Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The day was calm as the watchers of the citadel patrolled on the kingdom wall as always. A few snowflakes gently fell from the grey sky, adding to the many that were now coating the landscape of the kingdom in a shining white.
Caramel Arrow and Coffee Brownie were chatting lightly about anything their minds would wonder about. As their conversation fell silent, they noticed a pack of cream wolves, followed by Captain Crunchy Chip, appearing from the forest.
They waved at him, happy to see their friend — thing that didn’t happen often, as he spent most of his time patrolling the borders of the kingdom — noticing them, Crunchy Chip waved back and got closer, followed now by just one wolf.

“Caramel, Coffee! It’s nice to see you! How is it going?” He asked once he was close enough.
“For now everything’s fine!” Coffee Brownie answered “no attacks just yet.”
“Good to hear— but I can’t stay here and chat! I have a report to do.” Crunchy Chip shook his head, looking along the wall in hopes to see an entrance nearby.
“Of course, we wouldn’t want to keep you here if you still have things to do.” Caramel Arrow said with a smile, “if you go that way you are going to come across one of minor entrances!” She pointed somewhere in the distance along the black wall.

The wolf captain nodded, just as he was about to begin making his way to the gates, a flicker of golden light caught his attention, along with the watcher ones.
They turned to face where the light came from, there, they saw a dim yellow shine coming from the snow, hidden away by some bushes.
Crunchy Chip looked up at the two cookies on the wall, who looked back at him, with a nod he started cautiously walking toward the shine.

“What is it Chip?” Caramel Arrow shouted, so that the captain could hear her.
“I’m not sure…” Crunchy Chip shouted back with a hint of confusion in his voice, from where they were they could see his wolf growling at whatever the thing was.
“Do we need to come and look ourselves?” Coffee Brownie asked, a bit intrigued.

The wolf capitan looked at them and hesitantly nodded, the two quickly got off the wall, as much as they disliked to leave their position, it wouldn’t be for long anyway.

As they got closer, they finally could get a good glimpse at the origin of the golden shine, it seemed to be… a vortex?
Crunchy Chip’s wolf was still barking and growling at it, backing as far away as possible.
They took a step back too, after a few seconds of stunned silence Caramel Arrow finally spoke “we should call someone to investigate… whatever this is.” she said.
Before they could agree with her, the strange vortex expanded under them, they fell through it before they could even think of doing anything.

All they saw was a sudden yellow flash, and as it disappeared — just as quickly as it had appeared — they found themselves deep inside the forest. The snow was covering everything, which wasn’t so strange, the branches that grew above them formed an intricate wooden roof, they were so thick that just a few rays of sunlight managed to make it through them.
Wait, sunlight? Wasn’t it cloudy just a few moments ago?
The trunk of the trees made it impossible to see over a few meters, and the quantity of bushes made it hard to see the ground.

They quickly got up, not even bothering to brush the snow off their clothes. They looked around tensed, even if they still didn’t exactly know what had happened.

Looking around, it was obvious that whatever that vortex was, it had brought them far away from any civilized place, otherwise the bushes and at least a few of the trees would have been cut to make it easier to walk through the forest.

“Where are we?!” Coffee Brownie exclaimed, still crouched down, ready to strike anything that would come their way. He turned to Crunchy Chip, as he was the one with more knowledge when it came to navigate the kingdom.
With surprise he noticed that the wolf captain seemed to be even more anxious than them, he was looking around, almost desperately, he looked around as well, Crunchy Chip’s cream wolf wasn’t with them, maybe it had backed away far enough and hadn’t fell into the strange vortex.
“I don’t know!” The captain eventually managed to stammer.
“I don’t recognize this part of the forest.” he quickly added, sounding very defeated.

Seeming to notice this, Caramel Arrow spoke up, “don’t worry Chip, nobody would be able to know where they are when everything you can see are trees.”
Crunchy Chip had to admit to himself that she had a point, but usually he could identify any point in the kingdom, it was something he was very proud of.
“Right! Let’s get to higher ground, we can find our way to the citadel from there” Coffee Brownie suggested, getting up, “once we get there, we can start to figure out just what just happened.” He added with a serious tone.

They agreed that it was probably the better option and began walking, even if the sheer amount of bushes and the deep snow made it rather hard.
After not too long, the ground finally began to elevate, firstly it was ever so slightly noticeable, but as they kept going, it became more and more evident, by the time they reached a flat surface, they were practically climbing up the rocky surface.

For Crunchy Chip it was much easier, and he was the first one to reach the top, he looked down at the other two, with a proud grin.
The two huffed at the sight, but quickly let it go as they saw the wolf captain look up at the horizon and, a confused, slightly agitated look appear in his eyes.

“What’s happening?” Coffee Brownie asked, quickly pushing himself up the last stretch of ground, making his way to where Crunchy Chip was now standing, followed closely behind by the first watcher.
“That’s the Icing Ridge… but—“ he stopped, with an incredulous look on his face.

The two warriors followed his gaze, from where they were standing, they could see the landscape of the kingdom, as there were no trees to cover the view now.
Just as Crunchy Chip had said, the Giant Icing Ridge was visible, the citadel should be around there somewhere! But… that’s strange, shouldn’t they be able to see it already from where they were?

The three looked at each other, it seemed that they had all came to this realization.
“Where…?” Caramel Arrow murmured, narrowing her eyes, she knew the landscape of the zone better than anyone, to look after it was her job after all, and she could swear that the castle should be right there, but it… wasn’t?

