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Part 1 of Embers of Change
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2025-07-10
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2025-07-27
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9/?
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Embers of Change

Summary:

It had been almost 8 months since the beasts had been freed, most of which had been convinced to give this new world a chance. Shadow Milk had been the first, being instrumental in getting the others on board, all except one. Burning Spice.
Pure Vanilla hadn't given up though, he just needed to find something that would work.

And one random day, he does.

Update schedule:
Updates every 2 days

Chapter 1

Summary:

The polychamps out for a date
And WHATS THIS SHADOW MILK WITH A CHAIR OMG-
*smacks Capsaicin with daddy issues*

Chapter Text

It had been almost 8 months since the beasts had been freed, most of which had been convinced to give this new world a chance. Shadow Milk had been the first, being instrumental in getting the others on board, all except one. Burning Spice.
Refusing to believe that anything had changed, remaining steadfast in his ways. Pure Vanilla could only encourage Golden Cheese to try and convince him so many times, and she had long since given up, having not even been a fan of the idea in the first place. He hadn't given up, he just needed to find something that would work.

 

That was a job for another day though, today Pure Vanilla had decided to take Shadow Milk to see various educational institutions of Crispia, today being the Parfaedia Institute, feeling as if the former Virtue of Knowledge would enjoy it and enjoy it he did. Floating around in the library trying to find any little piece of knowledge he didn’t already know everything about. Despite his corruption, he still retained his love of learning. He hoped these little excursions of sorts would help in Shadow Milk's redemption in the public sector. Due to his less than stellar reputation, him being close by allowed many to feel at ease. The idea was to show that the beasts were changing for the better. Shadow Milk picked a selection of books, noticeably on more modern concepts, he took them to the counter to have them marked as borrowed. He noticed that Shadow Milk enjoyed when he got to share his knowledge as much as when he gained it and as the library didn't allow for conversation, they would have to move to indulge in the beast's old hobby, often just outside on the grass, where they wouldn't be disturbing the quiet. He and Shadow Milk headed outside to a nice spot in the shade he had noticed on his way in, Shadow Milk holding the books with a spell from his staff. Although as soon as they left the building, Shadow Milk dropped the books in shock, causing Vanilla to quickly catch them instead of landing on the ground and risking damage.




Capsaicin walked off the airship, Kouign-Amann having arrived a minute or two earlier was waiting for him, the two immediately hugging. They lived so far away from each other and lived busy lives that it was rare for them to be able to meet face to face. Which is why as the two headed towards Parfaedia Institute, upon seeing the large unmistakable hat on a cookie standing out the front, both broke into a sprint. Capsaicin beating Kouign and claiming his victory, he got to hug Prune Juice first, lifting them off the ground, barely even allowed to touch the floor before Kouign did the same, his tail wagging like mad, all three of them hardly ever got together.
Before even beginning to move, they heard a shrill voice behind them.
“Do my eyes deceive me or what!?”
He turned to look at the voice along with his partners, although before even managing to know what was happening, his vision was blocked by the face of a blue cookie,
“Look at you!~ Oh, you've gotten so big!” The cookie was dressed up like some sort of jester, who began pinching his cheeks as they pulled him closer, before harshly whispering to him. “Where have you been all this time?! Your dad has been looking everywhere for you!” The whole interaction caught him off guard, causing him to fall back. His dad?!
“Shadow Milk!” Another voice called out, this one far more gentle and kind. The blue cookie, Shadow Milk, he assumed, moved back. Allowing Prune and Kouign to help him up before hearing the nicer voice again, “I'm sorry for him, do you know each other?”
“Yes!”
“No??”
He and Shadow Milk both answered at the same time, now standing, he also quickly recognised the face of the cookie with the nice voice, being one of the Ancient Heroes, Pure Vanilla, who now looked very confused, as well as his partners, while Shadow Milk looked amused.
“You don't know him?” Pure Vanilla asked again, directly at him.
“No? Should I?” He tried flipping through his memory, but couldn't even remember even hearing about this cookie, let alone knowing him.
“Capsaicin, are you serious?” He heard Prune whisper in his ear, “Do you live under a rock or something?”
“That's adorable! Trying to impress me with your lies!” Shadow Milk cooed, twirling his staff, “It could use some work though…”
He could feel his cheeks growing hot at the accusation, “I'm not lying!” Kouign quickly took hold of his hand and squeezed, reassuring him.
Shadow Milk laughed, “From now on, let's stick to what we know best. Mine being deceit and yours being destruction.”

Prune Juice could've sworn he heard Capsaicin's heart drop at that moment. It wasn't hard to tell that the words stung, he felt almost cold now, his tail curling around his leg. Before even opening his mouth, Kouign-Amann had already unsheathed her sword and was storming over to Shadow Milk, who looked very confused by the reaction.
“What did you just say to him?!” She was furious, barely able to hold herself from pointing her sword at him, Pure Vanilla quickly stepped between the two, trying to de-escalate the situation.

 

“What did I say wrong?!” Shadow Milk blurted out, earning a glare from everyone, “That's what he is-!”
“Shadow Milk. Now is not the time for one of your jokes.” Pure Vanilla warned, he sounded tense.
“Vanilly, listen! That's Burning Spice's son!” He was genuinely upset that Vanilla didn’t even think about trusting him, he'd been trying so hard at the redemption thing. “I was there when he was baked!”
They all fell silent, all staring at him before he continued, “I remember it because Burning Spice freaked out when they came out of the oven! He thought he'd messed up somewhere!” It had been a moment of fear for all of them at the time, they all were well aware of how desperate Spice was to have this kid. None of them keen to find out how he'd react to failure. When Capsaicin finally started crying, he couldn't remember the cookie ever looking so happy.
Which is why when they went missing, Spice fell apart.
Back to the present, Capsaicin was just staring blankly at him, “Who’s Burning Spice?”
He felt like this had to be a joke, surely.
“Real funny. I bet you two have been planning this for ages.” It was starting to get old, it's always the same story with Spice, he always keeps the joke going too long.
“How do you not know about Burning Spice?” The cookie with the hat asked Capsaicin, seemingly just as confused as he was.
“Why are you acting like I should know every spice cookie?”
“Burning Spice isn't just any spice cookie, he's like the spice cookie, the first?” The pink cookie looked to him, he nodded.
“That's one of his claims to fame, I suppose.”
“I genuinely haven't heard of him.”
He groaned, why was Capsaicin so insistent on keeping this bit going, it was quickly getting frustrating, if not almost offensive considering how much Spice mourned them.
“He's not lying.” Vanilla spoke up.
“What.”
He looked at Capsaicin, there was no way there just happened to be a cookie with the same name who also looked the exact same as Spice's kid, they both had a tail! Although they did have a new scar on their head, the shackles were definitely new though.
“What's with the…” Gesturing to the thick cuffs, Capsaicin and the other two cookies with him immediately tensed, “Touchy subject?”
“That's putting it lightly.” The one with the hat was speaking, maybe the shackles had something to do with their disappearance? Why would they still be wearing them after all this time though.
“Okay look, first off, what are you two's names, and second off, I'm starting to get annoyed, what do you know?”
“I'm Prune Juice, and that's Kouign-Amann.” Hat cookie answered, or Prune Juice. He turned to Capsaicin, who looked… troubled.
He groaned, “Why don't we sort this out by just..” Summoning a portal to the Land of Spice with a quick motion from his staff, almost excited by the prospect of being able to reunite his companion's long lost son. “Going to Burning Spice himsel-”
“Close that now!” Vanilla yelled, his tone enough to convince him there was a good reason.
“Do you know how bad it would look if the Wild Spices came through there? Everyone would believe you did it on purpose.” Right. While most of the Ancients believed he had turned a new leaf, the general public was still… weary. Especially with Burning Spice's stubbornness to change. Which was the joke that wrote itself, the Virtue of change, refusing to change. Although… He eyed Capsaicin, their disappearance had been the final straw for him to fully corrupt into the beast he was today.

 

Capsaicin felt light headed, today was supposed to be a date with his partners and now it's completely derailed. He felt like he was missing something so obvious, how did everyone else seemingly know this ‘Burning Spice’, who apparently was his dad, and he didn't! He's not the most attentive when it comes to the news but surely someone would've told him?
“Capsaicin? Are you okay?” He felt Kouign-Amann's gloves against his face, “You still there?”
“Yeah, I'm here.” He must've been doing ‘the look’ as Prune Juice called it. “Why did you say destruction was what I do best? Is it something to do with Burning Spice?”
“You-”
“Sweetheart, you should sit for this.” Kouign-Amann cut Shadow Milk off before he even began, her smile strained. Sitting down next to him, Prune Juice sitting on the other side. He could already tell whatever was going to be said next wasn't going to be good.

“Can I speak now?” Shadow Milk asked, unimpressed by the interruption, Capsaicin nodded.
“So!” With a clap, he summoned a puppet booth, always preferring visual learning.
“Spice used to be the Virtue of Change, but he started getting all grumpy over everything he loved and cared about dying all the time or whatever. Seeing the same things over and over, blah blah.
Anyways!” Now with the context, he could start his show, “He thought maybe if I have a kid-” He popped up from behind and pointed at Capsaicin, “That's you!” He swore he saw Capsaicin smile and let out the tiniest of laughs as he ducked back down, the noise warming his heart, Capsaicin still liked his puppet shows. When they were little, they would watch him for hours and always beg for more, getting especially excited if he made the puppets interact with them. Focusing back to the task at hand, he continued, The Burning Spice puppet talking, “It'll be something new and I'll have someone like me!”

Capsaicin watched with a strange feeling of almost nostalgia in his chest, he'd never watched anything like this but yet it felt so familiar.
“Burning Spice came to the smartest cookie in all the land, Me-!”
“Blueberry!” He quickly covered his mouth out of shock, he had no idea where that came from, it was just a reflex. He could feel the others staring at him.
Shadow Milk quickly leaving from behind the booth,
“So you do remember?” He sounded annoyed, the jovial tone that he had just seconds before gone.
“I don't! I just-” He didn't know what to say, “It just came out!”

“Hmm… Interesting.” Shadow Milk hummed, Capsaicin knew his pre-corruption name. Not even Pure Vanilla knows that. Only those who knew him when he had that name knew about its existence. During his many puppet shows for them, he had certain phrases that he would repeat, letting Capsaicin finish and it seemed like subconsciously he still knew the responses. Capsaicin's childhood memories were still there, just hidden. Only poking out when prompted.
“Vanilly, could we go to the spire? I want to test something.”
“It's not my permission you need.”
“Right, Capsaicin. I have an idea of what's going on, would I be able to test it?”

Capsaicin froze, deep down he wanted nothing more to know about his past but at the same time the thought scared him. What if there was something he didn't want to remember?
“Could I talk to my partners first?” Trying to stall, Shadow Milk nodded, “Sure! Vanilly and I can return these books in the meantime.”
“We just borrowed them-?”
“Come! Let's go! Give them some privacy to discuss!” Shadow Milk pushing Pure Vanilla into the Institute.
“You can't trust a word that cookie says! They're literally the beast of deceit! Lying is their whole thing!” Kouign immediately began the moment the other two were out of earshot.
“I get where you're coming from but what if he's not?” He retorted, “He recognised me instantly! Knew my name and-”
“Capsaicin, you aren't exactly a nobody, do remember that. But I do think this may be a good idea, there's clearly something there!” Prune joined in.
“I can't help but feel like it's opening Pandora's box-” Kouign muttered,
“The box is already opened!”
“Prune does have a point. I don't know how I'll be able to sleep tonight with all these unanswered questions.” He spoke up, “What about this, I'll say I'll go but only if you guys can come with?” He offered, he wanted them to be there, not just for emotional support, but because this felt like a big moment, and he wanted to share it with his partners.

“This could be the thing that convinces Burning Spice!” Shadow Milk exclaimed the moment the door shut, Pure Vanilla opened his mouth but he continued, already knowing what he was going to say. “Before you ask, I never brought this up because we all thought the kid was dead!”
“Why did you think that?”
“Long story, but he was kidnapped and that was the catalyst for Spice to lose it, so maybe when he finds out his son is alive he'll be able to actually find purpose other than whatever it is he's doing now.”

Pure Vanilla mulled over the thought, on one hand, the possibility of finally getting Burning Spice to turn a new leaf was enticing, but he also didn’t want to potentially put this cookie, who already appeared to have some issues, into a position that could make them worse. “We'll see what he goes with.” He decided.

Chapter 2

Summary:

Uncle Blueberry Yogurt Shadow Milk!

