Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Affogato rushed up to the throne room as quickly as he could, as fast as his lungs could allow him, ignoring their cries for a break. It was but a rumor, but a rumor this extreme had to be taken seriously. He had never tried running from the edge of the walls to the throne room before but this was making him thankful he never had.

Finally he shoved open the large doors and walked up to the throne. It was fittingly dark and eerie, being lit by only a few candles on the wall and maybe some natural light but no more. Huffing and collapsing as soon as he got a few feet away, this was how Affogato could present himself to the king at that moment. Dark Cacao looked at him startled and stood up. 

“Affogato, what’s going on?” he demanded. 

He took one final deep breath before looking up towards the king. “My-... My liege there’s a rumor going around, a very serious one-!” 

“You rushed all the way up here for a rumor? What have I told you about that?!” 

“Well, yes sir I know I should take them with a grain of salt, of course. But- but this one we really should be careful of, I swear to you! After all we both know how dangerous the Licorice Sea is and-” 

“If it’s as serious as you’re making it out to be, quit wasting both of our time and spit it out!” 

“Right of course…” he sighed as he got up, finally realizing how absurd what he was about to say was. “There are rumors going around that a cookie was born from the Licorice Sea, sir…”

“A cookie? Born of the Licorice Sea ?”

Affogato nodded his head. “Saying it allowed… I suppose it… does sound-”

“Impossible, I can’t believe this… Do not come to me with such foolish rumors again, do you understand? Unless it’s rumors about serious danger, everything else wastes all of our time!” 

“Yes sir, my sincerest apologies, I acted without thinking…” He bowed towards Dark Cacao who gave a deep sigh of annoyance as he sat back on his throne. Affogato then left, the halls just as dark and gloomy as the throne room. 

Why did he think that was so important? One who is quick to believe everything they hear is only doomed to fall of course. Rumors, he often had to remind himself, while intriguing, were but unlikely bits of talk. Unimportant and time wasters. He couldn’t help himself from looking out the window, seeing nothing but a large chocolate wall that protected the castle from the treacherous dark sea that lurked on the other side. He could hear the splashing of the unsteady waves against the wall with ease. Other than the construction going on nearly all the time, the castle was relatively quiet. 

Affogato shook his head. Rumors are a fool’s fact, and he was almost a court jester.

•❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•

Dark Choco huffed as he set his bag down and slumped onto a log nearby, the fire in front of him crackling, filling the cold air with a little warmth, and the condensation from his breath mixing with the smoke. Even with being miles away from home, he could still hear the incoherent screams of the Licorice Sea. It had been doing that a lot more and much louder than he could remember, especially since the Cookies of Darkness had left. Or maybe since he left…

He could hear the cries as he left the castle, the cries that pierced his ears and the ones he couldn’t understand nor help with. 

“The sea,” he laughed to himself. “Always a mystery…” 

It made him think back to a rumor that always sprung up every now and then in the kingdom, but it had reached its peak when he was around five years old. The idea of a cookie coming from the sea itself and wielding its powers. The rumor had always annoyed his father whenever he dared bring it up, the quickest way to get under his skin. 

The loud roars quieted down as Dark Choco thought for a moment, about what he had done. 

Left.

He left the Cookies of Darkness, he left that dreadful sword behind, and he left his father, being forced to wonder what happened after he stepped outside of those giant chocolate walls. There will forever be blood stained on his hands but those stains he might just be able to figure out how to fade. He wasn’t going to be the hero he always dreamed of being but no longer would he be the villain he had become either. 

Then as he continued to think he realized how quiet his mind was. It wasn’t filled with the horrid demands the sword had been screaming at him, it was just his thoughts. And that was a nice feeling. 

The sea continued to roar as the wind picked up dramatically, blowing out his fire. He sighed. 

“Can’t expect everything to go well out here, but it’s certainly better…” 

His mind went to the Cookies of Darkness, he wondered how they were doing without him.

Chapter Text

“You lost Dark Choco?!” Red Velvet demanded. “How the hell did you do that?!”

“He made up with his father…” Pomegranate seethed, venom dripping from her lips. “We did get a new member, Affogato, as great as he is, we still did suffer a significant loss.”

“Where’s the sword?” 

“I have no idea.” 

Red Velvet’s glare moved to Licorice who was sitting quietly, having sunk into himself and clearly deep in thought. He groaned and slammed the table in front of Licorice with his fist, causing him to jump. 

“S-sorry!” Licorice said. 

“What. Happened?!” Red Velvet demanded. 

“I don’t know! I wasn’t in charge and everything happened so quickly-!” 

“And he was distracted by that Licorice Sea…” Pomegranate scoffed. 

“Speaking of,” Affogato added. “I’ve never heard it scream like that before, in fact I might be able to hear it from here.”

“No one expects a sea to scream,” Red Velvet rolled his eyes. 

“The Licorice Sea is a living sea of darkness, it’s known for screaming. But we’ve never heard it this loud before, my ears were nearly bleeding when I was leaving.” 

“Back to the cookie… You don’t know what happened..?”

“No!” Licorice got up and put his hands on the table. “I don’t! I couldn’t tell, there was a lot happening at once, ok?!” 

“I miss Dark Choco already…” Poison Mushroom said, staring at the ground. Licorice sighed and nodded, sinking back into his chair. Dark Choco must’ve been having a better time than this. Then he thought back to what Affogatto had just said. Sure the cries from the sea were still ringing in his ears but it wasn’t even close to making them bleed, no it was more like the sea was calling to him… 

“Dark Enchantress is going to give you all hell for this…” Red Velvet muttered. He then turned on his heels and left the room, not after giving everyone a cold glare and adjusting his cake breaker in his human hand. 

“ Not if I leave first… ” Licorice thought. 

Wait, leave? Why would he want to leave? Then again… Why wouldn’t he? What would he lose from leaving when he was at the bottom? But the protection from dark forces was nice. But also was he even fully protected if he still lived in fear? He was still terrified about what Dark Enchantress, Red Velvet, and even Pomegranate could do to him if he made the wrong step, they were a looming shadow on missions… 

He shook his head, trying to shove those thoughts to the back of his mind. Why would he think of leaving? 

Those thoughts wouldn’t leave his head though, and when Licorice lied down for the night they were especially loud. The idea of leaving was suddenly the most tempting thing ever even though just a mere few hours ago it would’ve never even crossed his mind. Finally he groaned and sat up, rubbing his face. The moon was bright that night, almost blue to him, and it laced his walls with light. If he were to leave, this would’ve been the perfect night to do so. 

He took a second to weigh the pros and cons of this decision. He got protection from the wrath of Dark Enchantress, for the most part that is… after all he could still erupt into flames if he dared take another wrong step. Is that really worth it? He’d be freer if he left, and that could give him the opportunity to go back to the sea, if he wasn’t banned that is. 

Then it was settled, he threw the blanket off of himself and grabbed the satchel he kept stashed under his bed. He then, as quietly as he could, grabbed all of the books, trinkets, magical items, and anything else he could fit in his bag. 

Finally Licorice turned to the door to leave, yet the sight of a small child with confused and terrified eyes stopped him in his tracks.

“Where are you going..?” Poison Mushroom asked.

“Anywhere but here!” Licorice said through his teeth. Mushroom took a second to process this.

“You’re leaving too..?” 

“It’s best I guess…” 

“But that’s both of my favorite friends gone…”

He stared down at the floor sadly. Licorice sighed and caved. “Get packed, I’ll take you with me.” 

Mushroom’s head shot up and he smiled. Licorice guided him back to his room and helped him grab items, shaking or nodding his head about what he should and shouldn’t take. Finally, when both had bags packed, Licorice peeked his head out the door to check if the coast was clear. 

It wasn’t. 

Pomegranate was talking with Dark Enchantress down the hall. Most likely about what happened today as her master was scowling. He quickly yet quietly shut the door and took a moment to think, before spotting an open window in Mushroom’s room. 

“We can’t go out that way, we’re gonna have to go through there,” he motioned towards the window and Poison tilted his head confused. 

“Why not?” 

“Dark Enchantress is out there. It’s too risky. Come on.” 

He guided Poison back to the window and lifted him out, then he himself climbed out, watching the door carefully. He grabbed Poison’s bag and set him on his shoulders as he sped up into the nearby forest. The best place to hide for the night, but they had to go in deep. The thuds of his feet against the ground sounded far louder than they probably were and the cold air stung against his skin. 

He couldn’t believe he was doing this, how impulsive would he have to be right now? All because of a stupid sea of dark magic… 

“Where are we going?” Poison asked. 

“Eventually-... to see Dark Choco,” Licorice said between huffs. “Right now, we just have to get away from the tower.” 

•❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•

How long had he been running for? 20? Maybe 30 minutes? Licorice was surprised his legs lasted even this long, but they were starting to give out and he felt sharp pains and buckling. Poison Mushroom had fallen asleep by now and he could now longer see the tower, only dark leaves, trees, and dirt. His lungs still gasping for air, he allowed himself to sit down and set Poison Mushroom next to himself, who stirred a little but was otherwise still asleep. 

He himself could feel his eyelid close, unable to hold up the weight added to them as his adrenaline wore off.

|××××××××××|××××××××××|

Licorice’s head went up, seeing the familiar train that always met him at night. The one filled with silhouettes of the past and drained of color. He looked over to the seat next to him, meeting the same blank face he was always met with.

“Hello again Red Vine,” he told it with a tired smile. 

“Finally did it?” Red Vine asked.

“Did what? Leave?”

“Exactly.”

It was mostly quiet aside from the train’s wheels and the quiet muttering of the ghosts amongst each other. Licorice set his head against the window, looking at the blank void outside. 

“If you wanted me to leave so badly, why didn’t you tell me?” 

Red Vine tilted his head before playing with his ponytail. “I am your guardian spirit but I cannot control your life. Besides, this should turn out well, trust me.”

Licorice eyed him with a frown but sighed. “I guess you’ve never been wrong so far…” 

“I’m glad you brought that child with you too, I like him.” 

“Poison Mushroom? Yeah, I guess I couldn’t stand him being left alone with those guys…”

“We couldn’t either,” another spirit chimed in with a laugh. “I was shouting at you to take him with you.” 

The train screeched to a halt, signaling that it was time for Licorice to get off. As he got up from his seat, Red Vine called to him. 

“You’re going to the sea, right?” 

“Yeah?” 

“We’ll be waiting for you then!” he laughed. 

Licorice looked at him confused but assumed he’d figure out what he meant, as he headed towards the doors of the train. 

|××××××××××|××××××××××|

Licorice slowly awoke, the sky was beginning to lighten yet it was still quite dark. He slowly got up from the ground and checked his surroundings, wondering if anyone noticed if the two were gone yet or not. It wasn’t the time to dwell on that now though, they had to get moving. 

He carefully picked up the still-asleep Poison Mushroom and both of their bags as he continued to trudge through the thick woods. Getting to the sea was the end goal, sure, but first he had to focus on getting away from the tower. If he was anywhere near there, he’d have to face the wrath of the enchantress for trying to leave, that is if the cakehounds didn’t get to him first. 

•❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•

Dark Enchantress huffed impatiently, drumming her fingers on the table. 

“Where are those two? They’re always here by now…” 

“Would you like me to get them ma’am?” Red Velvet asked.

“Yes, that would be great…” 

Red Velvet walked around the table and down the hallway to the living quarters. Pomegranate set her head in her hands and Affogato chuckled to himself.

“Fantastic first impression friends…” 

“They’ll get better at this, I’ll make sure of it,” Pomegranate muttered. 

“I’m sure you will,” Dark Enchantress sighed. 

There was suddenly a shout of “God- fucking - damnit!” from Red Velvet as he raced back down the hall. 

“What happened?” Dark Enchantress asked, rising from her seat. 

“They’re gone!”

“What do you mean ‘they’re gone’?!” Pomegranate demanded. 

“I mean they’re gone, they’ve left!” 

“Since when did Licorice want to leave?!”

“How should I know?!” 

Dark Enchantress slammed her fist on the table. “Great! That’s three gone in 24 hours! Just what I needed!” 

“I’ll get everything back under control, you have my word.” 

“I expect as such.” 

Chapter Text

Licorice sighed as he finally allowed himself to sit down again. He and Poison Mushroom had been moving for several hours now without much of a break, the sun was now high in the sky. 

“You think we’re far enough away for me to do this?” he asked.

Poison Mushroom looked back to where they came from. They had been out of the forest for awhile now and the tower was far, far from sight. On the path to the Dark Cacao kingdom, or at the very least close to it. 

“I think so… We couldn’t bring anyone else?” 

“No, too risky, we could’ve gotten in serious trouble if we tried to bring someone else,” Licorice explained. 

“Do you think they’ll look for us?”

“Probably, not because they think we’re any useful though.”

“Then why’d they look for us?”

Licorice frowned. “To give us hell for leaving I’d assume.” 

Poison Mushroom sat down next to Licorice, rocking back and forth. “How’d they do that though? How would they know where we’re going?” 

“Cake hounds probably, strong noses, good for tracking things. I think they could easily assume where we’re going…” 

Poison Mushroom hummed. “So cake hounds aren’t our friends..?” He sounded shattered at that realization.

“Right now, no.” 

Mushroom looked at the ground sadly, processing this information. Licorice nudged him and put on a smile. 

“Hey, we should be getting close to the Cacao Kingdom at least, and you can be friends with all the cake hounds there.” 

That seemed to make Poison happy, as he immediately got up and tugged on Licorice’s sleeve for him to do the same. “Can we hurry? I wanna meet the cake hounds!” 

Licorice laughed and grabbed their bags as he got up to follow. “Ok ok! Slow down! By the witches you’re excited.” 

“But cake hound friends!”

“Alright alright, grab my hand so I don’t lose you.” 

As much as he used to call the kid slow, Licorice often found himself having to race to keep up with Poison, especially when he was excited. He was starting to regret those words. Being able to laugh at his excitement and actually smile at the smallest things, to joke, it was like leaving had lifted a massive weight off his shoulders. Maybe that impulsive decision was actually a good idea. 

•❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•

The sun was starting to set as the pair wandered upon a town, it was quiet and clearly a work in progress but quite comfortable. Poison Mushroom yawned on Licorice’s back and Licorice himself could feel his feet giving out. 

“Do you want to try and find an inn for the night?” he asked. Poison Mushroom gave a very sleepy “mm-hm…” and Licorice nodded as he paid more attention to the signs. Finally he came across a sign that read “ Crow’s Nest Inn ”.

He carefully opened the door and was greeted by a tavern, the bartender still picking up from the day. They noticed the two and welcomed them inside. 

“Ah hello, what brings you here?” 

“We’re just looking for a place to rest for the night,” Licorice explained. 

“Well you came to the right place,” the bartender laughed. “Where are you two off to if ya don’t mind me asking?” 

“Oh, the Dark Cacao Kingdom.”

The bartender’s eyes went wide for a moment before they examined Licorice more closely. “Ahhh, y’re from the Licorice Village?” 

“Er, was… The village is long gone unfortunately…”

“Oh, sorry to hear that.” 

“I’ve gotten over it… Maybe it could be rebuilt someday.”

“That would be nice, hm? We’re currently working on rebuilding the Raisin Village here.” 

“I’m assuming you own this inn?”

“Nah, just standin’ in for my friend, pretty cool though, may join ‘im on board. So how’d you like your room?”

“Two beds please, just for tonight.”

“Ok, and I could get breakfast ready for the both of ya in the morning as well. That’d be 20 coins all in all.” 

Licorice rummaged through his bag and pulled out a small sack of coins and produced 20 of them for the bartender, who recounted just to be sure. 

