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This would be a lot easier without all the kicking and screaming, Pomegranate Cookie. But at this point, I don’t know what I expect from you. Priestess Cookie thought as she dragged her 13-year-old daughter by the hair towards the door of the basement. Her pleas were falling on deaf ears as usual. “NO! Mother, please! I’m sorry! AAAHH! P-please, I-I promise I won’t—OW!— I won’t do it again!” Priestess Cookie yanked her daughter almost to her feet roughly. Gaining another cry of pain from the child. But it was enough to get her to shut up.
Sugar Swan how she hated the sound of her voice. Hasn’t she learned by now to keep her voice down? Always screaming and running around like she had no sense at all. Sugar Swan knows she tried to raise her to be a proper heir to her position but Pomegranate Cookie was a lost cause. Why hadn’t she just left her in the forest for the wolves to eat her years ago? Oh right, because her husband had abandoned her and everything their people stood for years ago. And now her body was too old to properly bear another child. Besides, she didn’t feel like going through the effort of courting and marrying another man, not when they would only serve to get in her way and break her heart like Persimmon Cookie did. She was better off without that man anyhow.
She smiled slightly as she reached the door of the basement and opened it. Looking down into the staircase that led into darkness, she took one look at her daughter, her face tear-stained and her eyes wide with horror. Silently pleading with her mother, she knew what was about to happen. Priestess Cookie had to keep from smiling. It would be hypocritical of her to expect her daughter to keep her emotions in check if she herself could not do so.
Her grip on her daughter’s hair tightened and Pomegranate Cookie was thrown down the staircase. The tight feeling in Priestess Cookie’s chest lightened each time she heard that pathetic excuse for a child cry out as she hit the steps. She almost chuckled in pleasure when she heard the final CRACK, of Pomegranate Cookie hitting her head against the wall and the sound of her whimpering at the bottom of the stairs. Finally, now she could begin enacting her justice without fear of the villagers hearing.
She wasn’t sure why she was so worried. Surely her people would understand how difficult it was to raise a child as useless and unruly as Pomegranate Cookie. Besides, she was the village’s future Priestess, if she was to take on her legacy someday, she would have to be strict with her to ensure she walked that straight line. Surely they would understand why she had to do this, this way. It was justified. Even more so it was justice. Fate had been so cruelly unfair to her, giving her a husband who was unfaithful and a child who was disobedient. She had every right to parent her daughter in any way she deemed fit. No one else had any right to tell her how to raise her daughter, not even her former husband.
She descended the stairs with all the grace of a dancer, finding her daughter laying in the fetal position at the bottom. Priestess Cookie shook her head, you’d think by now she’d know better than to leave her stomach exposed. Pomegranate Cookie doubled over in pain as she felt her mother deliver a swift kick to her stomach. Her vision started to blur, and her instinctive scream was cut short and came out as a squeak. “GET UP!” Her mother shouted. It was a simple enough command. Even a Cookie who had as much trouble following directions as she did could follow it.
Priestess Cookie used her magic to illuminate the room until she found a cord hanging from the ceiling. She pulled the cord and a single light lit up the dark basement, revealing a wooden crate in the center of the room and a table off to the side. The table had one single thing resting on it. But the sight of that thing made Pomegratne’s eyes fill with tears. “No… Please,” she whispered, still reeling from the fall, her head throbbing but her mind swimming in panic from what was to come. “I’m sorry…. I’m so sorry, Mother, please, I promise I won’t wander off again!” Priestess Cookie strolled over to the table, “I’m sure you won’t,” she said coldly. “Take off your clothes.”
Pomegranate Cookie shuddered in terror, “Mother… please!” she squeaked. Priestess Cookie whipped around, her eyes filled with fire and her voice filled with venom. “DID I STUTTER!?!” Pomegranate Cookie shrunk back. As her mother came closer to her panic took over and she almost tried to get away, but her mother was on top of her in an instant. Grabbing her by the collar of her robes and choking her. “I said, GET UNDRESSED! Am I supposed to assume you’re too STUPID to understand that SIMPLE DIRECTION? Or am I supposed to assume you’re disobeying me?! You worthless, sorry, excuse of a child!” she shouted, throwing Pomegranate Cookie to the ground and standing over her as the trembling child slowly lifted herself off the floor and onto her knees.
