her eyes, just slightly too red, and…. horns.

Two prominent horns sprouted from the pointing out to each side, black in color with red stripes around them.

The cookie just looked down at Gingerbrave with a smile, eyes shining with something akin to joy as she allowed a spell to wash over her. One that Gingerbrave thankfully recognized, an illusion spell, one to hide a cookie's true form. Another face formed over white lily’s, it belonged to that of a witch the cookie had killed, and one that had been burned into Gingerbrave’s brain ever since his first night on the road.

Dark Enchantress Cookie.

Panic filled every fiber of his dough, Gingerbrave jumped back as if he had been burned. He didn’t get far as Dark Enchantress quickly grabbed him arm with one of her hands, her nails gripped into his dough making Gingerbrave question if she was hiding claws under those gloves. Either way, her grip was strong enough to keep Gingerbrave in place, making the young dough contemplate hacking off his arm.

“There is no need to be scared, young one.” Dark Enchantress cooed out, her voice sounded like a twisted version of White Lily, scratchy and harsh, like she had been screaming in a fire. “I would never hurt my own dough and jam.”

Thankful, at least for Gingerbrave a ball of fire magic was launched at the dark cookie, making her let go of the boy to smack it away. By the time Dark Enchantress turned back around Gingerbrave have manage to add distance, his siblings running to his side to protect him.

“All of you are here.” Dark Enchantress said before swatting away another magical attack. The cookie held out her hand, waiting for her children to walk forward and take it. “Come here, I’ll let those two little annoyances you brought with you go. Just…come here…”

The trio didn’t say anything, their emotions running wild and fear planting them to their spots.

“Not happening!” Chili Pepper screamed out, launching another attack, this time actually causing Dark Enchantress to stumble back.

“Fine.” Dark Enchantress said, instead of offering her hand instead she reached out as dark magic swirled around her. “The hard way it is then.”

“Scatter!!” Gingerbrave yelled out as portals opened up around the evil cookie.

Portals open up under Dark Enchantress as well as behind her. While the one below summoned a monster made of cake, the ones behind shot out arms, likely from more cake monsters hidden in twisted space. Thankfully Gingerbrave words got everyone out of the way of the hands, but that didn’t mean the fight was over.

Dark Enchantress' focus was on the triplets, her eyes following them as they ran, and quickly trying to summon more hands to grab them. She got close, one was able to grab Wizard cookie however one quick smack from Strawberry’s hammer sent the monstrous hand reeling away.

However, through a few stray fireballs Dark Enchantress attention would shift to the two other cookies, and she wasn’t nearly as kind, magically blast, lightning strikes. It was just because the other two were quick on their feet that they hadn’t been reduced to crumbs yet. Gingerbrave ended up staying close by Chili Pepper and Vanilla Custard, it seemed like a bad move logically, giving Dark Enchantress a bigger target. But he noticed she seemed reluctant to use any dangerous spells against the two if he was in range.

The children had no idea how long this fight would last, it’s like they couldn’t have a moment to gather their thoughts, if they slowed down for a second they risked either getting grabbed or burned.

Gingerbrave notices a Dark Enchantress loading up a magical blast, aiming it right at Custard. Ignoring the possible danger, Gingerbrave ran and knocked Custard to the ground, just barely keeping him from being fried to a crisp. He could feel the heat close enough that he was sure his dough on his back was cracking, and something falling off his head. Opening his eyes, he could see Custard shaking, a crumb of Gingerbrave’s head resting in his hands.

Gingerbrave looked back, trying to see what Dark Enchantress’s next attack would be. However instead she just looked at Gingerbrave with wide eyes, he looked back, trying to see some sort of emotion, horror, fear?! Something to prove White Lily was still in there.

While Dark Enchantress was stunned by what happened, Wizard and the other cookies ran towards their friends. Wizard slammed his staff on the ground, and a rune appeared beneath the group. He began speaking the spell, no idea if it would work right but anything would be better then being here right now.

Dark Enchantress when she finally broke out of her stunned shock, she summoned her magic, screaming out a ‘no’. Right before the group of cookies disappeared.

Silence filled the space where her children and those pests once stood. Dark Enchantress let out a scream of frustration before launching the spell at the ground, reducing it to rumble in her anger. A sound got her attention and she turned to see who was still around. She turned around to see the face of an old friend now turned enemy and the eyes of his pale wife staring back at her.

“You're the one who freed me.” Dark Enchantress said, more matter of fact.

“I did.” Dark Choco stuttered out. “Pomegranate cookie said you could help with a curse.”

A smile spread across Dark Enchantress' face. “Of course I can, but I need your help first. Why don’t I take you to my son, I have a mission for the both of you.”

Dark Enchantress used her magic to tear open a portal, she will get her three youngest eventually, for now, she needed to check on her oldests.

The magic was swift, the group had been falling through a space filled with stars and eyes and then suddenly they had landed on some dead grass. Gingerbrave’s head was still spinning as Custard quickly took out some icing to try and reattached the part of his head that had been knocked off. Wizard began to throw up what little food was in his stomach, and Strawberry was on the path to hyperventilating at this rate. Chili Pepper quickly got to her feet, looking around to try and figure out where they were.

“Is everyone alive?” Pepper asked.

She was greeted by a few groans and a ‘no’ from Wizard cookie as he continued to be sick.

“She is our mom...that monster is our mom.” Strawberry muttered between her breaths.

“Hey.” Chili Pepper tried to say.

“She’s going to kill us, either that or maybe make us fight for her.” Wizard added as his mind raced.

“En-” Pepper tried to butt in.

“Does that mean we’re evil now?” Gingerbrave asked to no one in particular as Custard finished repairing the hurt cookie. “If our mom is Dark Enchantress, that means-”

“ENOUGH! No one is evil and no one is dying!” Chili Pepper yelled out making everyone go silent. She hated being the oldest at times, but she was not going to let these damn children spiral. “Now repeat after me, I am not evil.”

“But if Dark Encantress is-” Gingerbrave tried to argue.

“She could have been lying! Maybe she just noticed how powerful you three brats were and decided to play to your heartstrings.” Pepper argued, she ignored how quiet Custard was being and continued to speak. “You know my friend Rich Cheese, her father is like Dark Enchantress, does that make her evil?”

“What?” The three replied.

“Yep, her father is the Spice King, we called him the god of destruction. He was said to lay waste to many kingdoms before the Queen goddess stopped him. By your logic she is just as evil as her father.” Chili Pepper argued.

“No, she’s not. Thats-” Gingerbrave started to say.

“Right, she is not evil, and you aren’t evil.” Chili Pepper interrupted, “So stop thinking you are, it was probably just a trick anyway.”

Gingerbrave wanted to argue against it however one glare from the older cookie took away any protest.

“Anyway, we’ve had a long day, why don’t we rest for the night?” Pepper offered.

“No! I don’t know how well the spell worked! What if-?” Wizard started to protest before he let out an involuntary shiver. The other clearly knew what was after the what if question.

“Wizard cookie have a point, we should at the very least move away from this area.” Pepper said. “Can everyone walk?”

Everyone nodded, however Wizard practically shook as he barely was able to stand. Pepper let out a sigh before she marched over ordering the smaller cookie to get on her back. For once he didn’t argue and accepted the piggyback ride.

And soon the group was off yet again.

They began their walk, following the path that had been flatten by other cookies long before them. There was just silence, Chili Pepper walked while carrying Wizard on her back. Gingerbrave was leading, Strawberry and Vanilla Custard both holding his hand while time passed. No one wanted to speak, no one dared to break the silence, even as object became familiar to the youngest cookie he didn’t speak up, instead silently opting to pull the group in the direction he knew would lead him home.

Custard looked around as they got closer and closer to the tents. By the witches above he wanted nothing more than to run forward and scream to his father and aunt that he is home, but he didn’t. He knew his friends were sad and tired and they needed him more right now.

Suddenly a knife went whizzing by Gingerbrave, scaring the group.

“Outsiders! Kidnappers!” A familiar voice screamed out.

“Auntie!” Vanilla Custard yelled out slipping out of Gingerbrave grasp and holding his hands up, trying to stop anymore attacks. “Wait, they're not kidnappers.”

The cookie, a female with dark hair, wrapped in dark fabric and bandages, as crows rested on her shoulders glared down at the group before she spoke. “Custard, get away from them.”

“Auntie Raisin please!” Custard yelled as more of the villagers surrounded the group, weapons drawn ready to attack the tired adventurers.

“What is going on here? My patients need quiet.” A calm voice just barely hiding anger called out. A male cookie walked out, wearing a brown robe, his blond hair messy peaking out, and bandages wrapped around his eyes. The man carried a staff, also wrapped in bandages as well.

“Healer Cookie!” The villagers yelled out in shock.

“DAD!” Custard yelled out before throwing himself at Healer Cookie.

Healer Cookie was stunned for a moment before realizing who it was, Vanilla Custard hugged his dad and he began to blab and explain everything that had happened, mainly starting from how he disappeared from the village. However soon the explanation turned into incomprehensible sobs as the stress of everything finally caught up with Custard. Healer seemed to understand what his son was starting to say at first as he turned to face the group.

“You protected my son and brought him home, thank you.” Healer said to the group.

“Healer, how can you be sur-ow!” Black Raisin said before Healer reached over and smacked her over the head with his staff.

“If they had been kidnappers, they would not have brought him back here. Look at them Black Raisin.” Healer said before turning to the group. “I owe you a great debt to you all for keeping my son safe. Please, allow us to help you. You're bleeding and obviously exhausted.”

Gingerbrave glance at the group, Chili Pepper giving him a nod, before turning back and speaking to Healer. “That would be nice, we’ve had a long day. I think my brother is suffering from magic exhaustion.”

“What about yourself? Your arm is bleeding.” Healer Cookie pointed out.

Gingerbrave looked down at the arm that Dark Enchantress had grabbed, there were small cuts where the other cookie had grabbed him, soaking the bandages that were already around his cracked dough scars.

“Oh, I didn’t notice that.” Gingerbrave muttered.

“Of course, just like Black Raisin.” Healer muttered under his breath before he spoke to the group. “Come on, let’s get you guys patched up.”

Healer quickly took the group inside the tent, he quickly patched up Gingerbrave and Strawberry, he gave Wizard cookie some medicine to deal with the lack of magic. However when he tried to look at Chili Pepper she just growled at the cookie. The villagers didn’t like that, however Healer stopped them from complaining. They were given some raisin buns and sent to a spar tent to rest for the night.

Gingerbrave, Wizard and Strawberry all end up curled up on a cot, but while Wizard and Strawberry quickly fell asleep, that didn’t come so easily to Gingerbrave. He tried to close his eyes, no idea how long he tried before he gave up, just opting to watch his brother and sister sleeping forms, making sure they never stopped breathing.

“I’m so stupid.” Gingerbrave muttered into the darkness.

“You're not stupid, you're just a teenager.” Chili Pepper’s voice responded.

Gingerbrave got up quickly, slightly cursing when he realized he could have woken up his siblings but they didn’t seem to stir. He looked back towards where the voice was coming from. Chili Pepper had dragged her cot by the entrance of the tent, yet she wasn’t lying down or even acting like she would sleep. Instead her chili pepper daggers laid by her side, and she was taking a stone to sharpen them. Gingerbrave quickly realized Chili Pepper was actively guarding the door, allowing the three, well two, to sleep.

“You should be getting to sleep.” Gingerbrave started.

“Could say the same to you brat.” Chili Pepper replied, still sharpening her daggers.

Silence stretched between the two, Gingerbrave looked back at his siblings before opting to get up and sit closer to Chili Pepper, who didn’t acknowledge his movement.

“I put them in danger, if I had just thought about it for a second-.” Gingerbrave muttered.

“You just thought you finally had your mom back, I know if I was in your shoes nothing short of a blow to the head could stop me.” Chili Pepper said.

“You don’t have a mom?” Gingerbrave asked.

Chili Pepper didn’t respond right away, instead focusing on sharpening her dagger which made Gingerbrave question if he said the wrong thing, however she eventually spoke up. “Spice cookies are more so raised by the village, but I never had a mom, or a dad for that matter. Just a community with everyone wanting me to train to be a soldier or a fighter. Said the world would be cruel and we had to survive it. First person to truly understand me and my interest was my friend.”

“Rich Cheese?” Gingerbrave asked.

“Yeah, her.” Chili Pepper said, placing down one dagger and picking up another to sharpen.

“What is she like?” Gingerbrave asked.

“The more time I spend around you, the more she reminds me of you brats.” Pepper replied with a laugh. “Her mom is apparently some goddess to a kingdom and she is expected to be her golden daughter, being perfect just like her mom. Meanwhile her dad is a god of destruction, ruling over the spice lands where no one dares question his worlds. Just no room for her to be herself.”

“Interest?” Gingerbrave offered.

“She was a terrifying fighter, that’s how we met. I was poking around a place I shouldn't be and she found me. Her father trains her so she’s terrifying when in battle, but she told me as much as she loves fighting it’s something that doesn't happen in her kingdom, unless you break the law and are thrown in the coliseum.” Chili Pepper explained. “But outside of fighting she was really good with plants and animals, fascinated with the world and what it could do. She reminds me of a bird in a cage at times. I wonder what she saw in me, a brazen thief with no good qualities to her.”

Chili Pepper brought one of her hands up to mess with the single golden triangle earring she always wore. Gingerbrave leaned against the older cookie, resting his head on her arm.

“I think you're pretty good, you saved my hide, and kept my siblings safe.” Gingerbrave said.

Chili Pepper reached over flicking Gingerbrave's nose causing him to jump back from the older cookie who let out a chuckle. “You're not so bad yourself brat. Now try and get some sleep, or else I’ll knock you out.”

Gingerbrave rubbed his nose but didn’t protest as he went back over to lay by his siblings. Eventually Moonlight cookie must have blessed him because soon he fell into a dreamless sleep, joining his siblings in rest.

Chili Pepper watched as Gingerbrave fell asleep before she turned to put all but one of her knives aways. She stared out the small slit that made up the entrance of the tent, she could see the moon high in the sky surrounded by stars. She closed her eyes for a second, wondering where her friend was at, was she looking at the same moon wondering what happened to Chili Pepper. Would she still be rambling on about didn’t plants and insects, the soft words that could lul the spice cookie right to sleep.

Pepper opened her eyes, she ignored the fluttery feeling she got and instead focused ahead looking out for anyone to sneak towards their tent.

She wasn’t going to let anything happen to those three, not as long as she had air in her lungs. Dark Enchantress and all the other evils be damned.

Chapter Text

The group wasn’t awakened by the rays of light slowly peeking through the tent, or even Chili Pepper shaking them awake. No the group was startled but a loud crash and someone screaming. The three bolted up, quickly grabbing their respected weapons, meanwhile Chili Pepper was already out the door, daggers in toe.

As they rushed out they were greeted by a robot of sorts, seemingly made of ice cream and cones, red eyes glowing with energy. Fight monsters had become second nature to the group as Chili Pepper immediately ran, slashing it across its eyes. Strawberry acted next, taking her hammer and slamming the thing to the ground, and soon Gingerbrave used his sword and stabbed it, leaving it a pile of unmoving parts. The group let out a few shaky breaths after the fight, they really shouldn’t be moving and fighting on an empty stomach.

“Are you guys ok?” Vanilla Custard's voice asked, however they weren’t greeted by a hug.

They turned back to see Healer Cookie, Black Raisin and Vanilla Custard. Custard was trying to get closer to the group, holding out his arms for a hug, however he was stuck as a rope tied around his waist kept him in place.

“Hey we talked about this, no running off.” Healer cookie said in a scolding tone, pulling the smaller cookie back and grabbing his hand. Custard cookie pouted obviously not happy about the scolding, but Healer cookie ignored it and turned back to the group. “Again thank you, not only for bringing Custard back, but dealing with that Wafflebot, come why don’t we get you some food and show you around the village.”

“Is that a leash?” Wizard cookie asked what the whole group was thinking.

“This?” Healer cookie said holding up the other end of the rope. “Oh no, it’s a child safety tether, we don’t want Custard to get lost again. Now come along.”

Healer cookie began to walk, likely wherever they were preparing the raisin buns. However the group didn’t move right away, instead opting to look at Black Raisin.

“It’s a leash.” Black Raisin said as Chili Pepper gave her a look. “Shut up, you didn’t have to endure the three weeks of worry with Custard being missing.”

