Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Come closer, my love. She won’t bite.”

The bright armored figure shifts closer, his cape swaying softly in the breeze. Silver leaves flutter down around the three cookies, creating a serene atmosphere in the early morning sun of the Faerie Kingdom. Away from his Knights of Kala Amak, The Salt of Solidarity feels at ease with his faerie- well, not totally at ease, with the small bundle in the other’s arms.

Elder Faerie Cookie sits beside The Salt, his silver hair falling in soft strands over his shoulders as he cradles the bundle. Dressed in just his simple white and blue robes, he looks so relaxed- which is much deserved. His wings flutter and shimmer slightly as they catch the light… How did The Salt get so lucky? To have a husband such as he…

“What shall we name her? She’ll need one, after all.”

The Salt peers down at the bundle. A small baby, a little girl. Her skin is pale like his, but her hair seems to be that of his faerie’s. He can only hope that he has his beloved’s eyes and spirit as well.

“I suppose… hm…,” The Salt ponders as he gazes between the two cookies before him. “Well… if I were to choose, I suppose I’d choose… Angel Cake Cookie. I feel it fits….” He feels a bit out of place, deciding this, and it shows in his uncertainty.

Elder Faerie smiles and holds the small thing’s hand with a finger. On her tiny wrist is a silver bracelet- much too big for her, but a symbol of protection against evil. All faeries have one, and wear it till the day they die. “It’s perfect, just like her. Our Angel Cake Cookie.”

~~*~•~.~*~~•~’

He stands among the bodies of the Kala Namak. The Great Barren has become a landscape of death and despair, all at the hands of these… despicable puppets.

The vessels of the Beastly sins face him in a wall of an army of brainwashed cookies- cookies he had cared for and lent aid to before. Cookies he had shielded from harm and war. Cookies he would have once given his life to protect. Now they look at him like he’s the monster.

Still, he makes no move forward. He just kneels to the body at his feet. Silver hair tangled and muddy, porcelain skin bruised and bloodied. Blood oozes from a neck that has long been drained of it. Wings crackling and crumbling. A cold body. The Salt cannot bear it. The cookie he raised- the cookie he trained to become strong and serve the downtrodden- his daughter, HIS Angel Cake Cookie… is dead. Her life ended in an instant of unbridled bloodshed with no mercy. All he can hope is that it was quick, hope that his little girl did not suffer as he is now….

Destruction lets out a laugh when they see The Salt’s tears falling from his helmet. “Look at him cry! Don’t go acting all tough now- fight back!”

Apathy sighs, adjusting their robes. “He will only meet the same fate. The fighting is useless when his fate will remain the same. Kill him now, get it over with so we can get out of this desolate place.”

Sloth murmurs lazily. “All this destruction, and for what..? Thinking that this would lead to Happiness was pointless… I’d much rather be back in the Garden.”

Deceit just laughs to themself.

Their cruelty is unparalleled. How could they kill so many cookies… genocide the innocent all because of some grudge against him- how could they see this all and continue to laugh and smile? How could they… how dare they… how DARE they kill his daughter and not care of the consequence?!

The Salt of Solidarity slips the delicate silver bracelet off his Angel Cake’s wrist, and puts it on his own. He lifts his helmet slightly, just for a moment as he leans down to kiss her cold forehead. Then he stands, brandishing his blade as the fog grows thicker with dread and despair… thicker with Silence. The wind howls eerily with the souls of the restless.

“You shall pay… wicked pawns! You’ll spill jam for every life you’ve taken! I will not rest until you all are lying dead at my feet!” He wails, his tears still flowing as he points his sword at the enemy. “You won’t get out of here alive! MARK MY WORDS!”

~~*~•~.~*~~•~’

Silent Salt Cookie stands among the bodies of the crumbled… enemy or not. They all rest at his feet. His dark steel armor is stained with blood and guts. He watches numbly as life finally leaves Deceit’s eyes, their intestines spilling out of them in a pool of dark jam.

And he wants to feel good. He wants to feel victorious. But he feels nothing. No joy, no anger. Just… numb. There’s only one person left whom he cares for… but in this state… would his Faerie still love him the same? His beloved husband- imagining Elder Faerie seeing him like this pains Silent Salt’s heart.