Suddenly they heard a rumble coming from the distance, they immediately drew their weapons out of pure instinct, they looked around trying to identity the origin of the sound.
And it didn’t took them long to, as they — at their utter horror — saw a colossal, snake like silhouette slithering up one of the higher peaks of the Icing Ridge, followed by a second, darker, one.

“The twin dragons?!” Coffee Brownie shouted over the roar of one of the two creatures, as it charged towards their counterpart, hitting with their tail the side of a mountain, making a chunk of ice fall.
“No!” Caramel Arrow simply answered, shouting as well “it can’t be!” She turning towards the two “that would mean His Majesty…” she said, quieter this time, not daring to finish the sentence.

Their eyes widened as he two dragons moved in the sky over the tall mountains, unfortunately for the warriors, they were going in their direction.
The three tried to not think of the implication of what was happening and clenched their weapons tightly, even though they knew that they wouldn’t do much in a fight against the two creatures.

“You three!” A voice shouted from behind them “are you crazy?! Run!”.
The warriors snapped their heads back, they saw a hooded figure standing on the limit of the forest.
As much as they hated retreating, there was no way they were going to fight off the two dragons. They quickly ran towards the forest in the direction of the cookie, as they got closer they heard the hooded cookie speak, “follow me.” they said.

The cookie turned around, just as they did, a snow lion appeared from the trees, making the warriors draw their weapons once more.
“Don’t be afraid, she’s nice, now get on.” the cookie said, quickly pulling themselves on the back of the lion, who had lowered itself — herself? — to make it easier.
Not having a better option at hand, the three reluctantly followed.
The lion got up and started quickly running away into the forest — who was luckily much more spacious — as the four cookie held tightly to the animal’s mane.
They were familiar with cookies riding cream wolves, as Crunchy Chip usually used them for transportation as well, but lions? Hell, they didn’t even know they were tamable.

Looking back, through the branches and leaves, they could see the two twin dragons fighting on top of a mountain. What was going on? Was the king okay?
They saw the White Dragon slithering towards the Black Dragon and hitting them violently, making them fly back.
Just as they did, the sky suddenly darkened, the sun seemed to disappear as the moon rose from the horizon.

“What…?!” Crunchy Chip muttered.

The dragons flew away in another direction, the rumble of their endless fight getting farther and farther away.
Once it completely disappeared, the lion stopped, the unknown cookie got down, and so did the other three.
Just as they landed on the snowy ground, a roar was heard echoing in the distance, the sun suddenly rose, the sky lighting up as the moon fell.

“That again?! What…?” Caramel Arrow murmured, the other two warriors were just as surprised.
“What do you mean?” The hooded figure asked, turning to face them “That always happens.” they said in a very unamused tone.

“What? That never happens!” Crunchy Chip exclaimed, turning to the cookie, now that their lives weren’t at risk, they could finally get a good glimpse at the stranger. From their voice they noticed that they were a man and that they were rather young. He had chocolate colored dough, from the hood a few strands of black hair were visible but they couldn’t get a good look of the cookie’s eyes.
His mouth was covered by a piece of dark clot, they wore a dark cape and worn out clothing, together with black boots.

The hooded cookie tilted his head hearing what the wolf captain said, “what…? are you not from here? You surely look like you live around here… which tribe are you from?” He eventually asked, mumbling to himself.

“We come from the citadel, we were just trying to go back—” Coffee Brownie said, before he could add anything the other cookie interrupted him, “citadel? I’ve… never heard about it… is it far from here?” He questioned.
He couldn’t be serious, there was no way he didn’t know about it, but he sounded so genuinely curious.

“It’s… just on the Giant Icing Ridge, close to the sea” Crunchy Chip explained.
The cookie’s head snapped to look at them and even if his face was almost completely hid away, they sensed genuine surprise and concern coming from him. After a brief pause, he spoke “that’s… simply impossible, that’s the zone where the two dragons fight more frequently, nothing can live there” he stated.

The three looked at each other with a worried expression.
That would be true hundreds of years ago, when king Dark Cacao still hadn’t separated the two creatures.

As they thought this, the cookie removed the hood from his face, but still keeping it on his head and lowered the cloth from his mouth and nose, revealing — to the immense surprise of the three warriors — familiar deep purple eyes staring intensely at them, together with a white streak of hair that was just now visible.

The three eyes widened in disbelief.

There was no way that…?

Coffee Brownie hesitantly spoke after a few moments of silence “who are you?” He managed to question, still in disbelief

“My name is Dark Cacao Cookie.” The cookie answered, surprising no one at this point.

After a few moments of awkward silence Caramel Arrow spoke up “I… think we need a moment to talk… in private.” She said, grabbing the other two and dragging them away, earning them a weird out look from Dark Cacao, who turned back to the lion that was now lying down.

When they got far enough they turned to face each other.
“What is going on?” Coffee Brownie practically cried out.
“There is no way that’s just a cookie with the same name as the king, right?” Crunchy Chip sighed.
“Same hair, eyes and mood too? Be serious.” Caramel Arrow said, eyes fixated on a random stop on the ground as if it was the most interesting thing in the world.

“That strange vortex… what did it do?” Coffee Brownie asked, looking defeatedly at the other two cookies.
“I’m going to sound crazy but…” she took a deep breath, finally looking at the two warriors “if that’s the king, then I fear we are in the past” she stated.
Coffee Brownie and Crunchy Chip just sighed, as what the first watcher said didn’t surprise them at all.
“Well, how do we go back?” The second watcher asked, the other two shrugged.