Black Raisin began walking after Healer and the rest of the group joined her.

“Could you make some safety tethers for these brats?” Pepper joked which earned her a smack from Wizard cookie.

They were quickly led to a tent where some of the raisin villagers were cooking food, the group was quickly handed a raisin bun to which they devoured without complaints. Gingerbrave was thinking about what they should do next, they should probably go back to Grandpa Gnome now that Vanilla Custard was back home safe. But could they find their way back home? They dealt with alot of portals so who knows how far they were from home. They could use their teleportation devices, but Grandpa had said they were for emergencies only plus he couldn’t remember if Chili Pepper had one.

Before Gingerbrave really had a moment to figure out what was going on, another crash seemingly shook the ground.

“What was that?” Strawberry asked in fear.

“Black Raisin cookie!” One of the Villagers said, running into the tent. “It’s the Wafflebots, their back.”

“Of course it wouldn’t be just one.” Black Raisin growled out. “Everyone get ready for a battle.”

“Come on, let's get you all to the healer tent.” Healer cookie said as he went to grab Gingerbrave’s hands.

“No. We can help, let us fight.” Gingerbrave exclaimed.

“No, it’s too dangerous.” Healer cookie started to say.

“Don’t bother wasting your breath, they won’t listen.” Chili Pepper said before turning back to the teens. “Get ready and watch your backs.”

The three teens nodded before following Chili Pepper out towards the sound. It was more of the wafflebots, like Black Raisin has said. The three quickly went to work, a strike from either Wizard or Pepper before Gingerbrave or Strawberry got close, putting the robot out of working order. The group fell into a rhythm, running towards the screams, quickly destroying the bots and helping the next cookie. Gingerbrave could hear Healer cookie crying for the children to go someplace safe but he opted to ignore it.

It happened so fast, Healer Cookie had been cornered by some Wafflebots. His son and some of the villagers were hiding behind him, scared of what the machine would do to them.

Healer cookie felt a wave of protective anger flow through him and soon a wave of magic lashed out. Leaving the wafflebot seemingly frozen before it fell to the ground, breaking into pieces.

“Woah, dad, that was amazing!” Vanilla Custard said tugging on the healer’s sleeve.

“Was that a new type of healing magic?” one of the Villagers asked.

“Healer cookie, what type of magic was that?” Wizard cookie asked, running up, his eyes practically beaming with excitement. “I’ve never seen anything like that before.”

Healer Cookie tried to sputter out an explanation but he truly didn’t have one, however something caught his eye in the rubble of the wafflebot.

“Here hold this.” Healer cookie said giving the end of the child leash to Chili Pepper. The cookie walked towards the pile of robot parts and pulled out what looked like a blue crystal. The cookie just looked at it for a while, offering really no reaction.

“Healer? Healer Cookie are you ok?” Black Raisin asked as she ran up to her friend.

“Oh, sorry I’m fine, just lost in thought.” Healer cookie said as he put the gem in his pocket.

“At least the wafflebots are taken care of.” Black Raisin said.

“Do robot attacks happen often?” Gingerbrave asks.

“Yeah, they come from there.” Custard said pointing to the sky.The group followed the child gester seeing something huge without the clouds. Many the cookies squinting their eyes to try and get a better look.

“Wait, I remember reading a book about this back at Grandpa Gnome’s house. It talked about the Vanilla Kingdom belonging to the sky.” Wizard cookie said. “But why? All the books that talk about the Vanilla Kingdom said they were friendly and welcomed people with open arms, why would they be sending robots.”

“We ask ourselves that a lot.” Black Raisin said with a grimace.

“Let us help!” Gingerbrave said, causing the group to turn and look at him like he grew two heads. “Why don’t we go up there and stop whatever is making the wafflebots, we can’t leave. Definitely not if Custard could possibly be attacked by one of those things.”

“That’s nice, but you are children, we couldn’t ask you to do such a thing.” Healer cookie started to say.

“That’s the most idiotic thing I’ve ever heard.” Black Raisin cookie said.

“Black Raisin cookie!”

“Healer, don’t you dare start scolding. It’s crazy, trying to go up to the castle and stop the wafflebots, it’s madness.”

“We won’t just sit by and do nothing!” Gingerbrave said before turning to his siblings. “Come on, let’s look for a way up there.”

“Are we sure this is a good idea?” Wizard cookie asked, chasing after his brother. Meanwhile Chili Pepper and Strawberry gave each other a shrug before joining the group in their exploring, Vanilla Custard was dragged along as Gingerbrave was still holding his leash.

Healer Cookie and Black Raisin were left in silence for a few minutes before Healer finally spoke up.

“We should join them.” Healer cookie stated.

“Join them? Healer Cookie this is too dangerous, let’s just grab Custard and head back and repair any destroyed tents.” Black Raisin cookie said.

“They are children, practically doughlings, we shouldn’t be leaving them to fight our battles, besides….” Healer cookie said looking up at the floating castle through the bandages. “I get the feeling that someone is waiting for me up there…”

In the sky, on the floating island there was one lone figure, small in size. They watched as two robotic arms slammed against the front of the castle, though they never caused any damage, a shield of magic kept them from even making a crack on the door.

“OPEN!” The young cookie screamed out before the robot arms slammed with all the might, being reduced to piles of rubble.

The young cookie seeing the latest attempt fail allowed themselves to fall to the ground, they let out a sob of frustration as they hit the ground with the small fist, it didn’t do anything.

“Please open, I want to go back home…”

Chapter Text

Healer Cookie, and the reluctant Black Raisin went after the small group of children, joining them on their goal of defeating the wafflebots. Well mainly their goal was trying to figure out how to get to the floating castle, considering none of the cookies had wings and the little raisin crows didn’t want to make that sort of flight. They sort of got their answer when they found a platform, it definitely was man made sense it didn’t fit with the surrounding rock, add onto the fact that it started to glow when they stepped foot on it.

“Why is it glowing?” Chili Pepper asked concern in her voice.

“It must have something to do with this gemstone.” Healer cookie said as he pulled out the gem, which was currently glowing. “And my staff is getting warmer as well.”

“That gemstone must have activated a portal.” Wizard said practically bouncing with excitement. “This is Vanilla Kingdom magic!”

“Everyone hold tight!” Pepper and Black Raisin happened to say at the same time.

With a sudden flash of light, their environment around the group switched, instead of dirt and gravel, now it looked like the entrance to a wonderful kingdom.

“Woah!” Wizard cookie said as he stared down an the portal pad.

Chili Pepper walked over to the edge before she quickly pulled away, Vanilla Custard looked away, the young cookie muttering “We’re really high up.”

“I don’t like heights, not even when Richie would fly us.” Chilli Pepper said as he rushed through the entrance, far from the edge of the floating island.

They walked through the entrance, it was a beautiful kingdom seemingly stuck in time. A road laid with sugar, houses build out a waffle with pretty roofs, houses with stained glass decorating them. Despite the scent of syrup that filled the air, there was a strong scent of vanilla and orchids.

“I can’t believe it, oh one of the books back home had said this was the place of the first healing magic!” Wizard exclaimed, excitement dripping from his voice. “Just take a look at the architecture!”

“This place feels familiar….but also different from how I imagined it.” Strawberry commented.

“You feel that way as well?” Healer cookie asked. “There is something…off in the air.”

“Where is everyone?” Vanilla Custard asked.

“Stay on your guard, there are no cookies up here, just wafflebots.” Black Raisin growled out. “Look at the red moon, I think the wafflebots are being created at the top of the castle.”

“We should head towards the castle then.” Healer cookie replied.

The group nodded and began to walk through the city. It was all very nice, sure there was some damage but definitely not enough that you would think a war had happened here. Wizard was bouncing in excitement as he took in every detail, sometimes Chili Pepper would pick up something and shove it in her pocket. Causing Black Raisin to let out a huff of disapproval. But beside that it was quiet, no wafflebots, no cookies talking, just quiet.

“We haven’t seen a single cookie yet.” Gingerbrave muttered.

“It’s too quiet….oh I hope the village is already, I’ve never been away from it for so long.” Black Raisin said. “Let’s just keep moving.”

The group continued walking yet again, down broken streets and quiet sounds. No cookie or wafflebot in sight. Honestly it was very boring. Eventually they saw a pile of Wafflebot parts on the side of the road and Chili Pepper went up and began to dig through it.

“Are you looking for treasure?” Wizard asked annoyance dripping through his voice.

“Sort of.” Pepper said, not even bothering to look up. “Richie always said that electronic chips rarely broke and are worth their weight in gold so I’m looking for some for her. She always said to check scrap heaps like these since so many people throw them out.”

“SCRAPS?!” A young voice screamed out.

Chili Pepper jumped up and the group turned to look at the source of the scream.

It was a small cookie, they were definitely older than Vanilla Custard, but at the same time, they were younger then the triplets, so their age was about 12? They were pale, with maybe a hint of blue in their dough, though that might just be because their hair was a deep blue by contrast, same with their clothing. They wore some sort of waffle headpiece, it reminded Gingerbrave of the crown of light Pure Vanilla Cookie paintings would depict. However what stood out were their pale yellow eyes that glared at Chili Pepper.

“These alloys are coated in perfect syrup! These rivets are made with purified sweet cream! And you dare call them scraps! I don’t like you!” The new cookie ranted.

“Easy kid, didn’t mean to get you worked up. Sorry.” Pepper said, “I’m just used to cheese technology, never seen this kind before. Maybe you can explain how it works, show me how wrong I was.”

Chili Pepper’s words seemed to put out some of the anger of the smaller cookie, not completely as the cookie grumbled kicking the ground “Shouldn’t have to explain it to you.”

“Who are you?” Gingerbrave asked.

“There's another cookie here?” Healer cookie muttered.

“Wait, are you…cookies?” The young cookie asked before shaking their head. “What am I thinking, I’m the only cookie here. Now where are you data chip interfaces?”

The young cookie made a grab for Chili Pepper side, causing the teen to slap their hand away with a “Paws off!”

“What?” The young cookie said before muttering under their breath, almost like they were looking through them. “Wait! You are cookies?! I haven’t seen another cookie for so long!!”

The young cookie smiled as if you had just told them they had won a kingdom and lifetime supply of jellies as they ran around the group, taking in every observation about them. There was something enduring about seeing a young cookie so happy to see others.

“How long have you been on your own little one?” Healer cookie asked.

“I don’t know, I just woke up out here.” The blue cookie said. “But I know my family is inside the castle! I just have to break in!”

“Break in? Now you're speaking my language.” Chili Pepper said with a laugh.

“It’s very dangerous to be wandering out here all alone. Why don’t you join us?” Healer cookie offered with a smile and held out his hand to the younger cookie.

“Hold on, somethings not right!” Black Raisin said, placing herself between Healer cookie and this new young cookie. “There is no way you're the only one, where are your friends hiding?! What are you planning?”

“Are you calling me a liar?! You don’t even know me!” The small cookie said before they huffed out. “I don’t have to deal with this, I’m outta here.”

“Fine by me!” Black Raisin said, completely ignoring how Healer and the triplets tried to chase after the blue cookie who quickly disappeared between the buildings. They turned back to give the adult cookie a stare. “What?”

The group shook their heads and continued their journey, now keeping their eyes peeled in case the blue cookie decided to appear again, so they could apologize for Black Raisin’s words. They sometimes would take down a stray wafflebot but there wasn’t anything really new, just abandoned buildings and a quiet that seemed to haunt the air. Sometimes they would see the mysterious cookie before he ducked into the darkness of the allies. The group walked eventually coming across what looked like a hanger? Bits and pieces of Wafflebots scattered across the hanger.

“Is this where they were made?” Gingerbrave muttered as he looked at the wires hanging from the ceiling.

“If this is a factory, then our journey has been worth it.” Black Raisin exclaimed. “Let’s destroy the place, it will keep the village safe.”

“Hold up…look at these signs, these blueprints. Wafflehouse construction….hauling….kingdom defense…?” Wizard Cookie said. “This means the Wafflebots weren’t designed for attacking. They were created to help not hurt.”

“Yet they're attacking us right now…” Healer cookie said. “Perhaps something happened during the war?”

“Maybe, this blueprint for the goliath Wafflebot doesn’t show any hostility feature, the only thing out of 27 commands is defense.” Wizard explained.

Suddenly the Goliath Wafflebot woke up, its eyes a harsh red glaring down at the group of cookies. They didn’t even need to say anything, the older cookies just grabbed the younger one’s arms and began to run, scattering across the hanger looking for exits. By some miracle, they all managed to escape the hanger. However they didn’t escape the fight, as the Goliath appeared in front of them.

Chili Pepper reacted first, moving fast, slashing some exposed wiring on its legs. Healer cookie used his magic forming shields around the group to keep them safe. Some slashing from Gingerbrave, a few swings from Strawberry’s hammer, and a lightning strike from Wizard eventually caused the giant Wafflebot to fall, its eyes losing its red glow as it lost power.

“That was fun.” Gingerbrave said through his gasping. “Let’s never do that again.”

Strawberry and Wizard muttered something in agreement as both opted to sit down on the road and rest for a minute. Healer cookie was ready to walk up and check on the children however Black Raisin cookie quickly grabbed him.

“Healer cookie, the wafflebots!” Black Raisin said as she pointed to some of the machines that were littering the sky.

“No…no, they're heading towards the village.” Healer cookie said in a panic.

“They're going after the cookies in the village, we need to return at once.” Black Raisin said as she tried to drag Healer cookie back towards the portal.

“But, the power in my staff has been depleted, I’m not certain we can return back up here again.” Healer cookie said.

“Protecting the village is our first priority, we can handle all this stuff later!” Black Raisin argued.

“Can’t we just take a few more minutes, there could be other cookies that need our help. And the children? We can’t leave them alone up here to fight whatever in the castle, plus Dark Enchantress-” Healer cookie tried to reply.

“What has gotten into you Healer cookie? Your the healer of our village, our enemies are the Wafflebots, not Dark Enchantress! This isn’t our war! If the children want to run off and get themselves crumbled, let them.” Black Raisin said frustration dripping from her voice.

“How can you say that? These cookies need our help, to turn tail and run is nothing short of cowardly” Healer cookie replied.

“You think I’m a coward?” Black Raisin asked.

“No that’s not-” Healer cookie started to say.

“Please don’t pour salt in the wounds, do what you think is right, I will go protect my home.” Black Raisin said before turning and running towards the direction of the portal.

“Black Raisin wait!” Healer cookie said as he began to run after her, however a scream from Vanilla Custard shook him to his core. “Vanilla Custard?”

Healer Cookie ran towards the direction of the scream. He found Vanilla Custard, the young cookie had gotten sliced during the attack, and the adrenaline had kept him from feeling it right away. He quickly worked his magic, healing his son’s cut as the youngest cookie sobbed. A part of Healer cookies was screaming at him for allowing his young son to be caught up in the mess.

“No! How did you do that?!” A familiar voice rang out. The group turned to see the blue cookie from earlier, their yellow eyes glared at the group with anger. “Why? I needed it! How did you destroy my wafflebots!”

“Your wafflebots? Your making the wafflebots?!” Wizard cookie asked as he jumped to his feet, Strawberry cookie jumped up as well, grabbing her hammer ready for another fight.

A pair of robotic arms appeared in front of the blue cookie as their waffle like crown broke apart, like it was just another part of the robotic armor.

“If your controlling the wafflebots why are you sending them after the village.” Gingerbrave asked.

“Dark Enchantress said she would break down the barrier for me if I kept cookies away.” The blue cookies cried out. “But she lied! She lied!! She won’t break down the barrier, and now you destroyed my Goliath! I hATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!”

“Why must the emotionally unstable child have access to robots?” Chili Pepper said before grabbing Custard and Wizard and dragging them out of the way of a possible attack. “That blueberry gem on the top of their crown is probably the power source.”

“Let’s aim for it.” Gingerbrave commented.

The group spread out and began their attacks, though it was mainly picking up broken pieces of the road and throwing them at the cookie, considering none of them really had a good range attack besides Wizard cookie. Healer cookie didn’t prepare for a fight, no his heart was slamming in his chest and the voice in his head was screaming at him, to do something. He found the words escaping his mouth before he could think.

“Blueberry Crepe! Stop this right now!!” Healer cookie screamed out.

