Chapter Text
Venom Dough Cookie was in control.
It was an addicting feeling for them, exhilarating, intoxicating, a high they couldn’t help but chase in most aspects of their life. Control, control, control, and maybe, just maybe, all those little instances of agency would culminate in a sort of absolute freedom, wings cobbled together with repressed hopes and long since shattered dreams.
The context of this spar filled them with a noticeable sense of dread, but surging forth was the unmistakable thrill that came with conflict. Maybe soon they could-
FWOOSH! A gust of air rushed past Venom Dough as they barely dodged yet another cataclysmic strike from Mold Dough, the force from the air alone threatening to knock them off their feet.
Such power, such ferocity! Enough force to hold open the jaws of dragons and render even the mightiest of armor useless before it. To be struck once was more than enough for the tides to turn in the other cookie’s favor.
Best not to let that happen then, hm?
Venom Dough continued weaving around Mold Dough’s earth-shattering, albeit telegraphed strikes. Each blow inches away from crumbling them, but not quite there, not quite enough.
Good, good! More, more!
Venom Dough swung around Mold Dough, weaving as deftly as the air itself around their heftier foe. With a single hand raised upwards, a viscous, violet orb formed within their palm, and with a confident thrust downwards a rain of purplish spears came down upon the other cookie, each seeking to impale them into the stone underfoot.
The other cookie though, as unable as he had been to strike a blow thus far, was far from weak. They ran straight through the rain of vile, corrosive blades, a few striking true, the smell of burning dough sizzling through the air as portions of Mold Dough hissed away into nothingness.
Caught off-guard by the brazen lack of self-preservation, and unable to react to their compatriot’s blitz forward, Venom Dough was picked up off the ground by a mighty blow to the stomach, before being launched back with yet another strike to the chest, jam leaking out of them in black and purple torrents as they practically skipped across the arena. Cracks had formed throughout their stomach and back, their chest equally ravaged, shattered, near coming apart completely.
Venom Dough picked themselves up swiftly, landing deftly upon their feet as their gaze shifted to their left, onto the only spectator in the room with them.
Dark Enchantress Cookie.
She seemed…well certainly not impressed, but placated if nothing else, willing to accept the current results if the only slightly dissatisfied curl of her lips was anything to go by.
Please, please let that be enough.
Regardless of whether or not it would have been, Mold Dough did not seem keen on leaving that up to chance. The runes upon his chest, spelling out life in dragontongue, glowed a dark crimson, light spilling out in plasmatic bursts. Growling, panting, body reaching its limit, Mold Dough once more charged forward, blows all the more dangerous, all the more terrifying, as Venom Dough was forced to focus wholly on the fight in front of them.
Two discuses of whirling purple acid formed within their palms, and like saw blades they cut into Mold Dough. Venom Dough bobbed from one place to another, cautiously avoiding the larger cookie, while simultaneously severing whatever they could—a chunk of his sides there, a portion of his arm there, cleaved through cleanly in a collage of jam and dough. The parts of his body that were melted from Venom’s initial assault had already been repaired, so all that was left to do was make sure the damage was too intense to be regenerated so swiftly.
Both cookies were already quite exhausted, damage mounting not only from their strikes into one another, but from usage of their own abilities forming cracks and spilling jam.
How to end this fight quickly enough to avoid death for either of us? This wretched world and these wretched conditions, tearing us apart, forcing us to bleed. Come on, think! Think!
Then an idea, a single, twisted thing manifesting within their mind, a single way to end this fast while avoiding the ire of their malevolent sovereign.
It would hurt, a lot, it would be enough to crumble most cookies.
They weren’t most cookies.
Venom Dough knew they would get caught eventually, and that running forever would not end this confrontation quickly enough. They needed to allow Mold Dough to catch them, and it needed to be in a way that best facilitated their counterattack. It was the only way they could truly claim victory.
So be it.
Venom Dough thrust their right palm forward in what most would read as a decisive movement, an attempt to cleave clean through their opponents chest and crumble them in an instant. Such lined up well enough with what Mold Dough would have expected. It was a wise move to him, and that’s exactly why he anticipated it. Seizing the advantage, Mold Dough took hold of Venom’s arm-
And with a sickening crunch and a greater flood of jam, Mold Dough tore the arm clean off of Venom Dough’s body, flinging it to the side as it landed in a cloud of crumbs and life essence.
And it was over.
While Mold Dough’s attention had been centered on Venom Dough’s right arm, they, grimacing with pain, had been preparing something with their left, something their opponent noticed too soon. A geyser of venom shot out of the ground and straight through mold, the sheer pressure of the spray of corrosive material immediately tearing him in two, the edges of where his dough once met blackened and eaten away by the vile substance.
Venom Dough had to hold back the desire to throw up at the ghastly sight, the repugnant mess of limbs where their sibling had been, destruction wrought by their own hands. Without waiting for any signs of approval from Dark Enchantress, Venom Dough hurriedly brought their brother’s now severed parts closer together, putting them back by pressing piece into piece into piece, waiting for the regeneration to hopefully connect him back in time.
The fool! Why would he do that? Why would he do that?! Surely It had been enough to satisfy her! There was no need to risk himself like that. What if we had lost him? What if I had been made to…
Then, a faint chuckle from the stone stands, as Dark Enchantress smirked and arose from her once seated position, disapproval having vanished into nothing but pure mirth, “Excellent! Excellent! You are no Beasts, No heroes of yore, no Dragons, this is for certain, but with all of your might combined into a single force of destruction? Perhaps…you all will be worthwhile investments after all. Well done. It seems Butter Roll is capable of being more useful than I previously believed, who knew?”
There. He should be okay. His dough still grows, still heals, and should soon enough be repaired, and now-
Venom Dough got on one knee, eyes locked firmly on the chocolate tiles underfoot, shackles clinking against the floor, collar feeling as tight as ever.