This was going to be a long day.

Chapter Text

After the group of warriors finally finished discussing, they looked back at Dark Cacao, he was sitting down, hand petting the snow lion, he was glancing at them with a stern expression.
He looked like he couldn’t have been older than eighteen, maybe even younger, but the look in his eyes was the same as the one they knew so well.
They eventually turned around and sat as well, remaining silent, not exactly knowing what to say.

“Thank you for saving us before.” Coffee Brownie hesitantly said, trying to break the awkward silence.
“No need.” The king simply answered, if they could even call him that right now.
“You got lucky, those things could have crumbled you in a moment” he said, practically spitting out those word. Clearly he didn’t appreciate the two twin dragons as much as he did in the future.

“Do the two dragons fight often?” Caramel Arrow asked, genuinely curious.
Dark Cacao nodded in response before getting up “we can’t just stay here, it’s dangerous.”
“I would help you get to where you live, but…” he paused, looking at them with an unreadable expression “I’m… not sure what you mean when you say that you’re from the Icing Ridge” he said.

“It’s complicated” Caramel Arrow quickly said, before getting up herself “for now, we don’t exactly have a place to go” she admitted.

Dark Cacao remained silent for a few moments, he looked up at her — witches did it felt weird for her to be taller than the king — it seemed like he was considering what to say.
“I suppose I could lead you to my tribe, maybe you will be able to remain there for a while” he eventually said, “may i ask what your names are?” He asked, looking at them.
“My name is Caramel—“ the first watcher stopped herself.

Were they supposed to tell him their names? Would that have some repercussion of some sort on the future? Witches this is confusing…

“It’s Caramel Choco Cookie…?” She managed to say, with not nearly enough conviction as someone who is supposed to be presenting themselves.
The other two picked up on what she was trying to do.
“I’m Chocolate Chip Cookie” Crunchy Chip said, conveniently stealing the name from one of the cookies he had saw in his family tree.
“And I’m Couverture Choco Cookie” Coffee Brownie chimed in.

Dark Cacao nodded and turned around “we can’t use Khione— I mean, the lion, to go there, they wouldn’t like her, we’ll have to walk.” he added “don’t worry, it’s not far.”

The three warriors agreed, not having a better option and began walking, for a stretch of the road, Khione — that’s how they assumed the lion was named — followed them, but their paths separated not long after.
They kept on walking in the snow, Dark Cacao in front.

“Your Maje— I mean, Dark Cacao, what is this tribe you speak of?” Coffee Brownie asked, Caramel Arrow shot him a glance at his mistake.
Luckily, Dark Cacao seemed to not notice, he glanced back at them with a strange look in his eyes “I’m from the Chocolate Tribe.” He said in a cautious tone, almost expecting them to get mad at his statement.
He looked almost surprised when the second watcher answered with a simple “understood.”

Caramel Arrow noticed this, but decided to not say anything.

After a while of walking, a few columns of smoke appeared in the distance, the future king stopped, and so did the three warriors.
“We’re close.” he stated, turning to face them.
“Finally…” Crunchy Chip muttered, Dark Cacao definition of ‘close’ was surely something.
“I have to inform you that the people of my tribe aren’t really welcoming to strangers… and we aren’t really liked for that.” he paused, looking at the three “so don’t do anything bad.” he eventually said, turning around and starting to walk.

Coffee Brownie looked at the first watcher with an unconvinced expression “are we sure we sure this is a good idea?” He whispered, she looked back at him and smiled in response before following their future king.

As they left the forest they found themselves in front of a long wall of tree trunks impaled in the ground — it vaguely reminded them of the wall of the citadel — on it were large red banners with a symbol they didn’t recognize.
Protecting the only entrance were two guards, who were much more interested in drinking and chatting than actually doing their job.

The two ignored the group of cookies as they entered, in front of them there was now a large camp, many fires were lit but very few cookies were actually outside.
In the distance they could see another tall wall made from the same material of the other one, but it seemed to be taller and more guarded.

They saw a larger cookie glancing towards them, his eyes widening as they fell on the three warriors, the cookie stormed towards them, Dark Cacao seemed to tense up as he muttered something they couldn’t quite understand.

“Who the fuck are they?!” he shouted once he got closer.
The three were taken aback by such rude behavior, they really didn’t like outsiders at all.

“Cookies I saved from the two dragons.” Dark Cacao answered “they have no where to go, they ask to remain here, just for a short while.” he added, quieter this time.
The taller cookie looked down at the
warriors before letting go of a forced laugh.

“these are just more mouths to feed, when you know better than me that we don’t have food.” he spat.
“Was I just supposed to let them crumble then?” Dark Cacao answered in the same tone, it seemed that the two didn’t went along really well.
“Yes” he simply said, turning around “they are going to get crumbled by someone anyway if you keep them in here, you know that.” he added dryly before walking away.

After a few seconds of silence, Crunchy Chip spoke up “what’s up with him?” He asked with a frown.
Dark Cacao didn’t answer and just kept on walking, the other three followed.

After a while they reached a zone where the snow was replaced by mud and dirt, as they passed a tent a cookie came out of it.
“Ah, you’re back…” she said looking at the future king.
“Salted Choco, do we have room for three more cookies?” Dark Cacao asked the cookie, she looked at the three before sighing, “you know we don’t, get them out of here.”