Blueberry Crepe was startled by the tone as they turned to look towards Healer cookie. Chili Pepper, seeing an opportunity, quickly threw her dagger, hitting the blueberry gem. As the gem lost power Blueberry Crepe let out a scream as they began to fall. Healer cookie moved without thinking and ran, catching the smaller cookie before they could crack from hitting the ground. Despite just being saved, Blueberry Crepe began to thrash in the Healer’s arms, kicking and screaming about how much they hated the cookies.

“Healer cookie, are you alright?” Gingerbrave asked running up.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Healer cookie said as he opted to sit on the ground, his legs were shaking at this point. By this point Blueberry Crepe angry yells became sobs.

“I…I just want to go home, I want my papa….” Blueberry Crepe admitted through sobs as they buried their face into Healer cookie’s shoulder.

Healer cookie just sat, wrapping the smaller cookie in a hug and he let go of his staff to bring a hand up to run through the cookie’s blue locks. Strawberry and her siblings whispered about how young and sad the blue cookie looked.

“Dad, you called them Blueberry Crepe, do you know them?” Vanilla Custard asked.

Healer cookie looked down at the cookie, despite his eyesight not being good, only being able to see blurs of colors, he didn’t need to. He knew that familiar blue, and his heart, his heart was telling him exactly who this cookie was.

“Yes I do, their mine, their my child.” Healer cookie admitted. “Either by dough or by lifepowder, somehow they are my child.”

The cookies stood around were silent for a moment before someone broke the silence….it was Chili Pepper.

“WHAT?!”

—

Black Raisin had been checking on the villagers, much to her relief none of the wafflebots seemed to have gotten to the surface yet. However she was shocked when she noticed a few of the wafflebots fall out of the sky as if losing power. She glanced towards the Vanilla Kingdom, and felt regret filled her heart.

Black Raisin bit down her regret, and determination filled her. She just prayed that Healer Cookie was alright.

Chapter Text

“What?!” Chili Pepper screamed out.

“Healer Cookie, what do you mean he’s yours?” Wizard cookie asked. “How would that be possible?”

Blueberry Crepe had stopped crying and pulled back to look at Healer Cookie, confusion written across their face. “But...my family lived in the castle…my parents…one had blue dough like me and the other, other cookies called him king.”

“That would mean your father is Pure Vanilla Cookie right, if the others called him king.” Wizard cookie offered.

“But Healer Cookie isn’t a king and his dough isn’t blue.” Strawberry said. “Did you say that because you feel a kinship with Blueberry Crepe, like you were a part of the Vanilla Kingdom?”

“I guess I should finally face my past, shouldn’t I?” Healer cookie said as he reached up, removing the hood and blindfold from his eyes. Once the bandages fell away, they were greeted to two blind eyes, one blue and one yellow, as well as a star making on his forehead. He smiles with kind eyes and the group realize his face matches all the statues that they have passed. “My name is Pure Vanilla cookie.”

“Pure Vanilla Cookie! The King of the Vanilla Kingdom...but how?! How is that possible? Shouldn’t…the war…but..” Wizard cookie muttered as he tried to wrap his head around the situation. Chili Pepper walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Try to settle down, kid, don’t think about it too much.” Pepper offered. While Wizard was trying his best to calm down, Vanilla Custard got closer.

“So auntie was right, you are a king.” Custard said happily, causing Pure Vanilla to smile.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Blueberry Crepe nearly snarled out. “You could have said you were back…I was alone for so long.”

“I’m sorry, little doughling.” Pure Vanilla said he reached over, seemingly ready to pull Blueberry Crepe into a hug, but the older cookie paused and then just slowly moved some hair out of the blue cookie’s face. “After the war I couldn’t remember anything, I truly just thought I was a healer living in the raisin village. It wasn’t until I was up in the kingdom that I started to remember. That doesn’t change the fact you suffer little one, I’m sorry. Blueberry should hav-.”

Pure Vanilla stopped talking, his eyes widened as if he just remembered something. The older cookie quickly got up, tearing the bandages from his staff, revealing an orchid with an eye; it looked around as if taking everything in before settling on the castle.

“We need to get into the castle.” Pure Vanilla said with a new determination, he marched towards the tall building, the other cookies quickly scrambling to keep up with the surprising fast healer.

They quickly got to the door of the castle, dark swirling around making the dough of the young ones practically crawl.

“How do we get in?” Blueberry Crepe asked. “I’ve tried everything.”

Pure Vanilla just smiled at the young child before he raised his hand, white moon magic engulfed it before attacking the barrier surrounding the castle. Now all the magic didn’t disappear, but it was enough to create an opening, the barrier that once kept them outside now allowed them to enter. “Sometimes you just have to know the right spell.”

“Then let’s get going.” Gingerbrave said with a smile.

The others nodded in agreement and the group slowly opened the door before walking inside, the wave of magic washing over them but seemingly no effect at first. However they didn’t get more than six feet before it became clear something was wrong.

Blueberry Crepe had been holding Pure Vanilla’s hand when they had stepped into the castle, however their hand began to lose strength. Enough that Pure Vanilla turned to look to see young doughling’s eyes close and they began to fall. Pure Vanilla let out a startle sound as he dropped his staff and quickly moved to grab the young child before they could crack their head on the floor. Pure Vanilla scooped the unconscious cookie in his arms, panic began to set in.

“Vanilla Custard?” Strawberry said scared.

Pure Vanilla turned, and while he could only really see color, he could make out the figures of a limb Vanilla Custard and Chili Pepper holding the young boy up. The group didn’t even have to say anything, they began to rush out the castle. Wizard cookie thankfully always paid attention to details, and picked up the orchid staff that Pure Vanilla dropped. Once they were outside, Pure Vanilla began to shake trying to figure out what was wrong with Blueberry Crepe.

Blueberry Crepe slowly opened their eyes with a groan before they said “What’s going on? Why aren’t we inside the castle?”

Blueberry Crepe quickly got out of Pure Vanilla’s grasp, Custard was also waking up as well. But before they could try to walk back inside the castle, the king stopped them.

“Hey, why aren’t we going inside, aren’t we supposed to find Papa?” Blueberry Crepe asked in confusion.

“You passed out as soon as you stepped inside. You and the small brat.” Chili Pepper replied bluntly. Of course, Wizard gave the older cookie a look which she ignored.

“It’s a spell, likely to protect those inside…you can’t exactly be in danger if you're in a magic induced coma.” Pure Vanilla said before turning to Blueberry Crepe. “You need to stay out here with Vanilla Custard.”

“What? No, you said-!” Blueberry Crepe started to say.

“I know, but the spell is just going to put you to sleep as soon as you enter the castle. And I don’t know what else is in there.” Pure Vanilla countered. “As soon as that spell goes down, you can rush inside but right now you need to stay out.”

Blueberry Crepe pouted about the idea of waiting, however before they could countered, Gingerbrave spoke up.

“Why don’t you show Vanilla Custard the robots and how they work, just until we get the barrier down.” Gingerbrave offered before turning to Custard. “Those robots looked so cool, don’t you wanna see how they work?”

“Yeah!” Custard said, bouncing on his feet.

Blueberry Crepe looked at Pure Vanilla before they let out a sign before grabbing the child leash and offering their hand to the smaller cookie. Custard took it with a smile as they began to walk away toward the robot hanger, happily chatting along the way.

“Shouldn’t an adult stay with them?” Chili Pepper asked.

“They will be ok, Blueberry Crepe won’t let anything happen to Custard.” Pure Vanilla said before turning back towards the castle.

“How can you be so sure?” Pepper replied.

“Magic~.” Pure Vanilla said with a smile as he grabbed his staff from Wizard cookie. “Come on, the sooner we free this castle, the better.”

The others didn’t protest as they followed the king into the charmed castle. As they step through the door again, this time members of their group didn’t faint, they could actually take note of what was around them. Specifically the halls, they felt heavy with darkness as a scent of jam and burnt butter filled the air, causing everyone to take out their weapons, just in case. This proved to be the case when they heard a scream.

The group rushed into the castle, and eventually found the source, two soldiers, one holding his legs and it began to crumble, and the other trying to comfort him.

“Ah, the wound won’t stop crumbling.” The soldier cried out as he grip his leg, as if hoping that would stop cracks.

“We don’t have much time, your majesty, Pure Vanilla, please hurry!” The other soldier cried out. “Get up, Grapevine is trying to lead everyone out.”

Pure Vanilla quickly rushed over, ready to help the fallen soldier, however as he went to reach for the crumbling leg his hands passed right through it.

“What was that?” Gingerbrave yelled out before he realized how bad that sounded.

Pure Vanilla tried again to help, but again his hand just passed right through before he stood up.

“They are just echos, trapped in a timeloop, reliving the same day again and again. This has already passed.” Pure Vanilla explained.

“Why would anyone do this?" Wizard asked.

“Not just anyone.” Pure Vanilla said. “It’s two spells fighting each other. One is to protect the others inside, a time freezes and the other is trying to bring up the worst, echos, memories of the past designed to break someone down ... .Dark Enchantress must be behind that spell.”

If Pure Vanilla’s staff had been pointed at the children, he would have seen how they flinched when he said her name. His staff only turned to look at them when Gingerbrave spoke up.

“So if we stop Dark Enchantress’s spell, everything will be fixed?” Gingerbrave asked.

Pure Vanilla smiled down at the younger cookies. “Yes, but we can also find the other cookie and help him. Come on, let us go find him.”

Pure Vanilla turned back down to walk down the hall, muttering about where he could possibly be. He missed how when his back was turned the triplets were frozen in place, hands gripping their weapons so tight their dough was losing color, thankfully Chili Pepper noticed.

“Take note of the path.” Chili Pepper whispered but her tone was serious. “If she shows up I want you three to run.”

“But-” Gingerbrave started to say.

“No buts, now come on.” Chili Pepper said as she practically shoved the triplets forward.

With some grumbles they began to follow the healer as he tried to search through the halls, looking for something. The group began to travel through the halls like a labyrinth, all while dark echos of the past made Pure Vanilla’s heart ache. They group ended up in a room called the Solarium of Unity, looking at the beautiful stain glass.

While the hero and the four younger cookies walked through the castle, looking through a particular cookie. A dark portal opened up, the same magic that was currently causing the echos, and a group of cookies stepped out.

“Despair has returned to this cursed castle…yet...his spell is still as strong as the first day.” Dark Enchantress said anger practically dripped from her voice.

“There is no need to worry master, soon this castle will be yours and Earthbread will know your name.” Pomegranate cookie praised.

Dark Enchantress didn’t react to the red hair cookies' praises as more cookies of darkness exited out of the portal, anger still written across her face. Pomegranate bit down as she thought about what she could say to please the cookie, before she realized the solution.

“Pure Vanilla must be the reason the castle has yet to fall to your control.” Pomegranate cookie said. “All we need to do is get rid of him and his little helpers and everything will fall into place.”

“Little helpers?” Dark Enchantress echoed.

“It seems Pure Vanilla has sought the help of a few cookies, I ran into problems with them while trying to bring you back, my master. There are only a few teens, allow me to deal with them.” Pomegranate said.

“That won’t be necessary.” Dark Enchantress said, holding out her hand in a stop motion. “Red Velvet.”

A cookie step forward, his dough was a deep red color and his eyes were a striking blue that stood out against both the white and black scalar of his eyes. However what really grabbed everyone's attention was the giant monster claw that fit on his body, standing out compared to the normal arm on its opposite side, the arm that belongs more on a cake monster. He brought up the monster hand to place it across his heart, his eyes were serious but there was a softness when he spoke. “Yes, mother?”

Pomegranate frowned at the words, she hated how Dark Enchantress seemed to smile at the words. The cookie always seemed to have a soft spot for her children.

“I want you to go after this group.” Dark Enchantress ordered.

“Of course Mother, I will dispatch the group quickly.” Red Velvet replied.

“No, you won’t.” Dark Enchantress said at first with a glare before her voice softened. “There will be three young dough barely out of childhood, with white hair. Bring them to me, alive.”

Red Velvet looked confused at first before his expression quickly shifted to neutral before he spoke. “Understood.”

Red Velvet turned and began to run, disappearing into the halls of the castle as he searched for his targets. Once he was out of sight, Pomegranate cookie spoke up.

“Master, forgive my words but why do you need these cookies alive? They seem completely ordinary.” Pomegranate asked.

“All in due time, Pomegranate.” Dark Enchantress said with a smirk.

As the group of cookies began to walk through the castle imagining how they would make it theirs, Pure Vanilla and the other cookies continued exploring. The group walked, following along one of the many paths, Pure Vanilla kept looking around, obviously searching for someone.

“Pure Vanilla is that…you?” Wizard cookie asked, as he pointed to an area lined with stained glass. There was Pure Vanilla, another cookie dressed in fancy robes, and White Lily cookie.

“I remember this day, it was the day I was crowned.” Pure Vanilla said as the echoes continued to act out the past. The priest placed a crown on top of Pure Vanilla head, softly muttering prayers for the new kingdom.

As the priest finally stopped, the new king stood up and rushed to White Lily cookie, talking to his friend with a bright smile. As the two friends began to chat, the echos faded away.

“Sorry, you probably didn’t want to relive this memory.” Wizard cookie said.

“It’s fine, in fact it just adds to the reason why I need to save this kingdom, my home.” Pure Vanilla replied.

“I like the way you think.” Gingerbrave said with his signature smile.

The older king smiled as he gave a nod, and the group went back to exploring. Pure Vanilla didn’t vocalize it but he could feel the dark magic gathering around, as if something was trying to push down on the castle. He expected the monster to jump around the corner, and he was sort of correct, when a giant three headed cake hound showed up.

“Whoa.” Wizard cookie said, jumping back.

“That’s a giant cake hound.” Strawberry commented.

“It’s not attacking?” Gingerbrave said as he took a step forward and pulled out one of the jellies he had on him. One of its heads seemed to focus on Gingerbrave, its eyes getting wide when it noticed the food. Gingerbrave quickly threw the jelly to the beast who happily gobbled it up, it’s tail shaking in excitement.

Gingerbrave smiled as the beast seemed to be excited, however it quickly shifted to fear as a giant blade nearly came down on him, he just barely blocked it with his candy cane sword. The young cookie was able to jump back, getting a look at his attacker, a cookie with red dough, blue eyes and a cake monster arm replacing one of his own.

“Invaders begone, this castle belongs to Dark Enchantress cookie.” The cookie barked out. “I, Red Velvet cookie, will grant you mercy if you leave immediately.”

“Dark Enchantress, this castle belongs to Pure Vanilla cookie.” Gingerbrave cried out.

Red Velvet paused as his eyes seemed to scan over the group before settling on the triplets. He didn’t say anything, just quickly moved and reached out his clawed hand, ready to grab Gingerbrave.

A fist hitting Red Velvet’s nose with a loud crack sent the cookie reeling back as he stumbled holding his nose, obviously stunned that someone had hit him.

“Keep your paws off the brat!” Chili Pepper hissed out, her fist clench ready to fight as she quickly grabbed one of her daggers.

Red Velvet pulled his jam soaked claw away, anger filled his eyes as he raised his blade. Chili Pepper didn’t hesitate as she threw one of her daggers, which landed in the cookie’s normal arm.

“Crap! It burns!” Red Velvet cursed out dropping the blade.

Red Velvet didn’t get a chance to process the knife in his arm as Pepper rushed up, ready to strike him again. He quickly reacted, taking his clawed hand and swiping at her, landing a hit on her side. Pepper didn’t let that stop her and quickly landed another hit, this time on the cookie’s jaw.

It was obvious Red Velvet wasn’t used to fighting close, while Chili Pepper was used to it and was fast enough to avoid most hits. Not all, as blows were traded it was clear both sides were getting hurt and neither were backing down.

“We need to do something, let’s join in.” Gingerbrave said as Red Velvet slammed a punch into Pepper’s side causing her to curse.

“We can’t rush in all willy nilly, we could hit Chili Pepper.” Wizard said, holding his brother back, flinching at another hit. “But we need to do something.”

Of course Wizard didn’t listen to his own words as the fight went on, this time Red Velvet claw had gotten close enough to leave a cut on Pepper’s neck. Wizard reacted before he could think, he launched a lightning spell at the two. It barely missed Red Velvet, flying past him and hitting the giant cake hound right on the paw.

The giant hound let out a cry as all three of its heads fell down to look at its paws.

“Cakeberus!” Red Velvet yelled out. He ignored the fight and ran to the giant monster's side, quickly examining the paw that was showing damage from the burn. “Oh you poor thing…you..”

