Chapter Text
Sounds of heels clicking against the smooth stone ground echoed loudly throughout the halls of the catacombs. Dark Enchantress Cookie hummed until she finally laid eyes upon the cookie whom she had been searching for; Defeated amidst the rubble.
The entire structure was exempt from the presence of any cookie; Dark Encantress Cookie had realized, as she had previously made her way down the halls. Not even its maker – Silent Salt Cookie- was to be found. He must have left after having cast judgment upon the still girl.
“Awh, poor thing,” Dark Enchantress Cookie finally spoke, lowering her chest to gaze at the remnants of the ‘saint’, now partly coated in pomegranate, much like the Enchantress herself. Burn marks were bruised all over her fragile body. She remained unmoving and made no attempt to acknowledge the harbingers' words of mockery. Instead, her eyes stared into a void of emptiness. “Look at you, burn marks scattered all over your body. Familiar, no?”
Dark Enchantress Cookie kicked at her reflection’s arm, trying to invoke a reaction out of her, but it was to no avail. She smirked before continuing. “What will you do now, that the light of freedom remains dim?”
She crouched down, getting closer to the unmoving girl’s face. Her eyes finally darted to the dark one’s face, still, no words came uttering out of her soft-spoken lips. “Lie here until you wither from starvation, or...” the Enchantress leaned closer to the other’s ear and softly whispered: “join me?”
That caught her attention, all right. Eyes sparked weakly with surprise, lifting her head to gaze straight into the harbinger’s familiar orbs. Finally uttering her first words, although repetitive, “..Join.. you..?”
Dark Enchantress Cookie chuckled lowly as she stood up after finally catching the girl’s attention. Shaking the dust off her dress, she reasoned: “That’s right. Only I can do this, that much is true, and since our light of freedom has finally gone out, isn’t it time for us to forge our own path, together?” She extended a hand to her reflection, who seemed unsure of the whole situation. To become whole is to become fulfilled. By the one and only person who could understand White Lily Cookie. That is freedom in itself, is it not? And now, that the light that had guided her for the greater portion of her life had abandoned her, sparing not even smoke after it’s abandon, what path was she meant to take? Or was she just expected to lie in the freezing cold of the catacombs as the hypothermia suffocates her vulnerable dough?
“..No.. You are evil…destructive…” White Lily Cookie muttered weakly.
“Ah, yes! I take it you are so much better than I. O, great ancient hero. But what of those countless souls in the Blueberry Academy, hm? How would they describe you?”
White Lily Cookie had no response to that, she simply lowered her head in cowerance. The strong sense of resilience she harboured had perished the instance she heard her light of Freedom crack– and shatter into pieces, inside that boiling point. Alas, she had returned to her soft-spoken demeanour. Yet not out of apologeticness, but a lack of resolve. Even the simplest of tasks, such as curling on the floor, felt too straining. She wants to be free from it all, though it has been evident that, that is too much to ask for. Fate has spared her not even an ounce of Freedom, so what is the point of pursuing it?
“Can’t you see we were destined to walk this path? Join me, and bask in True Freedom,” Dark Enchantress Cookie extended her hand a second time, and she could sense longing when she stared into her reflection's crimson eyes. A longing to become whole. A longing to be understood. Slowly, she reached out to accept her other half’s invitation. Until she hastily redacted it. White Lily Cookie refused to let herself walk the path of demolition once more, even if destiny had nothing left to spare her– she refused to settle for destruction, and Dark Enchantress Cookie could not believe she had to stoop this low.
“Ugh, so stubborn. Fine! You do not have to join me in my pursuit, but allow me to at least escort you to my palace. I cannot fathom the idea of you looking like me while you rot in these suffocating halls.” That much was true. White Lily Cookie, in her normal feeble little form, showed little resemblance to the dark harbinger. However now.. Dough dotted in pomegranate, colors of green and red creeping in on one another, long, messy hair weighing down on her shoulders… Considering the sparkling similarities, the Enchantress had to protect her dignity. If the pitiful fragment didn't want to join her, she at the very least had to be kept from the eyes of the public.
And so this time, Dark Enchantress Cookie forcefully grabbed hold of her reflection’s hand, causing the girl with the lily to stumble forward, still hazy from half-consciously lying on the ground for who knows how long. The crimson lady pulled out a moonstone. Dark moon magic, she noted, and the Enchantress rolled her eyes at the other’s caution.