Chapter Text

Capsaicin kept zoning out just waiting for the two others to return. When they did, he was almost immediately suggested the deal, which was accepted without hesitation. He turned to smile at his partners, while Kouign-Amann was unsure, she trusted his judgement, Prune Juice reassuring her too that this was a good idea. Shadow Milk opened a shimmering blue portal with his staff, leading to just outside an entrance to white tower.
“After you!~” Shadow Milk spoke with something of a melodic tone now, he took a step forward before he felt Kouign pull him back.
“What if it's a trap-?”
“Listen…I can't remember your name, but in any case, I can assure you that I have no malicious intentions, partly because if Spice found out, I'd get a parashu to the face.”
“What's a parashu?”
“It's like a big axe, and I can tell you from experience that it is not pleasant being hit with it.”
He nodded, fair enough, stepping through the portal, expecting some sort of vertigo or something but he felt nothing, like he'd just taken a step forward, except now in a completely different area. Prune and Kouign went next, followed by Pure Vanilla and finally Shadow Milk who closed the portal behind him. The tower was huge, reaching high into the clouds.
Shadow Milk walked over, or more accurately, floated over, now that he thought about it, had he even seen them touch the ground?
He opened the large doors with a flick, revealing the long hallways and an absurd amount of stairs. He heard Prune groan behind him at the sight, stifling a laugh, Prune's greatest enemy. Stairs.
Shadow Milk headed in, beckoning them to follow, he felt weird here, nothing felt right.

Prune Juice watched Capsaicin closely, he kept looking around as if trying to find something. They heard the slight clink of chains as Capsaicin pulled on them, not fast enough to stop him, Kouign-Amann being too on edge herself to notice.
“Saw that.”
Capsaicin's went red, quickly changing to scratching around the shackle instead.
“I'm going to remove those extra links one day if you keep doing that.” He warned, they'd remove the whole cuff if they could, but whoever put it on, had made sure it wouldn't come off easily.
He watched as Shadow Milk floated up the stairs effortlessly, the others following, hit with jealousy, they wished they could do that. He took a few slow painful steps up, every step cursing his dough for being like this. Looking up to see everyone was already at the top, he groaned, swallowing their pride.
“Kouign? Can you-”
She was already back down to them before they even finished their sentence.
“Thanks.”
She knelt down as they wrapped their arms around her before she stood, picking his legs up while doing so, shuffling quickly before catching back up with the others.
“It's really not that bad.” He heard Shadow Milk teasing, Pure Vanilla sending him a look, before they could even respond, both Kouign and Capsaicin immediately came to their defence.
“That's easy for you to say! You can float!”
“They have frail dough, stairs are hard.”
The way Shadow Milk froze at the mention of their dough made them glare at Capsaicin for bringing it up before Shadow Milk broke in laughter,
“You really are just like him! A cookie with frail dough! What are the chances!?”
“What? You mean Burning Spice, the great de-” Cutting themselves off, as Capsaicin turned to look at him, deciding to leave that for later. “Burning Spice was close to a cookie with frail dough?”
“Yep! He's still close with him today!~”
They'd believe that when they saw it.

Shadow Milk hesitated outside the room that all those years ago became Capsaicin's playroom for when they would all meet at the spire. He hadn't been in here since Burning Spice had told him. Closing his eyes, he pushed open the door,
It looked exactly like it had been left, there wasn't even any dust, like the room ceased to exist until he opened the door to it.
He turned to face everyone, Vanilla looked at him with a soft expression, “I didn't notice this door when I was here.”
He rolled his eyes, “There were plenty of things you didn’t notice, you didn't know where to look.”
Prune Juice and Kouign-Amann both cooed at sight, it looked like a typical child's room. There was still soft furnishings, a bed for when he wanted naps, although he always preferred his father's arms. A few stone tablets with a long lost language, likely just an alphabet and some practise sentences, judging by the few clay ones with far less neat writing nearby, a few glass blobs from when Capsaicin learnt he was able to make and mould glass with his hands, the walls had a few scorch marks. They were around 5 when they started developing their abilities, heating themselves up was one, just turning 6 as another developed, being him slamming the ground and creating small craters, a small bit of magma spilling in, the latter thankfully never being done here. On the floor were Capsaicin's favourite toys, clay figurines of each of the wild spice tribes, Spice had spent ages making each one perfect, and it showed, the details still holding up all these years later. He had made a set for Capsaicin to play with here during meetings as well as back at the temple. One lone plush toy, the sight would strike fear into all of the beasts, except him, as he'd been the one to make it. He turned to look at Capsaicin, who looked like they'd seen a ghost.

Capsaicin stared in the room, he felt something stirring deep inside him as he entered, looking down at the little clay figurines on the ground, as well as the plush toy. He sat down cross legged on the floor to see them better, all various creatures and cookies that seemed so familiar and yet not at the same time. Picking up the plush, it was a very light cream, long limbs, had a long thin tail, black button eyes with a light brown face with large, what appeared to be, ears.
“Fi!” Saying the first thing that came to his head, he heard Shadow Milk started laughing behind him.
“Of course that's the first thing you pick up! And you even made the noise!” He sounded close to tears,
“You used to terrorise us with that thing, screaming ‘Fi!’ at the top of your lungs!” He turned to face Shadow Milk, who looked… different. Kinder. Taller too? Or had he gotten smaller? The gem on their chest moving to the staff. They had a little crown on their head too, their clothes now had much more gold accents.
Where'd the plush go? He was just holding it.
“You like your toys, little spice?” Their voice was softer too, he tried to speak but his own voice sounded different and wouldn't say what he wanted.
“Why do you look like that?”
“Yeah! Look at this one, it's a tumeric pig! They're Dad's advisors.” He felt like he had lost control of his body as it moved on its own, picking up a figurine, showing it to the new Shadow Milk in front of him.
“What about this one?” They gestured to another figurine, before he picked it up.
“What's going on?”
“This is a saffron buffalo, they're very strong and make sure the Land of Spice is protected!”
“Very good! These two?” They gestured again,
“That one's a pepper pangolin, Dad says they're a bit skittish but they're good fighters!” His voice sounded so bright and excited, “And this is a cilantro cobra, Dad calls them ‘snitches’, I'm not sure what that means.” He gasped, “Dad said I wasn't to tell anyone that! You won't tell him, will you?” He pleaded, the other Shadow Milk tried to hold back laughter,
“Why do I sound so… little?”
“I won't, don't worry.” They handed the final clay toy to him, “What about this one?” He felt his chest light up.
“This one's a nutmeg tiger! Dad says they're very loyal and will keep me safe!” He felt as they ruffled his hair,
“As if you need any more protection! Spice rarely lets you out of his sight!” The other Shadow Milk teasing him, he watched his little hands swatting away at theirs while laughing. “Blueberry! Stop!!”
Wait, Blueberry? He had called Shadow Milk that before…
“It's a memory!”
Suddenly noticing his bare wrists sticking out, he'd never seen himself without them.
“I don't have shackles!”
“Blueberry Yogurt!” A new voice, one far rougher than anyone he'd heard before, but yet still carrying a warm feeling with it. “You better be gentle with my little spice!” The voice sounded like it was getting closer.
“That must be him.”
He held his breath as he saw a red hand on the doorframe.

“Capsaicin!” Blueberry Yogurt was shaking him, their voice had changed, he sounded… feminine? He looked frantic, “Capsaicin! Wake up!” One second, his dad was coming, he wanted to see him.
The face in the doorway was now cream, coated in gold and white, their hand was red before?
“Is he okay?”
Blueberry Yogurt was pink now, he swore they were blue a second ago…
“Capsaicin!!!”

Shadow Milk had not been expecting that, he had come in to tell Capsaicin more little stories about the plush, then about each figurine except when they turned to face him, his eyes were staring at something else entirely, in a whole different world, they had begun to mumble something. After a bit, lifting his hands only being able to make out ‘shackles’ before Kouign-Amann launched herself at him, shaking him, trying to get him back to reality.
“It's not real! You aren't there again!”
Prune Juice was yelling, noticeably keeping their distance. Eventually Capsaicin came too, looking around frantically before he jumped up and ran towards the door, slamming into Pure Vanilla, who barely managed to stay upright.
“Are you okay sweetheart?” Kouign-Amann stood up, following him to the door.
“I was a kid again!” He whipped around and pointed at him, “You were there, you had a crown and the gem thing was on your staff! You were Blueberry Yogurt!”
While it hadn't been exactly the test he planned, it certainly provided the result he wanted. This was undeniably Burning Spice's son.
“You were talking about shackles though?” Kouign-Amann asked, rubbing Capsaicin's back,
“I didn’t have any, it was so weird to see!” He was looking down at his wrists.
“Does this mean Shadow Milk is telling the truth?” He heard Vanilla's voice, it held the slightest bit of glee, making him scowl.
Prune Juice approached him, whispering,
“How long has it been since you've seen Capsaicin?” They sounded nervous, scared even.
“Hmm… well they disappeared when they were 8, nearly 9, and we were sealed about 5 years later… we were sealed for I believe 5,000 years give or take?” He turned to Prune Juice who looked mortified, gazing mournfully at Capsaicin.
“How long were you in that cave?…” That caught his attention.

“Cave?! What are you talking about-?” Prune Juice tried to silence him but Capsaicin turned around,
“Why are you talking about that?” He sounded apprehensive.
They struggled to figure out how to phrase this carefully, before deciding to just rip the bandage off. “Capsaicin, how long do you think you were locked away?”
Ignoring the look Kouign gave them, they saw Capsaicin stop, thinking for a moment before answering, “Well, Ghost Pepper said I looked about 10 when he found me…”
Shadow Milk leaned over to him, “Who's that?”
Capsaicin had a bad habit of never introducing someone, instead assuming everyone knew who he was talking about, whispering back, “He's the Headmaster of Scovillia.”
“It might have been maybe a few years? Four at the most? I mean, I couldn't see the sun so it was hard to track the days.” Saying it so casually as if it was a normal experience. “I do know Ghost Pepper has looked after me for the past 14 years.”
They felt Shadow Milk shuffle next to them, realising how uncomfortable the next conversation was going to be.
“Capsaicin.” Shadow Milk headed over, “I don't know for certain when you were locked away, but if it's when I think…” Shadow Milk paused, as if trying to figure out how to phase it, “Before the Ancients were even baked, likely before even we were sealed.”

Shadow Milk waited for Capsaicin's reaction, they seemed to be in disbelief, as he expected anyone would react to such news. He started trying to form a response but only managing a word before changing, quickly devolving into distress, they began grabbing at their hair, pulling out a chunk, the fiery orange almost instantly dimming into grey. He tried to grab their hands to stop them from trying again, Capsaicin quickly overpowering him, he's Spice's son, of course he isn't going to be strong enough to stop them. Kouign-Amann grabbed their hands before trying to soothe him, managing to at least get them to stop pulling at their hair. He turned to Prune Juice, who didn't move closer until Kouign-Amann gestured for them, he couldn't help but notice the slight hesitation before going closer, they seemed to avoid Capsaicin when he was in one of these states.
“Someone must've known I was there! I wasn't just left to be forgotten…right?...” Their voice was breaking.
He didn't even think about that. At least, in some way, no one forgot about him and the other beasts, the faeries on guard, unable to forget.
They had each other too, even if by the second day they were already at each other's throats.
Capsaicin had been all alone, likely forgotten and so much younger. Whoever did this are lucky to have already crumbled, because they certainly would've wished they were by the time he got to them.

Chapter 3

Summary:

Cap is dealing with a lot, also a time where Capsaicin lost control

Chapter Text

Shadow Milk watched the three, Capsaicin at one point picking the Kulfi plush up again, having it in his lap as he hugged it claiming they ‘felt like they missed it.’ He couldn't wait to see the reactions of the other beasts, the excitement of Capsaicin returning and then the terror as they saw him holding that dreaded doll. White Flour had accused him of putting some kind of magic on it, turning the normally sweet, gentle and innocent little child into a feral creature even Red Spice struggled to contain, he hadn't actually, at least not intentionally.
“What did I do?... to get locked away for so long…” Capsaicin held the plush tighter, he could see the lava tears beginning to form at the corners of their eyes. Thanking his past self for the foresight of coating the toy in layers of heat and fire proofing magic, as a tear fell and slid off, not burning the soft fabric at all.
“You were only just about to turn 9, Capsaicin.” Pure Vanilla knelt down in front of them, a hand on their shoulder, “Nothing you did could've been your fault.”
“But what if I hurt someone!” They sniffed, “I must have…” Capsaicin looked at Prune Juice before looking down at their gloved hand, letting out another wail before burying his face into the plush.