Red Velvet turned back towards the group, his teeth clenching back into a snarl. However it wasn’t just Chili Pepper this time but the triplets as well as Pure Vanilla ready to fight. The cookie looked on before allowing magic to swirl, creating a portal behind the cake hound.

“Fortune smiles upon you today, but you will not win this war.” Red Velvet growled out before disappearing into the portal with the monster.

“He shouldn’t be able to do that.” Pure Vanilla muttered before a groan from Chili Pepper reminded him there was someone hurt. The spice cookie had fallen to her knees from the pain. The healer quickly rushed to the cookie’s side and began to mutter a healing spell.

“I’m fine, don’t worry about it.” Chili Pepper said, trying to push the healer away.

“Don’t be such a brat.” Wizard cookie replied.

“Hey-!” Chili Pepper started to say before her words died down with a hiss as her wounds began to close.

“There, all healed. Try not to run into danger from now on.” Pure Vanilla said as he helped Pepper to her feet. The cookie didn’t reply, just giving a gesture which judging by the healer's reaction, was very rude in nature. Yet Pure Vanilla didn’t say anything, just allowing the elder teen to get up and back to exploring.

They began exploring again, Pure Vanilla obviously scanning and looking for something, the others looking around from possible danger.

“I wonder what Black Raisin is doing?” Strawberry asked.

“She is probably feeling resentment towards me, for abandoning the village but if I had not remained here, who knows what Dark Enchantress would have done to the village to get to the Soul Jam.” Pure Vanilla said. “I just hope after this is all over she will forgive me.”

“We should bring her something after this is all done.” Gingerbrave offered.

“What a wonderful idea! I’m sure the village would appreciate a nice feast.” Pure Vanilla said with a smile.

The others smiled along, Chili Pepper grumbled under her breath but didn’t say anything loud enough for the healer to hear.

The group continued their search, Pure Vanilla was definitely not happy considering the cookie they were searching for had yet to be seen. Eventually they came to a hallway, seemingly attached to the outside.

“The greenhouse, he surely must be there.” Pure Vanilla said. At his words the group rushed forward flinging open the door.

Yet just like last time there wasn’t any cookie to greet them. The group frowned but continued their search deep into the castle. Pure Vanilla often telling them exactly what room was what. Eventually Pure Vanilla found himself slowly down at one of the open doors.

“This is one of the old infirmary rooms, families could sleep close by if their friends were being treated.” Pure Vanilla said.

“Yeah, yeah.” Chili Pepper responded almost robotically, as she had already said this 100 times already.

The group continued to walk, however they didn’t notice that Pure Vanilla stayed behind. The old king just watched with a smile as an echo appeared in the room, one of himself, and another of a blue cookie in a jester-like outfit.

“Let me go, I need to see them.” The blue cookie tried to hiss out, struggling to get off the bed as Pure Vanilla kept him in place.

“They are fine, I promise.” Pure Vanilla tried to comfort him, however the cookie broke out of his gasp.

“Then swear it! Swear it on that stupid soul jam of truth you carry. If you dare, try to lie with that knowledge will-.” The Cookie started to say but Pure Vanilla grabbed his hands before he brought his own up to his soul jam.

“I, Pure Vanilla cookie, swear that the children Black Sapphire and Candy Apple are healed and recovering in the infirmary, there is currently no threat to their lives, they just need to rest.” Pure Vanilla said, his soul jam glowing for a second before settling back down. “I need to check on you now.”

“I am fine.” The blue cookie said but it lacked any sort of heat.

Pure Vanilla echo went about tearing at the leg of the jumpsuit, crumbles and jam leaked out.

The echos began to fade, leaving Pure Vanilla with a sense of hurt and longing, he wanted to see his beloved again, make sure his legs weren’t hurting him.

“Hiiii….whatcha dooooin…?” A small voice said from behind him.

“Just reliving some memories, just for old time sake.” Pure Vanilla said with a smile. “It’s so nice to think about what the walls once held.”

“What about memories like…this…?” Poison Mushroom cookie said with a smile, as they released spores into the air.

Pure Vanilla let out a hacking cough as something entered his lungs, no matter how much he breathed it seemed he couldn’t clear what was hurting him. He squeezed his eyes shut as the force of the coughs nearly brought up jam.

“Open your eyes? Can you see?” Poison Mushroom cookie asked.

Pure Vanilla was able to open his eyes a bit through the pain however they quickly winded at the scene in front of him. His friends, Golden Cheese, Hollyberry, Dark Cacao and White Lily were strung up like decorations. He couldn’t tell if they were breathing, no they looked dead. More figures appear strung up, one pale in dark clothing, another with wings and pink dough, one whose dough was a red that could rival flames…and the last was one who bore blue dough.

“Bluebird?!” Pure Vanilla called out in panic. His love, his other half, strung up with no life in him.

‘It is an illusion.’ A voice that sounded very much like his own rang in Pure Vanilla’s head ‘Snap out of it! Look out!’

All Pure Vanilla could do once he snapped out of the illusion was turned to see a giant hand coming towards him. He was then met with darkness, unknowingly imprisoned in a jar.

Meanwhile deep inside the castle the group was still exploring, a crow appeared, cawing at the group.

“Hey one of Black Raisin’s crows.” Gingerbrave commented, holding out his hand for the little crow to land on.

“...hey where is Pure Vanilla?” Strawberry asked, causing the rest of the group to look around and realizing they were missing the hero.

“Ah man, he must have ditched us.” Chili Pepper said.

“Pure Vanilla doesn’t seem like the type to ‘ditch’.” Wizard replied.

“But where could he be?” Gingerbrave asked.

“In the clutches of my master.” Pomegranate’s voice said with pure glee hidden behind it.

The group jumped at the sudden voice, drawing their weapons, a quick look around they could see Pomegranate, Dark Choco, Poison Mushroom and Licorice cookie surrounded them. Gingerbrave cursed under his breath for not noticing them.

“You're a liar, where is Pure Vanilla cookie?” Gingerbrave yelled out.

“Oh but I spoke nothing but the truth, he is with my master and soon the soul jam will be hers, it’s rightful owner.” Pomegranate cookie said glaring down at the group. “Dark Enchantress cookie had clearly instructed Red Velvet to bring you three back alive. And I do not wish to make my master upset, so we must bring the three in, alive, however we can break you if you choose to fight.”

Pomegranate didn’t get an answer with words, rather she had to dodge a lightning strike from Wizard cookie. She couldn’t even respond as Wizard rushed forward launching more spells, starting the fight.

Gingerbrave rushed with his candy cane sword to meet the strikes of Dark Choco cookie, who looked a mix of determined and sad to be doing this. Strawberry and Chili Pepper set their sights on Licorice and Poison Mushroom, who quickly realize they were in over their heads. Poison Mushroom had an easier time, dodging the throwing knives as Chili Pepper didn’t want to get too close to them. Meanwhile Licorice was running away, he didn’t have much time to summon monsters to right when he was dodging swings from the strawberry hammer.

Thankfully the fights came to an end, Dark Choco ended up with slices on his arm and leg, Poison Mushroom and Licorice tripped over each other and didn’t get back up. And Pomegranate got struck with one of Wizard’s magical blasts, making her groan in pain.

“We won.” Gingerbrave said through deep breaths.

“It’s not over yet.” Pomegranate cookie said as magic began to swirl around her. “I grant you the power of red pomegranate, now arise!”

The magic began to swirl around the cookies of darkness, making them stand back up with newfound strength.

“Oi, that’s not fair.” Chili Pepper hissed out. “There'll be no end to this fight.”

The crow that had been flying around decided to act, letting out a caw before divebombing and hitting Pomegranate cookie right upside the head. Other crows began to caw in agreement, almost sounding like laughter.

“More crows?” Gingerbrave asked.

“Help is here!” Black Raisin cookie voice pierce through the air. It was her and the villagers, some of them having weapons, all holding onto crows as they flew down to the group. “Is everyone alright?”

“Black Raisin cookie, you're here!” Strawberry said relief in her voice.

“But how?” Wizard cookie asked, ignoring how two of the villagers had begun to chase Licorice and Poison Mushroom around.

“My winged friends were keeping an eye on you, you’ve already done so much for the village, it’s time we repaid you. Where is Healer cookie? Is he safe?” Black Raisin asked.

“Healer cookie is Pure Vanilla cookie and…no he’s not safe.” Gingerbrave admitted.

“Then go and help him, we’ll deal with these outsiders.” Black Raisin ordered.

“Wait, stop them.” Pomegranate barked out however none of the other cookies of darkness could help and she just barely dodged a hit from the raisin cookie.

“Think you can mess with our healer? I will make this hurt!” Black Raisin said as she tried to slash the cookie draped in red with her knife.

The group ran again, this time for trying to escape the cookies of darkness and looking for the king.

“Where could Pure Vanilla be?” Gingerbrave asked.

“You can’t be serious about going up against Dark Enchantress.” Chili Pepper stuttered out. “Have you forgotten what happened?”

“Of course I haven’t forgotten but we don’t have much of a choice! We can’t leave him alone.” Gingerbrave countered.

“Hate to interrupt but there’s currently a lot of dark magic coming from that room.” Wizard said, pointing at one of the doors.

Gingerbrave didn’t say anything, just ran towards the doors, causing Chili Pepper and Wizard to let out a curse as they ran after him. The oldest triplet threw open the door, revealing Dark Enchantress cookie, the cake monster that appeared when she first appeared and Pure Vanilla cookies barely awake, trapped in a jar.

“Pure Vanilla cookie!” Gingerbrave cried out. The cookie in the jar eye’s seemed to open wide, Dark Enchantress cookie turned to see who interrupted her. Her eyes will with warmth, but they narrow down at the group.

“Why? Why do you follow him? He won’t protect you! He will leave you to those monsters!” Dark Enchantress yelled at the group, ignoring how Pure Vanilla seemed to hit the glass. “Why do you continue to fight your mother?”

Pure Vanilla paused at the words as Wizard cookie tried to launch a spell at Dark Enchantress who just flung it to the side.

“What you're doing is wrong! We won’t let you get away with this!” Gingerbrave yelled out keeping Dark Enchantress' attention on him.

Pure Vanilla began to summon his magic, it swirled around his chest, when a soul jam hid under his robes.

“You won’t let me get away with this? Hahahaha oh that is just so cute. You look just like him, that stupid sense of justice he carried. You just had to be his carbon copy.” Dark Enchantress said with a growl but she let out a huff. “I’ll give you three a time out after I’m done-.”

A loud crackle of energy stops Dark Enchantress' words as she turns to glance at her prisoner. Blue energy crackled and swirled around the healer, causing the dark cookie to panic and quickly order the cake monster to trap Pure Vanilla even further as it closed its hands around him. Yet the blue energy had yet to fade away instead it got bright and bright, before it engulfed the room.

The group of kids had to turn to protect their eyes. Dark Enchantress was the only one to dare look, she could see an outline of a giant figure, one she had only heard stories about during her time of White Lily.

With a flash, Dark Enchantress, her minions, everything that had her dark magic on it was gone, far away. Not dead sadly.

No, Pure Vanilla’s magic could never bring itself to kill part of White Lily.

The light faded away, Gingerbrave and his friends turned to look where Dark Enchantress once floated. Instead they saw no monster, no evil mom, just Pure Vanilla floating down softly. The king’s outfit had changed, the ragged robes he had once wore had now been replaced with a bright white robe with a golden cape, including a golden pointed hat. The group realized it was the same outfit they had seen him in that tapestry.

“Pure Vanilla, are you alright?” Gingerbrave asked as he ran up to the healer.

“I am fine, are you all alright, are any of you hurt?” Pure Vanilla said looking over the group. “That was extremely dangerous, trying to fight against Dark Enchantress like that.”

“She-” Gingerbrave started to say, however was cut off by the door slamming open.

“Healer cookie!” Black Raisin yelled out as she ran towards the familiar figure.

“Hey, it’s Pure Vanilla Cookie, actually Black Raisin, I’m sorry I didn’t remember.” Pure Vanilla said with a smile.

“Where is Vanilla Custard, is he ok?” Black Raisin asked in worry when she noticed the smallest cookie was missing.

“He’s fine, he just kept falling asleep due to some spell, so he stayed back with Blueberry Crepe.” Wizard cookie explained. “Now that the spells are gone they should be joining us soon, that is if they don’t get turned around in the castle.”

“Blueberry Crepe?” Black Raisin asked.

However no one said anything as Pure Vanilla brought his hand up to his soul jam before muttering “I know where he is.”

Pure Vanilla quickly rushed out of the room, the other calling out after him asking him not to run. But he didn’t listen and just continued to run, easily navigating the labyrinth-like halls. Gingerbrave, his siblings, Chili Pepper and Black Raising followed after the healer, mainly now worried about his mental state to run after nearly being kidnapped. He only slowed down when he finally reached a door at the top of the tower, having to use his magic to unlock it. That only stopped him for a second before he flung the door open.

“Shadow Milk Cookie!” Pure Vanilla yelled as he entered the room, the others followed behind him, glancing where the healer was looking at.

There sitting next to the window sat a cookie, who slowly turned to look at the healer.

The cookie’s dough was a light blue color, almost looking like Blueberry Crepe’s. His hair was a mix of white and different gradients of blue almost looking like a mix of a beautiful blue sky and a mix of space. He was dressed in a robe similar to Pure Vanilla, but instead of white, it was in a blue gradient, a collar-like shawl around his shoulder out of the same golden material of Pure Vanilla’s cape. He also wore a gem similar to Pure Vanilla around his neck, though this one was placed upside down. He also wore a locket, one that looked exactly like the one the king wore. He looked behind a pair of glasses, two different color blue eyes staring directly at Pure Vanilla, like he had almost seen a ghost.

“Shadow Milk, I am so sorry.” Pure Vanilla said as he walked toward the middle of the room. “I promise you would be safe here, I didn’t mean…I didn’t know about the war coming to our doorstep.”

As Pure Vanilla rambled, Shadow Milk slowly stood up, revealing legs that cracked as they moved, they were an almost blinding white, not fitting with the rest of his dough.

“I would have never actively put you in danger, I should have sent you and the kids-OOF!”

While Pure Vanilla had talked, Shadow Milk had run across the room, trapping the healer in a hug as he buried himself into the king’s shoulder.

“Are you real?! Please tell me your real and not another echo! Not another illusion to torment me!” Shadow Milk sobbed into the blond cookie's shoulder; both of his hands grip the healer tight enough to draw jam, like he would fade away at any moment. “Please be real…please…please…”

Pure Vanilla didn’t reply right away, instead he slowly reached around to grab one of Shadow Milk’s hands and place it right on top of his soul jam as the blue cookie continued to cry.

“I swear on the soul jam of Truth that it’s me. It’s Pure Vanilla cookie…it’s your husband.” Pure Vanilla said, wrapping his arm tightly around Shadow Milk in a hug. “My love, please forgive me for leaving you all alone for so long.”

“...It’s really you...”

Chapter Text

“I swear on the soul jam of Truth that it’s me. It’s Pure Vanilla cookie…it’s your husband.” Pure Vanilla said, wrapping his arm tightly around Shadow Milk in a hug. “My love, please forgive me for leaving you all alone for so long.”

“...It’s really you...” Shadow Milk said.

Shadow Milk moved just as quickly as last time, pulling away from the hug, snatching Pure Vanilla staff out of his grip.

“Uh oh.” Was all Pure Vanilla could say before the staff brought down on his head with a sharp thud.

“What. Were. You. Thinking?!” Shadow Milk hissed as he brought the staff down on Pure Vanilla’s head between each world. Pure Vanilla quickly tried to protect himself as the blue cookie continued to scream. “How could you do something so stupid?! You promise me! You said that I would never have to be trapped again! That I would never-”

The anger from Shadow Milk's voice faded, replaced with sorrow and his words soon became sobs once again. Pure Vanilla quickly took his staff back and wrapped his arms around the sobbing cookie, trying to reassure him that he was there.

The group watching the two reunited stunned silence was stopped when Chili Pepper turned towards the group.

“Alright, why don’t we wait outside?” Chili Pepper said practically pushing the group out the door.

“Huh?” Gingerbrave asked.

“But he could b-” Black Raisin started to say.

“They have just been reunited, let them have their moment.” Chili Pepper hissed as she pushed the older cookie out the door.

They seemed to finally get the hint and all of the cookies exited to the hall, leaving Pure Vanilla and Shadow Milk alone. As soon as they closed the door, two familiar young cookies ran up.

