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“Why fight?” the Beast asked. “Why stand against the very thing that brought you here?”
Madeleine struggled against the vortex. Anything that wasn’t attached to the ground had long since disappeared into its dark center. The only thing keeping Madeleine from following was his sword embedded into the ground. Above, unbothered by the magic of his own making, was a Beast Cookie.
He didn’t look like any other of his kind. If anything, he looked… normal. Dark brown dough and darker hair, a large, extravagant coat that could be taken off, a suit that spoke of no unnecessary wealth or style and only served practical purpose. In fact, Madeleine had fallen for his front– a wandering scholar stranded on Beast Yeast after being abandoned by the Creme Republic. It was a likely story, much to Madeleine’s chagrin. The Republic stopped caring for cookies away from home all the time, especially if they were Lower City cookies lost at sea. Madeleine had wholly believed it.
Silt Cookie , he had called himself. He was a little arrogant at first but constantly ran into dangerous and unsavory situations. Madeleine had always been there for him despite his protests. He would throw away rations that Madeleine offered. He wouldn’t help when Madeleine asked for it. He never thanked Madeleine, but Madeleine never once turned away from him. He was past those days.
They ran into GingerBrave and his friends. They fought together, ate together, slept together. The continent was not kind to its residents, but Madeleine had hopes. That cookie was still a cookie at heart, wasn’t he?
He was a researcher. He was a mage with groundbreaking discoveries that Madeleine had the honor of reading straight out of his notes. He had no family nor friends and had hoped the expedition would bring him some recognition in the eyes of the Upper City. Madeleine told him that if the Republic didn’t give him the glory he deserved, he should seek green pastures in Parafaedia. He looked genuinely excited to go.
Madeleine gave him the fragment of Soul Jam he had found on the way to Beast Yeast. Told him that if he truly wanted his validation from the Republic, no matter how much they didn’t deserve him, to do something about the fragment, make something world shattering, make it so that they could deny you no longer.
“ Make it so that they will never be able to take their eyes off of you again, ” he had whispered, hands gently cupped around the other cookie’s. “Just as I can’t. ”
“Why, Madeleine Cookie?” Acid Espresso Cookie asked. His hair and cloak whipped wildly with the winds. Hidden underneath his bangs, slotted where his eye should be, a peach-colored Soul Jam in the shape of a dragon’s footprint whose toes faced toward the ground. “Why think yourself better than death? It’s your birthright , isn’t it? All that is born, fated to die .”
Madeleine was not one to falter easily. He had been guarded around Silt Cookie– annoyed, even. Just because he never entertained the thought of doing away with or leaving him behind didn’t mean that he was necessarily happy with what Silt Cookie was doing. Hours turned days turned to weeks to just over two months of scouring this section of Beast Yeast did one good thing, though. It brought them closer together, weathered both their walls until they were just low enough for them to see over the top of their own and come to compromise.
From there, it was no longer a big leap to have conversations about themselves, their pasts, their dreams and nightmares. It was easy to fall asleep beside each other when night fell and effortless to trust each other with little things and the other’s life (which was kind of a big jump, but it was not only Beast Yeast, but also known stomping grounds of a Beast Cookie, so it was the right amount of necessary trust, in Madeleine’s opinion).
Madeleine could say that he tolerated Silt Cookie, and then he liked him well enough, then he was a friend , a lifelong comrade , a person he would willingly spend the rest of his days with . The younger cookies liked that they were getting along, in fact supported it.
They never would have guessed that what they were looking for had been right under their noses this whole time.
“There is an unaccounted for Beast Cookie,” Pure Vanilla had explained, “ One still imprisoned, but much differently from the others. When I was still with Shadow Milk Cookie, I learned that their Soul Jam had not yet fully developed, but they were corrupted anyway. If this Beast were to rise, us Ancients would be outnumbered.”
“Then we must find this Beast Cookie,” Clotted Cream had declared, “Find them and do something about it. A proper imprisonment, or if they are still weak enough, perishment.”
