Chapter Text
The rain ran through Dark Choco’s now outgrown hair, dampening the unkept strands and causing them to stick to his face. Veins covered the left side of his face, pumping poison into his strawberry-jam stream. He had created a perfect trail of footprints where he circled the stone where his sword was once stuck. The tip of the damaged blade dragged on the ground behind him, barely held in Dark Choco’s hand as he marched in a perfect, emotionless manner. His mind was extremely foggy, he could only think about guarding the stone. Sometimes he thought that he could hear his own inner-dialog screaming at him to stop his horrid actions, but the need to guard this place was much louder. Despite the rain gradually starting to get heavier, Dark Choco continued to walk in his uninterrupted cycle, his heavy footprints being filled with mud and eventually being washed away. However, Dark Choco continued to march in that exact circle, despite being unable to see the evidence of where he was any longer.
“Keep going, Dark Choco…” A voice echoed in his head, “...Restore your honor, and then you can return to your kingdom…”
- - -
Almond Cookie shoved his hands into his oversized pockets, keeping his head low. He approached the outside wall of a bar, where Rye Cookie stood, staring at a few WANTED and MISSING posters, Almond Cookie even recognizing a few of the faces printed on the papers, to his hidden surprise. Rye Cookie seemed to be staring at three MISSING posters in particular, which listed the identities of “Dark Choco”, “Milk” and “Purple Yam”.
Almond Cookie scanned the posters, his eyes stopping on the dates printed on the papers. His eyes widened, “Wait a minute…”
Rye perked up, her gaze turning to Almond, “What is it?” She sounded annoyed, yet curious.
Almond pointed at the dates on “Milk”s and “Purple Yam”s posters, “They both disappeared on the same day.” His eyes suddenly shone with determination,
Rye squinted her eyes, scanning the dates with her eyes for a moment, before her eyes widened as well and she let out a small gasp, “How did I not notice….??” She stared at the posters in disbelief,
Almond shook his head, “I don’t know, but I need to get this into my case right away!” He raised his voice, seemingly starting to get excited. He nodded at Rye as if to say “Thanks, and goodbye.” Before running off in the same direction that he came from, before Rye could even respond. She watched Almond run until he was just a dot on the horizon, before she turned back to the posters, and she turned her gaze to these said dates.
- - -
Cream Puff Cookie sat in the empty classroom besides her teacher, Latte Cookie, and herself. Everyone else had gone home, but Cream Puff decided to stay after school. She scribbled away at a piece of paper, answering questions with impressive speed.
“Cream Puff Cookie” Latte’s smooth suddenly voice slicked through the silence,
Cream Puff perked up, her pencil accidentally falling out of her hands and onto the floor. “Whoops-!” She bent down to pick it up, “Y-Yes, Mrs. Latte?” She stammered nervously,
Latte opened a drawer in her desk, placing a stack of papers into the container, “I need you to deliver something to Detective Almond for me.” She requested flatly,
Cream Puff simply blinked, confused. Maybe she had misheard? “Come again?” She asked quickly,
Latte exited her desk, approaching Cream Puff with a few papers clutched to her chest, “I need you to deliver these to Detective Almond, I am too busy to do so myself.” She held the papers out for Cream Puff to take,
Cream Puff stared at the papers in disbelief, “For real?” She looked up at Latte, “You mean it?”
Latte nodded, “Of course I do, why wouldn’t I?” She smiled, “I trust you.” She added on,
Cream Puff took the papers gently yet excitedly, “Thank you so much, I won’t fail you!” Her eyes lit up with determination,
Latte laughed, “I know.” She recognized the look in Cream Puff’s eyes from the Detective himself,
Cream Puff smiled from ear to ear, giggling excitedly before ecstatically running out of the classroom.
Latte watched Cream Puff leave, before making her way back to her desk, looking at the papers in the drawers.
- - -
Almond Cookie threw his door open, holding a copy of the MISSING posters close to his chest as he did so. He gently kicked his office door shut, before speed-walking towards his desk. He hurriedly shoved some papers for an unrelated case to the side, setting the MISSING posters in their place.
“There must be a connection between these two disappearances…” Almond mumbled to himself, under his breath, “...Maybe I can find something in their records.” He continued talking to himself as he began making his way around his office, pulling open a drawer and skimming through what seemed to be like an endless amount of files inside an even more endless amount of folders. Eventually, after much looking and mumbling, he had both files that he needed.
“Milk Cookie #XXX” and “Purple Yam #XXX”
-
Milk Cookie hopped over a ravine that ran deep in the red-brown ground, landing majestically on the other side. He grinned with satisfaction, turned to face Purple Yam Cookie, who was still on the other side. Milk motioned Yam to join him, to which Yam snarled, mistaking the friendly invitation as a taunt. Yam growled, “I can do better than THAT!!”. He taunted,
“Come on, then!”, Milk taunted back, lifting his staff into the air in a cheering motion, knowing that if he challenged Yam, that he would surely make the jump. “Show me your best!” He continued to taunt playfully.
Yam huffed in preparation, planting his feet into the ground and pushing all of his strength into his legs, before he launched himself off of the ground, flawlessly flying over the ravine, landing considerably farther than Milk had with an audible THUD as his boots made contact with the ground.
Yam laughed, “SEE? I TOLD you!” Yam puffed his chest out in pride.
Milk smiled and clapped in celebration, “You were correct!” He giggled,
Yam chuckled as Milk giggled, “Damn right, I was.” Yam spat, trying not to appear appreciative of Milk’s compliments, but he knew that underneath his act, he was very grateful.
Milk pointed towards the mountain that toward in front of them with his staff, “We’re almost there, come on!” He began marching forwards, expecting Yam to follow him, which he did, causing Milk to chuckle.
Yam scoffed, “Do you ever rest? It’s almost creepy…” He crossed his arms, trying to appear annoyed, but he was more confused than anything
Milk turned to face Yam, “What?”, Milk raised an eyebrow and grinned smugly, “Are you tired?” His smug grin turned into a half-hearted smile, “We can camp here for the night if you require rest!” His smile grew,
Yam stared at Milk for a moment in disbelief, before yelling out in anger, “OF COURSE I’m NOT TIRED!!” He threw his weapon into the air, as if to prove a point, “Let’s keep going.” He basically demanded
Milk giggled, “If you insist!”,Milk nodded, before lifting his staff up in the air to cross with Yam’s weapon, “And yes, of course I rest.” He added on after a moment,
Yam exhaled through his nose, “I knew that…” He mumbled under his breath, causing Milk to laugh half-heartedly.
---
Pain, exhaustion, regret. Everytime Dark Choco felt his body start to get tired or begin to ache, the parasite in his eye would pump more poison into his system, numbing the warnings that his body repeatedly attempted to give him, until he simply collapsed due to exhaustion. He now lay on his back, his hair and outfit getting filthy in the mud below him, while the rest of him was relentlessly soaked in the pouring rain.
“I think it’s about time for an upgrade to your system, Dark Choco. What do you think?”
He stared into the starless, cloudy night sky,
“I...don’t know…”
It laughed dismissively,
“Don’t be silly, Dark Choco! How else will you guard your precious stone if you can’t even move your body?”
Dark Choco tried to sit up, but his body felt like a million tons that he fruitlessly tried to lift,
“I guess...you’re right...”
It clasped its hands together in satisfaction,
“That’s the spirit, Dark Choco! Now prepare yourself, this might hurt a bit…”
- - -