She was gasping for air in between quiet sobs. Shame and sorrow now replacing the fear on her face. Priestess Cookie’s thin eyes narrowed. “Do as you’re told…” She said softly. This time, Pomegranate Cookie obeyed and began to remove the layers of her crimson training robes. Priestess Cookie watched with a cold and judgemental eye as each layer hit the floor. Pomegranate Cookie shivered violently as the cold air hit her bare dough. She looked up at her mother, praying her anger had subsided at least slightly. She knew it was pointless to hope for mercy, once she crossed that door there was no going back.
Her eyes widened again when she saw the thing in her mother’s hand. A thin, hollow metal rod, its silver coating stained a dark red. Priestess Cookie pointed with the rod towards the wooden crate, and Pomegranate Cookie’s lip began to tremble. But she knew it was useless to protest, every step felt as if her feet were made of stone. Every second that ticked by was agonizingly long and yet not short enough, as he tried to steel her mind in preparation for what was to come.
She placed her hands against the wooden box, but to her horror, she found she no longer had the strength to go any farther. She couldn’t bring herself to lay across that dreadful crate again. She looked down at the inconspicuous instrument of torture and her heart lurched. She prayed that her mother wouldn’t see her hesitation as defiance and worsen her punishment for it. But fear had frozen her in place. She winced as she heard the sound of the metal rod dragging across the floor. Tears filled her eyes as she felt her mother get closer and closer to her. She sobbed softly in between quiet gasping breaths. She could feel her mother standing right next to her now but she didn’t dare open her eyes. The room was silent save for the sound of Pomegrante’s terrified sobs and the hollow thunk of her mother hitting the metal rod against her palm.
“Up,” Priestess Cookie said softly. Pomegranate Cookie turned to her mother, cowering. “Mother…. Please…” Priestess Cookie only tapped the crate with the rod softly a few times. Pomegranate Cookie took a deep breath and chose to obey before her mother lost her patience with her. With shaking arms she pulled herself up and lay her bare stomach against the crate, leaving her back completely exposed and her hands gripping the side of the crate. Pomegranate Cookie’s breathing increased to a rapid pace as she was met with the familiar sight of the basement floor from the angle of the side of a wooden crate. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to mentally prepare herself for…
“I hope you know I’m doing this for your own good,” Priestess Cookie’s cold voice floated down from beside her. Her mother stood just outside of the young child’s field of vision. A small puddle of tears had already begun to form below Pomegranate Cookie’s face. “If I didn’t discipline you… You’d never learn right from wrong,” Priestess Cookie said, placing a hand on Pomegranate Cookie’s back. The child let out a gasp as she felt her mother touch her bare dough. “You’d never become a proper leader. You have to learn to listen before you can lead, Pomegranate Cookie.” Priestess Cookie gently placed the metal rod on her daughter’s back. She gasped louder and trembled violently. Priestess took great pleasure in feeling her child squirm helplessly underneath her. She whispered with mock sweetness as she rubbed the cold rod across Pomegranate Cookie’s back, “You have… To learn… Your… Lesson…”
Pomegranate Cookie finally snapped.
“I’M SORRY! I’M SORRY! I’M SO SORRY! PLEASE, I PROMISE I WON’T DISOBEY YOU AGAIN! I’LL BE A GOOD GIRL, I SWEAR! MOMMY, PLEASE, I’M BEGGING YOU, PLEASE DON’T PUNISH ME!”
Pomegranate Cookie’s terrified wails dissolved into loud sobbing. Priestess Cookie could no longer hold back the smile on her face. Sugar Swan how she loved hearing her beg and cry. The overwhelming feeling of pleasure and justice she got from seeing this wicked child reduced to this meek and helpless state… If only she could have done the same with her backstabbing husband. Oh well, Pomegranate Cookie had his rotten jam in her dough. She reminded her of him every single day. So, in a way, she was getting her justice by association. Close enough.