“Thank you so much,” Licorice sighed, before he added “oh and this is going to sound really shady but if anyone comes in asking for us could you tell them we weren’t here?”

The bartender raised an eyebrow. “Depends on the reason…” 

“We’re kind of escaping from something and it’s likely we’re being looked for.” 

“I see, ‘that why y’re heading to the Cacao Kingdom?” 

“Part of it.”

“I can get behind that, my lips are sealed. Your beds are upstairs. Enjoy your stay, you two.” 

Licorice nodded and headed up the stairs with Poison Mushroom still on his back and lugging both of their bags. He reached the room and set the bags down with a huff and set Poison Mushroom in one of the beds. 

“It’s so soft…” Poison said, half awake.

“Better than the forest floor?” Licorice laughed. 

“Mmhm…” Poison then rolled over onto his side and went to sleep. Licorice sighed and took his robe off, examining the dirt that covered it and the new tears and fraying from the thick forest. 

“I probably shouldn’t have it like this if I wanna stay hidden…” he muttered. He dug through his bag again and pulled out a sheet of crimson red fabric and sewing supplies. He looked at where the cloak was most frayed before deciding to cut off the sleeves and hood and cut out the pattern from the fresh fabric and replacing them. 

Trying it on, he noticed the sleeves were shorter than before, and with the sleeves of his button down shirt rolled up you could easily see the dark birthmarks that covered his arms. He shrugged, there were bigger things to worry about and he could just unroll his sleeves if need be. He stuffed the old fabric back in his bag and removed the patched up cloak. It wasn’t the prettiest but it was better than nothing. 

Licorice collapsed into his bed. Mushroom was right, this was better than the forest floor. He didn’t realize how tired was until he finally allowed himself to rest, falling asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow. 

|××××××××××|××××××××××|

As the train came back into his sight, Licorice was quick to notice Red Vine wasn’t alone this time. A familiar silhouette was next to him, one Licorice hadn’t been able to find for a few months now. 

“Black Rope, how have you been?” he said with a smile. 

Black Rope met Licorice’s eyes for a moment and shrugged before looking back down, more focused on the crown in his hands that he was fidgeting with. 

“He’s doing well,” Red Vine answered for him. “Well for Black Rope at least.” 

“That’s good to hear, it’s been a while since I’ve seen you, I was getting worried.” 

Black Rope held his crown still and looked back up, his gaze lingering this time. Licorice couldn’t tell if he would’ve been smiling or processing what he had heard. He nodded after a second before he looked back down and in the quietest voice muttered “Thank you…”

Licorice noticed something in Red Vine’s lap, the spider plush that he had given to Black Rope when he first met him at 7. When he had first worked up the courage to walk towards the spirit curled up in the corner of the car, shaking with heavy breaths. He had held onto that plush since then, panicking when he couldn’t find it and Licorice would help him. 

“Nice cloak by the way,” Red Vine laughed.

“Yeah that desperately needed to be fixed,” Licorice admitted. “It’s certainly not nice looking but it’s better than nothing.”

“True, especially when you’re going to the Cacao Kingdom.”

“I’m glad they were able to carry it on,” Black Rope muttered. 

“Yeah, last I saw it a couple days ago it looked impressive.” 

“I forgot you guys can watch my every movement…” Licorice said. 

“And judge them,” Red Vine added. “But seriously, prepare for the cold, it is not something to take lightly.” 

“Got it captain,” Licorice laughed. 

“I don’t know if that was a nod to when I was alive, sarcasm, or both.”

“That’s for you to decide.” 

The train screeched to a halt and Licorice got up, he nodded towards Black Rope. “It was great seeing you again, I missed you.”

Black Rope looked up and nodded. 

“We’ll see you at the Dark Cacao kingdom,” Red Vine said. 

“Hm?” 

“You’ll see with time.” 

|××××××××××|××××××××××|

Licorice rubbed his eyes as he sat up, it took him a second to remember where he was. He looked out the window to make sure he didn’t oversleep. The sun had just risen, good. He grabbed the cloak he had fixed the night before and examined it to be sure he did his stitching right. Satisfied with his work, he rolled the sleeves of his button up down and put the cloak on. He then looked over to Poison Mushroom who was still fast asleep. He gently shook him awake. 

“Morning Poison, wanna go grab breakfast before leaving?” 

“Do we have to leave..? It’s nice…” Poison asked, still sleepy.

“Unfortunately yeah, we can’t meet Choco or the cake hounds otherwise.”

“Oh yeah…” Mushroom sat up and stretched then noticed Licorice’s cloak. “Your cloak is different..” 

“Hm? Ah right, it needed to be redone last night.” 

“Looks weird…”

Licorice laughed. “I’m aware but thanks for the honesty.” 

•❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•

Poison Mushroom took one last bite of his eggs before he nodded to indicate he was done. 

“Thank you again for the food,” Licorice told the bartender. 

“‘Course! Anything for guests, we don’t get them often ya know.” 

“The town looked quite small.” 

“It’s in development,” they laughed.

“We better get going, thanks again for letting us stay.” Licorice handed the bartender a few more coins. “And for keeping quiet about us.”

“Figured your situation was tight, it’s the least I coulda done.” 

“You aren’t wrong… We better head out.”

“Bye!” Poison told the bartender. “Thank you friend!” 

The bartender laughed again. “Stay safe you two! The Cacao Kingdom ain’t far from ‘ere, good luck!” 

Licorice waved them goodbye and walked out, it had taken the Cookies of Darkness around the same time to reach the kingdom so they couldn’t have been far. In fact he could hear the whistling winds as he reached the edge of the town.

“You hear that Mushroom?” he laughed as a chill went down his spine. Poison tilted his head as he listened more closely. 

“Wind?”

“Exactly! We should be there any second!” 

Both of their faces lit up and Poison Mushroom grabbed Licorice’s hand to force him to keep up as he darted towards the mountains. 

Any second now they’d be free.

Chapter Text

As much as Red Velvet loved cake hounds on their own, he couldn’t deny their skills. They were strong creatures, but most importantly, amazing trackers. And being tasked with the duty to find the members of his team that fled in the middle of the night, he made sure to bring his best. 

The hound knew how serious the mission was but when he had pointed out a shabby inn in the middle of an equally shabby town, Red Velvet thought he was joking. 

“Really?” he asked. But the cake hound was serious. “If you insist, Chiffon…” 

He shoved open the door, causing it to slam against the wall, startling the cookie drying glasses at the bar and making them drop one, shattering it. Red Velvet walked over and set his claw onto the counter with a scowl.

“Have two cookies passed by here recently? One in a purple cloak with a small kid with him?” 

The bartender looked between Velvet’s claw and the cake next to him. “We haven’t had guests for a while, sorry.”
  

“My hound says otherwise..” 

“We’ve had people stop in, sure, but no one has stayed longer than a few minutes. And there are too many people around here that match that description.” 

Red Velvet looked down to Chiffon and signaled for him to sniff the place out. “I do hope, for your sake, that you’re telling the truth…”

The bartender stayed quiet as he watched Chiffon lead Velvet up the stairs, and while making as little noise as possible, grabbed a broom to sweep the shattered glass up. 

Red Velvet was led to a room not far from the stairs, and he opened the door, being met with a neat room with two beds. Chiffon walked in, continuing to sniff until he reached a scrap on the floor and picked it up, sitting in front of Red Velvet. He took the scrap from Chiffon’s mouth and patted his head. 

“Good boy,” he said with a grin. What the hound had found was a frayed piece of Licorice’s cloak, the same worn and sun bleached purple he knew. It had been carefully cut from the rest of it “So they were here…” 

He stomped back down the stairs, Chiffon following his every step, and walked towards the bar. 

“No one’s stayed here for awhile, hm?” he asked. “What’s this?” and he set the scrap of the bar. The bartender examined it carefully, a puzzled look on their face. 

“Coulda been somethin’ the crows left.”

“What?”

“Why do ya think it’s called the ‘Crow’s Nest Inn’, for shits and giggles? We get crows.” 

Red Velvet slammed his fist on the counter “Fuck! I’m getting nowhere fast! So, let me get this straight- You don’t know who I’m talking about, where they went, and this  was left by a crow?!”

“Yep.” 

He groaned and went out the door, slamming it on his way out. The bartender looked around the inn with a sigh. 

“If that’s who they’re escaping, good luck…” 

•❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•

He should’ve prepared himself.  He was warned and he didn’t listen. Licorice was calf-deep in snow, forced to carry a shivering Poison Mushroom that he had to wrap in his cloak to keep him from freezing as the winds of the blizzard roared around him. But nonetheless, he tried to stay positive for him.

“We’re getting close…” he said over the wind. There was no response but Poison huddled closer to Licorice’s chest for warmth. Licorice was starting to regret bringing him along. Two hours in a land like this without protection… How could he be so stupid? He lasted a surprisingly long time, sure, for a while it wasn’t even snowing, but he knew then he had flown too close to the sun.

His legs gave out and he fell to the ground, a wall of snow was all he could see around him and he held Mushroom closer to him, no matter what he couldn’t freeze. The world around him started to fade, he could almost see the train now… 

All of this for a stupid sea… 

|××××××××××|××××××××××|

It was colder than it should’ve been, Licorice could see his breath as he shivered. Even in this world he couldn’t escape the cold it seemed. Red Vine noticed this and quickly called for the other spirits, for what Licorice couldn’t have guessed. 

Sweetroot came around the corner holding a blanket in one arm and her umbrella down and in her other hand, then wrapped the blanket around Licorice’s shoulders. Yes, he shouldn’t have expected any less from her. She sat next to him, adjusting her skirt so she wasn’t too uncomfortable, and examined him carefully.

“You’re lucky our family is so tolerant to the cold, most would barely last ten minutes out there before their eyes froze shut,” she told him. 

“You think that’d be enough?” Licorice asked. “Enough so they won’t find me..?” 

“More than enough.” 

“And Poison Mushroom?” 

“You’ve done what you can, Licorice, I’m sure he’ll be fine.” 

“We were in the middle of nowhere…” 

“Trust me,” Salted Licorice said, leaning against the seat. “In the Cacao Kingdom, the middle of nowhere is where cookies are most often. Someone will find you two.” 

Salted Licorice knew every inch of the kingdom, even if it had changed since he died, Licorice was sure if were asked to navigate it now he’d be able to without error. And he knew the cookies who lived there just as well. He took his hat off and put it on Licorice’s head. 

“Though I didn’t take you for the type to travel all the way out there.” 

“Best place to escape to, besides, I wanted to figure out why I liked that sea so much,” Licorice explained. Red Vine returned just in that moment, Black Rope not far behind him, who set his spider in Licorice’s lap. 

“Why you liked the sea so much?” he asked. “It… may have something to do with your magic, yeah? That’s what it is, right Sweet’? 

“Yes, magic users tend to be drawn to what their magic is based on,” Sweetroot explained. “Maybe that’s why you’re so drawn to the Licorice Sea.” 

“What would my magic have to do with the sea?” Licorice asked. 

“It’ll all be explained soon,” Sweetroot said, patting Salted Licorice’s arm for him to move and handing him his hat by its brim. That line frustrated Licorice and he got up, the blanket fell off his shoulders but he held on to Black Rope’s spider.

“Ok, I keep being told that! Do you all know something I don’t?!”

“Calm down,” Red Vine said, moving Licorice back to his seat which he tried to fight, but it’s near useless to fight someone who died as the captain of a royal army. “Yes, ok, we do. There’s a lot we know that you don’t.” 

“Ok so will you tell me?”

“No,” the spirits said simultaneously. 

“Wha- You guys can’t just drop that on me and not explain!” 

“We can and will,” Salted Licorice said, shoving the back of Licorice’s head forward before walking to the armrest and sitting on that. He never liked actually sitting in seats for some reason, there could be a whole room of open seats and he’d still sit on the floor. 

“It’s more of ‘we’re forced to and can’t’,” Sweetroot sighed, crossing her arms and leaning into the backrest. “We’re only allowed to guide you, other than that our lips are forced shut.” 

“You have rules?”

“‘Limitations’ is the more fitting term.” 

“Trust us,” Red Vine said, grabbing Licorice’s hand. “We know what we’re doing, it’ll end perfectly fine.”

The train screeched to a stop, throwing Salted Licorice off the armrest and onto the floor with a loud “Fuck!” Licorice froze for a second, surprised that the train even braked. 

“I didn’t think it would stop for me again,” he muttered. 

Red Vine let go of his hand and hoisted Salted back up. “I’m glad it did, best get off before it starts again.” 

Licorice nodded as he handed Black Rope his spider. He got up from his seat, saying goodbye to the spirits in the car, and heading for the door. 

|××××××××××|××××××××××|

Licorice’s head pounded as he came back into consciousness, staring at a ceiling. Salted Licorice must’ve been right, someone did come for them. He was wrapped in a wool blanket, a fire going not far away from him, and he was in a hard bed. His vision was blurred, he couldn’t tell where he was or how long he’d been out for, it all felt the same on the train. For a moment his mind told him the Cookies of Darkness had found him again.

No, it couldn’t have been them, they wouldn’t have been this nice. Especially not after what he had done. 

A door opened to the left of him, and he heard a voice he recognized. A dark voice yet it seemed to have a little more life in it from the last time he heard it.

“You’re awake…” 

Licorice tried to tilt his head to see if it was really the cookie he was thinking of, but his body was still far too stiff to move. Luckily he didn’t need to, as the cookie walked over to the bed to check on him, setting the kettle he held in his hands onto the stand next to it. His crimson eyes were full of both relief and worry which was something Licorice didn’t think was possible. 

“Choco?” he asked. 

“Yeah, yeah it’s me… what the hell happened?”

“Long story. Why are you in the castle? I thought you were staying away from it for a while.”

Dark Choco shrugged, he now adorned the clothes of the kingdom, simple in shape yet intricate in pattern robes in white and brown with a ruby on the clasp of his coat, his hair was tied back and out of his eyes for the most part. “The people of the kingdom found me and insisted I return, refusing to take no for an answer I guess.” He kneeled by the bed as he poured Licorice some tea. “And we have the time to listen to a long story, I want to know why you and Poison Mushroom were found in the middle of the snowy mountains with little protection for the elements.” 

“Wait-, right Poison Mushroom! Is he ok?!”

“He’s fine, your body heat helped him and you two seemed to be found quite quickly.” He moved the steaming cup of tea toward Licorice’s lips. “Here, drink, it’ll help you warm up more.” 

Licorice did as asked, it wasn’t the sweet herbal tea he had grown used to growing up, it was extremely bitter. He recoiled at the taste. “What is that?!” 

Dark Choco chuckled. “Our kingdom doesn’t have anything sweet, we’re kind of known for it. Now, why did you two come here?” 

Licorice hesitated, he wasn’t sure why but it took a second to bring the words out. “We… were trying to escape the Cookies of Darkness. I thought this place would be our best bet.” 

Dark Choco raised an eyebrow. “Really? Last time we spoke you seemed quite loyal to them.”

“I guess you leaving made me realize I didn’t want to be there.” 

“I see. Why was this kingdom the safest?” 

“Well I thought it was far enough away and we could blend in best here.” 

“That’s your only reason?” 

“What else would there be?”

Dark Choco tilted his head towards the door, right then a shout came from outside. “The sea, white noise of this kingdom no matter how horrible it sounds.”

“You think it sounds horrible?” 

“The constant shrieks of agony is not a nice sound, are you sure you didn’t get brain damage from your trek here?” 

Shrieks of agony? To Licorice the cries sounded more like a celebration than agony. Maybe he did hit his head when he crashed to the ground. But it sounded the same when he heard it a few days ago. 

“It may not be out of the question,” Licorice chuckled nervously. Dark Choco grinned.