“Relax, I’ve done this plenty of times. You have too, remember? Elder Faerie...” White Lily Cookie pursed her lips at the remark; she didn’t want to remember him, amongst the myriad of others who placed their faith and devotion in her, only for her to inevitably burn in that cauldron once more, and her Light of Freedom reduced to dust.
She wonders - how would they look at her now?.. And the Enchantress sighs heavily when she recognises what the other is pondering on about. For Dark Enchantress Cookie, her other half is akin to that of an open book. She is able to read her immediately, and she has come to note that her thoughts are always so very pitiful.
In the blink of an eye, White Lily Cookie feels the flow of wind creep up on her as the two reach their destination, but it is not much colder than the catacombs, she thinks. Actually, she is slightly relieved to be freed from that which was meant to be her resting place.
The moonstone has not teleported them directly to the palace; they still have a bit to wander within the gloomy, withering forest outside Dark Enchantress Cookie’s citadel. The land is barren and empty, the fragile girl notes. The sky is clear - yet gray and dull. So lifeless and White Lily Cookie cannot comprehend how her other half can stand to live in a place like this. Perhaps because it is destroyed beyond repair, much like the Enchantress herself, that she can find comfort within it.
They wander in silence, and White Lily Cookie observes every specimen of withered plant she and her reflection walk past, and Dark Enchantress Cookie can only grunt complaints about how slow her other half is, before they finally arrive at her grand palace.
Her faithful servants are not present within the long main hall when they make their way inside. It is such a tall construction, almost like it was built for a witch. With a thin red mattress that forms a path to the large bifurcated stairs that they make their way up upon.
Dark Enchantress cookie opens the door to what appears to be White Lily Cookie’s room, and humbly lets the girl enter before closing it behind them. It was grand, and surprisingly quite nice, which White Lily Cookie had doubted. She thought she was being led to yet another prison, though clearly that was not the case. In the middle of the opposite wall stood a large bed with a crimson bedsheet and pillars placed at each corner of the bed. There was also a grand variety of books within the two large bookshelves to the sides of the wooden bed.
“..Do you really just have rooms like this lying around?”
“Is that all you have to say, not even a thank you? They are for future followers.”
White Lily Cookie chooses to ignore the misunderstanding that could come with such a statement and instead continues, “You really value your followers...”
“Of course. What kind of leader would I be if I didn’t?”
Leader, huh? White Lily Cookie couldn’t picture herself playing such a role. Even with her duty as the faerie queen, she knew deep down that she was meant for adventure and traveling on grassy hills, climbing mountains and following nothing but the direction that speaks to her heart. But maybe that’s what her other half is doing too. Only recklessly bringing a number of followers along with her. Or perhaps it’s just that nothing speaks to her anymore. For the Enchantress, the light of Freedom had gone out long ago, leaving her unable to resonate with her heart for directions. Perhaps that is why she sought to forge her own freedom, only a twisted, unresponsive version of it. White Lily Cookie wonders if she would turn out like that if she remained without her light of Freedom for too long.
Perish the thought, she thinks, before the Enchantress speaks once more. “I will leave you be now, being in your presence for too long is sickening.” Before White Lily Cookie can argue that she's contradicting herself, she turns her heel and shuts the door .
The sheets wrinkle when she falls atop the soft bed, staring into the nothingness of the ceiling. There is so much to think about, and so much to be done. But really, what can be done?
Pastry Cookie and Charcoal Cookie had crumbled to dust, and inside that boiling cauldron that she was tossed into a second time, the light that made up her very essence had gone out; And the only thing she remembers after that is her hot body lying flat on the chilling cold floor of the catacombs, the opposing temperatures helping to exacerbate the pain. She recalls the echoes of footsteps fading into the distance, and then, echoes of footsteps approaching.
Those footsteps belonged to her other half, who had reached out her hand to save her.
As White Lily Cookie clings to the sheets of the soft bed, she feels so very heavy, and her head spins as countless thoughts come bubbling forth. She hasn’t yet had a moment of solidarity to think properly. She shakingly lifts her hands to survey them. One in the color of her usual dough, the other a shade of devilish red, that could only be compared to the hue of the Enchantress.
Was this her destiny? Was it foretold that she would lose herself in that cauldron as her very dough gets reshaped into the form of a destroyer, and that no attempts, no matter how ambitious or eager, could succeed in altering her fate?
Then why – why did the light of Freedom choose her of all people?
Elder Faerie.. Pure Vanilla Cookie... Golden Cheese Cookie and everyone else who had stood beside her. She let them down. She had let everyone down, including herself.