The warriors were starting to feel really bad about the whole thing, maybe they should just go away, they could live in the wilderness of the kingdom anyway.
Before they could voice these thoughts, Dark Cacao spoke “they don’t have anywhere to go.” he pleaded, getting closer to the cookie.

Salted Choco scoffed “you’re kidding right? Or are you just deaf? We can’t keep around more cookies.” she said.
“And I can see you didn’t even bring back anything from your hunt” she added, looking with contempt at him.
“The dragons—“ the bitter cookie began, just to be cut off by the salty one “spare me” she said, turning around and getting back into the tent “you’re gonna get in trouble if they find out.”

Dark Cacao sighed and turned around mumbling a “sorry” before keeping on walking towards another part of the camp.
At this point the three warriors felt like they had dragged the future king in a mess that they even didn’t fully understood.

“It’s really not a big deal, we can go” Coffee Brownie said, quickly following behind and getting closer to Dark Cacao.
“You think you can survive out there?” He asked without looking at him.
“Of course we can!” Crunchy Chip exclaimed with a confident smile. The future king just hummed in response, not entirely convinced.

No one spoke after that, as they adventured deeper into the camp, the space became more crowded, most looked to be children, or around the same age as Dark Cacao, just like the adults of the camp, they looked at them with a look of superiority.
They noticed that more than looking at them, they were looking at the future king, they also noticed how the Dark Cacao’s pace fastened.

They eventually reached a tent and the bitter cookie practically dragged them inside, it was a bit small for the four of them, on the ground there was a bunch of blankets, a few worn out coats, buckets of water and sacks.
“I sleep here.” They heard their king say “I guess you can stay here a while too.” He added.
“Thank you.” Caramel Arrow quickly said. The space wasn’t really that welcoming, but hey, better than living in the snow.

The cookies sat down, everyone just awkwardly looked around, even if Crunchy Chip had a slightly irritated frown on his face.
“I don’t like how those cookies spoke or looked at you” he eventually said with frustration.
The other two warriors, together with the future king, looked at the wolf captain, they partially agreed with him — How dare they speak to the king like that? — but they also understood that right now, Dark Cacao surely did not have the prestige he has in the future, still they thought that even then, the cookies had acted in an unnecessary rude way.

Dark Cacao just sighed.
Caramel Arrow decided to speak up, “Where we come from, we believe that everyone deserves respect.” She said, a smile forming on her face.
“That sounds nice,” the future king said, looking up at her, “you said you come from… ‘the citadel’ was it?”

“Well yes, but it’s complicated” Coffee Brownie sighed. “Right…” Dark Cacao mumbled “do you… like it there?” He asked.
The question took them by surprise, it was a bit ironic that he was the one asking that.

The three simply nodded, the future king looked like he was about to say something, but he stopped as he heard a few voices outside of the tent, laughing, as he heard them, Dark Cacao seemed to tense up. “Shit” they heard him whisper.
“What? Who are they?” Crunchy Chip asked, whispering as well.

Just as he asked that, a cookie opened the entrance of the tent, they were smirking, their grin widened as he saw the cookies inside.
“Ah! Look who we have here!” He said, glancing back at a group of cookies behind him that were still chuckling to themselves. “it’s the freak! I guess he didn’t crumble out there after all, what a surprise!” He snorted in an ironic tone.
“Gianduja Cookie. Get out.” the bitter cookie answered getting up, the other three warriors tensed up as well, just by a glance they knew that they wouldn’t like that cookie, especially by how he was talking to their king.

Hearing what Dark Cacao said, Gianduja started laughing.
“Or what? Huh?” He said, his eyes falling on the three that were getting up as well, his laughter died out, his smirk transforming into a frown, “and who are they? Did you lead people here again?” He sneered.
“He saved us from the two twin dragons.” Crunchy Chip intervened, “and you better watch your mouth.” He spat out, taking a step towards the cookie.

“Ah!” The cookie exclaimed, taking a step back, his eyes darting to the metal claws the wolf captain used as a weapon, “look at this one here, he just wants to die so bad!” Gianduja said, smirking while retreating back to the group of cookies behind him.
“Chocolate Chip! No, wait!” Dark Cacao said, turning to face Crunchy Chip — Oh right, that was his name now — he took a few steps in his direction while saying so.
“Yeah, listen to the freak and go back!” Gianduja said, turning around and starting to walk away.

Caramel Arrow and Coffee Brownie grabbed Crunchy Chip before he could sprint towards the cookie for calling Dark Cacao a ‘freak’ and brought him back in the tent, much of his complaints.
“Sorry about him.” the future king said once they had newly sat down “he’s just like that.”
“He looks like a jackass.” Coffee Brownie muttered.

That made a chuckle escape the bitter cookie, “he… does not like me, at all.” He said with a sighing
“Why is that?” Caramel Arrow asked, tilting her head.
Dark Cacao didn’t answer, sadness making it’s way to his eyes, the first watcher immediately felt guilty for asking.
“To me, he just seems like a coward.” Crunchy Chip said, breaking the awkward silence that he hadn’t noticed had formed, as he was still fuming.

The future king hummed, looking at the ground, “him and his friends were disarmed, that’s why he didn’t try anything.” he said.
“If you hadn’t been there, things wouldn’t have gone this well…” he added with a sad look.

