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Chapter Text

At first, there was nothing. Nothing at all in the Universe 2,232,523,542,348,103,948,230,239. Not even an atom.

Then, the Celestials came across the small empty bubble of space, and decided to fill it as they had filled other bubbles. They summoned 5 souls, and molded them into soul gems based around the shapes they decided to bestow on the Primordial.

A blue flower-esque shape, a pink heart, a golden leaf, a green succulent, and finally...a purple compass star.

A Primordial was what the Celestials called the tiny little speck of dust that contained the life of the Universe. Eventually the Primordial was expected to have it’s life spread across the Universe, and into others, into the Dimensional Atlas, a place where the Celestials lived, but not even Universe 1 had achieved that yet. Someday, possibly…

It is unknown why the Celestials do this.

Once the soul gems had been bestowed upon the Primordial, the Celestials let the Witches continue their work. The Witches saw Celestials as Gods, and they were simply the ones who filled the Primordials with life. The Witches created 5 bodies for the soul gems to inhabit, before covering the Primordial in an ocean and a large continent, formed out of stone and other solid material. Then, finally, soft ground..and then, grass. Mountains rose from the ground as well, and some parts sank to become lakes and rivers. The grass occasionally turned into a plant, and the Witches also introduced weather. Now, the land had been divided into four, perfect for the five souls to control.

Two went together, named Pure Vanilla Cookie and Saint Lily Cookie. One controlled life, the other light, but both helped Spring along.

Then, Hollyberry Cookie, who controlled Summer and the love of the animals that would soon be introduced to the planet as well.

Golden Cheese Cookie, one of Autumn and war, along with the harvest.

Finally, Dark Cacao Cookie, bringer of Winter and death. All Primordials, all things, even, except the Celestials, needed death to survive. Like a scale, Life and Death balance each other, although, for each Universe, most times the two fought and fought until their Primordials split into halves.

Once the animals, and even humans were introduced, The Five lived happily, ruling over their respective fourths, even creating a concept known as a kingdom. However, there was an exception...Death had indeed created a kingdom, but no living soul could step into it without much, much trouble. Instead, all that had perished inhabited the snowy mountains, except for those who were kind and loving, instead becoming Star Children...leaving the kingdom of Death bitter and depressing. 

Dark Cacao Cookie killed all he touched, causing him to become rather paranoid. He covered his entire body, with gloves and boots and a cloak, even wearing a mask resembling that of a plague doctor’s, his snow white hair covering the rest of his skin. The mask was what even inspired the mask that became more commonplace and associated with Death as well..

He hated his power, and usually just wished he had been created a normal person, however...if he didn’t do it, no one would, and he knew the scale had to be kept in balance.

The others..? Not so much…

They disliked him. A lot.

