Chapter Text
The light of resolution. A full awakening, giving way to a lord of dragons. A bright, blinding, virtuous light.
And then silence.
Dark Cacao wasn't sure how long he was unconscious for. The room he was in when he finally opened his eyes was cold and damp. The floors were an uncomfortable and unwelcoming sort of concrete, and his back ached with age as he sat up.
The sword. Where is his sword?
The scramble needed only last a moment, as it rattled in response next to him, just within reach. Grasping it tightly, Dark Cacao allowed himself a breath of relief.
Secure in his implements, the old king finally stood to survey his surroundings.
It almost looked like a dungeon cell, somewhere deep underground. There was a thick, windowless door across the room, the only light from a lantern hung on the wall.
Was this a trick? Dark Cacao had won. He felled the beast, united the dragons within his sword. Why is he here? Where is here?
“Finally awake, are we?” Came a soft, tired drawl from the corner.
Dark Cacao turned, assuming a defensive stance.
“Relax. I can't hurt you. You're the one with my soul jam, after all.” Mystic Flour’s gaze was heavy with exhaustion and pain, her dark eyes barely focusing on him.
“Where are we?” He grunted, not yet lowering his weapon.
“Your guess is as good as mine.” Her head lolled to the side, turning her attention to the door. “I’ve tried it already. It's heavy, and locked. I’m too weak to bust it on my own right now.”
“… You were not the one who brought us here?” Dark Cacao narrowed his gaze suspiciously.
Mystic Flour ignored him. “I wonder if someone bothered to feed the little Haetae before we disappeared…”
Figuring he wouldn't get any more answers out of her, Dark Cacao moved to investigate the door himself. If the beast’s words were to be believed, the door isn't immovable. As she said, she was too weak to break the lock on her own, but she had indicated it could still be broken.
He tested the handle a couple times, examining the lock’s mechanism. The handle was being stalled in place by a latch, much too thick and seated into the wall to move or break on its own. However, the latch was strung to a metal piece on the wall, likely the mechanism to open it. Dark Cacao’s gaze followed the mechanism, up the wall and across the ceiling, and ultimately disappearing into a hole in the opposite wall.
The hole itself wasn't too small, a cookie of a slimmer stature than himself could probably push themselves through with some help.
The hole was also situated just above Mystic Flour’s head. She didn't seem to have moved from her spot since their arrival, so it was likely she was too weak to stand on her own, let alone climb to the hole. In a way, it was a shame, since she seemed the perfect size to fit, and the wall just short enough that she'd be able to climb through standing on his shoulders- almost like this room was a puzzle made for them to solve together.
Glancing back down at the defeated beast, Dark Cacao searched his pocket for any rations he had left- finding only two halves of a peach bao he had brought on the journey to use as a last resort.
She wouldn't be able to stand unless she regained her strength. He wouldn't be able to return to his kingdom without her help.
In the end, his rationalization became that as long as he had both halves of the soul jam, he could still defeat her again if she turned against him.
“… What are you doing?” Her voice was hoarser than it was before, as she eyed the peach bao Dark Cacao held out to her.
“The only way to open the door is to trigger the latch. The other side of the latch is through the hole above your head, and I’m too large to fit.” He explained, not one to beat around the bush. Nothing of significance would be lost by telling her the truth.
Mystic Flour stared at the peach bao for longer than Dark Cacao thought necessary.
“You don't have to take it if you'd rather go stale in here, I can find another way out-”
“I don't need your charity.” She responded, snatching the fruit from him regardless. The tension left her shoulders upon the first bite.
Dark Cacao opened his mouth to comment, but she cut him off again.
“How is he doing?”
“Hm?”
“Peach Blossom Cookie. It has been a very long time since I last saw him. How is he?”
“He tends the orchard well.”
“It ought to be beautiful this time of year.”
“… It was.”
It felt strange, conversing like this while watching her eat. Against his better judgement, Dark Cacao sat down across from her and took a bite of the other half he had saved for himself.
“Were you friends with him?” Dark Cacao asked hesitantly.
“Mm.” Mystic Flour paused to savor another bite. “Not exactly. But he never asked anything of me, and so I grew fond of him.”
The Haete had told him that many had demanded the beast grant their wishes, growing desperate and forceful- it isn't much wonder why she'd prefer the company of those who ask nothing of her.
“… It is nice to know they still bloom.” There was a melancholy tone to Mystic Flour’s voice, one that could suggest self pity if Dark Cacao didn't believe her to be too proud a person.