“So quick to take the knee, so quick on the uptake. Your display today was admirable, Experiment #1, truly admirable, however…”
Venom’s breath caught, their body shaking as fear coiled and roiled inside of their dough.
Dark Enchantress Cookie walked down the stands, staff thundering against the ground as it was pressed into it again and again with each step.
Click.
Closer now.
Click.
Closer still, and…
Click!
“Did I give you permission to begin assembling this lesser being? Did I say you could mend the dough of one who failed to win a bout you nearly handed to it? The point of this display was to show me what you were capable of, and yet, I find only this…thing laid spent and scattered across the ground, you on the other hand, held your hand far too close to your chest. Where was your dragontongue?”
Reckless as it had been, Mold Dough had been right to go all out.
“I’m sorry my lor-”
Venom Dough did not have the chance to continue speaking, as their head whipped back violently with a resounding crack, their purple-black jam now coating the end of Dark Enchantress’ staff, “Nor did I give you permission to speak, now did I, Experiment #1?”
Venom Dough shook their head quickly, trying desperately to make themselves as small as possible, going from kneeling to fully prostrating on the ground, a faint whimper almost leaving their lips as their collar began burning white-hot, the smell of burning dough coming from their neck.
“Tsk tsk tsk, sooooo disappointing. Not to worry, I have use for your kind’s talents yet, but the most recent reject shall be paying dearly for your mistakes today.”
It took everything in Venom Dough not to speak out against such a thing. It would only make it worse, they knew that from experience.
I’m sorry, little one.
Off in the distance, a jamcurdling scream could be heard resounding throughout the laboratorium, loud enough to travel through countless rooms to reach the distant sparring room they were positioned in.
“I wonder how long it will take for her to crawl here, preparing to beg for my forgiveness? My my, you two must enjoy piecing her back together. At least, I’d assume so with how often you all force my hand in such a way.”
Mold Dough finally had finished regenerating and quickly moved to share a position with Venom, forehead pressed into the ground as he tried desperately to keep himself composed.
The scream kept getting closer at such a painstakingly slow pace, a childish voice scratched raw and weighted down by frequent sobs.
Venom couldn’t help the tears forming at their eyecing, and a quick glance to their right revealed Mold Dough in a similar state.
“You experiments truly are something odd, so willing to test my patience, yet so unwilling to face the consequences. In a few days time, Experiment #1, you and #3 shall fight in this very arena once again, and I expect you to not hold anything back, am I clear?”
A nod.
“And don’t tell her about this little arrangement either, I would like to see her reaction to facing you in battle once more,” She chuckled to herself before continuing, never quite losing their air of mild amusement, “And I best see your runes glowing, and hers as well for that matter, lest I make you all undergo these lovely trials once again. Am I clear?”
The screams were almost upon them.
“Good! Now, where is Experiment #3? It’s taking quite some time.”
Stumbling into the doorway of the arena was a little cookie, far smaller than either Mold Dough or Venom Dough, cracks forming throughout her dough, mint-colored jam filling the crevices as quickly as they formed, hands grabbing at her collar, desperately clawing at it. Tears had stained the dough under her eyecing, and with confusion and panic made readily apparent by their desperate, indecipherable pleas, she looked to Venom and Mold.
Little sister.
“Such vile things, so protective of one who is even more repugnant than you are. Truly, Experiments #1 and #2, you both baffle me,” Her gaze traveled to Pom-Pom Dough Cookie, whose dough had almost reached its breaking point. Should the cookie fully crumble, the process of putting her back together would be…agonizing at best, and a point of no return at worst.
Dark Enchantress walked over to the so-called reject, the much taller cookie looking down upon one of the experiments she saw fit to weaponize. Her swirled eyes spun with maddening pain, her normally white frock was painted in the greenish hue of her jam, and her runes-
Glowed, flickered and ebbed with the residual power of a burning star, the heated language of dragons inscribed upon her very dough. Such pain was so intense it was pushing her to her absolute limit, as a faint whistling noise, like a malformed kettle, emanated from the collar around her neck.
“Do make sure your…fellow experiments listen better next time, yes? #1 didn’t do as they were told, and #2 almost perished today.”
The girl’s eyes went wide, words still not coming out as she looked up at Dark Enchantress with pained desperation. They could all feel it, the shame that was carried with such a gaze, but also the desperate desire, the intrinsic desire present in all children, for someone older than them to show them mercy, to show them a shred of kindness, for one’s creator to give onto them forgiveness.
“Very well then, consider this act of generosity my last!” Dark Enchantress said, walking out of the room as Pom-Pom Dough Cookie collapsed, relief winning out to such a degree it rendered her immobile.
And the three siblings, brought close to the brink of death and madness alike once again, beset by peril after peril, picked themselves up, and carried each other out and away from the hellhole they had been forced to spill each other’s jam in time and time again.
~~~
Pom-Pom Dough Cookie was not supposed to eavesdrop on the other two, this was a matter that had been discussed time and time again, one her older brother and sister had made sure to drill into her as much as possible.
Not that such lectures ever worked, of course.
The stoic, yet ever loving Mold Dough Cookie was what many would consider to be shockingly sweet, having on multiple occasions placed himself on Pom-Pom’s height, looked her in the eye, and shared with her the faintest of smiles and the most genuine of intentions. With most he was a rampaging monstrosity, a demonic force of pure devastation, but with her? With Venom? It was different, he was different. He was a force of love, a guardian figure, one who stood steadfast by their sides. He was quiet, cool under pressure, but warm all the same.