“Oh, I know you’ll be a good girl, Pomegranate Cookie…”
Besides, one way or another she had to prepare Pomegranate Cookie to fulfill her purpose as the Village’s future Priestess. And while she didn’t really fit the role right now, if she kept wearing down at her stubborn will, she was bound to bend eventually. While you couldn’t fit a square peg in a round hole, you can always reshape the peg to fit. Truthfully you can make anything fit any mold you desire…
You just had to break it first.
WHACK
Despite her best efforts to prepare herself, Pomegranate Cookie let out a loud scream as she felt the first of many blows land against her bare dough. “I’ve told you time and time again…” Priestess Cookie snarled.
WHACK
“Not to go galavanting off like some…”
WHACK
“Insolent little imp who…”
Her mother’s berating continued as she landed blow after blow upon her daughter’s back. Pomegranate Cookie let out a squeal of pain with each hit, squeezing the sides of the crate so tight her hands turned white. Her mother continued her lecture through wave after wave of agony. Some of her usual statements such as “useless child” and comparing her to her father were sprinkled in her lecture. Each point was reiterated with her slamming the rod down on her back. The only times the blows were softer were when her mother didn’t angle the rod quite right, but that always made the next blow much worse in comparison. Her forehead was damp with sweat, tears fell from her eyes and saliva dripped down her chin.
Just be quiet and take it like a good child. Be quiet and take it like a good child. Pomegranate Cookie chanted in her head. Praying that her mother’s rage would be vindicated before… No… she knew better… The worst was yet to come. Then, after six or seven more blows, it happened. Her back exploded in a burning pain so intense she pulled her head back and let out a scream that could have shattered glass. Her mother responded by slamming her head down onto the edge of the crate.
The shock of tasting the sickeningly sweet flavor of strawberry jam in her mouth blocked the pain for a second, but only for a second. Her back was now wet with jam, but her mother didn’t let up on her punishment. She was only just beginning. With every strike the cracks in Pomegranate Cookie’s soft dough grew deeper and wider, her back grew hot and sticky as she drew more jam. Pomegranate Cookie continued to scream and cry with each new wound. Her mother paused her berating to grab her by the hair and yell in her ear, “STOP SQUIRMING! You miserable little wretch, you’re getting jam all over my good robes!” Her mother released her and returned to her work. The rod now wet and slippery with her daughter’s jam. Pomegranate Cookie only kept her head low, as her mother stuck her again, and again, and again.
Pomegranate was not a stranger to the monotonous cycle of agony. How many times had her mother punished her for the same transgressions? How long until she learned her lesson once and for all? She tried to be good, she really did. But it was never enough to earn her mother’s love. Her mother only did this because she had to, because she wanted what was best for her she knew that. Oh, why did she have to be such a horrible daughter? Why was it so hard to do as she was told? She deserved this, every second of it and more. Pomegranate Cookie didn’t have the strength to cry anymore, so she sunk into the pain and let herself become numb. Letting herself feel every strike and every drop of jam that oozed from her broken dough.
Until finally, it stopped. Without warning it was over. Pomegranate Cookie fought to catch her breath as her mother stepped into her sight, although her vision was blurry she could see her face and sleeves were splattered in jam. The rod so soaked in it that it was creating a small pool on the floor where her mother stood. “Now…” Priestess Cookie said softly, placing the rod under Pomegranate Cookie’s chin and forcing her to look up, “What do you have to say for yourself?”
With tear-filled eyes and shaking breath, her reply was only three words,
“I’m sorry… Mother…”
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“Where did you get these?”
Pomegranate Cookie gulped slightly. Cursing herself for her foolishness and clutching her dirty robes to her chest. She didn’t want her Master to know about those scars. She shuddered as she felt her Master run her gloved hand down her bare back. “Pomegranate Cookie…” She said again. The smaller Cookie kept her head lowered, she didn’t have the bravery to respond, even though she knew her Master deserved an answer, she deserved to know the truth.