“Why wouldn't they?” His curiosity got the best of him, the question leaving his throat before he could stop it.
“The last time I spoke to that gardener… There was a blockage in the rivers, and the irrigation was running dry. The peach trees were at risk of wilting. He asked me- the one thing he had ever asked of me- to find a way to restore the irrigation, to save the orchard.” She stared down into the remaining bites of the peach bao in her hands with an unseeing gaze. “I panicked. It was immature of me. I left the orchard and sealed myself away. I never even gave him an answer.”
Finally, Dark Cacao could distinguish the emotion in her voice. Guilt. To push away her only friend when he asked her for help- he knows the feeling clawing at her all too well.
“Everything I had done was in defense of my kingdom’s walls.” He had no reason to tell her this. “I would raise my blade against whatever I believed to be a threat, regardless of whether I was right.” She had no need to know. “I allowed lies to poison me, all for the purpose of defending my walls.”
She looked up to meet his eye. He ignored the tears breaching her cheeks.
“I raised my blade against my closest friends, my most loyal soldiers, my- … My own son.”
“You were afraid to lose what you held dear.”
“Yes.” He took a slow breath, pushing himself to face a truth he knew he wouldn't enjoy. “Just like you. But while my solution was to carry forth and shoulder the pain and guilt on my own- you chose to hold nothing dear at all.”
Mystic Flour stared at him with an unreadable expression. “… We are similar in that way.”
“Yes.”
“And you are the righteous one.”
“No.”
“No?”
“Neither of us were right in our answers. We simply had two different solutions to the same problem. That doesn't make either of them good.”
“… What is the solution, then?”
“I don't know.”
“I ought to.”
“But you don't.”
“No.”
“I cannot return to the mountain.”
The admission was blunt and sudden, and it took Dark Cacao a moment to realize what she had said.
“I don't intend to leave you here when I escape.” He frowned. Surely she didn't think him cruel enough to abandon her in this place?
“The mountain only permits those seeking enlightenment. I no longer seek such a thing.” There was longing in the beast’s voice. Despite her adamance that she cannot return, she clearly wants to go home.
“You're powerless without the soul jam.” Dark Cacao asserted, testing the waters.
“Only rubbing it in now?” Mystic Flour frowned, her tone dripping with venom. He had clearly struck a nerve.
“I’m not trying to offend you.”
“You're doing a terrible job.”
“At least let me finish.” Dark Cacao grunted, but relaxed when she did not respond. Meeting her expectant gaze, he took a breath and laid his offer. “Return to the Dark Cacao Kingdom with me. You do not possess the power to harm anyone, and are therefore not a threat. If you have nowhere else to go, at the very least the city walls are safe.”
Mystic Flour's eyes widened. She had never looked quite as surprised. “What… What reason do you have to offer me your kindness?”
“Obligation.” He answered bluntly, with no intention to lie to her. “My conscience wouldn't allow me to leave you with nowhere to call home.”
A beat of silence. Perhaps he had misstepped in offering?
“Pff-”
… What?
“Hahaha!”
She's laughing?
“I can't say I took you for someone quite that blunt, but I appreciate your honesty.” Her smile was small, but warm. “I’ll return with you. But let us escape here first. I should be able to stand now- with some help.”
He could hear the shake in her voice, however slight- someone hesitant to ask for assistance, but trying her hardest in the face of the task at hand.
Dark Cacao nodded and stood wordlessly, holding out his hand for her to take. Shakily she stood, using his arms as support until she was fully on her feet.
“Thank you.” She mused, turning to look up at the wall behind her. “You want me to climb in there?”
“You should be able to reach if you stand on my shoulders.” Dark Cacao confirmed, repeating the assessment he made earlier.
Mystic Flour hummed in agreement, pondering for a moment. “Alright. Kneel facing the wall, I’ll climb up your back.”
Though he pursued the action hastily to hide his face, Dark Cacao flustered for a moment at the thought. He would have to kneel for her if she were to get on his shoulders, wouldn't he? And yet he, the stalwart king, had never knelt for anyone.
… Desperate times call for desperate measures.
He felt one delicate foot after the other climb his back and come to stand on his shoulders. She really was rather light, wasn't she?
Slowly, as to ensure she did not fall, he rose to his full height, keeping his eyes respectfully low.
“I think- I can reach it.” Her voice came from above him, and he felt her slight weight leave his shoulders.
“Follow the metal strip on the ceiling.” He called to her as she disappeared into the tunnel. “The mechanism should be on the other end.”
Dark Cacao considered moving back to the door to prepare for it to open, but then realized he ought to wait where he is to catch Mystic Flour. After all, there may not be enough room in the tunnel to turn around, and she wouldn’t be able to see if he was still in position to catch her- until it's too late, that is.
“It’s too dark to see.” Her voice echoed from deep within the tunnel. “Ah- I think I found a lever. Tell me if something happens when I pull it.”
A click from the tunnel, and the metal strips all flipped to the side, the mechanism finally releasing the latch on the door.
“It opened!” He called to her. “Try to back out, I’ll catch you!”
“… Don't drop me.” He heard her voice getting closer once again as her pale form emerged from the tunnel- dropping over the edge of the opening and landing safely in Dark Cacao’s arms.
He fought a smile as she opened her eyes, having squeezed them shut when she fell.
“… Not a word.” She chided, seeing through his poker face regardless.
With the latch now pried from its position, a hefty tug at the handle was enough to pull the door open, giving way to a stone hallway. Out in front of them was a small stretch of cobbled flooring and a staircase leading upwards. Finally exiting the room, the wooden door at the top of the stairs had light filtering through the stained glass window- and outside of it, the vast expanse of Beast Yeast’s thick jungle.
“We’re just… Outside?” Dark Cacao marveled, turning back at the sound of the wooden door shutting behind them- only to see the passage gone, replaced with a grassy clearing.
“Fascinating.” Was the only comment Mystic Flour offered.
Steeling himself, Dark Cacao cleared his throat. “Is there anything you'd like to retrieve from the temple before we leave? I know you're not one for worldly possessions, but-”
“There is… one thing.” She answered, pursing her lips.
The temple was just as desolate and otherworldly as Dark Cacao remembered it to be. He hoped to retrieve whatever it was the beast wanted and leave quickly.
Mystic Flour allowed her steps to grow in volume as they wandered the courtyard, almost like she was trying to make her presence known.
Before Dark Cacao could question her, however, a blur of warm white fluff came bounding out of one of the vacant buildings.
“Master!” The little Haetae barked excitedly. “You're alive!”
“By a stroke of luck, perhaps.” Mystic Flour answered, kneeling to gently rub the soft creature’s head. “This temple is unsuitable for residence, little Haetae. How long have you been here on your own?”
“Since you sealed yourself away, master! I waited here for you the who~ole time!” The yipping Haetae seemed proud of themself, and Mystic Flour’s smile grew saddened.
“You need not wait any longer, then. We have a new home awaiting us. You will accompany me.”
Dark Cacao almost smiled himself at the way the Haetae lit up, bouncing from their hind to front legs and back again in excitement.
Mystic Flour lifted the dog-like creature into her arms and turned to Dark Cacao. “I have retrieved what I came here for. We may leave now.”
The Haetae paid Dark Cacao no attention, happily burying their face in Mystic Flour’s shoulder and basking in her hand smoothing the fur on their back.
The boat ride was thankfully rather uneventful, a message by carrier raven had informed Dark Cacao that the soldiers he brought with him had already returned to the kingdom safely.
As the ship prepared to dock, Dark Cacao frowned to himself on the private deck.
“You're brooding again.” Mystic Flour's voice was less jarring than it was the first time she had appeared like this. Upon the ship, with just the two of them and the captain steering it, she had grown accustomed to coming and going wherever she pleased- and her Haetae had begun to do the same(much to the detriment of Dark Cacao's sleep schedule).
“‘Brooding’ is not the word I would use.” Dark Cacao huffed.
“Alright, what are you ‘pondering’ then? We're docking now, you should be preparing to depart.”
“I am preparing. The soldiers I brought with me to Beast Yeast have already returned to the kingdom safely. I haven't figured how I’ll explain your presence to them.”
“Why bother? Are you not the king? It's not like you owe them an explanation.”
“My people have less trust in me than before. After previous incidents, I have to restore their faith in my judgement.”
“… This is the ‘poison’ you mentioned?” Mystic Flour asked.
“You remember that?”
“It was only a few days ago.”
“… An advisor I believed I could trust had turned my kingdom against me and deprived my people for his own gain. Though his conspiracy was uncovered and my authority restored, I cannot deny that my own judgement had faltered. There are many of my subjects that have reason to distrust me now. I have to tread carefully to earn their respect once again.”
Mystic Flour mulled over the admission for a moment. “You're far more patient than I am.”
“Didn't you meditate in a cocoon for centuries?”
“Matters of the self are very different from matters involving others. I don't have as much grace when it comes to people.”
The docking bell interrupted their conversation.
“Well, it's time to depart regardless.”
“Have you decided what you'll do?”
“… I’ll ‘wing it’, as the youth say.”
Dark Cacao left the balcony first, if only to hide his smile at the sound of her laughter.
“Sir! Please exercise caution! The beast has followed you within the city walls!” Caramel Arrow had already drawn her bow upon the pair stepping off the ship, aimed directly at Mystic Flour.
“There's no need for that, Caramel Arrow Cookie.” Dark Cacao put up a hand to stall his soldier. “Without her soul jam, she is harmless. I have granted her a chance at redemption.”
Caramel Arrow furrowed her brow, searching Mystic Flour for any hint of conspiracy. Finally, she lowered her weapon, taking a step back.
“She is… Harmless, sir?” Failing to hide the skepticism in her voice, Caramel Arrow turned to her king for answers.
“She intends to reside in the kingdom peacefully.”
“… As you wish.” Caramel Arrow conceded, deciding it best to pick her battles. “And the dog, sir?”
The question, admittedly, caught Dark Cacao off guard. “The dog?”
Mystic Flour wordlessly lifted her Haetae by the scruff of their neck as they bounded off the ship. “The little Haetae is mine, and I will accept full responsibility for any mischief they may get into.”
“… The dog is hers.” Dark Cacao affirmed.
Caramel Arrow, sensing another battle she ought not to pick, nodded in agreement. “As you decree, sir.”
The people accepted Mystic Flour more readily than Dark Cacao initially thought, but he was thankful nonetheless.
“This will be your chambers.” Dark Cacao opened the door to the guest suite, holding it wide for Mystic Flour to enter, Cloud Haetae trotting in time beside her.
“It's more luxurious than I expected.” Mystic Flour commented, looking over the richly decorated room.
Dark Cacao did not show that he was slightly offended by the accusation. “This is the main palace. All the chamber rooms are decorated in this style.”
“Even yours?” She glanced over at him with a soft, teasing smile.
“I-! … Even mine.” Dark Cacao admitted reluctantly. “I did not choose the decorations.”
“Of course not. It looks very nice.”
By the time Dark Cacao realized the true intent of her statement, she had already changed the subject.
“All the chamber rooms are in this wing, then?” She asked.
“Mm. Mine is at the end of the hall, two rooms down from this one. Caramel Arrow Cookie has a room on the other side of yours as First Watcher, but she rarely uses it.” Dark Cacao explained.
“And the fourth room?”
“Mm?”
“There are four rooms in this hallway. Who does the one between yours and mine belong to?”
Dark Cacao’s breath hitched, and he hesitated for a moment. “… Someone who has not lived here in a very long time.”
Mystic Flour did not press the subject further.
“Would you like to share some jellies with me? One of the watchers gave them to me. Supposedly, they give you more energy.” She offered, kneeling across from him at the table.
“Mm, I suppose I have some time before my next meeting.” He knelt upon the vacant pillow at the table, cracking a small smile.
“I’ve never had this kind before, are they eaten raw?”
“They can be, but they taste better cooked. These tables come with a small induction stove, I’ll show you how to prepare them.” Dark Cacao turned the knob on the side of the gas panel in the center of the table.
Cloud Haetae lept from their spot on the bed to peer over the table. “Are you cooking? What are you making? Can I have some? Ple~ease?”
Mystic Flour put her hand on their head with an amused smile. “I’ll let you try some of mine, but you have to be patient.”
The Haetae settled, but their stout tail continued to wag in place.
“I’ll see if I can prepare them with the regular skewers, I’ll have to get you a proper stand for them-”
“Just don't burn them.”
“I have enough cooking experience not to do that much.”
“Are you sure? Perhaps I should take over~”
“Absolutely not!”
“You don't trust me to cook, Dark Cacao?”
“It's not a matter of trust, it's a matter of my pride as king!”
“To do what? Cook a couple jellies?”
“I can assure you, I am fully capable of-”
“Well your highness, your jellies are burning.”
“What?! Already?!”
The evening continued much the same way, with teasing and laughter and Mystic Flour sneaking every other roasted jelly handed to her to her Haetae(no matter how many times Dark Cacao tells her that the jellies are for the two of them).
Dark Cacao never attends the meeting, but those who go searching for him hear the sound of his laughter through the door and think better of disturbing him.