Especially Life, who, while almost annoyingly kind, hated death with all his huge heart. And it hurt Death, a lot, really, but...he couldn’t blame the man. All humans hated him as well. It was justified. Death caused grief and pain and suffering, while Life brought joy and love. Not many ever realized the importance of the scale, except one Minor God, those who have been blessed by the Witches and given smaller scale powers. The Minor God of Guidance. He called himself M, but his full name was Dark Chocolate Mousse Cookie. He was often by Death’s side, his one true friend…

~~~

Dark Cacao Cookie sighed, sitting at his throne. He was tired, as usual. M was off somewhere else, helping some spirits with whatever they were doing. Death didn’t care. He was about to doze off when a sharp pain stabbed itself into his heart. He almost fell out of his throne, but kept himself together, picking up his fallen crown from the ground and setting it back atop his head. His staff stared at him...they knew the cause of that sudden outburst.

Every time someone perished, he felt that pain, for just a moment, too…

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Chapter 1 end.

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Chapter Text

Dark Cacao Cookie stood up after a moment, still reeling from the sharp pain. It had faded rather fast, but it took the wind out of him. Just as he was about to step down the stairs, his entire body felt like it was burning and being torn apart. He fell onto the lower floor, his mask falling off, letting the sharp edge of a stair gash his forehead, but he could hardly feel it under the rest of the suffering. Finally, that faded too, and he just laid there, blood covering his face. Seemed...seemed many had just died. He blinked, and sat up, glancing at his valet. The man rushed off, before returning, now having the first aid kit, bandaging the part of his face that had been torn open.

“Another tragedy, I presume?” He mumbled as he cleaned the rest of the blood from Death’s face. He could touch the God, as the valet was already dead.

“Ye..ah...yeah, yeah, probably..” Dark Cacao Cookie whispered, looking to the side. At least the mask would hide it. Speaking of, it had flown a couple feet, and once the valet was done patching him up, Death moved to grab it. There was a scratch across the lower left eye hole, but other than that, nothing much had changed. DCC put it back on, and sighed. He had gotten used to rather small, insignificant pains, like a wound.

Dark Cacao Cookie slowly stood up, and lifted his crown once again, staring at it for a moment before setting it on his head.

“Let me know if you need anything else, sir.” The valet nodded, and he nodded back, watching him clean everything up and put it back in place. With that, Death sighed, and moved to the main entrance of the castle. He stepped into the cold snow, and stood there for a little while, just thinking.

Today would likely be horrible, but he was used to that, too.

Death walked the mostly empty streets. A literal ghost town. He could feel spirits nearby, but most hid away in their homes whenever the God stepped outside his castle. He couldn’t even harm them, and yet, they still acted as though he could. For a moment, his stomach hurt horribly, before it vanished. Another death, another soul, and another annoying person to deal with if they started to cry. He knew that was rather mean, but he was just...so tired of it. Where was M? He needed his guidance.

He heard the happy voice amongst the quiet winds and thunders of clouds soon enough. 

M was sitting at the base of a dead tree, rather young spirits around him. Children...he hated to see young ones die..but it was to keep the balance…

Death approached the man, and he looked up, bowing his head.

“Hello, Dark Cacao Cookie. I was just going to tell them one story, but...it seems they’ve grown attached!” M chuckled, and Death laughed a little bit too, though rather quiet. The child spirits were rather weary around Death, and he...understood that..

DCC sat in the snow next to M, and sighed, covering most of his body with his cloak.

“Something on your mind?” M’s smile changed to concern.

“I...yes, there is something..I..I still want to talk to them. Life especially. But..whenever I want to speak about the Balance, and how it is necessary ...I...I just freeze up like a statue, and then they..yell at me. But I couldn’t control what I was given by the Celestials! They don’t..seem..to know that..I need your guidance, M.” Death replied, staring at the almost blinding white snow.

 
M thought for a while, before ‘hmm’ing.

“I see...this is..rather tough for me, I apologize.”

“I underst-”

“That doesn’t mean I’m giving up! The best I can suggest is that you have someone to help you with speaking your mind. Like me! I’m always willing to help you, Cacao.”

M offered a hug, and Death accepted, letting him, and the hesitant spirits, hug him close.

“Thank you, M...you’re...you’re the best friend I cou..ld wish for..”

“Of course! Most everyone deserves someone, right?”

Death shrugged. He hid the fact that small spots of his back burned for a few moments rather well.

“Don’t shrug me!” M huffed, and pulled away from this hug. “Alright kids, you guys better get home.” He turned to the others, and they nodded. Some ran off, others wanted to stay, but after a little while, M got them to leave too. Death simply watched, his tired eyes mainly following M.

“Finally!” M sighed, fully falling into the snow. “Now that that’s over with...is there anything else you would like help with?” He turned his head to the side.

“No..I’m alright..” Dark Cacao Cookie shrugged again, standing up. “I’m...going to return back home.” He whispered.

“Gotcha. I’ll be...around, if ya need me.” M nodded, watching the God walk off with a slight smile on his face.

Dark Cacao Cookie soon arrived back at his castle, and went up to his room instead, falling onto the bed just as his legs felt like they were being sliced into pieces. He hissed with the momentary pain, before sighing with relief as it faded. He hated this quirk.

His tired eyes soon shut, and he drifted into a dream..or perhaps, more of a nightmare.

Again, he saw a fight he had had with Life, although like usual, it wasn’t much of a fight, and more just Death staring ahead blankly as Life yelled at him once again. That was all the dream was, until he woke up to find it was dark outside. Maybe if he just tried again, he wouldn’t...need help. 

Death got up, and got himself ready, before leaving the castle and starting down the stone path to the meeting of the Four Planes.

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Chapter 2 end.

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Chapter Text

Death walked along the path, the snow eventually stopping after a few weeks and turning to green grass as he reached the meeting of the Four Planes. Time didn’t really pass for him in the same way it would pass for a human. He had lived so long that days felt like an hour, to him…

Those who lived in the kingdom were used to him disappearing for long stretches of time, even years on occasion, but he would always return. It was the only place he felt welcome. As he stepped onto the grass, a small cloud formed above his head, still snowing quite heavily above him. This always happened when he stepped into another Plane...he kind of liked that, but it also left a pretty easy trail, as the snow didn’t melt as fast as it normally would.

The Plane of Spring was always beautiful, as beautiful as the man who brought it to life. Dark Cacao Cookie was pretty envious of Life’s gift...but, as usual, he justified it with ‘If I didn’t handle Death, no one would.’ and moved along. 

He just wished he could feel a flower’s soft petals with his bare hand and not make it wilt…

As he walked, he noticed people. Many people, really. Unlike Death’s kingdom, even places outside of the main area were rather populated. However, these people soon disappeared...they, too, were terrified of Death.

He could feel their worried and angry gazes from their windows, but Dark Cacao Cookie didn’t look up, instead just staring at the stone pathway, not wanting to frighten them even more by meeting their eyes. Eventually he split from the path, and instead went to a large lake nearby, leaning against his sword like a cane (he often used it like one), before setting it down and sitting at the edge of the water. The parts Death was nearby froze as soon as his boots touched the grass. He sighed, and hugged his folded legs, staring at the crystalline surface. 

As he watched the snowflakes falling from his cloud land on the thin ice, someone grabbed him by the back of the shirt, and plunged him through it, the ice shattering as he sank into the deep lake. He looked up with wide eyes at the one who had done it, and saw that it was a small group of people. 

He couldn’t make them out, but they were laughing…

Death reached his hand up, but he was too weak in this environment to even attempt swimming upwards, so he simply sank, ice starting to form around him due to his freezing cold body. Eventually, his eyes closed…

Dark Cacao Cookie awoke to find himself in a large ‘bubble’ of ice. The bubble was not natural ice formation, it had clearly been unconscious magic. It had seemingly floated to the surface, as he could hear the sounds of waves. He didn’t have his sword, so instead Death slammed his fist against it enough to shatter it. He pulled himself out of the edge of the water through crawling, just laying at the surface, breathing heavily. He felt so, so weak...for not swimming upwards, for just letting himself be harassed like that...Death could not die, not by normal means such as drowning, but...his lungs still burned. He started vomiting up water and various other things. For a moment, it would stop, before the pain filled his throat too and he continued. Eventually it was just pure water. And eventually...he was just dry heaving. This went on for a while, but it ended, as all things did. That left Dark Cacao Cookie laying there, his only movements being his chest rising up and down.

The sun started to rise, and a purple shine caught his attention. 

His sword..! 

Thank the Celestials that it had not been taken. He slowly reached over, and dragged it to his chest, hugging it tightly, as if it were a dear friend. Due to the sun, he guessed it had been quite a bit since he was shoved into the lake. Often people outside of the kingdom went out of their way to at least annoy him, but physical altercations such as that were kind of rare...he guessed that group had experienced a loss recently...perhaps, then, it was justified..?

Dark Cacao Cookie slowly managed to push himself into a stand, leaning on his sword for support of his weak body as the cloud formed over his head once more, though the snowfall was much less heavy and much more scarce. His soul jam was glowing less brightly, too...perhaps the bubble of ice required so much magic usage that it was temporarily weak...he didn’t like that too much, but being trapped at the bottom of a lake didn’t sound too much better. He sighed, and continued on his way to the actual castle, shaking like a leaf as he did so. Even Death could get ill…

After a couple more days, Dark Cacao Cookie stood at a gigantic wall that was covered in flowers. The entrance to the castle itself…

Death made his way over to the guards standing in front of the large doors, and bowed his head, the guards bowing back. One looked directly at him, or rather, his mask, and opened her mouth to speak.

“What is the reason for your visit, Death?” She asked. Her voice didn’t sound angry, but she did not sound pleased, either.

“I simply want to speak with a...friend..of mine.”

“Mm?”

“Pure Vanilla Cookie.” He sighed quietly.

“Ah, alright.” The woman and her guards moved to the side as the gigantic doors swung open, letting Death step inside.

The inside of the gates were more beautiful than everything else. However, due to how strong the actual Force of Life, highly compressed Life magic, was, the Force of Death was also strong, to keep in balance. As such, the plants around Death were constantly wilting and regrowing as he walked further and further to the open castle halls. Life had always been open to everyone, letting common folk visit at all hours of sun, which Death kind of admired. Today, though, Life seemed to be napping at his throne, the area mostly empty, except for Saint Lily Cookie nearby, reading some kind of scroll. The clicking of Dark Cacao Cookie’s boots, though, alerted her, and she stood up, setting the rolled up scroll back in place on the nearby shelf. She shyly went over to Death, probably rather intimidated, and bowed her head. Death knew she hated him, but oh well, at least she masqueraded it rather well, unlike her partner.

“H..hello. Do you need something..? Pure Vanilla Cookie is...tired.” She whispered.

“I was simply going to talk to him, but I shall return home if he is busy, I suppose.” Death sighed. Weeks wasted…

“But you travel by..by foot, and that is quite a long time to walk..it’s okay, I guess, you can..just...stay in a guest room, for tonight..?” Death also knew she wanted him to leave, but it was her own fault for not outright saying it, so he simply nodded, and motioned for her to lead the way.

She took him into the basement, and motioned to a room, leaving soon after. Death opened the door, and found the room rather empty, just having a bed and a couple other furnishings. Oh well...he sat on the bed, setting his sword against the end of the bed frame, and stared at the light tile floors, his thoughts wandering.

Why had he come this far if he was just going to give up again..?

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Chapter 3 end.

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Chapter Text

Dark Cacao Cookie hardly slept that night, just staring up at the stony ceiling, his blanket crumpled on the floor in a small pile. Even though he was always freezing, he felt overwhelmingly hot and sweaty. He was anxious, as usual, about speaking to his ‘friend’. By this time, he was used to it. The schedule was…

Start speaking, be cut off, freeze up, be argued with, leave.

Every. Damn. Time.

He sighed, his breath making a momentary white cloud, born from the coldness of his body, and sat up, resting his elbows on his knees and setting his head in his hands. What was he going to do…? This couldn’t go on forever...he just wanted Life to at least acknowledge that Death had to exist, too…

Life was not stupid, perhaps just...a little arrogant when it came to that. Perhaps that’s where all the anger went in his otherwise perfect soul. Again, he couldn’t blame the man, not many know why Death is so important. Without Death, those torn limb from limb, atom by atom, would still be, in some way, conscious, and would wait there for thousands of years until their body healed once again, once more feeling that horrendous pain for eons when they get torn apart once more.

And once Earthbread crumbles and Sol explodes, those atoms will be endlessly drifting in space, part of some kind of consciousness that soon went insane, and is now gone, but not truly, because it never died. The souls inside of Death’s kingdom will never pass on, not until Dark Cacao Cookie’s own mission has been finished, but until he does, they live on without a purpose. They cannot die. Can Pure Vanilla Cookie not see how solemn and zombie-like some of the oldest are..? Does that blindness in his eyes extend to part of his brain?? He sighed, and got up, lifting his sword and staring into the purple gem.

It glowed and warbled as usual, a blackish color mixing around like a lava lamp. That mission...what was his mission, anyway? The Celestials...had never told him. All he knew since the day he first existed was that he had to do something , something important, and that would free all the souls under his reign. But what? Did the others get missions too? What would those accomplish, once they were finished? Fuck, he couldn’t let himself get this upset right before he were to speak with Life, so he locked those thoughts away as he normally did. Dark Cacao Cookie reached over to the clothes he had mostly stripped off the night before, and put them back on, messing with his long, snow white hair for just a moment before grabbing his sword once again and holstering it. He stared at the gem once more, his tired eyes sinking just a little more, before slipping on his boots and opening the door to the rest of the place. 

The basement was always rather empty. Death was 90% sure that there were guest rooms on upper floors, but Saint Lily Cookie just didn’t want to see him. Like having your mood ruined in the morning and being upset the rest of the day. He went over to the stairs, and started going up them, before falling onto his knees as an intense pain filled his head for a few moments. He breathed heavily, sighing as it faded, and slowly got back up, now using the railing to support his tired body. Why was he cursed like this..? Life didn’t hurt, love usually didn’t hurt, and while war did, it was not as common as death itself. Golden Cheese Cookie’s wars just caused him more pain, really, he didn’t know why she would have to be harmed as well. Is it just because the pain had to go…somewhere..? If that was the case, then, if he didn’t do it, no one would, yeah?

He reached the top of the stairs, slowly shifting his weight onto his sword and trying not to make an indent in the floor as he walked. The floor was as hard as obsidian, anyways, so he doubted he could do too much. Death made his way over to the throne room, noticing a large crowd of people, sun flowing in from the various windows and the open doors. Beautiful, like all else in the kingdom of Life. He could just barely see Life healing someone around the corner. In all his glory…Death felt a momentary blush on his cheeks, but quickly shook it off and just stared at the people from the shadows. No one had noticed him yet, too focused on Pure Vanilla Cookie, and he liked it that way. One day, though, all of them would meet him, and either follow the Celestials, or live in his kingdom as miserable spirits…oh well, that was the cycle. Death planned on just waiting until everyone had left. Though it might take a while, he was used to whiles. However, a few moments later, someone turned their head, and noticed him, taking a step back, frightened.

This caused other people to look and retreat as well, terror on their faces. Life stood, and glanced around slightly, concerned, before stepping forwards and noticing Death in the shadows, now mostly hiding behind a wall, trying not to cause more disturbance.

“What is the meaning of this?” Life said, sternly, hitting the end of his staff against the ground. The loud clacking noise it made caused Dark Cacao Cookie to flinch.

“I just wanted to..”

“Speak louder, Death!” Pure Vanilla Cookie hit his staff against the ground for a second time, and once again, Death recoiled.

“I-I just wanted to..to talk to you..” Normally, Death would be much more stern and hide his emotion, but he was rather scared of Life, in the same way humans were scared of Death. Not because he hated it, the opposite, really, but because Life was the only one who could hurt him, and hurt him for much longer than each death that occured. With just a touch..a will of his hand and his magic…Life could injure Death. Even…kill him. That was not like Pure Vanilla Cookie in the slightest, but it was still an available possibility.

“Again?” Life pinched the bridge of his nose, and sighed. He seemed frustrated. Death understood why…he had ‘spoken’ about the issue several times..The humans watched on, anxious, but seemed to be calmer now that Pure Vanilla Cookie was standing in front of them. Guarding them. Protecting them.

Death wished someone would protect him like that…

“Fine, what is it?” More of a statement than a question, to be honest. Death fidgeted with his hands for a moment before folding his arms behind his back.

“I’ve come to convince you that de–”

“Upupup! Not another word,” Life interrupted once more, raising one of his eyebrows. His blind eyes remained shut. “I told you last time that I wanted you to stop bringing this up. Especially while I am working, Death.”

“I just thou–”

“No. Now either move along back home or do what other business you have here. I will not be dealing with this.” Life’s tone and words hurt Dark Cacao Cookie deeply, but he just nodded and bowed his head, showing his submission as his cloak covered his body as he walked towards the doors.

As he left, he heard Life apologizing several times to the humans, and he shivered, still feeling their worried gazes laser-focused on him as he left. Dark Cacao Cookie sniffled, hearing the gravel path crunch against his boots, but he dared not cry, dared not show weakness.

Death…was not a weak force.

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Chapter 4 end.

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Chapter Text

Death sat in his throne as he normally did, having returned from his trip the night before. Many had asked what happened, but they all knew the answers in their hearts. Once again, Life had refused to accept him. Dark Cacao Cookie felt emptier than usual. He reached up to his mask and removed it for a moment, staring at the curved beak and black eyes that felt like it was practically screaming to stay away. He sighed, and put it back on, just staring up at the ceiling, momentary pains filling his body as time passed.

Soon, the moon was rising, and Death stood up, making his way to the doors and pushing them open so he could watch more easily. He found a rather secluded mountain edge and held his hand out, his body shattering like glass before reforming on top of the edge. He could teleport as long as the area was in his sights…Dark Cacao Cookie found that rather useful.

He sat in the snow, leaning forwards slightly, watching the glowing white moon make its way upwards. He was so focused that he didn’t notice the darkness getting thicker, like fog, slowly entrenching on him. When it covered the moon, he stood up, and spun around, furrowing his eyebrows slightly. What was happening..? The last time this had happened, it was thousands of years ago…

No..no, that can’t be!

“Did you miss me..?” A voice called faintly from all around Dark Cacao Cookie.

Death took a step back, pulling at his hair, trying to convince himself that this was all just a nightmare…but alas, it was not, and an arm reached from the shadow, gripping onto his and pulling him to the figure that was forming.

Pomegranate Cookie, Goddess of the shadow, the almost polar opposite of Saint Lily Cookie.

“You…!” Dark Cacao Cookie pulled away, lifting his sword. “You! You are supposed to be banished!”

“No spell lasts forever…” She made a ‘tch’ sound, and lifted her mirror. Shadows were flowing out of it like water. “I was going to return eventually, even though I cannot physically go on for long now…but this time, I shall succeed…”

“Dark Enchantress Cookie will never return, either!” Death hissed. “Even if your spell wore off, hers will and always will keep her in chains!”

“Spells can be broken, not just worn off..” Pomegranate Cookie smirked, arms reaching from the darkness, pulling Death’s sword away and forcing him into sitting on his knees. He looked up at the girl dressed in deep reds and blacks, and squinted at her.

“What are you implying?” He scowled.

“I have simply found a way…of course, I’d never tell you …unless..”

Death raised an eyebrow.

“Death, you have always been cast aside and hated, just like me and the rest of us…the God of Necromancy, the God of Poison, the Goddess of Shadow, and of course…the Goddess of True Darkness.” She got onto one knee, and stared at Dark Cacao Cookie, into the holes of his mask. “I’m sure you’d be accepted much more if you joined us..”

“What?!” Death tugged himself forwards, trying to at least injure the Goddess, but the arms pulled him back, gripping tight enough to hurt. “You’re a fool if you think a little bit of pettiness will make me stoop to your level!”

“I thought not..” She fully sat down in front of him, setting her hands on her lap, the mirror still gripped in one of them. “But, just think…no more harassment, no more fear, just acceptance. We are the only ones who truly understand the importance of Death. And Life, he hates you, no? We can help you get revenge..”

Dark Cacao Cookie’s gaze turned more into fear than anything.

“I…I’d never..” He mumbled, but Pomegranate Cookie gently shushed him.

“No laws to bind you..you’d be free to do whatever you wanted without judgment..it’d be so nice, yes..think about it, alright..? And, if you make up your mind, just call for me..I’ll always…be…there.” She faded into the shadows, and soon the light of the moon returned, the darkness fading. Death continued to sit there for a long while, before teleporting back to the castle gates and going back onto his throne.

He would definitely never accept her offer, no, no, he couldn’t disturb the balance…he couldn’t hurt Life.

But, thinking deeper into it, letting go of his biases…he didn’t want to continue to be hated, either. Everyday was a horrible struggle. Was he really finding any happiness where he was..? Nothing would change, no..

Nothing would ever change.

A few more days passed, with Dark Cacao Cookie being too distracted by his thinking to do too much, but eventually, he got off of his throne, leaving his sword behind, and went outside in the night, hiding in the castle gardens, which was really just a snowy maze of fir trees and the few other plants that could grow in this climate. He sat on his knees, and sighed, setting a hand in the cold, white powder.

“Goddess of shadow, Pomegranate Cookie…I have made a decision.”

His shadow swirled, before it formed into her figure, rising from the ground and looking down at him.

“And that is?”

“I have decided to join you…however, I will not be harming Life.” He whispered. He couldn’t believe he was actually doing this, but it was only fair, right..?

“Hmm, alright..” She seemed to be thinking, before just sighing. “Well, then, return to your throne. I will contact you shortly.” And with that, she reformed back into his shadow, disappearing again.

Death slowly stood up, and went back inside of the castle, wandering through the halls and doing as he was told. As he sat back down, he noticed his sword looked..different. The purple had faded to a deep red, including the compass star on the guard. He couldn’t examine it too much, though…he felt tired.

As he sat back and shut his eyes, shadows rose from the ground, gently wrapping themselves around his limbs…

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Chapter 5 end.

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Chapter Text

Dark Cacao Cookie had been sitting there for days, not responding to anyone, just staring ahead. Choco Liquor Cookie, one of his servants, had become rather worried.

They were sure it was just a trick of their eyes, or something, but they…they swear they see shadows flowing from the eye holes of his mask like tears..

Eventually, they took matters into their own hands, and walked straight up to Death, tapping him gently on the head. Dark Cacao Cookie didn’t really react, his glowing purple irises slowly shifting over to them. Choco Liquor shivered, but they stood their ground.

“Sir…sir, are you alright..? I apologize for bothering you, but, you’ve just been sitting there for days on end…it is in my best interest to make sure you are okay.”

“I’m fine.” His voice was almost inaudible, and Choco Liquor had to strain to understand his words, but eventually, they just nodded, and went back to the kitchen to clean…

Death stood up, and grabbed onto his sword. Thunder started to rumble from outside. That…was not a good sign. All the spirits around him disappeared, including his staff, instead being teleported somewhere else in the kingdom..just the town. That was an even worse sign…Death only commanded the spirits around him when something was very, very wrong.

His cape hovered off the ground as he walked, various creatures made of shadow following behind him as if they really existed. Eventually, he pushed open the door to the castle, and the sky darkened to black, clouds covering the sun and snow falling like a blizzard. Spirits hid away in their homes, not even looking out of the windows, fearing that He was watching…

Dark Cacao Cookie started to walk, although it was kind of zombie-like, dragging himself forwards. His compass star soul gem was now fully black and bubbly. He ignored the pain of the deaths that occurred every so often, no matter how bad they were.

Weeks went by as he walked, and the storm back in the kingdom did not let up. There was not a sound near, other than the thunder and the crunching of snow against his boots. Not even the rustling of grass or a wolf howling. Dark Cacao Cookie stopped at the meeting of the Four Planes, and stood there for quite a while, before turning his head towards the Plane of Autumn.

Autumn…so close to winter..so easy to grab hold of…the other two would be more difficult, full of plentiful life and happiness, but autumn? It was more solemn…maybe not as much as winter, but solemn enough.

Death stepped into the Plane of Autumn, and the plants and trees nearby all died, turning a black color instead. He kept walking, plants kept dying, the radius expanding with each step. Shadows followed in his footsteps, silently cheering as he did so. Eventually, he struck his sword into the ground, and the nearby sky became black with clouds, the ground turning pitch black as well, along with the orange plants. Dark orbs of shadow floated up from the ground, mainly around Dark Cacao Cookie. They caused pain when touched, but he didn’t care anymore. He continued walking, but then, a few hours later, he heard..sounds. Of people. Then, wingbeats right in front of him. He looked up, and saw Golden Cheese Cookie floating in front of him, her large, shining wings causing wind to blow nearby. Humans stood behind her, looking rather disgusted.

The fragile, dead trees collapsed because of her winds.

She held her arrow to his neck, and scowled, threatening injury or worse.