Prune Juice sighed, “Caps…You and I both know that was an accident, you didn't mean to hurt me.” Gently kissing his cheek, “I know you would never.”
“But I did.” His voice muffled, not lifting his head up from the plush.
“What happened? If I may ask?” Pure Vanilla looked concerned, not able to answer before Shadow Milk added,
“Is it related to the way you avoid him when he's all riled up?”
They were going to crumble that jester.
“You are afraid of me! I knew it!” Kouign quickly returned to reassuring him.
“You just had to say something.” He scowled at Shadow Milk.
“If you must know.” He began, “It was a nightmare and we believe Capsaicin thought I was attacking him.” He tried not to go into detail, mainly for Capsaicin's sake, he'd never say the full story in front of him. He could tell however, the other cookies were deeply curious, he sighed. “Not here.”
Shadow Milk nodded, gesturing for them to follow, before opening a door in the walkway, seemingly out of thin air. “Don't think about it too hard, you'll lose it.” A slight teasing tone as he looked at Pure Vanilla, who seemed less than impressed at the comment, before walking in, they followed, the door closing behind them.
He was a light sleeper so he felt the way Capsaicin started stirring uncomfortably next to him, the muttering and barely audible sobs immediately causing alarm, waking Kouign up as well.
“We're here Cap, you want to wake up?” Trying to soothe him, knowing his nightmares were never pleasant.
Kouign groggily beginning to calm him as well,“Hey sweetheart, it's okay, it's not real-”
Capsaicin shot up, his eyes open but it was obvious he wasn't awake.
Before he even thought about moving, Capsaicin grabbed them, crushing their hand in his grip, already feeling their dough cracking.
“You can't leave me here! Please!” He pleaded, his eyes unrecognising, full of desperation.
“Capsaicin stop! You're hurting him!” Kouign screamed, now wide awake as she tried to pull him off.
“What did I do?! Why are you doing this?!” He pulled them closer, grip tightening now around their forearm.
Desperately trying to free their hand, they began slamming their fist from their free arm against him, “Cap! It's me! Prune! Let go!”
Capsaicin's eyes looked wild with fear and hatred, “You betrayed me!” Capsaicin grew angrier by the second, trying to grab their other arm, “How can you do this?!”
Ghost Pepper burst in, probably hearing the commotion. He and Kouign managed to get Capsaicin to let go before telling her to take them to a medic.

Taking off one of his gloves to reveal a scarred over crack on his hand, rolling up their undershirt, the scar continuing up their arm.
“It looks worse than it is.”
It only looked so bad because of their frail dough, it was just unfortunate that they were the one to be grabbed. “Cap refused to leave his room for a month after, too afraid of hurting anyone else.”
They and Kouign would sit by the door and talk to him through it, not that he would answer. They just wanted him to know they didn’t blame him. They looked back at the two cookies as they rolled their sleeve down, before putting the glove back on.
Pure Vanilla covering his mouth, appearing distraught. Glancing to Shadow Milk, who was lost in his own thoughts.
“Don't tell him about this, he already feels guilty enough.” They both nodded before leaving the weird door from nowhere.

Kouign rubbed Capsaicin's back, his sobs quieted down as she leaned on him, he liked physical contact, and she was all too happy to give it to him.
“You feeling better, honey?” She felt him nod as the weird door the others had gone in opened.
“How long have we been here?” She asked no one in particular, suddenly aware of how much time had passed.
“Don't ask me, apparently I can't tell the difference between 4 years and 5,000 years.” Capsaicin's muffled voice spoke up behind her, his tone light and joking, despite that, she could hear the slight bitterness underneath.
“We should get home.” Prune shuffled nervously, “I have… lessons in the morning.”
“You just want to make more potions.” She teased,
“I have clients who are expecting orders!” He protested, “Besides, don't you and Cap have like… training to do or whatever.” Deflection, the classic Prune tactic. She opened her mouth to retort before Capsaicin spoke instead.
“I'm not in the mood, I think I need to talk to Ghost Pepper about some things.” He fiddled with the long arms on the plush, not looking over at them. She glanced at Prune, both knew that Capsaicin was rarely not in the mood to train.
“We can escort you all back.” Pure Vanilla offered, all accepting, partly because there wasn't really another option.

Shadow Milk opened the portals to the Parfaedia Institute and Crème Knights Academy, saying their goodbyes with hugs and kisses to each other as they left. He opened the portal to Scovillia before he glanced at Pure Vanilla,
“Are you going to ask or will I?”
“Capsaicin, we believe you may be a lot of help in getting Burning Spice to accept our offer of redemption. I understand if this is too much, but I-”
“I will help.” They were still holding the plush, no one pushed the issue, those who would weren't here. “I don't know how Ghost Pepper will react.” It was pretty obvious that they viewed the Headmaster as a father figure.
He noticed the glow that Capsaicin naturally gave off faded. Even after all these years, the natural glow they gave off with their hair faded when they got tired, the cracks in their horns slowing the lava inside them slowed down too, making it impossible for them to lie about ‘not being sleepy’ when they were young.
“We can talk about it in the morning. You're tired, aren't you?” He offered, almost bursting into laughter at the look of surprise they gave him.
“How does everyone seem to know when I'm getting tired? I don't get it!” The glow fading more, as he opened the portal, close to the entrance.
“Thank you, Blueberry.” He barely was able to register what was said before he felt their arms wrap around him then letting go before he could hug them back, walking through the portal, he closed it behind them.
“Goodnight, little spice.”

Chapter 4

Summary:

Lore time baby!!
Meeting Capsaicin's Guardians from the past and present!
And what they say about him

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Two nutmeg tigers stood in front of him, both had white flecks in their fur, they were older than many other nutmeg tigers he'd seen. One was slightly taller, and had a more reddish tone to their fur, the other a more brown tone.
“Thank you, Great Herald of Change, for trusting us with such a responsibility.” The reddish toned one spoke, bowing deeply, followed by the brown toned one.
“I could trust none else with something so important.”
He felt his dad's hands on his shoulders as the tigers looked up at him,
“Little Spice, this is Jaiphal Tiger.” Gesturing to the reddish toned one, then to the brown toned one, “And this is Javitri Tiger. They are to be your guardians when I am busy.” Why couldn't he just stay with Dad all the time?
“It is a pleasure to meet you, Grand Ember.” Jaiphal spoke first, her voice was kind, a few scars littered her dough but such a sight was common here.
“I hope we fulfil your expectations, Great Herald.” Javitri added, her tone more serious.

 

“What are you doing, Ember?” Jaiphal found him hiding under a chair, softly laughing at the sight.
“Javitri is being mean! She won't let me play.” He crawled out as she laid down, her four legs tucked underneath her. “She tried to lock me in a room with Curcumin Pig!”
He shuffled close to Jaiphal, before leaning against her, holding his tail.
“Curcumin Pig is your tutor, and it is time for your lessons.”
“But they're so boring! Why can't you be my tutor?” Looking up at her, “You're more fun!”
She smiled softly, “I shall accept the compliment, but the Herald would be most displeased by you skipping your lessons.”
“He would?” He wanted to make his dad proud, not displeased.
“Certainly.” She stood up taking his hand in hers, before a frantic Javitri came skidding into sight, her fur standing on edge,
“Grand Ember! You cannot run off like that!” She sounded stressed and very annoyed. “What if you had gotten hurt?! Come with me.” Taking his hand from Jaiphal and beginning to storm off in the direction of his lessons, Jaiphal waved at him from where she stood.

Waking up, he wasn't sure if the dream he had was just that, or some long forgotten memory.
At the very least it wasn't a nightmare, although something about Jaiphal made his stomach turn.
Looking around, the intricately carved sandstone had gone, replaced by the same walls he knew, his room at Scovillia, but now felt different. Yesterday had opened a door and now he couldn't close it. He looked at the plush at the end of his bed, suddenly feeling guilty, he had this nagging feeling it was supposed to stay at the Spire. He went to leave his room for breakfast, hesitating at the door, why did he want to bring it. Closing the door behind him, he'd be back later, he'd take it then.

Shadow Milk heard Pure Vanilla leave his chambers, who, unlike him, had slept. He'd been pacing back and forth all night, trying to figure out what happened, before Vanilla had even fully opened the door, he practically jumped on him,
“Nilly! You're awake! Finally! Let's go.” Already summoning the portal to Scovillia, if Capsaicin still had the same sleep schedule, they'd be up at the crack of dawn to watch the sunrise with Spice, it was already mid morning! Vanilla just laughed as he pushed him through the portal, he was wasting time!
Immediately being hit in the face with the heat in the air as he stepped through after Vanilla, he was not built for spice, already feeling overheated although it was milder than the one on Beast-Yeast, thankfully.
The school stood before them, he noticed a few young spice cookies running around, one carrying a large axe, what is with spice cookies and giant axes?
“What are you guys doing here?!”
He'd looked away for a second, a second! And the two spice cookies now stood in front of them. “You guys don't look spicy.”
“Do you know where we could find the Headmaster?” Vanilla asked, his voice sounded so soft and gentle compared to the borderline yelling of the two spice cookies.
“The Headmaster? Uhh.. probably his office, I don't know.” One shrugged, “He likes to move around-”
“There he is!” The one with the axe swung it, almost taking his head off, had he not jumped back into Vanilla, using the axe to point at an older cookie wearing a horned helmet. He should've pretended that they did cut his head off, if only to teach the kid a lesson about being more aware of their surroundings.
“Lil’ Pepper! Try and be a bit more careful around guests please!” The Headmaster was already over, lightly scolding the cookie with the axe, “It's too early to have someone already being sent to the infirmary!”
“Sorry Headmaster!” Hiding the axe behind them, except it was bigger than them, so it did little in the hiding department.
“Off you go then, try not to cause too much trouble!”
The two spice cookies giggling and running off, axe still in tow.
The Headmaster watched the two before turning to them, “Kids, amiright?”
They were holding another axe, this is getting ridiculous, leaning on it as if it was a cane. Although, on closer inspection, it appeared to be a guitar, still, it was shaped like an axe.
“Hello, it is a pleasure to meet you.” Vanilla greeted. The cookie swinging the axe guitar, or was it guitar axe, to his back before answering.
“Likewise!” The Headmaster holding out an armoured hand which Vanilla shook. “Caps said you'd be around some time this morning. Come! Quickly, before the little ones start trying to fight you!” He couldn't tell if they were joking or not.
The Headmaster brought them into their office, less of an office and more of a small apartment, he noticed Capsaicin was lying on his back on a couch, his cape splayed out to the side, the same with his tail, holding the kulfi that he had seemingly grown attached to overnight, in the air above them, he looked like he was demanding answers from it.
The Headmaster sat down next to him, ruffling his hair, making it flare up. “You have guests!”
“Ghost Pepper!” Capsaicin sat up, glaring annoyed at them, holding his arm over his hair, “I just got it under control!”
He could tell these two didn't have the usual relationship one would expect from a headmaster and student, far more paternal, Capsaicin did say it was them who found him, it would make sense that they felt responsible for caring for him from then on.
“Actually, Headmaster, could we speak to you privately first?” He asked, he wanted to know as much as he could and it seemed no one wanted to talk while Capsaicin was around.
“Wait, why-?” He stood up,
“Of course! No problem! I'll call for you when I'm done, okay?” They began to lead Capsaicin out, before he turned around with a look of defiance.
“This is about me!” Their tone is fed up, “Why does everyone do this?”
He saw Vanilla stand, “If Capsaicin wishes to be present, I don't see why he shouldn't be.” He spoke with authority, but still with his signature gentleness.
“See!” He gestured to Vanilla, “I'm not a kid anymore!”
Ghost Pepper seemed surprised by the small outburst, “Capsaicin, what's gotten into you?”
“I can't keep hiding from everything, that's why I'm in this situation. Shoving everything away because I don't want to confront it!” He couldn't help notice the familiar glint in his eyes, the way his hair began to react, growing wilder. “I want to know these things, I deserve to know these things!”
“Are you sure?” Ghost Pepper put their hands on Capsaicin's shoulder, calming him, he nodded, “Very well.”

Capsaicin and Ghost Pepper sat back down, across from Pure Vanilla and Shadow Milk.
“How much have you told them?” Vanilla seemed a bit on edge, but still trying not to show it.
“Enough for me to be concerned.” Ghost Pepper answered for him, “I always knew he was something else, that he wasn't a normal cookie, he looked so young but everything around him was ancient. I didn't go looking for answers. I had my suspicions about his… origin, I just wanted him to have a normal life.” He looked away from him as he spoke, probably embarrassed from talking about him, “He means a lot to me, at the end of the day, he is my student and my students safety and wellbeing is my top priority.” It was far from unheard of for him to openly praise his students, but it still sounded nice to hear how much he cared about him.
“I assure you, we have Capsaicin's best interests in mind!” Vanilla smiled, reassuring him.
“I don't think you do.”
The sudden tone change gave him whiplash, unable to even ask what caused it before Shadow Milk stood up, shoving a finger into Ghost Pepper's face, “And who are you to say that?! An ordinary cookie like yourself has no place raising him!”
He watched as Pure Vanilla's hands trying to pull them back to sit,
“Shadow Milk, please, there's no need to act like this.”
Despite not being able to see his eyes, he could tell the Headmaster was scowling as he pushed their finger from his face,
“And what should I have done? Offer him up to the Wild Spices as a child? Or give him to the Faerie Kingdom to be locked away again?” Leaning forward, “Tell me, oh great Fount of Knowledge.” Their words dripped with sarcasm and venom. He'd never heard him sound like this before. Glancing over to Shadow Milk, he saw their grip on their staff tighten.
“That's enough, let's all calm down.” Pure Vanilla stepped in, breaking the tension, “You both clearly care a great deal about Capsaicin. There's no need to argue.” The two relented.