His brows furrowed as he kept on looking at the ground, “he’s probably not happy about how you treated him, he’s going to come back, with more people and—“ he stopped.
“In that case we are going to beat his ass” Coffee Brownie chuckled “I think we can handle him” he added. This made Crunchy Chip and Caramel Arrow chuckle as well.
Dark Cacao smiled

The future king got up “it’s late, I’m going to try to get you some food, just stay here alright?”
Seeing the three nodding, he got out of the tent.
Finally alone, the warriors turned to each other and began talking.
“It must be hard to live in here… have you seen the conditions of these tents? They are so thin…”
“And everyone in here seems to hate us— we didn’t even do anything!”
“At least the king is nice…”

Chapter Text

As Dark Cacao walked, the moon newly suddenly appeared in the now dark sky, as a far away bang was heard echoing in the silent snowy land.
“that must have hurt…” he muttered to himself as he looked up.

He eventually arrived to his destination: a big tent where a bunch of cookies were pushing to get inside, trying — just like him — to get some food.
He sighed, whatever they would give him in there would be enough, especially for four cookies, it barely was even enough for one actually.

He quietly made his way behind the tent — unnoticed because of the amount of cookies crowed and the darkness of the night — where he knew he could get inside through a small hole in the fabric.
He peaked inside, he was hid from view by a large pile of boxes and the cookies in charge were too busy dealing with the hungry crowd. Perfect!
He quickly grabbed four loaves of bread and a few fruits, luckily no one saw him, otherwise he could just imagine what they would have done to him, and from experience, it wouldn’t have been anything pleasant — it’s not like this was his first time stealing — he hid the food away behind his cape and started walking back to his tent.

He walked through the camp, impatient to come back to the tent, or was he just impatient to be in company of those cookies?
He snapped back from his thoughts and looked in front of him, he suddenly stopped in his tracks as he saw Gianduja Cookie and his group of ‘friends’ — they were just his subordinates really — a few tents away.
It seemed as they hadn’t noticed him, Dark Cacao sighed from relief and quickly hid away in the shadows in order to not get seen, he really wasn’t in the mood for it.

He started cautiously walking, if he just avoided the torches and used the darkness and tents to avoid the cookies gaze, then everything would be fine.

“Gianduja Cookie! Look who’s there!”

Ah.

The cookie who had spoken was pointing at him, a smirk on their face.
Gianduja looked back at him, a wide grin appearing on his lips “oh, would you look at that… the freak decided to pester us with his presence.” he said, turning around.

Dark Cacao didn’t answer, he turned his head around and kept on walking, a bit faster than normal.
“You don’t have those suckers to help you now, y’know? You’re aaall alone…” he sneered, following behind him.
The bitter cookie stopped, turning around to glance at him.

A cookie from the ground that stood behind Gianduja spoke up, “at least he had he decency to wear that cape and hood…” they giggled.

“Shut your mouth.” Dark Cacao muttered, turning around, begging to walk away.
“What was that?” Gianduja asked.
Not receiving an answer, he took a few quick steps and grabbed the future king’s hood.
Dark Cacao snapped around, slapping the cookie’s hand away, the hood fell from his head in the process, revealing two dragon like horns of a dark purple color poking out from his hair. A few fruit fell as well.

A few cookies gasped, Gianduja just looked at him, he still had a smirk on his face “yuck, look at those things…” he chuckled, his eyes fell on the fruit on the ground, “you stole that.” he stated, his smirk somehow widening even more.
The bitter cookie quickly pulled the hood back on, taking a few steps back.
“Why do you care?” He spat back at him.
The other cookie brought his hands to his hips without answering, revealing, attached to his belt, a small metal knife, which faintly shined from the dim light of a nearby torch, as Dark Cacao’s eyes fell on it, he silently prayed that it was there just for intimidation.

What do now?

Should he fight back? Probably not a good idea.
He glanced back, desperately looking for someone who could help him, of course there wasn’t no one, there never was.
He should just run and hope for the best then?

“Y’know, I got wind that you’ve been leaving the camp to… what was it again? To train yourself?” Gianduja asked, stepping closer.
“You’re running out of things to nag me about.” The bitter cookie said, ignoring the question.
The cookie hummed in response, a clear frustration in his tone, the smile on his face wavered.
“Listen here.” he started, his smile had completely disappeared, “I could have you exiled from here, I don’t because I pity you, you should be grateful.” He spat, Dark Cacao knew that it would be better if he just shut up, but still he let escape a mocking chuckle when he heard what the cookie said.

Gianduja scoffed “If I wanted to, I could kill you right now. No one would notice or care.” he said, a small smirk daring to creep on his face, Dark Cacao tensed up, surely he was just trying to intimidate him, right?
A few of the cookies behind Gianduja looked at him, a worried look in their eyes, they were probably thinking the same thing, a few even backed away, just so they could get away if things escalated.

The future king took a few steps back, while the other walked towards him, he needed to get out of here, fast.

Chapter Text

The warriors were still sitting in the tent, they had been waiting for a while now for Dark Cacao to come back, no one had said it yet, but they were starting to get a bit preoccupied.
Many times now, they had peeked out of the tent, in hopes of seeing the future king coming back, but they were met just with shadows.

The three looked at each other, the look in their eyes was enough to understand what they were thinking.
“I’m going to look for him.” Caramel Arrow started at one point, getting up.
“I’m coming too.” Coffee Brownie said, getting out of the tent, followed by Crunchy Chip.

They looked around, the only indicators for where the king could have possibly went were that they knew that he was going to get some food and the general direction he took.
Not being familiar with the place surely won’t help, as they had no idea where they kept their food, so they just began walking in the same direction in which Dark Cacao went.