“What is this, Death?!” She hissed at him, obviously upset. He didn’t reply, and she kicked him onto the ground, putting one foot on his chest. 

“Respond, now !” Golden Cheese Cookie poked him in the stomach with her arrow, but he didn’t flinch.

“I am simply…taking what I deserve. And…that means all Planes.” He replied quietly.

“What you deserve?! You do not deserve anyone else's Plane! In fact, I would say that you do not deserve your own! You are a foul creature…Death is not necessary!”

He was too tired to explain to her why it was for the hundredth time. So..so tired..

“I am the King of Darkness. I do not have to listen to your foolish words.” He growled. The two stood there for a while, staring. Eventually, he moved, surprising the woman, and throwing her off, standing back up again.

“Let me do as I please, or there will be consequences.” He growled, lifting his sword. She just glared. The two were in a standoff once again, but slowly, Death’s sword turned black, sharper than usual. He blinked, before suddenly he lunged forward and swung at Autumn. 

Golden Cheese Cookie managed to dodge, flying upwards and hissing, the other people retreating. Interfering with Gods fighting was indeed foolish. Eventually she swooped down, and scratched at him with her clawed hands, similar to talons. It did inflict damage, but it didn’t go past his armor, so he didn’t care. He brushed her off with his sword, and kept swinging at her like a mindless creature, his sword forming purple lightning from the clouded sky and making deep indents in the ground as he missed and missed. Autumn was missing him too, though, using her arrow similarly to a sword, trying to strike him down by summoning a bow made from maple wood and firing at him before it returned to her like a boomerang.

The two kept fighting, hardly being able to even touch each other, before finally, Golden Cheese Cookie was knocked down, Death’s sword at her throat.

“Last words?” He asked.

“Behind you.” She replied, and all of a sudden, Dark Cacao Cookie was knocked off by a shield to the side. He fell onto the ground, dizzy, and Hollyberry Cookie took the chance to pick Autumn up and run off, deeper into the Plane. Death muttered something under his breath, laying there for a minute or two before forcing himself to stand despite the large gash on his head.

He didn’t…want to stand..though..he didn’t like this..right..?

No, no, yo- he did like this, he did, yes.

He kept running, but eventually, his legs gave out, and he fell down again, falling unconscious as the Plane of Autumn started to become more and more corroded.

Even if he was asleep, it would be dead in just a day or so…and that was exactly what he wanted, right..?

Unbeknownst to him, the others had evacuated to the Plane of Summer…once he learned that, though, he would follow. And once the Plane of Summer was gone…nothing would be in his way.

Pomegranate Cookie smiled. Who knew the frightening God of Winter would be so, so easy to control?

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Chapter 6 end.

Thank you for reading :]

Chapter Text

Dark Cacao Cookie opened his eyes to find black grass and dead trees that looked like crooked dark horns sticking up from the ground. Pain still occasionally filled his mind as the side of his head still throbbed from Hollyberry Cookie’s shield injuring him. He stood up, and dusted himself off, reaching out his hand and beginning to teleport forwards. After a while, he found the former Kingdom of Autumn. The castle walls were crumbling and there wasn’t a soul in sight. Death kept looking. Shriveled up paper..must be because the trees died…torn and shredded fabric…It looked as though a tornado or monstrous beast had attacked the kingdom…but of course, it was neither. Death overpowered all.

He smiled, ripping his mask off and tossing it to the ground, beginning to laugh. He could barely control himself. Was it..really that funny..? Or was he laughing off the tragedy to make himself feel better? Eventually, he sighed, and took in deep breaths, hyperventilating slightly. That..was when he heard something. Crying…faint crying. He had excellent hearing, so this meant it was rather far away…

Dark Cacao Cookie glanced around, before stabbing his sword into the crumbling dirt. This gave him a reading of his surroundings. There..there was someone..someone who was still alive..? How? If a human were to touch the Dark, then…

They would crumble into ash.

Death followed the signal, sheathing his sword, eventually coming across a large manor. It was collapsed, like the rest of the houses in this horrid place, but it hinted at it’s former beauty just slightly. Death pushed aside the fallen door and glanced around, eventually finding…a young child, sitting on their knees on a still stable fallen pillar. Dark skin, orangey-red eyes, with black hair. They looked to be around 10 years old. There was something they were sitting next to..a pile of dark gray ash. Dark Cacao Cookie raised an eyebrow, walking closer, and the child noticed him, starting to shake like a leaf in the Autumn breeze. They whimpered, and bowed to him.

“P-please..I..”

Death didn’t reply, just walking closer, tugging at his gloves.

“Without my..m..my father, I..don’t ha..ve a purpose..pleas..e make it fast.”

A sudden wave of emotion washed over Death, and he tightened his gloves, gently lifting the child and taking them away from this place. Almost his entire mind was screaming at him to kill the child, except for one tiny part..and that was enough. The child continued crying and shaking, but they didn’t try and fight back at all. Eventually, they and Death melted into the ground, before reforming back at the kingdom. That was..new…when had he learned that? Probably because of the deal…oh well..

The door forced itself open due to a harsh gust of wind, and he quickly walked inside, taking the child to his room and setting them in a cushioned chair. The child stared at him with wide eyes, and he again felt that pang of sudden emotion. Regret, guilt, sadness, anger at himself…this wasn’t supposed to happen, was it..?

“Tell me your name. Now.” He said sternly. The child hid their face with raised fists, almost as if they were defending themselves.

“D-dark…Choco Coo..kie..” He whispered, peeking through his hands.

“Dark Choco Cookie. I will not injure you. There is no need to defend yourself in that way.”

The child made a short noise before lowering his hands a little bit. Good enough…Death sighed.

“Did that pile of ashes used to be your father?”

The child cried heavier, somehow, and nodded, pulling at his hair. “I…did..you’re the..he…King of Dea..th..right..? Did you do..o it?” Dark Choco Cookie whimpered, reclusing away from the other.

“I did. I…I do not know what came o–” Death paused, and stood up, looming over the child. He scowled, and reached over, grabbing his sword and raising it before making a grunt of frustration and tossing it aside. He sat back down. Dark Choco Cookie looked like he was about to have a heart attack.

“I am sorry..It keeps…it…we need someone else to do this, I ca..nnot..” He stood up, and picked the child up again, pushing the door to his room open and summoning Choco Liquor Cookie to him. They seemed very, very confused and concerned, but hid it very well. Then, they noticed the child, and blinked, their eyes wide.

“Please, take this child, Dark Choco Cookie, and find out what has occurred in his life. I…cannot. Be gentle, too, please .” He set him down in front of the servant, who just nodded, semi-examining the boy. Death kneeled down slightly, and sighed, looking the frightened child in the eyes.

“You…tell the truth to them, okay? No one…will hurt you here..I promise.” He sighed, before standing back up and entering his chamber once more, shutting and locking the door behind him before anyone could say another word.

Why had he saved that child..? He was supposed to destroy the Autumnal Kingdom, not save one of its people…what was with the emotion? What was wrong with him? Death was supposed to be emotionless. Emotion leads to stupid biases like the one with that child. He had to…he had to keep going. No one will be saved. None. He felt himself falling apart, literally, his body turning into liquid as he sank into the floor and reformed at the meeting of the Four Planes.

He began to vomit the same black liquid he had turned into moments before, as if there were endless amounts of it still within his body. Eventually, though it took a while, it stopped, and Death forced himself to stand up, leaning heavily against his sword as he often did.

His next target..? The Plane of Summer. He stepped forwards into the lush, green grass, and smiled as it began to wilt underneath his feet. That smile, though, soon faded.

Why was he doing this?

Easy. His mind reassured him. You are trying to reform the Goddess of True Darkness. Then…you will…

Will…

A stray thought that didn’t come from him forced its way into his mind.

Will have all you’ve ever wanted, from Her. She will save you, Dark Cacao Cookie.

Right.

Right, yes, that is why you are doing this.

He took another step forward. Pain from Hollyberry Cookie’s earlier attack was still there, but forcibly reduced to annoying buzzes, similar to how the pain of humans dying also occurred rather commonly. He furrowed his eyebrows, and raised his sword, ready to purge this land into Darkness as well.

It would be more difficult, yes, as Summer was the seasonal polar opposite of Winter, while Spring/Life was the God-based one, but he didn’t care. 

Soon, all Planes but his would fall.

Soon, the Goddess of True Darkness would make her return.

Soon, he would be…happy.

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Chapter 7 end.

Thank you for reading :]

Chapter Text

Dark Cacao Cookie held up his sword and plunged it into the ground. Like before, the grass turned black and orbs of pain began floating upwards from the ground, however they were much smaller…in fact, the entire radius was smaller. Must be because of the balance of the world…no matter, he’d just have to put more energy into it. Shadows rose from the ground, flowing to his hands, then moving to the soul jam in his sword. The crimson color faded to blood red, and the soul jam grew a little, spikes of red starting to protrude from its shiny surface.

God, did it hurt, but it was worth it, he thought. Death felt so exhausted, but he had to keep going. The radius of the corruption increased, although not as much as it was with Autumn. Death brushed that aside and lifted his sword, starting to walk, spreading the blackness further and further. Eventually, though, not too long after he started, he bumped into something. Something…invisible. He set his hand on the invisible force and tilted his head slightly. The corruption spread no further…Just as he was about to stab his sword into the ground again, someone came into view.

Hollyberry Cookie, also known as, Love.

She was on the opposite side of the invisible wall, staring at him for a little while, her expression stern. Her eyes flicked to the gash on his head. Finally, she opened her mouth.

“How’s the head?” She asked, her voice’s emotion rather unreadable. 

“Just fine. I appreciate you asking.” Death replied sarcastically, folding his arms behind his back.

“That’s wonderful.” Love responded, sighing. Sarcasm too. Whatever.

“Now, what would be truly wonderful is explaining this .” Dark Cacao Cookie slammed his fist against the barrier, causing Hollyberry to flinch slightly. She was scared of him, of course, they all were.

“Well, Life and I combined our power to stop the Force of Death from getting in either of our Planes. So, you’re stuck.” She shrugged, tilting her head slightly.

“Things are not as easy as you think. Try as you might, Death is inevitable. Besides, you cannot hide behind a wall forever. It’s torture to live on for eternity, hah…some will beg for death, I am sure of it, sooner or later. I…will always be here..”

Death chuckled, and once again stabbed his sword into the dirt as if it were butter, before his body sank into it like liquid, leaving just the weapon. The ground continued to corrupt, though it refrained from seeping into the Plane of Spring. Too strong, for now..

Hollyberry watched this, an eyebrow raised, before her gaze went to the sword. The gem was covered in sharp spikes now, and the red was comparable to a brown at this point. She furrowed her eyebrows, and turned around, heading off to let Life know what she had seen.

Back at the sword, the black grass started rising into bushes and trees, but there were no leaves on these plants, simply being amalgamations of dead vines and petrified wood. Some of them rose up against the barrier, and curved as it curved, like a dome. Sunlight was sheltered around the Plane of Summer, but like a forest, it still shone through.

The ‘plants’ spread to the decimated Plane of Autumn as well, with more of them rising, and most of them being tall enough to scrape the sky. It was like mold covering bread. Slowly but surely, all would fall…

Back at the Plane of Death, too, this also occurred, but the plants stopped at the Kingdom, instead twisting together and also forming a dome-like shape around the area, hiding almost all light from the sun entirely. Death permeated most of the ground. The spirits grew very concerned, most watching what was happening from their homes. Choco Liquor Cookie kept Dark Choco Cookie well away from open windows, not wanting to frighten the child.

M was sitting outside, near a fir tree, when it suddenly died. He pulled away, dusting the ashes from the now burnt tree off of his back. Burnt…yet no fire..? He looked around, watching the gray sky be hidden away. His eyebrows furrowed, and he knelt down, shoveling a few inches of snow away with his hands before finding that the dirt was black and almost like ash too. M immediately recognized this…the Force of Death was affecting the ground..? Something was wrong.

“Oh..oh no..nononono, Death, what happened?!” He yelled out, before running towards the castle, bursting through the doors and finding the place mostly empty. M kept running, finding Dark Cacao’s bedroom empty too. Finally, he went outside again, looking around the now rather ugly gardens, trying to find some semblance of what happened, and also trying to catch his breath.

He heard a crunch beneath his feet as he walked, and took a step back, looking down. Red crystals..? M bent over, and scooped the now tiny crystals into his hand, staring at them. 

“Oh…oh my goddesses, oh my gods, she's BACK??” He gasped, throwing the crystals on the ground again and repeatedly stomping on them. “No! Nononono! This can’t be…the spell’s lasted for 10,000 years, how has it broken now?? Did she..no, no, he would never..he would never agree to that, right..? Then how is the Force of Death so strong?? They weakened her so much that she wasn’t ever going to be able to do this again…so how..” M paced back and forth, tugging at his curly hair, trying to find out what to do. “Gotta- gotta go talk to Vanilla and Lily, they’ll have to know..they dealt with this last time..oh, but Cao was on their side then..he…how..what..??”

M fell onto his knees, breathing heavily. Finally, he managed to compose himself, and forced himself to stand again, snapping his fingers and appearing in the Plane of Spring, specifically in the throne room. He could feel that there was a barrier over the entire area, but he didn’t know how or why..hm. He turned to see that the doors to the entrance were shut, which was very rare, before turning back around to see Life conversing with Saint Lily Cookie. It seemed serious, but this was even more so..

“Life! Light! It’s an emergency!!” M rushed forwards, causing the two to turn their heads.

“We know what’s happening.” Pure Vanilla Cookie stood up, walking towards M before stopping right in front of him. The halo of light around his head made M blink a few times. “Choco Mousse Cookie, we are trying to figure out the solution. Hollyberry Cookie has already told me that Death had failed to infect most of her realm, and he hasn’t taken a step in mine..however the ‘plant problem’, so to speak, is frightening..” He sighed.

“Oh- is that what the barrier’s for..?” M rubbed his temples. “God of Guidance, I am the God of Guidance, I can figure something out..” He shivered, causing Life to put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

“You have visions, yes?” He asked, his voice soft despite the problem at hand.

“I-I do, yeah, but..it requires a specific setup..ah, I’m such a useless Minor God..” He muttered, kicking the tile floor a bit with his boot.

“Minor God is such a derogatory name..you are a God, you’re simply not one to hold soul jam like us. Do not say these things about yourself. Whatever setup you need, I will help with it.”

“A-alright, yeah, alright I guess..well..a big open space, and a few ingredients..” M stared at the floor.

“Tell me what they are.”

“Cocoa beans, orchid petals, orange leaves, and raspberries..It’s stupid..” M rubbed the back of his neck.

“No, it’s understandable. Representing the four seasons, yeah, that’s understandable,” Pure Vanilla Cookie took his hand and led him to the fountain room, a large open area with a sort of indoor pond in the middle, with water that looked like galaxies. Saint Lily Cookie followed behind, several scrolls in her hands. “Large enough?”

M nodded, and sat on the floor, crossing his legs. The things he requested grew straight out of the cracks in the brick floor, and he plucked the ingredients from the plants, arranging them in a pattern.

“Okay..okay, but if I see something really, really bad, that’s not my fault..” He sighed, and held his hands out above the pattern, shutting his eyes. The darkness became several ‘screens’ of sorts, showing him vastly different timelines. This was now the ‘world’ he was in, with his body in Universe 2,232,523,542,348,103,948,230,239 being an empty vessel at this point.

This…was how he gave his guidance.

M glanced around the screens. Most, if not all…did not look good. Darkness corrupting the lands, all life perishing, even the Gods falling..oh Celeste, how was he supposed to save this??

He kept looking, the screens splitting into more and more, showing more timelines, more outcomes, but all he saw was darkness. Decay. Lightning hitting the ground and cracking the earth into bits. Shit…

“C’mon, there has to be something!” M cried out, but there was no one there to reply.

Finally, just as he saw a small flicker of light, of hope, everything returned to blackness, the screens fading, before his eyes fluttered open. He stood up, and kicked the pattern of plants into the water, making a loud noise of frustration. The plants faded as they touched the galaxies and stars of the pond.

“Just when I had something good, my body regains connection! This always happens!” He huffed, before sitting back down and sighing. After a certain amount of time, he was always pulled back to the Universe, or else he may be stuck forever. Life walked over, and knelt down next to him.

“But..this does mean there is a way! Even if it’s…almost impossible..” M sighed, and Vanilla wrapped an arm around his shoulder. “Still a way, yes..I’m presuming you didn’t see how?”

M shook his head.

“I see.” Life sighed, and stood back up, walking over to Saint Lily Cookie and whispering a few things to her. M watched. Eventually, the two looked back at him. “You can still give guidance, even without your visions, yes? What do you suggest?”

M thought for a while, before biting at his lip. “The best thing I’m getting is for you to step carefully. You never know when you might hurt someone undeserving. That’s all I got.” He stood up, dusting himself off.

“Good enough. Well, this barrier Love and I formed will not last forever. Death always finds a way through, and both her and I are also getting rather tired from it. At some point, we will need to stop the Goddess of Shadows and her little posse. As long as she doesn’t summon…her..then I believe we can get through somehow.” Pure Vanilla Cookie nodded, clasping his hands over his chest.

“But..what about Dark Cacao Cookie?” M asked, tilting his head.

“I…I do not know how to handle that yet.”

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Chapter 8 end.

Thank you for reading :]

Chapter Text

Death opened his eyes to find endless black around him. The only thing he could see was his own body, which seemed to be faintly, just faintly, glowing. It felt like he was falling, with his hair floating upwards and something pulling him down. He didn’t hear any wind, though.

He looked around, noticing his sword was not with him, although he doubted he could do much in this situation with or without it. Any time he could hit the ground, but the pain would probably be rather minor, at least to him. Dark Cacao Cookie sighed, and reached out around him, feeling no walls or floor or ceiling. He was just…stuck.

For who knows how long, he just waited, and waited, and waited, until finally..he heard something. Something faint. A whisper. He didn’t know what it said, but it had still happened. Had he…imagined it? Death looked around, but found no source. A little bit later, and there was another whisper. And another. They started piling on top of each other, to the point where it was rather loud for whispering, really. Death pressed the heels of his hands to his ears, feeling like he was going to go deaf, before the whispers all suddenly stopped, and it was back to silence again…

Hollyberry Cookie wearily stared at the corrupted ground. Eventually, she sighed, and looked at the sword. It was still there, covered in weak vines. It had been..maybe a week or so since then. Dark Cacao Cookie said he’d always be around…but where did he go..?

She quickly lowered a small part of the barrier, enough to slip through, before raising it again, not allowing any corruption to slip past. Her shield cut through the dead plants rather easily. Eventually, she reached the sword, and poked it with her shield. Nothing happened, and she wanted to keep it that way, quickly retreating back into the unaffected Plane. Love sighed again, and resumed her watching, jolting when someone set their hand on her shoulder.

It was Life, gently holding Autumn’s hand. She looked to be sick. After all, a Plane’s status affected a God’s wellbeing..so with it corrupted, she wasn’t doing well. There were even black patches occasionally dotting her skin, showing the corruption. She wouldn’t die, but it was very worrying.

“I apologize for frightening you, Hollyberry Cookie, but we must head back to the kingdom to discuss some things about this situation.” Pure Vanilla Cookie bowed his head.

Love sighed and nodded, following behind the two as they turned and started to walk back towards Summer’s Kingdom. As the three walked, Hollyberry fidgeted with her hands for a moment, before looking up as Life spoke again.

“Well..Death hasn’t reemerged from where he vanished, right?”

“Not as far as I know, no..” Love replied, glancing at Golden Cheese Cookie, who seemed pretty out of it, though she was still listening.

Vanilla nodded slightly, and twisted some of his hair around his finger. Hollyberry went quiet, letting him think. Soon, they were back at the kingdom, and crowds of humans approached them, most looking rather worried or even terrified.

“What can we do?” One of the older ones asked. She looked rather depressed, sniffling before she spoke again. “One of my close friends lived in the Autumnal Plane…he passed early on..” 

“Papa..I’m scared..” A young child gripped onto her fathers hand. Based on the deep, faded orange hair, both were from the Plane of Autumn as well. The father shushed her gently as Hollyberry Cookie cleared her throat.

“Everyone, I promise to you all that everything will be alright.” She stepped atop a rock, tying her shield to her back with the strap that was attached to it. “I will protect all of my subjects, and all living beings, no matter the cost. What happened to the Goddess of War and Harvest is a tragedy, but she still lives on, and what happened to your friends and family and even strangers to you all is as well a tragedy, but once this is all over, Life and I shall try our best to figure..something out.” She sighed, and the people did not cheer, but simply nodded or clapped a little. Solemn. Love stepped down and walked back over to Pure Vanilla Cookie. 

“You did the best you could to help them, really.” He whispered. “I might actually go back to the Autumnal Plane..I need to gather some of the other Gods and figure out what the hell is going on..be sure Golden Cheese Cookie gets some rest, specifically in a quiet, cool area.” Life handed her off to the other Goddess, and she nodded, starting to lead her into the castle. With that, Pure Vanilla Cookie teleported to the edge of the barrier, and pressed his hand against it, before walking forwards, his entire body phasing through.

As he walked, the withered and crumbled plants around him started to perk up slightly, some regaining some tiny splashes of color. Life smiled gently, and kept walking, before he reached the stone path, surrounding each of the Planes.

The plants had avoided the stone, meaning that the moss and small flowers growing within the cracks was spared. Vanilla wasn’t entirely sure why, perhaps the raw concentration of magic from when it used to be a deep, magic filled chasm splitting the Planes, but ah well. He kept going, following the stone a bit more before entering the decimated Plane of Autumn.

Life walked around, trying his best to avoid the black bubbles that looked similar to the wax in lava lamps floating up from the ground, but some still grazed him, causing him to wince. The thorns and vines all parted as he walked past, not even touching him.

“This is..unlike anything I’ve ever seen..the Force of Life and Death always remains in balance, how is an entire Plane covered in Death without Life splitting it in two? Is it..is he just that powerful..? No, no, that does not make sense..is it..is it the Goddess..?” Life glanced around, before just sighing. As he continued walking, he felt weary. He felt like there was someone there, but he looked everywhere around him, and did not see a single thing out of place…

Just as the cracked and crumbled walls of the kingdom came into view, a perfect place to collect strange things that might’ve told of the occurrence, Life’s vision suddenly was clouded with purple fog. He looked around wildly, trying to wave his staff and dispel whatever it was, but it was so thick that it hardly did anything. He could hardly breathe..he felt so tired..

Finally, the God of Life collapsed to the ground, and one of the two Gods watching smiled, walking closer to the unconscious man. The other just watched, not seeming to know what was occurring at the moment.

As the God bent over, the rattling of his bone scythe echoed through the forest.

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Chapter 9 end.

Thank you for reading :]

Chapter Text

Pure Vanilla Cookie opened his eyes, finding himself laying on the ground. He felt sick, and that purple fog felt so familiar to him, but his mind was so fuzzy that he couldn’t remember why. He stood up, his hand resting on the stony wall as a support, before noticing that the room seemed to be…changing. Doorways formed before being entrenched by walls once more as the ceiling and floor raised and lowered like breathing. That purple gas…it must’ve been some kind of sleeping kind…and then this is either a hallucination..or, the worse option, magic. Life took a step forwards, his eyes flicking from the shifting walls to the elevating and descending floors. He sighed, looking around for his staff before realizing it was gone.

“Oh…well, I guess I can go without it…” Life sighed, and made his way over to a doorway, running through it just before more stone filled the hole. 

He ended up in a similar looking room, and ran through another doorway. And another in the next room. And another. 

Fuck. 

As he kept going, hoping there would be some kind of end to this, the fuzz in his brain started to clear. That purple fog…the God of poison! It must’ve been them who did that..however they’re hardly competent on their own, perhaps the God of necromancy went with him..? They must’ve returned after the spell broke, too…oh, this is bad..very bad.

And with Death on their side..? Even worse..

Dark Cacao Cookie had been falling for what felt like eons, the whispers flaring up months apart, making him want to just be deaf, before quieting down a few days later. How did he know this? Clawing every year that went by into his skin with his nails, counting the time between them until he could do it from memory. His body was covered in tally marks, each and every one of them bleeding as wounds did not heal here, and he was running out of space, only his head having remaining space. Time had been stretching longer and longer, and soon enough, he just wanted out of here. He would do anything to escape, and as soon as he admitted that, he heard a whisper. A singular whisper, crystal clear in his mind.

“Anything, huh?” They said, a smile in their voice. Death was sure he was hallucinating, but a small part of his mind nagged at him.

“Y..yeah..” He replied, his voice almost just an impossible to understand grunt.

“Done.” The whisper giggled, and Dark Cacao Cookie noticed something. A floor. His eyes widened, and just as his body slammed down, blood coughing up out of his mouth and pain overtaking his body, he fell unconscious.

When he awoke, he was in a rather bright room that almost looked like something from a hotel, though much more regal. He was laying on the floor. Despite the pain still being there, he had no injuries, not even the various tally marks he had made. Two people stood above him. They looked to be children, one with dark colored skin and short brown hair, and one with pale yet similar dark colored skin and short white hair. The pale one was grinning, while the other just seemed stoic and quiet. Death sat up, and rubbed the back of his head, wincing.

“Eh..wha..?” He looked around, before his eyes locked on the two children.

“Hi! Hello sir.” The two spoke at the same time. Just as he thought, the pale one was peppy and excited, while the other was serious and quiet. “ Welcome to the Darkness team, aha! Welcome to our group of Darkness.”