Ghost Pepper sat back with a sigh, he didn't mean to be so hostile, he just wanted to keep Cap safe. “My apologies, I just don't want to see Cap get hurt, or used as some pawn in someone else's game.” Looking over to him, unable to not see the scared child he had found. He didn't deserve that, after everything he's been through already. “Did you tell them anything about how I found you? The days, weeks, years after?” He shook his head.

He walked through the open caves, he'd gone treasure hunting in Dragon's Valley, now deep in the vast cave system underground, looking for anything useful. The faintest cries from what sounded like a child caught his attention, it could be a trap but he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he didn't make sure, no matter how bizarre the circumstances.
Coming across a small tunnel, shooting off the main system, where the crying sounded to be originating from. Seeing the glow of lava kept his nerves alight, reading his axe to attack if this was a trap.

It was a child. Curled up on a small rocky platform, a narrow strip of rock connected at the back to where he was, otherwise they were surrounded by lava. They didn't look older than 10, a spice cookie like him, although unlike any he'd seen before. His heart broke at the sight, they were chained to the wall opposite the entrance, thick iron cuffs around their wrists and neck. Their clothes merely holding on by threads, their long bright orange hair almost looked like lava itself, a tail curled around them, a tuft of the same orange hair on the end.. They hadn't noticed him yet, he approached carefully, putting his axe away partially, still unsure if this was a set up, walking across the thin ledge, “Are you okay-?”
The child screamed in fright, almost falling into the lava next to them.
“Get away! I'll hurt you!” They sounded terrified, trying to back away from him before the chain around their throat stopped them. He took a step towards them, their eyes wide and afraid, tail thrashing against the ground, they looked like a frightened animal caught in a trap, despite claiming they were to be feared, now that they faced him, he noticed the cross shaped scar on their forehead.
“I'm not a threat, I promise!” He reached over to touch them, they only tried to get away further, even if they were unable too.
“No! I'll hurt you! I'm dangerous!”
“I don't believe that, let me help you.” He took another step forward before he felt a surge of heat and spice in front of him, causing him to back off. Looking back to see the small child now twice his size, made of lava.
“See!?” The cave shook with the noise, “I was made to destroy!” They moved forward only a few steps, still keeping their distance, “I deserve to be locked away.”
There was no aggression or hostility in their voice,
“I don't believe that.” He took another step forward again, making them retreat, even in this form, proving his point.
“Can you go back to the way you were before? I will help you. I'll get you out of here.” It was strange talking in such a way to what most would assume was a monster.
They hesitated, “Why aren't you afraid of me?”
“Because you're just scared.”
They shrunk back down into the kid, trembling as he approached until he was right in front of them, kneeling to be less threatening.
“Can you give me your hand?” He wanted to see if there was some lock or way to get the cuffs off, but he could see the scarred and damaged dough around their neck and wrists, from where the iron had rubbed against it, it was pretty extensive, especially around their wrists, they'd been down here for a while. Unable to find a way to remove the shackles, he decided on the next best option for now.
Gently leading them closer to the wall, “Cover your ears, it's going to be quite loud.” Waiting for them to do so before bringing his axe down on the chains links again and again, eventually breaking them, there was still a long trail left, as he didn’t want to scare them by striking near their hands, the cuffs would be removed first thing. He picked them up, the kid leaning into his chest, their tail curling around him before falling asleep as he started his way to exit.

He smiled a bit with the last line, it had been the moment that caused him to keep Capsaicin.
“He was terrified, constantly wanting to be touched but also afraid to let anyone touch him.” He was glad the helmet hid his tears, the sight of him in that cave haunted him, he felt Cap's hand on his arm, before feeling the cold metal brush against him. “I managed to get the one on his neck off. The wrists had… complications.”
Immediately feeling him pulling his hand away as he spoke,
“What do you mean by that?” Shadow Milk furrowed their brow. He couldn't bring himself to say it, imagining someone doing that to a cookie so young made him sick.

He had a bunch of ironworking tools laid out in front of him, the neck cuff lay discarded to the side, he didn't know what to do with it, he'd probably destroy the thing. Turning his attention back to the child, yet to even say their name. He held the left shackle in his hand, deciding a course of action, going to move it before their other hand grasped his own.
“Don't try to twist them please.” Their tiny voice still so full of fear. “They don't move.”
“What do you mean?” Carefully moving their hand around before seeing something he'd never forget, a jagged bar of iron, going right through their tiny wrist, the dough had healed around where it entered, from what he could see, the scarring looked messy. Each end of the bar attached to the cuff. He looked back at their eyes before they quickly looked away, ashamed.
“They wanted to make sure I couldn't escape.”

“Everyone I've asked to try and remove them has said it's too risky, that he might lose all function in his hands. I ended up having to leave it on, just shortening the chain links.” Glancing at Cap who had the one of shortened links in hands, and was subtly tugging on it, quickly grabbing his hands to stop him.
“Side note, if you see him pulling at the links, tell him off, it's a bad habit he's got.” Cap looked away, embarrassed at being called out. He wanted to remove all the links when he found that out, but Capsaicin refused and he'd sworn that he'd never make him do something he didn't want.

Shadow Milk felt his nails digging into the fabric of the couch, he was shaking with anger.
Vanilla looked mortified, covering his mouth with his hands, almost on the verge of tears.
He forced himself to not snap, no one here had been responsible and Capsaicin was right there. But that didn't stop him from wanting to tear everything around him apart.
Capsaicin wasn't even his!
Despite that, he was still very close to them growing up, the closest beast besides Spice of course. He could only imagine how Spice would react to this.
“Who's ‘They'?” He managed to get out through gritted teeth.
“I don't remember.” He answered, or he didn't want to say.
Ghost Pepper repositioned themselves, “I'm hoping you might be able to answer a few questions I have.”
Capsaicin looked almost curious.
“I can try.”
“For 7 years after I found him, he refused to sleep alone. Which you'd expect, but this seemed… different.”
Watching the way Capsaicin awkwardly shuffled as they continued, “If I tried to encourage him to sleep alone, he'd have panic attacks, crying that they'd take him again.”
The image of the outside of Capsaicin's room that night flashed in his mind, the jam and spice across the floor, the crumbled body of the guard who had tried their best to fend off the assailants.
“At first I assumed it was some kind of separation anxiety, which was likely a part of it. But even when he started gaining confidence, he just could not stand the idea of sleeping alone. Not sharing a bed, just needed someone else in the same room.” They looked up at him, “Any ideas?”

Blueberry Yogurt watched as Red Spice paced back and forth in the temple, his black hair torn out in clumps littering the floor around him. “I should've never let him sleep without me! He was too young!”
He had received a letter telling him of the situation, teleporting immediately to be by Spice's side during what could only be described as his worst nightmare.
“Plenty of children sleep on their own at that age! You had a guard outside, you did everything you could.” He hoped Capsaicin hadn't seen the body, it would've devastated them. “I’m sure you will find him. You have your entire army out in search, they can't have gone that far.” He offered, trying in vain to get him to stop pulling at his hair, unable to even stop one set, let alone the other.
“He begged me too, he wanted to prove that he was brave!” The boy had always wanted to prove himself to his dad, not realising that his mere existence was enough for Spice to love him unconditionally. “The first night he sleeps alone, he gets taken!”

He left out the mention of the body, not able to have that conversation now with them.

“That explains it.” Ghost Pepper remarked, mulling over what Shadow Milk had recounted before looking at Capsaicin, “Even if you didn't remember why, you subconsciously associated sleeping alone with being kidnapped.”
“That explains what happened with Prune too…” He mumbled.
He looked back at Shadow Milk, “What about food? Did he have any problems with that?”

“Are you hungry? You must be, let me get you some curry.” They hadn't been able to say how long they'd been down there, even if they hadn't appeared to lose any weight, something kept telling him it was far longer than one would survive food.
He placed the bowl in front of them, they just stared at it confused, “What do you want me to do?”
“It's food, it's spicy too, you'll like it, I promise!”
They looked back down at the bowl, “....What's food?”

“What? That's bizarre! He was absolutely ravenous whenever I saw him, just like his dad! Couldn't give him enough!” Shadow Milk answered, “He could eat you out of house and home and still ask for more!”
“Yeah, after learning what it was, he was the same!”
Snorting a little as Capsaicin buried his face in his hands as Ghost Pepper teased him, “Still is!”
Then a thought loomed in the back of head,
“You don't think he forgot what it was?” He'd been down there for so long and it seemed he'd forgotten quite a lot. Capsaicin did have souljam, that was one of the few things he'd managed to get Spice to admit too, the other one being his own dough, although that one was harder to hide. When you have 3 sets of arms and suddenly only have 2, questions are going to be asked. The souljam hadn't been a lot, enough to make him immortal, as Spice couldn't bear the thought of losing his son. Fate is so cruel sometimes.
“Maybe, I did have to teach him what a lot of things were. He was so scared of everything, afraid that either he'd hurt it or it'd hurt him.”
“Then how did he meet Kouign-Amann and Prune Juice?”
Capsaicin's eyes lit up, his tail quickly speeding up as he opened his mouth before Ghost Pepper put their arm on his, “For the sake of not being here all day, I'll tell them” They glanced at him, Capsaicin flushing as they explained, “Cap would talk to you for hours about them if you let him! They mean everything to him.”
Vanilla laughed softly beside him, Ghost Pepper smiled as he spoke, “Around 18, he finally felt like he could control his powers, he wanted to prove to himself. He easily became Scovillia's champion, no one else stood a chance!” Ruffling his hair with the final sentence, Capsaicin beaming at the praise.
The Headmaster continued telling him about the Triple Cone Cup, ranting about the second trial, much to Capsaicin's discomfort. He did agree with them, he thought it was absurd, even for a normal cookie, broadcasting their biggest insecurity in life for everyone to see just seemed needlessly callous.
“They're all together, polyamorous, I think it's called.”
They glanced over to Capsaicin who nodded with a little laugh, “It became official after they won another competition, this time working together.”
He was glad Capsaicin had been able to find someone, or two. “Was there anything else?”
“I believe everything is covered now, yes.” Vanilla spoke up, he was too busy trying to figure how he was going to word the question that would almost definitely cause problems.

Notes:

I hope y'all enjoy the way I wrote the flashbacks/memories/dreams

I feel like this way is more interesting to read, than just having the characters talk about it

Chapter 5

Summary:

The story behind ths plush and show and tell with Capsaicin! Also what does Shadow Milk know?

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

They continued chatting before Capsaicin picked up the plush that lay next to him, enjoying just fiddling with the limbs, it was better than fiddling with the chains. It was weird to think that he was the second oldest in the room, he was technically older than Ghost Pepper, the cookie who raised him! That was weird to think about.
“Awww, you still love the kulfi!” Shadow Milk cooed, what on Earthbread was a kulfi?
“The what?”
“The plush, it's a kulfi!” Oh, that explained the ‘Fi’ thing at least slightly.
“Did you want it back? Something did keep telling me it wasn't supposed to leave the Spire.”
Shadow Milk burst out laughing, “Not the banishment rule! Oh crumbs, that's amazing!” It took a few moments before they composed themselves to explain, “Remember how I told you about how you terrorised us with it?” He nodded, “Well the other beasts made a rule that it wasn't allowed to leave the Spire because none of them, especially Spice, wanted to deal with how feral you got when you had it!”
“What curses did you put on that thing?!” White Flour yelled at him, trying to avoid getting hit as a 5 year old Capsaicin sped through the halls, tail thrashing wildly, screeching at the top of their lungs. “Look at him!”
“Capsaicin!” Red Spice in pursuit of his wayward son, trying to grab the angavastram that was supposed to be neatly tucked into their dhoti, now loose and flapping behind them.
Sweet Sugar flying up to hide from the child's rampage, the same as him. “He was so quiet a moment ago…”
“Little Spice! Please calm down!” Spice continued to chase after his son, eventually managing to corner them with the help of Sea Salt.
Now they were still, you could see the wild look in their eyes, the rhythmic thumping of their tail against the ground.
“Capsaicin, can I please have the-” Red Spice began,
“FI!” They screamed, before smacking Red Spice in the face, using distraction to run off again screaming and giggling like mad.
“That wretched thing is not coming with us.” Red Spice turned to him, “It is not leaving the Spire. Ever.”