They walked though the labyrinth of tents, boxes, torches, sacks and other things they couldn’t quite identify because of the dark. All while ignoring the looks that the cookies they met gave them.
They kept on walking, at one point they noticed a few cookies quickly walking the other way with a strange expression on their face.
Just as Crunchy Chip was about to point it out, they heard a voice not too far away from them, “Maybe you’ll learn this way!”

It reminded them of the cookies from before, his name was Gianduja Cookie right?
The three looked at each other, the look in their eyes was now more anxious.
Caramel Arrow began running through the camp, the others followed closely behind. The first watcher had took in hand her two twin blades, seeing this the other two prepared for something bad as well.

Once they reached a spot where no tents had been pitched, they saw what they hoped they wouldn’t see.
Dark Cacao was on the ground, Gianduja towering over him a few cookies laughing behind him, he had snatched the cape and hood away from the future king — that was rather desperately trying to get it back — while also trying to hide his horns away, while a dragon like tail was slightly shaking, hidden away behind him.
A few fruit and loaves of bread scattered on the snowy ground.

Suddenly it clicked, the warriors had noticed how the king practically refused to take off hood or cape and the way the cookies called him a ‘freak’, the way he was acting now just confirmed it for them.

In the future Dark Cacao did not hide his dragon features away, so it was rather normal for them, but in this place it probably wasn’t very well seen.

But screw that. They had promised to protect the king with their lives, whether they were in the present, past or future, they couldn’t just stand there.

Caramel Arrow practically threw herself onto the cookie, making him fall back before he couldn’t even understand what was going on.
She put one of the two blades to his neck while she held the one in a threatening way.
“What the—?!” Was all that Gianduja managed to mutter before he quickly backed away.
The other cookies had stopped laughing, some had even screamed in surprise, backing away.

“You stay away from him.” Caramel Arrow said, pointing the two blades that now formed a bow at him, Crunchy Chip was at her side.
“Caramel Choco? Chocolate Chip?!” They heard Dark Cacao say, “what are you—?” He stammered.
“Dark Cacao! Are you okay?” Coffee Brownie asked while kneeling down next to the future king, “Couverture Choco— yes I am” he nodded, looking at the three with wide eyes.

Gianduja had managed to get back on his feet, but he was already backing away, taking a quick glance at the other cookie’s weapons before fleeing away, letting the cape wall onto the snowy ground, cursing at the warriors in the meanwhile.
“You are going to pay for this!” He yelled as he ran away.
The two didn’t took their eyes off him until he got out of sight, they then turned around to face the other two, Dark Cacao had gotten back on his feet, he looked still a bit scared, “thank you.” He quietly muttered, his gaze not meeting theirs.
“No need, here have this.” Crunchy Chip said, grabbing the dark cape from the ground and offering it to the future king, who hesitantly grabbed it, quickly putting it on.

He remained in silence, looking at the mess of snow and dirt on the ground — left over from the altercation that had just happene — waiting for the three cookies to point out his dragon like features, maybe with fear or even disgust like all the others?
“What happened?” They instead simply asked, to which he finally dared to look up at them and with a defeated sigh answered, “it’s because of these things.” He said, pointing vaguely at the two purple horns on his head.

The three looked at each other, with a rather sad look on their face.
Coffee Brownie took a step toward him, leaning over slightly to look him in the eyes, “I honestly don’t see what’s so wrong with them!” He said with a reassuring smile, hoping to cheer him up.
Instead, Dark Cacao looked up at him with an almost surprised expression.
“Yeah! They’re really cool!” Crunchy Chip quickly chimed in seeing that.
The bitter cookie didn’t say anything, so Caramel Arrow offered to go back to his tent, to which the other two warriors agreed, quickly grabbing the food scattered on the ground.

They walked back through the camp, the first watcher leading the way while the other two stayed at at the future king side’s — just like they would normally do — while trying to break the suffocating silence that had fell between them.
They eventually arrived at destination and got inside, they sat down without saying a word.
Crunchy Chip washed the dirt and snow off a few of the fruits in one of the buckets of water present in the tent and offered it to the other three, who gladly took it and began eating.

Dark Cacao took a few bites out of his fruit before glancing at the other three cookies and hesitantly speaking up.
“Couverture Choco… did you mean what you said before?” He asked.
Coffee Brownie took a moment to realize that he was talking to him, but he quickly confirmed what he had said earlier.
“Ah… well, thanks.” The future king smiled ever so slightly, “you three— you’re too nice to me.” He muttered as he looked up at them.
“You saved our lives and gave us a place to stay! Being nice it’s the bare minimum.” Caramel Arrow replied, smiling back at him.
“Indeed! You don’t listen to those guys, they’re just holding you back.” Crunchy Chip chimed in as he looked at the other three with a smirk.
“Holding me back…” Dark Cacao repeated absentmindedly, his gaze wondering around the tent.

A few second of silence passed before the future king decided to speak again.
“you know those two dragons?” He started, “The cookies of this land don’t like them… all they do is fight, causing chaos, damage and crumble any cookie who gets too close.” he said, the other three looking up from their food.
“My tribe doesn’t like me because I’m partially a dragon too.” He explained.
“Well that’s just stupid…” Crunchy Chip muttered, crossing his arms, earning himself a small smirk from the bitter cookie.