“Auntie Raisin!” Vanilla Custard yelled out as he ran and threw himself at the one armed cookie.

“Custard how are you doin-” Black Raisin’s words paused as she spotted the familiar cookie with blue dough. “You the cookie from earlier.”

“And I still don’t like you.” Blueberry Crepe hissed out.

“Be nice, she’s my aunt! If you're my sibling you need to….aunt what’s the word for like…you need to agree to something.” Custard said, however Black Raisin didn’t answer, still processing the use of the word ‘sibling’.

Gingerbrave noticed the adult looking confused and was about to open his mouth to explain what was going on. But another voice cut him off.

“Blueberry Crepe!!” A girl's voice yelled out.

A blur of red rushed by, swiping Blueberry Crepe into a tight hug. It was an older cookie, probably about Chili Pepper’s age. Her dough was pale, and the hair on top of her head was white, however what stood out were the two massive candy apples that decorated her head. She wore a red dress, fancy decorated with lace. Another cookie ran up as well, this one a male looking a bit older than the one in red. His dough had a more purple tint, barely peaking out between his dark curls. His suit was purple, including a small pair of bat wings.

The girl pulled back, smushing the blue cookie’s face. “Are you alright? Papa said he was going to take you someplace safe…why are you so much older? You should still be tiny?”

“Candy Apple, allow them to breathe.” The taller cookie said as he got the girl, Candy Apple off of Blueberry Crepe.

“Um, who are you?” Wizard cookie asked.

“Oh, I’m Black Sapphire, and this brat is my sister, Candy Apple. Our father had us hide in our rooms during the attack, but it looks like Dark Enchantress is gone. Though that still doesn’t explain why Blueberry Crepe is suddenly a lot bigger.” The boy, Black Sapphire explained.

The group was still confused and was ready to try and ask another question, however the door behind them opened, and Pure Vanilla and the new cookie, Shadow Milk walked out. It was clear that Shadow Milk had been crying even though he had whipped away the tears.

“If you give me a second, I’ll be happy to explain everything.” Pure Vanilla said, though it was clear he was tired.

“Papa!” Both Black Sapphire and Candy Apple yelled out before they ran and grabbed Shadow Milk in a hug. The older cookie quickly hugged them back, whispering thanks to the creators. Even Blueberry Crepe recognized him as the younger blue cookie quickly rushed up and joined the hug.

“Why don’t we move to the ballroom, last I remember it was not affected by the war and is close to the kitchen. The time spell should have preserved any of the jellies we have in the kitchen.” Pure Vanilla informed.

“Yes, that would be the best. Let me just-” Shadow Milk started to say as magic swirled around his hand. However quickly his dough became pale and he started to sway, the two older children quickly rushed to his side, and Pure Vanilla grabbed his arms, steadying the cookie.

“I told you not to push yourself, Blueberry, you’ve kept that spell going for centuries, you need to rest.” Pure Vanilla scolded as he tightened his grip on the blue cookie. “Everyone, this is my husband, Blueberry Milk. Let's go to the ballroom, shall we?”

Black Raisin looked confused but eventually she signed and agreed and began to follow the king. The triplets looked confused at the sudden switching of names but just gave a shrug and opted to follow the two.

They were correct about the ballroom being less damaged then the rest of the castle. It still had chairs from the last time it was used, to which the group quickly made use placing them in a circle.

As they all sat down Pure Vanilla began to explain everything. That Blueberry Milk was his husband, he and the kids had lived together for a long time, they had Blueberry Crepe right before the Dark Flour War happened. And at the last battle Pure Vanilla made a sacrifice he thought would kill him, but instead he ended elsewhere with no memory of who he was, at least not until he actually came back to the kingdom.

Blueberry Milk began his story as well, following Pure Vanilla’s of them being married, however he quickly explained that he was the one who made one of the spells over the castle. A sort of time freeze to protect everyone who had been stuck inside, however older the years had slowly faded to only affect his children. The spell they had seen that had shown echoes of the past was not his and only appeared recently, making it likely that Dark Enchantress was behind that spell.

The two eventually ended their explanation by Pure Vanilla saying he wants to rebuild the kingdom, he knows a war is likely to come and he wants to make up for failing his citizens last time.

“Black Raisin, I would love it if you and your tribe joined the Vanilla Kingdom. You do not have to of course, but I feel as if it is the only way to pay you back for all you’ve done.” Pure Vanilla said.

“I will stand by his decision, in fact I think everyone here deserves a chance in the kingdom, don’t you agree Nilly?” Blueberry Milk asked, causing Pure Vanilla to nod in agreement.

“I would be happy too, I guess I should inform the rest of the tribe.” Black Raisin said as she finally stood up.

“Wait, I have a question.” Wizard cookie quickly said. “When you first found him you called him Shadow Milk, but now you're calling him Blueberry Milk, why?”

The two seemed to pause for a minute before Blueberry spoke up. “That’s actually my preferred name, my birth name isn’t exactly the nicest, it tends to scare people. Black Sapphire and Candy Apple also have preferred names and forms that they should be in right now.”

At the hiss of their father’s words the two quickly cast an illusion spell. Black Sapphire’s dark hair turned into a tamper purple, as grapes grew from his hair, his outfit was lighter with pale shirt, a purple vest and green pants as his dark purple eyes were now green. Candy Apple’s hair and eyes were very much the same however her once giant candy apple headpiece were now crisp honey crisp apples, with a dress that while had some ruffles, look like something a vanilla citizen would wear.

“Their preferred names are Grapevine and Crisp Apple, we’re sorry about the confusion.” Blueberry Milk said. Wizard cookie didn’t seem to fully buy it but eventually nodded to his siblings.

“I think everyone’s had a long day, why don’t we all turn in for the night.” Pure Vanilla offered to which everyone nodded in agreement. However Pure Vanilla notices his son and realizes he forgot to introduce someone.

“Actually I think I forgot to introduce someone.” Pure Vanilla said as he slowly put his hands around Vanilla Custard’s shoulders and moved him in front of him. “Blueberry, this is my son Vanilla Custard. I made him with my dough, and the life powder you left in my locket…so by all accounts, he’s our child.”

Blueberry Milk didn’t say anything at first, just staring at the young child standing in front of his husband. However just when Pure Vanilla was about to say something, Blueberry quickly grabbed Vanilla Custard, lifting him up.

“Awww look at you! Just like a baby, Nilly! You are the most adorable little doughli-” Blueberry cooed however he soon went pale again, and Pure Vanilla as well as Black Raisin quickly rushed to him, preventing the blue cookie from dropping his son.

Chili Pepper was enjoying the chaos at first but as she turned she could see the triplets barely keeping their eyes open. So she stood up turning to the kids. “Come on brats, we’ve had a long day and I want to find a nice bed to crash in.”

Strawberry and Wizard stood up, however Gingerbrave was having a hard time just even keeping his eyes open, maybe all the adrenaline he dealt with while facing his mother. Thankfully Chili Pepper quickly figured out a solution allowing the pretreen to crawl on her back in a piggyback ride.

Gingerbrave rested his head on Chili Pepper's shoulder, taking note of the spice smell as they walked away hearing bits of the conversation of the king and his husband.

“Please my love, you really should be in a wheelchair.” Pure Vanilla pleaded.

“If you put me in wheelchair Pure Vanilla, I swear I will curse you that every time you open your mouth only ‘baas’ will come out.” Blueberry Milk hissed out.

Gingerbrave slowly began to tune out the two as he fell asleep, his dreams not filled with Dark Enchantress, but instead a little cream lamb with one blue eye and one yellow eyes, baaing to some blueberry birds.

Chapter Text

The days passed in a comfortable blur. The raisin tribe worked with repeating the broken kingdom, which quickly got accomplished once Blueberry Milk actually took a few days to rest, apparently he is a very gifted magic user. Most of the days blended together, with only a few moments standing out, like Black Raisin slowly trying to get used to Blueberry Crepe being Vanilla Custard’s sibling. Well more so the raisin cookie getting used to the now three siblings that was added to the family.

Pure Vanilla and it seemed Blueberry Milk had an adjustment to Blueberry Crepe, often stopping the cookie from doing something, often fixing robots, before remembering they were older now. This has resulted in a few tears but both were adjusting as well as they could.

There were a few other things, like Pure Vanilla happily took Chili Pepper to the treasury and allowed her to take a few items. The thief was super happy at first but seemed lost in thought as time went on. Strawberry and Gingerbrave were trying to find stuff to do, there wasn’t a whole lot to do of sense the kingdom was repaired. The only thing of real note is they learn that Blueberry Milk had a pair of prosthetic doll legs that replaced his now missing real legs. When asked, all the blue cookie said was ‘I traded them for something far more valuable’.

Well, that didn’t sit well with Wizard cookie, no stuff just didn’t seem right, and it all seemed to surround the blue cookie that called himself Pure Vanilla’s husband. It’s how one day, the smallest of the triplets ended up trying to spy on the cookie known as Blueberry Milk.

Wizard had followed Blueberry Milk most of the morning, not directly behind him, no, he watched from behind a wall or the corner of a door, trying to understand the older cookie. He watched as Blueberry Milk took his hairpin and began to carve something into the wall, faint, Wizard wouldn’t be able to tell if he wasn’t seeing it in progress. Seeing Blueberry’s hair down was a sight, it honestly looked like a galaxy of stars in the night sky, so otherworldly.

“There's no need to hide behind the wall, little one.” Blueberry Milk said, not turning around. Wizard quickly flinched behind the wall, however eventually he turned to look at Blueberry Milk who continued to work on the wall. Eventually the young cookie stepped out and walked up to the blue cookie.

“How did you know?” Wizard cookie asked, causing Blueberry Milk to chuckle.

“Despite mother making us around the same time, I am the oldest out of five siblings. Helping raise most of them despite how much they deny it.” Blueberry Milk said, turning to flash a smile to Wizard before turning back to his work. “There is nothing you could do that I haven’t seen.”

Silence stretched between the two before the young cookie finally spoke. “What are you doing?”

“Carving a spell of my own creation into the kingdom, should someone enter with the goal of harm, it shall remove them.” Blueberry Milk explained. “It won’t kill them, but it won’t exactly be pleasant either."

Wizard cookie let out a hum signaling that he heard the older cookie, but yet he didn’t say anything. Instead, he just watched Blueberry Milk with an intensity as like a scientist trying to observe a subject.

“You could ask your questions instead of trying to bore a hole with your eyes.” Blueberry Milk said causally, still going away at his work. “I’ll be happy to answer any questions you have.”

“Will you? Or will you lie to my face like before?” Wizard cookie asked, causing the hairpin to freeze as the blue cookie stopped what he was doing.

“Now that is a bold claim.” Blueberry said, turning his attention away from the wall, his tone always joking as if playing along. “As far as I know I have always been truthful to everyone here. Where have I lied?”

“You lied about your preferred name.” Wizard cookie stated “Pure Vanilla originally called you Shadow Milk.”

Blueberry's smile got bigger before he chuckled again. “I thought we cleared the air that day, it was just a slip up at the moment.”

“But that’s just it, it wasn’t a slip up.” Wizard said, his eyes narrowing under his hat. “If it was truly a slip up you wouldn’t have responded right away when he called you by your old name. If you truly didn’t like it you would do everything to not associate with it. And Candy Apple and Black Sapphire introduce themselves by those names, never once correcting themselves. No, those are the natural names while the ones you insist were their preferred names were almost like a second thought. Like a mask you just remember to throw on.”

Wizard watched Blueberry Milk’s face as the boy explained his thoughts, he watched as the once confident smile faded into a blank expression. Even after the boy finished the older cookie just stared with an unreadable expression. Wizard tightened his grip on his staff, maybe he should have brought along someone else in cause this didn't go well.

However, the fear quickly faded when Blueberry’s face twisted into something new, first biting his lip as if trying to hold something back, before that broke and he threw his head back in a joyous laugh. It definitely startled Wizard cookie as he practically jumped out of his dough.

“Oh my, I never thought I would see the day that Knowledge blesses one he hasn’t claimed as his own, yet here you stand.” Blueberry Milk said as his laughs died down, slowly whipping away a few tears. “You are very observant and smart, a great combination that sadly most cookies lack.”

“...So I am right?” Wizard asked as if testing the waters.

“You are correct in some aspects, but I did not truly lie, I prefer the name Blueberry Milk.” Blueberry responded, confusing Wizard even more.

“Then why? Why do you like the name Blueberry Milk more even if you seem comfortable with your given name?” Wizard asked, at this point everything was so confusing but so utterly fascinating.

“What a loaded question, why don’t I answer you with a question of my own.” Blueberry Milk said, running a hand through his hair. “Do you think a cookie could redeem themselves no matter what they have done?”

“What does this have to do with your name?” Wizard argued.

“Humor me.” Was all the blue cookie replies. “If a cookie had done horrible things, yet has done everything in its power to turn towards the light, are they worthy of being redeemed?”

“Ugh, I guess it would depend on what they did and their actions after..? Like are they showing through their actions that they're trying to improve or are they just saying but not showing? It depends.” Wizard offered.

“Then if they show improvement, should their past follow them? Should every good deed they do now be overshow by a horrible deed from their past?” Blueberry Milk asked as his hair slowly twisted around his neck in a rope pattern. “Should they carry the burden of their past like an albatross around the neck?”

“Why are we playing 20-....this is about you? Isn’t it?” Wizard asked as the hints started to come together.

“You are a very smart cookie. Yes, you are right. The name Shadow Milk, while it is mine, is also a noose around my neck at times.” Blueberry Milk said with a sign. “I was once a very hurt cookie, betrayed by one I trusted dearly and lashed out because of it.”

Wizard cookie opened his mouth to be interrupted but it seems like Blueberry could read his mind. “No, it wasn’t Pure Vanilla if that's what you're thinking.”

Wizard cookie shut his mouth, staring at the older cookie as he grabbed at the blue gem that rested around his neck. The older one took the silence as a sign to continue his explanation.

“I lashed out at others, Black Sapphire and Candy Apple followed my orders like the young children they were. Eventually I was locked away for what I had done, I reflected and realized it was unfair to take hurt out on others. And wanted to turn my life around.” Blueberry Milk explained. “I did not want my current deeds to be tainted by that name of the past.”

“But you could have always turned it into something positive, it is your name after all.” Wizard argued.

“That is if cookies have your mindset.” Blueberry said with a shrug. “Some out there believe I could never change, that I am nothing more than a feral beast that needs to be put down, unworthy of redemption.”

Wizard cookie got the hint between the words, the older cookie hadn’t changed his name due to his own preference, but for his own safely.

“Oh…” Wizard muttered out.

“But I’m sure you still have doubts. Though remember that Pure Vanilla cookie has the light of Truth by his side, he would have not allowed me in his kingdom if he thought I was a threat. And if that is not enough…” Blueberry Milk cookie said as he took his hairpin and crossed over the blue gem, causing a glowing blue x to appear before fading. “I swear to you that everything I spoke to you was the truth.”

There was a moment of silence between the two before Wizard gave a nodding shrug as if to show the older cookie he believed him. Blueberry Milk smiled as he stood up tall.

“Now that out of the way, you asked some really smart questions.” Blueberry said with a smile as he waved his hand and a book with dark blue covered appeared. “I think this should go with a very smart and curious cookie.”

The book floated over as Wizard reached out to take the book.

“It’s an old spellbook of mine, I’ve written the translation in the margins." Blueberry Milk said with a smile. “It is a Dark Moon magic spellbook, the magic of the witches, the same magic swirling around that staff of yours.”

Wizard cookie froze, he never told anyone about his staff he got from the witches. Blueberry Milk looked down at him with a knowing smile.

“Keep the book, maybe be careful with what you tell your brother, he seems like he can’t keep his mouth shut. Do that and I won’t tell Pure Vanilla about your staff.” Blueberry Milk said as he gave a wink to the little cookie.

Wizard cookie got the hint, a bribe in the form of a spellbook and in return he was careful with the information he just got. The young boy nodded before he hugged the book close to his chest as he quickly ran towards the door.

The door closed with a click, Blueberry Milk turned back to his spell, going back to carving the rune into the wall.

‘What an interesting little cookie. I may have to take him from Solidarity’ A voice said from the gem resting around Blueberry Milk’s neck.

“Stop talking to me, Knowledge, or else I’ll throw you in the fire.” The blue cookie hissed out, the glowing from his gem stopped and silence filled the room.