Capsaicin was bright red, burying his face in his hands, radiating heat. This was humiliating.
All of the other cookies were laughing, Ghost Pepper and Shadow Milk were crying, almost gasping for air.
He wanted to melt into the couch, he heard Ghost Pepper stop, feeling them about to put their hand on his shoulder before pulling away,
“Caps? You're getting a bit hot, are you still there?”
He nodded, forcing himself to cool down, “Just embarrassed, sorry.”
“Don't apologise!” He felt Ghost Pepper's gauntlets on his face, “We've been over this!”
“Can I ask something? What do you mean by are you there? Kouign-Amann said something similar.” Shadow Milk asked, he glanced at Ghost Pepper,
“Can I?”
“I'd prefer if you did it outside.”
“I wasn't planning on-!”
“I know! I know, come on.” He got up leading them all to the door.
Heading out, he asked Shadow Milk “Was I able to do much back then?” Who hummed in thought, “Around 5 years old, you learnt how to heat yourself up at will and summon fire, but when you turned 6, you started doing this thing where'd you punch the ground-”
“Oh! Boom fist!” He slammed his fists into the ground, causing the ground to crack open up, spanning a few lengths in front of him as it began to ooze magma. “Like that?” Turning back to Shadow Milk who had curled in on himself, still hovering.
“That's… certainly grown in strength…”
“Oh! But that's not the best part!” He was getting excited, “You might want to back up a bit…”
Letting his core heat up, allowing the magma beneath his dough to come pouring out.

Shadow Milk had to admit he was a bit concerned about what ‘the best part’ was, but when he saw Capsaicin's dough to break apart, their legs melting away into a pool as they begun to take a giant form, taller than some of the school buildings, and entirely made of magma, that was certainly not what he was expecting.
“Ta dah! Do you like it?” Their voice sounded so much deeper and muffled, yet still held the excitement as if they had just shown him a new drawing. Their black dough solidifying into the thick gauntlets on their hands.
“I call it, The Spice Overlord!”
He noticed the slightest expression change before they returned to excitement, he'd ask later.
He turned to Pure Vanilla, who had the appropriate reaction of shock, next to him, however, Ghost Pepper was completely unphased. “This is what you were talking about in the cave?!”
They nodded, “He was smaller there but same thing.” Pausing a moment, before snapping to look at him, “Wait, did you not know he could do this?”
“No?!”
This was bizarre, did Spice know about this?
He floated up towards Capsaicin's face, reaching out to touch it before they flinched back.
“Don't touch me, it is actual magma!”
“I don't get it, how is he not… ‘there’?”
“Oh, uh, one sec.” They shrunk down, the gauntlets breaking apart to seal all the magma back into their cookie form. “Well, sometimes I can lose control-”
“Of that?!” He was now almost too afraid to bring up the request, “Is there a way to get it back under control?”
“Well you can wait it out, see if I burn myself out…”
That didn't sound promising,
“Or there's the emergency potion. Puts me out pretty quickly, depending on how good the shot is, Prune makes them and we always have one lying around. It's only if I get really bad though. It hurts… a lot.”
Noted. He could feel Ghost Pepper glaring at him,
“Why? You don't plan to put him in stressful situations, do you?” They sounded hostile, he sighed, deciding to just let the cakehound out of the bag.
“I was going to see if we could take Capsaicin to the cave-”
“No.”
“Listen! It could tell us what happened! Who did this to him!” He yelled, he wanted to know who needed to pay for this.
“Whoever did this is long dead, all you are doing is tearing open a wound that I have desperately kept closed!” They glared at each other, neither wanting to back down. He knew this could be the thing that opens up Capsaicin's old memories, he needed to try.
“You talk about him as if he's not here.” Vanilla broke the two's focus, now staring at him, “Capsaicin. What do you think?”

Capsaicin hesitated, now with all 3 pairs of eyes on him, gulping, he didn't particularly want to relive those memories, but he wanted to know why, “I… I do want to see if the cave brings up anything.” He could tell Ghost Pepper was hurt, adding, “You gotta risk everything if you want to get stronger.”
“Don't use my words against me.” He could hear them laugh slightly, “If you're sure about this, I'll take you. I'm assuming you want to go now?”
He nodded, “I'll go get some stuff, were you going to let the other two know?”
“It might be better if they sit this one out…” He muttered, if it did cause him to remember, he can't imagine he'll be particularly safe to be around.
The Headmaster nodded, heading back into his office, likely to get the emergency potion, among other things.
“You're very brave, Capsaicin.” He heard Pure Vanilla behind him, “You should be proud.” He felt their hand on his shoulder, it was so light, similar to Prune.
“I try my best.” He smiled,
“Whatever happens, don't forget, you are loved.”

Capsaicin sat on the edge of the lava pool that kept the school hot, as they all waited for Ghost Pepper to return, he'd felt a weird sense of grief when he had said his nickname, he'd never felt that before, uncomfortable and annoyed, yes, but never sad.
“You remembered something, didn't you?” Shadow Milk was floating upside down, their face close to his, “You want to talk about it?” He sighed as he leaned back, now that the door was open, he'd have to get used to having strange new feelings about things he didn't before.
“Do you know where the name ‘Spice Overlord’ came from?” Letting himself fall back to the ground, “There's something there and I can't get it.”
They hummed for a moment, “You did like calling yourself that instead of your proper title, trying to get others to refer to you by that, including me!” They sat beside him facing the opposite way, “Of course, no one did, at least publicly, especially not in front of your dad.”
“What about my guardians?” Hating the way they froze,
“What do you remember about them?...” They sounded nervous, so that was a real memory, but they seemed nice enough in that, why was Shadow Milk so antsy about them.
“Did something happen to them?”
“Don't worry about it. You've got enough on your plate as is.”

Notes:

Just a small chapter, trying to update every 2 days!

Next chapter is big lore so thats fun!

Chapter 6

Summary:

Cave time!

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

The group, using Shadow Milk's magic, teleported closer to the area where the entrance to the cave system was. Ghost Pepper leading them through a cramped entry point that soon opened up into a massive cave system. Pure Vanilla used his staff to light the dark, the other hand holding Capsaicin.
He kept looking back at them, trying to gauge if there's any memories coming back, but they just seemed fascinated about the entire thing. That is, after about half an hour of walking, Capsaicin's hair flares up, causing all of them to stop. Pure Vanilla began comforting them, reminding them that they were safe.

Capsaicin could feel ringing in his ears now, he just felt like he was close, something deep inside of him screaming to leave. But he needed to face this, he kept walking, each step feeling heavier than the last until Ghost Pepper stopped,
“Down there.” His voice breaking, gesturing towards a small tunnel, clearly not fond of the memories he was getting.
“Could I see it first? There may be something left that I can use.” Shadow Milk asked,
“I'll go with you.” Pure Vanilla said, making it clear it wasn't a question, as he began to walk forward,
“We'll be right back, don't worry.”

As they entered the tunnel, Shadow Milk noted what looked like scratches against the side, very faint but still there, Vanilla noticed too, he looked different without his ridiculous hat, the tunnel too narrow to fit it, gently running his fingers across the scratches.
Neither needing to say what they thought.
Soon the tunnel opened up, he saw the chains left discarded still attached to the cave wall opposite the entrance, the floor almost entirely lava, save for a small rocky island in the center. Floating closer in, is when he noticed the obsidian, his heart dropping.

“Blueberry! I accidentally cut myself!” Capsaicin ran over, lava dripping from his hand, the moment it touched the floor, cooling into black shards of obsidian.
“I saw a cool sword and I went to play with it and-”
“We don't do that! You could've gotten seriously hurt!” He sat them on his lap, calling for some bandages and cold water. Which were quickly handed over, putting a strip of bandage into the water before wrapping it around the cut, solidifying the lava into obsidian, hissing as it cooled, as he continued to wrap their hand now with dry bandages. Capsaicin had such strange biology, the lava was still very hot but cooled incredibly easily. He had learnt that the typical methods of medicine were not applicable to them, healing magic tended to not work reliably on them either.

There were small splotches of the black shards everywhere now that he looked, hoping that some of it was just natural and not…

Capsaicin watched as Shadow Milk and Pure Vanilla returned, the beast looking a bit worse for wear,
“I guess it's my turn. I'll tell you when I'm done.” Pushing down the way he felt his core already heating up, doing his best to appear unbothered, despite how much turmoil was growing internally. Walking over to the tunnel, tuning out the others before taking the first step in felt like wading through honey, he was determined to do this. Seeing the ominous glow, he wanted to prove that he was stronger than this, that he could survive this. He just had to-
He felt himself get thrown in, face colliding with the small rock shelf bordering a lake of lava.
“What are you doing?! Where did you take me?!” He turned around, he felt small again, realising his wrists were free.
“So this is what happened…”
Mentally preparing for the worst.
“Remember, it's just a memory.”
The attackers looked to be various Wild Spices, he couldn't remember their names, if he even knew them to begin with.
“That was too easy, you would almost think he wanted you to get taken.” A saffron buffalo stood over him, “Embarrassing for the Herald to have such a pathetic weak spot.” They stomped their hoof onto his tail, leaning closer to his face, “To think we once believed him a god.”
He struggled against them, he wanted to cry, scream, but he couldn't, he needed to be strong, be brave.
“What do you want from me?” He demanded, trying his hardest to not cry.
The buffalo stepped off, as a cilantro cobra slinked forward,
“It'ssss not a quessstion of what we want from you, it isss a quesssstion of what we can get for you.”
“It's no secret the Herald adores his little Ember! What wouldn't he be willing to give up for your safe return?” A pepper pangolin spoke up from behind the cobra, a sly grin on their face.
“His soldiers? His souljam? The entire Land of Spice?” The buffalo roared, “Anything we want is now within our grasp!”
“You've made a mistake! When Dad finds you-!”
“We have taken many steps to avoid that scenario.”
He felt his heart drop, the feeling of panic setting in.
“If you let me go, I promise I won't tell anyone!” His only escape was blocked off by them all.
“Your promissssesss mean nothing!” The cilantro cobra spat, wiping jam off their katar with their fingers, flicking it at him, enjoying the way he flinched.
He could feel heart pounding against his chest, before the buffalo grabbed him,
“What do you-? Get off me!” He began trying to heat up, he needed to get away-
He felt searing pain all over him, suddenly so cold, looking over to see another buffalo holding a large matka.
“Looks like the eternal flames can be put out.” They had an awful grin, he couldn't stop himself from crying, he didn’t want to give them the satisfaction but it hurt so much. Unable to fight back as he felt the cold metal clang into place around his neck, followed by the ones on his wrists.
“Wouldn't want you running away on us now, would we?” He pulled against them, he felt them move slightly, stopping. He would wait for the right moment.

He stepped back, falling onto his hands, hearing a thud as he fell, the sediment cushioning his hands a little although the fall still ran through the bars, causing him hiss in pain.
The sensation causing him to realise they weren't there in that memory.
“Are you okay?” He heard Shadow Milk calling to him,
“I have answers!” He yelled back, “But still questions!” Heading back to them, he felt tired, muttering, “I really don't want to have to walk all the way back.” He tried to hide the fear in his voice, he knew there was more, and he didn't know if he was ready.

Shadow Milk heard Capsaicin's muttering and saw the tell tale dimming of their glow, offering “I can open a portal back to Scovillia?” All gladly accepting.
As he opened the portal, Capsaicin yawned, “I'm going to have a dip before we talk about this, that okay?”
A dip? A dip in what? Water?!
Cookies weren't supposed to go in water and he could certainly guarantee that also applied to Capsaicin, especially with his spice and flames.
“Of course. We'll wait.” Ghost Pepper casually allowed, only concerning him more.
As they walked through the portal, Capsaicin headed towards the lava pool they had talked at before.
Suddenly seeing a child Capsaicin tottering over to the lava, he went to grab him before he was blocked by Ghost Pepper's guitar axe, “I would stand back, splash zone and all.”
“What are you-?” Turning back to see the present Capsaicin casually jumping into the lava, splashing it everywhere, “Capsaicin!!” He rushed forward to the edge, not even sure what he was planning before Ghost Pepper started laughing, Vanilla, behind them, spoke, “I'm sure they know what they're doing, Shadow Milk.” He sounded unsure himself.
Yes, the kid could turn into lava but they were still a cookie! There were limitations! Even Spice couldn't just go for a dip in lava!
“I'm assuming you two can't touch it either?” Ghost Pepper asked, having composed himself, “If so, I'd give Cap space when he gets out from lava, the splash zone.” Before muttering, “I really need to mark it out…”
That's when lava went everywhere as Capsaicin emerged with as much grace as one would expect from them, that is to say, very little at all. Standing up and shaking his hair, only further flinging droplets of lava about. He turned to Ghost Pepper,
“Please tell me there's a story attached to how you found this out.”
They laughed, “Of course!”