She felt so foolish… So wicked… She hadn’t told her Master about her troubled past. About those scars, the fact that she had unknowingly taken a flawed and broken Cookie under her wing. She was so ashamed of herself. What would Dark Enchantress Cookie think when she found out?
“Pomegranate Cookie.”
Pomegranate gasped softly when she realized her Master was sitting in front of her now. Her expression was strange. She wasn’t angry, she wasn’t disappointed, she seemed… Sad… Concerned? “Where did you get those scars?” She said softly. Her voice was so sweet, so tender. She deserved to know the truth, but Pomegranate was too ashamed to admit it, too scared. Despite her best attempts to control herself, she felt tears come to her eyes. Unable to hold them back, she dissolved into a fit of uncontrollable sobbing. Dark Enchantress Cookie was startled by her sudden outburst, but her maternal instincts quickly took over. She wrapped Pomegranate Cookie in a hug and started sushing her softly, comforting her the way one would comfort a frightened child.
“Suuush, suush, it’s ok, it’s ok, my sweet girl. Master’s here, there, there.” Dark Enchantress Cookie levated a blanket over to her and wrapped the crying Cookie in it. Pomegranate Cookie sniffled as her Master’s soothing voice began to quell her fears. Dark Enchantress Cookie gently took her dirty and torn clothes from her and placed them in a magical bubble that would repair them. She ensured the blanket was wrapped snugly around her shaking body before placing her hand to Pomegranate Cookie’s cheek. “Pomy…” She said softly. “I understand if you don’t want to talk about it. I understand if it’s painful to remember, but please… Tell me, who did this to you?”
Pomegranate Cookie hid behind the blanket slightly, she was too ashamed to meet her Master’s gaze, so she looked away towards the ground. But she couldn’t stay silent any longer, she had to come clean. “M… My mother,” she confessed. Dark Enchantress Cookie blinked. She was silent for a moment, trying to make sure she hadn’t misheard her follower. “Your mother?” She echoed in disbelief. A fresh set of tears came to Pomegranate's eyes.
“She… She had to… I-I didn’t want you to know… I’m sorry I didn’t tell you… I was just so scared that… Oh, Master… Please, I… I promise I’m not like that anymore, please don’t send me away!”
“Pomegranate Cookie, what on EarthBread are you talking about?” Dark Enchantress Cookie asked, equal parts confused and concerned. Pomegranate Cookie sniffed. “I… I was afraid if you knew I was such a difficult child to raise… You’d see me as just a waste of space… Just like my mother did,” she said, hiding behind the blanket the way she would hide behind the sleeves of her robes. Dark Enchantress Cookie inhaled sharply. “Y-you’re not angry with me… Are you?” Pomegranate Cookie squeaked. “What?” Dark Enchantress Cookie replied dumbly. “W-wha—? No! No, no, no, no, Pomegranate, of course I’m not angry with you. I’m… I’m concerned. And… in utter and complete shock and disbelief…” she replied softly.
Pomegranate Cookie bowed her head in shame. “I’m sorry… I knew I should have told you, I was just so scared you’d…” Dark Enchantress Cookie gently placed her hand over Pomegranate Cookie’s mouth. “Sususussh, that’s not what I meant, dear. I mean…” Dark Enchantress Cookie sighed, “Why did your mother do this to you? You said something about being a… Difficult child earlier… Is this… How she would punish you?” Pomegranate Cookie nodded slightly. Her Master was silent for a moment, “And… What exactly did you do to deserve such treatment?” Pomegranate Cookie took a deep breath. She deserved to know the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
So she confessed. She confessed to how she would wander off and disobey. How she would raise her voice and talk back. How she tried… She really genuinely tried to be a good child for her mother but she never seemed to be able to meet her expectations before she died. Dark Enchantress Cookie only sat and listened, nodding her head every now and again. She had to stop her while she was in the middle of explaining the details of some of her mother’s punishments. When she spoke of the basement and the metal rod, Dark Enchantress Cookie looked as if she was fighting the urge to throw up.