Venom Dough, always the tactical, coolly composed individual, was always a lot stricter with Pom-Pom. There was some noticeable weight to Venom’s shoulders that never quite left, the weight of being the eldest of their family, the weight of being the strongest of their family, the weight of needing to be the face of their ragtag group. The ringed eyes of Venom Dough would bore into Pom-Pom’s own, and, with carefully orchestrated words and a stern demeanor, they would ensure that, for at least a few days, the youngest of their group would listen and do as the others said.
And at the end of it all, the bite would leave Venom Dough’s voice, the heat would simmer down and leave in its place the soothing comfort of a well-meaning smile and a promise for the two of them to spend some time together, as brief and shallow as such an exchange might seem due to their lack of any basic amenities.
Still, they had each other, and that was enough.
Today though, today was different, and there were no warm exchanges to be had with Mold Dough, no talking to from Venom Dough, no, instead, the other duo had hurried out, some obvious unspoken words travelling between them as Mold picked up Pom-Pom and placed her upon his shoulders.
They were keeping something from her.
Despite how much they tried to shelter the youngest cookie out of some deeply ingrained feelings of sibling love, there was little they could do to keep her from spilling jam and burning alongside them.
They didn’t have secrets. They didn’t do secrets. All their lives were shrouded in mystery, a silvery fog they could never hope to pierce, not with any light of theirs at least. The last thing the trio wanted to do was add to that constant feeling of confusion.
Why then, were they not telling her something?
Pom-Pom Cookie was determined to find out.
The little rascal, as hyperactive and quick on the uptake as ever, followed eagerly behind Venom and Mold as they moved quickly through the laboratorium. There weren’t many places the experiments could go for privacy, but there were parts of this maze of lab coats and jam-stained corners that weren’t quite as monitored as the others, places where hushed conversations could be transferred between them.
The laboratorium itself was a massive locale, and the product of Matcha and Butter Roll Cookie’s shared talents. Together, the two of them made use of these motley, black-tiled halls, engraving runic magic into the floors, giving the layout an oddly artisan feel as the intricate designs glowed and hummed with crimson life, a trademark sign of Dark Enchantress’ own magic being used for their experiments. Along the walls stood glass tubes, shimmering with liquids of all sorts of colors, some so dazzling it would blind cookies so foolish as to stare into them, some so dark it consumed all light around it in an instant. Alongside these tubes stood towering mixers of impeccable make, whirring away to constantly make bits of life that would soon be spent and discarded, and cages holding failed dough creations, or cookies who would soon have their life energy sapped for use in some sort of machinery or spell. Pipes of all sorts ran across the ceiling, covering it almost entirely in an unimaginably intricate web of machinery pumping things too and fro. It made the laboratorium somehow seem infinitely more complex than it already was.
It was a place of death, and no matter where you went, the pungent odor of spoiled ingredients hung in the air, making everything seem as if it was rotting, falling apart, mold-coated and choking. No amount of sterilization could truly make the scent fade away. No amount of sterilization silenced the moaning and groaning of cookies crumbling all around them in cages even smaller than their own. Brought to life, just to be killed off en masse.
An existence as pitiable as the dough cookies themselves, if not worse. At least they could taste a real life, as much of a facsimile of the real thing it was. Hundreds of these creations had been used to fuel the creation of the trio, hundreds of cookies worth of life energy poured into their very dough to give them the regenerative capabilities needed to use the dragontongue they had been cursed with.
It was something the child tried best not to think about, and indeed for her it was easier to cast such feelings aside, not fully able to grasp the horrors of what she had experienced quite yet. This was all she’d ever known, after all, and if it weren’t for the softness of Venom and Mold showing her love, she wouldn’t truly understand the value of other lives.
Runes faintly glowing, Pom-Pom darted through the black-tiled halls carefully, silently, speeding along too quickly for most cookies to even so much as notice her. A few lab servants gave her cursory glances, before quickly returning to their own work, not caring enough to mind the few experiments rushing past them.
Cracks formed even from this brief spurt of using her powers, and it took everything in her not to whimper in pain. Remaining as silent as possible, Pom-Pom continued following after her siblings, going to great lengths to avoid being seen as they got deeper and deeper into the laboratorium, where less and less lab assistants were rummaging around and running too and fro.
Then, finally, they came to a stop. The two other dough cookies now found themselves in a miniscule, abandoned cell block, with only five or so cells to speak of in the first place. The air here was thick with moisture, water dripping down from crevices in the rock above, splattering onto the ground with slaps that sounded almost deafening in their now quiet section of the world.
Pom-Pom clung to the shadows, runes no longer glowing, small frame blending in seamlessly with her much larger surroundings. When their backs were turned she ran into a nearby cell, hugging the corner of it, no longer in sight of the other two cookies as they began talking.
“She won’t survive it, Mold, you know that.”
What won’t I survive? What are they talking about?
“You should have used your runes, Venom Dough Cookie.”
“We were told to fight, not to kill each other. You using your dragontongue so recklessly could’ve ended up badly for both of us, and you know it. Perhaps if you had refrained from doing so, she wouldn’t have compared your performance to my own. Perhaps we both could’ve gotten off without needing to harm each other in such a way. You forced me to hurt you more than I ever wished to, what if I damaged your dough to such a degree you couldn’t be put back together?”
“For Dark Enchantress, fighting without the intent to kill is not fighting at all. How are we to prove our worth if we aren’t showing her how we’ll do things on the field? Out there? With the all powerful forces we must hold off or the cookies we must best? There was no world where she would have allowed us to hold ourselves back in any way. You needed to push yourself.”
“I know that! I know that you- I just- We need to be cautious, Mold. Better for the two of us to be punished in tandem, alive, than for one of us to die and leave Pom-Pom without one of her guardians.”
Mold Dough grumbled to himself, and with a thud Pom-Pom could hear the immense cookie sit on the ground, the earth itself almost shaking from the force of his impact. “If you used your dragontongue, Venom, she would not be in such danger. Better I had fallen than for you to be forced to brutalize her in battle.”