“..who..?”

“I'm Pawn White Cookie! I am Pawn Black Cookie. We’re the Gods of Void and Defeat! He is the God of Void, I am the God of Defeat.” The two chimed in unison, making Dark Cacao Cookie pause for a moment, pulling apart their sentences. “We’re new here, like Lobster Cookie! We are new recruits, similar to Lobster Cookie.”

“..new recruits? You two are..children.” Death furrowed his eyebrows.

“We’re not children! We are not children.” Pawn White pouted, Pawn Black squinted at him.

“You..look the p..art.”

“Shut up or I’ll send you back to the void! We will send you to the void again if you do not stay quiet.”

Dark Cacao Cookie sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose as the pain faded. Whatever. Void and Defeat..haven’t heard of them before. Based on their appearance, though, they were probably new to being alive.

“Wanna play chess? It’s like…our favorite thing!! Would you like to partake in a game of chess? We both enjoy it.”

Death shook his head, and managed to stand up, leaning against the wall for support. The two frowned, but they didn't say anything. 

“..wh..why am I here..?” He whispered.

“To help, silly! To help us, of course. PomPom told us to break your spirit, ‘n then you’d help us around with some..issues we are dealing with. Pomegranate Cookie told us to break your spirit, which would cause you to help us deal with…issues we are having.” The two stood up as well, gripping onto each other’s hands.

“Iss..ues..?”

“Yeah! I dunno why Earl Gray couldn’t help us, though. Yes, however we do not know why Earl Gray Cookie could not assist us.”

Death did not want to meet someone else. He just sighed and nodded, trying to find his sword in the room but not noticing anything that even belonged to him.

“Your sword’s right where ya left it! Your sword is still in the Plane of Summer.”

He…didn’t really remember that day. Oh well..

“Now c’mon, you have to help us! Come on, you need to assist us.” The two went over to the door, and opened it, motioning for him to follow as they walked out into the hallway. Death sighed, and slowly began following, leaning against the wall as he walked.

He…didn’t really want to resist.

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Chapter 10 end.

Thank you for reading :]

Chapter Text

Alright, Vanilla had figured some things out. The fuzziness in his brain had finally cleared..

For one, this was the exact same place he trapped the three bringers of Darkness 10,000 years ago. How’d he know? They would be much too weak to use an extremely strong spell like this, and they likely didn’t even know it. 

For two, if it was the exact same eternally-changing-and-shifting spell, there must be an exit somewhere, if they managed to get out. 

Pure Vanilla Cookie sighed, sitting down for a moment, shaking slightly as the floor rumbled. He couldn’t take 10k years to get out of this place, by then the entire world would have crumbled..if only he had his staff. It could sense the entire continent, where everything and everyone was, although Vanilla had only done that once as it was incredibly overwhelming to him. Usually, he did that on a smaller scale. If he had his staff, it would be rather simple finding the way out.

Gods tend to leave spiritual trails all over the place that fade with time and cannot be seen with normal eyes…if a God was close by, he could sense it well, but if not, they were faint…if he found his staff, though, perhaps he could follow that faint trail until it ends up at the exit..?

However, right now, his staff was nowhere near this place. So, for now he was going to rely on luck. Perhaps he could keep going in a certain direction until he reached a solid wall…Vanilla decided that was a good enough idea. Following a wall he hit the exit! He stood back up, dusted himself off, and spun around. When he stopped spinning, he began walking in that direction. 

“Let’s…hope this works..” 

Death looked rather disheveled, probably from his time in the void. Though his wounds had healed, his appearance had not changed back to how it was, which meant his hair was messy and his clothes were kind of torn from his tugging at the fabric. He did that rather often when he was…upset. Soon, he started trying to comb his hair with his fingers. 

The twins continued to lead him to wherever they were going, occasionally whispering things to each other, giggling. It was rather unsettling to Death, but he didn’t see the point in asking what they were doing. One wrong move and…

maybe he’d be sent there again.

Dark Cacao Cookie sighed, and finally spoke up, though his voice was a quiet, weak whisper. 

“Where are we..going..?”

The twins perked up, and both turned their heads, though they continued walking as if it were nothing. 

“To see Mr. Lobster Cookie! To see Lobster Cookie.” They replied, eventually reaching back and pulling him into a doorway, before walking just a little forward, stopping at another door. 

“Is this where he..”

“Yup! Yeah.” The two interrupted in perfect unison. 

“…I see.” Death shrugged slightly, as one of the twins went forwards to knock on the door. There was some shuffling, before it opened. 

“Eh? What’s this..” The man who opened it mumbled. He seemed rather tired, and rather…familiar, although Death was sure he had not met the man before. His hair was fluffed out near the ends and a bluish color with some red patterns, and his skin was a darker black than even Cacao’s. One of his arms appeared to be…some sort of crystal prosthetic?? It was pretty, but rather strange. The man, presumably Lobster Cookie, furrowed his eyebrows for a few moments, before blinking and jolting slightly. “Oh— Death, Void, Defeat…yeah, yeah- hold on.” He mumbled, shutting the door again. 

“…interesting character.” Cacao sighed, and both of the twins seemed to be holding back a laugh. Death didn’t really intend that to be funny, but ah well.

Noises came from inside, before Lobster Cookie opened the door again, looking slightly better than earlier. “I told ya two that I’m nappin’ at this time of day, jeez, okay, what do ya guys want?” He seemed to be…ignoring Death, or something like that. Cacao was used to that, really, so he didn’t mind. 

“You needa train Death so we can do the stuff we want! Pomegranate told us you have to train Death so we can enact our plan better this time.”

Plan? Was that the whole thing with the..the Planes?

“Shit…can ya wait a couple hours? I’m exhausted .”

“Nope! No.”

Lobster muttered something under his breath before moving over and grabbing onto Cacao’s hand tightly with his crystalline prosthetic. The claws dug into his skin, but Death did not make a sound. He started pulling Death down the hallway, the twins remaining in place, and eventually stopped at a different door, pushing it open. They looked to be outside, however..the ground seemed to be more like ash than dirt, slightly shining in the sun. Lobster Cookie reached into the bag he was wearing, and pulled out a tiny cube, before tossing it on the floor. What seemed to be a portal opened. 

“First of all, ya need your sword back,” He sighed loudly, and dragged Death into it, the two ending up right next to the weapon. “You grab it, I’m not touchin’ that thing.”

Dark Cacao Cookie glanced at him for a moment before reaching over and gripping the handle of the sword, quickly pulling away as pain filled his hands. There were metal thorns, similar to the stem of a rose, all over the handle. 

“It…it hurts.” He muttered, looking back at the other. Tiny drops of blood started to form on his hands. 

“A lot of fuckin’ things hurt, grab the sword.” Lobster hissed back. Death squinted at him, before stepping back for a moment, bracing himself, and reaching further forwards, ripping the sword out of the ground and falling back from the force. He laid there for a moment, breathing heavily as the pain dissipated, blood now flowing from his palms. Eventually, he reached over to his sword, and gripped the handle again, this time hiding his immense pain and just remaining expressionless. 

“Fantastic,” Lobster muttered, kicking Cacao’s head. “Now get up so I can get this over with. I need…a fuckin’..nap..” He yawned. 

“What are you, the God of 5 year olds?” Death managed to sit up, wincing as his hands touched the ground. Lobster Cookie looked even more upset. “God of tides, ya bitch.” 

“There’s already a God of tides. Hermit Crab Cookie…who, as implied by the name, no one has really..seen in a while.”

Lobster Cookie seemed to jolt slightly with the mention of that God, but he quickly hid it, though Cacao still noticed. 

“Yeah, well, he’s dead, so good luck seeing him again.” He muttered, waving his hand dismissively as he tossed another cube on the ground, pulling Death into the portal back before starting to lead him somewhere. 

“…dead..?” Dark Cacao Cookie furrowed his eyebrows. For one, Gods were extremely hard to kill. They don’t die by normal means. For two, being, yknow, the God of Death , he would probably know when a God dies. However, he just sighed, and decided to push that doubt to the back of his mind. 

Finally, the two stopped walking, now near some kind of greenhouse-esque building, although the glass didn’t really…seem to be glass. Something more…magical. 

“First, we’re gonna get’cha past that barrier.” 

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Chapter 11 end.

Thank you for reading :]

Chapter Text

i felt like y’all wouldn’t see this if i posted it just on my art book, so here! gow and gos cao and vanny!

https://postimg.cc/dZZBZZFm

see you in the next chapter :]

Chapter Text

“Where…are we, anyway..s?” 

Lobster Cookie looked up slightly. It had been a couple days since the two had met. 

“Mh?”

“Whi..ch Plane?”

“Plane? As if we could be on a Plane! We’d be caught immediately!” Lobster looked at Cacao like he was an utter idiot. Death was starting to believe that, honestly… “Remember Sugarteara? That island off the coast of Winter? Yeah, me ‘n some friends pulled it back up ‘n stuff.” 

Pulled it back up? How???

Cacao was dumbfounded. Minor Gods were strong, but Celeste, pulling up an island? After it sank under the sea???

“And we decided to make it our new base or whatever.” He shrugged as if it were nothing. 

“Fri..ends..?” Cacao asked, wondering who these other people were. Lobster looked away. 

“Erm, no one I care about anymore,” He replied, before his eyebrows furrowed. “Now keep practicin’ before I take those gloves back!” Lobster huffed. 

Cacao mumbled something inaudible, before sighing and slamming his sword into the ground for about the 100th time. As usual, the Force of Death hit against the barrier, and went not another inch. Death sighed, letting go of the thorned handle, just standing there, staring at it. 

“This is…impossible..”

“Ya can’t even get past a barrier that’s probably a hundred times weaker? You’re fuckin’ worthless.” He squinted at him, punching him across the back of his head. 

“Worthless..” Death winced, setting a hand on that spot. He was quite used to Lobster Cookie harming him when he failed, though. He went silent for a while, before yelling in anger and gripping the sword so tightly that the thorns pierced through the gloves, slamming it into the ash, causing it to cloud around him. When the dust faded, the barrier had turned a deep black, and from the looks of it, the inside had been completely corrupted. Dark Cacao Cookie let go of the sword’s handle, taking off the gloves as blood poured from the reopened scabs, before just turning his head and looking at Lobster Cookie. 

“Did I…did I do good..?”

“I guess,” The other shrugged, and walked over to the barrier, flicking it with his finger as it collapsed into various shards of glass that melted into the ground. “Mh, but again, this barrier is as good as I can do, and as good as I can do is not even close to what those two idiots can do. Luckily, though, we caught one, heh.” He smirked.

Cacao hunched over slightly, fidgeting with his hands. 

“Caught..one..?” He tilted his head. 

“Life, yeh. He was stupid enough to wander off past his little shield and those two dumbasses found the braincell they needed to knock him out and shove ‘im in their old cage,” Lobster motioned to the God of Poison and the God of Necromancy, who also seemed to be practicing magic or something a little ways away. Death stared at them. “He’s still there, but I think the twins might be messin’ with him about now. Pawn Black better use some of those defeat powers to make him all submissive or whatever like you or else you’re gonna hav’ta kill ‘im.” 

“Kill…Life???” 

“Stupid, I know, you’ll probably die yourself, but eh, if you die, that means all death stops, and once everything gets miserable and overcrowded, well…The Goddess will have a faster way into our world. The misery and sadness of Life is what causes Darkness to grab hold, after all,” Lobster nodded, turning away. He seemed to mumble something along the lines of ‘and she’ll bring my home back..’, before waving his hand dismissively as he often did. “I’m takin’ a nap.”

“Oh..okay, then.” Death tilted his head slightly, watching the rather tall man shuffle off. Once he disappeared, Cacao just sat on the ground, pulling his sword out of the ground and fiddling with the blade. Eventually, even the other two left, leaving just him alone. The sun was a deep orange as it disappeared amongst the thick forest of almost dead trees. Death squinted at it, before looking ahead, his hair blowing slightly in the wind. 

After The Goddess had arrived…what then? Would she…give him something? That voice in his head kept telling him that she would give him all he ever wanted, but if he wasn’t sure of what he wanted, what would she..give him?

As he often did, he just pushed that doubt to the back of his mind, slowly standing up and picking up the gloves, the blood on his hands now dry. He…needed to wash this off. As he walked away, he stared back at the sword, before shaking his head and just leaving. 

The next night, which had gone without training, Lobster citing being too tired as the reason, Death couldn’t sleep. He stared up at the ceiling of his new room, one that was almost completely empty save for a window and his armor a few feet away, and sighed, hugging his sides tightly as he laid on the hard floor. Eventually, he sat up, and sighed, walking over to the door before finding that it was locked as usual. He had heard something about doors being locked after a certain time, but he could also hear some others talking, so…who did this apply to?

After a while of just staring at the door handle and listening to the mumbling conversations of others, he went over to his window that was almost on the ceiling of the room to be honest, and stood on the tips of his toes to just get a glimpse of what was out there. That got boring too, eventually, so he soon went back over to his little spot on the floor that he liked to rest on, and laid back down, using his arms as a pillow. 

The twins’ room was so nice, at least..why did they get a nice one? Was it because they were children? No, Lobster Cookie is an adult and he had a rather nice room too. Been here longer? Maybe, maybe that was why…or perhaps, were they thought of as more loyal..? Death would lay down his life for this place, was that not loyal enough? How do you get more loyal than that? He supposed he would figure out eventually, and then he’d have at least something else in this small, drab area. Maybe a bed, or a mattress or something, that would be nice. 

Perhaps he could bring it up to Lobster Cookie later, yeah.

But for now, he was tired, and soon his eyes shut, once again having another dreamless sleep. 

He found himself being kicked awake the next day. 

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Chapter 13 end.

Thank you for reading :]

Chapter Text

Dark Cacao Cookie quickly opened his eyes, and sat up drearily, holding the part of his head that throbbed. They had been kicking in the same spot that Hollyberry Cookie had injured. He looked up at the perpetrator, and…

Lobster Cookie. 

It’s not like he was surprised. 

The man ridiculed Death, however he didn’t say a word back, just slowly standing up, his shoulders slumped. Eventually, he met Lobster’s eyes.

“-do you really think I should treat ya right if you’re so damn lazy??”

Speak for yourself. He thought, but he continued his silence, just shaking his head. Lobster Cookie muttered some more obscenities, before gripping onto Death’s arm harshly and beginning to drag him out the door and to someplace else. 

Cacao hated this abuse, but if he were to do anything about it, he’d probably just be hurt more. After all, it was one against six at the very least, and he was sure there were more than six people in this group. Even if he were to escape, though, in that impossible scenario, it’s not like he would be any happier when things went back to normal. A rock and a hard place, really. Especially considering the Gods would never forgive him for this. Not the ones on his side, not the ones against him. 

Besides…the Goddess promised him he would be happy after this…just a little while longer, and then it would be worth it, right?

The two ended up next to a doorway, which looked more like a cave wall that merged with the smooth, pristine, velvet colored walls. Death tilted his head, before jolting as Lobster Cookie shoved him inside. 

The walls seemed to be changing, with doorways constantly forming and being absorbed by gray. Oddly familiar, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. 

Lobster Cookie handed him his sword. 

“Alright, look. The twins are in there, along with Life. Remember how I said you were gonna kill him? Perfect opportunity. I have some stuff that’ll let you see the trail the twins left behind with their god magic or whatever…but I’m not goin’ in there, got it?” He sighed. 

Already??? But he had hardly been trained to break a small barrier, let alone kill a God, let alone kill a God made by the Celestials!

Death didn’t object, just nodding a little. 

“Go for the chest, that’s where his soul jam is. However, we have somethin’ planned, so don’t like…rip him into pieces, kay? Love for it to be painful, though.”

What did these people have against life, anyways?

They implied he goes against the Goddess, but…Cacao wasn’t sure. 

He didn’t want to go against orders though. Dark Cacao Cookie nodded his head. Lobster Cookie reached into his pocket and pulled out a small pouch filled with powder. He poured some into his hands, and blew it into the room. Two glowing paths formed on the floor. 

“Just follow those and you’ll find the twins. If they don’t annoy ya to death, they’ll help you…get rid of Life.” 

With that, Lobster Cookie turned and walked away, and Death sighed quietly. He gripped his sword tightly, and began to walk. This was going to take a while, especially considering he had to wait a bit for some pathways to open. 

He wondered what would happen if he failed his mission. Would Life kill him? Would someone else kill him? Or would he just be subject to more abuse? Death didn’t know. He was rather scared, but he hid it behind a stern expression. Eventually, the trail started growing brighter, and he heard voices. Finally, the trail stopped, and Death looked up to find the twins giggling. Life was in front of them, almost seeming to be kneeling, pitch black arms with clawed fingers pulling him down and into place. Their eyes locked onto each other, and for a moment, they were silent, until finally..

“Traitor.” Life hissed at him. The twins turned their heads, and Pawn White Cookie smiled, while Pawn Black just stared. 

Traitor? Death thought. He wasn’t wrong, but..it still hurt. He squinted slightly. 

“I had the choice of more pain, more suffering at the hands of you…but I chose paradise,” Death whispered as he walked closer, kneeling down to be on eye level. “You would do the same..in my situation.”

“I would not!” Life retorted. Yes he would. Anyone would. Of course, paradise also took pain, but oh well…at least there was a reward, unlike dealing with those three for any longer. 

“Sure.” Cacao replied, standing up and lifting his sword. The twins seemed excited, but they stayed quiet, eventually retreating back where they came, though the arms holding Pure Vanilla Cookie still remained. 

“What are you planning?”

“I am planning…to kill you.”

Life almost seemed amused. “I’d like to see you try. You know the Celestials purposely made us hard to kill. Not only to prevent others from harming us, but to prevent ourselves from killing each other. You’re an idiot, though I already knew that.” He raised an eyebrow. 

“You’re currently trapped and I have a weapon. I’m sure I’ll figure out..a way.”

“Again, I’d like to see you try.”

The two stared at each other for a moment, before Cacao aligned his sword, swinging it down. It hit a small shield, causing the blade to hit against the wall. Death squinted at the other again, who was smiling. 

“Told you so..” He chuckled. 

Who knew the ‘pristine’ ‘perfect’ God of Life could be so damn vile?

“Alright, I’m getting tired of this.” Life moved slightly, and formed a shield that pushed out, causing the arms of void to retreat back into the ground. He stood up, and the two resumed their staring contest. 

“You could…get out the whole time??” Death tilted his head, genuinely confused. 

“The Force of Life is…a force. It’s like an unstoppable force meeting a movable object. Pretty simple,” Life shrugged. “Thanks for showing me the way out, by the way.” He motioned to the still faintly glowing path. 

Death furrowed his eyebrows, and he took a step back, holding his sword to the other’s neck. 

“One move and I cut your head off.”

“Go ahead.” 

Pure Vanilla Cookie took a step, and Death took a step back. This continued until Cacao hit a wall that soon turned into a doorway, causing him to fall back. 

“You’re rather inexperienced.” Vanilla quipped, bending over Death tauntingly. 

“Blame Lobster Cookie..” Death hissed. 

“Eh. I would’ve thought you would’ve fought more, considering you kill people all the time.” Life stepped over him, and began to leave. Death scrambled up and followed after him.

“You’re not- you’re not free yet.”

“Once I get out of here, I’ll be able to find my staff, and then I’ll leave.”

Fuck. What would happen to Death if he failed? 

“Please don’t.” He reached out, gripping onto Life’s cape. 

“Oh, begging, are we?” Life stopped, turning his head. 

“I’m not begg-“

“You’re begging.” He smiled.

Cacao tightened his grip. 

“You’re gonna rip my cape..” Vanilla pulled away, spinning around to face him. “What’s holding you up? Just kill me already. Don’t you hate me?” He tilted his head. 

“I…” Death couldn’t finish his words. Despite how much Life hated him, despite all the horrible things he had said and done to him, he couldn’t say he hated Life back. After all..it was understandable why Life hated him, right?

Vanilla took the time Cacao was distracted to disappear into the halls. Slowly, Death followed the fading path, reaching the exit right as it disappeared. 

He sighed, and stared at the floor, before his eyes moved to the sword. He threw it on the carpeted floor with a grunt of anger, before a lump formed in his throat. He was an idiot…why didn’t he just take the chance?? It was the perfect time to kill Pure Vanilla Cookie! And now, with his staff, he's probably teleported out of here by now…

Death dropped onto his knees, staring at his hands as they gripped the carpet tightly. Everything became blurred as tears welled up in his eyes. Then, suddenly, he was lifted up to his feet as someone grabbed him by the neck. Sharp claws pierced his skin. Lobster Cookie stared him in the eyes, before throwing him down with ease. 

“What the fuck is wrong with you?!” He barked, slamming his foot down on Cacao’s torso, causing him to quietly make a sound of pain. However, he didn’t reply, or resist. “We had a perfect opportunity, he was literally fuckin’ trapped, and you let it all go to waste!” 

Death deserved this. At least he thought he did. 

He stepped off of death, before again lifting him by the neck, onto his feet, before kicking him down again, on his knees. Death started to cry, which only seemed to upset Lobster more. He gripped his hair and yanked his head up so that the two were staring at each other. 

“I’ve said it before, but it just fits the most. You’re fucking worthless.”

He lifted him onto his feet again, this time by the hair instead of the neck, before grabbing his arm tightly. There was a loud cracking noise, and Cacao cried out as pain filled that part of his body. Lobster Cookie didn’t care, dragging him as he usually did back to Death’s empty room. He shoved him inside and slammed the door, making sure it was locked tight. As Cacao heard the footsteps as they slowly became quieter and quieter, before whimpering as they became silent. Blood ran down from his neck and arm, staining his clothes, though he didn’t care too much about that. He was just relieved that Lobster Cookie went no further. He definitely should have, though…that was what he deserved..

Tears started streaming down his face. He sobbed quietly, laying on his side. Eventually, he couldn’t cry any more..he was just so tired and thirsty that he just couldn’t. When that happened, he just sniffled and coughed. Pitiful was what he described himself as.

He used to be a king…but now he was sobbing in a stone room. At least he would have happiness eventually…right? 

He sighed shakily, and pulled his legs to his torso, gently hugging them. He winced and whimpered as his arm touched the rest of his body, causing an explosion of pain. It felt broken…was Lobster Cookie really that strong?

Death tried his best to go to bed, but the pain and the cold and the overall misery he felt distracted him to the point where he didn’t get a second of sleep that night. 

When the window revealed that the sun had risen, the door never unlocked. Then, it was night, and yet he was still left here. Another day, another night, nothing. 

He was hurting, he felt like he was dying, even though he couldn’t. Honestly, though, he wished that he could. A couple more days passed. Nothing happened. Not even a sound. His arm still hurt horribly. He couldn’t even cry..

Finally, on the sixth day, there was a noise of wind. He didn’t feel like turning his head to it, just sitting and staring at the door. 

What made him turn his head was the warm embrace that came soon after. 

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Chapter 14 end.

Thank you for reading :]

Chapter Text

Death would’ve pulled away if he had the energy to, but instead, he just sat there, letting them hug him. Eventually, they pulled away, and turned, kneeling down in front of him. 

Moonlight Cookie. 

Her navy blue hair floated off of the ground, and it looked like a cloud. She seemed very concerned, reaching out to Dark Cacao Cookie’s broken arm. He flinched and pulled away slightly. He might’ve said something if his throat wasn’t impaled a week ago..

Eventually he just coughed up blood. 

Moonlight sighed quietly, and again reached out. Death didn’t have the motivation to pull away, so he just let her touch his arm, but instead of intense pain, he felt…nothing. 

Nothing as in…it felt normal.

She moved her finger down until his entire arm felt..okay. The relief was almost overwhelming. 

“Do you want me to heal your throat, too..?” She whispered, her voice gentle. 

Cacao nodded, dragging himself closer to her. He was desperate. Again, Moonlight Cookie reached out, and gently touched his neck, causing it to be fully healed in just a few moments. Even scars faded. 

“I noticed you were in anguish,” She pulled away, sitting next to him on her knees. “I’m sorry, this was as fast as I could arrive.”

“I-..” Death coughed a few times, before sighing. “Why are you here? You’re on Life’s side, after all.”

“I am. Which is why I am helping you, Dark Cacao Cookie.” She smiled a little. 

One of the few times someone had…called him by his name. Death was rather surprised, but he just frowned and turned his head away. 

“I don’t get it.”

“Not many do.” She summoned a small vase-type object in her hand, and handed it to Dark Cacao Cookie. It had water inside. He practically chugged it, before carefully setting it back on the ground. 

“I don’t get you helping me, you say you’re on his side but…I’m not,” His voice wavered. “..I’m trying to bring back someone you all hate. I’m…I just want to be..happy..” Cacao started to sob, his tears falling to the floor. 

“I know, Dark Cacao Cookie,” She replied, reaching over to set a hand on his shoulder but not doing so until he nodded at her. “I never stepped in between you five. I should have. That is my fault. The others feel that way too.”

The others..? The other spirits? Spirit of the sea, spirit of the moon, of course, spirit of the flames, and the spirit of the winds…all of them were connected to different Celestial-made Gods. All except him, of course. He hugged his knees to his chest. 

“I understand…after all, I don’t even have a spirit associated with me…so I doubt you ever noticed. I doubt any of them noticed..” Death sighed, curling a piece of his hair around his finger. “So…it’s okay.”

“But it’s not.”

Cacao looked up at her. She seemed…genuine. Someone who was genuine, for once.

“I know Pure Vanilla Cookie won’t like this, but…I’ll let you know why he dislikes you so much.”

“Because I’m Death and he’s Life so of course he fucking doesn’t..” He mumbled. 

“No, not entirely. What is your earliest memory..?” Moonlight asked, looking him in the eyes. 

Death furrowed his eyebrows. 

“I guess being created..? But that’s a bit fuzzy…I’m not too good at remembering, and all.” He shrugged. 

“Neither does Hollyberry Cookie, or Golden Cheese Cookie. Even Saint Lily Cookie, too. They all do not remember anything before their creation in this universe. But that wasn’t when your souls were created.” She stood up.

“Eh..?”

“The Celestials used the souls of those who had reincarnated many times to create your soul jams. That turned out alright, yes, except for one exception.”

Dark Cacao Cookie stood up as well. 

“What are you implying?”

