Chapter Text
Blizzard wind whirred around two cookies walking in the snow. Snowflakes merely dodged their eyes, but neither seemed to react. One was too busy shivering to care, the other was the embodiment of the flakes themselves.
Snow Sugar Cookie walked alongside the cookie that lured them out of their home. They weren't sure if they even wanted to, but their legs decided they did. Their body felt like an ice sculpture. They swore they could hear the sound of ice crackling as they moved over the wind.
Where the path back to town should've been was a path to a completely different area. For a moment, the figure disappeared, but the white border of penetrating snow quickly cleared to reveal a winding cliff. The cookie stood at the end. Her crown glimmered as her cape swayed. It wasn't the season for it, but the sky shone with beautiful colors of green and purple.
“You have the Aurora Borealis here…” Snow sugar said, their voice a little raspy from inhaling heavy snow for the past 10 minutes.
“It is always shining here.” The figure said.
She turned to face Snow Sugar, her eyes having that same emotionless stare.
“Everything is always the same here. The endless blizzard, the northern lights, this cliff, me. Nothing changes and it will never. The river always flows.”
Snow Sugar stared back. They could feel themself getting colder as they did.
“W…Why am I here?” They asked.
“All who see me ask that silly question. I thought it would be obvious by your symptoms.” The cookie replied.
“All…?”
“Yes. There were many before you, and there will be many after you. Cookies who were destined to return to the source and keep the river flowing. To become a part of nature once again.”
“The Frost Children are what makes winter come. They are who make the glaciers and the sheets of snow that cover mountains. The wind that carries snowflakes, and the ice that traps fish.” She said.
“I’m a…’ Fr-Frost Child?” Snow Sugar asked.
“Yes. And a particularly strong one at that. Without the Wind Flower, many Frost Children would have separated from their cookie form by now.”
The cookie approached Snow Sugar, circling them slowly. She studied them closely. What made them different?
They obviously weren't fighting the source, as they did not try to run once. They were only asking questions as any child would. That still didn't explain why they weren't gone by now, swirling into the wind.
Her train of thought was interrupted by the coughing of the child in front of her. Snow Sugar looked down in a bit of embarrassment and covered their mouth. They felt as if their lungs were crystallizing. Their breaths shortened little by little. They felt terrible.
“I don’t…I don’t want to die yet.” They managed to squeeze out.
The cookie looked down at Snow Sugar, once again analyzing them.
“This is not death, child. It is a process of changes a Frost Child must go through to complete the cycle of the flowing river.“ she said.
She could tell the young cookie did not want to hear any more of what she was saying. 30 minutes had passed, and they were still in front of her. Shivering out of their mind and trying not to cry knowing their tears would most likely freeze to their cheeks.
“I am sorry you had to suffer this long, child. I do not know why you haven't converted to the correct form yet.” The cookie said. She raised her staff high above her. The wind started to whirl around it. Icicles shot up from the ground around her. Snow Sugar's eyes began to sting. Not from the ice slicing through the air, or from the tears finally catching up to them. The back of their eyes stung as if the cold air had hit their eye sockets. Like their own eyes were no longer there.
They closed their eyes tight, curling into a ball clutching their plush.
Then, it stopped. The stinging stopped. The wind seemed to muffle itself. Their shivering slowed a bit.
Snow Sugar relaxed themself. They accepted whatever happened. Maybe the other cookie had finally made them into a Frost Child. That’s what they were supposed to be, right? Another snowflake in the wind.
After a minute, Snow Sugar opened their eyes slowly. They were surrounded by a glistening bubble. It was mostly transparent, so they could see the outside. The taller cookie paced back and forth, seemingly worried.
“You are a Frost Child. I know you are. You have the same aura as the others. How did you do that?”
Her voice was muffled, but her words were still distinguishable.
Their grip loosened on their stuffed companion.
They blinked a few times to register what they were seeing. They stood up, their legs still shaky.
Snow Sugar stood face to face with the bubble. They hesitantly pressed a finger to it. As they did, the bubble disappeared, leaving them to face the harsh conditions they were only relieved of for a minute.
The young cookie approached the other. She was still mumbling worriedly about the fate of the child behind her.
The cookie's mind was cleared when she turned her head to see Snow Sugar, head pressed against her side and her cape wrapped around their hand.
The cookie sighed and raised her staff. She traced a circle in the air and walked through it, Snow Sugar still holding onto her cape.
“Woah…” The small cookie gasped as they saw a completely new area.
It reminded them of their own home, only more blue and cold. Almost everything seemed to be made of ice, that or it was all polished very finely.
The cookie led Snow Sugar up one of two curved staircases and down a long hallway to a door outlined in gold and a sapphire at each corner. The two walked in, and Snow Sugar gasped again.
They had never seen anything as luxurious ad this place, and they felt they didn't deserve to even stand in the room.
“You may stay here, child. I will not mind if you return to your home tomorrow. I lack a television, so it is drastically less entertaining.”
She turned back to Snow Sugar once she heard a faint sniff. Snow Sugar stood with a hand to their cheek, teary eyes looking up at her the colors of the northern lights.
They hugged her, and a feeling of warmth she hadn't felt in years circulated through her body.
——————
Frost Cookie raised her head at the sound of running down the hallway. The running came to a stop and converted to slow footsteps a few feet away from the door.
Parsnip Cookie walked into the room, her head hung low.
“So, how did it go? Did our remedy work?” Frost asked.
“It went…a little bad. We…we lost a patient.” Parsnip said, looking at the ground.
Frost was taken aback by her friend's statement. They were both sure the remedy would work. They studied everything they needed to, how did they lose a patient?
“Do you know why we lost a patient, Frost?”
“…Why?”
“Because…they just got discharged!” Parsnip exclaimed. She jumped in place with a beaming smile.
“ What?! ” Frost screamed.
“Yes! The remedy worked perfectly and they are packing their meds right now!”
Frost slapped his hands over her mouth and started to jump as well.
Parsnip ran towards her friend to sweep her into a hug, but slipped and fell into Frost's leg. Accepting what happened, she hugged her leg tight.
Frost snickered at her friend's admittedly funny failure. She lowered her hands and put them around Parsnip's head, holding her close as they both laughed.
They had done something good. They saved a life.
And they had done it together.
——————
Frost hesitantly put her hands down, cupping the back of Snow Sugars’ head. She held them close, just like she had done with Parsnip.
A tear dropped from her unfocused eyes. She could have sworn she saw her late friend smiling at her from the mirror. That smile of approval she got whenever she did something good in the practice.
Snow Sugar was still here, yes, but she didn’t mind
They were a Frost Child.
They were her Frost Child.