Chapter Text
There was a story that Azúcar Cookie would tell young Cookies she’d meet on her travels across Earthbread, something that she was doing right now, in a quaint little town square of an ocean town with all of the young Cookies present. It was the tale of the Ancient Heroes, a group of powerful benevolent heroes blessed with Soul Jams, powerful artifacts created by the Witches, who brought about an age of peace and prosperity when the first four started their own kingdoms: the Vanilla Kingdom, the Hollyberry Kingdom, the Dark Cacao Kingdom, and the Golden Cheese Kingdom, all named after their respective rulers. One would think that Azúcar Cookie’s story would end with a happily ever after, like all fairytales do. But unfortunately, this was not a fairytale.
A dark force led by a villainess called ‘Dark Enchantress Cookie’ had mysteriously appeared one day, and after declaring war on the Vanilla Kingdom with her army of Cake Monsters, battled the Ancients which led to the disappearances of both the Ancients and Dark Enchantress Cookie. While Azúcar Cookie was in the middle of finishing her tale, a young Cookie with butter yellow hair and amber dough raised their hand, asking for her attention.
“Yes, little one? Azúcar Cookie asked politely.
“Lady Azúcar Cookie, if the Ancients disappeared, how come you don’t seem so worried?” was the Cookie’s question. “What if that scary Dark Enchantress Cookie comes back?” Azúcar Cookie gave them a gentle smile and lightly patted them on the head. “I wouldn’t worry about it, little one. If Dark Enchantress Cookie comes back, then surely the Ancients will as well. And perhaps, when the time comes, they’ll be able to get help from other great Cookies to defeat her, and bring in a new age of peace.”
The young Cookie tried to ask another question, but Azúcar Cookie’s two companions, Cherry Vanilla Cookie and Candy Homunculus Cookie, arrived back from a nearby inn. The first to speak was Cherry Vanilla Cookie, who adjusted the red tinted glasses on his face. “Lady Azúcar Cookie, the negotiations with the innkeeper have been finished,” he announced, with his towering friend nodding his head to confirm it. “Oh! Then I guess that’s the end of that, children.” Azúcar Cookie told her audience. The young Cookies groaned, not wanting her to leave.
They asked her to at least tell them one final story, but since it was so late already, their parents and guardians had come for the children so they could get to bed. Azúcar Cookie bid her audience farewell, and would follow Cherry Vanilla Cookie and Candy Homunculus Cookie back to the inn, which is where they’d be staying for the night.
“I must say, that didn’t take as long as I thought it would.” Azúcar Cookie said. “What did you offer the innkeeper, Cherry Vanilla Cookie?” “I noticed that the owner was having trouble with preparing dinner in the kitchen for the other guests, so I offered my cooking expertise while Candy Homunculus Cookie helped the missus with looking after the children.” Cherry Vanilla Cookie explained with a smirk. “As a ‘thank you’ for our services, they offered us a free room and meal for the night.” “Oh, how lovely!” Azúcar Cookie said with a smile. “It appears that your cooking has saved the day once again. And I’m glad to see that the others weren’t afraid of Candy Homunculus Cookie for long.” Though their tall friend’s face was hidden in shadow due to his hooded cloak, Candy Homunculus Cookie had blushed in embarrassment to Azúcar Cookie’s praise.
They arrived to the inn, and after chatting with the innkeeper and his family and eating their meal, Azúcar Cookie’s group went up to where the rooms were and went to the room the innkeeper offered: it was quite spacious with two beds and chairs made from vanilla cake and choco bark, a neat bathroom with white choco tiles, and a little television set in front of the beds made from dark chocolate. As the trio placed their bags on a nearby couch, they got ready to go to sleep and all changed into their pajamas one at a time due to the one bathroom.
All except for Azúcar Cookie, who allowed the boys to rest peacefully while she sat in one of the chairs by a soft candlelight. She had gotten out a notebook and a pen so she could write down what she and the others did for today. The fuschia eyed Cookie loved books: fiction, fantasy, romance, etc. It had also been a dream of hers, for as long as she can remember (which has been a long time), to write her own stories down, and share them with Cookies from all over Earthbread to enjoy.
