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It was late at night, and the Golden Cheese Kingdom was uncharacteristically cold. Unfortunately, the Queen had not prepared for this particular eventuality, as the desert wasn't often a place you needed to wrap up warm, and Golden Cheese Cookie was famously a very deep sleeper.
However, the hero's dreams had been cursed with horrible nightmares.
Cookies collapsing to the ground, jam forming a puddle in the sand.
Children crying out for their mothers as havoc and flames engulfed the space around them.
Spice clouding the air, clouding their minds. Making it harder and harder to breathe.
She felt something being ripped out of her back, excruciating agony shooting through her spine...
She was forced to sit and watch everything she'd ever loved crumble to ashes, like it was that easy. It never meant anything at all.
Golden Cheese had woken up in a cold sweat, panting and trembling even under her silk-woven covers. She couldn't feel her wings.
Her wings.
Frantically, she felt around to see if they were still there. They were, thank cheeses, and she folded them around her figure, tears pricking at the corners of her eyes. She had to remind herself, over and over, that it wasn't real. It was just a dream.
Only then did she register exactly how freezing it was in the room. Golden Cheese shivered, pressing her back against the wall and breathing deeply. The roots of her wings were experiencing phantom pains again, this time even worse than before. She buried her head into her knees, sobbing quietly and rubbing at her temples in hopes that it would stop the headache.
Nothing worked. There was bile rising in her stomach, and her mind began clearing, like it was going to switch off, and she would pass out... again.
Awake. Stay. Awake. Breathe. In. Out. In out in out in--
"Golden Cheese Cookie? Golden Cheese Cookie!"
A quick rapping at her bedroom door caught the queen's attention, and she lifted her head just enough to hear it clearer. The voice accompanying it was loud but gentle, a voice Golden Cheese knew far too well. As much as she wanted to reply, any noise that came out only resembled a pained whimper, and everything she tried hurt her head.
Luckily, that was all the reply Hollyberry Cookie needed.
Cautiously, she swung open the door, peering around it into the room beyond. Upon seeing the other curled up in a ball, cheeks stained with tears, whole body trembling like a leaf in the wind, she immediately crossed the threshold, scooping her up and cradling the golden bird to her chest.
Golden Cheese failed to notice over the throbbing pain, but at least her head felt warmer. Buried peacefully in the crook of her ally's neck, every inhale brought smells of fruits and morning dew.
She felt a woollen blanket drape over her shoulders and two legs swinging up onto the bed to further encase the queen in a soft, fabric-lined embrace. Hollyberry lifted a hand to run it soothingly through Golden Cheese's hair, using the other to rub gentle circles on her back.
"Relax, radiance," She tilted her head down to plant a kiss on the other's scalp. "You're as beautiful as ever. Try to stay awake for me, alright?"
Golden Cheese looked up at her through shaky pupils, and managed a smile. Wobbly at the edges and slightly wonky overall, but her thoughts were beginning to straighten out and stabilise themselves. It wasn't cold anymore. She was awake.
The phantom pains had mostly ceased, leaving only a faint ache around her middle back and a bit of stiffness in her wings. Although, they had, however, been squashed against her sides in the process of the hug, but Golden Cheese wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. After all, she did love gifts.
And horses. Occasionally.
Quickly, the golden goddess realised just how pathetic she must seem, cuddled up in her ally's arms like a baby duckling. She wasn't often seen like this with anyone, and it felt awfully embarrassing to show such weakness.
Hollyberry didn't make much of it, though. She didn't seem to mind at all, actually. Instead, the Queen took to alternating between running her hands through Golden Cheese's feathers, or ghosting over them like a calm breeze. The motion tickled slightly, sending tingles up the other cookie's spine and eliciting a full-body shiver.
"You're a treasure," She managed, breathing a relaxed sigh. Her wings fell limp by her sides. "My treasure, mind you."
Amused by the claim, Hollyberry chuckled, lifting her hands to cup the bird's chin. "So possessive today. Don't worry, sunshine. I'm not going anywhere." She brought her head down to peck her ally on the lips, before pulling back and returning to the previous action of preening feathers.
Almost instantly, Golden Cheese decides that their kiss didn't last nearly long enough, and immediately pushes herself up to have a second go, pouring all her passion and gratitude into the motion. Just so she didn't have to ruin her pride by saying it aloud.
When it ends, Hollyberry's mouth is left hanging open slightly, and now Golden Cheese's turn to laugh.
"Thank you," She lowers her head, and the other cookie takes that as a sign to do her job as the big spoon. "Sweet dreams, my love."
"Sweet dreams, birdie."