“You should be alright, trust me, we cookies of the Cacao Kingdom know how to deal with frostbite. It looked like you had some pretty severe patches on your arm though which is concerning.” 

“Huh? Oh! Those are probably just birthmarks.” 

“You think? Those are pretty dark birthmarks, they’re practically black.” 

“I’m aware.” 

Dark Choco grimaced. “I really hope you’re telling the truth. Here, drink more tea.” 

Licorice refused for a moment, the bitter taste from before still stung in his mouth. After a bit of convincing though, Dark Choco got him to take another sip. It was hard to believe this was the same cookie who worked for Dark Enchantress, the same one who would’ve much rather spent all his time alone than interact with anyone else on the team, let alone Licorice. 

“How’d you find us anyway?” Licorice asked. 

“Our general was out on patrol, his cream wolves picked up your scent and brought you back to the castle.” 

“So he was right…” he muttered. 

“Hm?” 

“Hm?” 

Dark Choco stared at Licorice confused for a moment before shaking his head. “Nevermind. I’ll check on you later, ok? And I’ll let my father know you’re awake. Rest up.” He then grabbed the teapot and cup, then walked out the door. It was only when Dark Choco shut the door that Licorice noticed a silhouette figure standing next to it. A larger one, and one that he recognized. 

“Red-..? How-..?” he asked, not being able to get the full sentence out. 

“Told you we’d meet you here,” Red Vine laughed, as he walked over to the bed, now taking Dark Choco’s place. “I don’t exactly understand it but I think we’re only visible to you and you alone when a certain distance from the sea.”

“Huh… Wait why the sea?” 

Red Vine shrugged. “Just how things worked out. I’m sure it’ll make more sense to you in due time.” 

Licorice scowled. “You know I really hate how vague you guys are being right now.” 

“We’ve no choice, I would’ve told you everything a long time ago had I had the chance.” 

Licorice sighed and moved his eyes toward the ceiling. “So the others are here I’m assuming, and I’m the only one who can see you?”

“Yes, although others can feel if we touch them.” 

“I guess it’ll be nice to have familiar company.”

Chapter Text

The frozen lands of the Cacao Kingdom, he should’ve figured that was where Licorice was heading. As much as Red Velvet valued completing this mission quickly, he valued his life even more. He knelt next to Chiffon. 

“We’re going to have to head back for a bit, this kingdom is too cold for a hound like you alone, although I know how much of a strong boy you are.” 

The hound panted with happiness at Red Velvet’s words and followed at his heels back to the tower. Red Velvet was less than happy, seeing as three days worth of travel was lost just like that. 

•❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•

Licorice recovered quicker than he expected, being able to get up the next morning, with permission from Dark Choco of course. He had been given a new outfit that was more equipped to handle the weather of the kingdom, a black jacket and scarf with boots. Was it the style of the kingdom? Absolutely not but then again, none of his family blended in when they were alive either. To his knowledge that is. 

Dark Choco introduced Licorice to Caramel Arrow, who’s first reaction was to ask “Why do you look familiar?”

“Oh, he and I both were on the same mission a few days ago,” Dark Choco said, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. “Wouldn’t recommend telling the kingdom, seeing as that part is behind both of us now.” 

Caramel Arrow hummed in thought. “I see, would you two like to take a walk around the kingdom, then you and I can get to know each other.” 

“Sure,” Licorice said. “That may get my mind off a few things I guess.”

Caramel Arrow laughed and motioned for the two to follow her. “Yeah, a lot must’ve happened in the last few days. I’m impressed by how tolerant you are to the cold, you can go through a lot and recover quickly.”

Licorice was thrown off by that word, “‘Im- impressed’? No no, I’m just lucky my family is so tolerant.” 

“You don’t know how to handle a compliment? You seem to be the type of person to get them all the time.”

“Quite the opposite actually,” Licorice laughed. 

“Really? Huh. You should get them more often.” 

The three passed by the Licorice Sea, its cries were softer than they had been recently. There was a wall between it and where the cookies were supposed to be, yet there was an area where you could peek through. That wall was also where Sweetroot stood, watching the sea's waves splash against the shore and wall itself. She turned around as she spotted Licorice. 

“I may be biased,” she told him from afar. “But I think this sea is quite lovely.” 

Licorice tilted his head and walked over to her, Choco and Caramel stared confused before following him. And finally getting a look at the sea for himself, Licorice had to agree with the spirit. The waves were quite calming. 

“I don’t understand your fascination with this thing,” Dark Choco laughed. 

“I honestly don’t either…” 

“It tends to fascinate newcomers,” Caramel Arrow chuckled, she then scowled as she looked at it. “It doesn’t make sense to me, all it is is a sea of dark magic and misery…” 

“‘Dark magic and misery’,” Sweetroot repeated with a laugh. “If only the cookies of this kingdom knew.” 

Licorice watched as the waves rose and fell against the wall, he wondered if it was as much like actual water as it looked. He leaned over the section of wall and stuck his arm down before being violently pulled back by Caramel Arrow. 

“Woah woah!” She told him. “That’s a death sentence, don’t do that!” 

“‘Death sentence’?” Licorice echoed, rubbing where Caramel had grabbed him. “How?” 

“The sea pulls you in and you drown is the short answer.” 

“We should probably get him away from this thing,” Dark Choco laughed. “Knowing how stubborn he tends to be, he’ll probably try doing that again.” 

•❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•

When the group got back, they were greeted by Dark Cacao who had Poison Mushroom behind him. Licorice noticed the small child and rushed to hug him.

“You’re ok!” he said laughing, nearly crying. “Thank the witches you're ok!” 

“Yeah!” Poison said with a smile, hugging back. “See! I’m warm again!” 

“Yeah, I can see that!”

“Dark Choco informed me of your situation,” Dark Cacao explained. “You two are free to stay here if necessary, mostly because you’re close to my son though.” 

Licorice couldn’t believe what he was hearing for a moment. The king, the king of the Cacao kingdom was offering them to stay? That seemed to be a new situation for everyone in that room, usually he only allowed staff to stay. 

“Really?” Dark Cacao nodded. “That’d be great, thank you your majesty!” 

“Consider it lucky timing..”

Chapter Text

Sleepless nights were a common occurrence for Licorice, and as he rolled from one side to the other there was only one thing on his mind. 

He heard a soft laugh from across the room and immediately jolted up. As he looked he saw the silhouette of Salted Licorice and sighed with relief.  

“I forgot I could see you guys now…” He muttered. “What’s so funny to you?” 

“I know what you’re thinking about, that sea can’t leave your mind, huh?”

“Yeah, it’s dumb.” Licorice turned his head to the window in his room, a familiar sensation rushing through his body. “What if- I don’t know- what if I see it again? Would that be such a bad thing?” 

“That’s up to you,” Salt shrugged. 

Licorice groaned and threw the covers off himself and grabbed his boots and coat. “All of this for a stupid sea, where did you go so wrong Licorice?” he muttered under his breath. And as he zipped his coat out he hopped out the window. 

•❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•

The waves roared in his ears as Licorice grew closer to it. The snow was picking up and he couldn’t see far in the dark. Suddenly a cold hand grabbed onto his and started leading him. 

“Who are you?” He asked.

“Black Rope…” The spirit muttered, just loud enough to be heard. “Come along, I can guide you.” 

“To the sea?” 

“Mhm.” 

Licorice could feel his feet go numb as the two trudged through the snow, it was no more than twenty minutes later when they finally reached the wall that they were searching for. And meeting them there was another spirit. Red Vine. Licorice met him at the window and rested his arms on it, observing the sea. 

“I thought you’d be here, kid,” Red Vine said, a hint of laughter in his voice. 

“Yeah well you know me well..” 

He examined Licorice for a moment before looking back at the sea. “I don’t understand the hatred of this sea, I’ve always liked it.” 

Licorice watched it as well, the waves he could see could’ve lulled him to sleep if he wasn’t in the middle of the harsh winds. 

“Would it really kill me?” he asked Red Vine. The spirit took a moment to answer.

“It wouldn’t kill you , but it would hurt.” 

He watched the waves for a moment more, it wouldn’t kill him, and he’s been through pain before. Before he could stop himself, he started reaching for the water, and just as quickly the waves came to life and grabbed his wrist, dragging him towards the water. 

And then he was on the train again. 

•❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•

Dark Cacao had never seen Dark Choco rush around the castle as he was doing now. He was frantic, rushing between staff members asking them questions. Dark Cacao finally got the chance to slow him down and get him to take a breath

“What’s going on?” he asked, a hand on his son’s shoulder. 

“I can’t find Licorice, and none of the staff seemed to have seen where he went this morning either,” he explained. “I’m worried something happened to him. Have you seen him?”

“No- I- He’s gone already?” 

Another member of the staff perked up as they walked into the room, carrying dishes. “Licorice? He left last night, and he was talking to himself strangely.” 

“‘Left last night’?” Dark Choco repeated. “Do you know where?” 

“Not exactly but it looked like he was heading toward the sea.” 

Dark Choco’s face was even more panicked as he groaned before yelling “Oh fuck me!” 

“Watch your mouth,” his father scolded. “Toward the sea you say? He couldn’t have gone too much further, there was a storm last night.” 

“I suppose it doesn’t hurt to try,” the staff shrugged. “Speaking of the sea, have you noticed how… Quiet it’s been today?” 

Dark Cacao took a moment to listen, sure enough, there wasn’t a sound from the sea aside from the waves crashing against the wall. “You’re right… That’s odd..” 

“Alright well, if we’re gonna look we should do it quickly before something horrible may happen,” Dark Choco said. 

Dark Cacao nodded. “Good idea, and we should bring along Crunchy Chip and Caramel Arrow, extra help never hurt anyone.” 

•❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•

The night sky hung over the kingdom with a thick tension, Red Velvet stared at the black sea confused. According to his cakehounds, Licorice was there, but that was impossible. 

“You’re smart hounds certainly, but if Licorice was in there he’s probably dead by now…” he told the dogs, turning on his heels with a heavy, frustrated sigh. “And seeing that thing for myself, I can’t believe how Licorice was obsessed with it.”

•❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•

The train disappeared from sight, which was unusual. It was as if Licorice was just thrown off before it even bothered to stop. And when his eyes finally willed themselves to open, he was met with a black void, and excruciating pain that coursed through his muscles. It was like a weight had been slammed against his chest, and the breaths he could take would get stuck in the back of his throat and bring along with it the bitter taste of the water around him. 

After a while of this agonizing pain, he could feel his heart speed up. 

And he was thrown back onto the train. 

He wasn’t able to have the luxury of sitting down, it was more as if someone had violently shoved him to the ground. He slowly raised his head and his vision was blurred, he shakily got up and before he could get his balance, he was thrusted back into the sea. 

This repeated several times, Licorice growing evermore tired of the cycle. The train disappeared again, and the void returned to his vision, gasping for air he couldn’t reach. It felt as if his heart was melting from inside his ribcage. And then his vision became clear, his lungs finally allowed him to breathe again. 

Was Red Vine wrong? It did hurt, yes, the most horrible thing he’s felt, but he couldn’t have lived. Could he? His body finally let him move and head to the surface. 

To say he was overjoyed to feel the stone surface under his hand as he shoved himself to the shore would’ve been an understatement, yet that feeling was clouded over by the numb pain throughout his entire body. A hand grabbed his wrist and pulled him further up with great force, the world around him sounded as if he were still under the waves as a voice tried speaking to him, his vision just barely able to make out the cookie’s face. 

“Choco..?” he asked, gasping for air immediately after. 

“-Right here, just breathe, breathe,” Dark Choco told him. 

Licorice tried to do as asked. Yet instead of the smooth breaths his friend wanted, all he could do was slouch forward and start hacking, coughing up a sickly black liquid with little taste. Dark Choco started to freak out, having no clue what to do. 

“Ok- Uh, oh shit… You know my father knows this sea better than I do, maybe he’ll know how to help here?”

“I’ll be fine,” Licorice choked out. 

“You’re coughing up black stuff and your eyes are glowing cyan, I don’t think you’ll be fine!” 

“My eyes are what now?” 

“Whatever, let’s just get you to the hospital ward.” 

Dark Choco picked Licorice up and carried him as he climbed back over the wall. It was only then Licorice realized he had tied a rope to his body, and there were probably more people up on top of the wall. When they got to the top, Dark Choco carefully set Licorice down and informed Caramel Arrow and one other cookie of the situation, meanwhile Licorice was still coughing up whatever liquid came from the sea. Sweetroot was also on the wall and knelt down to examine his state. 

“So far nothing out of the ordinary, good,” she told him. Spotting the confused look on Licorice’s face, she further explained “This happens a lot with our family, you’ll be fine, if not better than before. Trust us, it’s in our blood- or lack thereof now for most of us. We’ll explain everything tonight. Rest up.” 

“I knew he would’ve been in there but how’d he survive?” the unknown cookie asked, his eyes scanning Licorice carefully. 

“He’s a lucky cookie,” Caramel Arrow laughed. “This is the second time he put his life at risk and survived.” 

“Let’s get him to the ward quickly,” Dark Choco told the two. “Before his state gets worse.” 

• ❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•

“He fell into the Licorice Sea and survived ?” Dark Cacao asked, now having heard the story twice. 

“I can’t believe it either!” Dark Choco said. 

“That hasn’t happened since the great mage a hundred and fifty years ago… It was certainly possible but the chances are extremely slim.” 

“‘Great mage’?” Crunchy Chip echoed. “I’ve never heard of this before.” 

“The mage Sweetroot Cookie,” Dark Cacao explained. “She was one of the most powerful cookies this kingdom has seen. She had fallen into the sea like Licorice had, and she survived just the same, even becoming more powerful than before from it. It only happened four times before now, maybe Licorice will be the same as all of them…” 

Caramel Arrow hummed for a moment. “Well, we can’t tell right now, we’ll have to wait.” 

Meanwhile, Licorice was lying in a medical bed once again, still coughing his lungs out as doctors examined him, wanting to sleep but his body fighting it. Just to be rid of the pain, that’s all he wanted. The spirits all watched closely, Sweetroot having walked back with the group, muttering amongst themselves about Licorice’s state. 

“Shouldn’t he have been done coughing by now? If not completely he still shouldn’t be coughing up this much water,” Salted Licorice pointed out. 

“I don’t know Salt, you were the first, you’ve seen this the most,” Sweetroot sighed. 

“I’m just saying there shouldn’t be this much water. That’s a shit ton of water!” 

“I’m surprised no one has spotted his chest yet,” Red Vine said. 

“Who’s to say they haven’t?” Black Rope muttered, holding his spider close to his chest. “Most of us only just got here.” 

“They haven’t,” Sweetroot informed him. “I saw, plus they’d be freaking out more.”

As if they were listening to the spirits, one of the doctors set a stethoscope to Licorice’s chest, gaining a puzzled look on their face before realization hit followed by panic. 

“And now the domino effect,” Red Vine chuckled, as now every doctor in the ward was panicking. 

“We’re probably freaking Licorice out with this huh?” Salt said. 

“Yeah… You’re doing great Licorice! Everything will be fine!” 

“He’s gonna kill us when he’s strong enough again…” Sweetroot groaned, rubbing the bridge of her nose. 

“Knowing Licorice, he’d probably find a way to kill what’s already dead,” Salt shrugged.

“I haven’t seen this much panic since I fell in…” Black Rope whispered, glancing between doctor to doctor as Licorice got hooked up to more machines. The beeping measuring his heartbeat was sporadic, staying quite low but randomly jumping to concerning levels. 

The royals stepped in, having heard the commotion, observing the scene from a distance so as to not get in the way.

“Should I ask again how this boy is not dead?” Dark Cacao asked his son, looking towards the monitor. 

