Chapter Text
Soft light fell to the ground in hues of blue, yellow, pink, some others. A river flowed through the center of Tartrus and in it drowned a pink cookie and a white cookie.
Flipping around inside the waters, the white one struggled against the current before grasping hold of the side of the river, gasping as he tried multiple times to pull himself up. His fluffy, white, almost flour-like hair was all soaked now and dripping. An orange-ish red hand pulls him out of the current and he coughed up water as he fell limp to the ground. Tired.
The white one, without another thought, rushed back to the river whilst crawling, searching for another cookie. He spotted the pink one, floating away with not a care in the world, and he grabbed her by her pink hair, tied up in a bun. Well, not anymore, as he’s ruined her hair by grabbing it.
The pink one gasped as she woke up, scrambling to her knees as she lifted herself off the ground. She struggled to breath for a moment, she grasped at the back of her dress as if to try loosen it.
The white one sat in front of her with crossed legs, the orange one standing behind him. The orange one soon stood in front of both of them and sat down.
“Do you remember who you are?” They asked, tail swishing behind them. Their hair looked like a pumpkin, and he had eyes like a cat. Or a tiger.
The white one racked his brain for a moment, running his hands through his hair. “Urh… Ah… I…”
“Light Flour Cookie?” The pink one was now looking at the white one with wide eyes. “That’s who you are, right?”
“Cherry Mochi Cookie,” Light Flour responded to seeing her face. “You’re… Alive?”
The orange one shook their head. “Dead. Both of you are dead.”
Light Flour and Cherry Mochi stared at each-other, then the orange one. “What? What do you mean?”
“Welcome to Tartrus,” the orange one said. “Land of the fallen, or where they go before their selves are washed away and their Life Energy’s recycled.”
“What?”
“Leaders of Brutan,” the orange one stood up. Hands behind their back, eyes lying sly on the two. “Fallen leaders of Brutan, unfortunately. Did you ever think you’d see me again?”
Light Flour stood up, and Cherry Mochi followed what he does. Light Flour squinted at the cookie in front of him. The soul of a cookie in front of him.
Hair was orange and short, cut lazily and hastily with streaks of black littered through it. Cat-like ears, perhaps a weretiger, given their stripey tail? They wore shiny orange silk that draped over their arms like a curtain, and puffy-looking black shorts with silver glitter sprinkled in them. Their eyelashes were a thick black color and their eyes a burning red.
Or a pumpkin orange?
“Pumpkin Spice Cookie!” the fallen leaders exclaimed in unison. Cherry Mochi immediately leaped forward and hugged her long lost friend
Light Flour would’ve joined in the hug if they were fond of physical contact, but he wasn’t, so he stayed back with a smile on his face. “We missed you.”
“Missed ya too,” Pumpkin Spice replied, ruffling Cherry Mochi’s hair. “How’s the kingdom doing?”
Cherry Mochi did a dramatic sigh. “No good. Something… bad happened.”
“What about before that sumthin’ bad?” Pumpkin Spice let Cherry Mochi go.
“We were doing awesome!” Cherry Mochi exclaimed. Voice loud enough to potentially disturb the wraiths, so Pumpkin Spice ushered her to quieten. “Our residents were absolutely thriving, we even became legendary! Some really important people even planned to visit.”
“Planned?”
“Something bad happened.”
“M’kay, got it,” Pumpkin Spice put a hand on their chin. “Good to know.”
A bell tolled and Pumpkin Spice looked up. “..Damn. You two need to go now.”
“Go where?” Cherry Mochi asked. She looked around. “There’s not much ‘where’ to go to here.”
“The river,” Pumpkin Spice said. “Follow the current, and let it flow over you. It’ll wash away all your worries.”
“And wash away our selves too, right?” Light Flour crossed his arms. “Recycle our Life Energy. For something else.”
Pumpkin Spice nodded.
“May we stay?” Light Flour asked, stepping forward. “We’d like to be in your company for one last time…”
Pumpkin Spice glanced at a faraway bell. Worried, their eyes, and they looked back at their friends. “You can’t. Or more, I can’t.”
“Why?” Cherry Mochi chirps, voice wavering like a stray kitten’s meow. “This is the land of the fallen, right? We can wait… All we want. I remember reading about it now.”
Pumpkin Spice shook his head with a frown. “You can wait fur.. Blue Milk Cookie and Black Salt Cookie. But I need to go. I’m sorry.”
***
Splash.
Light Flour threw himself in the waters a while after Pumpkin Spice went Witches know where. He let the current take him wherever he was going and could feel his mind slip away, crumb by crumb.
Splash.
Cherry Mochi followed, though originally intending to ‘save’ him, she eventually let go to the river’s flow and lost her self floating, drowning in silence.
Pumpkin Spice watched from the top of the stairs. The only reason he could see them was because of the fading brightness of their doughs, stark contrasts to the rest of the realm. Pumpkin Spice looked back forward.
“aRe yOu rEaLLy gOing to leAve thEM?”
“It’s the right thing to do.”
“do YOU evEN kNoW iF tHeY wANt yOu ThEre?”
“Did you not hear what they told me?”
“You ShoulD sTaY. It wOuLd bE bettEr THaT wAy.”
“Haha. In your dreams.”
They climbed and climbed up the steps to the door, from which a bright whte light glowed and pulsated, like it was beckoning Pumpkin Spice to come closer. And yet, these trails and illusions, grasped at them tight and mighty to try and make them look back. They didn’t.
Soon the door was no longer shrouded in clouds of misty haze and they stood on the platform. Both legs mounted to it, in fear they’d turn around and start running automatically. They reached forward.
“tHEy DDonT WaNt You Back.”
Mocked a mangled mimic of Light Flour.
“You don’t know that,”
Pumpkin Spice spat. Literally, spat at the illusion, which squirmed and dissipated.
“Hes RIgHt yOU KnOW? WE’d ratHeR yOU Go bacK To bEiNG deAD.”
A smiling image of Blue Milk cackled.
“I don’t recall you ever agreeing with him.”
Pumpkin Spice reached for the door. Slowly pushed it open with all their might. Light spilled in from the other side.
“You WeRe nEveR oNE OF US. What IF WhAt yoU’re LoOkIng FoR IS lOnG gONE? WE wON’t HelP yOU If yOu’RE rEINcARnaTeD AS a BLaDe OF gRasS.”
Black Salt hissed.
Pumpkin Spice froze. Hand still on the door, paralyzed, not physically looking back. They swallowed an insult and pushed the door open.
“If it is long gone, then so be it. If you will not help me, then so be it. If I return as not more than the wilting petal of a tulip, I will live that form until it has decayed and I will return once more.”
Pumpkin Spice grunted as they gave the door one last push. They could see the other side.
“I will find it. If it is dead, then I shall look for it’s corpse until my self has been lost and my mind has withered. You do not sway me. And you never have before.”