“I don’t know how this happened, but…he is the only one of you who remembers,” Moonlight bowed her head, before sighing. “I’m afraid I cannot tell you anything beyond that. I do not want to upset Pure Vanilla Cookie. You can ask him yourself, one day.”

“Wh- but—“

“I am very sorry. We will meet again.” She smiled, before fading into a shining dust, until even that disappeared too. Death dropped to his knees, staring at the spot she vanished at. 

“But I- I need to know..” He whispered. Surely he could never ask Life what that meant. After all, if they ever meet again…Death may die himself. 

He sat there for a while, before sighing. Why was she implying that he was on Life’s side, too? He wasn’t, in any way. He just wanted to be happy ..was it really that bad if he joined the ‘bad’ side for that?

But this was the bad side, wasn’t it..?

Death started to regret. Regret killing all those humans. He wondered how Dark Choco Cookie was doing. He needed out of here..Moonlight Cookie managed to motivate him enough to want to.

Death managed to lock his fingers just barely into the gaps between the bricks in the wall, climbing up and eventually reaching the window. He wished he had his sword, that would make this easy, but he had learned in the past couple days that this room, similar to the one that constantly morphed and changed, blocked magic from escaping, which meant summoning things, ergo if his sword was outside of it…no sword. Once he was out of here, though, he’d be able to summon it. 

Dark Cacao Cookie hesitantly took one of his hands off of the wall, balled it into a fist, and managed to smash the glass. However, the pain caused him to fall backwards onto the floor. He sighed, staring at his blood-covered hand for a moment, before slowly climbing back up, wincing whenever he had to use his injured hand. 

After what seemed like hours, he managed to get out. That was…easier than he thought it would be. He reached his (not bloody) hand out and gripped onto a handle that didn’t exist, until it did, as his sword appeared in his hand. The gem, though, was still a crimson red…eerie.

Death sighed, brushing it aside, and began to walk. He didn’t know where he was going, he just wanted to be far away from this place. Eventually he began to teleport to make it at least slightly faster. Across land and sea, he just vanished, reappeared further, vanished, reappeared. This went on for a few days as he reached the mainland until suddenly he slammed into something. Falling back, he put his hand over his now bloody nose. 

“ Fuck— oh- it’s the barrier…of course..” He mumbled, laying there for a little longer, blood flowing down his face. At least it wasn’t broken..

Cacao managed to sit up after a little while, before leaning against his sword and using it to help him stand up. He gently set his hand on the invisible wall, and sighed. This was clearly the Plane of Life, evidenced by the lack of…various scraggly dead plants. He didn’t want to even think about what would happen if he got inside. For a while, he just stood there, before sighing again and continuing to teleport forwards. 

Eventually he saw the castle. Death hid behind a large rock that was rather close to the edge of the barrier, and watched the people come and go. As the day went on, he became more and more exhausted, managing to curl up and rest his back against the barrier. 

As soon as he was asleep, though, his eyes opened again. However, this wasn’t actually Dark Cacao Cookie. No, Cacao was still asleep, somewhere in his mind.

But…Death was awake.

And Death wanted vengeance. 

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Chapter 15 end.

Thank you for reading :]

Chapter Text

Death tried to stand up and walk, but she ended up toppling over, having not really moved in millions of years. She squinted slightly, before immediately giving up and pulling herself out of the body, leaving him unconscious as she formed into a mass of pure Force of Death, trying to figure out how to give it form. As she did so, though, Dark Cacao Cookie opened his eyes, sitting up and rubbing the back of his neck.

“Celeste, did I fall o- what the fuck.”

His eyes catched on the mass mid sentence, which had managed to create a semi-humanoid form, although she still was rather bad at it. Cacao stared at it, and the void stared back, before he noticed the fading black streak in his pure white hair.

He stared at that for another moment, before looking back at the Force, who was now…a lot closer to him. Cacao yelled out and fell back, causing the Force to retreat, making a hissing noise at him as he did.

“What the hell is going on..? I…don’t feel any of my powers..at least, not the ones associated with my second half..are you- are you my second half what the fuck can you please go back inside of me???” Confused and concerned, Dark Cacao Cookie reached a hand out and touched the mass, before pulling back. It felt like he was burning. The Force hissed at him again with the touch before disappearing into the forest. Cacao watched, before just sighing. He’d figure this out later..right now he needed to sleep. He got up, went back over to his sword, and grabbed onto it. The gem glowed brightly before the entire sword collapsed into dust.

That…was what happened when a stranger touched the sword..it was a defense mechanism.

Cacao also realized he couldn’t summon it again.

He pulled his legs to his chest as he realized how serious this was. His Death half separated from him somehow for no reason he knew of, leaving him as the pure God of Winter. Sure, that amplified his winter powers, as he had no other ones suppressing them, but without his Death half…

Actually, without his Death half, would the others treat him better..?

And, without his Death half..maybe he could get past the barrier.

Dark Cacao Cookie looked up, only to find that small cloud above his head, snowing heavier than usual. At least that was consistent. He waved it away and quickly ran off to a more secluded part of the Plane of Life, stepping over the gravel path and hesitantly setting his hand on the invisible wall, leaning against it slightly.

For a moment, nothing happened, before various symbols appeared near where his hand was, and he fell right through, quickly moving the rest of his body inside as the symbols faded. Perfect. Now he could..uh.

He didn’t know what he could do.

He didn’t have his sword, nor his Death powers. He was pretty much just…snow and shit. Cacao stood back up, finding that his touch no longer killed the plants beneath it. Honestly, that was quite the nice loss. So..since he couldn’t kill Life, or anyone for that matter, how could he help his side?

He thought for a while, before having a small idea.

What if..he didn’t?

Cacao was adverse to leaving his probably only chance at being happy, but then he got to thinking. Without his Death half, people wouldn’t have anything to fear, right..? So maybe they would like him..

Maybe even Life would tolerate him..?

He wanted to find out, but, finding his teleportation gone, he would have to walk. Oh well..slowly, he began walking back towards the kingdom, and as he saw the village, the sun was rising. He furrowed his eyebrows for a moment, before taking off his gloves, and scabbard, hiding them in a patch of grass surrounded by rather large rocks. Cacao didn’t want to seem frightening, using his cape as a sort of cover of sorts. He felt colder than usual, after all.

As he kept walking, he noticed he no longer felt the very frequent pains of those who died at that time, which was also a major perk to him.

Eventually he was in the village, but it felt extremely strange. No one really knew him without his mask and other key features of how he looked. They probably just thought he was another person, at least until he used his powers, which he didn’t want to fuck anything up in the moment. Right now, he was just a normal guy. Sure.

He kept going, trying to find his way around before suddenly bumping into someone. Probably a teenager. They were shorter than him, had fluffy light pink hair, and tan skin. They quickly pulled away, looking up at him, before bowing their head. 

“I’m sorry!” They said, before quickly rushing off. Cacao watched them go, his eyebrows furrowed, before just sighing. Despite his change in appearance, he was still a tall muscular guy covered in scars..probably didn't look too friendly to other people..oh well. He still needed to go to the castle, eventually finding the right path to do so.

The castle doors were open, as usual. Dark Cacao Cookie realized that since it was so early, not many were there. He hesitantly went up the stairs, finding some others there, maybe only about 10 people, with Pure Vanilla Cookie and Saint Lily Cookie busy with someone else. That was perfect. He retreated into a corner, sitting in the shadows and just watching.

After a couple hours, with more people there now, Life’s eyes finally rested on the corner, and he pulled away from what he was doing, staring intensely at Cacao. He quickly stood up, with the other standing up too.

“Everyone, I find that there is a sudden problem. Please leave now and come back in a little while. I apologize.” He said loudly. Dark Cacao Cookie found himself unable to move, thin yet strong vines having burst from the ground and wrapped around his body. Some people seemed disappointed, but they soon all left, other than Saint Lily Cookie whose gaze shifted between the two. With a wave of his hand, the castle doors shut, and Vanilla walked over, the vines retreating back into the ground as he grabbed him by the collar.

“ How did you get past it.” His voice was rather frightening, stern yet quiet. 

“I..” Cacao felt himself sweating, trying and failing to get away from the other’s grip.

“Tell me, now.” Life hissed.

“I..I don’t..know how it…it happened..”

Pure Vanilla Cookie lifted him by the collar and slammed him back into the wall. Tears started forming in Cacao’s eyes.

“Yes you fucking do, tell me.” He pulled the other closer, threatening to slam him against the wall again.

“I don’t know! I was sleeping and..and then I woke..I woke up, and half of me had separated and..and it was the Death half and I don’t know why and I just wanted to see if you would like me now that I don’t hurt people…I don’t..know..” He was crying now, his hands gripping the other’s arms gently.

Life slowly lowered him again, staring intensely at him as Saint Lily Cookie quickly walked over, setting a hand on Cacao’s forehead.

“He’s not lying,” She whispered. “All I sense is winter.”

Pure Vanilla Cookie sighed and let go of the man, going back to his throne and sitting down. He looked distressed. Cacao just sat on the ground, in a sort of bowing position, wiping at the tears on his face.

“I think that’s why the plants disappeared, Vanilla.” Saint Lily Cookie followed.

“I…don’t know what to think of this. If his Death half isn’t in him anymore, it must be somewhere else, and that’s a huge problem,” He sighed. “That also means that...”

Vanilla whispered something to Saint Lily Cookie. She sighed, and nodded.

“I suppose it does..”

“So, perhaps I can..” Life didn’t continue, slowly standing up and going back over to Cacao, offering him a hand. The other quickly took it, slowly standing up.

“Don’t think I’m friends with you. You’re just not a threat anymore.” He mumbled. Cacao just nodded, taking his hand to stand up and leaning against the wall.

“Thank you, Pure Vanilla Cookie..”

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Chapter 16 end.

Thank you for reading :]

Chapter Text

He saw a strange looking animal. He tilted his head slightly, approaching, eventually grabbing at it when he was a few feet away. Of course, it ran off. He fell over, quickly scampering back up, feeling shorter than usual. He continued wandering around, occasionally trying to catch an animal, always being too far away to even get close whenever he reached for it, causing it to always run off. He didn’t seem to get the picture just yet. Eventually the noises around him went completely silent, and he didn’t hear anything at all, except for some kind of thumping noise. 

Finally, he turned around, and saw tall creatures. He recoiled in fear, making some kind of growling noise as he stepped back. One of them pointed something similar to a shotgun to his head. 

Bang. 

Dark Cacao Cookie awoke with a start, sitting up in his bed. The noise had startled him awake, but he was sure it had happened in his dream, not nearby. Boy, what a dream that was. He sighed, looking around, finding the mostly empty room absent of any life. At least he was in one of the guest rooms that wasn’t in the basement. He’d probably freeze, if that were the case. He already felt rather cold just without his shirt. 

He sighed, managing to scoot out of bed, still thinking about that dream-turned-nightmare. What was going on? What were those creatures? The entire place didn’t seem to be from this world, with unnatural terrain that didn’t really seem to be from Earthbread in the slightest. Cacao brushed it off as just something his mind came up with, although it felt oddly like a memory.

He went over to a small closet, and went through the mostly empty drawers, eventually finding his shirt, pulling it on. He still felt pretty cold, but he brushed it aside. Cacao then found his cape, and latched the chain around his neck, using it to cover most of his body as he often did. What was rather sad is that wearing the cape, slightly gray colored on the outside, like this hid the rather beautiful shining inside that resembled the Aurora Borealis. He had long noticed and acknowledged this, though, so he began wandering around instead of moping about it. 

The wallpaper was a rather pretty floral pattern, and he ran his fingers along the rough texture. Beautiful yet coarse…He rolled his eyes at the thought that went through his mind a couple moments later. Something something, Pure Vanilla Cookie. Cacao eventually reached the door, and took a deep breath, mentally preparing himself to be honest, before exhaling, opening the door and walking outside. The hallways were as grand and beautiful as he remembered. He had always wished he had more time to gaze at them in the past, and now that he could, he spent a long while just standing there, before jolting as someone bumped into him before quickly disappearing around the corner. 

Had he gotten in their way? He wanted to apologize, but by now they were gone…oh well. Dark Cacao Cookie sighed, and looked around for a moment, eventually finding the staircase and going back down into the main hall. 

The main hall was almost always decorated, and since humans usually went through here, it was kept rather pristine. Cacao yawned, rubbing the back of his neck, his tiredness starting to set in. After that nightmare, though, he kinda wanted to wait on napping. Besides, it might upset Life for him to…skip out on anything? He didn’t know where this excuse was going, eventually just waving it off. 

He hesitantly began walking again, not sure he wanted to see any humans at the moment, being sure he moved his arm so that his cape covered most of his lower face as well. As Dark Cacao Cookie often did when he entered this place before everything happened, he hid away in the corner, in the darkness, as Life listened well to the human’s problems and helped as best he could. He…he wanted to do that, but no one ever visited his Plane, mostly due to 1. Being, or formerly being he guessed, Death itself. 2. People thought his appearance was rather frightening. 3. He lives in a usually blizzarding mountain range. What’s not to love? He sighed quietly, his eyes’ gaze drifting, eventually landing on Life. 

For the first time in a while, he saw the man happy, truly happy instead of just putting on a smile and pretending it was okay. White Lily Cookie had mentioned that the plants were gone, was she speaking of the ones that covered the other Planes? It was likely…and he hoped that was what she meant. His Death half seemed kind of feral, perhaps she was just trying to live on her own, without any interference. Maybe he could do that too, but he missed his sword, and without his other half he could do barely anything in his own Plane other than make it snow to the point where it looked like more mountains had formed. Perhaps he did indeed need to find her…he sighed again. 

Dark Cacao Cookie stepped slightly into the crowd, though still far off enough to be counted as not inside of it, his body still in the shadows. The sounds of people talking blended together, but that was when he heard something else. The sound of a child crying. He looked around a little, before noticing the child rather close to him, and crouched down to eye level, waving at the child. She couldn’t have been older than 10, and she didn’t look to be with anyone. She kinda reminded him of Dark Choco Cookie, really…he wondered how he was doing. 

The child slowly, hesitantly walked over, and did a small wave back. With this, Cacao opened his cape, showing his body, trying to appear more friendly. 

“What happened, my friend?” He whispered to the girl, and she sniffled, rubbing at her face. Eventually Cacao reached up, and gently wiped her tears away with his thumb. 

“Mama got sick, really sick…I’m scared..” She whispered back, and Cacao’s expression softened further as he opened his arms, offering a hug that she accepted. 

“I am sure Pure Vanilla Cookie can make her feel better. He’s the kindest man to exist, after all.” He pulled away after a few moments, still remaining at eye level. He technically wasn’t lying, he was kind to humans…besides, everybody hates somebody…even he hated someone, Pomegranate Cookie. 

“Thank you…” She sniffled again. He nodded, and stood up again, glancing around. 

“Are you here with somebody?” 

“Yeah, my papa…he’s over there.” She gestured to a man who looked semi-panicked, likely because his daughter was missing. Cacao sighed, and brought her over, the man quickly lifting her up and holding her. 

“My goodness, thank you, sir..” He seemed exasperated, whispering something to the girl, and she nodded. 

“Yeah, thank you!” She chirped, and smiled, which made Dark Cacao Cookie smile back, just a little, his cape closing again. 

“Of course.” He bowed his head, and returned to his little corner, watching the crowd again. 

Cacao supposed that without his hair streak and mask, he was rather unrecognizable. Not too many had seen him without his mask after all. He kinda liked this, having people be friendly to him instead of being terrified or angry at him. It was nice..

The day went by, but Cacao stayed in his corner, eventually sitting down. Soon everyone left for the night, including the girl and her father, and when the last person was gone, Pure Vanilla Cookie sighed, standing up to stretch before his gaze focused on Cacao. Hesitantly, he stood back up, shuffling out of his little darkness corner. 

“You were there this entire time, weren’t you?” Life asked. His tone sounded…less harsh than usual. 

“I’m sorry, I just like watching..” Cacao whispered back, a small cloud forming above his head. 

“Did I say you should apologize?”

Dark Cacao Cookie looked up, his eyes wide. The cloud dissipated as he stared at the other, trying to come up with something to say. 

“I..I guess not..” He finally managed to speak. He had been caught off guard. Vanilla had never been so kind to him before.

Life sighed, and motioned for Cacao to follow him as he began walking. He hesitated at first, but soon followed behind. He didn’t know where they were going, though. For a couple minutes, it was silent, until Pure Vanilla Cookie’s sudden voice caused Cacao to jolt.

“Why did you take the deal?”

For a moment, Dark Cacao Cookie was confused, before his eyes widened slightly, and his gaze shifted to the floor.

“I…” Cacao hesitated, before sighing and looking back at Vanilla. “Well, you all hate me, and I..every day was horrible, and I knew it wasn’t going to change..s-..so I..”

Life’s eyebrow raised, and he stopped walking, causing Cacao to stop as well. He seemed like he was about to speak, before he shut his mouth and looked away, hesitating, thinking. Eventually, he looked back at the other, and sighed, rubbing his temples.

“I see.” His voice then went quiet, but Cacao just barely managed to hear. “Celeste, this is what the spirits warned me about, I should’ve listened..”

“What did they…warn you about..?” He tilted his head. Pure Vanilla Cookie went pale.

“Noth-..Nothing important.”

Cacao didn’t want to risk upsetting him, so he didn’t ask further. The two resumed walking, the rather awkward silence returning, until finally, Dark Cacao Cookie spoke this time.

“I was trapped, back when I disappeared. A void for who knows how long, and then that place where I saw you again, but y'know, I failed, and..” Cacao’s voice faded, and he rubbed his arm, right where Lobster Cookie had broken it. “..he- they locked me away for a while, but Moonlight Cookie showed up, and she..she motivated me enough to try and escape and I did and I realized that it wasn’t ashardasIthoughtitwouldbebut-” He cut himself off, turning his head to Vanilla, who’s eyebrows were furrowed.

“Moonlight Cookie? She..she went to you? Why? What did she say?” Life stopped walking again, stepping in front of Cacao. Dark Cacao Cookie hesitated, pulling his cape tighter around himself. He didn’t want to tell him about what Moonlight had said about his memories.

“She healed me..and said that she helped those on your side, which I don’t unders-” He paused. She…she did help those on Vanilla’s side, and now, here Cacao was, on his side. “..Whi-..which I didn’t understand until now..” Cacao sighed, placing a hand to his forehead. “She probably knew I didn’t actually want to be there, how much of an idiot am I to not realize before someone else did..?”

Pure Vanilla Cookie listened closely, having again resumed walking as he spoke, before laughing quietly. “Well, you are kind of an idiot.”

Dark Cacao Cookie chuckled as well. “I deserve that, hah..”

The two smiled at each other, for maybe the first time, as Vanilla reached over to a large door and waved his hand slightly, causing it to open. Inside was..no, it was outside. 

It was a garden.

Cacao’s eyebrows furrowed, but he didn’t object, following Vanilla inside.

“Why’re we here?” He looked around a little. As to be expected from the literal Plane of Spring, it was beautiful, especially with the setting sun coloring the sky with oranges and pinks. Vines decorated pale yellow stone walls, trees that had pink and purple flowers instead of leaves, blowing in the wind, their petals falling to the ground, and a small pond near the center. Life stopped at the pond, a flower blooming from the ground with each step he took, as Cacao vehemently avoided stepping on anything that wasn’t a pathway as if he would drop dead if he didn’t. Honestly, he wasn’t entirely sure Vanilla wouldn’t kill him over stepping on a flower.

For a while, Pure Vanilla Cookie didn’t reply, continuing to walk after a couple seconds, until finally they reached the back wall of the gardens, brushing some of the vines aside, revealing a strange symbol inscribed in the stone. Dark Cacao Cookie quickly caught up, watching Vanilla press his staff against the symbol. The indentations in the wall lit up with white, Cacao squinting slightly to see what was going on. Vanilla stepped back, and reached over, pulling Cacao away just as a large hole formed in the ground next to where he was.

Vanilla looked at him, sighed when he noticed his bewildered expression, and let go of him.

“Well, I need to take you somewhere to do something. You’ll find out in a moment, but if I find out you told anyone about this, I’ll kill you.”

For some reason, Cacao didn’t think he was joking.

He just nodded back, before jolting as Vanilla grabbed him again, and jumped down into the hole, taking Cacao with him. He was now even more bewildered, before pulling away as he noticed a floor.

“If I break my legs, it’s your fault.” He mumbled, before landing with an ‘oof’ on his stomach. Pure Vanilla Cookie was like a cat, hitting the floor standing up straight. Despite the long fall, it didn’t hurt at all, as if they had just jumped down a foot or so. The hole above them seemed to seal up.

The floor was stone, and Dark Cacao Cookie was just barely able to make out some symbols due to Vanilla’s glowing staff. He slowly stood up, and followed Life as he walked down a long hallway. 

A distant light was at the end of the tunnel.

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Chapter 17 end.

Thank you for reading :]

Chapter Text

The two walked for what seemed like forever. Dark Cacao Cookie felt like the light wasn’t getting any closer. Eventually, right before Cacao was about to collapse, they reached the light. Inside was a huge cave, but it looked unnatural, as if made by humans. Carvings decorated the walls, showing people bowing down and praying to someone else, someone who seemed very familiar, but Cacao couldn’t put his finger on who. The light was coming from leaves that covered the ceiling, some kind of glowing plant covering them, something he had never seen before. The leaves were coming from somewhere deeper in the cave. He looked around in total awe, before stopping when the two reached a tree.

The tree was massive, the roots distorting the floor and the aforementioned leaves covering the place. Instead of the bark appearing straight, though, it just seemed to be more roots, twisting around something in the middle, hiding it from view. Was it even a tree, then..?

Pure Vanilla Cookie tapped his staff on the ground a couple times, causing the leaves to glow brighter for a moment, before they returned to normal. Cacao looked up, before back at the tree, as the roots started moving, uncovering a tiny hole. What seemed to be…eyes..peered at them.

“Is that you..?” A quiet voice blended with the wind somehow passing by. Dark Cacao Cookie’s eyes widened, and he quickly stepped to the side. He didn’t want this person to recognize him.

“Of course, of course.” Vanilla bowed his head to whoever was inside the tree, and the roots parted more, someone reaching out of the larger hole and pulling their upper body into view. Cacao stared at the person.

Millennial Tree Cookie. He hadn’t seen him in, well, millennia! He had heard of this temple before, but he was never allowed here. After all, one wrong move and…the whole tree would die.

“It’s been a while…” He whispered, his eyes flicking to Cacao. “And I see that you have brought him with you. Curious.” The roots parted more, before they sprouted from the tree, bringing Millennial Tree right next to Dark Cacao Cookie. Cacao took a step back, his eyes wide, before raising his fists in a sort of defense.

“Do you really think that I would hurt you?” The man tilted his head, his long brown hair falling to the side. He reached over, and gently lowered one of Cacao’s fists, looking him in the eye. Along with his soft voice, it was..comforting. Hesitantly, Cacao lowered his other arm. “That’s better.”

Life watched the two, his expression unreadable, before his gaze focused back on Millennial Tree as he returned back to the large plant.

“I’m sure you already have detected what’s wrong, especially considering I’ve brought him down here.” He finally spoke, stepping closer to the tree. “You know a lot about the Force of Death, don’t you? You’re connected to everything that’s alive, after all. Do you know what it’s doing?”

Millennial Tree Cookie shut his eyes, seemingly thinking.

“The Goddess of Death is currently roaming around. She seems to be unintelligent, which is a given, seeing as she is only meant to be an essence, not a physical being. The same would happen if he was split from you, after all.” He folded his arms behind his back. Vanilla set his hand on his chest, and sighed as Millennial Tree continued speaking. “While this is troubling, it is not urgent, unless the dark ones were to somehow capture her. You should focus on the matter at hand, and, if you manage to stop them before they find her, it’ll be safer.”

“So what you’re saying is…don’t focus on it? But this is a huge problem! We can’t have half of Dark Cacao Cookie just roaming around, what if it finds a human village?” Vanilla seemed anxious, motioning with his hands rather often.

“Both your Planes are covered with a barrier, Fall’s is decimated, and Winter’s is already all dead. There isn’t a risk until the barrier breaks, which I cannot predict, seeing as it is not a natural one.”

Vanilla sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Alright, fine, I’ll keep it in the background until we get rid of the dark ones again.”

Millennial Tree Cookie nodded. “Is that all you need? Why didn’t you use Dark Chocolate Mousse Cookie for this?”

“Well, he saw one good timeline out of millions, however it faded away before he could see it, and every time we’ve tried afterwards, he hasn’t had enough time to find it again. Yes, this is all we need.” Pure Vanilla Cookie shrugged, fiddling with his staff. Cacao was still standing off to the side, awkwardly. 

“I see.” Millennial Tree nodded, before his gaze turned to Dark Cacao Cookie again. “Well, if that is all, then go on. I can’t have more alterations to this place..”

Life nodded, and reached over, taking Cacao’s hand and began guiding him back to the exit, causing him to blush. He looked back for a moment, and as he saw Millennial Tree Cookie become covered with the roots once more, he could’ve sworn he saw him wink, a smile on his face. He quickly looked forward again.

“What was that all about..?” Cacao whispered, hiding his still slightly scarlet face from the other.

“Oh, Millennial Tree Cookie, though you might not remember, is one of the Timekeepers.” Vanilla replied.

“Timeke..right, right, there’s only a few of them, yeah?”

“Mhm. They all hide away from humanity. That temple used to be above ground, but he had to bring it down here after humans started abusing his powers. I don’t know what I expected, honestly..” He sighed, his staff disappearing as they continued walking. “Millennial Tree can see the past, present, and future of all plants, Timekeeper Cookie herself can see the past, present, and future of all creatures, and Galaxy Cookie can see the past, present, and future of…everything, but no one has seen them in thousands of years. It must’ve been rather overwhelming.”

Dark Cacao Cookie looked back at Life, his brows furrowing slightly. “Right before the dark ones showed up, no? I heard quite the hubbub about it at the time.”

Pure Vanilla Cookie just nodded.

“They didn’t want to tell us how it would turn out, they simply created M and vanished…”

Vanilla suddenly paused, slamming a hand over his mouth. Seemed he didn’t intend to let that slip.

“M was..made by Galaxy? Who- who knows this??” Cacao stopped as well, staring at Life.

Vanilla was silent for what felt like hours, but was probably only a minute or two. Slowly, he lowered his hand, his eyes wide.

“N-..no one does, none except for me, Timekeeper Cookie, Shortbread Cookie and Saint Lily Cookie…even he himself doesn’t know.” 

“..why?”

“Well, in reality, M is named Nebula Cookie…Timekeeper, Shortbread, Saint Lily and I realized how dangerous and unstable a child with such immense power could be, and if he were to find out how to use it, he could devolve into insanity, similar to how Timekeeper Cookie did..” He sighed. “So, Shortbread used their shapeshifting abilities to alter his appearance to be more normal, Saint Lily and I raised him, and Timekeeper Cookie made sure we didn’t make any bad decisions until she went, well, insane..”

“And then he eventually split off and became friends with me..?”

Vanilla nodded, becoming silent as he resumed walking. Cacao stared at his hands for a moment, balling them into fists, before quickly catching up.

“Why haven’t you told him?? He’s an adult now! He can handle it!” Anger began to rise in him, 

“He can’t handle it, that’s the problem! Since we couldn’t tell him about his true power at a young age but we also weren’t able to teach him about how to use them, if he were to suddenly learn…well, who knows what would happen! He could go off the deep end, or help the dark ones, or Celeste knows what else!” 

Cacao huffed, rubbing his temples. “There’s no use..there’s no use getting mad over this, alright, let’s just..think about this..”

This new information was so overwhelming..he felt so bad for his best friend…

“Alright, alright.”

The two both stopped walking and sat down.

“I have an idea..just- slowly teach him..?”

“Perhaps that could work. We did that with the whole..timeline thing..though even his power has limits. If he spends too long there then he could be lost in that place forever..”

“I..I know..” 

The two sat in silence for a while.

For the longest time, Dark Cacao Cookie had thought that M was just another God. Sure, he wasn’t too powerful, but that's alright. He was a wonderful friend.

But now..? Who knew what he could do…?? Galaxy Cookie was one of the most powerful of them all, just barely being beaten out by the other five, who were directly created by the Celestials. Their child must be close to matching them in that power, right?

Would this…change anything between them..?

Cacao hoped not, he hoped with all of his heart that M wouldn’t let this get in the way of their friendship.

He also hoped that he himself wouldn’t let this get in the way, either.

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Chapter 18 end.

Thank you for reading :]

Chapter Text

He danced with someone unfamiliar, distant music playing, surrounding them with bliss. Others were dancing around them, but he didn’t care, focusing on the one in front of him. The clothing was so strange, alien, perhaps. He thought he was happy, maybe, the emotion felt indescribably different, but this person…they made him so, so happy…

But then, a sudden pain caused him to drop to the floor. He gripped his chest, the person calling out to him repeatedly in a language he didn’t understand. His vision darkened around the sides, before fully fading to black, the last thing he felt being a mix of cold tile and warm skin. 

Dark Cacao Cookie stared out of his window, at the birds in the trees, at the pretty flowers coloring the ground, at the sky that seemed to be more like watercolor than anything. He didn’t want to focus on that dream, or nightmare, maybe. He stared for hours as the sun rose over the trees, until finally, a loud knock at his door caused him to almost jump out of his skin. He hesitated for a few moments, breathing heavily, before finally going over to the door and opening it. 

It was Pure Vanilla Cookie. He looked…disheveled. Tears were running down his face. Cacao had never seen him so..upset.

“They- they took her!” Vanilla sobbed, slamming his face into the other’s chest. Cacao took a small step back from the surprise, before gently reaching up and rubbing his back.

“Took who..?” He whispered. Vanilla couldn’t respond without sobbing again, so Cacao slowly bent down to eye level, and wiped his tears away. He never thought he would be doing this…

“S-..Saint Lily..they took..her..” Pure Vanilla Cookie sniffled, slowly becoming more and more understandable. “The dark ones..”

“The dark ones took Sa…oh..oh no. They’re doing the exact same thing??” Dark Cacao Cookie’s eyebrows furrowed. “How did they get past the..”

“The barrier! She..she was outside of it..t..to do some r-research and..and they took her!”

“They’re still just as horrible as they were back then…” Cacao sighed, and brought Vanilla over to a large, soft recliner, motioning for him to sit, which he did. “It’ll be okay. We’ll just do what we did last time..get her back..”

10,000 years ago, the dark ones had taken Saint Lily Cookie to use as a vessel for the Goddess of True Darkness. She’s..rather weak, no offense to her, but also, it was very easy to turn light into darkness, so who better than the goddess of it? Cacao presumed they were doing that exact thing again. However…the spells they had used to stop all this were lost long ago…did anyone actually remember how to use them? And even if they did, without his sword and Death half, and without Autumn being her most powerful self, the spell was impossible. How would he get his sword back? How would he get Autu- that’s it.

Cacao suddenly went over to his closet, pulling on his jacket and putting on his boots.

“I have an idea on how to get the Autumnal Plane back,” He went over to the door. “But..I need you to help me.”

“Then..I-I’m going with you.” Pure Vanilla Cookie seemed to have calmed down, summoning his staff and following behind. “If we get the Plane back, then maybe Golden Cheese Cookie will be okay again, and..”

“And we’ll be able to get Saint Lily Cookie back..” Cacao sighed, and opened the door.

For a little while, they had to stop so that Vanilla could write Hollyberry Cookie a letter, but after it had been given to a bluebird, Life grasped Cacao’s arm, and suddenly the two appeared at the gravel intersection between the four Planes. Autumn didn’t look as corrupted as usual. There were no longer any floating orbs, and life seemed to be slowly spreading to it again, however it was still blackened with decay. Cacao winced. The two stepped onto the Plane, and the grass beneath Pure Vanilla Cookie instantly grew.

“What’s your plan, then?” Vanilla asked, looking over to him.

“You heal everything, then I cause a light winter, which makes everything..become normal..?..I guess..I dunno, it’s kind of a stupid idea…” Dark Cacao Cookie sighed, rubbing the back of his neck.

“I don’t think it’s stupid.” Vanilla smiled softly at him, which caused Cacao to smile back…it made his heart go aflutter for a moment, but he quickly focused back on the matter at hand. He nodded to Life, which caused the other to raise his staff into the air. A bright glow emanated from it, causing Cacao to squint. All around, the grass began to grow, trees gaining their leaves back and bushes and flowers blooming up from the ground. Life began quickly spreading until out of view. Dark Cacao Cookie smiled just a tad, before he jolted as he heard a thumping noise next to him. Vanilla had fallen to the ground, exhausted.

He rushed over, bending down to help Pure Vanilla Cookie up. He looked so tired…Cacao ended up taking his staff from him, and it crumbled into dust that disappeared with the wind.

“Healing an entire Plane must be difficult..” He whispered, causing Vanilla to nod, his eyelids forcibly shutting, though he still tried to keep them open. “Rest. We’ll let it spread and come back when you’re not exhausted.”

Cacao gently picked Life up, bridal style, before beginning to carry him back. Honestly, he was rather light, even for a human of his exact size. Oh well. He could soon hear the man snoring quietly as they passed through the barrier.

“I hope that works..” He muttered, stopping for a moment as his eyes rested on a rather familiar circle of rocks. Cacao gently set Vanilla down, walking into the small clearing and putting on his gloves again, though his scabbard remained. There were tiny vines beginning to grow across it, and he didn’t want to disturb them. At least the gloves made him feel a little better about holding Pure Vanilla Cookie, as he didn’t want to give the man frostbite. With that, he returned to the sleeping God, and once again carried him, beginning to walk once more. 

“You seem peaceful, sleeping beauty..” Dark Cacao Cookie chuckled at his own joke, as there was no one else around to laugh. 

As he entered the village, his cape fluttering behind him, just barely grazing the tall grass, he noticed no one was around. To him? Familiar. To Life? That would be strange, right? Why was everyone gone? This only happened when…when he arrived to speak with Pure Vanilla Cookie, before this all happened. Oh no.

They recognized him again. 

And carrying the body of their king was not a good look.

He felt eyes on him. Many, many eyes from each and every building. Cacao slowly kept walking, glancing around wearily. It was as if they would run out at any time and kill him. Before they were afraid, now those looks were…angry. Vanilla was still asleep.

Cacao kept going, eventually reaching the castle gates, hesitantly walking up the stairs. Finally, he reached the doors. The silence was eerie. He reached out, gripping onto the handle and tugging harshly, a gust of wind bringing aid to him. 

His heel clicked against the tile. Dark Cacao Cookie took a deep breath, stepped forwards again, and looked down at the resting king. So soft. So peaceful. So content.

So…

Cacao hit the floor, blood gushing from the side of his head, a sharp point having been brought down onto his body, knocking him down. Life fell, still unconscious, to his side, as someone else lifted him up. 

Hollyberry Cookie and a now energized Golden Cheese Cookie stood before him, their glaring eyes piercing his soul. 

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Chapter 19 end.

Thank you for reading :]

Chapter Text

Dark Cacao Cookie attempted to at least sit up, only for his upper body to be met with cold, hard metal. He decided that laying down was the best option, for now, as he reached up to his profusely bleeding wound, causing the deep red to stain his glove. The blood on Golden Cheese Cookie’s arrow let him know that that was the cause. But…why? The two looked furious at him, with Hollyberry saying some too-quiet-to-make-out words to Autumn before she went over to Pure Vanilla Cookie, who was still asleep, lifting him up and setting him on a large recliner in the room. Cacao watched silently, not moving an inch otherwise. He didn’t want to be pierced by that arrow again. 

For what seemed like forever, the two glared at him, until finally he spoke up. 

“And what have I done to deserve this? Please enlighten me.” He didn’t mean sarcasm, this was a genuine question. Summer scoffed, and bent down slightly to look at him closer. 

“Entering the barrier when you shouldn’t be here, infiltrating the castle, taking Saint Lily Cookie away, incapacitating Pure Vanilla Cookie when he was trying to help us, need I go on, Death?” She sighed, her arms folded across her back. 

“Actually, you do, seeing as I am guilty of none of those things, except perhaps the first,” Cacao moved to stand up, which only caused Autumn to move so that the arrow was just barely grazing his neck. “Alright, then.”

“Then how is this moment playing out, friend? Pure Vanilla Cookie sent me a letter telling me of his plan to heal her Plane.”

“Of course he didn’t mention me- well, I’m sorry to burst your…moral righteousness bubble, but, I’m on your side. Can’t even access my Death powers,” Dark Cacao Cookie sighed, still keeping a hand over his wound. “Now, please, I need to at least patch this up..”

Their eyebrows furrowed, but Autumn simply glared harder, gripping even tighter onto her arrow. 

“Why should we believe you?”

“Because if I were lying, right now you’d probably be pierced by my sword. But…” He held his hand up, and all that happened was a flicker of white and purple sparks. “I seem to be…weaker now.”

The two stared at him, before finally, Autumn lowered her arrow, and it disappeared with a flash of pale yellow. “Fine. But that doesn’t explain why Saint Lily’s gone.” She muttered.

“I know as much as you do when it comes to that.” Cacao sat up, keeping his hand over the wound, letting small amounts of blood flow. The two were still staring at him wearily. Oh well. He managed to stand, his balance wobbly, wincing as his head throbbed. The two motioned for him to follow, which he did as they began walking somewhere in the castle. Pure Vanilla Cookie was being carried by Hollyberry Cookie, lifted from the recliner, still sound asleep. Honestly, he was glad the man didn’t have to witness this.

He attempted to ask where they were going, but he was ignored. It wasn’t like he wasn’t used to that. Oh well. Cacao went silent as usual, not objecting again. Eventually they reached what looked to be a bedroom, and Hollyberry stopped him from entering. Probably so that he didn’t trail blood inside, after all, the room was mostly white and gold. He sighed, and ended up walking off as the two took their sweet time making sure Vanilla wasn’t dead or something.

Cacao eventually found himself in the gardens, and he retreated to a more covered corner, full of tall bushes and thick vines. He laid on the ground with a sigh, noticing that his injury seemed to be healing itself. Of course. The Force of Life here must be incredibly strong. He sighed, still rubbing his head. It was still throbbing, even without the open wound. Then, he noticed something. The grass was frosting over, curling up slightly. Seemed that even without his other half, the Winter half was taking grand enjoyment in corrupting everything it touched, the beauty shriveling away with the flowers.

A sudden wave of dread washed over Cacao. He couldn’t stay here. Sooner or later he would hurt Life, no matter how accidental. It was in his nature, for Celeste’s sake. He took a deep breath, and ran over to the stone wall shielding the garden from the outside world, quickly scaling it and hopping over before running. Away from the village, away from the castle, away from Pure Vanilla Cookie. Days passed. People likely weren’t even searching for him. He didn’t care. More days passed. He felt more and more exhausted, but also more and more like he was being drawn somewhere, led somewhere by some force. Eventually, he collapsed, reaching forward to find an invisible wall. The barrier. He dragged himself over to the barrier, phasing through it with a sigh. Dark Cacao Cookie pressed his back up against a rock, shutting his eyes and getting ready to sleep, when he heard a sudden chitter. He didn’t recognize which creature it came from, either. Curious, he opened his eyes again, and stood up, slowly walking towards the direction the sound came from. Another chitter, and then a whine, and then a low growl as sudden bright eyes opened near his feet. He jumped back, surprised, before crouching down. What a weird thing. He could tell it’s silhouette showed that it was basically just a medium-sized fluffy ball with eyes, but not much else. It kept growling at him.

“I won’t hurt you..” He whispered, holding his hand out. The creature hesitantly brushed itself against his hand, chittering again. “There we go.” 

Cacao slowly scooted back into the moonlight, the creature following, trying to get a good look. Eventually, he could see it better. It kinda looked like a puppy, though just off enough to not be classified as one. Its back leg seemed to be injured and bleeding, torn as if another animal had attacked it, with a small scar on the side of its head.

“Oh, poor thing..” He muttered, scooping it up into his arms and gently stroking it. It curled up on his lap, shutting its eyes and seemingly sleeping. “I’ll…I’ll find help..tomorrow..” Cacao yawned. He couldn’t do much out here, but he did tear a small piece of fabric from his sleeve, wrapping it around the little creature’s cuts and tying it tight. It was the best he could do. He wasn’t used to healing things, after all. Something was odd, though. He could swear he had seen this tiny thing before, even though none of his memories served him a confirmation. So, so odd…he yawned again, his eyes shutting. Maybe he could…get a closer look..later..

A small group of people surrounded him. Similar to the last dream, they were alien creatures that were vaguely human, but they appeared to be a different species. They seemed to be harassing him, one directly pointing at his chest and yelling something he didn’t understand as shook his head and backed away. Eventually, the angriest one reached down to their pocket and pulled out a small sharp edge similar to a knife, tackling him to the ground and repeatedly stabbing him with it as he fell to the ground, his vision going dark as blue blood spilled out from the injuries.

Dark Cacao Cookie grunted, rubbing the back of his head. Another strange dream…what was going on with that? He looked around, but that animal from last night was nowhere to be found. Oh well. He laid back in the grass, blinking up at the sun, before suddenly yelling out as a harsh pain filled his leg. Again, he sat up, staring at his new injury. 

It was almost exactly like the one he had noticed on the creature, ripped as if claws had torn deeply into his flesh, though not down to the bone. Might as well be close enough, though. Blood bubbled up from the wound, flowing into the grass. Cacao winced, making quiet grunts of pain as he tried to pull it up closer to his chest, only to be met with a shockwave of agony. With that, he decided he was going to lay back down.

Trying to ignore the misery his leg expressed, he noticed he felt..off. Something was different. New yet familiar. As if meeting an old friend again for the first time in years. He slowly, hesitantly, wishing what his thoughts told him was not true, took off his gloves and set his bare hands on the grass nearby.

It died instantly.

His Death half had returned.

He sighed, letting out a slightly louder whimper as his injury almost seemed to be clawing at the rest of his skin. He needed help, and fast, but where would he get it..? He tried to hold out his hand to teleport, but he found he couldn’t use his magic. Not in this weakened state.

Cacao sighed, and began to crawl in a rather strange way, trying not to even graze his leg. Once great king now reduced to whining about a simple injury..? He was used to this, right?

The pain that filled his arms and chest before fading told him that he was. Right. Someone dies, that hurts too. He had almost forgotten about that. Cacao wished he was still the sole God of Winter. Whatever.

Eventually, he saw a house in the distance, the sun beginning to set, and his expression turned to surprise. Perfect! He dragged himself closer and closer…

Before his face slammed into the barrier. 

This time, there was no getting through.

Cacao let out a yell of frustration, the trees shaking as birds flew off, before he…sniffled. He felt even worse now. There was no way that he was crying though, he had done that plenty enough, so he sucked it up and went over to a tree, laying on his side and trying to at least sleep some. The serene wind rustling through the trees eventually lulled him into a dreamless, for once, sleep.

Dark Cacao Cookie slowly awoke again, though he didn’t open his eyes. The pain on his leg was still there…but…it had drastically faded, though it still hurt massively. He laid there for a few moments, hearing something, or someone, shuffle around. Eventually, his eyes opened to find a tan, blonde-haired man in front of him with a flower crown decorating his head.

Oh shit.

He hurriedly sat up, his head whipping around, before he was quickly yet gently pushed back down.

“Shh, shh, lay down, lay down, alright? It’s okay, it’ll be okay,” Pure Vanilla Cookie’s soft, kind voice met his ears. Soft, kind…he hadn’t heard it that way too often before. “It’s easier to heal you when you’re calm…deep breaths..”

No time for deep breaths, Cacao was panicked, his eyes wide and sweat running down his face. He pushed against the man’s gentle touch, trying to stand up. He didn’t know why he was so anxious, but something deep within his mind was egging him on, letting him know that this was right. Vines sprouted from the earth, wrapping themselves around his wrists and ankles, trying and failing to keep him down as he pulled those off of him with ease. It felt like the sky and grass were closing in around him. No, no, he needed out! 

Eventually, though, Life shoved some kind of bitter powder into his mouth, and he felt inclined to swallow it despite the taste. Immediately, he calmed down, and laid back against the soft pile of moss under his head. He felt so tired again…

“I’m sorry, I’m really sorry for that, but..it was necessary. Again, I can’t heal your pain too well when you’re thrashing about, hah.”

Cacao responded with a yawn.

“Well, you’re probably wondering how I found you, right? I woke up recently and I was trying to find some medicinal herbs..” He held up a glass jar that seemed to carry more of that bitter sleeping powder. “..and I happened to hear you yell. So, I came running over, and found you, asleep, with a huge wound on your leg. How’d this…happen?”

Cacao could feel his eyelids becoming heavier and heavier, causing him to not respond. He wanted to sleep…

“I suppose I deserve that. Well, have a good rest, I’ll a-..”

His voice faded. Cacao was asleep already. Life sighed, his eyebrows furrowing slightly. He resumed holding his hands over the leg wound as the flesh continued closing up.

Instead of a strange death dream this time, Dark Cacao Cookie found himself sitting at his throne, though something seemed different. It was…livelier than usual. There were even a few humans who were surprisingly not dead, speaking with the spirits, who acted kinder, livelier than usual. The entire room was decorated with white, gold, gray and black. He stood, taking a small step forwards, before jolting as someone’s warm embrace came from beside him. Before he could turn his head, his eyes opened.

Cacao lifted his head with a grunt, rubbing the back of his neck. He still felt groggy, his mind spinning with vertigo. What was in that powder? He knew that if Life were to become some kind of murderer…it’d probably be extremely easy. 

Oh well. 

He was still outside, seeing as he couldn’t go within the barrier. There was some kind of cloth covering most of his body. As his blurry vision cleared, he realized what it was. Pure Vanilla Cookie’s cape. Huh. He studied it further. Pale yellow, with some kind of white insignia showing roses and thorns. Cacao recognized it. He had seen it quite commonly around the Plane of Spring. Part of him wanted to know what it meant, but the rest of his mind told him that he needed to find out the situation.

He tried to stand, but his leg instantly let him know that wasn’t an option with a sudden influx of pain. Even with Vanilla’s healing, it was still sore, so he resorted to just sitting there, noticing his own cape nearby. He wrapped it around himself, folding Vanilla’s and setting it on the grass. When his fingers grazed the tips of the grass, though, it shriveled up and died. Right. He had forgotten about that.

He lifted a section of his hair, and stared at it. Some of the white had been replaced by a black streak, the streak that had disappeared when Death separated from him. So it really was back…

That…that creature.

The fact that the wound had been inflicted upon him, exactly as it was…had his Death half returned to him? Or, rather, had his Death half called him to her? After all, he did feel like he was being pulled to this place…not to mention how even though he had never seen her before, she did feel familiar.

An extreme pain in his head distracted him from his thoughts until it faded. Someone had died. Great, great, great, great! Cacao pulled at his hair, inflicting his stresses upon it. So many things were happening, and he felt as though none of them were good. Footsteps pulled him away from his thoughts again, and he turned his head in that direction, finding Pure Vanilla Cookie sitting next to him. Cacao jolted.

“My apologies for alerting you,” Vanilla chuckled, picking up his folded cape and dusting the grass and dirt off of it. “It’s nice to see you awake. You slept for a full day…perhaps I gave you too much hinaki powder.”

The hinaki flower…a plant known for being able to knock pretty much anyone out within minutes. He had seen it commonly used in medicine. Cacao sighed, and just shrugged, looking away from the other.

“I think my Death half is back…” He muttered, fidgeting slightly.

“Oh, I see.” Life seemed slightly surprised, but it was as if he expected this. Cacao’s gut suddenly dropped as a hole filled his stomach.

“Do you..not like me anymore..?” He whispered, his voice rushed.

“Of course I still like you, Cao. I’ve..I’ve realized that I’ve treated you much too harshly for something you clearly cannot control..” Vanilla sighed, one of his hands pinching the bridge of his nose. “..so don’t worry.”

“Wh- really?”

Pure Vanilla Cookie’s gaze softened further. Great, he was now one of the subjects of that sickeningly sweet kindness of his. Though...it didn’t seem all that bad, to be honest…

“Yes, really.”

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Chapter 20 end.

Thank you for reading :]

Chapter Text

Dark Cacao Cookie opened his eyes with a sigh. Ever since Death had returned from whatever she had been doing, he hadn’t had any of those weird dreams anymore. In fact, he hadn’t dreamt at all. Ah well, he hopped down from his tree branch, shuddering slightly when his legs hit the ground. One of them still gave a little bit of pain, but it faded quickly and was manageable. The scar it left was gigantic, though it blended in amongst the many decorating his rough skin.

Ever since his other half had returned, he had been living in the forest outside the Planes, mainly sleeping in trees. He dared not return to his kingdom yet, too terrified to see their reactions, though he dared not admit that to himself, and he couldn’t go past the Barrier either. It was created mainly to stop him, after all.

Death also feared the Darkness. What if the Goddess of Shadow returned? He had never broken the deal after all, just ran away…

A snapping of a twig distracted him from his thoughts. Cacao quickly climbed back up the tree, his brows furrowed. He couldn’t summon his sword to defend himself yet, it was as if that part of his power was blocked off. Magic was building up there like a blocked water pipe, trying to find its way through, but it never released. He wondered why. Cacao usually just ended up hiding in the trees when someone passed by, staring down at them just in case it was…

His eyes locked upon the one walking by, and he smiled slightly, hopping down from his branch to greet them.

Just in case it was Pure Vanilla Cookie.

“Ah, there you are..” Life sang, his voice similar to the wind chimes that many in the kingdom hung outside. “You go deeper and deeper here every day, someday I’m gonna get lost and it’s gonna be all your fault!” He chuckled, causing Death’s small smile to grow slightly.

“I’m just concerned, you know?” His smile then faded, a sigh escaping his lips. “Don’t want anyone finding me…I don’t want to hurt anyone on accident. The day before yesterday, I was laying on a tree when I accidentally touched it with my bare hand, and…well, I fell out after it crumbled, aha,” Dark Cacao Cookie glanced away, grimacing slightly with a click of his tongue. “A-anyways, how have things been?”

“You can’t control that, it’s alright,” Vanilla sat in the grass, flowers sprouting under his hands, causing Cacao to sit down as well, instead combing his fingers through his hair. “I’ve been good. Golden Cheese Cookie has been feeling better and better, and I’m sure we’ll find Saint Lily Cookie soon, and once you’re able to use all your magic, then maybe we can use the spell again.”

“But…does anyone remember it?” Death rubbed the back of his neck.

“Well- we’re not sure, ahaha,” Vanilla sighed, looking away. “I’m sure we can find someone who does…back then no one kept records and all…and our memory hasn’t served us well enough, including you I presume.”

Cacao just nodded, his expression showing remorse. Life set a gentle hand on his shoulder, before hugging him. Cacao’s expression shifted to surprise, but he didn’t pull away, hesitantly hugging back instead. Did he deserve this? He wasn’t sure.

“Don’t worry about not knowing, alright? We’ll figure it out, I promise.” Pure Vanilla Cookie eventually pulled away, looking into Cacao’s eyes with that smile he always seemed to be wearing on his delicate face.

“I…thanks,” Dark Cacao Cookie muttered, fidgeting with his hands slightly before hopping up onto his feet. “You say you don’t have much time here, no?” He held his hand out.

“Oh- oh, yes, I should be going. Sorry, I really don’t have much free time…but do you have anything else to say?” Life took his hand and used it to pull himself up, dusting off his robes.

“I…I do. I think I know where Saint Lily is,” He nodded. Vanilla’s eyes went wide, and he took a small step forwards, his expression begging Death to go on. “Remember…remember Sugarteara..?”

“Sugarteara? That place sank ages ago!” Pure Vanilla Cookie’s eyebrows raised. “Don’t tell me…”

“They pulled it back up. Lobster Cookie, that’s what he calls himself, the God of tides. Says Hermit Crab’s dead, so he took his place. They use it as a base now..that was where you went when you were trapped,” Cacao sighed. “If she’s anywhere, it’s likely there.”