“That is a fantastic question…” 

“Ah yes, the number one question our family gets,” Salted Licorice laughed. “‘How are you not dead?’” 

“If I had a nickel for every time I was asked that I’d be rich,” Sweetroot chuckled. 

Licorice finally stopped coughing, enough to be asked questions about what happened. Most of which he could only answer with “I don’t know” as he continued to take hasty, deep breaths while he still could. 

“Man I forgot how much drowning in a cryptic sea of dark magic and spirits for two weeks can fuck with your memory..” Salted Licorice muttered. 

Licorice finally perked up to what the spirits were saying after that. “How long was I in there for..?” 

“You left about two weeks ago, we can only assume that’s how long it’s been,” a doctor told him. “Adding on how violent that sea is, it’s terrifying that you survived. Still, we’re going to need to run several tests to see what this is going to do to your body. We also need to figure out what’s going on with your heart, you seem stable but that monitor is very concerning.” 

The last thing Licorice could get out before being sent into another coughing fit was a simple, tired, “Ok..”

Red Vine sighed as he watched the chaos. “Well, the next few months are going to be very interesting… That’s for sure.”

Chapter Text

The sound of the train’s engine blared as Licorice tried to keep his head up, he felt exhausted even in sleep. The feeling of liquid dripping out of his mouth was ever present. There was a cold tap on his shoulder and he finally willed himself to lift up just enough to see Red Vine in front of him, but he wasn’t a silhouette. Licorice could see the silver armor he bore with pride, and the crimson dreads he wore up in a ponytail. He noticed the red sash that was draped over his armor and hung over his arm, the sharp pauldron that was always so distinct with him. But most striking were his yellow eyes that matched Licorice’s, and the scar that took up the right side of his face. Noticing this let Licorice lift his head up more. 

“What..?” 

“Yeah, after falling into the sea you get to see what we actually look like on the train,” Red Vine smiled. 

“Seriously? Wait, you knew I’d fall in?!” Licorice demanded. 

“Of course,” Sweetroot said, sitting down next to Red Vine. “After all, it happened to us just the same, it’s the family destiny. Albeit without the fancy new medical equipment…” 

She held her sapphire parasol at her side, her black hair wrapped in a neat, low bun. Round glasses sat on her nose, chains hung by her ears and light bags highlighted yellow eyes. Her dress was a dull lavender and neat yet her skirt was full. Licorice wouldn’t have expected anything less from the punctual mage. She carefully stirred the tea in front of her before passing it to Licorice. 

Black Rope then dragged Salted Licorice in by the collar as his feet scraped the floor, the explorer’s arms crossed, as if he were a child forced out of a toy store by his parents. There were several things odd about this sight, first off Black Rope hadn’t taken charge like this sense he was alive. Secondly, Salt is over 500 years older than Black Rope who is also much, much thinner. Black Rope’s spider was cradled in his free arm.

“What’s going on with him?” Red Vine asked, peaking over the seat. 

“He was exploring the snowy mountains..” Black Rope muttered. His crown shined silver on his long black dreads. He was in robes similar to the Cacao Kingdom’s fashion, albeit a couple centuries older in a nice rose red color. A cape was draped over his shoulders in a darker shade and dark circles lined under his eyes. The child being dragged behind him wore a loose fitting white shirt with kimono sleeves and a red sash that had been bleached by the sun through all the times he’d been out, the rest of the outfit was in a similar condition. His pants were black and equally as baggy as his shirt. His hair was the shortest of the family, in a style that made Licorice think of a bird’s tail. He was also the palest of the group, almost ghostly white, his hair and eyelashes matched with bright blue eyes. His yellowed straw hat sat just covering his forehead. He didn’t look anything like the rest of his family. 

“You couldn’t have waited five more minutes to fall asleep?” Salt muttered. 

“Salt, he just got out of the sea and a lot of changes happened, he needs rest,” Sweetroot explained. “You of all people should know this.” 

He mocked her as he sat across the aisle from the rest of his family, arms still crossed. Black Rope sat next to Licorice, setting his spider in his lap without asking. 

“So, we have some explaining we need to do,” Red Vine huffed.

“Very much so,” Licorice said. “I’ve never been more panicked.” 

“Alright…” Sweetroot sighed. “We are all children of the Licorice Sea.”

“What?” 

“We were all born from the Licorice Sea, something about its magic or whatever…” Salted Licorice said. 

Sweetroot glared at him before taking a deep breath of annoyance. “It’s still being studied, after all there’s only ever been four, now five of us. Now we usually don’t have a lot of signs before falling into the sea, other than being magically drawn to it. Typically the signs start after, namely surviving, but also changes to your body and magic. We still don’t know what the powers you’ll gain from this will be, it’s been different for all of us.”

“That we know of,” Black Rope added. “I died before figuring mine out.” 

Red Vine nodded. “Black Rope died before figuring his out.”

“Also does your heart feel weird?” Salted Licorice asked, grabbing the corner of Licorice’s backrest. 

Licorice’s head whipped around, taking his eyes off Sweetroot and giving Salt a bewildered look. “What kind of question is that?!”

“Well, does it?”

He thought about it for a moment, before realizing that yes, it did. His heart felt hollow, or full of holes. Maybe both. It wasn’t beating evenly, yet it didn’t hurt. Salt described it perfectly, it felt weird. 

“Yes..?” 

“Ah good, that’s normal. Your heart melts from the pressure of the sea but our bodies’ magic keeps it together and running.” 

“...You say that so casually…” 

“Well that’s not the only concerning thing, I mean you also have your lungs…”

“Are you serious?”

“Let’s not stress him out right now, ok?” Red Vine said. 

“You really treat him like a son, huh?” Sweetroot chuckled. 

Licorice peeked out the window, being met with the same white void. As the train’s wheels screeched to a stop Red Vine nodded. “I’ll meet you out there. Maybe I can explain more then.” 

Licorice gave him a tired smile and got up, a warm sensation filled the back of his left hand. He stared at it curiously but left for the train door. 

|××××××××××|××××××××××|

As his eyes slowly opened, Licorice could feel two small hands grabbing onto his left. He tilted his head to see Poison Mushroom holding onto him with all his strength, which wasn’t a lot but it still hurt. 

“Careful,” Licorice choked out with a small laugh, already missing his smooth, clear speech from the train. “You’re gonna hurt me.” 

Poison Mushroom’s eyes shot up and he smiled, then with all his might attempted to hug Licorice while he was still laying on his back. “Stop scaring me!” he demanded, which Licorice interpreted as “Stop having near-death experiences dumbass”.

“Ok ok! Sorry I scared you like that. I didn’t know that would happen.” 

“You didn’t just scare him.” That was when Licorice noticed Dark Cacao across the room. “I’ve never seen my son more panicked. In fact several people were worried when they heard you fell into the sea. Speaking of, why did you even go to the sea that late?” 

Licorice couldn’t answer that if he tried. He barely knew himself. “I don’t know, it’s like I was drawn to it.” 

Dark Cacao raised an eyebrow. “‘Drawn to it’?”

“It’s one of the things that made me leave initially, I wanted to figure out why I wanted to see it so badly.” He didn’t say anything about what the spirits had informed him of however, he did figure it out but that reasoning must sound absurd to someone who wasn’t in his situation. 

Dark Cacao hummed, not exactly satisfied with that answer. “Well for now, seeing as you like to throw yourself into death’s path, I think it’s a good idea to only let you out if the castle supervised until we know you won’t pull another stunt like that again.”

“That’s fair-” Licorice coughed, apparently still having liquid in his lungs. 

“Rest up, we still don’t understand what’s going on with your chest. You’ll be stuck in here for a while.” 

“ No one knows what’s going on with anything with me,” Licorice thought. “That doesn’t surprise me…” 

Dark Cacao huffed. “It shouldn’t, I’m surprised you even survived.”

“I’ve gotten that a few times,” Licorice laughed. “Could I at least get a book from my bag to read for a bit? It’s all spell books but they’re interesting enough.”

“Interested in magic?” 

“Very, I’ve been studying it since I learned to read.” 

“I can get it for you,” Poison Mushroom said, running to find Licorice’s bag. 

As Dark Cacao watched him run out he said one more thing to Licorice before moving to the door. “I’ll let my son know you’re awake again. He’s been wanting to talk to you.” 

Red Vine stepped closer to the bed after that, having hung around in the corner of the room, observing the machines. Unlike on the train, he was still a silhouette. 

“Do you know how these things work? I’ve never seen anything like them…” he asked. 

“Not a clue,” Licorice whispered. 

The captain hummed as he carefully tapped at the screen. Licorice turned his head to watch him. “You’re extremely calm for someone who’s youngest sibling just had a near-death experience.” 

“Because you didn’t, for it to be a near death experience you have to have the chance of death.” 

“I don’t think that’s how that works.” 

Dark Choco knocked on the frame of the door as he gave Licorice a puzzled look.

“What are you whispering about?” 

“Just muttering to myself is all,” Licorice replied. 

“You are a confusing cookie.” 

“I don’t know whether or not knowing about us would help with that,” Red Vine muttered, still tapping at the monitor. Dark Choco looked towards the machine confused while stepping into the room. 

“...How are you feeling..?” he asked. 

“Could be better, I’d like my voice back maybe.” 

“Your heartbeat doesn’t… concern you at all?” 

“Hm?” Licorice turned back to the monitor, Red Vine finally stopped tapping and whispered “I should probably stop… I think he can hear that.” 

As Licorice watched his heart rate create long valleys and suddenly spike at random points, he knew he should’ve been scared but all he felt was numb. “It doesn’t hurt.” 

Dark Choco sighed, a look of fear for his friend covered his face. “That doesn’t mean there’s nothing wrong…” 

As Dark Choco was talking, Poison Mushroom walked back in, carrying Licorice’s bag in his arms with a wide grin and set it on his lap. “Here you go!” he grinned. 

Licorice sat himself up as much as possible and dug through and pulled out a spellbook at random, he smiled at Mushroom. “Thank you.” He glanced at the cover to see what he grabbed. 

“ Sweetroot Cookie’s Complete Guide to Creating Magic Weapons ”. 

Dark Choco looked at the title. “Hm, I’ve heard of her..”

“I’m not surprised, her studies were one of the biggest influences on modern magic as we know it.” Licorice ran his hand across the cover, tracing the letters his sister wrote long ago. “124 books were filled with her findings, written by hand.”

“And that’s just the ones they could find before her illness took her…” Caramel Arrow muttered, leaning against the doorframe. When noticing the surprised looks her way she added “I had attempted and failed to learn magic, thought it would be helpful in my Watcher duties. Then I got distracted by the sheer amount of stuff with her name on it before deciding to learn how someone could write so much.” 

“...That is impressive,” Dark Choco said. 

“I could help you learn a little magic if you’d still like to?” Licorice offered, holding up the book in his hand. 

Caramel grinned before saying with a hint of laughter “Let’s focus on you getting better first. I may take you up on that though.”

“But the Watcher was right,” Red Vine said. “Our sister wrote a lot more than 124 books, hell there was one she hid away that she was in the middle of writing, too dangerous for cookies to get their hands on."

Caramel Arrow took a look at the cover. “‘Complete Guide to Creating Magic Weapons,’ she’s certainly smart but not too creative…”

“Rude,” Sweetroot muttered, her parasol raised above her head as she walked into the room. 

“Simple titles like that make it easier to find what you’re looking for,” Licorice explained. “Quick and to the point.” 

“Is there maybe a book of her’s on how to magically fix a heart rate like that?” Dark Choco said, pointing to the monitor.

“No,” Sweetroot sighed. “Trust me I tried.” 

“Boy did you,” Red Vine added. “If anyone ever figures out how to get a melted heart that’s relying on pure bitter magic to pump normally again I will tell them where I put my first sword.” 

“Maybe, but good luck getting through all those books,” Caramel laughed. “I mean they're all about that same length.” 

“I brought several of the ones I had with me,” Licorice said. “Unfortunately I couldn’t take all of them.” 

“You don’t need to bring all of the books when you can literally talk to the source ,” Red Vine demanded, pointing to Sweetroot who probably bore a face of surprise and annoyance. 

“‘Licorice Cookie’?” a voice spoke from the door. A cookie bearing the healer garments of the Dark Cacao kingdom was the source, their hair was split into two sections from their part, one half was dark brown with caramel streaks and the other was as white as the snow that covered the kingdom. They had dark eyes and carried a notepad in their arm, a pen in their left hand. The two cookies at Licorice’s bedside moved out of the way, Dark Choco pulling Poison Mushroom back telling him “Alright, it’s time to let the doctor work…” 

The cookie bowed towards Licorice as they reached his bedside. “I’m Choco Modejska Cookie, I’ll be the head doctor working with you.” He then took a look at the heart monitor and his face dropped. “That- that is very concerning…” 

“Yeah…” Licorice said. “But it doesn’t hurt.”

Dark Choco sighed and put his hand to his face, Modejska stared bewildered. “He’s like this…” Choco explained. “We’ll get out of your way now. Good luck to you both.” 

“Right…” Modejska huffed. “Well, could you please explain what happened from your perspective first?” 

“Well, ok,” Licorice said. He then proceeded to explain nearly everything. Excluding what his siblings had informed him of or the train, basically anything that included the spirits. 

“I see…” Modejska muttered, scribbling everything down. “Why would you go to the sea in the first place?”

Licorice stammered for a moment before finally saying “I was drawn to it, it felt as if I had to go there in a way…” 

The doctor rapped his pen on his notepad for a moment as he hummed. “This sounds like what happens with magic… Give me a minute there’s a test I think would be a good idea to run.” 

Modejska stepped out of the room and within a few minutes returned with a new machine, with a smaller screen, and a strap connected to it. As he parked it next to the bed he explained. “This monitor helps me figure out the magic that is currently coursing through your body.” 

“Oh this is going to be interesting,” Sweetroot muttered.

“I mean… we could try?” Licorice said. 

“Perfect! Just hold out your palm, there will just be a small prick…”

As Modejska wrapped the machine around Licorice’s hand, the spirits watched carefully, almost in amusement. The doctor flipped on the machine and it hummed, images and graphs Licorice didn’t understand popping on the screen. Modejska looked carefully at the screen, his eyes slowly widening before realizing what was happening. 

“Um- I- Holy shit…” He stammered. “I’ll be right back-!” And as he rushed out the door, shouting for the king, he left Licorice filled with anxiety and the spirits howling with laughter.

Chapter Text

“What’s going on?” Dark Cacao demanded as Choco Modejska rushed him into the room. 

“His magic, I’ve never seen so much in one cookie!” Modejska insisted. He dragged him by Licorice’s bed as Licorice looked between the two with worry. Still the spirits were laughing, even harder after what Modejska had said. He wanted to snap at them to stop and ask what was so funny but he valued not looking insane more. 

“What do you mean?” he asked, trying to read the screen.

“That amount of bitter magic has only ever been seen in the Licorice Sea, how one cookie could hold that is absurd unless they were made from it.” 

Sweetroot calmed herself down just enough to say “You’re never going to believe this-!” before the two started laughing again. 

“I didn’t think cookies could like him hold bitter magic,” Cacao said. 

“It’s rare and very little, but this ? It shouldn’t be possible…” 

“I mean it also shouldn’t be possible that I survived but here we are,” Licorice shrugged, calm now after knowing what the two were so worried about. 

Modejska tilted his head and spoke through his teeth. “You pose a fair point. With the history of similar cases it seems like you have a good chance of improved magic…” 

“The only cookie I can think of who can hold magic like this is the Guardian of the Sea, and she isn’t a simple cookie,” Dark Cacao muttered. 