As Blueberry Milk robotically worked on the rune, his mind began to wonder to his younger brother. The last one to corrupt before Blueberry had been trapped away, the one who corruption was shown with the trail of jam, and the voice their mother once loved never speaking again.

-
The Vanilla Kingdom had a new normal for a few days, it was one of those days that the normal was finally broken. Gingerbrave and his siblings, Chili Pepper and Vanilla Custard had been hanging out in one of the many spare rooms. Vanilla Custard was making some art and showing it to the others when Chili Pepper stood up.

“It’s about time I get going.” Pepper stated.

“Where are you going? To the bathroom?” Custard asked, confused.

“No, ugh. I agreed to join your little band to look for my friend, I need to get back to looking for Rich Cheese.” Chili Pepper said with a sigh.

“We’ll go with you, maybe we could stop by home, say hi to Grandpa Gnome.” Gingerbrave said standing up, Strawberry and Wizard naturally following his movement.

“Whoa, slow down there. Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Chili Pepper asked.

“Sure, why wouldn’t it be?” Gingerbrave replied, causing Pepper to bury her face in her hands.

“Evil mother?” Pepper offered.

“Oh. wait I thought we agreed that could have just been a trick, I mean she only said it that one time, and you said it could have just been to throw us off.” Gingerbrave countered.

“Brat! you had just been the ovens and back, I wasn’t going to add more fuel to an emotional breakdown.” Pepper countered.

“Who’s to say she won’t come here again? Wouldn’t it be safer if we’re on the move?” Strawberry offered.

“Well she seems pretty scared of Pure Vanilla and his husband seems scary good at magic.” Pepper offered.

Wizard tightened his grip on the book he had been reading. “So you just want us to stay here, under the guide of ‘being safe’.”

“Yes!” Pepper yelled out. “What is with you brats and throwing yourselves into danger?! You should stay somewhere where you are safe and not fighting monsters every ten feet.”

“And leave you to fight them? Nuh uh Chili Pepper cookie, you are not going to go into danger alone. Your part of our kingdom, that means we need to protect each other.” Gingerbrave said.

Chili Pepper buried her face into her hands again and let out a scream that made everyone jump before pushing her hair back and saying “fine, let’s go see the healer and his blue husband.”

“Huh, why do you wanna see dad?” Vanilla Custard asked.

“To inform him I’m leaving and hopefully he’ll talk these three bullheaded kids out of joining me, come on brats.” Chili Pepper said annoyance dripping from her voice as she gathered her stuff.

The triplets quickly gathered their stuff as well, hugging Vanilla Custard goodbye even though Chili Pepper kept insisting they were staying. The group rushed out of the room, pulling aside one of the many raisin tribes wandering the hall asking where Pure Vanilla was at. Thankfully they were pointed to the right room and they quickly walked over, Chili Pepper didn’t even bother to knock, as she grabbed the handle and turned it.

“-it must be some sort of spell, even my normal calls to Cloud Haetae aren’t working. I would be impressed if it wasn’t currently pissing me off. Of all the times to not get a hold of them! What could they-?!” Blueberry Milk ranted to the blond cookie, only stopping when he saw the group in the doorway, Pure Vanilla turned to his staff to see what his partner was looking at.

“Children, oh please come in.” Pure Vanilla said as he quickly gathered some papers. “I apologize about this mess.”

“What’s going on?” Gingerbrave asked as the group took a step inside.

“Oh, I’m just trying to contact my friends-” Pure Vanilla started to say.

“And my siblings.” Blueberry Milk added with annoyance.

“Yes, and Bluebird’s siblings and it isn’t going so well.” Pure Vanilla said with a sigh before waving off his worries. “But nothing you need to be concerned about, now how can we help you.”

“I’m leaving, I need to go back to searching for my friend.” Chili Pepper stated.

“Oh, would you like some help? I'm pretty sure I have a map, plus there is a boat just down by the river on the ground. The river is connected to a very big waterway, it would be your best mode of transportation.” Pure Vanilla offered.

“...actually, that would be nice.” Chili Pepper replied.

“Then consider it done, now where are the keys .... Blueberry?” Pure Vanilla asked.

Pure Vanilla didn’t have to say anymore, with a wave of Blueberry Milk’s hand, a map and keys appeared in front of Chili Pepper. The items floated down to the red cookie’s hand, while Blueberry Milk let out a yawn as he leaded on the desk.

“Thank you.” Pepper said. “Now these brats want to join me, talk them out of it.”

“Hey!” Wizard yelled out.

“Chili Pepper’s had been part of our kingdom since we accidentally summoned her, we wouldn’t be able to sleep knowing she was out going against monste-” Gingerbrave tried to plead.

“Their mother is Dark Enchantress.” Chili Pepper stated. At her words any protest went silent, it was like everyone was trying to process what she had just said.

“No...no no, our mother isn’t her, our mother is White Lily cookie-” Gingerbrave tried to say.

“Who is Dark Enchantress.” Pure Vanilla said, stunning the triplets into silence. “I learned back during the Dark Flour War.”

“...but it could just be a coincidence right?” Strawberry offered.

“Maybe a cookie that just looked like her, the timeline wouldn’t really match up.” Wizard added.

“You would have a point if one, I currently didn’t have three children older than the Dark Flour War, one of them physically younger than you. And two, if two of you weren’t little copies of White Lily and Pure Salt.” Blueberry Milk countered.

“Pure Salt?” Gingerbrave asked.

“Right, I haven't explained him yet.” Blueberry said as he got off the desk and began to dig around in one of the drawers, eventually finding what he wanted which appeared to be a picture frame. “Pure Salt, my younger brother. He and White Lily married way back, they had three little doughlings, this was the last picture we got from them before the war, if I was to guess I would say those three are you.”

Blueberry Milk handed the framed picture over to Gingerbrave who quickly looked at it, his siblings looking over his shoulder. It definitely was a picture of White Lily, she looks the same as the illusion the group first saw, green dress, long braid, green wraps covering her arms. However instead of her holding a staff there were two little bundles, one in each arm, dough just barely peaking out in the sea of fabric. There was a figure next to her, this must be Pure Salt, he wore armors, but full covered but anything the metal didn’t cover was hidden by fabric. In his arms was just one tiny doughling. However when they looked up to see what he looked like his face wasn’t there, it was obvious he was taller than his wife and the picture had been cut.

“Um, his face has been cut out.” Gingerbrave said.

“What?” Blueberry Milk said as he snatched the frame back, and looked at the photo before turning to give a glare at his husband. “I told you not to trim the photos by yourself.”

The blue cookie gave his husband a light hearted smack, causing Pure Vanilla to give out a small ‘sorry’. The evidence was overwhelming as Gingerbrave spoke up again.

“So are you just going to keep us here, because of our mother?” Gingerbrave asked, tears poking around the edge of his eyes. “Will they just be prisoners here for the rest of our lives? Never going back to our kingdom?”

Blueberry Milk’s face made an expression as if Gingerbrave had actively slapped him rather than speaking, the blue cookie walked up and crouched down to rest on his knees to look at the teens in their eyes.

“Look at me, I will never imprison you anywhere. I would never do that to any cookie, let alone young ones. I can’t stop you from leaving but I want you to think about your kingdom, what would happen if Dark Enchantress went after you, what could she do to your kingdom?” Blueberry Milk pleaded with the group.

“So we just stay here the rest of our lives?” Strawberry asked.

“No, I have a spell that would make it hard for Dark Enchantress to track you as long as you're moving, it would be as simple as this.” Blueberry said, snapping his fingers, a flash of blue surrounding the three before disappearing. “Now about the kingdom, you mention that they had once been friends with some cookies and had a few teleportation pads, it seems like I could work on a barrier spell If I could visit it.”

“...we have some teleportation stones from the sugar gnomes.” Wizard cookie offered as he took out a piece of candy.

“Can I see that?” Blueberry asked before Wizard nodded and handed it to him. “I’ll work with Blueberry Crepe to get working on some teleportation and a barrier spell around your kingdom.”

Blueberry Milk quickly took the candy and walked out of the room, likely to the wafflebot hanger to discuss possibilities about a teleportation pad with Blueberry Crepe leaving Pure Vanilla alone with the group.

“Welp, I think that settles-” Chili Pepper started to say.

“Please Pure Vanilla!” Gingerbrave said.

“Gingerbrave, I truly think Blueberry is right, it is much too dangerous for you three to go on adventuring.” Pure Vanilla said.

“This isn’t adventuring, it’s helping our friend. You're asking us to stand by while others get hurt just because of the possibility that ‘thing’ could come after us. We can’t just do that, not when other cookies need our help. You said it yourself you’re having trouble contacting your friends, let us help.” Gingerbrave said.

“Children, I can’t possibly send you all over Crispa to deliver some letters.” Pure Vanilla said tighten his grip on the sealed letter.

“You don’t have to send us anywhere when we’re already heading that way. Please don’t think of us as fragile cookies, we fought cookies of Darkness, faced against a giant jelly worm dragon, even fought against trails and guards. There is nothing we can’t do when we work together.” Gingerbrave exclaimed.

“You really already face that much?” Pure Vanilla asked as his resolve was slowly softening.

“Please don’t tell me you're starting to agree with this?” Chili Pepper asked.

“We’ve fought against Dark Enchantress and lived, we've gone through trials and fights alike. Please Pure Vanilla, let us take the letters and help. Warn others of the danger that’s coming.” Gingerbrave pleaded.

Pure Vanilla was silent before he let out a sign and a small smile. “Alright you’ve convinced me.”

“Are you serious?” Chili Pepper groaned out.

“Please stay safe, Blueberry Milk’s spell should keep you off her radar but don’t try to stay in one place for too long. Please deliver these letters to the Hollyberry Kingdom and the Dark Cacao Kingdom. Try to return after, I have to dig for a few more archives so I don’t send you to the middle of nowhere.” Pure Vanilla said as he offered the young cookie the letters which he happily took.

“Of course Pure Vanilla Cookie, we will be safe! We’ll visit as soon as we’re done.” Gingerbrave said before turning back to the group. “Come on! We’ve got letters to deliver and a cookie to look for.”

Wizard smiled as Strawberry let out a laugh at her brother's infectious optimism. Chili Pepper grumbled under her breath about how crazy this was before following the group.

Pure Vanilla watched from the window as the group quickly left the castle, teleporting down to the ground and finding the boat that the king mentioned. The group drove down the river, leaving the king to watch as the figure got smaller and smaller.

As the minutes began to pass, Pure Vanilla began to feel uneasy, as if a spell was starting to lose its effect. After about ten minutes, the king had realized just what he allowed.

“By the witches above, why did I allow that?” Pure Vanilla muttered to himself. How could Gingerbrave’s words make him lose all rational thought.

“Yes Nilly, why did you allow that?” Shadow Milk's voice asked, anger clear in his tone.

‘Witches have mercy.’ Pure Vanilla thought.

Blueberry Crepe had been looking for their Papa, he had come by with a cool transporting candy for the young cookies to reverse engineer. However Blueberry Milk had promised to come back to help so he could help Blueberry Crepe, however that had been an hour ago and Blueberry Milk was nowhere to be seen.

As the blue cookies wandered around, Vanilla Custard joined him, now bored since his friends had seemingly left. Eventually they found Black Sapphire and their parents.

Blueberry Milk was currently yelling at Pure Vanilla, all while Black Sapphire watched, snacking on some berries.

“What’s going on? What are you doing?” Blueberry Crepe asked.

“Watching Dad chew out Pure Vanilla. It’s entertaining.” Black Sapphire replied.

“-Why do you keep doing the most idiotic stuff? I know the Light of Knowledge speaks to you, he won’t shut up for me. So why do you keep doing this? I don’t need any more white hairs?-” Blueberry Milk ranted but he stopped when he spotted his children. He paused for a second, allowing his magic to reach out; however he quickly realized one was missing, causing him to yell at his children. “Where the hell is your sister?!”

Meanwhile on the boat riding down the river.

“So it seems like the river is going to split up here, and we should stick to the left if we want to get to the Hollyberry Kingdom.” Wizard cookie said as he looked down at the map. The others looked over his shoulder, nodding in agreement. Completely oblivious to the cookie in yellows and reds standing up from behind some boxes.

“Hey, got any snacks?” Crisp Apple asked.

“AHHH!”

Chapter Text

There were beautiful islands that were the envy of all the other kingdoms, just off the coast of the hollyberry kingdom, you could make out the tiny dots of islands. Islands that held many different wonders, new cookies such as Mango cookie and Lilac cookie that explore the islands with ease. The waters held cookies like Sorbet Shark cookie who had helped many cookies during their adventures.

On the shores on one of the beaches, stood one cookie, clearly not belonging to the island, she was young, maybe about 13 years old. One was clearly her outfit, instead of light loose clothing, she wore a stiff pink dress with expensive frills and lace. Second was her appearance, while her darker dough seemed like they could belong, but her hair was a deep pink that faded into something lighter, something completely new to the island. She glared towards the sea with deep pink eyes, almost seeing the shoreline of the hollyberry kingdom from the island. She had the remnants of a watermelon in her hands, to which she tore off part and flung it into the sea, taking out some of her frustration as she gritted her teeth.

“-ookie! -incess Cookie!! Princess Cookie!!!” A boy about the same age yelled out grabbing the girl by her arm, startling her from her frustration. The boy had paler dough, his hair was a blond color, and he had deep teal color eyes. His clothing also looked wrong for the island, instead of beachwear he wore armed, pale and polished with care. The girl, Princess Cookie, seemed confused at first before the words sunk in.

“I told you not to call me that, Knight cookie!” Princess Cookie snapped, yanking her arm away from the boy. “I hate that name.”

“I’m sorry, Sugarberry, I forgot.” The boy, Knight, apologized.

“Then remember next time, it’s bad enough I have to go by that name around the nobles. I hate using it. Using an identity not your own? It’s torture! How can you-?” Princess, no Sugarberry cookie ranted at the boy, before her mind finally caught up and she remembered exactly who she was yelling out. “I’m sorry.”

“P- Sugarberry, it’s alright.” Knight offered.

“No, it’s not, I shouldn’t be taking out my frustrations on you. You don’t deserve that. I’m truly sorry.” Sugarberry apologized as she tightened her grip on the watermelon. At the very least she knew her true name. She wasn’t the one found abandoned in the Hollyberry kingdom with no one around, no berry smell clinging to her. She wasn’t the one who was raised by a group of knights because that was the nicest option or having to take the name of your profession because your ingredients were unknown. She shouldn’t be snapping at the only other person who might understand her. “It was callous of me to do that.”

“I understand, I have said stuff I do not mean when I am angry. I will not take it too seriously.” Knight said as he patted her shoulder. “I know you're angry, you must feel like we failed.”

“...all the reports said it was this way. I was supposed to find her and bring her back home, so Mom and Dad- Ah! So Jungleberry and Royalberry would actually smile for once! And not those stupid fake ones they use for the nobles!” Sugarberry yelled before throwing the rest of the watermelon at the sea with all her might as tears of frustration spilled down her face. “It’s not fair! Why did mother have to leave?! Why did those stupid beasts take the real princess, why did my brother raise me as her and not look for her?! Why did they make me take her place?!”

Sugarberry let out a frustrated sob as the tears flowed down her face, trying her best to catch her breath.

“Berry, please.” Knight cookie muttered as he offered a handkerchief to the royal.

Sugarberry looked up to see Knight having tears rolled down his face as well. The pink hair cookie took the piece of fabric, there was no point in insisting he use it. For some reason if she started to cry, then Knight would start as well. Maybe that is why Wildberry often made it so Knight was the one who stayed with Sugarberry, like he just knew they had a connection. She quickly dried her tears before handing back the handkerchief to her blond friend. The two allowed the silence to sit between them as the waves crashed in the ocean.

“Do you think she’s…gone?” Sugarberry asked, her words hitching at the thought.

“There is no doubt in my mind that she is out there. She is a hollyberrian after all and your family at that.” Knight cookie stated, clearly sure of his words. “We’ll find her, maybe we’ll find the Queen Mother along the way.”

“It’s strange to think about it, she’s my niece, but we would be about the same age.” Sugarberry commented. “Do you think we would have been raised as aunt and niece, if she was never taken? If mama would have stayed? Or would we have been raised as sisters? Maybe twins?....what would she have been like?”

“I think it depends on who looked after her the most….but I’m not truly sure.” Knight commented. “I could see maybe her and Wildberry scaring all the nobles.”

