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This was a risky endeavor.
No, not just risky.
This was a death sentence for any other cookie.
The Duskgloom Sea is a graveyard haunted by a living ghost, who commands the waves to rip apart and crumble all those who enter its waters.
But Frilled Jellyfish Cookie had to try. She needed to try.
After all, had she not promised her lady, all those years ago, that she would return?
When she had regained her memories, it took the combined force of Crimson Coral Cookie and her sisters to stop her from immediately setting off.
Frilled Jellyfish Cookie was so, so angry at them. How dare they keep her from her lady, how dare they abandoned her dearest friend, their sister no less, when she was at her lowest!
It was only when they explained how the Sea Fairy Tear granted White Pearl Cookie the power she desired so much at the cost of her memories.
How she happily tore apart Tearcrown and the invading land cookies with a laugh that still lingers in Crimson Coral Cookie’s mind.
How the mermaid that commands the ruins of Tearcrown is not the one she remembers.
Despite everything she had learned, Frilled Jellyfish Cookie still couldn’t bring herself to give up on her pearl.
So, she made a deal.
She will go to the Duskgloom Sea, and make her case to Black Pearl Cookie.
If she succeeds, she’ll stay with her lady, and send a message telling the Gem Mermaids she’s safe.
But if she fails, Frilled Jellyfish Cookie will stay with the sisters, and accept her lady’s fate.
That is, if she makes it out in one piece.
⁂
There was no difficulty in getting to the Duskgloom Sea for Frilled Jellyfish Cookie.
Her fellow jellyfish remembered her, and were so happy to see her safe and sound.
Unlike the Gem Mermaids, the jellyfish believed in her goal, and showed Frilled Jellyfish Cookie the currents that would lead her straight to her lady without risk of harm.
And so she swam, returning to the ruins of a home she once shared with her lady.
Slowly, the clear blue water became murky and dim, and the sunken ruins of hollow whales decorated the ocean floor.
The sea monsters that had made their homes here in the debts didn’t try to attack Frilled Jellyfish Cookie.
No, instead they watched with wary eyes as she swam her way deeper and deeper into the abyss, to where not even the strongest monsters dare to go.
Finally, when not even the smallest beam of light could pierce through the murky waters, Frilled Jellyfish Cookie saw her.
Black Pearl Cookie
She sits upon a sunken hollow whale, her eyes shut.
If Frilled Jellyfish Cookie didn’t know any better, she would’ve believed she was a statue, a visage of the forgotten past.
Just as the Gem Mermaids described, her pearl and scales that once shone like the moon were now a pitch black.
An eclipse in Cookie form.
But Frilled Jellyfish Cookie is knocked out of her thoughts as said cookie eyes suddenly snapped open.
“Who dares to enter my realm!” Black Pearl Cookie snarls, summoning a trident black as night.
The sovereign’s eyes scan the abyss, and her eyes immediately spot Frilled Jellyfish Cookie, who stands out like the moon on the darkest night.
She stills, and whispers, “… No.”
Frilled Jellyfish Cookie cannot help but flinch as Black Pearl Cookie swims right up to her, circling her like a shark.
“It cannot be, it’s impossible!” The mermaid murmurs, almost reaching out to touch the maid, but hesitating, holding herself back from hope. “No, you… you must be an illusion, a ghost! Yes, of course…”
“My lady-”
“Shut it!” Black Pearl Cookie shouts, “You’re a mirage, a stupid piece of that white mermaid’s memory!” She grits her teeth and shuts her eyes, clear tears flowing up.
“My lady, it’s me!” Frilled Jellyfish Cookie begs, heart hurting at how distraught her friend is.
“Liar! Liar, liar, liar!” Black Pearl Cookie swings her trident with a shriek, a maelstrom consuming a near-by wrecked hollow whale. “You don’t exist! You’re just a walking corpse! A walking corpse that was abandoned because she failed to be the weakling her sister wanted! You gained the power you always deserved, and what do you get? Nothing but betrayal!”
Frilled Jellyfish Cookie is stunned into silence, watching as her precious pearl breaks down, screaming out the feelings she’s locked away for so long.
Eventually, Black Pearl Cookie tires herself out, sinking down to the ocean floor, shards of coral and bits of hollow whale scattered about.
Summoning all of her courage, Frilled Jellyfish Cookie swims forth.
“… Black Pearl Cookie?”
The mermaid looks up, tears still flowing from her eyes.
“I’m sorry.” Frilled Jellyfish Cookie whispers, pressing her head against her lady’s black pearl, “I’m so, so sorry.”
Black Pearl Cookie doesn’t shake her off, or strike her down, or anything of the sort. Instead, she places the maid into the palm of her hand, and lowers her down to eye level.
“… I’m not who you remember. I’m nothing but a ghost.” Black Pearl Cookie murmurs, closing her eyes. “White Pearl Cookie died that night, and I took her place.”
“Then we were both reborn anew,” Frilled Jellyfish Cookie responds, “And I promised to stay by my lady’s side, no matter the lifetime. Won’t you let me fulfil that promise?”
Her lady is quiet.
And then, she pulls her close, curling around Frilled Jellyfish Cookie despite her giant size. “I missed you. I missed you so much.”
“I missed you too.”