He should just kill himself too, right here, so he could rest with his daughter. It would make all this so much easier…. And yet, he can’t bring himself to do it. He can’t leave Elder Faerie in such a way… all alone all because of his despair. He must talk to him first, before he becomes too hasty.

Silent Salt says a prayer to the bodies of his fallen comrades. Then, he kneels back beside the body of Angel Cake. Oh… Angel Cake… his firstborn, his baby girl, his beloved daughter…. He holds her in his lap, cradling her stiff body as if she were a baby again. He smooths out her messed hair, wipes the mud from her cheek, and closes her eyes with trembling fingers. He then takes off his own cape and drapes it over her before standing up again. Now, she looks peaceful, as if she had been sleeping the entire time. Good… he makes no effort to wipe his tears. He must go now, before he decides to stay forever. He bade Angel Cake one final farewell before mounting Nox Black Salt and riding off into the night.

~~*~•~.~*~~•~’

He shouldn’t have hesitated to end it all.

Seeing the pain on his Faerie’s face… knowing that Elder Faerie had witnessed everything, including the death of their daughter, was too much for him. He held Elder Faerie for what he knew would be the last time.. Wiped his tears and kissed him. If there was one thing Silent Salt was thankful for, it’s for the fact that Elder Faerie saw him no differently- to the point that he still wanted the other beside him, even in his corrupted state. Oh, Elder Faerie… what did he do to deserve you?

And yet, Silent Salt knew he couldn’t stay. Couldn’t tarnish the world with Silence- and once it dawned on him that he was the last Virtue to turn, well… he felt despair taking over again. So, he would be the one to pay. He would give up his life force to save cookiekind and defeat the Beasts.

They embraced for a long moment after Salt had made that decision. Elder Faerie didn’t want to let go, and neither did Salt. After more kisses, more squeezes and soft words lost to the wind, they both knew they couldn’t wait any longer.

They did the spell

Silent Salt gave his life, and in the end, only succeeded in trapping the Beasts. Though… it would still be worth it to see his Faerie enjoy the peace and smile at the tree in wistful thanks.

Little did he know that his Faerie would never smile again.

Chapter Text

“THIS PLACE SHALL BECOME YOUR TOMB”

His voice echoes through the catacombs, rattling empty metal lamps and sending a chill through stony graves. He towers above White Lily Cookie. How dare she disturb him- how dare she disrupt the souls of the catacombs, the souls of his Knights? She will learn respect and pay for breaking stone.

She gasps, desperately in search of breathable air. In his presence, the air hangs heavy and thick with smoke and salt particles, making it almost impossible to breathe.

“Curiosity is not Freedom. You do not get to be granted it freely,” he says, his voice low. He can see right through her. That little spell she casted didn’t just reveal his past to her- it revealed some of hers to him. “I know who you really are- you cannot be free after all the suffering you’ve caused, Dark Enchantress Cookie!” He points his dark salt sword at her chest. “Do not hide behind your Soul Jam. Face who you have become. A witch who turns on everything she’d known, for an answer that made her a traitor! You WILL face the mistakes of your past!”

White Lily presses her cloak over her nose and mouth, just so she can breathe. He can see her companions- one with purple hair and a veil, the other with an overall brooding look to him- do the same with their sleeves. Once they’ve done this, White Lily speaks.

“Silent Salt Cookie, you must not do this.” She pauses. “What would your knights think- “

The catacombs rumble. “DO NOT SPEAK OF THEM.”

The group before him stumbles. Still, Lily is persistent. “They wouldn’t want all this destruction! The fall of the land they fought so hard to protect! The land that YOU fought so hard to protect. We saw all of it! We saw-”

“You do not know them. You do not know what they’d want. They allowed themselves to fall to the hands of deceitful trickery and destruction. I resent those traitors who became the catalysts for their deaths, but they feel nothing. They died in an instant, and for that those traitors are guilty.” He says, his conviction becoming tainted with grief.

“Those Beasts you sought to protect cookiekind from are out there, just as you escaped the Silver Tree as well! They’ve been tormenting innocent cookies!”