Sugarberry let out a laugh at the thought, trying to imagine a green hair cookie that looked a lot like Jungleberry, using a sword and trying to swing it at the noble. She’s sure that the Queen Mother ... .her mother, Hollyberry cookie would approve.

More silence appears as the sound of the waves crashing cool the two heightened emotions.

“Do you want to stretch them before we go?” Knight Cookie asked, suddenly yanking the girl out of her thoughts as she turned to look at him in confusion. “Your wings?”

Sugarberry just let out a sigh. “There isn’t a point, I’ll just have to rebind them before we get back to the kingdom.”

“You’ve had them bound for over 24 hours and have slept in them, that can’t be comfortable.”Knight pleaded, trying to get through to his friend, yet she didn’t seem to care. So he tried a different approach. “Please….I really want to see them…fully.”

The princess paused as she searched her memories, she had never shown her wings to her friend, he had only seen them bound. Only her family and the one nurse had ever fully seen her wings. And no one else was here, no one from the kingdom, no gossiping nobles claiming that she wasn’t Hollyberry’s descendant, no one making schemes.

“Fine, you’ll have to help me rebind them.” Sugarberry said with a sign, causing Knight to smile and give a small jump from excitement.

Sugarberry reached back, untying her dress, on the nobles would have a stroke if they knew about the princess undressing on a beach. Eventually she got the outer dress loose and it fell off, the ruffles and lace digging into the sand. Now just in her white underdress, the thing she hid away now clear, wrapped in layers of bandages, some binding them tightly to her body. She quickly reached up, tearing at some of the bandages around her chest, Knight Cookie seemed to realize she might need help and reached over to rip off some of the bandages. Eventually the bandages all fell to the ground, her wings were now free.

It took a while for Sugarberry to actually move them, she had forgotten what it was like. The muscles were tense and she swore she could hear a few bones pop as she moved them. But by the witches above did the stretching feel nice, she couldn't stop herself as she moved her arms as well, trying to move more of her muscles.

Knight just stared at the cookie’s wing with absolute wonder, he had seen hints of the feather before but never them fully. They almost looked like a giant heart when shown in full, but he didn’t dare ask, he couldn’t help but wonder if they had been warped through so many years of binding. The feather at first looked a pale white, however there were hints of their real color, a pale pink, if you looked for long enough. He’s never seen any cookie with wings.

“There…may I?” Knight asked with a gesture. With a nod, Sugarberry allowed the boy to walk closer and bring a hand up to touch the feathers. “They're so soft.”

Sugarberry let out a laugh at the words. However, before she could say anything Mango cookie’s voice yelled through the darkness for the two cookies on the beach. The two cookies let out a sign and gathered their stuff, Mango cookie was their ticket to getting back to the Hollyberry Kingdom, they couldn’t exactly ignore him. The two moved back towards the fruit cookie, making an unspoken promise with just a nod that if Mango asked about the wings, they would lie, claim it was a feather cape.

Because of course they would, that’s what you learn after being around the royalty for so long, you lie.

-

Deep in the Hollyberry Kingdom, most of the residents were asleep, the ones that weren’t were the royals and the knights who swore to protect them inside the castle. While most of them live through that sworn oath, some were clearly scared, shaking as they pointed spears at the beast who made it inside the castle. Yet three showed no fear.

The King and Queen, Royaberry with his pink hair and Jungleberry with her green hair just looked at the beast with indifference as if it was just another noble coming to throw a fit. There was a guard that glared at the beast, pink hair, darker dough, and a metal gauntlet that made all the other knights envious.

“Go, I will protect the King and Queen.” The knight ordered.

“But Wildberry Cookie-” The guards started to say.

“Now, go protect the other nobles.” The cookie, Wildberry hissed out.

The guards quickly scattered, eventually only leaving the three with the giant beast. Now being alone, Jungleberry’s eyes narrowed at the beast.

“The audience is gone, will you act civilized now Pitaya Dragon cookie?” Jungleberry asked.

The red and green dragon, the one that was known for terrorizing the Hollyberry Kingdom, glared down at the three cookies as if debating whether to fry them to a crisp or not. Eventually the flames were spewed but instead of trying to burn the cookies, the flames surrounded the dragon. The flame got smaller as if burning the dragon, before disappearing. In the dragon's place stood a cookie with pink dough, white hair with black seeds. However it was still clearly the dragon, the armor that they wore mimicked the scales that adored their body, and they still even had a tail.

“Where is she?” Pitaya Dragon hissed out.

“Who? You are going to have to be more specific.” Jungleberry said, acting as if she was speaking to a toddler.

“The only one around here that poses a challenge. Where is Hollyberry?” Pitaya Dragon growled out, annoyed that they had to spell it out.

“Mother has been gone for some time. However, if you wish to fight, I will happily step up.” Wildberry said in his ever dangerous calm tone.

“Brother, don’t antagonize them” Royalberry hissed as he pulled his younger brother back.

“Liars, all of you!! She would never leave you brats! She was always too protective!” Pitaya Dragon yelled as their tail thrashed behind them, their hand going up to their neck, a scar still visible from when they had taken their fight too far one time and threatened the newborn prince. Queen Hollyberry had driven her shield into their throat for that.

Royalberry took a step forward, calmness washing over him as he spoke. “Why don’t we take a second to calm dow-.”

Pitaya moved like a bolt of lightning, now in front of the king, grabbing the front of his shirt, screaming in his face. “Don’t you dare use that magic on me! 12 years I’ve been forced to deal with it! 12 years with that beast-!”

Pitaya’s yelling was cut off by a sharp punch from Wildberry, the dragon went stumbling back while the armored young brother guarded the king.

“Don’t you dare yell at him you beast, not after everything you’ve done.” Wildberry growled out.

Pitaya Dragon stumbled back, obviously not expecting the hit from the cookie. They paused for a second, rubbing their face for a second before they wince as they step on their injured tail. The dragon picks up their tail to try and stop the pain, Wildberry gains a small smile, remembering the reason why he liked Knight Cookie so much.

“I do not know why you have come to pick a fight, but the Queen Mother has been missing for a while, she even left her hollyberry shield behind.” Jungleberry said, gesturing to the shield on display. “Why do you think she will appear if you throw a tantrum? She didn’t appear when your troubles took my daughter away.”

The dragon flinched at the implication, feeling the weight of the glares on them. They tried to stand tall as they spoke. “If I had known the creatures would go after the princess, I would have crushed them before they saw the skyline of your kingdom.”

“Your words mean nothing.” Wildberry hissed out causing Pitaya Dragon to let out a swear in another language.

“Then could you do something about your other mother?” Pitaya dragon asked. “Every sense that day she had not left Dragon Valley.”

“That just seems like a natural consequence.” Wildberry spat out.

“It is HELL! Cookies would be dying if I wasn’t doing my part in chasing them away. Her sorrow, her sloth just makes you want to curl up and stop moving!” Pitaya yelled. “It’s unnatural and cruel, please call her back here.”

“Mama left for everyone else’s safety. She won’t come back here until her powers are in check.” Royalberry informed matter of factly.

Pitaya dragon screamed as they brought their foot down, cracking the floor in anger. “That’s it, we’ll do this my way then!”

“Your way?” Royalberry mimicked.

“I’ll come back reeking havoc, destroying things, I’ll avoid cookies but the destruction should be enough to get Hollyberry running back here.” Pitaya said as if it were fact.

“And if she doesn’t?” Royalberry questioned.

“We’re not going to let you burn the kingdom.” Wildberry hissed.

“Then the chaos should send the other one chasing after me and out of my home. And then you can handle her.” Pitaya Dragon stated.

“What makes you think we’ll agree to this?” Jungleberry asked.

“You think you have a choice? That’s rich.” Pitaya Dragon hissed out as they walked away, headed towards a window. “I’ll give you a few days to prepare.”

With that the Dragon cookie jumped out of the window, transforming back to their true form before taking off into the skies, leaving the three cookies alone.

“Another problem so soon?” Jungleberry asked with a sigh.

“Of all the times for the princess to run off, it had to be before this?” Royalberry said with a frown. “Any information on Sugarberry?”

“None so far, all the guards know is she took Knight cookie and a boat, heading for the tropical islands.” Wildberry informed, obviously not what the two wanted to hear. However Wildberry wasn’t going to dwell on the negatives. “I will face against Pitaya Dragon, I will not let them cause such chaos in our home.”

“You don’t have the strength to do so, brother, I’ve heard rumors that even cookies from legends have a hard time dealing with the dragon.” Royalberry said. “It was said only Queen Mother and her shining Soul Jam could ever match the beast.”

The two siblings were silent at first, Jungleberry waited patiently, she knew nothing about the Soul Jam that the queen and her ‘friend’ wore.

“Did you ever hear the light of Passion's voice? Do you think you could use the shield?” Wildberry asked. “I used to hear it, but she warned me that I wasn’t worthy to wield her yet, the shield still weighs like a ton of chocolate bricks.”

“I never hear Passion’s voice; I was always drawn to the gem that mama wore.” Royalberry admitted with a sign. “The only one that seemed to hear Passion was Sugarberry, she would sit and stare at the shield often.”

“Of all the times she had to disappear.” Wildberry said, running a hand through his hair, hating that his little sister inherited their mother’s adventurous spirit. “We need to find a way to find her and bring her back.”

“I have an idea. Sugarberry seemed to be really distraught to learn she had taken the place of…the princess, so why don’t we use that to our advantage?” Jungleberry offered.

“How so?” Royalberry asked.

“A princess competition.” Jungleberry simply stated.

-

Pitaya Dragon flew back to their home, a cave nestled deep within an active volcano. Yet for miles upon miles there were not cookies, not even creatures. The only evidence that life once stood there were bones, where the creatures had laid down and stopped moving.

As they landed, Pitaya Dragon let out a grunt as a wave of tiredness washed over them, making them just want to curl up and sleep. They gave themselves a small slap to keep them up and they walk through their home, trying to find a way to relax yet not fall asleep.

In the corner of the cave sat something out of place, a nest made out of soft materials, silks, quilts and feathers. Curled up on top was a cookie with pink dough, her long pink hair was loose spreading out like vines of a plant across the bed, tangled in the vines was a little crown, a pink gem resting on her forehead. One that at one point Pitaya would have tried to steal, now it brought them nothing but dread. Two massive wings covered in white dove feathers sprouted from the cookies back, acting as her blanket.

As the dragon cookie walked by, the pink cookie opened her eyes, revealing pink eyes redder from crying. They didn’t seem to acknowledge the dragon cookie as she just as quickly closed them again, sinking back into her dreams.

Chapter Text

Crisp Apple cookie popping out from boxes did nothing to help the confused cookies. Eventually after they stopped screaming the older cookie was happy to explain why she was along for the journey. She told about how after being trapped in the time spell, she knew she missed a lot, but also knew that her father, Blueberry Milk, would be too overprotective to allow her out to explore the world. So she just didn’t ask.

With a smile Crisp Apple cookie told the group how she overheard they were getting rid to leave, and secretly snuck away into the boat, since it was the best mode of transportation out of the kingdom.

“So no one knows you're gone?” Chili Pepper asked.

“I mean they probably know now but when I left, nope.” Crisp Apple replied.

“…let them know.” Chili Pepper said.

“What? C’mon it will be-” Crisp Apple tried to say.

“I already have to deal with one pair of pissed off royals, I’m not dealing with another. Find a way to contact them, send a letter by a crow, using magic, smoke signals for all I care. I am not dealing with Pure Vanilla’s husband being ticked off.” Pepper interrupted.

“Ugh fine.” Crisp Apple said as she began to rummage around the boat, before finding what she was looking for, a simple pen and paper.

The older cookie quickly wrote her letter, it was simple of course, just a ‘hey, I’m with the group and alive’. Crisp Apple quickly summoned some magic producing a dark portal which she threw the letter in.

“There, letter sent.” Crisp Apple said.

“...if you can just send the letter by magic, why didn’t Blueberry Milk do that?” Pepper asked, annoyance dripping off her voice.

“Because it’s a two-way path. Think of it like two points and then a bridge, both sides of the points have to be set up before you can place the bridge. So even if he wanted to use magic, wherever it was being sent would also need a point of magic.” Crisp Apple explained like it was the simplest thing in the world. “Besides, he never likes delivering letters like that, always prefers Cloud Haetae delivering them, saying there was always a possibility of someone messing with it and seeing something they weren’t supposed to.”

Before anyone could reply, the portal opened again, a letter popping out. Crisp Apple quickly grabbed and opened it, the other rushing to read over her shoulder.

As they read over her shoulder it was clear Blueberry Milk got the letter first, there weren’t multiple sentences that were crossed out, varying cuss words were still visible. From the few they could make out, the group see Blueberry screaming, insisting Crisp Apple come back home and how dare she do this. Eventually only one sentence was not crossed out and it just read ‘you are grounded’.

The rest of the letter was obviously written by Pure Vanilla Cookie, not only was the pen ink a different color but the script and lack of crossed out cuss words made it clear he was much calmer. He did scold her slightly, telling her what she did was dangerous and worried Blueberry Milk greatly and to not do it again. However, instead of insisting she come back home, the king had asked Crisp Apple to look after the group and make sure everyone stayed safe, promising he would get Blueberry to go easy on her if she did that. The letter ended with Pure Vanilla sending him love and asking the young cookie to please write often.

“Welp, it seems like I can stay.” Crisp Apple said with a smile.

The other smiled, happy to have another person join on their adventure. However, Chili Pepper just let out a sign. “Great, another brat to keep out of danger.”

“Hey, I’m older than you.” Crisp Apple said.

“Well, you certainly don’t act like it.” Chili Pepper replied.

“Ok, let’s separate for a while.” Wizard cookie said quickly, placing himself between the two.

Chili Pepper went to one side of the ship and decided to take the time to sharpen her daggers. Crisp Apple stuck out her tongue before turning back to the triplets, asking to see the map. She then began to explain the best path to take if things hadn’t changed and in about three days' time, they would have to leave the boat and walk through the forest, as sadly while the main river ran close it wasn’t the one that ran through the channels of the Hollyberry kingdom.

The days on the boat passed in a blur, eventually Chili Pepper and Crisp Apple started to get along, even taking shifts so the triplets wouldn’t have to be the ones up at night. Crisp Apple was happy to tell stories about her life before being sealed in the castle by spell. She told stories of what the Vanilla Kingdom was like before, a bustling castle with many civilians, almost everyone was happy as they tried to find their purpose in life. She described the absolute chaos that would happen when the other ancients and their partners would visit the king, how the nobles would scramble over themselves trying to make everything perfect meanwhile Crisp Apple and Grapevine actively would undo the work as to not make their aunts and uncles too uncomfortable. Chili Pepper watched how the triplets would lead in whenever the apple cookie would mention White Lily but never did stop it.

Eventually the boat stopped, as the river tapered off, trapping the boat on the dirt of the bottom of the river.

“Welp, I guess this is our stop.” Crisp Apple said as she jumped over the side of the boat onto the shore, all her important stuff. “Come on, the Hollyberry Kingdom awaits.”

-

Knight Cookie and Princess Cookie walked through the forest that boarded the Hollyberry Kingdom, the one thing that separated the Hollyberry channels from the rest of the rivers. They were originally supposed to land in the ports of the kingdom, however because of a sudden storm, Mango cookie could only really place them further away from the kingdom. It wasn’t too much a problem, after all neither were really above walking back to the kingdom.

Princess Cookie, oh how Sugarberry hated that name, was back under her normal princess persona. While her dress was slightly dirty from their adventure, it was smooth as if someone put a lot of care into it. Her wings were bound once again, now bandages wrapped tightly around her chest and back, trying to smooth the giant wings into something small, unnoticeable in her silhouette.

Knight Cookie wasn’t doing much better; his once nice and polished armor was now slightly dull as his time among the sea had left some damage he couldn’t polish away. Even the cloth peeking out on his arms was discolored from the mud and sand the boy had been through. Yet despite his outfit being in shambles compared to most knights, his sword was still by his side, looking as sharp and clean as ever.

“We should be back in the Hollyberry Kingdom soon, if that path stays clear.” Knight cookie informed.

“That is good…I hope Royalbe-.... I hope mom and dad aren’t too angry with me.” Princess cookie said before catching her mistake.

“...I’m sure they will understand, you were just trying to find her after all.” Knight cookie replied. However, before the boy could offer more comforting words, he heard rustling and saw a blur of color out of the corner of his eye. Causing him to jump, pushing the princess behind him as he drew his sword. “Stop right there!”

