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Everything was white.
The white expanse stretched on for miles. Flour drifted across the ground like fresh snow in the wind. All Crunchy Chip could see was the endless white void and the blurry forms of his fellow warriors. Rocky was curled up next to him, head placed in his lap and looking up with hazy, unfocused eyes.
Was this really it?
Was this the end? Everything he had done, everything he had worked for, did it all lead up to this? Disappearing without a trace? Just like that? Crumbling away in front of those he loved like it was nothing?
Maybe this was the peace Mystic Flour spoke of. Maybe this was the end meant for him. Crunchy Chip could finally rest. There was nothing to fight for anymore, no reason to work until he was exhausted. No reason to be hyper vigilant at all times. He wouldn’t have to watch his wolves die anymore. He wouldn’t have to worry about the Cookies he loved.
Even as he slowly accepted his fate, a voice screamed at him in the back of his mind. He couldn’t give up like this! This was wrong! Someone had to protect the mountains! His resolve and will to fight hadn’t faded completely, but the longer he knelt in the flour storm the quieter that voice got. It was getting harder and harder to even keep his head up. He was so, so tired. He could barely even hear Caramel Arrow frantically calling his name anymore.
Chip felt his body growing weaker by the second. Would it really be that bad to just shut his eyes and rest for a bit? Rocky was already closing his eyes and sighing. This was supposed to bring them peace, after all. A little rest wouldn’t hurt, right?
He looked down at his hands. At least, what was left of them. His entire body was fading away, slowly disintegrating as he watched, completely frozen. The voice in the back of his mind was growing more faint by the second, but it wasn’t gone quite yet. All of his senses were fading in and out in a haze of flour. Chip could barely see Caramel Arrow in front of him. When had she started shaking his shoulders? When had she started crying?
Crunchy Chip tried to tell her everything was going to be okay. That she didn’t need to worry anymore. There wasn’t anything to fight for anymore. He tried to reassure her but no words would leave his mouth. The voice in his head kept growing quieter still. His body continued to fade away and he was so, so tired.
He finally looked up. Caramel Arrow was quietly crying and holding onto his shoulders now as he stared up ahead. In the foggy void of white, he could just barely make out a silhouette. She was looming over everything. The Beast stared down at the group, barely visible in the fog. Her eyes were pitch black and completely void of any emotion. Mystic Flour looked on, uncaring and apathetic as always. The flour storm grew stronger and Crunchy Chip felt himself giving in.
The voice in the back of his head finally quieted, and the white fog faded to black.
—————
Crunchy Chip woke with a start, clawing at his chest and gasping. His eyes darted around frantically and his chest heaved. He couldn’t breathe and the air was full of flour and he didn’t want to give up and—
Wait. Where was he? His whole body shook and he slapped a hand over his mouth to stop himself from screaming. Tears threatened to fall from his eyes and his sharp nails dug slightly into his cheek. As he sat in the dark trying to catch his breath, Rocky jumped up from his spot at the end of the bed and nudged Chip with his snout. He whined as he leaned onto Chip’s shoulder and pawed at his chest.
Chip froze and took a deep breath. He slowly reached over to Rocky and ran his hands through his soft fur. His hands shook and his gaze slowly shifted to the wolf next to him, then to the dark room he sat in.
Right.
He wasn’t at the Ivory Pagoda. He was home in the Citadel, safe in his room. It had been almost a year since the expedition to Beast Yeast. It was just a nightmare. It wasn’t real.
Crunchy Chip sighed and tried to catch his breath, holding onto Rocky as he calmed down and burying his face in the thick fur around his neck. His breathing slowly evened out and the shaking subsided. He was fine, he was safe.
He sighed and leaned back against the wall behind his bed. The nightmares had started about a month after returning from Beast Yeast and had only become more and more frequent as time went on. They were almost always the exact same scene, reliving those final moments of the Beast’s torment. Every time it happened he woke up terrified and Rocky or one of the other wolves had to snap him out of it. It was becoming his near nightly routine, and it was absolutely exhausting.
Crunchy Chip let go of Rocky and looked to his side. The wolf huffed and gently wagged his tail as he accepted scratches under his chin and laid down across Chip’s lap.
Wildberry was asleep next to him, laying under several blankets in an attempt to stay warm. He never did well with the frigid temperatures in the Dark Cacao Kingdom. He shifted and slowly opened his eyes.
“Chip…?” Wildberry yawned and propped himself up on one arm, shivering when the blankets slipped off of his shoulders. “Why are you awake?”
Crunchy Chip turned to his side and shrugged. He took a deep breath and ran his hand through Rocky’s fur to steady himself. “Hey, bub… sorry for wakin’ you up.” His voice was strained and quiet, a far cry from his usual bold demeanor.
Wildberry shook his head and adjusted his blanket pile. “That’s alright, I’m a fairly light sleeper.”
Chip nodded and laid onto his back, staring up at the ceiling. Rocky stretched out across his legs and huffed, leaning his head on Wildberry’s side as he fell asleep again. The room quickly fell into silence apart from the wolf’s quiet snores.
Wildberry broke the silence first. “May I ask what woke you up?” He laid his arm across Crunchy Chip and moved closer.
Chip held his hand up and stared at it. There were still stained patches of white across his arms and legs from the events of the Ivory Pagoda. His hand was shaking slightly from the leftover adrenaline, and that faint buzzing, almost numb feeling was thrumming through his arms. Occasionally, his hands would go completely numb and he wondered if it was happening all over again. The first time it occurred he spent the entire rest of the day terrified that he would blink and open his eyes to find himself back in that endless white void.
His hands shook frequently, and it was sometimes difficult to even hold small objects steady. It made writing letters to Wildberry infuriatingly difficult when his limbs simply refused to cooperate. The Citadel’s healers had done what they could to mitigate the symptoms and aid his recovery, but the effects of Mystic Flour’s magic were most likely permanent.
It made him want to scream.
Chip sighed instead and lowered his hand to rest on top of Wildberry’s arm, “Just… just had a shitty dream, I guess.”
Wildberry fully opened his eyes and stretched a bit. He looked at Chip in thought for a moment before asking, “…Was it about Beast Yeast?”
There was another beat of silence. Wildberry looked expectantly at his partner, waiting for his response. The wolf captain let out a weak chuckle, “How’d you guess?”
The knight looked down at his own scars from Eternal Sugar’s garden. While his arm was mostly healed and he had regained full function, the scars still wrapped around his bicep and shoulder with many smaller ones spread across his hand. The scar on his face was still very prominent as well.
“You are not alone in having nightmares about that place,” Wildberry huffed. He hugged Chip a bit tighter and glanced away from the scars. While it wasn’t every night, Wildberry still often woke up terrified in the middle of the night from memories of that hellish ‘paradise.’ The past two weeks in particular had been terrible for his sleep quality, and he couldn’t even pinpoint a reason for it.
Rocky shifted and sprawled out on top of the two cookies as Wildberry reached over and scratched him behind his ears. Crunchy Chip ran his hand through Wildberry’s hair and smiled at the scene in front of him.
“It’s still getting to you too, huh?” He questioned. He knew that they were both struggling to move on from the expeditions in Beast Yeast. Hell, everyone who had visited the continent was.
Wildberry nodded. “It hasn’t been easy to move past it. It’s been very frustrating, quite honestly.” His voice sounded tired and a bit strained. Even in the darkness of Crunchy Chip’s bedroom he looked exhausted. “The dreams are always fairly similar, but that does not make them any easier for me.”
Chip took Wildberry’s hand and squeezed it, wincing slightly when he saw the white staining across his own fingers. He ran his thumb over the scars on the knight’s knuckles. Despite the vastly different horrors they faced roughly a year prior, neither had returned home unscathed.
He felt the tiredness set in as the leftover adrenaline from the nightmare completely faded. “Yeah… mine are usually the same, but they still freak me the fuck out.” Chip pulled Wildberry a bit closer and the two both settled into the blankets a bit more while Rocky continued to sleep.
Wildberry kissed Crunchy’s forehead and sighed. “Having you nearby does seem to help with the nightmares.” He closed his eyes and slowly let sleep return.
Crunchy Chip chuckled a bit and leaned into the man holding him. “Well I’m glad I can help ya sleep, big guy.” Wildberry huffed slightly and Chip continued. “I definitely sleep a little better with you around, too.”
Silence fell upon the room again. Despite the lingering fear he felt, Chip felt lighter than he had in days. He was safe, his loved ones were alright, and he could rest peacefully now. Their future was uncertain and the peace would not last forever, but for now they were alright to just live.
He looked over at Wildberry again, he was fast asleep and quietly snoring. Crunchy Chip felt his fangs poke out as he smiled and squeezed the other’s hand again. He sighed and closed his eyes, slowly letting sleep return.
“Love you, ya big sap.”, he quietly mumbled as he fell asleep.
They had each other. And for now, that was enough. They would be okay.