“Capsaicin! This is not the place to mess around!” He had to go do errands in the valley and he always took this shortcut, he thought Capsaicin, now at 14, would be old enough to understand the dangers. But watching them jump from the rock borders around the lava pools, using their tail to keep balance, told him otherwise, his hands were full of various supplies, unable to keep them controlled.
“I'm just having fun! I don't get what the problem is-!”
Famous last words, the rock they'd jumped on was loose, sending them face first into the pool.
“Capsaicin!!” He dropped what he was holding and ran towards them, only to see them resurface unscathed. “See? It's nice!” Splashing around them, sending lava all over the place as they played, nearly hitting him with a few droplets.
“Did you know you could do that?
They shrugged, “When the only thing around you for a couple years is lava, eventually you get curious enough to touch it.”

“Caps has taken years of my life. But I wouldn't change it for anything.”

Notes:

Cave lore begins!

Chapter 7

Summary:

Origins of the Spice Overlord plus some shenanigans between Shadow Milk and Vanilla,
Some more flashbacks too!!

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

“Where are we going? Why isn't Dad with us?”
He was walking through a desert, holding Jaiphal Tiger's hand, “We are not far from the temple, the Herald wishes for you to gain some independence from him.” She answered, “And perhaps, the same for him.” She sat down, gesturing for him to follow. “Why do you call Dad Harold?” He asked, his tail naturally mimicking the slow movement of Jaiphal, who tucked her legs under her as he spoke, letting out a soft laugh at his question.
“Herald.” She corrected, “And the same reason you are called the Ember.” He ran his fingers through her fur, it was so soft, it was nice.
“But my name's Capsaicin, not Ember?”
“I know. But that is what we must call you.” He began playing with the sand, it felt coarse between his fingers.
“Can I have a spicier name?”
“What did you have in mind?” He leaned against her soft fur again,
“Dad said he used spice from every tribe to make me, right?”
“Yes, each tribe contributed the finest quality to your dough.”
He hummed, “What about… ‘Spice Overlord!’” He flung the sand for emphasis, causing her to laugh.
“That is not my decision to make, but I do believe it suits you.” She lowered her head in a bow, “Spice Overlord.”

Capsaicin opened his eyes, surrounded by the familiar embrace of lava, suddenly much more awake. Making his way to the surface, there was no way to exit it gracefully, it was thick, like wading through mud. He thought about the dream, is that where the name came from? His mind wandered back to what he remembered in the cave, time to talk about that. Looking up, he saw the three cookies in front of him, he couldn't help but laugh at Shadow Milk's expression, one of pure terror and shock, walking over, “Just went for a dip, what's the big deal?” He grinned, “You're acting like that should've crumbled me!”
“It should've!” They sputtered back, “I don't know a single other cookie that can do that!”
“Burning Spice can't?” Pure Vanilla asked, “That is strange.”
“Who knows what he put in your dough, I know a few things but he never told me the specifics.”
“Spices from each tribe is one.” Absentmindedly adding, quickly regretting speaking up, when Shadow Milk glanced at them with intrigue.
“How do you know that?” They leaned over him, despite him being taller and bigger, he still shrunk down under their gaze.
“Just a hunch…?” A forced smile on his face, trying his best to lie.
“Did you just try… to deceive me?” They look at him, incredibly amused by, judging from their reaction, a terrible attempt at their job.
“Maybe?”
“You're worse than Nilly! I didn't even think that was possible!” They started cackling,
“And yet, I deceived you.” Pure Vanilla had a look of satisfaction as Shadow Milk turned to scowl at him, before turning their attention back to him.
“Anyways!~ What did you find out?”

Shadow Milk thought as Capsaicin retold the memory from the cave, while it explained why they were taken, it also left questions. If the plan was to ransom them, why wasn't that done? The ‘extra security’ had gone unmentioned as well, he couldn't help but think there was a second part to this.
At the very least it gave the motive. He thought about what the next steps should be, notifying the other beasts and ancients is near the top of that list.
A part of him told him to skip them, go straight to Spice. Although the others may have good ideas on how to get more of the memories out, maybe just seeing them could make something click, like in the playroom.
About mid afternoon, he'd been able to supply a few of his own memories, as mundane as some where, it was impossible to deny the joy and intrigue it gave Capsaicin, knowing more about his forgotten life.
“There was one time you decided to play hide and seek in the Spire, except you forgot to tell anyone!”
He cackled, “Red Spice was just about having kittens!” He'd just taught them the game and didn't realise that making sure the seekers are aware that they were playing was an important step.

“We should get going.” Pure Vanilla suggested, “We have been here almost all day, I'm sure you'd like us both out of your hair for a while.” He looked at Shadow Milk, who didn't appreciate his reminiscing being interrupted.
“I suppose, I might see if I can hang out with Kouign and Prune tomorrow and get them all up to speed on everything.”
“Of course, I believe Shadow Milk has his own plans for tomorrow anyways.” He looked at him, confused, but kept quiet, summoning a portal to the Vanilla Kingdom.
“See both of you guys later!” Capsaicin hugged both of them as they left through the portal.
“What plans do I have tomorrow?” Shadow Milk asked almost instantly after he closed the portal. “Deciding the next step, where to go from here, I've called a meeting with both counterparts present.”
“Why would you-?! Don't spring something like this on me!” He grabbed his robe and shook him, before sulking off,
“I thought you enjoyed improvising?” Unable to hide his amusement he was getting from their reaction.
“This!” He snapped around, his head first then body, “This is different! This is major!” He watched as Shadow Milk began to pace, the eyes in his hair distressed.
Suddenly feeling guilty, he approached them, “I can cancel it?”
“No! I need to just rip the bandaid off and tell them!”
“If you'd like, I can help explain some things?” He offered, “So the burden isn't all on you?”
They waved him off, “No, they'll want to hear this from me, they know I was the closest to Spice and his son.” He sighed, appearing to run through possible concerns, “If you can keep Golden Cheese from interrupting me every three seconds, that would be nice.”
He chuckled, “I can try my best.” Golden Cheese was probably going to be the biggest obstacle they faced, she hated Burning Spice and he can't imagine her being thrilled about him having a son, even if they're nothing like him. “Can you tell me more about Red Spice?” He sat down as they sighed, “They were nothing like they are now. He'd be ashamed to see himself like this.” He sat down next to him, taking his hand in their own.
“It is beautiful, is it not?” Blueberry Yogurt looked over at Red Spice, the sun rising over the horizon, “I don't think I'll ever get bored of such a sight.”
“I doubt I will either.” He looked at them, the gold jewellery accented the red of his dough so perfectly. The red sash… no it wasn't a sash, Spice had told him the name, angavastram, draped over his lowest set of arms.
“A new civilisation has grown to the west, it is still so young, I am excited to see what it will blossom into.”
“I will have to visit it, lend some of my knowledge to help them.” He remarked,
“What if… you didn't?”
He perked up, he'd never requested him to not help a new civilisation with knowledge. “Mix things up for a change! See what they create themselves!”
He hesitated, placing his hand on Spice's top set of arms, “Spice, that is not our purpose. We are to help cookies flourish, not use them for our own entertainment.”
“That is not what I meant!” He defended, “It is to both our benefit! And future cookies too.” He looked away.
“Perhaps, but it is not the will of the Witches.”
“I suppose.”

Returning back to his chambers, Shadow Milk let go of his hand, ending the memory.
“You two were close, I take it?” Pure Vanilla asked,
“Very.” Shadow Milk hugged himself, “I was there when he finally broke.”

Capsaicin lay on his bed, it was almost midnight and he was far too nervous to go to sleep despite how it pulled at him, he'd tried to act unaffected by the memories but they were starting to weigh on him. It seemed every two good memories came with one bad, it could be worse, he figured, could be the other way around. He felt his eyelids grow too heavy to stop, slipping away to sleep.
He ran as fast as his legs would take him, the clattering of chains hitting rock behind him, he had to hold his tail to avoid it being crushed under the chains. He'd been left alone and he seized the opportunity to escape, the poorly secured chains giving little resistance. He needed to find a way out of this cave, he needed to get home, he needed Dad. He felt like he'd been running for hours before he finally saw light pouring in, almost feverishly grabbing at it as he climbed out. The sands of the Land of Spice were nowhere to be seen, volcanic rock and stone of a barren valley greeted him.
He had no idea where he was.
It didn't matter, he just needed to get away, starting to run in a random direction hoping that somehow-
“HE'S ESCAPED! GET HIM!”
His captors voices behind him, hearing them get closer before one grabbed the chains connected to his throat, pulling him back.
“Thought you were gonna be sneaky, huh?” The shackle pressed into his throat, making it hard to breathe. He couldn't go like this, he had to get away.
He felt something deep inside begin to heat up, allowing it out of desperation. He felt his dough crack open as lava poured out, the screams of his captors behind him, now trying to get away, the shackles simply melting away from the heat. Looking at his hands as his dough formed two gauntlets around his fists. Looking over himself to realise he was now made of lava.
He was larger than them now, he felt stronger, angrier. But so tired, he begged his body to keep going, but every movement screamed at him, he'd been running for so long, the chains had been heavy, draining him faster, and this form draining him to nothing, all he managed before he slipped into darkness was a slam of his fists against the ground.

“Capsaicin!”
He staggered up, “Wha-”
Ghost Pepper was shaking him, “You haven't slept walked in years!” It was the rare time where the Headmaster wasn't wearing his helmet, his red hair a mess, as if he'd just gotten out of bed.
“I didn't! I just-” He looked around, he was outside, not too far away from the entrance to the school. “Oh.”
“Cap, are you okay? Seriously, don't bottle this up.” Ghost Pepper looked concerned, their hands on his shoulders.
“I'm fine! Just going back to old habits, I suppose?” He smiled innocently, he could tell they didn't believe him but they also knew that it wasn't worth the battle.
“Let's get you back to bed.”

Notes:

How would we feel if I made a spin off that just focuses on Capsaicin's younger life?

Chapter 8

Summary:

The meeting begins!
Will the polychamps ever have a date that doesn't get interrupted?

This chapter has some of my favourite interactions so I hope you all enjoy reading this as much as I did writing it!