“Yes, ” Pure Vanilla continued, “But if you can’t, if their Soul Jam had completed development. It is no doubt still unstable. Destroy it. Take what you can. We must not let another Beast rise to power.”
Who would’ve thought? A power artificially created by a mere cookie that eventually flourished into its own Soul Jam, only to be corrupted, only to be destroyed. What could it possibly represent?
What could it be that Acid Espresso stood for the most?
“You say that,” Madeleine retorted. He planted his shield into the ground. This time, its hold was strong. This time, he would do what needed to be done. This time, he would not falter. “But you gave you the right to dictate what happens to me?”
“I was born into House Madeleine, a noble house back in the Creme Republic.”
“Pah! So you, in fact, didn’t work for anything. I should’ve known.”
“I know it doesn’t seem that way, and in the past, I would have agreed.
“I took everything I had for granted. My home, my food, my rank, my name. But the day I faced Dark Enchantress Cookie at the Republic, I realized…
“I realized that I was not given those things because I deserved them. I was given those things because the people before me worked for them, strived and fought to make sure that they nor their families would suffer the same way they did. I have no right to privilege– this is but a reward for those before me.
“I must not be complacent because I was lucky to hail from a line of rewarded cookies. I shouldn’t be arrogant or successful on their behalf. I myself have not earned anything, and I realized that day that… I had done nothing at all.”
“...”
“... …”
“So, what are you going to do about it?”
“As you have, dear Silt Cookie,
“Work for it.”
“I can’t believe my eyes– a sixth Soul Jam?!” Wizard Cookie gasped.
“It’s just like the others!” Strawberry Cookie said, eyeing the large blue gem on Madeleine’s gauntlet. It was shaped much similar to the House Madeleine crest. He hadn't realized until it was already solidified to his wrist.
“Well, I’ll be! Not only do we know who the Beast Cookie is, we also defeated him and got part of his Soul Jam!” GingerBrave cheered. “Oh, the Ancients are going to be stoked!”
Wizard Cookie, “This is a monumental achievement, Ser Madeleine! Not just anyone can wield a Soul Jam. You were chosen! You should be very, very proud.”
“I am,” Madeleine replied. Despite his efforts, his delivery was flat. The celebratory mood immediately dissipated. He couldn’t make himself bring it back, couldn’t summon the patented persona he’d maintained over the past year to keep the masses from second guessing their Knight Commander’s change in demeanor. Instead, there was only melancholy and remorse in his heart.
In his hand was a small necklace, made of coffee grounds and a fragment of Soul Jam that wasn’t either of theirs. It was far more valuable than any power Madeleine could’ve received.
“Do you like it?” Silt Cookie Espresso Cookie asked.
Madeleine rolled the shining brown pendant in between his fingers. It was small and inconspicuous, but oozed power and smelled strongly of an aroma he had come to love. If one looked closely, they could see the spark of the fragment in the center, but it no longer gave any hint of who it once belonged to. It had wholly become its own thing, and it was a piece of a cookie he’d known for a short time, yet felt like he could never leave.
“This is.. This is amazing!” Madeleine gasped. “This could change the tides of the war. Silt Cookie, you’re a genius!”
The other cookie blushed, a beautiful dark explosion across his face. (Madeleine could swear that he saw hearts floating out his hood at that moment. Maybe they actually were.) “Of course I am! You knew that already!” he yelled, embarrassed, before stomping off.
Madeleine had laughed boisterously– How extraordinary! He knew he was smart, knew he could do amazing things, but even then, he had never expected something like this.
“You will finally get what you deserve, Silt Cookie,” Madeleine had whispered, bringing the magic candy to his lips. An amazing cookie deserved amazing things. Madeleine couldn’t wait to give it all to him.
Coffee , he would realize moments later, after GingerBrave screamed that he’d found the Beast Cookie. Silt Cookie smelled like coffee, and his name was Espresso .
Was, because the cookie that had been shunned by the world was long replaced by his hate.