This makes him pause, but only for a moment. In another instant, he’s so close it's suffocating, his sword pressing into her neck as the eye-lights from his helmet blaze. “Those… wretched Beasts! How could this happen? Answer me! The Guardian of the Tree wouldn’t have let them slip through his fingers!”

He can see the shock in her eyes. What is she so surprised about? That he knows the Guardian? Impossible- she saw his past, she saw how much he cared for him!

“Answer me!”

She takes a step back. “I am the Guardian of the Tree.”

A low laugh echoes from inside his helmet. “Do not lie to me, witch. You are not pure enough to carry that role- that esteemed title! That tree was like his second child, the culmination of years of his love and care! He would never give up that role, you would have had to pry it from his cold, dead fingers-...” he trails off. No. It cannot be.

Lily lowers her cloak from her face, allowing him to see her entire expression. “Elder Faerie Cookie is dead. He sacrificed himself so I might live, so the tree might continue to live as well. I am the Guardian of the Silver Tree.”

Time feels like it’s slowed, almost frozen. He can feel his heart begin to pound, the blood rushing in his ears as his hand falters. And yet… he cannot see a hint of wretched deceit in her eyes. She’s telling the pure, entire truth- one he cannot afford to dismiss. He drops his sword, then to his knees.

“... he’s gone? Truly?”

Lily hesitates a moment before kneeling before him. “Yes. I saw everything, everything the spell revealed to me about the tree- about you two… I… I am sorry, Silent Salt Cookie.”

“... how could this… he wouldn’t throw away his entire life like that…,” he says, his voice shaking slightly. Elder Faerie was never the self-sacrificial type, even when it came to Silent Salt himself- and he didn’t hate him for it. He loved him even more, knowing that no matter what, his Faerie would be alive and with him… but now, he never got one final goodbye… he never got to see that smile he longed for.

“... I must… continue my quest,” Lily says as she reaches for one of her staff’s leaves. She plucks it off, and it begins to glow. “But I know how much he meant to you… and it wouldn’t be right to leave you with just the news…,” she glances up at him, then extends the leaf in her hand to him. “This will take you to him. It only lasts an hour, though. I’m sorry, I cannot do more… it’s not safe for you to be around the faeries.”

He hesitates. He knows of her past, her decisions, the other person she is. Yet, he knows that she knew the Guardian, from what little he saw of her past. She wouldn’t deceive him under the guise of a person they both mourn.

He takes the leaf.

~~*~•~.~*~~•~’

Walking through the back entrance of the Kingdom, it’s much more quiet than he remembers.

Though, with the impending threat of war, it might be wise. Ever since the Beasts had broken out of the confines of the tree, all of Crispia and Beast Yeast had been on edge. With the power they all hold combined, a second Great Flour War looms over cookiekind.

He wishes he could do more to prevent it all.

Without even paying attention to where he’s going, he spots under his feet the familiar stonework of the circle around the tree. The leaf glows brightly- it must have pulled him here. Well, at least it works as intended. He finally raises his head and is met with a sight he never wanted to see.

A giant, ugly, gaping hole in the Silver Tree. Its glow has dimmed noticeably, as if turning petrified. He reaches up and touches the splintering bark… cold, as he suspected. As if the life from it is being leeched out the more it stands so wounded. The tree they raised, dying like… no, he must not think of that. He has less than an hour now.

He wanders around the tree, looking carefully for the stone Lily had described to him. It takes him to the backside of the tree and a climb through a wall of vines before he sees it.

A simple stone, engraved with his name- his Faerie’s name.

Elder Faerie Cookie
First Guardian of the Tree
King to the Faerie Kingdom
Forever honored and revered

Silent Salt collapses before it, tears flowing for the first time since the fateful night of his fall. The grave is so well kept, so well loved… even his beloved’s crown and blade rest on it. Wildflowers bloom around the stone, creating a beautiful image… one that makes his heart break. He reaches up…

Takes off his helmet…

And leans his forehead against Elder Faerie’s name. Silent Salt’s tears drip into the soft grass, withering it instantly from the highly-concentrated salt content. His love, his Faerie… gone, all gone. It cannot be true. Even with an entire headstone before him, he cannot wrap his head around this reality.

Everyone he’d ever loved is gone.