Dark Cacao hesitated before continuing to speak.
“Lately I’ve been leaving the camp more often… mostly to train myself instead of hunting.” He said, “pretty irresponsible of me, I know.” He turned his gaze away from the others as he spoke, “but it’s for a reason, I swear!” He quickly added.
“What’s the reason?” Coffee Brownie asked, even if he believed that he already knew the answer.
“Well…” The future king started, “it might be a bit silly… and I know that I’m not supposed to listen to what they say, but I want to prove my people wrong, prove that I’m not just a waste of space.”
His eyes narrowed as they fell to look at the floor, his brows furrowing, determination almost tangible in his expression.
He began speaking once more.
“I wish to become strong enough to defeat the twin dragons… it’s going to benefit everybody if I do!”

The three couldn’t help but smile at his statement and give some comments of encouragement, both because of how charming he was and because they knew that he would eventually achieve his goal.

The group finished eating and eventually decided that it was time to go to sleep, Crunchy Chip helped his future king to lay down three more warm blankets on the ground, using a few empty sacks as pillows.
The four laid down and — after wishing a good night to one another — tried to fall asleep, which was made rather difficult by the twin dragons who as if on cue decided to raise the sun. But nevertheless they managed to eventually fall asleep.

When they woke up the sun was shining like any other morning, a few snowflakes were falling from the sky.
The first thing they noticed was that Dark Cacao was already gone, for just a moment they thought that something might have happened, but as soon as they left the tent they noticed him in front a nearby stone well while he was trying to get some fresh and clean water.
Once he finished he brought two water filled buckets and placed them near the tent entrance, he then pointed at a nearby sack “I managed to get some food, it’s in there.” he said, “I’ve already ate.”

The three sat down outside of the to eat, taking advantage of the rare warm sun and refreshing breeze, the camp was rather silent, so when they heard cookies shouting it easily caught their attention.
Their turned towards the shouts we’re supposedly coming from, which appeared to be a nearby minor gate to the exterior.

“Back off! Who do you think you are?!” They heard a guard exclaim while they pointed their spear at two rather annoyed — and ever so slightly scared — cookies.
The two looked particularly out of place, they were wearing really modern looking trousers and a slightly oversized jacket of a honey like color, on their head they both had a pair of brown goggles and their belts where full of gadgets of all kinds.

“Excuse me?! We are employees of the Time Balance Depar—“ one of the two started, only to be cut off by the other.
“Challah Cookie— hush.” She quickly said before turning back to the guard, “we are looking for someone, we believe they might be a bit lost…”

The warriors looked at each other while Dark Cacao was inside the tent fixing the blankets, seemingly undisturbed by the altercation taking place.

“Are they… talking about us?” Coffee Brownie decided to voice what they were all thinking.
Usually it would take a bit more to convince someone that a cookie came from the future, but at this point it didn’t really surprise them anymore.
“Well, at least we have a way back.” Caramel Arrow very hesitantly said.

It dawned of them the realization that they hadn’t exactly been thinking about the fact that they could probably cause some serious damage in the future or how they could get back to where — or better said, when — they belonged.

“Uhh… are we in trouble?” Crunchy Chip asked, his gaze leaving the two strange cookies to look at his companions.
“Maybe?” Coffee Brownie answered while taking a bite out of a small loaf of bread.
“Well, either way we need to talk to those cookies.” Caramel Arrow stated as she stood up, still looking at the group of cookies near the gates with sharp eyes, More specifically she was glaring at the guard, who was getting more and more aggressive at the seemingly unarmed cookies.

The three heard the crunch of snow behind them as Dark Cacao came closer to them.
“Those two don't seem to be from around here.” He said, only now getting a good look at the two strangers.

As if one had heard him, one of the two cookies turned to look towards the camp while the other was still arguing with the guard. The cookie’s eyes widened as he noticed the three. “Hey! You three—“ “don’t shout you fool!” The other cookie interrupted.
“But— Brioche Cookie!”

“Is he talking to us?” Dark Cacao asked turning to face the warriors with a confused and ever so slightly annoyed expression.
The three didn’t reply, as now they were thinking to how to explain to their king that they now could — no, had to — leave, when just yesterday they had nowhere to go.

“Actually… Dark Cacao, I believe that those two might be here to get us.” Coffee Brownie explained, turning to face the bitter cookie as he stood up.
“What? Do you know them?” He asked, his expression now just one of confusion.
“Not exactly, but we know that we have to leave now…” Crunchy Chip answered, getting up too.
“Ah, of course.” The future king said, his gaze falling back to the strange partners, who were now arguing between each other more than with the guards.

The four remained in silence for a few moments, none of them knowing exactly what to say.
Just as when Dark Cacao was about to say something Caramel Arrow bowed deeply taking him completely by surprise.
“We thank you for everything, we are sorry that we must depart so soon.” She said, in the same tone she would normally use while talking to him. The other two warriors quickly followed.

The bitter cookie blinked, a few moments of stunned silence passed before he finally remembered he could talk.
“There is no need— please, get up.” he said, eyes still slightly wide.
The three complied and got up.
“Goodbye then. I’m sure we’ll meet again!” Coffee Brownie said, smirking slightly.
“Goodbye…” the future king replied as the other two nodded and turned around, a look they couldn’t quite decipher in his eyes. They felt a bit guilty for leaving him like that, nevertheless they began to walk towards the gate.
Well, after all there isn’t much we can do they thought to themselves

In the meantime, the two cookies seemed to have noticed them and had stopped arguing, they turned to look at each other.
“See? I told you it was them!“ “whatever…” they said as they were forcefully shoved away from the entrance by two larger cookies, supposedly guards themselves.