Pom-Pom put her hands to her mouth, choking out what would have been a mortified gasp leaving her.
“She…She’ll be using her dragontongue too, Dark Enchantress will make her, perhaps that shall be enough for her to hold her own.”
“Mmm, it won’t be. I know that. You know that.”
“With her speed perhaps I could fake something? Wait for her to strike me and play it off as a knockout blow?”
“Won’t work. She’ll see through that.”
Venom was pacing now, the youngest could tell, given the almost supernaturally light footsteps now passing back and forth on the other side of her wall. Occasionally she’d catch glimpses of the other cookie walking in front of the cell Pom-Pom was hiding in, before they’d go right back to wandering to some other portion of the cell block.
“Dark Enchantress won’t allow for her to crumble completely, she needs her. She needs each of us. We’re needed.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“What if-” Venom Dough Cookie stopped moving suddenly, voice growing contemplative, as if they were tossing and turning an idea over in their mouth over and over and over, “What if I ended it right away? What if I didn’t give her a chance to fight back?”
A huff from Mold, a faint groan as he repositioned once more, “Too fast. I doubt you could pin her down that quickly, even with your runes active.”
“I could. I know her. I know her I’ve been watching her grow since she was a baby, a speck, a miniscule spore still being shaped into new life. I know how she’ll attack me, and if I handle it in an instant it’ll…hurt her, but she’ll live, and that should be a good enough display of my skills for Dark Enchantress to accept the result.”
“That…could work.”
Pom-Pom Dough Cookie shrunk in on herself, trying desperately to hold onto the words she was overhearing. Dark Enchantress was going to make her fight Venom? With their dragontongues active of all things? With Venom’s active of all things?
Was she really that expendable?
A reject, a burden, a parasite, someone riding off the other two successful experiments who constantly were having to shepherd her, protect her.
It hurt. It hurt knowing how she was used, a plaything for Dark Enchantress to keep the other two bending the knee. Moreso than their collars, she felt herself to be what kept them down and docile.
And now here she was, being planned to be used as a training dummy for Venom, a lesson to them. That’s all she was in the grand scheme of things, a pawn moved around to pressure the knight and rook to advance down the board.
She just wanted to be more than that.
“Some life we live, huh?” Venom Dough commented, sitting down with a huff where Mold had come to a rest. Pom-Pom Dough could hear the two readjusting, a hum of contentment briefly coming from Venom as they settled into the comforting embrace of their brother, “Hm, no point in complaining about it. We’ll follow our orders, and we’ll make this work,” Mold Dough grumbled in response, seemingly content with his lot.
Pom-Pom stayed put as Venom and Mold finished up their conversation, stayed put as Venom and Mold walked away, and then stayed put for a long while longer, sobbing, arms pulling her legs up to her chest.
She was so tired.
~~~
She was going to surprise everyone at that sparring match.
That was Pom-Pom’s resolution as she finally snuck away from the miniscule prison block and back into the labyrinthian confines of the main laboratory.
There was a lasting sensation of horror within the young cookie, dread at what was to come, the fear of being used once more by Dark Enchantress, but a much larger part, naive and desperate, couldn’t think of a better opportunity to be seen.
The youngest of the trio could finally shine in the spotlight, could show everyone that she’s just as capable as everyone else! All she had to do was find a way to at least last for a while against Venom Dough, to make an impact, to be worth something.
In all honesty she tired of being looked down on, of being made out to be even smaller than she was. Perhaps with enough feeling, enough passion, enough desperation, she could finally overcome those belittling words and harsh demeanors. Maybe, just maybe, Dark Enchantress might look at her with the same amount of approval as she did with the other two.
And perhaps the child’s own brutal internal thoughts would finally lessen.
There was no time to waste, but there was one glaring flaw in the young child’s grand plan to finally be worth something more-
How exactly would she hold her own against the strongest of their cohort? Especially against a tactician who knew her all too well?
Ugh, this is such a pain.
Then, something took Pom-Pom out of her thoughts and into the world around her, the sound of chattering and banter, of hushed whispers that weren’t supposed to be heard and private conversations made safe only by the waves of fellow researchers staffed amongst them.
“Red Velvet, in the labs? Why?”
“Wonder what that abomination wants with us…”
“Can you even call that thing a cookie? That arm…that obsession with those- those-”
“Shhhhh don’t say it too loudly!”
“Or what? It’s not like he can touch us, we’re under Butter Roll’s protection after all.”
“He’s a loose cannon when it comes to the cakes, you can’t talk badly about them with him around.”
“Like those idiotic desserts aren’t worth getting so up in arms about, but fine, I’ll hold my tongue.”
“Look, just let the monsters do their jobs, and I’m sure the higherups will dispose of them after they’d been made useful.”
The young cookie found herself made quite curious by the words traded amongst the riff-raff. Red Velvet was one of the few cookies in Dark Enchantress’ inner circle she had yet to meet, or even gaze upon. While Matcha and Butter Roll and even Licorice descended into the labs, it seemed the cake guardian preferred the comforts of his own kind instead.
So why would he come here? What does he want?
Then, through her mind a blazing bolt of annoyance, searing through her thoughts at incredible speeds, “Of course, someone else to bother us. I just wish everyone else would go away,” She mumbled, eyes locked firmly on her feet as she stepped forward. It seemed that yet another cookie would join the retinue of those that tormented her and her siblings soon enough.
Though…he did feel a bit more familiar to Pom-Pom Dough Cookie. There was something about the way everyone talked about him, the way everyone thought about him, that made her jam rage and writhe. It was just like how they talked about-
Her. Her and her siblings alike.
Maybe…
THUD!
Pom-Pom Dough fell back, bouncing lightly off the ground as she came to a stop, an ever so faint grunt of pain leaving her after the impact.
