Chapter Text
The last thing Phainon remembered was the pursuit. He and the other heirs, transformed into arrows of pure light, had chasing the viruses unleashed by Irontomb's disintegrating form, determined to put an end to its reign of terror. In the aftermath, he felt his consciousness fading, a welcome release. He had no regrets, and he knew his companions felt the same. He believed he could finally rest.
Then, silence.
So this was "nonexistence?" He had barely begun to register the profound darkness when his ears picked up muffled sounds...chatters, all around him. One voice in particular grew closer, repeating a word that took him a moment to decipher.
"..wy..." "..owy..." "...Snowy!!..."
Was that… Tribbie's voice calling to him? After a few seconds, he found the strength to open his eyes. A blurry, clear blue sky greeted him. He brought a hand up to rub them, but instead of his familiar fingers, he felt something hard poke his face.
"Ow..."
"Careful, Snowy!" Tribbie's voice cautioned.
He didn't listen. He slowly sat up and looked down at his hands, his focus gradually returning. He saw two short limbs with a smooth, hard surface and rounded tips. His jaw dropped as he realized what he was staring at.
"W-what? What happened to my arms??" he began swinging them around, a gesture born of confusion and a dawning terror. It wasn't just his arms; his legs were in the same state. His entire body felt… different. Flattened, as if a few organs were missing.
"Calm down, Snowy! Don't panic!" a voice shouted as three pairs of smaller, identical hands tried to reassure him.
Once he had collected himself, he finally looked to the side. Tribbie was sitting there, with Trianne and Trunnion right behind her. But she looked different. Her face was round, her eyes much larger than usual, and her hair resembled smooth cake icing.
"L-Lady Tribbie?... Is that you?..." he asked, still utterly lost.
"Yep! It's us!" Trianne answered gleefully.
"B-but what's going on? Why do I- why do we look like this?"
"We're all wondering the same thing," a calm voice interjected. "The moment we woke up, we were already in this state."
Phainon turned to see Anaxa, his expression a mixture of puzzlement and composure. He also spotted the rest of the heirs, all burdened with the same questions.
"On top of this new form," Anaxa mumbled, though loud enough for all to hear, "each one of us has a distinct, sweet, and appetizing scent. How curious."
Meanwhile, Cipher was intensely sniffing Hyacine's hair. "Do you think we taste good as well? Pink girlie over here has a particularly nice fragrance. Don't mind if I experiment a little bit!" Before Hyacine could protest, Cipher was already nibbling the tip of one of her pigtails. Her eyes immediately lit up.
"Mmmmmm! It tastes so good! Like fruit! Lemme take another bite!"
"N-no, Miss Cipher, please stop!" Hyacine tried her best to push her away, desperate not to lose more of her hair.
Right then, the cat was immediately restrained by golden threads. "That's enough, Cifera," Aglaea said, reciprocating Hyacine's silent, grateful smile. "If we are truly made of fruits or desserts, I think it is better if we refrain from eating each other."
"Lord Phainon, are you alright? You've been out cold the longest," Castorice knelt in front of him, her voice full of concern.
"Yes. Thank you for your concern, Castorice. I hope all of you are doing fine," Phainon answered, hoping his friends were safe despite their predicament.
"Do not worry, everyone is safe," she assured him. He looked around for a minute and realized that some of them were missing. "Where's Mydei?"
"He accompanied the Imperator and Lady Hysilens to scout the area earlier," Castorice replied, lifting her head to look in the direction they had left. "But now that I think about it, they've been gone for a bit too long."
"Perhaps we should go look for them-" Just then, a small being leaped over the bushes, running at full speed towards Phainon and knocking him back onto the grass. Was that… a slice of cake? It had a face, tiny limbs, and it… it barked??? The cake-dog happily wagged its tail as it licked Phainon's face.
Castorice wasted no time grabbing it, separating the two. "Hey, look! On its head! Is that-" Hyacine pointed out.
There was no mistaking it. It was Cerydra's crown, still burning like a candle, resting on the cake pup's head.
"Great. You caught the little rascal," Cerydra walked up to them, frustration obvious on her features. "We faced a huge hoard of these things just now. One of them jumped on my head and ran off with my crown. The nerve." She wasted no time taking it back and placing it on her own head. "Anyways, we have more important matters at hand." She looked at Hysilens and Mydei, who were following right behind her. The Kremnoan was gripping one hand, the one without his gauntlet. A massive crack ran down it, from which a red, sticky, shimmery liquid was oozing.
"Lord Mydei?? What happened?" Hyacine rushed to his side, examining what was most definitely a wound.
"Tch. This body is a joke," Mydei grumbled. "It fractured while we were confronting those creatures..." He wasn't used to being this fragile; how could hitting his arm against a tree cause so much damage?
"On another note," Hysilens commented, "the red liquid coming out has an amazing flavor."