Unfortunately, writing a book was a lot harder than Azúcar Cookie thought. Originally, she and an old friend of hers started this project together, meaning she had a co-author helping her figuring out how to pace it and to take over writing when Azúcar Cookie herself had a bad case of writer’s block. Which is what ailed her right now. The white haired Cookie put down her pen and closed her notebook, sighing in defeat. Looks like she’ll have to try again tomorrow.
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Unnamed Forest. . . .
Azúcar Cookie and her companions had left the ocean town early in the morning, and while traveling through the woods, they heard the sound of a young Cookie screaming. “!” Concerned for the Cookie’s safety, Azúcar Cookie immediately dashed to where the screaming was coming from, unintentionally leaving both Cherry Vanilla and Candy Homunculus Cookie behind. Azúcar Cookie had avoided any obstacles in her path such as rocks, trees, and even the wildlife, so that she could get to her intended destination.
It didn’t take too long for Azúcar Cookie to arrive where she heard the screams. In front of her, stood a young Cookie with golden brown dough, white hair, cerulean blue eyes, red lips, and only skull-shaped buttons on his torso as a form of ‘clothing’. In his right hand was a red and white striped candy cane, which the young Cookie seemed to be using as a weapon against his opponent: a large cookie and cream wolf with berry red eyes that was being followed by a pack of cake hounds.
‘Cake hounds and a cream wolf? I suppose for a Cookie his age they can be a bit frightening.’ Azúcar Cookie was about to give the young Cookie a hand when she witnessed him holding them off, even going as far as to use his candy cane to attack. This worked in his favor, as the forest animals decided to retreat. “Wait–are you kidding? SERIOUSLY? I WON?!?” the Cookie exclaimed in disbelief, but what happened next nearly made Azúcar Cookie’s heart drop. His body started to crumble.
“!”
Azúcar Cookie wasted no time and dashed to the Cookie in order to help him. “Kid, are you ok?!” she asked in a concerned tone. “Egggh. . .I don’t feel well. . .” he mumbled, passing out just as Azúcar Cookie’s companions arrived.
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Old Cookie Kingdom Ruins. . . .
When GingerBrave came to, the first thing he saw and heard was a gnome-like being in front of him, telling him to wake up. “Wha. . . ?” was the first word that came out of his mouth as he sat up from the ground. “Wait, where am I?” he wondered out loud, then he remembered his encounter in the forest, thinking he was still there. “Oh yeah. . .GAAAHHHHH!!!”
GingerBrave’s scream alerted others nearby: a couple of other gomes, his friends Strawberry Cookie and Wizard Cookie, and three adult Cookies that he had never seen before. The first one to speak was a female Cookie with short sugar white hair styled into a side swept pixie cut, whose voice sounded familiar to him. “Goodness, are you alright, GingerBrave?” she asked him. GingerBrave looked over at the white haired Cookie in confusion. “Huh? How do you know my name?”
“Your friends over there told me.” she answered, gesturing to both Strawberry Cookie and Wizard Cookie who were behind her. “Hi GingerBrave, are you ok?” Strawberry Cookie asked, peeking her head behind the older Cookie. “Strawberry Cookie? Wizard Cookie? You ditched the Witch too? Seriously, that’s amazing!” GingerBrave exclaimed, getting up from the ground so he could reunite with his two friends.
Despite having a good portion of her face covered, Strawberry Cookie had a clear look of distress in her warm brown eyes. “Um, yeah. Oh boy. Ok, here’s the thing. . .”
She’d then go on to explain what had happened in the past, of how she witnessed the Witch that made them eat a Cookie. Whether the Cookie was made with Life Powder or not wasn’t made clear, but GingerBrave noticed that the three adults were horrified to hear of Strawberry Cookie’s tale. If this was how they learned the reason why Cookies were made, then GingerBrave knew that this was probably a mind shattering revelation. “-Anyway, I ended up running, and I found myself here. I thought the Witch would hear my steps, but I got lucky. And that’s how I escaped and got here.” Strawberry Cookie said. “I ended up meeting with Wizard Cookie, and we heard your scream, so we followed it to see if you needed help. Then we met with Ms Azúcar, Mr Cherry Vanilla, and Mr Candy Homunculus Cookie who helped us get here safely.”