The at times fiery cookie was less than pleased, “HEY! Watch where you’re walking you-” She paused, swirled eyecings blinking once, then twice.
Uh oh.
Red Velvet Cookie looked down at her with the most peculiar look on his face, as if he was genuinely sorry for the run-in. Clad in rose and ivory plate armor, his signature knife sheathed at his side, Red Velvet fell down to one knee, offering the other cookie a hand. “My bad, didn’t quite see you there little one. Here, do you need some help getting up?”
Did he just…?
It was another test, these things always were.
Pom-Pom shook her head, scrambled to her feet, and then gave a slight dip of her head in respect. The much larger cookie examined her carefully, eyes eventually travelling up to the runes carved into the child’s dough, covered slightly by her mint-colored hair dipping over her forehead, then to the collar and shackles binding her.
The mood of the other cookie shifted immediately, changing from one of automatic politeness to poorly contained disapproval of what he was looking at. The target of his disapproval didn’t seem to be Pom-Pom however-
It was the things binding her to this place. The collar. The shackles.
“You are one of the experiments being held here, yes?”
A slight nod from Pom-Pom, an anxious gaze downwards as she stopped herself from entertaining the possibility that this was someone who would treat her anything else than an object.
“We are to be allies in the coming battle then. A pleasure to meet you…?” Red Velvet’s words tapered off into a question, eyebrow raised as he waited for a response.
“Pom-Pom Dough Cookie.”
His smile turned blissfully warm, soothing, as if he really was just speaking to any other child, “A fitting name for you! How cute. Now tell me, little one, what’s on your mind?”
“A question for you first.”
Red Velvet felt his curiosity peak at the kid’s meek demeanor changing into something a bit more defiant, but he said nothing right away, instead opting to let Pom-Pom finish her thought first.
“...Why are you being so nice to me?”
There, I said it! Now he can finally drop the act and we can move on with this charade.
“This world of ours is just that, ours! It belongs to every cookie and every cake regardless of origin or ingredient. You are to fight alongside me, and therefore I shall give you the respect deserving of a such a position. It would be unbecoming of me to do anything less.”
The feeling such words gave to Pom-Pom were intoxicating, addictive, she needed more. “Well, I could maybe talk about it a little…I guess, but you have to promise not to tell anyone.”
“I won’t, promise.”
“Do you REALLY promise?”
A lighthearted chuckle from the war-hardened cookie, “Yes, yes I promise! Now, what is it?”
Pom-Pom Dough Cookie looked left, then right, then leaned in closer to Red Velvet Cookie. For all her prickliness, she was quite eager to talk to someone other than her siblings somewhat openly, “So, um, I have to fight someone a lot more…..dangerous than me, and I don’t know how I’m supposed to really make an impression.”
“Well, who is it you’re going to be put to the test against?”
“My si- I mean Venom Do- Um, Experiment #1.”
Red Velvet’s eye twitched at that, his exterior becoming far more hardened, his white and scarlet hand clenching in a temporary burst of raw emotion, then it dissipated into nothingness. All that was left behind was the same cautiously warm attitude he had previously adopted.
“Hm.”
“You- It’s okay if you don’t know. Strength like theirs…I don’t think anyone could hope to shine against that.”
“You’d be wrong, everyone has a weakness, even the strongest and boldest of cookies.”
“Well they break apart just like I do, but a lot slower, and um-”
“They know you very well, yes?”
A frantic nod, the guard of the young girl let down again as the answer to her problems potentially was right around the corner.
“Well, then all you have to do is blend your typical behavior with that they won’t be expecting. You do that, and I’d say you could hold your own quite well. For all their strength, they still have to hit you right?”
A more excitable nod now, as the cookie started beaming at the prospect of finally being in the spotlight, if only for a moment, if only for defying expectations, “Now, you should also take some time examining how your opponent fights if you can, take their habits into account and use those against them. Oh oh and-”
“Care to tell me why you’re lingering with Butter Roll’s pets, Red Velvet Cookie?”
Pom-Pom darted away in an instant, leaving nothing behind but a few crumbs on the ground where cracks had immediately formed in her dough. Red Velvet looked down at the crumbs, grimaced, then turned to face the cookie who had interrupted their conversation.
Pomegranate. What on earthbread did she want?
“Lead the cakes you may, that position doesn’t give you such liberty to break the rules. Dark Enchantress doesn’t want any cookie of hers to be mingling with the experiments.”
“I shared only a few passing words, nothing for you to worry about.”
“And those passing words may be enough to poison their dough and minds. It always starts with simple pleasantries, but soon enough such behavior will only serve to undermine the great master’s work. Don’t do it again.”
With a growl scratching its way out of his throat, Red Velvet’s gaze turned vicious. The things simple kindness threatened to undo certainly had soured his opinion of Dark Enchantress Cookie.
Still, she was needed for his dream to come true, for she was the only one with power who shared his vision, “Fine. It won’t happen again!” He spat, before calming down, no longer bristling as much externally. “You may give my apologies to Dark Enchantress Cookie.”
“No need, I don’t want to bother her with such a pointless report. She has far more…important matters to tend to. Ensure it doesn’t happen again though, or I am sure you know what’ll happen next.”
As Pomegranate glared at her compatriot, she somehow seemed to be looking down on the taller cookie. With a huff she spun on her heel, walking away as gracefully as ever.
Red Velvet took the opportunity to let his shoulders sag in relief, comfort pouring through his dough, giving him a rushing cold sensation throughout his entire body. Sighing, he scratched at the back of his head, his eyes following the trail of crumbs that followed away deeper into the laboratorium.
Poor thing. I still don’t understand how she could allow for something like this, how she could make someone so fragile, knowing how easily broken us desserts already are. Doesn’t she-
Red Velvet’s internal monologue died down as he caught a glimpse of movement, the shadows themselves bending and twisting in ways they weren’t supposed to for a fraction of a second, all before returning to normal. His hand steadily approached where his knife was sheathed, and the various assistants who were near him quickly scattered to the wind.
Red Velvet stared intently at where the movement occurred, waiting…waiting…
One…
Two…
Three…
“Hm, this damn place never stops getting the best of me,” Red Velvet acquiesced, accepting that the flickering darkness must have been a trick of the mind, an expected reaction to such an unsettling atmosphere.
Still, the general was wary as he walked off, and through the hustle and bustle of the laboratory, the hissing of viscous, heated liquids rushing through blackened pipes, the sounds of moaning, crumbling cookies, he could swear he heard a laugh, one that echoed as an afterthought through his mind as he continued with his visit.
~~~
“My lord,” Pomegranate Cookie loudly declared as she entered into her master’s war room, bowing forward slightly and closing her eyes in respect.
"Open your eyes my dear Pomegranate, there is work to be done, and pleasantries must wait.”
A nod, a smile hidden behind her mirror, as she turned around and closed the heavyset dark chocolate doors that separated this room from the others within her the lair of Dark Enchantress.
The room itself was immense, making the cookies standing within it appear as specks, tiny things, looking over a world many times larger than they could ever hope to truly fathom. Chandeliers of dark browns and blacks hung from the ceilings, lit by candles the color of rubies, swinging slightly in the faint breeze that seemed to perpetually be shifting through the room. Behind where Dark Enchantress was seated stood a large glass stained window depicting the doors of an oven, rended asunder, metal melted and cracked as if it was nothing, and inside that oven? Emerging from its hellish depths? Was the faint outline of her master in all black, a shadowy manifestation of cookiekind’s growing ire for the malevolent beings that presided over their lives.
The embodiment of vengeance stood before Pomegranate, her form recently shifted into something new, dough blessed with divine strength she was never meant to wield. Her being was now one that matched those of the witches themselves, and finally, after all these gruesome years, she was in reach of her true goal.
Dark Enchantress Cookie towered over the rest of her kind, legs replaced with inky black tendrils, wings spread out in a constant display of defiance, a constant display of superiority, and her armor, in its intricate shades of crimson coated in the colors of night, marked her as a fighter. She was not given the might of baking magic as a gift from the witches themselves, like with the Beasts and their heavenly mandated purposes and crafted Soul Jams, nor did she earn it by merit of her own virtues like with the Ancients. No, she bled for this, she fought for this, she dug into the deepest depths of earthbread and pulled from it her own might.
Pomegranate Cookie had never had more faith in their shared purpose. In that room, as small as most cookies would seem, only Dark Enchantress truly stood out against everything else. An ovular table was positioned in the center of the room, and upon it lay that long since marked map of Earthbread, covered with a series of markers depicting troops and other points showcasing areas of strategic interest.
Pomegranate took her place at Dark Enchantress’ side, dwarfed by the much larger, now divine being that stood before her. They both looked over the map, eyes travelling this way and that, resources being carefully weighed and measured-
And found wanting.
“The enemies Licorice Cookie plans on dredging up from the sea don’t look to be enough, you will make sure he gets the support he needs to make those monsters of his as deadly as can be.”
“As you wish.”
“And what of the abominations made by Matcha Cookie? The oozes? The husks? All ready?”
“Yes, Dark Enchantress, all as you have requested.”
“Good! Good! Oozes, husks, licorice monstrosities, cakes, the Beasts themselves, and…those experiments Butter Roll has been working on. Tell me, Pomegranate Cookie, do you think they will suffice?”
“One can only hope, my lord. Though I find myself doubting the capabilities of Butter Roll Cookie.”
“Hah! Riddled with faults he may be, I took him as my underling for a reason Pomegranate, you’d do well to remember that.”
“Yes master, I am sorry for speaking out of turn.”
“Now now Pomegranate, none are as useful as you are, no need to be so quick to bow your head down. My minions are effective, skilled, and ready to fulfill my vision. Should everything remain in place, soon we shall have a world with no more witches, no more reign of terror, no more devouring of innocent lives! A world of equality between all desserts! And it shall be done by my hand I shall burn this world, and make it anew!”
Pomegranate once more raised her mirror, as a chuckle escaped her lips, her gaze never leaving Dark Enchantress’ eyes as she began circling the table, fingers grazing against the map of Earthbread, leaving behind streaks of blackened ash around the outline of it. “Countless lines of defense, countless traps laid set and waiting. In one fell swoop Dragontongue, Soul Jam, Life, Death, Dark Moon, and Baking Magic all will be merged into one. It must be perfect Pomegranate, perfect! We mustn’t let a single thing out of place. How are the Beasts? Behaving?”
“Yes Dark Enchantress, as arrogant as they may be, they see the opportunity in front of them and are willing to do anything to pursue it.”
“And what of Silent Salt? Still have your eyes on him?”
“Yes, after leaving the manor he returned to his region of Beast Yeast. Soon, he should return to us as we set up our last lines of defense.”
“Hmph, good. It’ll all be coming together soon now, we must be ready to act at a moment’s notice.”
“Yes, your grace.”
“And your crystals, all readied I presume? We cannot be content with just creating the Ultimate Cookie here Pomegranate, we must eviscerate the standing forces of all of Earthbread’s nations, leaving behind nothing but ash for us to sculpt as we please.”
“All planted and ready to get to work. Whenever their armies are finished mobilizing and embark in earnest for Beast Yeast, that is when I shall make my move."
Pomegranate Cookie paused for a moment, breath hitching as a thought came to her, before leaving as quickly as it came about. No, there was no reason to presume he would do anything. Surely, surely he would not act against his former comrades.
No, as worthless and forlorn as he was, he was still loyal. Even if he had gone, there was little he could do for what was in store.
With a chuckle befitting of the new Witch of Darkness, Dark Enchantress prepared to exit the room, wings flaring behind her, staff pressing against the ground with resounding force, “Excellent! All according to plan! Now, before our meeting with my inner circle, we must first attend to another issue.”
“And that is?”
“We must see if Experiment #3 is worth keeping around, or if she’s lived out her usefulness.”
~~~
The arena was a hexagonal space made up of dark chocolate tiling, surrounded by stands, separated from the rest of the laboratorium by an immense stone gate, heavyset, reinforced, and meant to take an immense amount of punishment. A walkway traveled from the entranceway to the arena, and surrounding every other side of the hexagon were dark gray stands climbing upwards, separated from the arena only by a lowhanging wall of similar make to the tiling it connected to. This place oftentimes was a place of entertainment, a place of jamlust as the cookies in the stands screamed for one abomination or another to tear apart the other. It was one of the many sinful pleasures those within the laboratory engaged with, and the tiling of the arena itself was oftentimes stained with jam or covered with viscera from the previous encounters.
Today though, it was spotless, as today wasn’t dedicated to inspiring mirth-
But to testing one of the three experiments that were meant to be mighty enough to serve in the coming war, one in which cookiekind would finally be liberated.
The stands were populated by more than just Dark Enchantress, as Red Velvet, Pomgrenanate, and Butter Roll also were seated alongside her, dwarfed by the now divine cookie. Pom-Pom Dough Cookie stepped into the arena, breathing shakily, anxious and quiet and quiet, all-consuming dread forming in her core as her silent rebellion against her lot in life was finally about to come to fruition.
She was about to try and fight Venom Dough of all cookies. They were the group’s face for a reason, for out of everyone in their motley crew, none were as skilled as them in the manipulation of their dragontongue.
Venom Dough Cookie remained expressionless, purple liquid dancing across their fingertips as they prepared for the coming bout. Pom-Pom, standing opposite to her older sister, had to refrain from doing such a thing, lest she tear herself apart before the battle even began in the first place.
The child looked first to Dark Enchantress, trying her best to understand what her expression meant, but no longer how hard she looked, she couldn’t quite understand what her gaze meant. Searching for comfort, she then turned her attention to Red Velvet, who despite being chastised earlier, still offered her the slightest of smiles through their wordless exchange.
“Well now, I’ll keep this introductory segment brief. Prove your worth to me, so I may know if you are fit to continue being in my service. Begin.”
Rather than rush forward, Pom-Pom Cookie, runes aglow with draconic might, darted back as a plume of acidic purple liquid appeared a little in front of where she had been standing, the other cookie having expected a headlong rush. A crack formed on Pom-Pom’s head, mint-green jam oozing out as she continued darting left and right, avoiding geysers of high-pressure venom and rains of similar substances.
Still, the other cookie’s runes remained dormant.
Pom-Pom could only dodge for so long without being shredded to pieces, but with each missed spout of liquid, panic began slowly showing on Venom Dough’s face, sweat forming on their dough, spiraled eyes growing frantic. They weren’t ending this fast enough, and the pressure of doing so was getting to them.
Still, for all her mobility, Pom-Pom could not refrain from being grazed by the endless onslaught, and throughout her dough she began feeling the effects of venom running its course through her. It slowed her, gradually, but surely, as Venom Dough kept on the offensive.
It took everything in Pom-Pom to not be overeager, to not rush in and let her emotions take over. She had to be unpredictable, despite how much of her kept almost falling to her usual habits.
WIth a huff of frustration, the liquid in Venom’s palms turned gaseous, and waving their hands in front of them, a purple fog choked and clawed at the air, replacing the safe sweetness of chocolate with a grating, tearing feeling in the throat, with an all-consuming sensation of oncoming death.
There, finally, the child’s opportunity to defy expectations. With a shrill scream of pure rage, Pom-Pom cut through the fog, parting it on either of her as she headbutted Venom Dough Cookie’s center with enough force for the latter to cough up jam, skidding backwards as they fought for breath.
The young cookie’s dough was at its limit, her frame crumbling, her breathing heavy and labored, swaying, wavering, about to break apart. With a grunt of exertion Pom-Pom Dough darted towards Venom Dough once more, though unlike before, she never made it to her destination.
“Pom-Pom Dough ENOUGH!” Venom roared, runes flaring with flashes of violet as a pressure unlike any Pom-Pom had ever felt before pushed her straight into the ground, the tiling cracking a little as she was pressed down. Venom Dough looked horrified, hands shaking, eyes wavering, unable to stop themselves from keeping Pom-Pom pinned, afraid of their sister crumbling through reckless use of her abilities. The stands were much in a similar state, with everyone but Red Velvet and Dark Enchantress Cookie still holding themselves up, with only the latter doing so without any incredibly noticeable exertion. The grin Dark Enchantress cookie had was feral, enraptured by the display being shown off in front of her.
After some seconds passed, the immense gravity holding down Pom-Pom left, and with a collective gasp shared with most the audience, she pulled herself upwards. Everyone was scrambling to hold themselves back upright, hungering for air they had been deprived of just a moment before.
An unfamiliar feeling was beginning to manifest in Pom-Pom, it was faint, it was fleeting, but it was there, and it was something she never expected to feel towards her sister-
For but a moment, Pom-Pom had been afraid, truly and unabashedly afraid. The force of it all, the pressure, it had simply been too much to bear. A lesser cookie would have crumbled in an instant, she could have crumbled if she hadn’t been strong enough to bear it.
What the child heard next was slow, menacing, surprisingly less mocking than she anticipated.
Clapping, it was clapping.