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Shadow Milk watched as cookies walked in, from the Dark Cacao Kingdom, the titular Dark Cacao as well as Mystic Flour with her precious remaining Cloud Haetae. Next was Hollyberry Kingdom, of course Hollyberry accompanied by Eternal Sugar and Pitaya. How that cookie not only managed to befriend a dragon but a legendary one is beyond him. Finally Golden Cheese, bringing Smoked Cheese. Silent Salt and White Lily were still working on a few things back in Beast-Yeast, and didn't come.
He'd gone over how he was going to say this hundreds of times and yet, he still felt unprepared, cursing Vanilla for springing this on him.
“Thank you all for coming, we both have some quite exciting news to share.” Vanilla beamed, he paused, before turning to Vanilla with a scowl, as his nails scratched against the table, did he have to phrase it like that?! The immediate concern from the others, except Sugar who looked thrilled, told him that they all took it that way too.
"I knew it!~"
“Nilly! I thought we agreed I was doing the talking!” Cutting off Sugar, barely getting it out through gritted teeth, shoving Vanilla to the side, “Anyways, I feel the need to clarify that the news is more so for the Beasts and Golden Cheese as it relates to Burning Spice.” Ignoring the disappointment on Sugar's face.
“Are we seriously doing this again?” Golden Cheese groaned, “How many times must I risk myself for this fool.” Smoked Cheese sharing a similar displeased expression next to her.
“Golden Cheese,” Vanilla, standing beside him again. “I understand your frustrations, but I'm sure you will see why we believe this time may be different.”
She rolled her eyes, leaning back, “Go on then, what is the plan this time?”
Vanilla glanced at him before he spoke, “We have found his son.”
“WHAT?!” Practically launching herself from her chair, wings flared out behind her. “That brute has a son?!”
Smoked Cheese managed to barely miss getting a face full of feathers. “I don't see how that helps at all!”
Eternal Sugar turned to face him surprised, showing more energy than she had in a while, immediately throwing question after question at him. “Little Spice is alive? How? Where has he been!? Is he okay-?”
“If you let me talk, I'll explain!” He yelled, immediately getting her to quiet down. “It would appear he's lost most of his memories of us, they're there! We're just working on getting them back.”
“He is also still rather young, at least mentally, up until only a few days ago, he believed he was 24.” Vanilla added.
Mystic Flour stood, “Do you know if Burning Spice even still cares for the boy?”
They all froze as she continued, “Unfortunately, familial bonds are not always as strong as one would hope.” Stealing a quick glance at Dark Cacao before muttering, “Especially between father and son.”
"Excuse me-?!"
“Mystie!” He quickly called out, stopping Dark Cacao from saying anything more,
“As much as I hate to say it, she does have a point.” Golden Cheese admitted, “All he cares about now is destruction.”
“Stop! Both of you! Spice loves his son!” Sugar raised her voice, “There's no way he wouldn't!”
“Red Spice loved his son.” Mystic corrected, “Are you sure that Burning Spice does?”
He paused, speechless.
“You haven't thought about that, have you? I would have gauged his feelings first, now you have given them false hope.”
He hated that he didn't have a comeback, no way to show her that she was mistaken.
“Look, I'm sure that deep down he still feels for them, similar to you with Cloud Haetae?” Hollyberry offered, patting them, the haetae adoring the attention.
“Especially since his kidnapping was the thing that caused Red Spice to snap for good. The final straw.” Sugar added, “They're made of his dough and jam!”
“I do hope this plan works, I will say.” Mystic sat back down, “I just feel like there should have been more preparation before involving them. If they are still young like Pure Vanilla claims.”
“What if someone asked him now?” Sugar exclaimed, “Just use your portals and get it solved!”
They all turned to look at her, “Of course! Since you brought up the idea, why don't you go and tell him.” He glared at her, if they were going to do this, they had to do it right.
“Oh, I was thinking it would be Golden Cheese, as well, she's his other half and all.”
Why did she have to call counterparts that?
“Excuse you?!” Golden Cheese screeched,
“Here we go.” He groaned as Golden Cheese began her usual tirade against Spice.
“I do think it would be good for you to meet Capsaicin, Golden Cheese.” Vanilla's voice cut through the argument, causing everyone to go quiet. “Maybe he could help change your mind about Burning Spice?...”
“Capsssaicin… Where have I heard that name before…” Pitaya hummed, seemingly deep in thought, Hollyberry having a similar reaction
“It does ring a bell now that you mention it.”
“Hah! I have no interest in meeting anyone even remotely related to that barbarian!” She scoffed, “If it was up to me, they would both be left to rot! Never to see the sunlight again!”
He felt himself twitch, using every fibre of his being to contain himself, to not seal her loud mouth shut for good.
Vanilla tried to keep the meeting civil, “Golden Cheese, I assure you that-”
“He was Scovillia's champion a few years back!” Hollyberry jumped up, interrupting him,
“That'sss it! I knew the name from ssssomewhere.” Pitaya nodding,
“Pitaya and I always watch the Triple Cone Cup!”
He snorted at the way Sugar scoffed and rolled her eyes at the two,
“I alwaysss go for Sssscovillia, the ssschool being in my valley and all.”
He turned to Vanilla who lit up, “That's wonderful! We did hear about that, didn't we?” He could see the look in his eyes, despite them being closed. “You would agree then that he is a very kind individual.”
“Oh, he seemed so troubled, especially the second and third trial! The poor thing, I wanted to give him a hug the entire time!”
“There wasss ssssomething… familiar about them.”
He looked at Golden Cheese, trying to gauge her opinion, she seemed unconvinced, “As much as I respect and treasure you as a dear friend, Hollyberry, you must admit, you tend to view everyone in an exclusively positive light.” Glancing towards Pitaya before looking away.
“I can be objective!”
“You just said you watch a tournament every year with the dragon that took over your kingdom as a tyrant.” Dark Cacao returned, ignoring the glare from the dragon in question.
“I wasss not a tyrant!”
“They just missed me! They didn’t hurt anyone!”
“Anyways.” Cutting in, “We are getting off topic.”
“Yes we are,” Vanilla taking over, “Golden Cheese, I'm certain you will adore Capsaicin-”
“Oh! He will just love your wings!” Sugar gushed, “When he was little he adored mine!~ Always wanting to touch and hold th-”
“Sugar. You are not helping.” Mystic interrupted, not even turning to face her.
He scowled at Sugar, surely she was this ditzy on purpose?! Even Vanilla seemed slightly annoyed by her comment.
“Can't wait.”
“Shadow Milk, you don't think you could get him do you?” Vanilla whispered, clearly desperate at trying to sway Golden Cheese's opinion.
“I'll see if he wants to.” Opening a portal, not thrilled about having to do a fetch quest.


Running down the temple halls, he could hear his title being faintly called out behind him, his guardian Javitri, no doubt, he'd managed to slip away and wanted to tell Dad about his accomplishment, his tail wagging excitedly at the thought before making it to the end of the hallway.
“Where's Dad?” The door to Dad's meeting room was closed, a saffron buffalo standing in front, guarding, “Is he in there?” He walked forward to open the door before the buffalo blocked him.
“The Herald isn't to be disturbed.” They stared down at him,
“But I want to see him!” He began trying to push past them, “Let me through!”
“I am under strict order to allow no distractions to interfere.” The buffalo gently pushed him back.
“I'm not a distraction!” He huffed, “This isn't fair, I want to see him.”
“Where is the guardian assigned to you?” They sounded annoyed, “You are not to be alone.”
“I escaped!” He beamed with pride, the guard now more on edge, “Dad's gonna be so proud! I want to tell him!” He made another rush towards the door.
“No!” They stood their ground, keeping the door blocked.
A booming voice called out from behind the doors, “What is going on out there?!”
Hearing his dad's voice only made him more determined to get to him, the buffalo having to pick him up to get him to stop, “N-nothing! Great Herald-!” struggling to keep him contained as he began hitting them with his tail.
“DAD! I got away!”
“WHAT?!”

“Then the doors swung open and I woke up.” Capsaicin recounted one of his other dream memories from the previous night, having mentioned the one about what he believes is him becoming the ‘Spice Overlord’ for the first time out of sheer desperation. Kouign believes it may explain why he sometimes shifts into that form when he's having a panic attack.
Prune and Kouign sat under an umbrella, shading them from the sun. They'd met him in Scovillia, deciding to brave the heat for a change.
“You sound like a nightmare!” Prune laughed, “Imagine how the attendants felt dealing with you!”
“The Herald was a god to them, so you would've been too!” Kouign was laughing as well, “Trying to wrangle a child god! I don't envy that job.”
He was telling them about the memories he'd recovered, they both were taking the truth about him rather well.
“How are you taking it all?” Kouign asked, seemingly reading his mind, “It's not too much?” She took his hand in hers.
“I mean, it's a lot, but so far all my restored memories are nice! Except for the whole kidnapping one.” Looking away, nervous for when he'll get the rest.
“You handled it really well! I'm so happy for you!” Kissing him on the cheek, making his hair and tail flare up.
“Are you worried about meeting… him?” Prune asked, they seemed hesitant,
“He sounds nice! At least in all my memories and what Shadow Milk told me, I'm excited to meet him!”
He couldn't help but notice the way Prune and Kouign looked worriedly at each other, “What?”
“Have you been told anything about his more… recent actions?” Now that he thought about it, he hadn't actually.
“Tell me about them?” He suggested, both of them immediately giving concerned looks.
“I really don't know how to start with this, but he isn't called the ‘Herald of Change’ anymore.” She began, “The Virtues corrupted, and the Ancients earned the half that was still good.”
Dread started swirling in his stomach, “Then… what does…”
“Destruction.” Prune answered, earning a light smack from Kouign, “There's no point beating around the bush!”
“Oh…” His tail curling back close to him,
“But that doesn't mean anything!” She sputtered, “You were made before that! Don't think about it.”
He couldn't not think about it.
“Why is Shadow Milk here?” Prune sounded slightly annoyed as they looked behind him.
“What?” Turning, seeing the blue cookie he'd become far too familiar with over the past couple days approaching them, “Oh. I don't know.”
As they got within speaking distance, Prune called out, “You couldn't leave him alone for one day?” Not hiding the displeasure at their date being interrupted, again.

Shadow Milk immediately could tell from the glares Capsaicin's partners were giving him and Prune's comment that he wasn't a welcome surprise.
He groaned, “Look this was Vanilla's request, he just wants to prove to Golden Cheese that you aren't like-....” How to phrase this.
“His dad?” Prune Juice supplied, Kouign-Amann glaring at them for their bluntness.
“Yeah.” Not the most gentle way of saying it but it'll do.
“We can come with you? We'll be able to back you up!” Kouign suggested, “What do you think?”
“I don't see why not.” He shrugged, “I'll drop you guys back off so you can continue whatever you were doing after, deal?”
They all nodded as he opened the portal again, greeted by shouting before Vanilla's voice rang out,
“Quiet!” He turned to him, seeing the trio behind him, “Thank you!” He whispered before turning back, “Golden Cheese, Smoked Cheese, please be kind.”

Notes:

Longer chapter today!
How do we think the meeting will go? :D
Also yes Silent Salt and White Lily aren't included for the exact reason you think,

Also yes I snuck some hollytaya crumbs in cause I will go down with that ship,

Chapter 9

Summary:

Polychamp lets gOOOO

Smoked Cheese try not to be an asshole challenge level impossible

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

As Kouign walked through, shortly followed by her partners, she could tell Capsaicin was overwhelmed by the way his tail tucked quickly between his legs, likely from the amount of eyes on him.
Shadow Milk had said that the point was to prove that Capsaicin wasn't like his dad, quickly getting an idea. Before anyone even said a word, she took his hand and squeezed it, as he turned to face her, she kissed him on the lips.
He immediately turned bright red as he buried his face in his hands, his hair crackling wildly
“Why did you do that?” His voice was muffled by his hands as he slid down the wall before sitting on the floor, “In front of everyone?...”
“To prove that you aren't nearly as scary as you look.” She felt she had done a pretty good job, judging by the slight chuckle coming from Pure Vanilla.
“Oh, that is smart!” She looked over to see the grin on Prune's face, before they kneeled down next to him, “What about if I-”
“No! Please! Let me keep some dignity!” Pulling his cape over his head and hiding in it as Prune stood back up. Prune was hardly ever openly affectionate, the mere suggestion was enough.
“I think that's enough proof. The terrifying son of destruction everyone!” Prune held their arms out as if presenting a prize before bowing, Shadow Milk giving him light applause at the performance.
Capsaicin, however, was still curled up against the wall covering his face with his cape, tail tucked under them, groaning from humiliation.
She knelt down beside him, “I’m sorry, honey, you forgive me?” Lifting up the cape,
“You could've given me a heads up…” He was practically melting from embarrassment, she thought it was adorable when he got like this.
She laughed, “I'll know for next time.” Pulling him to his feet.
“Anyways, can we go back to our date now?” She heard Prune beside them.
“Golden Cheese? Are you convinced?” Pure Vanilla asked, Golden Cheese responding with complete dismissal.
“So he's young and in love, that doesn't mean anything!” She made her way over to him, Capsaicin backing into her as Golden Cheese got closer, “Anything related to that Beast is a threat.” She jabbed his chest with her finger, the moment she touched him, she felt his hair against her flare up, sending small sparks everywhere, covering her eyes from the brightness. When she uncovered them, he looked… yellow.