“Th…thank you, Cao, I…” Vanilla seemed flustered in a way. “..thank you.”

“ ‘Course.” He smiled softly.

“Alright, I really have to get going, but I’ll also try to figure out where Sugarteara is…probably on some old maps. Thank you..”

“You said that already.” Death chuckled, waving as Life rushed off. He sighed when the man was out of view, climbing back up his tree after he had slipped his gloves on. They were new and rather clean, though still built for this environment. Pure Vanilla Cookie had noticed his old ones were soaked in blood from his wounds, and gotten them for him. Cacao was surprised the man was so kind, but he supposed it was in his nature.

He looked out over the rising sun, leaning against the tree trunk and shutting his eyes to listen closely to the sounds of wind whistling through the trees and bird chirping from branches high above, until suddenly, the birds went silent, as if some kind of predator was near. Dark Cacao Cookie opened his eyes again and glanced around as shadows trailed up from the ground and surrounded him.

Oh…oh no.

He jumped off of the tree branch and began running deeper into the forest, trying to get away, but the shadows snaked behind him, faster and faster. Finally a figure formed from the darkness and tripped him, chuckling to herself as he hit the dirt.

Pomegranate Cookie.

“What is it now? I thought you were done with me. Found me useless.” He hissed, pushing himself up slightly.

“I was, at least when Death had split from you. You were indeed useless then. Now, though, she has returned to her resting place. After all, one tends to rest after being injured…it is too bad that is what I had to resort to to lead her back.”

“You…you’re the one who hurt her?” Cacao fully pushed himself into a stand, his eyebrows furrowed as he took a step back. “You’re a fool! Harming the forces that help this world survive, have you no shame?!”

He tried to summon his sword, but nothing happened. The pressure built further, the magic buildup almost being painful at this point.

“I don’t. She didn’t die, so why are you so upset?”

“You- Wha- How-” Cacao couldn’t even put his frustration into words. Eventually, the Goddess just shushed him. Shadows rose from the ground, surrounding the two in darkness, similar to when they first met after those ten thousand years.

“Be careful about what you say, Death…” She smiled that sickening smile as she held her mirror out. It had a horrid crimson glow. “...Or else I may have to use..excessive force. And you don’t want that, do you? Look, you already know you can’t escape..”

She was right. He couldn’t. He had made a deal with the devil and this was his recompense. Dark Cacao Cookie fell onto his knees, tears forming in his eyes.

“Please-”

“Don’t worry, I won’t bring you back there,” She interrupted. “Not in this state, to be clear. We just need to make some…changes. I’m sure you won’t mind.”

“No! You can’t!” Dark Cacao Cookie begged, clasping his hands together. Tears started to stream down his face. “Please! I don’t want to be like h-”

A hand of shadow gripped around Death’s neck, choking him, cutting off his speech. He tried to say something, but all that came out were garbled noises, devoid of any meaning. The world faded to black, the last thing he saw before going unconscious being Pomegranate’s wide grin.

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Chapter 21 end.

Thank you for reading :]

Chapter Text

hello friends!

as you might've seen on awnfl, i'm doing a q&a!

you can ask as many questions as you want, about whatever you want

the only rules are

1. nothing nsfw, i am a minor

2. nothing that can be considered me spoiling the plot, for example, dont ask how this fic will end bc thats hushhush

either reply here or on awnfl, and eventually i'll just copy and paste all the questions into a different awnfl chapter

remember to drink water!

Chapter Text

Dark Cacao Cookie opened his eyes, finding himself in the same room he had been in ages ago. However, changes had been made. The window that he had escaped from was now sealed up with rock, leaving a noticeable outline where the wall used to end, and his armor that was here before was now gone. The room was completely empty, leaving the most interesting things to stare at being the door that did not have a handle on the inside and the former window. He found himself uncaring, though, and just standing up, going over to the door and knocking.

The twins, Pawn White Cookie and Pawn Black Cookie, greeted him soon after, giggling to themselves and taking him upstairs. It was there where he met Pomegranate Cookie’s eyes. She smiled at him as he collapsed into a bow, one that was as automated as breathing or blinking. He didn’t have control over it, but he found himself uncaring.

Eventually she got tired of Cacao’s bowing, and sighed to herself, forcibly and harshly pulling him into a stand, once again dragging him somewhere. He found himself uncaring about the pain. Pomegranate eventually stopped at an even larger and grander room, with someone curled up on the floor, surrounded by red crystals and some kind of black fluid. While her body had changed slightly, and only slightly, it was still easy to recognize her. 

Saint Lily Cookie.

He found himself unc-

For a moment, Cacao felt an intense, extreme anxiety, as if he was trapped somewhere with no escape. A shocked expression flickered on his face for just a single second, his eyebrows slightly raised and his eyes wide, before it immediately returned to unfeeling and stoic.

“Isn’t it grand, Death?” Pome chuckled to herself.

“Yes, miss.” Death replied, his voice monotone and deadpan, the words not even passing through his thoughts before he said them.

“I’m surprised I didn’t do this earlier. It’s so much easier to deal with you now,” She frowned, fiddling with her mirror. “But I do feel rather tired. Death, you go train with Lobster Cookie. Twins, go do whatever.” She walked away, yawning.

Dark Cacao Cookie stood up against his will, and began walking…somewhere. He wasn’t sure where he was going, but he presumed it was to Lobster Cookie.

He found himself…uncaring.

Pure Vanilla Cookie paced around his room, his heels clicking against the hard tile, tugging at some of the pale golden strands that fell in front of his worried face. His cape trailed behind him, reflecting off of the sunlight coming from the large windows. He had been searching the forest for two days and two nights with Golden Cheese Cookie and Hollyberry Cookie, calling his name, and they still had not found Dark Cacao Cookie. They must’ve covered every square foot of the forest, as it was rather small compared to the Planes, and yet he still had not shown even a hint of his presence. No dead trees or animals as a trail, no frost or snow, nothing. It was as if he had suddenly vanished off the face of Earthbread. 

Where in Celeste had he gone?! Surely not far, he hadn’t even been able to teleport as of late!

He had gotten M to do a vision, but none of them showed his whereabouts. In fact, they were the same as usual, with the world falling apart and everything ending with the splitting of the Primordial. Life kept pacing, tugging harder on his hair. Some strands had ripped out, but he cared not for the pain. He only cared for Cacao.

Life was startled by a sudden knock at the door. He quickly glided over to it, so light on his feet that they were just about silent, and almost ripped open the door, staring at the person. M.

“H-hey, you alright??” M asked, concern in his voice.

“No. No, nononono, I’m not! Where is he? First Saint Lily, now him, I..”

M offered a hug, which he quickly took.

“It’ll be okay, I think..” He sighed. “The best thing to do is stay calm. Didn’t you say he told you where Saint Lily was? Perhaps we can at least get her back, no? And maybe he’s there too. Makes sense, no doubt!” He smiled that large grin of his, one of his teeth near the back of his mouth missing.

“I..I guess…but he can’t teleport, especially not across seas..” Vanilla sighed, pulling away and rubbing his temples. “Yeah, you’re right..gotta think straight. Obviously he can’t be within the barrier, and he’s likely not in the Plane of Autumn. That leaves…his Plane, and Sugarteara. Celeste knows how he got to either in a couple days.”

Life walked over to his bookshelf, and idly ran his fingers along the spines, looking for a certain scroll. Eventually, he pulled out a large, dusty one from a larger, lower section of the shelf, and spread it out on his desk. The colors and print were faded, looking to be some kind of watercolor, but still slightly legible. M walked over, folding his arms across his chest, eventually touching the coarse paper. This was surely many, many, many years old by the looks of it, and yet, Life had kept it in such good condition.

“Well?”

Pure Vanilla Cookie stared closely off the edge of the Plane of Winter.

“This thing is so inaccurate, but I suppose back then humans didn’t have as good of tools to search with. It’s a wonderful thing I keep all these, hah! Humans are so interesting, in my opinion.”

One look around the room, and M realized how many human artifacts were within, including many, many more maps, large and small, hung on the wall. It was…slightly offputting.

“...yeah, I could tell. Did you find it ye-”

“Here it is!” Vanilla interrupted, pointing at a larger island that had a few smaller clusters of islands around it. “Sugarteara. Sunk…8,381 years ago.”

“How do you remember that??” M’s eyebrow raised, but he simply smiled. “Well, it doesn't matter. Perhaps we should take the others with us, just in case?”

“Us..?” Vanilla whispered, before sighing. “M, I know you love to help, hell, it’s half your purpose, but I…I just don’t know if you can come. This could be dangerous. Very dangerous. You don’t know because you had just been born, but the amount of Death that occured when we even attempted to stop Her was to the point that the boost in Cacao’s power was enough to turn quite a few battles in our favor. Why, I–”

M sighed, pressing a finger to Vanilla’s lips, causing him to be quiet.

“Alright, I get it, I can’t go.”

“I’m sorry, friend. Perhaps you should go have fun with your friends instead.”

“I don’t really…have any, outside Cao..” M glanced away, grimacing slightly.

“What about Shortbread Cookie? They’re nice, aren’t they?”

“Yeah but…they’re more like a grandparent than anything, not a friend.” He shrugged.

Life sighed. “Alright, well, just keep watch over the castle. Make sure nothing bad happens. If it comes to it, though…”

He grabbed a piece of paper and his feather, brushing the map aside slightly to write something down. It was a symbol. The same symbol M had noticed in the garden a while ago. “..can’t believe-..oh well. If something horrible happens, as in the both of our Planes are completely annihilated kind of horrible, go to this symbol, in the back of the garden. Set your hand on it, jump down the hole, and go to the end of the tunnel. Then, you’ll give someone this.”

He held his hands out, and a small origami butterfly appeared in his hands with the same symbol inscribed on its wings. He gently set it in M’s palm. The other’s eyebrows were furrowed.

“You’ll learn all you need to know after that. Stay safe, alright?”

M just nodded, not even managing to reply out of his confusion. All he managed to do was wave slightly as the click of Life’s heels got fainter and fainter.

Once he was alone, M sighed, and set the butterfly on the desk, going off to the library.

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Chapter 23 end.

Thank you for reading :]

Chapter Text

the q & a has been posted as chapter 45 to awnfl!

Chapter Text

Pure Vanilla Cookie hesitantly stepped onto the strangely red colored grass, Golden Cheese Cookie floating behind him and Hollyberry Cookie already slightly ahead. He sighed, and continued walking, a massive building coming into view.

“Guys, do you think that’s where they’re at?” Autumn mumbled sarcastically from behind, causing Hollyberry to chortle.

“No time for jokes..” Vanilla chuckled, before sighing. “We gotta stay quiet. GC, can you use your conceal spell yet?”

She held her hand out, but all that happened was a small puff of smoke. “Nope. I think it’s either because I’m still getting used to a more…‘Springy’ Autumn, or perhaps I’m just still…weak. Urgh.” 

“Then we’ll have to just…stay away from others. Careful, though. I’m sure they’ll be able to sense us eventually.”

“Especially Pomegranate Cookie, she can do some weird shadow shit.” Hollyberry shuddered, continuing to walk forwards as quietly as possible. Long ago, the Goddess had used a shadow to incapacitate her. It was…rather horrifying, to be honest.

“Right, right,” Golden Cheese Cookie landed on the ground, folding her wings. Her wingbeats shook the trees, which was, predictably, rather noticeable. “Vee, you said you’d been here before? When you disappeared for a little while?”

“Yes, but..I never went outside of that place, and even within I didn’t go too far before summoning my staff and teleporting away.” He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. The building, while it resembled a castle, was more like a tower, resembling cakes stacked atop each other. There was a sickening aura about the place that felt like pure negativity in a physical form. Not to mention the heavy scent of iron, blood . The tower was so tall and large that it blocked the sun.

“I have an idea. We split up, and if something goes wrong, we’ll uh…” Hollyberry motioned to her soul jam, and it glowed brightly for a moment, causing the other two’s to glow brightly for a short time as well. “Do that. Pulse of magic? I’m not sure what to really..”

“You send some magic into it and it glows. So you want us to signal-” 

“Yep!” Summer interrupted Autumn, who just sighed, rubbing her temples.

“Alright, then.”

The three went in separate directions, with Golden Cheese Cookie mainly patrolling the outside as she was still rather weak, the other two managing to find a way inside through a door hidden in the ground, into a basement-type room, though it was empty and dark. They nodded at each other, before going up the stairs to the main building, splitting up at the first intersection.

Life wandered around quietly, his ears sharp for any kind of noise. This area of the castle was incredibly silent, lucky for him. For a while, it stayed that way, the only sounds being from the clicking of his heels against the tile and the gentle sound of his staff hitting the floor…so, when a sudden shhhhing rang out, he jolted, freezing up as his eyes flicked to that direction.

The hallway was dark, but not as much as the basement, seeing as there was one small lantern hanging off the wall, burning with a bright red flame. Vanilla’s staff disappeared as he slowly and quietly made his way over, rather light on his feet. He knew he shouldn’t be actively going towards others, but he was curious.

Life kept getting closer and closer, the sound continuing on occasion, until he finally encountered a door that wasn’t shut, instead slightly ajar. He peeked inside.

Within the room there was what seemed to be a fireplace, though the fire itself had long turned to ash a few amber specks remained, still giving light. There was a dark, tile floor, a bed that seemed to just be a mattress in all honesty, and finally, a somewhat larger-than-usual chair, with a dark figure bent down as they sat in it. From the looks of it, though he could hardly tell, only being able to go off of the sheen of metal and hair from the orange glow of the fireplace, the figure was armored, and was sharpening a lengthy black sword that looked like an arrow, with it in one hand and a whetstone in the other. Their long, black hair covered most of their face and chest.

Pure Vanilla Cookie squinted, trying to figure out more. Spikes on their head looked to be a crown of some kind. The only ruler Life had seen with a crown similar to that was Dark Cacao Cookie, but his were arched points instead of rhombuses, and besides, it was purplish white, not black. The two resembled each other, at least a little, but he hadn’t seen enough of their face to make a connection.

Life leaned further against the door, the figure now still, slowly moving their sword back to the whetstone. They didn’t strike, though. Silence, for maybe a minute or two, until the loud shhhing caused Vanilla to flinch. He did a reflexive attempt at pushing himself back, instead thrusting the door forwards and falling to the ground. 

The figure stood, dropping their whetstone on the ground, causing a loud clunk of rock against rock. They tilted Life’s chin up with the end of their blade, forcing him to look up at them, before their eyebrows furrowed slightly.

That face…

He knew that expression, that face, though he had only seen it once, ten thousand years ago.

His staff’s neck grinded against the other’s sword, threatening to break before it quickly healed itself. It was a tree branch, after all. Eventually, he managed to hop back, his expression a mixture of disgust and terror.

“This isn't you! What has she done to you, Death!?” He yelled at the man, who simply stared back, his face blank. “You’re a horrid creature, but you still fought alongside us!”

“Horrid..?” He- no, she whispered, her eyebrows furrowing ever so slightly.

Pure Vanilla Cookie stared at Death, and she stared back.

Life stared into the void, and she stared back, until her blade suddenly met his neck.

He quickly pulled away, holding one of his hands up in self defense, the other being used to balance himself.

“Why are you here?” The dead, monotone voice echoed quietly through the room, the question more like a statement.

“What has she…done to you, Cacao..?” Life whispered, his hand moving to cover his mouth in shock, before trailing down to the scar that seemed to phase through most of his lower neck.

He was so different. So…wrong. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be!

His hair pure black, his sword’s gem crimson red as it was a while ago. Death had overtaken Winter once more, the consequences of which were detrimental the last time it had occurred. It took Cacao so, so long to even be able to breathe again. After all, breathing was what living things did. Death was not alive, it was the polar opposite of course.

She continued staring at him, before she frowned, her grip on the sword becoming tighter. She didn’t give a response to his question.

The Force of Death and the Force of Life were seperate beings to their Gods. They could live alone, while the others were simply concepts. Life had not been awakened ever since Pure Vanilla Cookie opened his eyes. Life was calm, he was peaceful, but Death? She was chaotic and strange and could occur at any time without warning, without reason, without anything. Life was predictable, in one way or another. So, the two balanced themselves naturally. His reign was order, hers was unpredictable. So, in that unpredictability, of course she would show herself. It was in her nature. What was not in her nature…was this.

Threatening the Balance.

Her sword again moved to his neck.

“Answer.” Vanilla winced slightly.

“She has done nothing. I am justified.” She finally replied.

“Cacao-”

“Who?”

“...Death, this is not justified. If you kill me, the Balance will not be a..balance..anymore.”

“I’m killing you, not Life.”

He blinked.

“I am a separate being, so is he.”

“Perhaps, but-”

“So killing you has no consequence. It sets him free, and we shall live on together.”

Pure Vanilla Cookie scooted back slightly. Death stepped forwards to fill that gap. Suddenly, Vanilla blinked, realizing something.

Live on together???

“Death…do you...love him?” His eyebrows furrowed.

“I do not feel love. Nor any emotion.”

“You love him,” Despite the situation, he couldn’t help but smile. “That’s rather cute.”

She frowned again, her blade coming closer to his neck to the point where the edge of it grazed his skin.

“Or- or not-” His smile turned back into a wince.

“Silence. She told me that before I could kill you, I would have to bring you to her. Say goodnight.”

Tendrils burst from the stony ground, rapidly wrapping themselves around him. Before he had a chance to react, he had already been covered with the darkness, falling unconscious seconds later.

----------------------------------

Chapter 25 end.

Thank you for reading :]

Chapter Text

The tendrils retreated, and Pure Vanilla Cookie awakened, squinting slightly as the rather dim light hit his eyes. He blinked, and sat up, staring up at the woman that was nearby, a few feet away.

Goddess of Shadow, Pomegranate Cookie.

“Why, this is quite the sight.” She smirked, flipping the mirror around in her hands. “The God of Life, bowing down to me.”

“I’m not bowing to you. I’m exhausted,” He replied, an eyebrow raised. “What do you want from me?”

Pomegranate chuckled. “Are you really that much of an idiot?” Suddenly, she appeared in front of him, gripping onto his soul jam and tugging it forward, causing him to grunt as his collar choked him. “What a…neat object.” She let go, causing him to collapse once again.

“Back off, or I’ll...” He tried to summon his staff, before realizing that his magic wasn’t working.

“Or you’ll..what?” She laughed again. “Uh oh, can’t use your magic? What a shame..” 

Shadows surrounded them, causing the room to go dark. Life was only able to see the gentle glow of Pomegranate Cookie’s red crystals that decorated her body, and her bright red eyes. He growled, trying to stand up, only for black arms to reach out and drag him back down.

“Ah-ah, you’re not going anywhere,” She walked over to him as he struggled, again taking his soul jam in her hands and gripping it tightly. A sudden pain filled Vanilla, and he winced, tightly balling his hands into fists. “Oh, what a pretty, pretty thing. It’s a shame it belongs to someone like you. Don’t worry, I’ll add it to my collection..”

She held out her hand, and two soul jams appeared in her palm. A red compass star and an almost black succulent. Some small parts of it remained green.

Dark Cacao and Saint Lily…

“You! What did you do to them?!” Vanilla felt tears prickling at his eyes.

“You’ve already met Death…as for Darkness, she’s still a work in progress, but she’ll give up soon enough. She’s always been…a bit of a misfit. But Death? Why, her vessel gave up almost instantly! It was rather hilarious how quickly she took over.”

“Dark Cacao Cookie is not just a vessel! Saint Lily is not a misfit!” Tears started streaming down Pure Vanilla Cookie’s face. “Stop what you’re doing! Please..!”

She just shook her head, before ripping the soul jam from his chest, gripping onto it with her sharp, sharp nails. Vanilla cried out in pain, before the soul jam began turning a horrid dark, dark purple that began to spread across the gem.

Once again, he fell unconscious.

The small creature pawed at the one laying in the grass, it’s blood spilling out and staining the plants a deep blue. It whimpered, and kept pawing at it, trying to wake it up. 

But it didn’t open its eyes, two holes square in its forehead. 

The alive creature began to howl loudly, curling up next to the deceased one.

She cried out, gripping onto her love’s chest tightly. He had collapsed to the floor.

A heart attack. He was dead soon after he hit the ground.

His skin was cold and hers was warm. It didn’t make a difference.

She kept sobbing.

Wrong place, wrong time. That was what the newspaper said. Just a bad encounter with a gang of some sorts.

24 stab wounds. 24 years old. 

He gripped the paper tightly, before tearing it into pieces, throwing it on the ground in his rage.

With heavy breaths, he stood up, grabbing the picture frame atop the fireplace, staring at the two happy people within, captured at a moment when they were both alive.

Now, one is gone.

Over and over.

Again and again.

Every time they loved each other, he died.

The other had grown tired of it.

“The universes are against us.”

That’s what he told himself.

“Against our love.”

“Sick joke, but no one’s laughing.”

“This time…this time I’ll hate him.”

“I’ll hate him so much, then maybe he can survive.”

“Even if we never love each other again…”

“Maybe he can live longer this time.”

For eons, he waited, and waited, and waited.

Until finally, the Celestials once again used his soul. Both their souls.

But this time…it was different.

He was a God.

They were both Gods.

Still, he kept his oath. He knew that if he messed up, once again, his love would perish.

And yet…

Once again, he fell in love.

It’s hard to separate those who have gotten so close.

Life finally awakened, moving over to Pure Vanilla Cookie and gently hugging him. He was still asleep. Eventually, though, he opened his eyes, and looked up, squinting at the bright light. 

“Life..?”

He nodded.

Vanilla pulled away, covering his face with his hands.

“Why are you..?”

“It was going to happen eventually,” His calming voice replied. “I am here to help. Not to mention that just like you, I love her as well.”

“No- no! I don’t love Death!”

“Then why do you chase her so valiantly?”

“I…I love the one who she uses as a vessel, similar to how you use me as one..”

“Ah, I understand.”

Life held out his hand, and set it on Vanilla’s chest, drawing out a bright pale yellow orb. Strangely though, there was a hint of blue that orbited around it like a planet’s satellite. Stranger still was that there was a similarly sized hole in his own soul.

“Oh..oh my. You are so close that you have become a literal part of each other, hehe!” Life chuckled, the orb disappearing.

“What do you mean?”

“Part of his soul is attached to yours, part of your soul is attached to his. This is rather rare, you must love each other a lot, no?”

Vanilla hesitantly nodded.

“I do, but..I promised to never love him again…I…every time I do, he dies before we can really..form a family together..”

“I see. So that is why you remember and he does not. He does not realize that he loves you as much as you love him. And there is a lot of love, no doubt!”

“So what do I…do? I’m being corrupted, Death has already taken him over..” Pure Vanilla Cookie held out his hand. A patch of black that felt like ash had begun spreading across it.

“Let me take over. Actually, scratch that. Let us share the host instead. I’ll be able to convince my love to back down, and you shall be able to save yours.”

“Oh…do you think that’ll work?”

Life nodded, a soft smile on his face, taking Pure Vanilla Cookie’s corrupted hand and kissing the palm. The ashy blackness returned to normal. He released it.

“I believe so, but I will not force you to take this deal. Once we share the host, you might become overwhelmed. A vessel is not meant to be split like this, but your Spring is very important.”

Vanilla nodded, a determined expression on his face.

“Shall we?” Life held his hand out.

“We shall.” Pure Vanilla Cookie shook his hand.

----------------------------------

Chapter 26 end.

Thank you for reading :]

Chapter Text

hello friends! i know we just left off on a very exciting chapter, but i’ve come to ask you (yes, YOU!!!!!) about something that i think might aid the reading experience 

so it’s likely some of y’all know about my art book that i occasionally post on, but i was thinking…

what if i made art specifically for chapters of these stories?

stuff from one or two scenes that might help y’all visualize the world, or at least give you a better understanding of the visuals. i try my best to describe stuff, but hey, without a beta ((we die like dark cacao in every universe)) it’s harder for me to do so, since i already know what is going on. i have a very vivid imagination, hehe! 

this chapter will also be released onto awnfl, just to get some more reach 

now, this comes with pros and cons

pros!

i think i’ll have fun with this

again, aids y’all with character designs and scenes, and plus, some yummy visuals to munch on

chapters might actually get longer! with more time to roll them out, i might add content, like 2k or 3k wpc, though don’t take this as a promise

cons!

this might cause chapters to come later, as in hours-days after they finish. i spend quite a while on my art

b-b-b-burnout might occur? but i can’t predict what will and won’t crop it up

important to note is that not all chapters will have art to go with them

instead of being at the top or bottom of the chapter, while that scene is going on i’ll hyperlink it into the sentence that fits best with the content, that way it’s not a spoiler and you haven’t forgotten too much abt that scene by the end

also, TO THE ARTISTS WHO READ THIS FIC!!!!

someone, ecastily, asked in my q&a if they could make fanart. please do! (don’t feel forced!! ❤️)

this has caused me to come up with an idea

if someone draws a scene from a fic and comments something like an imgur or postimg or tumblr post or something that doesn’t expire down in that chapter, with permission of course, i may also put that artwork into the ending notes or hyperlink it into the story! (these will have credit too, right next to where i put them. i’m not a butt.)

so, let me know in the comments of this or awnfl’s post if you think i should make art for some of the chapters to come, and i’ll tally the results…eventually. 

stay safe!

-marbs

Chapter Text

Pure Vanilla Cookie opened his eyes, and looked around. This room was different. It looked similar to Death’s room, the one he had met her in earlier, but there wasn’t a fire in the fireplace at all. He sat up from the floor, before hissing as his head throbbed with pain.

I apologize. It is a side effect.

The words appeared in his mind with a familiar voice. Life, he assumed.

Right, that’s alright. Vanilla thought in reply.

He sighed, and held his hands out, about to push himself into a stand, before blinking as he stared at them. They were a very light yellow, glowing slightly, spreading up to his elbows like gloves. The skin was smooth to the touch. It reminded him of Life, who’s entire body looked like that, but as he looked over the rest of his body, it was more like vitiligo, patches of pale yellow and deep tan across his body. It was strange but oddly familiar. The headache was starting to fade too.