“ Mulethi Cookie ”, Licorice clarified to himself, he recognized that name but didn’t know why he thought of it. It felt like home, safe. His siblings had stopped laughing when they heard the title, so they knew of her. 

“Who?” he asked. Red Vine stared at Licorice before leaning towards Sweetroot and whispering “We forgot to introduce her…” 

“Well now I figured that out,” Sweetroot hissed. 

“The Guardian of the Sea? I would’ve thought you’d know of her,” Dark Cacao said. “She’s the woman who lives in and protects the Licorice Sea, some call her a divine figure.” 

“‘Lives in the sea’?” 

“We really need to get on that…” Red Vine whispered.

“We don’t know much about her, she’s never given out her name to anyone. Legend says she appeared with the sea and protects it, some stories talk about how she can control it.” 

“It would explain how it’s alive.” 

“Cookies rarely see her, anyone who claims to have met her tells very different stories. And the few interactions I’ve had with her weren’t pleasant…”

“Back to the magic,” Choco Modejska demanded, scrambling and scribbling. “With this much bitter magic flowing through you, we’re going to have to give you some restrictions to keep it stable. Bitter magic growing unstable, especially at your levels, can be very dangerous especially to yourself.” 

“Ah great…” 

“So sweet foods are off limits; that's one of the quickest ways to end up unstable. Although that won’t be a problem in the Dark Cacao Kingdom… Careful when pushing yourself with magic and manage your anger, although that shouldn’t be too bad. Those are the worst of them. I don't think you’ll have to worry about much else.” Modejska hummed to himself for a moment. “Seriously how can one cookie have so much bitter magic in his system? I wonder if this is what happened with the other four cookies who fell into the sea…” 

•❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•

Licorice was reading as it reached sunset, finally through with the tests for the day. Red Vine was sitting at the foot of his bed, humming marching tunes as he tapped his foot to the rhythm. Black Rope was in the chair across from the bed, writing with his spider on his lap. There were two things Licorice couldn’t get his mind off of, one was he was able to briefly use his magic under instruction of Choco Modejska. Instead of the usual purple that went along with it, the color was a bright cyan. Modejska also expressed worry at his eyes changing, and when pressed for more information, he brought out a small mirror to show Licorice what he was talking about. His eyes were the same color as his magic, with no differentiation from what were his irises and what were supposed to be his whites. There were also lighter spirals in them, with a soft glow. 

The second was the woman they were discussing, the Guardian of the Licorice Sea, or as he seemed to think, Mulethi. Why he thought of that name he didn’t understand. 

Dark Choco knocked at the door frame, a small platter in his other hand, carrying a kettle underneath it with his pointer and middle finger. The platter was filled with a few meats, a small pile of vegetables, and a couple slices of bread, a cup in the middle of it all. 

“I thought you’d be hungry,” he smiled. It was rare that Licorice ever saw Dark Choco make an expression other than a negative one when they were working for Dark Enchantress. Yet he seemed much more expressive out of her clutches now. 

“Well-,” Licorice muttered, setting his book to the side. “Now that you mention it I kind of am…” 

Dark Choco walked around the foot of Licorice’s bed and set the platter on the side table before he poured him a cup of tea. He insisted Licorice take it although the cookie was hesitant from the last time. Dark Choco sighed. “I know you hate it but if you’re going to keep living here you’re going to need to get used to bitter foods.” 

“I know! Especially now but-..” Licorice said, a noise of disgust following the half-baked sentence. 

Dark Choco huffed and motioned him to hold out his hands, which he reluctantly did so, and set the cup in them. “Drink it, it’s good for you.” 

Licorice sighed to himself before finally taking a sip. The taste was different this time. Yes bitter, but a bitter that he enjoyed. He didn’t recoil from the taste, and even went for a second, a little more confused sip just to be sure he wasn't going crazy. 

“I didn’t say you had to suddenly like it-,” Dark Choco said. 

“Is this a different tea from last time?” The prince shook his head. “It must be another side effect from the sea…” Licorice took another sip, accepting that as the answer far quicker than he probably should have. He moved the cup to the side table and moved to the platter, picking at the foods, moving some pieces away before finally digging in. Apparently he was starving, then again he was stuck inside a sea of bitter magic for two weeks. 

•❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•

“He’s dead..?” Dark Enchantress muttered as Red Velvet delivered that exact news. 

“Fell into the Licorice Sea, what are the chances he of all cookies survived?” 

“And Poison Mushroom?” 

“His position is unknown, he isn’t as important to us as Licorice however, only one of those two can actually do some damage.”

“And how much damage could Licorice do?” Affogato yawned. “From last I checked it seems he was far too weak to do anything in a battle.” 

“We aren’t worried about him in a fight” Pomegranate sneered. “He’s about as useful as a blade of grass when it comes to that. The issue lies in the fact that he left on his own accord, Poison Mushroom simply followed him. We have secrets in this tower that cannot be let out, and if either dare share them we could be in trouble.” 

Dark Enchantress slammed her hands on the table. “Well apparently we don’t need to worry about Licorice! The traitor is as dead as he would’ve been had we gotten our hands on him!”

Affogato looked up from stirring his coffee, an eyebrow raised. “And what about Dark Choco? Certainly he could do some damage to us.” 

“We haven’t the slightest clue where he could be. He walked out of the castle when he abandoned the sword. If we could have a start to hunt him down this would be a different story,” Pomegranate said. 

Affogato sighed, taking a sip from his drink. As he set it down he glanced towards the torches that lined the walls, an idea forming in his head. He then looked towards his staff. Licorice wasn’t the only cookie of darkness who used magic. 

“Perhaps I could find a way to get him?” 

|××××××××××|××××××××××|

As Licorice lifted his head off the train’s table, he was surprised to see Red Vine wasn’t in his usual spot. He was even more surprised when he was tugged up from his seat by the arm by him and guided him through the car. 

“Red? What’s going on?” Licorice demanded. But the soldier stayed quiet. The train car was unusually empty, and as Licorice looked around for his siblings he noticed the usually white void was now filled with ink, what looked to be a starless night sky met his eyes. It looked like he was in the Licorice Sea again. 

“Seriously, what is happening?” 

“You’re meeting someone, we should’ve introduced her long before now but it isn’t often she comes here.” 

“Wait, someone else is able to travel between here and reality? And who is ‘she’?” 

“You’re asking a lot of questions that will be answered in ten seconds kid.”

His brother shoved the car door open with his shoulder and went straight through another. Licorice had learned the hard way that when Red Vine was on a mission, there was no stopping him. And he clearly had a goal. 

The two had now stormed through three different cars with no stop in sight, then suddenly Licorice was dropped two feet from the door. As his knees hit the ground and he grabbed his arm, Red Vine looked at him slightly surprised. 

“Are you ok?”

“You just dragged me through four different train cars by the arm without a break! What do you think?” 

“It couldn’t have been that bad.” Upon noticing the annoyed look on Licorice’s face he added “Maybe I need to remember my strength more often…”

“Oh really?” 

Red Vine sighed. “Alright, up up, at least to try and look a little presentable.” 

Licorice huffed and did as asked, brushing his coat and moving a couple of his dreads from his face. “You’re going to have to make it up to me for doing that, you know.”

“Sure I am.” 

He then twisted the door knob and pushed open the door. They were in the last car, and Licorice was looking straight into the black void. He hadn’t been in this area of the car since he was little and wanted to explore the train. On it stood the rest of his siblings. 

Salted Licorice rested with his back and elbows against the railing, Sweetroot stood by the door with a book in her hands, and Black Rope was next to Salt, talking to someone. As Licorice stepped out the three looked at him. 

“Looks like it’s time for us to clear out,” Salted Licorice said, motioning for the other two to follow him. Black Rope nodded and waved to what looked to be the void with a smile. 

As soon as the three stepped back into the car, Red Vine guided Licorice (much more gently this time) to the railing. That’s when Licorice spotted what, or rather who, Black Rope was waving too. 

“Licorice,” Red Vine said, he then indicated the cookie on the other side of the railing. “Meet the guardian of the Licorice Sea, Mulethi Cookie. Our mother.”

Chapter Text

“Mother, you remember Licorice, right?” Red Vine asked. 

The cookie who stood in front of the two brothers was tall, unnaturally tall for a cookie. She had long black hair that faded into the void around her. The one thing that differentiated her hair from the darkness around her was a seafoam green veil and cyan headscarf that matched her eyes, of which were identical to Licorice’s when he was using magic minus the spirals. Light tear-like markings were on her cheeks. And she also had two sets of  bright cyan horns that were detached from her head, one set smaller than the other. She wore a grey dress with a black layer over the top. 

Mulethi nodded her head. “Of course I do.” She waved Licorice over and hesitantly, he walked towards  her. He recognized her, she felt safe, but he didn’t know her, remember her. She cupped his face in her hands, carefully analyzing his features. Her hands were warm, as if she had just held a warm cup of tea. 

“You turned out incredibly,” she smiled. “I can just feel your power.”

“I don’t think I’m that powerful,” Licorice muttered, averting his eyes from the compliment. 

Mulethi hummed. “Not yet, but you will be. I can tell.” 

She lowered her hands and produced a pendant, a small jar filled with black liquid and a piece of wood with the rune of power and wisdom on it. She raised Licorice’s hand, setting the pendant in it, then covering it with his other hand. 

“Wear this,” she told him. “For your safety and growth.” 

Licorice looked closely at the jar, turning it in his hand and watching the liquid splash around. “Is this water from the Licorice Sea?” 

“It will help you find your strength, we get stronger the closer we are to the water. Just a drop of it is enough, but the more you have the better.” 

As Licorice wrapped his fingers around the bottle, he could feel a warmth run through his body. As he opened his eyes, he saw a cyan glow reflect off of his mother’s face. 

“Will I be able to see you again? More often?” 

Mulethi grabbed Licorice’s free hand, pulling him slightly closer to her, and touched her forehead to his. “I will always be by the sea. And you’ll have me here.” She touched his heart and then the bottle. “I wish I could’ve been with you more, but your siblings have always been kind enough to tell me where you were.” 

Licorice couldn’t help but smile, putting the pendant around his neck and tucking the bottle into his shirt. 

The train halted to a sudden stop, throwing Licorice forward and subsequently into Mulethi’s arms as she caught him. Small bits of pressure tapped against his hand.

“Are you alright?” she asked. 

“I’ll be fine, just used to sitting down when this happens.” 

Mulethi smiled and pulled in Licorice for a tight hug, which he didn’t reject. The two sat like that for a few seconds before she let him go. 

“Remember, I’m always with you, and you know where to find me.” 

Was this really the same cookie as the king described when Licorice was awake? He was imagining a very intimidating, angry woman. Yet the woman Licorice saw in front of him was extremely caring and gentle. 

As Red Vine led him out, Licorice’s gaze and mind stayed focused on the guardian of the Licorice Sea.

His mother. 

|××××××××××|××××××××××|

The first thing Licorice heard when he awoke was “Hmm, that started sooner than expected” from Sweetroot, who was leaning over his bed analyzing his features carefully as he slowly got his grounding. “Mother must’ve been right, you will be quite powerful.” 

Choco Modejska was on his left, looking at his hand carefully, it was hard to read his face. 

“Your magic is seeping out from your body,” he muttered. Licorice looked towards his hand, black spots covered it. Warmth rushed through the marks not only from his hands but up his arm, and on his right as well. “Those were labeled as birthmarks in your file, but that looks to be magic that your body is struggling to contain.” 

“But I haven’t been that powerful-,” Licorice started. Modejska cut him off. 

“This-,” he indicated his arm, where the original spots were. “Says otherwise. You just haven't been able to use it until now. That sea made you more powerful.” 

Licorice raised his hand closer to his eyes, his vision was blurred and wasn’t clearing up. From what he could see the magic spread across his palm and towards his fingers, giving them an almost skeletal look. 

“Does this also come with bad vision?” he asked. “I can’t see anything.” 

“Sometimes it has side effects like that, luckily that is the easiest to fix. Your body is working on overdrive right now so it sacrifices one or two things.” Modejska scribbled the finding down, a slight excitement to him. “A couple of these seem more temporary than others.” 

“There’s something new wrong with me everyday,” Licorice sighed, throwing his head back on his pillow. 

“This isn’t wrong, it means your body is adjusting well to the magic,” Modejska assured him. “And many new things will pop up, you were just in a sea of dark, bitter magic that very few cookies have survived. But by the looks of it, other than any of the magic the side effects will be temporary. Although I can’t make any promises about your vision.” 

“Fun…” 

“We’ll have to watch this carefully to see what comes of these. I would hook you back up to the magic graph but… you may end up breaking it with this much magic.” 

•❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•

“So these weren’t birthmarks…” Dark Choco muttered, analyzing Licorice’s arm. “According to Choco Modejska this means you’ve always been quite powerful but something was preventing you from accessing that power…” 

Dark Cacao hummed. “If we could figure out how to get you to control this power you’d be quite the useful asset…” his voice became quieter as he whispered. “And with his knowledge in magic…” 

“Father, what are you thinking?” 

The king stayed silent for a moment, contemplation on his face before he shook his head. “Don’t worry about it, we need Licorice to focus on recovery first.”

“I feel fine,” Licorice insisted. Dark Cacao glanced towards the heart monitor and raised an eyebrow. Licorice looked at it before turning back. “I don’t think that’s getting fixed.” 

“It’s only been four days, Licorice,” Dark Choco sighed. 

“My point stands, I feel fine.” 

“We can talk to Modejska but I can’t confirm he’ll clear you and if he does you’ll be under very close observation,” Dark Cacao explained. “He’s insisting you stay here for at least a week.” 

“But the king’s right.” Licorice looked towards the unknown voice, a short cookie with white and grey hair stood by the door, piercing yellow eyes clashed against the lack of color in his outfit. “If the doctor’s word is worth anything, it’d be a bad idea to lose you.” 

Dark Cacao nodded. “I don’t think I introduced you two, Licorice, this is Crunchy Chip, he’s the general and my head guard. He was one of the cookies who helped get you out of the sea.” 

The general walked over to the bed and stuck out his hand for Licorice to shake. He took it with a small smile. 

“That’s an impressive resume,” Licorice chuckled. 

“You should see me in action,” Crunchy Chip laughed. “You’re the one who brought Poison Mushroom?” 

“Hm? Yes, I couldn’t leave him there..” 

Crunchy Chip gave a wide smile, his sharp teeth coming further into view. “The cream wolves love him, he can’t seem to get enough of them.” 

“That sounds about right,” Licorice sighed. “He loves cake hounds.” 

“I heard you’re a mage?” 

“Oh-.. I mean yes I am, although I wouldn’t say I’m all too great-” 

Dark Choco sighed. “Get Pomegranate out of your head, would you? Your work is very impressive.” 

Licorice was startled by his sudden positivity, albeit it was a bit aggressive. The rest of the group seemed to be as well. 

“Who-?” Crunchy Chip started. 

“Don’t worry about it,” Licorice and Dark Choco both said simultaneously.

“You’ve brought her up a lot Dark Choco,” Dark Cacao said. “I think we do need to worry about it.” 

“We don’t right now,” Licorice insisted. 

“Something that I’ve been wondering about,” Crunchy Chip said. “What was it like in there? The Licorice Sea?” 

Licorice took a moment to think before answering “Painful.” which caused Crunchy Chip to howl with laughter. 

“Yeah I figured, it’s a sea of dark magic.” 

“It felt like my chest was collapsing in on itself. It was horrible.”

•❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•

Dark Cacao waved over Choco Modejska while the cookie was walking away from Licorice’s room, they were just far enough away from the doorway for Licorice to be unable to hear. 

“The staff have been mentioning some concerning behavior from Licorice,” he told the doctor. 