The warriors reached the gate, the guards practically ignoring them as they approached, mumbling something they couldn’t quite catch. They turned around to wave off Dark Cacao one last time, to which he hesitantly answered, a small smile making it’s way to his face.

They finally left the camp and were practically assaulted by the two cookies, who quickly pushed them farther away from the camp and into the woods.
They then pulled out notebooks, pens and other machines — whose purpose they didn’t quite understand — that they pointed toward them, before one of them started to flood the three with questions.

“How are you feeling? Do you have any memory issues? Any physical pain or discomfort? Is any of your dough feeling off? Is it crumbling?? Does it feels too cold or too hot???”
He barely gave them time to answer.

“sheesh… what happened to ‘hello’?” Crunchy Chip muttered.
“There is no time for hellos! You three have been exposed to a time rift! It could have lethal effects!” He frantically answered, “I need to immediately inspect your jam for any symptoms!”
“Challah Cookie, calm down, they are fine, the period of time in which they were exposed was minimal.” The other said, showing him the screen of one of the machines, who appeared to calm him.
“We don’t have to analyze their jam or dough, this is enough, see? No symptoms!”

The three warriors stood awkwardly as the other two spoke, trying to understand what they were talking about. But Everything seemed to be fine.

The two finally turned to face them, Brioche Cookie spoke first.
“Usually we would have to detain any cookie who illegally time traveled…“ she said.
“But it was an accident!” Crunchy Chip quickly replied.
“Yes, we are aware! There won’t be any problems for any of you.” Challah Cookie said in reassurance, he was met by a sigh of relief by the three.

“Very well then, it is time to bring you back.” Brioche Cookie said as she grabbed a small machine, a golden light dimly shining from a small glass bulb.
“Please take this.” She said as her colleague handed them three goggles, similar to the ones that they were wearing.
The three complied and put them on.

Once she was sure that the three were properly protected, Brioche Cookie pressed a button on the machine she had in hand.
Immediately after, a familiar yellow flash enveloped the group, which just as quickly disappeared as they found themselves in a place they finally recognized.

They seemed to have been brought somewhere along the road to the main gate of the black citadel, the three were relieved to say the least at the sight of the tall black wall in the distance.

“Refrain from telling anyone about this… it’s better if less cookies know.” Challah Cookie said, catching the warrior’s attention.
“Of course.” Caramel Arrow quickly said as she took the goggles off, followed by the other two.

“And now it’s time to check the timeline and fix it… ugh” Challah Cookie muttered.
“Fix it?”
“Yeah, check for any damages and stuff.” he said, clearly not in the mood to work, “So that the future doesn’t change” his partner explained, “but don’t worry, no big changes should have happened.”

That said, the two cookies took in hand their goggles, and another intricate-looking machine from their belt.
With a nod and a small wave the two disappeared in another flash, this time of white light.

Finally alone the three began walking down the path, eager to ask for a day off and sit down to try and elaborate the last day of events.
They eventually reached the gate and were let in, not without questions about were they had been for the last thirty minutes.

Thirty minutes huh?

“We thought we saw a group of cake monsters, but it was just a few wild cream wolves.” Coffee Brownie lied as the other two nodded along.

The three kept on walking, by then Coffe Brownie’s and Caramel Arrow’s turns had ended, usually they would keep on patrolling even after the mandatory hours, but considering the circumstances, they opted to just keep on walking until they reached gates of the citadel.

The three eventually entered the palace, they must still look pretty moved by the whole thing, as the cookies that passed always asked them if something had happened. Of course they always answered with a “we are just a bit tired, that’s all.”
“It’s not like we have just travelled something like a thousand years in the past…” Crunchy Chip murmured while the fourth cookie who questioned them walked away.

The warriors subconsciously found themselves walking down the dark alleys leading to the throne room. Two guards opened the gates for them as they approached.
The room was rather full, which wasn’t unusual. Most cookies were there to talk to the king about more and less importantly matters.
Maybe they were there to talk to the king too? If yes, about what?

Dark Cacao was standing near the throne, a stack of papers that he was examining in hand, his tail was poking out from behind his cape, moving calmly.
He noticed them walking in and greeted them with a quick nod as they bowed, before directing his attention back at the papers.
The three stood awkwardly in an angle — still not exactly knowing what they came here to do — silently glaring at the king from time to time.

“Crunchy Chip Cookie.”
Dark Cacao’s voice pulled them away from their thoughts, the wolf captain practically jumping back as he heard his name being called.
“Yeah?”
“Didn’t you have a report to do today?” The king questioned, handing the papers over to an advisor.
“Ah! Yes… of course!” He exclaimed while he hurriedly walked towards Dark Cacao. The other two tried to hide away their smile as he did.
They followed behind as Crunchy Chip quickly gave Dark Cacao his report, to which the king answered with a satisfied nod.

“Very well, everything’s in order…” the king said, trailing off slightly his gaze falling onto the three who were now standing in front of him, his eyes almost imperceptibly narrowing.
“Your Majesty? Is everything alright?” Caramel Arrow questioned.
“Yes, my apologies.” He reassured her, “you three just… reminded me of someone.” He paused for a few moments.
“It doesn’t matter, you are dismissed.” He said, turning away from them.

The three looked at each other.

Oh well, something did happen huh?