Capsaicin felt a weird buzzing as Golden Cheese approached him, only growing stronger as she neared. When she touched him, he felt something deep in the back of his head reignite, sending sparks flying everywhere, making Golden Cheese flinch back.
“Capsaicin? Is everything okay?” He heard Kouign behind him, “Your hair…”
He turned around in a panic, “I didn't burn you, did I?” Looking over her for any signs of singeing,
“No, no I'm fine!” She reassured him, holding his hands, “Your hair is… yellow, so is the magma in your horns…”
He looked at the strands, not really in his case, his ‘hair’ was more goo like, similar to Prune’s, he took some of his hair in his hands, and the usual bright orange had turned into an almost canary yellow, the tuft on his tail the same.
He just stared at it, that had never happened before.
“That's… new.” Was all he was able to say, just as confused as everyone else. “I like it.”
He'd never been the biggest fan of yellow but suddenly he felt enraptured by it.
“Wait Capsaicin, come here.” Shadow Milk asked, beckoning them over to the large entrance archway, away from everyone. “I think I have an idea of what's happening.”
“But, I don't want to.” He glanced at Golden Cheese, despite how rude she'd been, he suddenly felt pulled towards her. “I want to stay near-”
Jerked out of his thoughts as Shadow Milk pulled him over, he turned to scowl at him, pulling his hand away, “What was that for?!” He yelled before immediately apologising, “I'm sorry! I don't know where that came from!”
“It's orange again. Huh… Now go back to Golden Cheese.”
Hesitantly walking back, he tried to ignore the glare from the cookie behind her, who was likely the Smoked Cheese that Vanilla had mentioned,
as he got closer to her, it went back to yellow.
“That's… interesting.” Shadow Milk sounded intrigued, “Golden Cheese, your souljam started glowing and dimming with that, did you notice?”
“Somewhat, it is hard to tell when it's not in eyesight.” She remarked.
“Do you feel any different Capsaicin?”
“I… don't-” He did feel more protective of his partners, “I don't want you going near them…” He mumbled, glancing at them, he also felt so attached to Golden Cheese now, like she was his-
No! Shadow Milk had said he was older than the Ancients, she couldn't be!
A sly grin growing on Shadow Milk's face,
“And if I was too, oh, I don't know… do this.” Blue strings wrapped around Kouign-Amann and Prune Juice lifting them into the air like puppets.
“You dare touch what's mine?!” He felt his hands grow heavy as something formed in them, an obsidian spear. “How did I do that?...”
Shadow Milk gently lowered them back onto the ground, he quickly discarded the weapon to check on them, the spear shattering onto the floor before disappearing.
“That's supposed to convince me? He's just mocking me!” Golden Cheese yelled,
“Capsaicin!” He turned to face Shadow Milk, an even bigger grin before wrapping the same blue threads around Golden Cheese, making her squawk in shock and indignation.
“Mum!” He reached out to her before slamming his hand over his mouth, “I don't know where that came from.” He wanted nothing more than to disappear right now.
Shadow Milk seemed thrilled as he lowered her back down, Smoked Cheese quickly checking her over.
While he couldn't make out what her expression was, Smoked Cheese was furious, slamming the end of his staff against the floor, “How dare you call her that!?”
“What was the goal?!” She cried, he could see tears forming in her eyes, the other Ancients began looking uncomfortable.
“I'm sorry! I didn't-”
“Step back a bit please.” Shadow Milk interrupted him, completely lost in whatever experiment he was doing. He moved back enough to where he noticed the gem on her crown stopped glowing.
“That's so interesting! I suppose your souljam doesn't realise that Change has been split.” His what? What is that?
“Did Spice use his souljam in the creation of Capsaicin?” Pure Vanilla questioned behind him,
“He did! But not enough for it to form into a gem like ours.”
“Capsaicin, you have souljam?!” Kouign snapped to look at him.
“I didn't know! I don't even know what that is!” He replied, raising his arms up in surrender. He tried to ignore the scoff from Smoked Cheese as Prune took over,
“The jewels, Cap!” Gesturing to the others in the room, “One of, if not the greatest sources of power in the entire world!” Starting to shake him by the shoulders, “Curse whoever made me fall in love with someone so stupid!” They slammed their head against his chest, the brim of their hat folding up.
“I love you too, Pruney.” Laughing, he knew Prune wasn't being genuinely rude, only confirming it when he heard the muffled reply,
“I love you too, Cap.” Pulling their head from him, “I'm sorry Shadow Milk, please continue.”
“Anyways. Yes and it was when he was still the Herald, so it would appear that Capsaicin's souljam, although not enough to actually form into a jewel and therefore be fully sentient, but still enough to recognise the ‘parent’ souljam it came from!” Shadow Milk was practically giddy with excitement as he nudged him closer to Golden Cheese, who flinched away from him, which now he couldn't help but feel hurt, “Since you hold the other half of Change, being Abundance, Capsaicin now seemingly views you as a parent! Even taking on some of your traits!” She looked deeply conflicted, while Smoked Cheese looked enraged.
He could feel his face flush with embarrassment, he wanted to apologise to her before someone else spoke,
“It would seem deep down, your love of knowledge remains.” He heard a familiar voice speak, looking over to the source, An incredibly pale, almost white cookie stood before him, her hair tied up into a bun, ribbons hovered around her, she looked ethereal.
“Who are you?”
“This is White Flour, the Saint of Volition, she is a Virtue like Blueberry and I.” He heard his dad's voice introduce her, “She will not bring you harm.”
“That probably isn't your name now, is it?”
She gracefully knelt down in front of him, “It is wonderful to finally meet!” She smiled softly, her eyes still closed, “It is so hard to get time away from the temple, I do hope the haetaes are managing to keep everything in order.” She turned back to him, “My apologies, I should not burden you with such adult matters.”
“You seem so nice.”
She reached over to take his hands in hers,
“Cold!” He pulled his hands away, quickly feeling guilty. She gasped, covering her mouth, “I'm so sorry, my dear, you mustn't be used to such temperature. Red Spice, if you could?” Holding her hands up as his dad enclosed them in his own, heating them up, after a moment, she offered her hands to him, “They should not be so cold now.” He reached out and held them, they were still cold, but they didn't feel like ice as they had before, they had a strange powderiness to them.
“You must be pleased, Spice?”

“Oh, he's out of it again.” He heard his dad's voice, although it didn't sound like him at all, too nasally.
“What is it?” White Flour now had a veil on, covering the bun, not much had changed but her voice sounded harsher.
“Don't talk for a bit.” The wrong voice spoke again, “Capsaicin?” His father asked, before realising whose voice it belonged too, looking up and seeing Shadow Milk's face.
“This is the past. Isn't it?”

“Yes, I'm assuming. Want to rejoin reality?” Shadow Milk was talking to them, blocking White Flour from view, now back in the council hall. “You back?”
He nodded, “You were talking through Spice then, it was weird!” He chuckled.
He couldn't seem to get a clear picture of their face, it was like the memories had been scrubbed clean.
“My apologies, next time I'll do a better job mimicking his voice.” They spoke deeper, failing miserably to copy Spice's voice before they laughed. He felt so close to them, despite having only really just met them, they felt like an uncle almost.
“Care to explain what that was about?” Dark Cacao spoke, pulling their attention to him,
“I think I just remembered the first time I met White Flour-” Shadow Milk slapped their hand over his mouth,
“Mystic. Call her Mystic Flour.” They sputtered, “Don't call us by those names.”
He heard Mystic Flour behind them, “I have not heard that name in ages.” Her flat monotone voice held a few hints of amusement. “Tell me, what did you see?”
“I didn't like your hands because they were cold.”
A small smile crept onto her face before she quickly covered it with her hand, looking away. He heard some laughter and chuckles from the others.
“Oh! What about me?~” He looked over, making eye contact with a very pink cookie, “Oh Spice! He is simply divine!” She squished his cheeks, he grimaced at the unpleasant sticky feeling her dough had, “I can feel the happiness radiating off you too!” She turned her attention to his dad, her giant fluffy wings now within reach, he really wanted to touch them. And apparently the same thought ran through him back then as he held out a hand to touch them. His fingers brushed against the delicate feathers.
“They're so soft…”
“Oh!” She pulled her wing away, turning to him, “Just be gentle, no grabbing or tugging please.” He nodded, as she extended her wing again before letting his open hand run down the silky texture of the feathers.
“I'm sorry about that, Sweet Sugar. He's got a thing about touch recently, needing to know what everything feels like.” He still had a thing about textures and he still didn't enjoy the sticky sugar feeling.

“At least he's not tearing them off like his father.”
The comment was so jarring, he felt himself get pulled from the memory in an instant. His hands against Eternal Sugar's wing.
“He what?!” Instinctively gripping his hand around the soft feathers, earning a flinch from Eternal Sugar, “I'm sorry! I didn't mean-!”
“I spoke too soon.” He turned to face where the voice had come from, Smoked Cheese, “Why do you think he's known as the Great Destroyer?” A look of disgust and disdain on his face. “He tore Her Majesty's wings off because he felt like she hadn't fought him hard enough!”
His heart dropped, grabbing the table to hold him upright, his vision losing focus.
“Oh please, don't act surprised.” He scowled at him, “He laughed at his soldiers crumbling! Even crumbling a few himself for fun!”
That didn't make sense! Yes, he had corrupted into destruction but no one had ever said he had actually hurt anyone! All his memories showed that he was adored!
“All the Wild Spices from that place are deranged!” He heard them slam their hands against the table, “They inhale the spices of the dead to work themselves into a murderous frenzy!”
That's where he came from?! He felt like he was going to be sick, he didn't want to hear anymore. There's no way any of this was true! They were just like the spices he knew in Scovillia, that's what his memories had shown him!

Kouign watched as Capsaicin grew pale, his eyes clenched shut as his tail thrashed violently on the ground.
“Smoked Cheese-” Pure Vanilla tried to intervene, seeing the distress on Capsaicin's face.
“Golden Cheese, reign your general in!” Dark Cacao sounded furious at the lack of decorum Smoked Cheese showed.
“My job is to make sure Her Majesty is safe and that her needs are met.” He stood firm, “As long as that is near, she is not.” Gesturing towards Capsaicin.
“All he craved was destruction.” Golden Cheese began, her voice shaking slightly, “He believed anything that could be turned to dust didn't deserve to exist.” She looked similar to Capsaicin, reliving her own nightmare.
“You will end up the same no doubt!” Smoked Cheese added, continuing to glare at Capsaicin, “You already are! He made you to be a weapon!” He seemed completely uncaring of how much distress his words caused.
“That's enough!” Pure Vanilla yelled, getting their attention,
“I am speaking the truth! He wouldn't have made them for any other reason!” He snapped back, “All of those wild spices are savage creatures with no hint of morality or decency!”
Capsaicin's shaking hand left the table as he took a step back, holding his hand to his forehead in pain. He looked terrified, of what, she could only guess, she reached out to him, “Capsaicin? Are you-”
“No! NO!” He shoved her away, tucking his tail close around his leg, “Get away! Please!”
“Cap, it's not real, listen to me!” She pleaded.
“Smoked Cheese, that's quite enough.” Hollyberry stood.
“You believe this?!” He scoffed, “Are you all truly that naive?!” They turned back to Capsaicin, who looked dangerously unsteady, their eyes passing over him until landing on the shackles, “They were even chained away, is that not enough proof?!” Before she could stop them, they grabbed and pulled the chain links harshly towards them, Capsaicin screaming in pain as Smoked Cheese held their arms up for everyone to see. Lava began gushing from under the cuffs, the bars doing exactly as they had been cruelly designed for, tearing his dough apart when the chain was pulled. The heat from the magma making Smoked Cheese let go, she caught Capsaicin just before he hit the floor. His arms limply hung over her shoulders as she knelt on the ground, ignoring the sizzling as drops of lava burnt away the outer layers of her gown.
“Cap?” She looked at his face, dazed and half awake before his eyes met her own, shoving her away as his eyes widened, crawling backwards away from her. A trail of obsidian shards followed him as lava dripped onto the marble.
“Please! Leave me alone!” He choked out, his back now against the door, cowering in fear, magma continuing to run down the lengths of his arms.
“It's quite the performance.” Smoked Cheese approached, glancing at Shadow Milk, “You gave him some tips-?”
“Don't you dare say another word!” Shadow Milk blocked them. “You are lucky I'm not allowed to crumble you into dust!” Blue strings pulled them away back towards Golden Cheese, the others in attendance confused on how to respond,
“Just explain what the cuffs do!” She turned her attention back to Capsaicin, “Cap? Are you there, Sweetheart?”
Shadow Milk began to explain and she watched the others react. Eternal Sugar and Hollyberry both looked horrified, Pitaya and Dark Cacao looked disgusted, Mystic Flour seemed disturbed, covering Haetae's ears, Golden Cheese hesitated in disbelief, Smoked Cheese however, remained unconvinced. “And I'm just supposed to trust what the Beast of Deceit says now?” Smoked Cheese spat, “He probably deserved it.”
She could feel her jam boiling with every word but refrained from reacting, focusing on her partner.
“Are you that blind?! Did you not see the way he started leaking after you pulled on them?!” Prune stood up and began yelling as they stormed towards them, “You want to be right so bad you refuse to accept what's right in front of you?!” Prune, while not exactly being the best to fight, was absolutely willing to throw hands when it came to either of them.
“You dare talk to me that way?!” Smoked Cheese roared, Pure Vanilla quickly stepping in between them to avoid a fight.
“Cap?” She gently hit the side of his face, “You there?”
“Please... Don't!...” He was mumbling but he twitched as tears started to fall, her eyes widening.
“Cap! Wake up!”

Notes:

Is Smoked Cheese a bit ooc here? Maybe, but also considering he saw Golden Cheese having a panic attack, he's also probably a bit protective
Also please reread shadow of the destroyer/wings of eternity because some of the interactions Smoked Cheese has with and talking about the wild spices are crazy
Example: starts a fight with pepper pangolin cookie because he assumed he was bullying them but he was warning the lassi guard to run

Series this work belongs to: