Chapter Text
It had been a while since it was just the two of them, just the two of them in nature. Just the two of them in awkward silence, each glance reminding them of their past. A lot had happened that had proved that they were still worthy of their “Childhood friends” title.
“It’s quite beautiful.” he finally brought out a subject of conversation, letting his eyes drift along the movement of the river. “Yes, it is.” White Lily Cookie thoughtlessly responded, following his gaze. He sighed, stopping to just stare at the motion of the water; she looked back at him. “Beast Yeast has more than just calm rivers you know,” she giggled, “This is one of the most common landmarks you could see anywhere.” she stood beside him, trying to bring some sarcasm to their conversation. He smiled, “Yes you’re right, but these sorts of natural beauties never fail to awe me.” he expressed with a soft smile. He pulled up his cloak and dipped his feet in the water, feeling the cool current brush against his legs. White Lily sat beside him, her dress draping into the water.
The peace and tranquility of the moment soon faded, “What’s that?” she noted, pointing at the crimson colour that began to fade in small portions of the water. Pure Vanilla stepped out of the water and looked towards the direction it came from. “I think it’s blood...!” he speculated with concern. “Quick, we must find out what’s going on!” he rushed, following the river to find the source. White Lily followed him, her steps splashing behind him.
Across the river were 3 children, they seemed to be cleaning themselves off of something. Pure Vanilla stared across to the river, seeing the pool of blood spread around the water they stood close to. “Children!” he called out, grabbing their attention. The three turned their direction to him, a prestigious looking wizard, a rebellious looking boy, and a wide-eyed girl. The boy swiped his hand behind his back, ready to pull out any sort of weapon he has on him. “Do you three need assistance?” He voiced his concerns, offering to cross the river to help them.
“No, we’re good!” the boy grinned, leaning to the side to cover the girl behind him, “Thanks though!”. White Lily stepped up to be beside Pure Vanilla- being behind him prior- “Where are your parents?” she inquired, making a good point. These three were alone, in beast yeast, a very dangerous continent. The three looked at each other, then back at the adults across from them. “Uh, somewhere-” the wizard hit the boy in the head before he could finish, “The hesitance in your voice is obvious.” The wizard intervened. “Look,” he began again, taking over the conversation, “We’re doing well, we appreciate your offer but it’s unnecessary.”
“The girl, her legs.” Pure Vanilla pointed at the girl's injured legs; that must’ve been where most of the blood is coming from. It seemed to have a few layers of dough shredded off, as if it were rubbed aggressively against the ground. He noticed the boys grit their teeth in embarrassment, “Yeah, we’re dealing with it.” The boy kept his smile as he tried to waver the adults' attention. “Well, I’m a healer, I could be of assistance.” Pure Vanilla suggested, trying to make them feel comfortable. They looked at each other, then they set their gaze on the girl, the boy knelt down and spoke to her; maybe asking for her agreement? She looked over his shoulder, staring at the strangers. She climbed over him- was that necessary? -and came toward the river. “Hey! Hold on!” He went after her as she crossed the river. He grabbed her arm, “You didn’t even nod yes or no!" She looked down at her legs, then at him. “Fine, we’ll get help.” he sighed with a smile.
“C’mon Wizard!” he beamed, “It’s just some water.”
“Fine.” he groaned; pulling up his skirts and begrudgingly walking across the river. “It’s just two strangers,” he argued, “How bad can this be.”.
Pure Vanilla watched the girl slowly approach him, he knelt down and took a look at her legs, “If you don’t mind me asking, what happened?” he softly asked her; she stayed quiet, only looking at the boy behind her. “Uh, she just fell…” the boy intervened. “Oh.” he nodded, looking up at White Lily, she seemed bothered. He brought his hand near her knee, making sure she was comfortable, she only stared at him. He began healing her, watching the wound fade slowly. “So, who are you three?” White Lily began her mini interrogation, her soft voice becoming firm. “Oh, I’m Gingerbrave,” the boy pointed to himself, “This is Wizard Cookie,” he directed her gaze to the short cookie beside him, “And that’s Strawberry Cookie.”, he pointed at the girl Pure Vanilla was healing, “She doesn’t talk.” he added at the end, still smiley as ever. “I see.” She accepted the response but was still suspicious about the three. “And what exactly happened to her again, she fell?” Pure Vanilla inquired; “She fell, we were fighting some beasts.” Wizard Cookie confirmed, “They gave us some issues.”. The girl nodded, agreeing with his statement. “Well, it’s quite dangerous, I’m glad nothing worse happened.” he chimed, softly looking up at the girl with a smile. He stood up, having finished healing her. She stretched her legs and hopped a bit, seeing they were all better, she ran across the river where their stuff was. “Well, it was nice of ya’ll to help us!” Gingerbrave beamed, turning to follow her. “Wait!” Pure Vanilla stuttered, “You three shouldn’t be going through the wilderness all alone.” he explained with worry. “What exactly are you offering?” Wizard Cookie glared at him with suspicion. “Me and my friend here can accompany you three to wherever you need to go!” he answered, gesturing to White Lily Cookie. “And who are you and your friend?” The Wizard stepped forward, looking up at him. “Oh, my apologies,” he remarked, “I’m Pure Vanilla Cookie, and this is White Lily Cookie.”