“Oh wow.” GingerBrave said. “Good for you, Strawberry Cookie. The Witch was really scary, and I’m glad you and Wizard Cookie are ok. But hold on a sec,” the blue eyed Cookie turned his head to the gnomes, and practically screamed, “Who are you guys?! You’re not Cookies!”
“Correct! We are the Sugar Gnomes! After Lady Azúcar Cookie found you in the woods, we helped her and the others with bringing you here!” one of the Sugar Gnomes said. “This is so heart-melting! So many Cookies in one place! It’s our big chance to rebuild the Cookie Kingdom! Diddi-da-di!”
GingerBrave’s eyes lit up with excitement. “Woah, that’s so cool!. . .Wait, what’s a kingdom?”
Azúcar Cookie looked at him with a confused look. “Wait, you’ve never heard of a kingdom before?” GingerBrave looked at Azúcar Cookie and replied with a simple, “Nope! Not once!” Before Azúcar Cookie could ask anymore questions, the previous Sugar Gnome had stepped up and continued with his speech. “Don’t you know that this place-this very place-used to be a KINGDOM? Unfortunately, the Cookies that once lived here left long ago, but we Sugar Gnomes waited. And waited. And waited. . .AND waited. . .OH, WAITED SO LONG WE HAVE!”
Azúcar Cookie and her companions looked at each other to see that they were all thinking the same thing: those poor Sugar Gnomes.
“Doo-di-dah! Anyway, it’s your kingdom now! Yours and Lady Azúcar Cookie’s group! It just needs a new name and some repairs, and everything will be just great!” the Sugar Gnome added, surprising Azúcar Cookie greatly. What did he mean by ‘this kingdom was theirs’?!
And again, before Azúcar Cookie and her companions could say a thing, someone else beat them to it. A certain wizard in a blue robe.
“A kingdom? No offense, but these look like some old sad forgotten ruins?” Wizard Cookie said, which made one of the other Sugar Gnomes reply with, “Well, it looks like ruins now, yes. . .but indeed a glorious kingdom it once was!”
GingerBrave stepped up and said, “Wizard Cookie, reset! Try some optimism. C’mon, this is amazing! A kingdom of our own!” “Really? You’re serious?” Wizard Cookie responded. “Ok then, GingerBrave. One key question: how many Cookies do you see here?”
“Counting myself, that’s six Cookies.”
“Ah, very good! And now. . .Which one do you think gets to rule this so called. . .‘Kingdom’?”
“I don’t know!”
“. . .GingerBrave, you don’t even have any idea what a kingdom is. Be honest. Do you even have the SLIGHTEST piccadilly notion what I’m talking about?!”
Not wanting the two Cookies to start a fight, Azúcar Cookie decided to put a stop to it. “Alright, that’s enough. We can all discuss this at a later time. Right now, I think we should all take a moment to unwind. It’s very clear that you three went through a lot for Cookies so young.” GingerBrave, Strawberry, and Wizard Cookie all looked at Azúcar Cookie, surprised that she seemed to care about their well-being even though they were still strangers.
“Oh, what a brilliant idea, Lady Azúcar Cookie!” a Sugar Gnome said. “We’ll build a great Cookie House for you and the others to rest in! Also, what’s a ‘piccadilly’?”
While Azúcar Cookie was flattered by the notion, she didn’t want the Sugar Gnomes to go through all of that hassle, though Cherry Vanilla Cookie didn’t mind it in the slightest. While Candy Homunculus and the three young Cookies offered the Sugar Gnomes aid, Azúcar Cookie let out a sigh as she walked towards the others. If they were going through with this, then it wouldn’t hurt to lend a helping hand.