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My first day as king, and there is a blizzard. As if the Gods themselves are angry at me for what I did. Worse, there are a bunch of feral Cookies running amok and they stand before me, having beaten me with a candy cane, of all things. A candy cane! And the other had a lollipop…
“How can some random Cookies just show up and defeat me?!” I snap. How can I expect the soldiers to respect me when I can be bested by a ragtag group of… of children? Do they even know what I have gone through to get to this point? I killed the only Cookie on all of Earthbread who wanted me to be warm… for this. This wretched moment— and they’re just staring at me while I pace furiously, shaking.
“Lord Affogato Cookie!” One of my loyal servants calls… I don’t remember their name. It doesn’t matter.
“What is it?” I ask, trying to compose myself as my gaze meets theirs.
“The wall has been breached! Monsters, from the Licorice Sea— they’ve razed the wall!” My disciple wails. It feels like the world comes crashing down, even as the ceiling holds strong.
“What?” I rasp, the air taken from my lungs. My heart hammers against my chest.
My servant opens their mouth to speak, but then there’s a muffled roar from outside the castle. The kind of roar that rattles in your very dough. I’m reminded of nights spent curled in Dark Cacao’s side, by a fire, listening to him ramble on a tangent I sent him on… But this roar isn’t like the sound of Dark Cacao’s gentler voice. It’s harsh. Angry. Distinctly… incookie. I shudder. I failed to protect the wall, Dark Cacao’s last physical legacy. I, Affogato Cookie… failed.
“The wall is solid chocolate! It isn’t supposed to—”
“This way, Your Majesty! We’re almost at the throne room,” Says a voice from outside the throne room. Caramel Arrow Cookie? And—
“Yes. And I’m sure he will be there,”
“D-Dark Cacao Cookie!” I stammer. He’s… he survived? Again? Oh, I’m crumbs if he sees me— but… his voice eases the heavy stone of cold grief that’s rested in my throat since I spoke to Dark Choco Cookie.
“Your Majesty, what will we do?!” My servant asks, frightened. It’s in their voice, baked into it. But I don’t answer. I don’t have an answer. I head for the door, behind the throne.
Dark Cacao Cookie isn’t crumbs. He’s alive. And though I long to see him, to fall to my knees and beg forgiveness… I’ve spent far too long on my knees. The comforts I so desire are once again out of my reach. My steps falter when I hear the door to the throne room open. I don’t look back, even as it takes every scrap of strength I have in my dough.
“Your Majesty! Affogato Cookie is getting away— I’ll go after him—”
I start sprinting down the hall, barely catching Dark Cacao’s tired,
“No. Leave him be,”
I don’t know how long I run. Just that I’m dodging scared Cookies and ignoring the soldiers trying to evacuate the citadel. There’s so much chaos I hardly know where I am, until I hit a very familiar dark cake log tree. Just last night, I was mourning Dark Cacao here… Maybe Dark Cacao’s return is a blessing from the Dessert Gods. Because I… I don’t think I actually… I don’t think I actually wanted him dead.
Even if it would be better, now, if he were. I wouldn’t be fleeing. My life wouldn’t be threatened by a Cookie who once looked at me and wanted my comfort, even though he was the one who had met the business end of a sword. But maybe, just this once, I don’t want better. A novel concept for me, I’m sure, and yet… and yet I find it’s a welcome one.
I take in the tree’s bare branches, the snow getting caught on my clothes and in my hair. It even catches on my eyelashes, obscuring my vision… I must leave an offering, here. As thanks for the Gods hearing my pathetic laments… but I have nothing more than the robes keeping me warm. All the same, I take off my outermost robe, and hang it on one of the dark cake log tree’s branches before moving on.
I shiver as I trudge through the snow, eventually finding Pomegranate Cookie and Licorice Cookie.
“You again?” I ask, teeth chattering. It’s rare that there is a Cookie worse off in the cold than me, but it seems Licorice Cookie is one of those Cookies. He’s shivering, cheeks red, nose running as he shakes so hard it looks as though he can barely stand.
“Affogato Cookie?” Pomegranate Cookie asks.
“Oh, thank the G-Gods!” Licorice Cookie stutters.
“Yes, yes… I take it you’re hopelessly lost?” I ask. I don’t know where I’m going, either, but I won’t admit that… I only know I need to cross the border. Go into exile. Dark Cacao has so graciously allowed me to live, and I will not test the limits of his grace by allowing myself to be found within our— his— borders once more.
“We’ve been going in circles—”
“No,” Pomegranate Cookie cuts Licorice Cookie off. I shiver at a particularly harsh gust of wind. Licorice Cookie makes a pathetic squawking sound.
“Come— I shall guide you to the border… if you would do me the favor of allowing me to travel with you,” I offer. Because I don’t have much of a choice. It’s either struggle alone with my poisons and curses or else travel with this sniveling lot and help them reach their potential… because they do have it, if their ability to get into the kingdom unnoticed is any indicator. The pair look at each other, before a particularly small Cookie— a child in purple— Poison Mushroom Cookie— steps forward, shivering but smiling all the same.
“Hooray! New friend!” He rasps, and Pomegranate Cookie sighs as the child wraps his arms around my middle. I shudder, putting my arms out so as to not touch him. This is… as endearing as it is uncomfortable.
“Only if you can keep up,” Pomegranate Cookie says. I plaster on a smirk.
“I intend to,”