“I see.”
“C’mon! We gotta go Wiz’!” Gingerbrave yelped from across the river. He slid his spear on his back and grabbed a wand- presumably Wizard’s. “Hey! Don’t touch that!”, “Whoops!” He dropped it with a jeer. “Oh, you brute.” Wizard Cookie mumbled. “Well, they offered to accompany us!” he explained, pointing at the two behind him. “I thought you didn’t trust ‘em?~” Gingerbrave snickered, leaning on Strawberry Cookie; she nodded along with him. “Well, I’ve received their names.”, he confirmed, glaring at Gingerbrave, who had broken into laughter. “Wow! Must be easy to sway you, eh!?” he cackled, he took a moment to contain himself, “Fine, the more the merrier.” he huffed, licking his sharp teeth.
They stuck together, learning a bit about the kids just by their interactions in the background. They always heard Wizard Cookie and Gingerbrave bicker, while Strawberry Cookie remained silent, only making small noises to voice out her frustration. The only time they actually heard her speak was when Gingerbrave asked her a yes or no question, which she quietly responded to. The three were very interesting to watch over, there was a bit of chaos added to their journey, yes, but nothing they couldn’t deal with, they’re children after all.
“Pure Vanilla Cookie.” White Lily Cookie grabbed his attention, “What about Shadow Milk Cookie, you can’t bring them to spire with you, it’s too dangerous.” she stated her concerns, he hummed in thought. “You’re right, I’ve heard from Dark Cocoa Cookie and Golden Cheese Cookie that their beasts were very troublesome to handle.” he recalled their conversation, as he was told of their trials and difficulties. He feared that he had brought the children into danger, and he had only met them a few hours prior. “Well, you don’t mind taking them to the faerie kingdom, do you?” he suggested, trying not to let them hear. But alas, their interest had been piqued from the start, they just didn’t make it obvious. “Once I return, I can take them with me while you confront Silent Salt Cookie.” he devised his plan, hoping it would suffice, she nodded in agreement, “That seems like the best thing to do here.”.
“Are they breaking up?” Gingerbrave guessed, whispering to Wizard Cookie. He got a smack in the ass, “Idiot, who even said they were together!” he reprimanded. “Fuck.” he growled, smacking his hat down in return. “Hey!?”, the two started arguing, tugging at each other’s throats. Strawberry Cookie rolled her eyes, she was used to this, but it happened way too often.
“Boys, please!” Pure Vanilla scolded from ahead, hitting his staff on the ground to make some noise. They stopped; only glaring at each other, throwing insults through their stares. “Please behave.” he softly demanded; the two nodded in return. Wizard Cookie let go of him, but Gingerbrave only let go of his throat, deciding to squeeze his hand instead. “You wear gloves?” he remarked, holding his hand up from under his sleeve, “Is there in issue?”
And the cycle repeated.
Finally, they arrived at a village, now that he thought of it, he never knew where these three were headed. “Well, our journey ends here for now, children.” Pure Vanilla reckoned, “We have to part ways for now, but we shall meet again.” he explained, the three stared at him, slightly offended. “Children...?” Gingerbrave began, the other two nodded with him, “What?”
“We’re not kids.” he elaborated, “You’re not?” Pure Vanilla and White Lily gawked, shocked at this revelation. “Yeah, the only one here close enough to being a kid is her.” Wizard Cookie remarked; shock overcame them further with this new information. “Then how old are you three, really?” White Lily Cookie insisted.
“I’m 16-” the Wizard was interrupted with a gasp; he glared at them, “Ah yes, the short one is the oldest, it’s apparently the truth.”, “I’m 15, and Strawberry Cookie is 13.” Gingerbrave finished Wizard Cookie’s statement for him. “Still not old enough to be wandering these lands alone.” White Lily Cookie concluded, a bit embarrassed by her and Pure Vanilla’s prior assumptions.
“Most importantly, you three will be under her care for a while.” Pure Vanilla explained, “It’s for your safety.” The three had to complain again, “But you only said you’d accompany us, not keep us.” Gingerbrave was correct, there was definitely nothing about that in their arrangement. If you can call it that. “So, you’re kidnapping us?” Wizard Cookie scoffed, “No, we’re…” He had to think for a moment before coming up with a good way to explain his impulsive decision. That was it,
“We’re adopting you three.”