Vanilla moved over to the bed, and sat down with a sigh, feeling his chest. His soul jam was gone, as he expected it to be. He presumed Pomegranate Cookie still had it. That was a problem. If she were to break it, his soul would be released and he would not be able to access this world anymore. However, that would also leave his body unable to be used. He presumed that was why she hadn’t shattered Dark Cacao Cookie’s and Saint Lily Cookie’s. Because she was still using them as hosts for her own schemes.

If she breaks your soul jam, then I too will be released. The entire world would instantly all die, and obviously, no one would want that.

I see. Just a question..what if both mine and Cacao’s were to break..??

Paradox. The whole universe would collapse in on itself.

Celeste.

Right?

He sighed again, fiddling with his hair. It was longer now, probably also due to the merge. Honestly, he kinda liked it like this, but there was no time to focus on hair. Now was the time to focus on the current situation. Pomegranate likely thought he had been corrupted, but since he hadn’t, she would surely notice soon. After all, his soul felt stronger than usual, which likely reflected onto his soul jam.

Pure Vanilla Cookie hesitantly went to the door, summoning his staff and sliding it under the crack at the bottom to look around a little. He didn’t see anyone outside, so he slipped out, and began walking, as silent as possible. Eerily quiet all around, until suddenly, Life called out to him. 

To your left, hide!

He obeyed, hiding inside of a room as quiet footsteps passed by.

God of Poison. I doubt they would be able to do too much, but just in case they were to tell someone…

Of course. Thank you.

After a few minutes, Vanilla exited the room, and continued walking. A powerful aura suddenly hit him, almost causing him to fall down, but he caught himself, managing to trudge forwards. Eventually he got used to it.

Is that Saint Lily Cookie? It feels a lot like darkness. I’ve never felt such a strong aura before…

Another one of my powers. She must be nearby. This place is like a maze.

Tell me about it.

But I just did. Ah well. This place is-

It’s a human expression. Just- don’t worry about it. He sighed.

Oh.

Vanilla heard laughing in his mind. He chuckled quietly, before continuing to walk, leaning against his staff. The aura became stronger and stronger, and finally, he entered a room, his eyes widening as they landed upon the person standing in the center, turned away from him. She was wearing a long black and red dress that turned into shadows that floated off of the floor like fog as it went on. Her hair was still white, but instead of having green leaves and streaks, they were now a crimson red. Horns sprouted from her head, curling around themselves downwards like a headdress. 

She looked up, before turning her head, squinting at Pure Vanilla Cookie, who’s expression was pure shock, his hand covering his mouth. Silence went on for a few moments.

“S-..Saint Lily Cookie? What…what happened to you..?” Vanilla stuttered, lowering his hand slightly. In the war, 10 thousand years ago, she had turned into her \, but…she had never woken up until they changed her back. What had the dark ones done differently?

“Do not call me by that name,” Her voice was the same, but different. More sinister. She fully turned around, and glared at him, gripping her staff, which resembled a candy cane now, her soul jam on the end of it. The succulent, like before, was black, but now had patches of blood red covering it as well. “I am the Goddess of True Darkness, Dark Enchantress Cookie.”

Vanilla’s heart dropped down into his stomach.

“But- but this isn’t you!” Pure Vanilla Cookie cried, the light parts of his skin, Life’s influence, flickering slightly. Tears started to flow from his eyes. “Please, Lily, just come back to me..!”

“Not another word.” She held her hand out, and suddenly, a crimson diamond-shaped gem appeared in front of it, before a humanoid figure formed out from it, gathering details as it grew. Dark Cacao Cookie, or Death, more rather, considering her traits were now a lot more feminine, the scarlet gem embedded into her chest. She landed on one knee, before looking up, her cherry-colored eyes focusing on Vanilla, before her eyebrows furrowed with confusion.

“Is that..-”

“Shut up.” Dark Enchantress interrupted, before motioning to Vanilla. Death nodded, standing up and summoning her sword. The handle was covered in thorns. As she gripped it, blood flowed from her gloves, but she didn’t even twitch, beginning to run forwards towards Pure Vanilla Cookie, towards Life, ready to swing.

Life took over, quickly jumping out of the way as Vanilla was pushed into the mind in Life’s place. It was as if he was watching a movie in a theater, the projection being what was going on outside.

I’m sorry. This is my battle.

I understand, Life.

Life summoned his staff, landing on the wall as if gravity had turned to the side, but only for him. He ran along it, Death following, before jumping away once more as she swung her sword into the wall. This repeated for a rather long time, as in, a few minutes, Death swinging and him jumping all around to dodge. He didn’t even attempt to attack her, with Enchantress watching from afar.

“You’ve always been such a wimp.” She hissed, once again swinging and missing.

“I refuse to harm you, my love. Please, you know you do not like this.”

“Shut it! I hate you!” She once again swung, but it didn’t even come close to Life, instead creating a large crack in the ground. Pomegranate Cookie appeared from the shadows, smiling just a tad.

“My, this is intriguing.”

Soon, the God of Necromancy arrived, tightly gripping onto the God of Poison’s wrist.

“What is going on here?!” Licorice Cookie stepped away, pressing his back against the wall. Poison Mushroom Cookie seemed to be asleep.

“Death versus Life. Isn’t it interesting?” Pomegranate replied, shadows seeping from her mirror.

Licorice ducked as Death threw her blade, going right past Life and instead almost hitting the God in the head.

“More like terrifying!” He was shaking, the sword vanishing before appearing back in Death’s bloody hand.

Again, she threw her sword, and it created a huge crack in the wall, causing it to crumble. Life ran outside, instead hopping amongst the trees as she followed behind. A couple minutes later, Hollyberry Cookie and Golden Cheese Cookie appeared.

“With all that racket, I could hear you guys from miles away!” Autumn yelled, grabbing Life’s shoulders and carrying him upwards, away from Death. “Hey, wait, you look different...”

“Hello, friend!” Life chirped. His voice was… very different. Autumn screamed, and dropped him. 

“GC! You idiot!” Hollyberry managed to catch him, getting him onto his feet. He sighed, before wincing as Death stopped running, only a few feet away. She was gasping for air. Running for so long could even tire her out. 

Life stepped forwards, opening his arms for a hug.

“Dude…I wouldn’t recommend doing that..!” Summer whisper-shouted to Life, but he just shook his head.

“Nonsense. Death is a sweetheart, she is just in a bad situation.” He chuckled, stepping closer.

Death looked up, staring at Life’s open arms. Her expression turned from anger to remorse, her eyes wide. She hesitantly began moving forward as well.

“See? I knew it would be alright..” He whispered, his smile growing.

Just as he was about to close the hug, Death stepped back, her eyebrows furrowing. 

She raised her sword and slashed Life across the chest.

----------------------------------

Chapter 28 end.

Thank you for reading :]

Chapter Text

Life dropped onto his knees, as Pure Vanilla Cookie quickly took over, pressing his hand against his chest. Bright golden blood, like ichor, flowed between his fingers as he tried to heal the wound, but…

It didn’t heal.

Black spread from the edges of the broken skin, refusing to close, no matter how much magic he used. Death growled at him, before teleporting behind Hollyberry Cookie, stabbing her straight through the chest. She collapsed as Death tore her soul jam from her shield. 

Vanilla couldn’t do a thing. Life was oddly silent.

She then aimed her sword at Golden Cheese Cookie, before hopping backwards as the other swooped down, clawing at her with her talons. Death held up her arms in defense, her metal gauntlets mostly absorbing the attacks. Eventually, though, she split herself into two identical copies, one appearing on the opposite side of Autumn. That distracted the Goddess for long enough for her real copy to knock her to the ground, piercing her skin several times until she finally stopped thrashing and clawing, reaching down and pulling the soul jam out of her headpiece.

“No!” Vanilla coughed, falling down, reaching his arm out to Death. “Please- please spare them! PLEASE!”

She didn’t reply, walking over as Vanilla’s vision went black.

Pure Vanilla Cookie opened his eyes, groaning quietly as he rubbed the side of his head. His eyes were still adjusting to the light, even though it was rather dark in the area.

“Hh..wha..?”

He looked around. Vanilla was laying on a soft pile of pine needles, the sheet being someone’s cape, a couple of blankets covering him. The area looked to be…the forest he was in before? But he couldn’t see that horrible building anymore, meaning this was quite far within. A sudden, harsh pain filled his abdomen, and he choked slightly, lifting his blankets to find his wound had been bandaged up and at least healed somewhat. His magic worked even while he was asleep, so that meant that whatever the stuff keeping him from healing before was now gone. 

What…what happened? Surely he was dreaming, right?

Who could’ve saved him? And why did they put him here? And…

Why was his soul jam back?!

He grabbed his collar, staring at the bright blue flower. Hadn’t Pomegranate Cookie taken it? Questions raced through his mind so quickly that he could hardly even gather what they were questioning. Eventually, Vanilla fell back, and shut his eyes. He was too tired for this.

The sound of footsteps sure got him up, though.

He shot up into a sitting position, staring at the figure as they approached. It was Death, but she looked different. Less feminine, her hair a gradient of white to black. He couldn’t see the rest, as her cloak covered the entirety of her body.

She paused a few feet away, and stared at him, the eye that wasn’t covered by her hair going wide. Eventually, she reached her hand out. Vanilla summoned his staff and held it out to her like a threat.

“Don’t touch me!” He growled, his hands shaking just slightly. His voice was hoarse, and it hurt to talk, but he pushed through the pain. Death’s hand gripped into a fist, before it retreated back under her cloak.

There was tense silence between the two for a few moments, Death looking truly…confused, for some reason, and Vanilla’s eyebrows deeply furrowed, trying to at least somewhat stand his ground.

“Life?” She asked, but something was off. When she spoke, there was something…more to it. “Is..that you..?” That something was a whisper. Two people, speaking at the exact same time with the exact same words, but their voices were distinct. Death was louder, of course, she was in control, but…

Faintly, just faintly, Pure Vanilla Cookie could make out Dark Cacao Cookie’s voice. His eyes went wide.

“What have you done with him?!” PV stood up, before collapsing onto his knees, rolling off the bed and groaning as his chest filled with pure agony.

“Rest, please..” The two’s caring voices replied, gently lifting him back onto the makeshift bed. He still struggled, just a little bit, but eventually gave up. Tender hands brought the soft fabric of the blankets back over him, wrapping him tight. It was comfortable, in a way.

“Wh..why are you doing this..?” Vanilla whispered, not wanting to trigger the pain in his throat again.

“Oh, you need..water,” Death went over to a small hole in a large rock nearby, reaching her arm inside and pulling out some kind of canteen. “..because I love you…”

Vanilla didn’t take the canteen, eyeing it wearily. “You just tried to kill me!” He almost yelled, before tears welled up in his eyes. His throat…

He grabbed the damn thing and began chugging it, sighing as he set it aside. At least it was some relief. Death sighed quietly, her voice a mix of a more deep and soft one, and a lighter and harsher one.

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t myself, but I..your voice..his voice, I- I managed to break through…”

“Break..through?”

“I had to give your friends’ soul jams to the Goddess, because if I did not she surely would’ve wrecked my vessel and then gotten them herself, before I escaped. I managed to get yours back, though…and..H- his voice, it helped..bring me back.. Your voice, it helped..bring me back..”

Their voices synchronized, yet they said something slightly different. Vanilla blinked, before he let go, letting Life take the reins. Death’s eyes widened as he switched, but Life remained silent as he had been for a little while now, his expression stern, maybe even slightly upset. 

“Your aura- my love! My love, oh, Life, I..”

Death’s voice took such high priority that Pure Vanilla Cookie could just barely hear Cacao’s voice as an almost inaudible mumble. Death was about to hug him tightly, but before she could, Life held his hand up.

“You betrayed my trust.” His voice was icy cold, as if he were hiding something. His emotion.

“I-I know, I know, I’m sorry..I couldn’t control myself..I wanted to stop, I wanted to stop, but she didn’t let me. But it’s my own fault.”

Now they were saying two entirely different things, but Death only mouthed her own words. While Death’s voice was more upset, more fearful, Cacao’s was more reserved and quiet, as if he had given up on his own redemption.

Life’s eyebrows furrowed slightly. Seemed he didn’t know who to believe.

The two stared at each other for a while, until finally, Life broke down, and tears began to stream down his face as he hugged her tightly, weeping into her shoulder. Death hugged back, careful to not get near his wound, beginning to shed a few tears as well. Life sobbed until he couldn’t anymore, and even then he still hid his face in his hands, shivering. She stared at him, before gently taking his wrists, pulling his hands down and away. 

The two looked into each other’s eyes, one’s a deep red with some hints of purple, the other’s a pale yellow…until finally, they kissed. Life and Death bound together until the end of time. The world seemed to swirl around them like a watercolor painting for just a moment, before returning to normal. 

The ground below seemed to be eternally battling with itself, switching between being alive and dead. The Forces of Life and Death were so balanced that it was basically a stalemate. Wasn’t this what Dark Cacao Cookie wanted?

He sighed. Was it?

Cacao turned away from the little projection of the outside world in front of him. He was in a similar situation to Pure Vanilla Cookie and Life, but he and Death did not get along at all. Death refused to give up control. 

“You’re too much of a coward! Surely you’ll give up and return to her. I’m not letting you do anything.” She had told him, when they first woke up like this. 

Ouch. 

Hadn’t he merged with her so that the two were both benefited? Right now he was just alone and sad and something, something, some other emotion. He didn’t care but he did at the same time, and it was confusing..! And it…it hurt. A lot, actually. Both emotionally and mentally, but…

Cacao gripped his chest, right where his heart was. 

…also physically. 

In this unbalanced merged state, the two’s feelings towards each other manifested in physical pains, but they only seemed to affect him. More specifically, the one who wasn’t in control, but obviously Death wouldn’t be giving that up soon, especially considering she was reconciling with her lover. Whatever. At least Pure Vanilla Cookie and Life knew when it’d be helpful to switch. Death was incompetent. 

Too bold, too brash, too fueled with emotion to be stable. He could hide everything! He could be as about as friendly as a rock if he wanted, but Death? She was sensitive!

And sure, maybe Cacao was too, but he could hide it! He had been fucking hiding it since this whole merging thing started! He had bottled up so many emotions that he hardly knew how to express them anymore, so he just…

didn’t. 

Dark Cacao Cookie stared out of his little view into the outside world. The sun had set. That makes 2 months he was stuck here. Life had been so injured that he had slept for 2 and a third, but that third was before the two merged, so he didn’t count it. 

Then again, before the two merged he was just in a void where he was falling for eternity, which felt extremely familiar for obvious reasons, so maybe he should count it? Cacao didn’t care. What was the point, anyways? He had long given up ever getting out of here. Sometimes he forced Death to say things, but that was only because both their voices could be heard. He had long since stopped using that to insult her and instead just used it to at least somewhat reach the outside world. 

This was the first time, though, since the merge that they had talked to someone else, and Pure Vanilla Cookie barely even reacted when he spoke. 

Could he not be heard?

He hoped to the Celestials that he could be heard. 

If he couldn’t, well…that meant he was permanently shut o-

“Death?”

Pure Vanilla Cookie’s voice took over, suddenly, causing Cacao to turn his head back to the projection. As to be expected, due to the fact that this was something Death was specifically handling, DC’s voice was almost muted under hers. 

“What is it, other one?”

“Oh- just call me Vee, aha. I was just wondering…I’m picking up a weird aura from you, why’s that?”

“Well, just like Life and you, I have merged with my vessel. That’s likely why.”

“I picked that up, but my aura isn’t weird and we’re in the same situation…it’s just a stronger aura. Is something wrong?”

Death stood, stepping away as Vanilla stood up as well. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Help me. Cacao said it over and over. Help me, help me, help me! 

He stood, and ran over to the projection, pressing himself against it as if that would somehow make him louder. Of course, his voice was still a whisper under Death’s much stronger way of speaking. He hoped that was enough, though…

Please…

Nothing. Not even a facial change. Vanilla hadn’t heard him. He sighed, and sat down, curling up into a ball as he watched the images flicker by. 

“Are you..sure? You two sound really disconnected. I mean, not like I know too much, but why do you both speak over each other?” Vanilla shrugged, folding his arms behind his back. “I mean, right now I can hardly hear him, but Cacao has stuff to say too, yknow.”

Death shook her head. “He is just fine.”

“I haven’t seen him in a long time, can you please give him control..? Just so we can talk?”

PLEASE.

“No.”

Fuck.

“Why not?” He tilted his head, his long hair falling aside. 

“He’ll just return back to the Goddess. I know he will.”

“Have you…verified that?”

“Just listen to him! Saying that it’s our fault? It’s not!” Death teared up, she looked angry, but was clearly just hurt. Vanilla understood this, and went over to her, gently hugging her. 

“I know it’s not. Perhaps he’s just upset? I think I can calm h-“

“No!” She cried, pressing her face into her hands, hiding away. 

Cacao again turned away from the projection. He just wanted to see his love again, in person. One last attempt, then he would give up. 

“I don’t want him back. Help me, please, please help me.”

Pure Vanilla Cookie’s eyes widened as he pulled away from the hug. So did Cacao’s.

Finally!

----------------------------------

Chapter 29 end.

Thank you for reading :]

Chapter Text

Dark Cacao Cookie grunted, rubbing his eyes as they adjusted to the light.

“Fine, but it is not my fault if he betrays you.” Is what Death had said, after much, much convincing from Pure Vanilla Cookie. A warm embrace encompassed him. He hugged back with a quiet sigh.

“Oh- oh thank Celeste…” PV muttered, his grip becoming tighter. Despite his rather small stature, it hurt a little.

“Vee- you’re- squeezing me-”

“Oh!” He quickly let go, before chuckling awkwardly. “Oops.”

“It’s alright.” Cacao sighed, sitting on the ground. Every part of his body ached. He hadn’t been in the outside world for quite a while.

“I know she thought you would hurt me, but…I would’ve thought you two would have at least…fused by now. But you just look like…you. I can tell the Death in you is amplified, yeah, but you don’t look like you’re sharing,” Vanilla sat down beside him, resting a hand on his shoulder. “Doesn’t she look like Life? Why wouldn’t you look the same as I?”

“Unlike you and Life, as you might’ve guessed by the way we speak…” Of course, Death was still speaking the same words as Dark Cacao Cookie, synchronized, but also a whisper. Then again, DC himself was muttering, so what difference did it make than just two separate beings speaking at once? “...we..don’t get along.”

“Right, right, but I would’ve-”

“Thinking doesn’t reflect on reality.”

“So why did you decide to merge with her, then?”

“Stuck in another void for a long while. This time, I’m not sure if it was the twins who caused it, or if it was something else. Merging pulled me out of it.” He sighed. “Not like this was much different, I was still stuck for a couple months, though at least I had some kind of visual stimuli.” He shifted so that one of his legs was folded, the other stretched out as he leaned back, balancing himself on his hands. 

“Huh.”

The two were silent for a while, the only noises being the wind blowing through the almost dead trees’ small amount of leaves, some plucking off of the branches and fluttering to the ground, before Dark Cacao Cookie suddenly sighed.

“Due to Summer and Autumn’s capture, their Planes are entirely wrecked. Tons of humans have died. The only ones that are still livable is mine, which…no one would want to live there, and yours, which has mostly been corrupted. However, something odd has happened. Apparently…someone’s holding them back.”

“Someo-? Oh.”

Pure Vanilla Cookie suddenly stood up, pulling Dark Cacao into a stand as well. He then summoned his staff.

“Woah- what’re we doing??” Cacao furrowed his eyebrows.

“Mousse’s in trouble. Big trouble.”

“Don’t tell me.”

“I only told him to find out if things got bad, and things seem to be pretty damn bad, so don’t blame me,” Vanilla huffed, waving his staff in the air as the two teleported to a large room within the castle. There was a large crowd of people filling most of it. It was almost hard to breathe. “Seems the barrier has been broken.”

“Whatever. This was going to happen eventually, I knew it. Is he alright??”

“You said he’s still holding them back, so I assume so. Seems he’s saved a lot of people too.”

“So what exactly are his powers???” Dark Cacao Cookie emphasized. 

“Noooo clue.” Pure Vanilla grimaced, beginning to push through the crowd to the large doors. They led to the main room of the castle, which was also rather filled, though people stayed far away from the entrance. Cacao made sure none of his skin was exposed, other than his eyes, the rest hidden away by the thick fabric of his cloak and cape. Clearly, he didn’t want anyone to drop dead.

Once the two reached the doors, Pure Vanilla Cookie summoned a small platform made of light, before stepping forwards in the air, another platform forming beneath his feet. Another step, another platform. DC quickly followed behind.

The Plane of Spring was decimated. There was a border within vision that showed the Forces constantly fighting over whether the plants should be dead or alive. The Force of Death seemed to be winning. Cacao felt more powerful than usual, after all. 

But…if the Plane was entirely consumed by Death, leaving nothing left, the power would overwhelm him.

His soul could shatter into a million pieces, the dust spread across universes, in constant agony.

Ten thousand years ago, he had gotten uncomfortably close to that point.

Today…it was more than uncomfortable.

The power was already out of control, especially so close to the fighting forces. On the island, the two were far from this place. He could hardly feel it then. But this was overwhelming. He just about sent out an array of lightning from his hands, but barely managed to force it back down. Cacao couldn’t interrupt this.

Finally, the platforms reached a floating figure. It was M, yes, although Nebula Cookie would be a much more fitting name. He was still familiar, but his hair was a flowing mix of watercolor blues and purples and pinks, white and yellow spots flicked throughout like acrylic, and his irises were now a deep blue. He seemed to be deep in thought, before he looked back at the two, and his eyes widened.

“Wh- ho- Guys?? When did you get here?” He suddenly appeared right in front of the two, almost throwing DC off balance.

“M, did you-” Vanilla started.

“Oh, just call me Nebby! I find it nicer!” He chuckled, before sighing. “But- yeah, once the dark ones began to take over, and once it became…really scary, I…”

“You went to Millennial Tree Cookie?”

He nodded. “I-I’m sorry..”

“No- don’t be sorry…that was the whole point of me giving you the butterfly, he would recognize it, he would tell you.”

Cacao stepped forwards, onto the next little light platform. 

“Nebby, you..” He hesitated, before furrowing his eyebrows. “You saved those humans…by yourself?”

Hesitantly, Nebula nodded. His eyes never locked onto DC’s. Probably anxious, Cacao understood how that felt.

“I’m very proud of you. What did you figure out you could do? Although please be fast, we don’t have much time.”

“I-I…I..I can..I can see the future and past I know where Galaxy is buttheydontwantmetotellyousorry and I can like…like..like summon stuff like projections and I see so many timelines and it’s kinda overwhelming but I dunno it’s just a little-”

“Woah, not that fast,” Dark Cacao Cookie chuckled quietly, now standing next to Vanilla, who leaned against him slightly. “Just- c'mere.” He opened his arms, and Nebby slowly went over, hugging him lightly, as Cacao hugged back.

“I can see a lot of timelines, basically..” 

“Just make sure not to spend too long looking at ‘em. You know what happens if you do.”

“I get stuck?”

“You get stuck.”

Vanilla gently patted Nebula Cookie on the head, his gaze soft.

“Alright, we need to figure out what to do about this. Life and I are weaker, but I can still probably try and push this corruption back somewhat.” His gaze shifted to the border. “Which ones do you know are here?”

“Wha- oh- the dark ones? I think uh…Lobster, Pawn Black and Pawn White, and a couple I don’t recognize…”

“I see.”

“Newer ones, must be,” DC hopped down to the ground. “Vee’s told you of the ones he’s met, right, and I have told him of the ones I’ve met, so surely..” He summoned his sword, wincing slightly as the spiked handle pierced his skin. Right. That. Even so, he carried on, walking right next to the barrier and observing it. His magic had a sort of outlet now, which was at least a little more comfortable. The sword’s blade glowed slightly purple, small lightning occasionally striking the ground. Better than striking someone else.

Pure Vanilla followed behind as Nebula kept floating above the two. The platforms disappeared.

“Perhaps I should let Life do this instead..” PV sighed, before he let Life take control. He quickly went over to the border, next to Cacao.

“That’s…weird?” Nebula suddenly appeared next to the two.

“I suppose it is,” Life’s change of tone caused Nebby to seem slightly frightened. “Ah- I apologize, don’t mind me.”

DC rolled his eyes, before tapping the area where the Forces fought with the tip of his sword, curious. The Force of Death suddenly surged forwards in that small area, causing Cacao to step back.

“Erm.”

Life stared at him, before sighing, rubbing his temples. “Maybe you should stay…a tad farther back?”

“Yeah, that’s fair.” He muttered, keeping his sword from touching the ground as he sat a few feet away. He watched Nebby and Life stare at the border, thinking to themselves on what to do. As Cacao sat there, he realized a growing pressure in his chest.

“You’re gonna kill them,” Death said, though not out loud. “Let me take over. I’ll let that magic loose somewhere else.”

Dark Cacao Cookie didn’t reply, but he knew she was right. He sighed, quickly getting up and silently running off, behind the castle, before letting her take control again. Hopefully for a shorter amount of time..?

She kept running, and eventually, the two ended up back in the forest, although most of it was dead. Death slammed her sword into the soft, ashy dirt, an array of lightning bursting from it and scattering into the sky. Trees fell apart with the force it unleashed. Finally, he felt less of a pressure, but it was still there. Would she have to keep doing this? Death didn’t like the thought, but whatever it took…

Suddenly, there was a sound. Someone nearby. How were they not dead…? 

Her head turned. A…child? They couldn’t have been older than 12, being rather short and…a tad cute. The child had flamingo pink hair and a poncho covering their upper body, what a strange being. Oddly, what looked to be something like…earmuffs..floated above their head.

They seemed to be giggling to themselves, before they suddenly rushed forwards, right in front of her, hovering a couple feet off the ground to make eye contact. Death flinched, taking a step back.

“Oooh! You’re so INTERESTING!” The child cooed.

“H..huh?”

“Oh, are you the one they’ve been looking for? Oh, whatever, I don’t care! Forget bringing you back, I wanna try some stuff on you!”

The child suddenly summoned two rather large structures that resembled arms. Before she could react, the ‘arms’ grabbed onto her wrists, tugging her forwards with an almost impossible strength. Without the availability of her hands, she couldn’t teleport out of this.

Great. Not again.

----------------------------------

Chapter 30 end.

Thank you for reading :]

Chapter Text

https://archiveofourown.info/works/35039431/chapters/92952523

Chapter Text

please read

https://archiveofourown.info/works/35039431/chapters/92962144