A few deep breaths and a long sigh later, Dark Enchantress Cookie turned her attention back to Pomegranate Cookie. “And… You believe she was right in doing what she did?” The question confused Pomegranate Cookie, she stuttered for a moment before replying, “Um… Uh.. Uh… Y-yes, of course… She had to discipline me otherwise…”
“Pomegranate Cookie,” Dark Enchantress Cookie said firmly, but not devoid of sweetness or love. “What your mother did to you wasn’t discipline… It was abuse. Plain and simple.” Pomegranate Cookie blinked, it took her a moment to process that information. Abuse? But child abuse was against the law, Cookies went to jail for that. But… That was the law of the outside world, the Pomegranate Village ran on an entirely different set of rules. Pomegranate Cookie looked at the ground. “Abuse… But… I… I thought that was… Normal…”
“Normal is just another way to say what you are accustomed to. Just because it was normal for your mother to beat you senseless doesn’t make it right. Surely you don’t think that you deserved that?” Pomegranate’s guilty silence was enough of an answer for her. Dark Enchantress Cookie sighed again, the two girls sitting in silence for a moment while Dark Enchantress mulled over what she should say next and Pomegranate Cookie turned the new epiphany around in her head. She was abused as a child? Her mother abused her? She hated to admit it. She wanted to tell herself that it wasn’t true, that her mother loved her and she was only doing what she thought was best. But her breathing became unsteady again and her eyes filled with tears as she realized what Dark Enchantress Cookie had said made sense. It was true… Her mother had abused her.
“Pomegranate Cookie… I never knew your mother—Which is good for her because knowing what I do now if I did know her I would have ripped her limb from limb…” She hissed through gritted teeth, before suddenly seeming to remember Pomegranate Cookie was there and awkwardly clearing her throat. “I make a habit of not assuming things about people so… I’ll ask you some questions and you can come to your own conclusions, alright?” Pomegranate Cookie nodded and pulled the blanket around her tighter.
“Did you ever feel safe around your mother?” Pomegranate Cookie looked away, “No,” she said softly. She was terrified of her mother. She felt like she was walking on broken glass around her trying her best to tiptoe around her temper so she wouldn’t receive a disciplinary strike across her face, or worse. “Did you feel like you could talk to her about anything, and she would understand? Or were you afraid you’d get in trouble?” Pomegranate Cookie shifted uncomfortably. “We didn’t talk much…” She replied softly. “Did she ever talk to you about your interests, other than your future as the village’s leader?” Dark Enchantress Cookie asked, raising an eyebrow. “I… Wasn’t supposed to have any other interests…”
Dark Enchantress Cookie just looked at her with her mouth agape ever so slightly. Pomegranate Cookie looked away, did she say something wrong? Dark Enchantress Cookie just sighed, placing her hand to her head and lowering it slightly, muttering to herself. “Ok… Ok…” She lifted her head again, her expression soft and caring, “Did your mother ever tell you that she loved you after she’d punished you, and you believed her?”
“She never ol’ meh mmah ada…” Pomegranate Cookie replied through the fabric of the blanket. “What was that, dear…? I couldn’t understand you, you were mumbling.” Pomegranate Cookie lowered the blanket and said with a sigh. “I don’t remember my mother telling me she loved me… Ever. That I was a disappointment. Yes. That I was just like my father? All the time. That I was useless, she threw that one around several times a day. But ‘I love you’?” She shook her head, “Never, not even once. I saw other kids and their mothers, I saw them hugging them and carrying them and playing with them… Complementing their drawings and their paper boats or whatever… And… My mother…” Here she went silent, Dark Enchantress Cookie was smart enough to figure out where she was going with this. “And… You never found it… Strange that your mother never did those kinds of things with you?”
“I… I just thought those kids were better behaved…” Pomegranate Cookie said, tears streaming down her face. “I thought they’d somehow managed to earn their mother’s love.” Dark Enchantress Cookie shook her head, “Pomegranate, love isn’t something that is earned. It’s given. And a good mother gives her child all her love, always, unconditionally. If your mother made you feel like she had to earn her love then… It’s very possible…”
“She didn’t love me in the first place,” Pomegranate Cookie finished for her. Dark Enchantress sadly nodded. Pomegranate Cookie sighed loudly, she stared down at the ground for a moment before a new feeling began to grow in her chest. Her brow furrowed and she started shaking slightly, “So… Everything she put me through… Every single time she yelled at me and beat me… What… It was all for nothing?” She exclaimed, looking up at her Master, her eyes filled with sorrow and confusion. Dark Enchantress Cookie responded by pulling her in for a hug. Pomegranate Cookie stiffened in surprise but quickly melted into her Master’s loving embrace.
She let her cry while she rubbed her back. She let her cry until she had to stop to gasp for breath. “Why? I… I thought… She said… She said she only wanted to help me…” Dark Enchantress Cookie kissed her on the forehead and sweetly whispered, “Pomy, baby… Let me explain something to you.” Dark Enchantress Cookie levated Pomegranate's repaired robes over to her and gently placed them in her hands. “A parent’s job is not to make their child exactly like them. It’s to encourage them to follow their dreams and prepare them for life without them someday. Your mother seemed to see you not as her own dough and jam, but as a blank slate upon which to endow her legacy.” She turned away while Pomegranate Cookie removed the blanket from around her shoulders and began to put her robes back on. She continued to talk nonetheless, “From what I understand, your mother would punish you if you stepped the slightest bit out of line. A line that was drawn with an impossible standard in mind. She expected you to be perfect, and I fear even if you were, your mother would still find an excuse to punish you.”
Pomegranate Cookie fussed with her hair as she took in Dark Enchantress Cookie’s words. Yeah, that sounded like her mother. Dark Enchantress Cookie sighed and turned back to her. “Using myself and my child as an example… To tell you the truth, I’m not exactly thrilled about the idea of Red Velvet Cookie being a warrior." Pomegranate Cookie looked at her Master in surprise, “But… You always…”
“Show support and encourage him. Yes, I do. Because that’s my job as his mother. Does that mean I like the idea of my baby marching off to the front lines of the war one day…? No, it doesn’t, I lay awake at night worrying about the countless possible scenarios that could happen out on the battlefield. But it’s what he wants to do. It’s what he’s passionate about, and he’s skilled. You’ve seen him training with Dark Choco Cookie, he has great potential. And, as his mother, it is my responsibility to nurture that potential, even if I myself wished that potential led him down a… Safer path.” She looked off for a second before smiling at Pomegranate Cookie, “It’s not my choice to make. And it wasn’t your mother’s choice to make what you did with your talents.”
Her smile turned into a frown, “But it seemed she had your life planned out from the cradle to the grave. And that wasn’t right. What she did to you wasn’t right, and you deserved better.” She placed her hand to Pomegranate's cheek. Pomegranate Cookie held her Master’s hand with hers, feeling warm and safe. Her sorrows dissipating like a cloud of fog as she looked into those ruby-red eyes. “You deserved to be loved. You still do.” A fresh set of tears came to Pomegranate's eyes, not from fear or sorrow, but from gratitude.
She let out a small squeal as she dove into her Master’s arms. Dark Enchantress Cookie laughed softly as Pomegranate Cookie hugged her tightly. She wrapped her arms around her precious follower and ran her hand through her hair, “You are the most loyal Cookie in all of Earthbread. You’re strong and smart and talented, just because your mother couldn’t see that doesn’t make that any less true. Don’t forget that.” Pomegranate Cookie blushed slightly, “You overpraise me, Master,” she said softly. “Nonsense, child,” Dark Enchantress Cookie replied with a soft chuckle.
“I want you to know something,” she said, pulling away so she could look her in the eyes. “You may have never gotten the love you deserved from your family, but I will always love you. No matter what.” She gently wiped the tears from her face. “And as long as you’re with me… I promise I will never let anyone hurt you that way again.”
With tear-filled eyes and shaking breath, her reply was only three words,
“Thank you… Master.”