Modejska tilted his head. “Do tell.”

Black Rope was passing through the halls as he heard this. He stopped for a moment, in case it was what he was thinking. 

“You remember the notes on what happened to the Mad King when he survived the Licorice Sea, how he was seemingly talking to no one.” 

There it was, Black Rope sighed. They’ve been careless. 

Modejska nodded and stayed quiet for a moment. “Is Licorice doing the same?”

“From reports of staff passing by, if there’s no one in the room it will sound like he’s having a conversation with someone else. Although it’s in whispers, so he must know the room is supposed to be empty.” 

“Is this another side effect from his fall? As you just said it happened to the Mad King as well.” 

“They are so lucky Sweetroot isn’t here…” the king in question muttered. “Should I tell Licorice about this..?” 

Black Rope tightened the grip around his spider as Dark Cacao looked towards where he was standing, a confused look on his face.

“Your majesty?” Choco Modejska asked. 

“I thought I heard something…” 

That was odd. Feeling something maybe, that would make sense. After all, staff members have complained before about feeling like someone brushed by them or feeling taps from the four of them. But Black Rope being heard? He never knew that could happen. He looked around him for something the king may have looked at instead and saw nothing. 

He shook his head, his mind was overreacting again. “You’ve never been seen nor heard before, there’d be no reason that would start now,” he reminded himself before passing the two, his cape brushing against his successor’s back causing the great king to turn again. Black Rope looked back as he sighed. 

“I sometimes wonder if this castle is haunted…” he grumbled, which caused Black Rope to laugh.

Chapter Text

“How could he have heard you?” Sweetroot asked, pulling a book from her old library’s shelf. The once grand tomb of knowledge has since rotted away with time, vines taking over a few of the walls and floorboards thinning with each step on them. A pile of cartography items were stashed on one corner of the floor. An old leather journal sat sideways on a shelf, the name “Black Rope Cookie” engraved in shakey cursive on the side. A set of simple training equipment was placed near the door, despite Red Vine not really needing it anymore. Most importantly, hundreds of books lined the walls, some shelves dedicated to the research of others but most were full of bindings of the research Sweetroot did throughout her life and death.

 All Black Rope could respond with was a shrug. 

“I’ve never seen it happen,” Salted Licorice said, swinging his legs from the table he was sitting on. 

“Yes, well, Salt you aren’t very observant, are you?” 

“Hey!” 

“Could you explain what happened?” Red Vine asked. 

Black Rope hummed for a moment, pulling himself closer together. “The doctor and king were talking about Licorice’s state in the hall, I commented on something they said and then the king looked to where I was standing.” 

“There couldn’t have been anything else he heard?” Black Rope shook his head. “Odd… I wonder if this had happened before and it’s just the first we noticed of it.”

“No, couldn’t have,” Salted Licorice huffed. “Is it something to do with how you died?”

“It would’ve happened long before now if that were the case,” Sweetroot told him. “Besides, how would being assassinated effect how others notice him? Maybe some magical interference?” 

“A possibility but what would have caused it?” Red Vine asked. 

“Considering this is the first time this happened, we can't be sure. But I do remember reading that spells used to watch a certain person can sometimes focus on the dead on accident, that is if they're still Earthbread. Maybe that’s what happened.” 

“You said they were talking about Licorice’s state? What were they talking about?” Salted Licorice asked.

Black Rope averted his eyes before whispering “How he was talking to himself.”

The room went silent, all that could be heard was a thud as the book Sweetroot was holding hit the floor. 

“Why didn’t you-?!” Red Vine started, before dialing it back as Black Rope flinched. “Sorry, sorry, commander voice I know… Why didn’t you start with that?” 

“I forgot…” 

“Would it be too late to warn him?” Sweetroot muttered. 

Red Vine rubbed the back of his neck with a sigh. “Probably.” 

“We can still try!” Salted Licorice shouted, grabbing his straw hat and putting it back on his head with a huff. He then darted out of the library before the other three could react. 

•❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•

Salted Licorice ran into Licorice’s room faster than he had ever seen before. 

“Wh-” He tried to start before the spirit cut him off.

“Don’t say a thing! The staff caught you whispering to us we have to be extremely careful!” 

Licorice wanted to ask a million questions at that moment but, as previously stated, valued not looking insane more than that. There was a quiet knock on the doorframe as Dark Choco appeared. 

“Ah good so I got here just in time. You know what, I think we all trust Dark Choco enough. If you can’t think of a good excuse that doesn’t include insanity you could probably just spill the fact we’re here.”

Dark Choco sat on the foot of Licorice’s bed as Red Vine and Black Rope arrived. Both looked towards him as Salted Licorice gave them a thumbs up. 

“How are you doing?” the prince asked, looking towards the cookie’s vitals once again.

“Are you always going to start our conversations with that?” 

“It’s a good question to ask someone who fell into a sea of dark magic.” 

Licorice shrugged. “Same as usual, I feel just fine.” 

Dark Choco nodded and stayed quiet for a moment before asking “So… Everyone around the castle has been noticing something strange with you, you’re… whispering to yourself?” 

Licorice glanced towards the spirits. 

“Don’t look at us! That makes you look more suspicious!” Red Vine insisted. 

“What are you looking at?” Dark Choco muttered, matching Licorice’s gaze. 

“You should probably just tell him,” Black Rope muttered. Red Vine sighed but nodded. 

“Spirits..” Licorice answered. 

“What?” 

“There are four of them that roam around the castle, or nearby at least.” 

Dark Choco took a moment to process this answer, thinking before deciding to play along. “Do you know who they are? Their names?”

Licorice nodded. “They’re the cookies who also survived the sea.” 

The prince shook his head, bewildered. “Why them specifically?” 

“Something with the sea’s magic. I don’t really understand.”

“So, they’re in front of you right now?” 

“Three of them, Sweetroot is probably in her library…” 

“I… have you always been able to see them?” Dark Choco was clearly trying to connect dots in his head, and yet none of them pieced together nicely in his mind. 

“Up until I got to the castle I only saw them in my dreams. It’s weird but they’ve been a big support throughout my life.”

“You keep losing me…” 

“I didn’t really expect you to understand, it’s complicated and I’m even confused by it sometimes.” 

Dark Choco hummed to himself for a moment, thinking. “I suppose it makes a little sense, staff have mentioned the idea of the castle being haunted. And I’d take ‘my friend sees dead people’ over ‘my friend in insane’ any day.” 

Licorice blinked at him. “‘Friend’?” 

Dark Choco seemed almost surprised he would question that. “What else would you be?” 

All Licorice could do was shrug. It felt like too high of an honor for him despite the fact it really shouldn’t have been. 

“Hang on…” Dark Choco muttered. “Were one of these ghosts the thing that was causing the tapping noise on the monitor a couple days ago?” 

Licorice started laughing “Yes, that was Red Vine. He doesn’t quite understand technology.” 

Red Vine shouted “Hey!” as the other two spirits started laughing at the comment, he then moved his focus over to them as he scolded them for “not being any better”. 

•❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•

Licorice and Sweetroot watched carefully as Choco Modejska wrote down his vitals, sighing as he saw little to no improvement once again. 

“I think you’re right,” he huffed. “I don’t think that heart rate is going to get fixed. The biggest improvement over the last five days was that it became a bit more rhythmic.” 

He moved over to the bed and started messing with the machines for a moment. “Well if these aren’t getting any better we can try seeing if you can walk…”

“I can get up?” Licorice beamed. He was starting to get sick of being in bed. 

“Give me a minute to unhook a few of these, we’ll keep the heart monitor on just in case. Now do keep in mind that when I looked through some of the files it noted that it would take a bit for your physical abilities to get back to normal and there’s a chance they won’t fully heal, according to the Great Mage’s file.” 

Sweetroot nodded. “It wasn’t ‘til after my death that I was able to walk properly again.” 

Choco Modejska turned off a few of the machine’s and freed Licorice from his bindings. Licorice stood up with shaky legs, Modejska holding onto his arms for balance. His legs were extremely unsteady and shot up with pain and he immediately sat back down, rubbing where the sharp agony was. Sweetroot sighed. 

“Looks like you had the same thing I did…” 

“Are you alright?” Choco Modejska asked.

“Pain…” was all Licorice was able to answer. 

“Would you like to try again tomorrow?” 

He took a second to think before shaking his head. “Just, give me a moment. My pain was worse in the sea. I can handle this…” 

“I forgot how stubborn you can be…” Sweetroot chuckled. “It took me a few days to even think of trying again.” 

“Don’t push yourself too much.” 

Licorice groaned and got up, ignoring the pain in his legs as best he could, and finally taking a few steps away from the bed for the first time in a week. Despite the pain it felt good, although his balance was terrible. He was relying heavily on Choco Modejska, his steps were ok but he knew if he was going to start on his own he’d need some sort of aid. And judging by the doctor’s face he knew it too. 

“You’re too unsteady. We can talk about getting you an arm crutch, that would be best I feel.” 

“Whatever lets me out of bed…” he laughed quietly. 

“I’ll unhook the heart monitor tomorrow, we can see how you feel then and maybe we can have someone assist you around the castle so you can finally get around.” 

“This is happening much quicker than with me,” Sweetroot laughed. Choco Modejska turned towards her surprised, his face then changed to confusion. The two siblings glanced at one another while the doctor’s back was turned. 

“Is this what Black Rope was talking about..?” she whispered, slightly horrified. “Being heard..?”

Choco Modejska looked back, his face full of confusion and a bit of fear. He chuckled nervously. “Maybe I’m the one hearing voices.” 

• ❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•

The tower was oddly quiet for the day, Pomegranate and Dark Enchantress were engaging in conversation and Red Velvet was humming while flipping through battle plans. The peace was interrupted with a piercing “GOD DAMNIT!” from Affogato, who was supposed to be spying on Dark Choco from his room. He had brought this plan up not long after their last meeting that there was a spell he could use to find out how they could get to the old prince.

The three at the table whipped their heads towards the sound, the source came barrelling through the door, huffing as he got he balance. 

“What? Where is he?” Dark Enchantress demanded. 

“Castle… But, I ended up seeing… a little more.”

“‘Castle’?” Pomegranate echoed. “Which… castle?” 

“Oh please… You know which castle,” Affogato spat. 

“What’s this ‘little more’ part that you were so concerned about?” Red Velvet asked, slowly getting up. 

“You were wrong.” 

The general glared at him coldly. “And what exactly was I ‘wrong’ about?” 

“Licorice, he’s alive.” 

Dark Enchantress’s face went from calculated to completely furious as she shot up and slammed her hands on the table. “He’s what?! How?! ” 

“All I know is, he’s alive, that’s all I can know.” 

Pomegranate tightened her grip on her mirror. “Then we need to go after him.”

Chapter Text

The pain in his legs still burned but as Licorice walked through the castle halls, using a crutch in one hand and Caramel Arrow as a brace in the other, he found he could ignore it quite easily. 

“Seriously, tell me when you need a break,” Caramel insisted.

“I feel great,” Licorice laughed, it was a half-lie, he was in pain but he didn’t want to sit down yet. 

Caramel Arrow paused at the window, Licorice stopped confused, then noticed a bench next to them and assumed she was just forcing him to sit. He shrugged and begrudgingly rested, the pain slowly subsiding. He watched her for a moment and realized she had stopped to look at something out of the window. Her face was full of some sort of longing. He followed her gaze and only saw the large chocolate wall that blocked cookies (well, most of them) from getting to the sea. 

“Is everything alright?” he asked, trying to break the sudden silence. 

“Did you, I don’t know, see a woman in the Licorice Sea when you fell in?” 

A strange question to ask, especially from Caramel Arrow but he’s said more concerning things in his time at the castle so who was he to speak on this?

“Not while I was in the sea but a woman did start appearing in my dreams occasionally after I fell in.” 

“What’d she look like?” 

“I don’t think any description I give could do her justice,” Licorice laughed. “Tall, dark skin, long wavy black hair, cyan eyes… Wearing a veil and has horns?” 

“Interesting…” She pulled a pendant out from her shirt and studied it quietly. It was made of a dark green-grey stone and had the rune of fire carved into it. 

“Do you know her name?” Licorice asked. Caramel shook her head.

“She said she doesn’t give it out to anyone, but I refer to her as ‘Lady Abyss’.” 

“If we’re thinking of the same woman it’s very fitting.” 

“What do you call her?”

Licorice hummed for a moment, debating whether or not to lie. “Something tells me to call her ‘Mother’ so that’s how I’ve referred to her.” 

Caramel Arrow finally turned her head from the wall. “‘Mother’?” 

“Mhm.” 

She grew quiet, thinking. “That would explain a lot actually…” 

“How do you know her, from the king’s stories?” 

Caramel laughed. “Ah… No he never told us stories of her until I brought her up one day. She saved me from a blizzard.” 

“That would explain the pendant.” 

“Hm? You can read runes?” 

“I learned in order to study more magic.” 

“Is it normal for her to give gifts to people?” 

“I don’t know, maybe.” Licorice then pulled out his own necklace, shaking the bottle a bit. 

“Is that water from the Licorice Sea?”

“Yeah. This may be the cause of the seeping magic now that I think about it, she mentioned how it’d help with my strength.” He pointed to the rune. “This is for wisdom and power. If you say yours is from the blizzard then she probably intended for the rune to be literal, giving your body warmth. Although she seems like the type of person to wish you strength and happiness as well so perhaps it was both.” 

Caramel shook her head with a chuckle. “Runes sound so confusing.” 

“It all depends on intention, what you want them to do. Just keep within the names and study carefully. Don’t expect the rune of wisdom to bring you riches for example.” 

“Do you think Lady Abyss would wish to see me again?” 

Licorice tilted his head. “She seems like a very welcoming cookie.” 

“Yes but I know how she feels about the king, and vice versa…” 

“What does that have to do with you?”

“I work for him again, during the blizzard I was exiled.” 

“I don’t think that would change anything.” 

The two sat in silence for a moment, listening to the waves that crashed against the wall. According to the people of the kingdom, the sea used to be a lot more chaotic before Licorice arrived. Perhaps Mulethi was less anxious now that he had his fall. 

“Perhaps when you get stronger we can go see her together,” Caramel smiled. 

“I’d like that,” Licorice chuckled. Then something popped into his head, something she had said before. “Hey, if you know and like the guardian of the Licorice Sea, why did you say the sea was full of ‘dark magic and misery’?”

Caramel Arrow sighed, seeming upset at herself. She rubbed the pendant between her fingers. “I’m still trying to see it the way she does. And besides, Dark Choco was there and I doubt he’d be understanding of me saying otherwise. I mean, he’s never been as close to it as I have, or met Lady Abyss. And being the son of the king…” She trailed off before taking a deep breath, looking back at the wall. “Do you feel well enough to carry on through the halls?”

“Of course, I told you I didn’t need a break.” 

“The relief on your face when you sat down says otherwise.” 

•❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•

A few weeks later Licorice was strong enough to walk without the support of another, still holding onto a crutch for support; he had also been given glasses to help with his now horrendous vision. Both he and Caramel Arrow were trudging through the snow not too far away from the castle towards the walls that surrounded the Licorice Sea. 

“You better not fall in again,” Caramel Arrow told him as they got closer, lightly punching his arm. 

“Oh one fall into that thing is enough for any cookie,” Licorice laughed. 

As they turned the corner of the wall they were met with… nothing. Licorice was expecting to see his mother but was disappointed.

“Do you think she’s here?” he asked. 

“Maybe, she lives here after all. But she could be-” 

Caramel Arrow was interrupted by a loud crash of the waves against the walls. 

“Hello?” a woman’s voice called. 