“Well done well done indeed! Perhaps you all are more capable than I originally thought. You, Experiment #1, have talent beyond what I could have ever anticipated, talent I may have use for yet-”
Venom Dough shivered, shaky gaze climbing up to meet Dark Enchantress’ own, fear apparent as they began to wonder what “uses” Dark Enchantress might be thinking up of.
“And you, Experiment #3, perhaps you shall not be marked for disposable yet, nay, you’ve proven yourself slightly more capable than I originally guessed! Well done, well done indeed. I always have a place for competent servants, and you seem more competent than most your age...Excellent work.”
Pom-Pom, opposite of Venom Dough’s well placed fear, was brimming with pride. Dark Enchantress complimented her. Dark Enchantress thought she might be useful!
She likes me. I matter. I matter. I matter…
“Now, with your talents well-documented, and Butter Roll’s experiments shown to have earned their place-” She threw an approving glance towards the mentioned scientist, who was smiling widely, eyecings alight with pure, radiant joy, “I suppose you all should better know your purpose here.”
Slamming her staff down, the arena was filled with what looked like infinite grains of ebony colored sand, each swirling and forming into a depiction of Pitaya Dragon Cookie in their more blatantly draconic form, fire flitting out of its mouth, tendrils of smoke erupting from its nostrils, “This is to be your foe.”
Pom-Pom looked up at the creature, an odd sensation of recognition surging through her dough, “This foul beast with its misplaced alignments could singlehandedly change the tides of war. The precarious balance between Ancient and Beast, clashing armies, and our individual innovations must not be toppled. Your task shall be an important one, and it is for this you all were baked. THIS is your purpose!”
Shackles clinking, dough having regenerated, Pom-Pom reached up as if to touch the dragon, to feel its internal warmth, that which her dough was meant to have but could never harbor.
Why? Why was it so familiar?
“A war is brewing, as the pitiful cookies of this world hope to fight against the salvation I aim to bring about. You will need to hold back Pitaya or better yet, kill them. You have plenty of reason for wanting to do so, after all.”
“What do you mean?” Venom Dough choked out, before returning to that normal facade of stoicism.
“It is this dragon’s actions that led to your miserable existences coming about at all. This beast is the reason for your suffering, it and the dragonsworn contract it made with another. Kill it, and you may have your vengeance yet.”
~~~
The cell each of the siblings shared felt somewhat warmer than usual to Pom-Pom Dough Cookie, as if her accomplishments were manifesting into sunlight she had never felt upon her dough and hope she had never before felt.
Dark Enchantress said she might be useful.
The child giggled to herself, kicking her legs in the air and squealing in excitement as she waved her arms. She did it! She did it! But then…
There was the matter of Red Velvet.
He had been…nice, soft with her, as brief as their encounter had been. Were there other cookies out there who would treat her like that? Could treat her like that? Could look at her and see something worth being loved?
And Pitaya…was that dragon really responsible for their tortured existence? All this suffering, all this pain, did it all circle back to them? If it weren’t for their irresponsible actions, would Pom-Pom never have gone through the myriad trials and tribulations her life had long been been tarnished with?
The things she would give to let out all this pain, all this rage, on such a wretched creature, and if she did well enough…maybe Dark Enchantress would praise her again.
Maybe she would be good enough.
Maybe soon she could feel useful for the first time. Maybe soon she could keep Mold and Venom safe for a change, rather than it only being the other way around.
Another bout of giggles earned an annoyed series of grumbles from the nearby Mold Dough Cookie, “Quiet, Pom-Pom. I need to sleep.”
“Welllll what if I don’t wanna be quiet, huh?”
Mold Dough’s grumbles turned into deep, rumbling laughter as he moved over to where Pom-Pom was positioned in the cell. After a brief moment, the quiet cookie took to tickling Pom-Pom, before lifting her up into the air with a wide smile, “Stooopp, s-stop!” Pom-Pom barely got out, playfully batting at Mold Dough’s arms as he tossed her into the air.
“Now normally I’d be more upset at you denying me my rest, but you did well today. I’m proud of you. Well done.”
The child blinked a couple times, swirled eyecings tearing up as her hands went up to shyly cover up her face, “Don’t you agree Venom Dough? She held her own.” He said simply, one of his scarce smiles still showing as he held up Pom-Pom in front of him like a doll, shaking her a little as if emphasizing his point to their other sibling.
Venom Dough rolled over on the cell floor, pulling themself up from the ground by resting on their elbows, eyecings barely opened as sleep clung to them, “....Huh?”
“Mold Dough was saying I did good today!”
Venom Dough blinked slowly, one eye after the other, as they fought against passing out once more, “Yea…Yea you…you did you-” A yawn, a hand covering their mouth as they mumbled out a brief hum of affirmation.
Another squeal of joy, and this time it was Venom’s turn to be annoyed, “Go back to sleep though. Some of us have things to do tomorrow, huh?”
"Ohhh you’re no fun!”
“Hm. Agreed. They need to fix that.”
“What do you mean I need to fix that?”
Venom’s answer came in the form of Pom-Pom Dough Cookie flying at their face, Mold Dough in an uncharacteristically playful mood tossing her like a baseball at the eldest of their ragtag trio.
The roar of an enraged Venom Dough could be heard throughout the laboratorium, scaring what few researchers were still up and leaving them scrambling as they feared the normally relaxed experiment lashing out. Such an outburst never came about of course, but their fearful gazes were certainly a sight to behold.
And it was not only the assistants that overheard the siblings playing with one another deep into the night, for a beastly shadow, clinging to the walls in the vague shape of a cookie, disappeared only after watching them for some time, leaving behind only a characteristic cackle and a devilish grin.
Everything was coming into place for dozens of different forces, and three siblings, resting with normally foreign joy, savored one of their last peaceful nights in this damp and dreary place.