There was a group of five cookies, they had weapons but didn’t look like they were planning an attack, in fact they just looked really confused that they were just yelled at.

“Hey I’m Gingerbrave!” One of the smaller cookies said. “These are my siblings, Strawberry and Wizard cookie. And my friends Crisp Apple and Chili Pepper. We're on our way to the Hollyberry Kingdom to deliver a letter.”

Knight cookie stayed pointing his sword at the cookies, as if waiting for them to attack. However, Princess Cookie gave him a tap on the shoulder.

“If they were really here to hurt anyone, they wouldn’t have announced who they are.” Princess cookie said.

With a sign, Knight Cookie lowered his sword but didn’t fully put it away.

“Why don’t you just use the postal service?” Knight cookie asked.

“We don’t exactly have a postal service where we’re from, plus we’re supposed to be delivering this too…” Gingerbrave said before quickly checking the letter. “Hollyberry cookie!”

The princess and knight were silent for a moment, looking at each other as they shared the same thought, the knight spoke up first. “The Queen Mother, Hollyberry has been missing for some time, you will not find her there.”

“That’s alright.” Crisp Apple said with a smile. “We also need to deliver a message to my aunt; she goes by Sweet Sugar Cookie.”

“Sweet Sugar, Sweet Sugar..?….I feel like I heard that name before…” Princess cookie muttered as she twisted around some of her hair, before she finally spoke up. “Oh, you mean the royal musician? With pink hair and the feather cloak she always wore?”

“Yep, that's her!” Crisp Apple said happily.

“...she’s missing too.” Princess cookie spoke up.

“What?” Crisp Apple replied.

“I don’t know much, just stories, but many of the court say she just left one day soon after the Queen Mother disappeared.” Princess Cookie replied.

The group was shocked and turned towards each other to whisper about what to do next. Princess and Knight couldn’t really hear most of it, however the girl in pink, Strawberry, finally spoke up.

“Do you think we can still leave these letters with the king? Just so we can inform him about what’s going on.” Strawberry cookie asked.

“I mean, I’m sure he wouldn’t mi-” Princess cookie started to say. However, her words died down as Chili Pepper took out a dagger and threw it.

“Princess, get down!” Knight cookie said drawing his sword again, however the dagger shot past him, hitting a monster that was sneaking up on the two right in the face.

“Monsters!” Chili Pepper yelled out.

At the words, the group launched into their attacks. Princess and Knight Cookie didn’t react right away as the two were quickly surrounded by the group, as they tried their best to fight off monsters, protecting the new cookies. It took Knight Cookie a second before he went running in, his sword made quick work on some of the smaller monsters. With a few slices all the monsters were gone.

“Whoa, that was amazing! Could you teach me?” Gingerbrave said, his eyes shining in admiration.

Knight Cookie looked stunned at the cracked cookie who wielded the candy cane sword before he spoke up. “You're not formally trained?”

“I mean Chili Pepper trained me a bit, but everything else I figured out on my own.” Gingerbrave replied with a smile.

“That's amazing!” Knight cookie said before he paused, choosing his words carefully. “While being a trained knight I am nowhere near qualified to train another, when we get to the Hollyberry Kingdom I will speak with my old mentor about possible training.”

“You're a trained knight?” Gingerbrave asked.

“Did I not explain who I am? I thought I did that when we introduced ourselves.” Knight cookie replied.

“You never introduce yourself, just pointed your sword at us.” Chili Pepper explained, annoyance dripping from her voice.

“Oh, apologize.” Knight cookie said. “I am Knight cookie, the youngest knight to face the greenish red dragon, and personal knight to Princess cookie, the princess of the Hollyberry Kingdom.”

The group of cookies were stunned at first as it just clicked that the cookie in front of them was a princess.

Wizard cookie leaded over to the Chili Pepper to mutter. “Your friend’s a princess, right? Do you bow or something?”

Princess cookie picked up on the words and held out her hands in a stopping motion. “Please, no bowing, no ‘your majesty or grace’ I get enough grief from the nobles.”

“Then do you want us to call you another name? I imagine hearing the name ‘Princess’ all the time could be annoying.” Gingerbrave asked with a bright smile.

Princess cookie was quiet for a moment as if thinking about it before shaking her head ‘no’. The cookie didn’t seem to fully get the tone of the princess and just smiled and nodded to her answer.

“Well would the ‘royal majesty’ be willing to accompany us to the Hollyberry Kingdom.” Chili Pepper asked, sarcasm dripping from her tone.

Knight definitely didn’t like the tone, but Princess cookie just smiled, happily agreeing that they should all head to the Hollyberry Kingdom as a group, mostly for safety. They all began to walk towards the Hollyberry Kingdom, Gingerbrave happily chatted about his some, a small kingdom mostly run by very happy Sugar Gnomes.

A strange cookie did run out, cloaked in a tiger's skin, she had curly green hair and orange eyes. She didn’t seem hostile at all, to the point that Gingerbrave waved to this stranger and tried to talk to her. However, the green hair cookie looked scared before she rushed back into the forest. Gingerbrave tried to run after her, however Chili Pepper pulled him back, saying that ‘you can’t help everyone’.

They went further and ran into more monsters, however this time a huntress with pink braided hair and dark clothes stepped out of the woods, using a shield to block strikes before hitting back with a dagger, eventually killing all the monsters. The huntress turned back to the group, her pink eyes boring into the young children.

“What is a group of young doughlings doing out here? It is dangerous, you know, a good way to wind up as a snack.” The huntress scolded the group.

“Doughlings?” Chili Pepper asked.

“We’re being safe, we have weapons.” Gingerbrave offered.

“We’re heading to the Hollyberry Kingdom, you should head that way to miss, for your own safety.” Princess cookie said before giving a small bow. “Thank you for protecting us.”

The group rushed past the huntress, towards the goal. The huntress paused, the small pink hair cookie looked familiar, and something deep inside her whispered to her, calling her back home. A voice she had ignored for a long time, yet this time she found herself moving back home.

The doughlings finally reached the end of the forest, seeing the edge of a river, where a man with a boat sat.

“Hello, welcome to the Grandberry seaport, one small trip and you’ll be at the Grandberry market.” The ferryman said with a smile. “I see we have a big group, so it will be five gold coins each.”

“Five! That price has certainly gone up.” Knight cookie replied stunned.

“Well yes, sadly times have changed.” The ferryman said with a smile. He was too focused on the wealthy looking princess and knight, he failed to notice Crisp Apple peering into the boat, quickly taking note of the flyer and a few more pieces of paper, before a small smile graced her face. Though she quickly replaced it with a sharp glare and frowned.

“You're trying to scam us aren’t you, what are we not good enough for the competition?!” Crisp Apple yelled at the ferryman, her tone sharp causing the man to stumble.

“I-I assure you; I’m doing no such thing.” The ferryman sputtered out.

“Really, so you dare charge more for delegates of a kingdom? Or those planning to participate in the competition.” Crisp Apple accursed, her voice full of malice. “I expected more from the Hollyberrians.”

The ferryman sputtered, trying to gather his thoughts, completely missing how Crisp Apple turned her head to look at the group, giving them a slight wink.

“Please, forgive me, I was just trying to make more money with the increase of tourists in the area. I am sorry, please let me take you across the way, free of charge.” The ferryman said, sweat dripped down as he realized he had messed up.

Crisp Apple smirked, however Princess Cookie stepped up, saying “Please, at least let us pay you a gold coin each, that’s the normal rate, correct?”

The ferryman looked at Princess Cookie as he spoke. “Oh, merciful cookie, you must be a queen. Thank you for forgiving my sins, please let me take you where you need to go.”

Crisp Apple grumbled under her breath as Princess Cookie handed the man the coins. The man quickly allows the group to get on his boat, slowly rowing them towards the market. The ferryman began to sing praise of the kingdom, from the market to the lovely people, he of course mentioned with some fear that a dragon had been seen recently but there wasn’t anything to worry about. Eventually they made it to the market and left the boat without much fuss. The market was crowded and filled with chaos, but there was also a lot of laughter.

‘Ah, home sweet home.’ Princess Cookie thought with a smile as they began to navigate through the market.

“How did you pull that off?” Knight Cookie asked Crisp Apple. “I’ve heard sometimes ferrymen scam tourists, how did get him to believe you?”

“I just twisted the truth a bit, I saw a flyer for some sort of princess competition and played into that.” Crisp Apple admitted with a smirk.

“What? A princess competition?” Princess Cookie asked in confusion, trying to imagine what that could be related too, we’re other princesses from other kingdoms here?

“Yeah, on a flyer.” Crisp Apple said, pointing away from the crowd towards some buildings. “I think that’s the same flyer.”

The group moved against the crowd, eventually getting to the building and the flyer, the words ‘princess competition, become the hollyberry princess’ became clearer. Princess Cookie reached the flyer first tearing it down from the wall as her eyes frantically read every word on the piece of paper. The other read over her shoulder as the younger cookie's hands began to shake.

“This must be some mistake, Princess cookie, there is no way the king would do such a thing. We should get you to the castle and let them kno-” Knight Cookie started to say.

“It has the royal seal on it.” Princess cookie whispered out. “There is no mistake, this is a decree from them.”

“No, something has to have happen.” Knight cookie countered.

“Honestly, this has the Cookies of Darkness grease paws all over this, it’s probably because of them.” Wizard cookie stated, his siblings nodding in agreement.

“It still doesn’t change the fact…I am so easily replaceable? Like she was?” Princess cookie muttered, her fist clenching the paper, as tears began to spill. “How could they?”

“Ok what the hell?” Chili Pepper said as tears began to fall down her face. The expression from the triplets who were also crying, it seems like they agreed with the red cookie.

“Oh, cool, this is new.” Crisp Apple said, smiling through the tears.

Knight cookie quickly began to comfort Princess, who began to wipe away the tears, the crying thankfully stopped, and so did everyone else's. As everyone calmed down Gingerbrave reached over to take the flyer from Princess cookie.

The young cracked cookie looked over the flyer before he spoke. “Hey I got an idea.”

“Oh this won’t be good.” Wizard muttered, causing Strawberry to elbow him.

“Clearly something is going on with this competition, but it’s also probably the fastest way to meet the royals and deliver the letters.” Gingerbrave said with a smile. “So, why don’t we enter the princess competition?”

The group was silent, as if processing his words before they spoke.

“WHAT?!”

Chapter Text

Gingerbrave said with a smile. “So, why don’t we enter the princess competition?”

The group was silent, as if processing his words before they spoke.

“WHAT?!” The group yelled at him.

“Hey, no need to yell.” Gingerbrave said, covering his ears for a second. “But think about it, the fastest way we’ll get to the king and queen is through this competition. Plus this way we can also make sure Princess Cookie is the winner. I mean who would expect just a group of young cookies trying to become the princess to be doing anything out of the ordinary.”

“...I mean he has a point, no one would notice a group in a competition but they would definitely notice a group shadowing one of the princesses.” Crisp Apple added.

“Don’t encourage him.” Wizard grumbled.

“This is idiotic, we should just head to the castle and talk to-” Knight cookie starts to say.

“No.” Princess Cookie cut him off. “I am not going to waltz back to the castle when they clearly think I am replaceable, I am going to enter this competition, and win. And show them exactly who I am!”

“Woohoo.” Crisp Apple encourages.

“So I guess that settles it, we’re joining in the princess competition.” Gingerbrave said with a smile.

“We? Who is this we you are talking about, I am not joining.” Chili Pepper said, crossing her arms.

“Come on Pepper.” Gingerbrave pleaded.

“Yeah, your friends with a princess right, you should know all the tricks you’ll need to win. Plus if you, Strawberry and Crisp Apple join, no one would notice the three ‘knights’ helping out.” Wizard added.

“Nope, not doing it. There could be other royals around and I am not drawing any more attention to myself than needed.” Pepper argued.

“Please, Chili Pepper.” Strawberry tried.

“Keep pushing and I swear to the Witches I will leave you brats by yourself.” Chili Pepper said with a growl, her hair whipping behind her like flames.

“Ok, fine!” Wizard said, holding his hands up in surrender.

“I guess it will be just us then.” Gingerbrave said with a sigh.

“Um, not to be rude, but how do you plan to compete in a princess competition like that?” Princess asked, gesturing to their outfits. “The competition will probably be tough, even I will likely need to get my dress cleaned.”

“Leave it to me!” Crisp Apple said with a smile before snapping her fingers.

Princess cookie covered her eyes because of the bright light that flashed for a second. She looked towards the ground and was surprised, as the light died down, the stains and tears in her dress disappeared.

Princess cookie was yanked out of her thoughts by Chili Pepper’s laughter and Wizard cookie muttering “Your kidding.”

Princess had to stifle a laugh when she looked up, Crisp Apple’s once very sweet red dress had changed into something more elegant, with lace trimming. Strawberry oversize sweater had changed into a dress similar in style to the one Princess Cookie wore, she also had a fan the shy cookie was now hiding behind. Gingerbrave's outfit had changed, it was still the shades of brown he wore but now it was more a long military coat that typically knights or those training to become knights wore in formal settings. Plus the spell gave him long hair which pulled back in a ponytail, he looked like he could pass as a female noble who was working to be a knight.

Wizard Cookie change the most, at least to Princess cookies. He was now missing his normal hat, instead his normal dark blue robe had changed into a blue to green dress, with some green gloves. Without his hat causing a shadow, Princess cookie could now see the boys hair and face. His hair was long and white, braided to reach his mid back. And his red eyes glared at Crisp Apple as he took a fur shawl, which had likely been his scarf, and wrapped around his shoulders, holding his staff close as it would hide him from the world.

“Seriously Crisp Apple?” Wizard Cookie asked, his voice slightly light, passing for a female cookie.

“Hey, you weren’t going to get selected hiding in that robe,” Crisp Apple said. “Besides this way we’ll blend right in and no one will be any wiser.”

“You should probably use a different name as well, Princess Wizard and Gingerbrave might raise a few eyebrows.” Princess cookie added with a laugh.

"Shut it!" Wizard hissed out.

“Hmmm, a different name, how about Gingerbright for me? I think it would fit.” Gingerbrave offered with a smile. “Hmm for wizard…maybe Sorcerers? Enchantres-nope! Not that! What about Witchberry?”

“I’m going to curse you all.” Wizard muttered before finally replying. “Witchberry works.”

“Come on, let’s get registered.” Princess said as she led the group to the location on the flyer.

Following Princess cookie they eventually came across a big group of girls, all in many frilly dresses. All of them commenting about what they do to insure that they would be the ones to win the princess competition. One walked by, apparently her name was Raspberry cookie, and talked to Princess Cookie who she recognized. Even though knowing the real princess was part of the competition, she still refused to back down implying that Princess Cookie didn’t have what it takes to win. That got the princess angry and she swore she would do whatever it takes to win. However the group was also interested in a little bat creature and looked familiar.

“Hehehe we’re going to win the princess contest.” Licorice cookie said with a laugh.

“Oh not you again.” Gingerbrave spat out as he grabbed his sword. “What are you doing here?”

“What the-oh it’s you brats! Maybe if-“ Licorice started to say before a massive hand in a white glove grabbed his shoulder.

“My dearest friend, we should get ready for the competition.” Choco Werehound brute said in a high pitched tone, he was now wearing a purple dress with many bows. The werehound leaded down to hiss “don’t ruin this for me.”

He began to drag Licorice away leaving behind the stunned group.

“I am going crazy or did I just see the giant Choco Werehound stuff into a dress and corset.” Chili Pepper asked, not believing what she just saw.

“Nope, not going crazy.” Wizard replied.

“I hope he can breathe, if his corset is anything like mine.” Strawberry whispered as she adjusted the piece of clothing she was wearing with a wince.

“Come on, let's focus on the actual competitions.” Princess Cookie barked out as she dragged the group towards the crowd.

The host cookie began to announce the competition, even bringing up the current Queen, Jungleberry Cookie, as they happily announced the rules and what exactly the trials the competition would hold. All the other cookies looked up, joy and hope filling their eyes about the idea of becoming the next princess.

However Sugarberry felt sadness at first before anger began to boil inside her, something the cookies around her felt but decided not to express. How dare her family do this? Did she mean that little to them? Just like to her mother before she left?

No, she was going to win this competition no matter what, and then she will give her dearest ‘mama and papa’ a piece of her mind.