The two looked up and saw Mulethi standing on top of the wall, looking down with a curious expression, which shifted to surprise as she realized who was on the other side. “Ah! One moment young ones!” she said happily. There was a splash and a few seconds later, Mulethi was turning the corner with a large grin. 

“Wh- How’d you do that?” Licorice asked. Mulethi laughed.

“I can travel through the waters.” She then leaned towards the two and whispered “Don’t tell the king but there’s a small patch of water that has leaked through the wall.” 

She then turned to Licorice and gave him a hug, one that almost suffocated him it was so tight. “My little one! How have you been since our last meeting? Are you recovering alright?” 

“Mother, I’m fine!” he laughed. 

“Oh so you two are… actually related?” Caramel Arrow asked. 

Mulethi let go of Licorice, beaming with pride. “Yes, he’s the youngest of my kids, and I dare say he’s going to be the most powerful yet.” 

Caramel Arrow looked at Licorice, stunned. “You have siblings..?” she asked quietly. Then turned to Mulethi “Wait Lady Abyss, how many kids do you have?” 

“Five including Licorice. They're very impressive cookies.” A look of realization dawned on her face. “Oh I’m so sorry young Caramel Arrow I forgot to greet you! How have you been since the blizzard?” 

“I’ve been well! The pendant you gave me works wonders Lady Abyss. Apologies I’m still caught up on the… kids thing.” 

“Understandable, but please, tell me how you’ve been, I heard your back at the king's side?”

Her tone didn’t change from the sweet motherly one as she spoke but Caramel Arrow still grew visibly nervous. She swallowed before quietly answering “Yes, I have.” 

Mulethi tilted her head. “Why do you seem upset? Is it because I don’t like him?” 

Caramel Arrow didn’t speak but nodded her head. Mulethi laughed. 

“Young one, that doesn’t matter. As long as you’re safe and happy, which I assume you are.” 

“Oh, very, I just thought…” She couldn’t finish the sentence. Mulethi’s smile softened and she grabbed Caramel’s hands. 

“You needn’t worry what I or the king think of one another, as I said, as long as you’re safe and happy.” 

Caramel Arrow smiled, then chuckled to herself. “This got sad so fast I’m sorry. Tell us how you have been Lady Abyss.” 

Mulethi hummed for a moment. “Quite well, now that Licorice’s magic has been… What’s the term again, ‘unlocked’? I’m quite excited to see how he’ll grow.” 

Caramel looked at her slightly confused. “Is English not your first language?” 

“Well.. Technically no, at least this version. I have been here a long time, I’m older than the king himself. I’ve gotten better but some terms still confuse me.” 

“Older than the king ?” 

“Quite,” she laughed. “Hence the gaps in ages between my children.” 

“I can confirm,” Licorice said, leaning towards Caramel. “The eldest of us is nearly 900 years older than I am.” 

Caramel’s mouth was agape as she processed this information. “How old are you? Are you guys immortal?” 

“I’m only in my 20s! What do you mean 'how old are you’?!” 

“You just told me your sibling is 900 years old. How do you expect me to react?!” 

“No we’re not immortal, although Mother’s magic lets them stay on Earthbread as spirits after death.” 

“...So the castle is haunted.” 

“Sure.”

Chapter Text

“I see you’ve grown stronger,” Dark Cacao said. Licorice nodded, setting his cup on the table. This meeting, whatever it was, it felt too… personal to him. They were in the king’s sitting room, drinking tea. And the king didn’t immediately rush to the subject he wished to speak of. There was no familiarity of a sibling to keep his nerves together. 

“I certainly feel stronger,” Licorice said. “I can walk again, that's an improvement.” 

“It is quite, although you’re understating just how much you’ve grown.” Dark Cacao looked towards Licorice’s arms, following the black patches that still haven’t disappeared with his eyes.

Licorice looked away, face slightly flushed. “Thank you, your majesty.” 

The king hummed, taking a sip of tea. With a deep breath he continued. “With that in mind, I have a proposal for you.” 

“A proposal? What kind?” 

“A job. You see, for a long time this position has been open as I never quite felt the need to fill it. Not long after your survival from the sea I had an idea to give you it. You’re plenty qualified if not overqualified, though in the state you were in it would've been a bad idea to ask then.”

“I’m-...I’m honored, what’s the position?” He couldn’t help but fidget with his hair, a habit he never really could break when he was nervous or flustered.

“The great mage of the kingdom.” 

Licorice stared at the king like a deer in headlights. “The what now?” 

“The great mage. We go to you for any issues with magic we may have and you give us a fix or at the very least a description of the issue. With your knowledge in magic this should be quite easy for you.” 

“Sir as much of an honor this is, I’m not that talen-” 

Dark Cacao held up a hand to silence Licorice. “Dark Choco warned me you may have this reaction…” He sighed. “You are by far one of the most knowledgeable cookies when it comes to magic I’ve seen in a long time. You said you’ve been studying it since you’ve learned to read. From what magic I’ve seen you are capable of, you are far more qualified for this job than you think.” 

Licorice didn’t know what to think, all his life he was told the opposite. He wasn’t a good mage, he hardly deserved the title of it. His magic was far too weak to do anything of use. But as soon as he got to the Dark Cacao Kingdom, everyone’s been insisting the opposite. That can’t be right, surely then they must not have a lot of good mages in their kingdom if he was deemed incredible. Though with how big this kingdom is there must be someone who deserved it more

But he also thought of the opportunity, not only would he be mad at himself for passing it up, he’d receive so many questions as to why from everyone, he wouldn’t hear the end of it from Sweetroot either. No matter what he thought however, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was the least deserving person of this role. 

“You really think I deserve this?” 

“I wouldn’t be offering it to you if I thought otherwise.”

“Yes, I realize, but you’ve barely seen my skills-” 

“If that’s the case there’s much to look forward to, and it only solidifies my decision.” 

Licorice pursed his lips, annoyed. Why was he annoyed? He should be extremely proud of himself right now. But the idea that someone thought he deserved this…

“Licorice,” Dark Cacao sighed. “I’m going to need a yes or a no soon.” 

He stayed silent for a moment, working over his options and the outcomes in his head once again. He then took a deep breath. 

“I guess I’d be a fool not to take it…” 

“Is that a yes?” 

“It is, yes.” 

The king had a small smile on his face as he nodded. “I’ll lead you to your study tomorrow then,” he said, taking a sip of tea. 

•❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•

Licorice was taken to a room a couple floors from his bedroom, it was wide but pretty empty. Dark Cacao didn’t lie when he said it had been awhile since someone held this position, aside from the counters, bookshelves, and a couple pieces of equipment there was nothing. The books on the shelves were scarce and what was on the shelves Licorice quickly found out was very outdated. At the very least he had brought some of his own to fill the space. 

“We can supply you with newer equipment if needed,” Dark Cacao told him.  

“It may be, but I can do with this for now.” 

Licorice adjusted the books on the shelf, organizing in any way he could, most of them were dated from before Sweetroot was even alive, and none were credited to her. He quickly dusted off the shelf and added the books he had brought, he’d have to bring the rest tomorrow and then figure out how to fill the rest of the shelves. What he had barely scratched the surface for how much room he needed to fill. 

The king watched carefully before saying “We’ll also have robes ready for you shortly.” 

“Robes?” 

Dark Cacao nodded. “Of course. Every role associated with the royal family gets their own robes to signal as such. I’ll give you time to settle in,” he said as he turned to leave. Right before the door shut Sweetroot made her way in, carefully examining the room. Licorice took a minute to take it all in. 

“An impressive new job you have here. Though this may take a minute to revive…” she said. She picked up one of the older books and looked at the cover. “Hm, I remember disproving a couple of the theories in this… I remember when it was heavily cited too.” 

“It may not be a bad idea to look through it, no matter how outdated and ancient it is.” 

Sweetroot looked away from the cover and towards Licorice. “You’re calling me old aren’t you?” 

“No but that book definitely is.” 

That didn’t convince Sweetroot apparently. “You’re calling me old… I could deliver a few of the books from my library, I always have more than one copy if I can get it.” She looked at the shelves for a minute, before muttering “That reminds me I need to get you that book on your bitter magic.” 

“A book on my bitter magic?” Licorice echoed. 

“Yes I wrote a book keeping track of my symptoms after falling in the sea so we can easily explain things to the next sibling. I should get it for you.” 

“Yes you should, why did it take you nearly a month to mention it?” 

“I don’t know, maybe my brain can still be a bit fogged by my illness.”

Black Rope made his way into the room, looking around. “This used to be a bit more lively…” 

“The king did say it was a while since it was used,” Licorice explained, opening a book by the counter. 

“True… When do you think you’ll get your power?” 

Licorice hummed for a moment, his magic was still coursing through his veins quite quickly. “Hopefully soon, I’ve been wondering what it’ll be.” 

“I’m not quite sure what the rules are for the powers,” Sweetroot hummed, “I initially thought it was powers Mother had but then Red Vine had lightning powers, so that confused me.” 

“Sweetroot currently had the most powerful of the abilities, she was able to manipulate the waters like Mother can,” Black Rope added. 

“Oh please,” she laughed. 

A faint cyan glow lit up the room, confusing Licorice but before he could process what was happening he felt himself fall through the floor and then fall back onto it with a loud thud . He rubbed his back where he landed while he tried to figure out what had happened. As it dawned on him Caramel Arrow opened the door and looked at him concerned. 

“Are you alright, what happened?” she asked, helping him up. 

“Figured out my power…” Licorice muttered. 

“What?”

“Part of the surviving-the-Licorice Sea thing is you can get a new ability from it, apparently mine is some kind of travel.” He looked up to where he fell from and noticed there was a dark hole at the spot, cyan occasionally pulsing through it. “Now I just need to figure out how to get rid of it…” 

Caramel Arrow matched where he was looking. She stayed silent for a second just processing, no one spoke for a minute before she broke it with “What if we throw something in it?” 

Licorice ran the idea through his head. “You know what? Sure, what can go wrong?” 

He grabbed one of the outdated books from the shelf and chucked it towards the hole, making it close. A couple seconds later nothing was happening. 

“...Is it just… gone?” Caramel Arrow asked, a moment later Licorice felt something hit against the back of his head and whipped around to see the book a couple feet away from him. He couldn’t find another hole so he just assumed it closed as soon as the book went out for whatever reason. 

“I’m starting to think these things are made specifically to hurt me…” Licorice muttered, rubbing the pain away. 

“My theory is that the first time an ability activates, it’s just trying to get your attention in some way. My experience was similar,” Sweetroot explained. 

“Alright,” he huffed. “New mission, figure out how to control this.” 

Sweetroot looked to where the book shot out from. “I’ll go get you that book again before I forget.” 

Chapter Text

That night, Sweetroot made good on her word, delivering a tight but thick leather-bound book, pages yellowed with time and oddly enough, covered with dirt. The ink that covered the many pages was dark, handwriting curly, neat cursive. This wasn’t a reprint, this was the original and only copy. 

“Why is it so dirty?” Licorice muttered, examining it. 

“It was hidden under the floorboards. That’s where I put a lot of the books I don’t want other cookies to see.”

“What’s there to see?” 

“When you experiment as much as I have, you come across things that could lead to absolute destruction if in the wrong hands.”

As Licorice flipped through, he spotted many things he already went through, what happened when falling in the sea, the weakness afterwards, the leaking magic. There was also a detailed list of things to avoid or do to keep your magic stable:

• “Avoid sweet foods

• Stay near the Licorice Sea
• • If you must move over 100 miles from the sea, keep a bottle of Licorice Water on you, learn from Salted Licorice’s mistakes. 

• Strong emotions, including anger and stress especially, can cause your magic to grow unstable.

• Use of specific types of magic, such as Light magic, can become more difficult to use after your fall, excessive attempts can cause your magic to become unstable. 

• If you find your magic growing unstable, eating/drinking bitter items can help, although the best cure is to drink Licorice Water.”

 Then what he went through recently, the magic grabbing his attention. Sweetroot’s descriptions included small pools of Licorice Water appearing out of nowhere, some causing her to slip. 

And the next page was incomplete, titled “corruption”. It had an incomplete sketch of a cookie body labeled “ physical traits” for physical symptoms and few words. 

“ This has been a worry of Mother’s although it has yet to happen since we’ve been created. If the sea is corrupted through a specific potion, it’s likely it will affect us too due to our bodies being made of the waters.” 

“I never knew you didn’t need a list of symptoms for something to sound so uncomfortable…” Licorice muttered. 

“Hm?” Sweetroot peaked at the page to see where he was. “Oh yes, corruption is never a comfortable thing.” Licorice looked towards her, surprised by how monotone and matter-of-fact she was. 

“Have you been corrupted?” 

“A few times, briefly. For the sake of research.” 

He stared at his sister, dumbfounded. “Do you think maybe that’s why you got so sick?” 

“It probably didn’t help but it certainly wasn’t the only thing.” 

A chill went down Licorice’s spine as he thought about this potential corruption. He knew what to expect with a cookie’s body, for the most part that was. Any type of corruption he read about he knew what could come from it. This mysterious version though, with his pure Licorice Water body… 

“Keep this with you, perhaps in that study of yours,” Sweetroot told him. “Somewhere it can get lost for other cookies. This has a lot of information we can’t release.” 

“From what I’ve seen so far it seems fine.” 

“It has Mother’s name written in it.” 

“Oh yep, I’ll hide it.” 

•❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•

The next morning as Licorice awoke, on the foot of his bed sat a set of neatly folded robes, tied together with a deep navy sash with a gold medallion on top shaped of a diamond, two smaller pins to its sides, over top sat thinner strings of the same color. The set was a deep blue, not bright as what he’s seen in, say, the Pure Vanilla or Hollyberry kingdoms. The blues were cut through with bright white layers. Speaking of, there seemed to be… many layers. It was quite daunting to try and figure out how they went on, especially as Licorice laid each part out on his bed to get an idea of what the hell he was supposed to do. He could see three layers of skirt, a dark blue and light blue sleeveless robe with a sort of half-skirt, a white top with wide long sleeves, a lighter blue layer with shorter sleeves, and then a darker layer with short sleeves, it was almost vest like and had two dusty blue triangles on it. Finally a tighter fitted, woolen layer was laid next to all of it. 

“It’s fancy…” Licorice muttered. He stared at the puzzle that was now presented in front of him for a solid ten minutes at least. Probably longer considering Dark Choco’s voice spoke up from outside the door, by this point the only thing the mage managed to figure out was that the tighter layer was the base. 

“Licorice?” The prince asked. “You’re typically outside your room by now, is everything alright?” 

“I’m fine!” Licorice called back. “Just a bit confused.” 

There was silence for a moment and then from outside the door “Oh, you’re struggling with your robes? Would you like help?” 

Licorice took a second to process the offer, with the amount of help the prince had given him since he arrived these words shouldn’t have sounded so foreign from Dark Choco. 

“Please?” he finally said. “And you can come in.”

The prince made his way in and observed what Licorice had laid out. “You have the right idea,” he muttered. “Here, you start with this skirt.” 

He handed Licorice the medium-length white skirt, then the ankle-length one, and finally a third long white skirt. Then the robe which was tied with a blue string. Over top, Dark Choco helped put on the many layers of shirt before wrapping the navy sash around his waist and pinned the diamond medallions to it. 

“There we go,” he smiled. “You look great in these.” 

“I’m certainly warm,” Licorice laughed. 

Licorice grabbed his crutch and stared at himself in the mirror. By this point he hardly resembled the cookie he was just a month ago. New robes, fancier robes, robes that made him feel important. Glasses and a crutch, the markings that now covered his body… He wasn’t the same cookie he was when he was with the cookies of darkness. And that felt really good. 

•❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•

“Don’t you look fancy,” Caramel Arrow laughed upon seeing Licorice. 