Everyone stared at her in silence for a few seconds.
"It tasted like strawberries..." After that addition, she decided it would be better to stay silent.
"Oh... I have no idea how to treat this... maybe we could just patch it up for now? Focus on stopping the bleeding!" Hyacine was trying her best to figure out how she could help, the others also racking their brains for a solution.
It was then that they could hear a couple of voices in the distance.
"We could build more houses here! What do you think, Wizard Cookie?"
"Um, Gingerbrave? Maybe we should slow down with expansion for a while?"
"Strawberry Cookie is right. If we give the sugar gnomes any more work, they'll throw us into the magic laboratory's cauldron."
The heirs observed the three little figures discussing renovations for a few minutes before they were noticed.
"Oh, hey there!" the one called Gingerbrave greeted them with enthusiasm. "Didn't expect to see any cookies in this part of the forest. You must be a brave bunch!"
"Well, um... it appears we're a bit lost," Hyacine answered hesitantly.
"Aww, we should've put danger signs around here," the 'cookie' with a giant lollipop on her back said, feeling terrible.
"Oh, by the witches, what is that wound?" the one with the pointy hat exclaimed, pointing at Mydei's arm.
"YIKES! You're losing too much strawberry jam! We need to treat that immediately!" Gingerbrave's joyful expression was immediately replaced by one of extreme worry. "Quick! Come with us to the kingdom! Luckily, Pure Vanilla Cookie is visiting! He'll heal you in no time!"
"Okay, let's not waste any more time. Follow us," Wizard cut off the chatter so they could finally make their way to the Cookie Kingdom.
"Pure Vanilla Cookie! Pure Vanilla Cookie!" the cookie dressed in a white robe and a distinguishable cone hat turned to the source of the call.
"What is it, Gingerbrave? Is everything alright?" he asked, concerned that something might have happened to the child.
"We found a bunch of lost cookies in the forest, and one of them is injured! Please come see him!" Wizard spoke, a bit out of breath.
"How terrible. Please, lead me to them." Pure Vanilla Cookie immediately followed them to where the new group of cookies was resting. After exchanging greetings, he wasted no time examining Mydei's wound.
"Huh. It's not as bad as I expected," he mumbled. "That is a simple injury, there's nothing to worry about. I'll take care of it immediately."
"But... I could've sworn it looked much worse back when we found them..." Strawberry commented. It was strange.
"It seems I still have my regenerative abilities," Mydei said by way of explanation.
"Wow! You can regenerate? That's so interesting!" Wizard perked up, amazed.
"Oh, by the way! We haven't introduced ourselves yet! I'm Gingerbrave! These two are Wizard Cookie and Strawberry Cookie!" he immediately introduced himself and his companions.
"And I'm Pure Vanilla Cookie. Nice to meet you," he smiled while still tending to Mydei's injury. "Would you like to introduce yourselves, too?"
Before any of them could speak, Cerydra pulled them all into a corner, except Mydei who was still getting his treatment of course, where they whispered to each other for a few minutes before finally returning. She started, "Greetings, you can call me... Valiant Grape Cookie." She crossed her arms, confidentially declaring her name. She figured it was better for them to use "immersive" names.
Right after her, Tribbie introduced herself. "And we are Toadstool Cookie!"
"Blackberry Mousse Cookie, nice to meet you," Castorice bowed respectfully.
Next came Hysilens. "...Molasses Siren Cookie."
Hyacine was next, introducing both herself and Anaxa. "I'm Cherry Cream Cookie, and this is Spearmint Cookie. Nice to meet you."
"Hello there, Chia Seed Cookie," Cipher added, punctuating her sentence with a soft meow.
It was Aglaea's turn. "My name is Golden Apple Cookie. It is a great honor to make your acquaintance."
"And I'm... Royal Icing Cookie," Phainon said last. "Thank you for your hospitality; we are in your debt."
"And he," Cerydra said, pointing at Mydei, who looked confused by his companions' sudden charade, "is Pomegranate Candy Cookie."
"What a lively bunch! Where are you from?" Gingerbrave asked, full of excitement.
"Well... we're from a really faraway kingdom," Trianne invented on the spot, "but we lost our way, unfortunately." Their actual story was hardly believable, after all.
"Oh, that's no good! It's alright, you can stay here as long as you need. The Cookie Kingdom welcomes everyone!" Gingerbrave immediately reassured them before continuing, "Now, what if we introduced you to some more of our friends? You'll love it here, I promise!"
"That is a good idea, Gingerbrave," Pure Vanilla Cookie agreed, having just finished tending to Mydei's arm. "Getting them used to the kingdom will surely help them feel more at ease."
"That would be so kind of you, Mr. Gingerbrave," Castorice bowed again to show her gratitude.
"Then let's not stall any further! Come on, let's go!"