“I know they feel really nice. I feel important,” Licorice said. He had a satchel that carried some of his books that he was going to put in the library, including the book that Sweetroot had given him the night prior. 

“You are important,” Crunchy Chip smiled. “That job is really impressive.” 

“Ah- heh, thanks…” 

“And he still can’t take compliments,” Caramel Arrow sighed. 

The three reached the hall where they split and Licorice waved to the warriors as he made his way to the room. Sweetroot was already waiting for him, her parasol hung on her arm as she sat at the desk reading one of the outdated books. As he set the newer material on the shelf she perked up and glanced at the spines, before nodding in approval and going back to the book. 

“Alright,” he muttered, cracking his knuckles. “Time to figure out this stupid power while I have the time.”

“Well we know you’re able to travel through the holes,” Sweetroot said, hardly looking up from her reading. “There’s a spare page in the book for you to write down your findings,  please use it.” 

First order of business was figuring out how to summon them, that was the main issue. His sister would put in her input when deemed necessary, eventually the two figured out how to summon a hole, the issue was now trying to understand how to choose where you end up. 

“I swear to the witches, if I slam into that bookcase one more time I’m stopping,” Licorice huffed, snapping his fingers to create a new hole. 

“Maybe because you need to think about where you want to end up before summoning?” Sweetroot suggested. 

“You think the reason I keep ending up in the bookcase is because I’m thinking about it?” 

“This is a travel spell, no? Some rely quite heavily on intent before you use it. Go and try it.” 

Licorice sighed and hopped into the hole and, just as the last seven times, ended up with his back against the bookcase. Sweetroot nodded.

“Try one more time, thinking about where you’d like to be before you summon.” 

Where would he like to go? Maybe by the desk would be the best option at the moment. Sure, by the desk. He snapped his fingers and jumped in, landing perfectly in front of the desk, slightly dizzy from all the travel he was doing by this point. 

“Oh, oh it worked!” he laughed. 

“You don’t look like you’re balanced,” Sweetroot muttered. 

“I’m dizzy, probably a side effect.” 

The great mage got up at this point, leading Licorice to swap places with her before handing him the book on their family. “Write all of what we figured out down, there should be plenty of pages.” 

“Yes ma’am,” he huffed, getting a pen from his bag. Despite the fact she was silhouette, Licorice could feel the cold glare towards his way from his sister, causing him to laugh despite himself.

Chapter Text

Dark Cacao huffed as he looked out towards the thick chocolate walls. He knew what Pure Vanilla had requested was probably for the best but, going through with it was the issue. He hated that idea, and what it meant he’d have to do. 

The healer had decided to pay a visit upon hearing of the new survivor of the Licorice Sea, and was up in the mage’s study speaking to him. It fascinated him greatly and as he said himself, could help with medical studies further along the way. 

“So you survived? How exactly?” 

Licorice laughed, avoiding eye-contact. It didn’t feel right speaking to a cookie he once despised so greatly like this. On top of that, how was he supposed to explain this? Typically he would just say “I don’t know” but for some reason, that didn’t feel right. The king of the Vanilla Kingdom deserved the truth after what he put him through. 

“It’s… complicated,” he finally managed to say. Dark Cacao perked up from the window at this point. 

“I thought you didn’t know? Did you figure it out?” 

“Yes, but as I said, it’s pretty complicated-” 

“We have time for complicated,” Pure Vanilla assured him with a smile. 

Licorice looked between the two kings before sighing. 

“My family, there are five of us kids, we were made with magic. Made purely from water from the Licorice Sea and given a ‘cookie’ body. That’s how I was able to survive, I didn’t have a body that was so frail under its pressure.” 

The two rulers looked at each other, then back at Licorice. Both were equally stunned. 

“You’re… made from the Licorice Sea?” Pure Vanilla asked. “How exactly does that work?” 

“I have no idea, I’m still trying to figure a lot of this out as it was only after my fall most of this came to light for me.”

“That explains the sheer amount of bitter magic in your system,” Dark Cacao muttered, turning back to the window. He was almost glaring at the wall. 

Pure Vanilla took a moment to analyze Licorice carefully, a puzzled look on his face, looking for any flaws that could’ve pointed to the fact that he wasn’t made from dough. He tilted his head as he sat back down. “It is very impressive work if this is true, nothing sticks out that you aren’t cookie… Tell me, you said you have four other siblings?”

“Oh, yes. Unfortunately we can’t get into contact with them though… Our… mother’s magic, it can only hold one of us at a time. My siblings no longer have physical bodies but we have ways to communicate, mostly in my dreams.” 

“They’re dead?” The question was barely above a whisper. Licorice nodded. Pure Vanilla processed this information before taking a deep breath and changing subject. “So, your creator, or I suppose, your mother… as I said her work is extremely impressive, could I meet her?” 

The king was quick to notice the sudden fear on Licorice’s face, he glanced towards Dark Cacao and then met his eyes once more. “I mean, yes, but she isn’t the.. Uh… most trusting of other cookies.” 

“Oh that’s perfectly fine,” he laughed. “Maybe just a name then?” 

The mage chuckled nervously then quietly answered

“The guardian of the Licorice Sea..?” 

“Yourmotheriswhonow?!” Dark Cacao demanded as he whipped around. The question came out so fast it may as well have been one word. The mage winced at the sudden shout. 

“The- the guardian of the Licorice Sea,” he repeated. 

Pure Vanilla hummed. “That actually makes a lot of sense from what I’ve heard about the both of you. And that’s quite good luck for us.” He smiled towards Dark Cacao who groaned. 

“It’s good luck for you …” 

“What do you mean?” Licorice asked. 

“Well we-” 

“I’m not counted in this,” Cacao grumbled. Pure Vanilla sighed. 

“Ok then, I was hoping to talk to the Guardian, hoping she may help us with the fight we have against Dark Enchantress and the rest of the Cookies of Darkness. With you there convincing her may be much easier.” 

“Oh I highly doubt I’ll be able to help much at all,” Licorice told him, Vanilla looked at him confused so he added “I mean she is very defensive and attached to the Licorice Sea, she rarely ever leaves it. Dark Enchantress would have to do something to either the Sea or myself, that is the only way she’d ever agree to this.” 

“Then it’s solved, we aren’t going to that sea,” Dark Cacao said. 

“Hey, no, we can still try.”

“Damnit Vanilla…” 

“You can try ,” Licorice sighed. “But it’s very unlikely she’ll agree.” 

•❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•

The three reached the large wall, and as much as he was excited to see his mother again, Licorice knew the outcome of this before they even stepped foot out the doors. Pure Vanilla looked up at the wall, taking in just how large it was.

“There’s a cookie behind there?” he whispered to Dark Cacao.

“Unfortunately…” 

He huffed before cupping his hands around his mouth and shouting “Hello?” 

The sea’s waves crashed against the large wall and a pair of bright cyan eyes poked over the side. At first, curiosity filled them. 

“Hm, who are-... Oh by the sea, you… ” Mulethi sneered. 

“I’m not happy to be here either,” Cacao told her.  

“When are you ever happy?” The guardian crossed her arms and rested them on the edge of the wall. “Why are you even here?” 

“Madam Guardian, we were wanting-” 

“Don’t rope me in on this.” 

Pure Vanilla glared at the great king. He motioned between himself and Licorice. “ We were hoping to speak to you about something, a request? Are you able to come down?” 

Mulethi stared at the group, taking a moment to smile and wave towards her son before her eyes moved back to Dark Cacao and her scowl returned. 

“Not while he’s here.” 

Vanilla looked at her annoyed, almost in defeat. “Please? For the sake of my vocal cords?” 

Mulethi continued to stare for a bit, eyes narrowing as she glared at Dark Cacao before she sighed, throwing up her hands and rolling her eyes. “Fine! One moment.” 

“I’m going to be honest,” Licorice whispered. “I’ve never seen her like this before.” 

“Well you have the benefit of being her kid…” Dark Cacao muttered. 

The Guardian walked around the corner, hands clasped together as usual but unlike the last couple times he saw her, there was no smile. She leaned against the large chocolate wall and tilted her head. “So, what is your request?” 

“You know Dark Enchantress Cookie, correct?” Pure Vanilla asked her

Mulethi’s eyes moved to the side, squinting as she racked her brain to remember the name. “I know of her, though not much. What little I know is from Licorice.” She motioned to the mage in question. 

“I see. She’s extremely powerful, she wishes to overthrow the Witches and nothing that’s in the way of that goal will be spared. We were hoping to recruit your help. Being such a talented cookie with incredible abilities-” 

The Guardian held up her hand to stop him. “Your goal is admirable, truly, but I cannot leave my sea if that is part of what you’re asking. And, I will not be working with him .” 

“Likewise,” Dark Cacao said. 

“Perhaps you won’t have to leave your sea, we could figure out a way, but your sea will be in grave danger if nothing is done. Your powers are amazing from what I’ve heard of and you could be an incredible asset to us.” 

She said nothing, looking at the kings then her son. The silence seemed to last an eternity as Pure Vanilla waited with bated breath. Then, finally. “We will cross that bridge when we get there then, the answer is no.” She moved to Licorice and patted his head with a smile. “Stay safe little one.” Then she turned the corner and left. Pure Vanilla looked at where she once was, defeated. 

“I-... I thought…”

“She’s a lovely cookie,” Licorice told him. “But it seems like she’s hard to get favors from.” 

“‘Impossible’ is a better word,” Dark Cacao huffed, already heading back to the castle. 

Licorice shook his head, looking up towards Pure Vanilla. “Not impossible, just difficult. I know a cookie who got her favor, although she didn’t ask for one. I think circumstances play a major role in whether she finds you worthy of her help.” 

“‘Circumstances’? Like what?” 

“It sounds like life or death unfortunately.”

Chapter Text

Affogato looked towards his spell and alchemy books with a sigh, which potion was it again that he needed to make? Hell, could he get the ingredients with his face plastered everywhere as a warning? If only he could talk to his teacher again, she always knew everything. 

It was a miracle, the mage was so sought after to teach eager cookies, wishing to learn her talents. And yet it was only one that she taught, this poor boy of coffee and ice cream, the one who never quite knew where he belonged. It seemed like a fairytale looking back. 

He knew he hadn’t learned everything she had to offer before her death, how could any cookie? But he had learned so much after as well, he knew she’d be proud of where he was. 

He had gotten sentimental, holding the pendant he was gifted from her all those years ago, feeling the rune so clearly as he traced it with his finger. “ Safety from All ”. What caused him to narrowly escape whatever damage he managed to get into, leading him to greater opportunities. Without her help, he wouldn’t be where he was. 

What he didn’t realize at the time of its gifting was that it truly meant “all”. 

Affogato’s eyes glanced over a spine that struck him. Bitter magic, yes, that book would have the answer. 

|××××××××××|××××××××××|

Licorice leaned on the railing of the caboose as he stared at his mother. She was quiet this time around, apparently still irked at the suggestion from earlier. She stood on the other side of the railing, looking down at her hands, quietly humming and fidgeting. 

“Mother?” he asked. Mulethi perked up. 

“Ah, apologies, I was just… thinking. Is everything alright?” 

Licorice nodded. “My discussion with Pure Vanilla Cookie earlier, he was asking about my connection to the sea…” 

Mulethi tilted her head. “Pure Vanilla? Was that the blond one making the offer?”

“Yes, him. It was making me wonder. Why… did you create us? My siblings and I?” 

His mother smiled softly and ran her fingers through her son's hair with a sigh. “It’s quite selfish I’m afraid. The sea’s magic lives within me, unfortunately there’s too much magic for me to be able to control with my mind intact, so I taught myself how to make vessels to hold some of it, to make it easier. Your incredible personalities were a side effect of making you cookie-like I wasn’t expecting but welcomed.” 

Licorice smiled and Mulethi chuckled softly. “In fact I’ve noticed a trait you all share amongst one another, despite how different you may be.” 

“What’s that?” 

“All five of you are some of the most stubborn cookies I’ve ever met,” she laughed, lightly hitting him on the arm. 

“Really? Even Black Rope?” 

“Especially Black Rope, he didn’t lose to his mind after the fall where many cookies of his time absolutely would have.” 

Licorice hummed. He had never asked Black Rope about his life, or really any of his siblings but the other three would often just drop information on themselves in conversation, or he’d hear about it through history books. Black Rope however wasn’t one for conversation and Licorice steered clear of any books that referred to him as “the Mad King”, which were all of them. He probably should talk to him. 

|××××××××××|××××××××××|

Licorice was sat on his bed, sorting through which books he planned to take to his new study and which he should keep for his personal collection in his room. Black Rope was cross-legged on the foot of the bed, occasionally adding his input when Licorice was indecisive. Finally, after a little while of this routine, Licorice looked up towards him. 

“Black Rope?” His brother matched his eyes, though his refused to stay steady on them. “Mother mentioned something to me last night, she considered you one of the most stubborn of us due to how you held on after your fall, do you know what she meant by that?” 

“If I am considered one of the more stubborn, I’d hate to know how stubborn she considers you,” he told him. “I only lasted four weeks after I fell, then again my death wasn’t my own doing. And I wasn’t holding on for myself.”

“No? What was causing you to try to keep going then?” 

Black Rope smiled softly as he turned towards the window, a slight glint in his eyes that Licorice had rarely seen. “Black Forest Cookie, I wanted to try to remember her.” 

Licorice nodded but after a second had to ask “Who?” to which Black Rope looked back surprised. 

“Have I never mentioned her?” His brother shook his head. “I swear I had at some point… maybe you were little.” His smile returned as he described her, looking down at the plush spider in his lap. “She was my wife. The sweetest woman you’d ever meet, almost empathetic to a fault so she wasn’t quite the best ruler but I adored her nonetheless. She had this long dark hair that had a hint of red when it hit the light just right. Her skin matched my own, with light freckles that covered her body. They were considered ugly back then but I could never seem to agree with that statement. And her eyes were as soft as Mother’s, and a beautiful dark red.

“She snuck into my bedroom not long before I died… The staff insisted I be quarantined from her to prevent her from ‘growing sick as well’. She must’ve been quite desperate to see me again. She sat not too far from me, asking if I could tell who she was. I didn’t want to admit it but I had to tell her I couldn’t, but I knew she was safe and I loved her. That seemed to satisfy her though, as she came closer and wrapped her arms around me, informing me that she was my wife. It was the first night since my fall I fell asleep peacefully, as she sung me to sleep.” 

Licorice listened intently, it was the most he’d heard him speak ever, and he looked so happy while doing so. But it didn’t last long, as the smile faded, tears welled up in his eyes and his voice cracked as he continued. “She held me as I bled out, you know? She held me in her arms as I died, I felt so terrible getting so much blood on her nightgown… And I have never heard a cookie wail so loudly, I wanted to apologize that I wasn’t strong enough, that I was mortal.” 

He had to gasp for air between sobs before he added. “I heard she slit her own throat not long into mourning, and I’ve been searching for her for 300 years since then, but I always seem to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I miss her, I want to give her all those apologies I couldn’t back then, I want her in my arms again.” He wiped his tears with his sleeves and gasped again. “I’m sorry… that was a lot to tell you.” 

“Don’t apologize,” Licorice assured him. “It seems like you needed to say all that… You can see other ghosts?”

“Mhm… There aren’t many who stay on these grounds though, they mostly stay by their graves as they can’t communicate with most cookies. 

“Huh… And she isn’t anywhere by this castle? Or where she’s buried?” 

The king shook his head as his breathing softened. “She wouldn’t stay somewhere with such heavy memories, this castle is filled with so much death for her. And we were buried next to each other, I doubt she’d stay near there without me being there. At least… not for long.” 

The two sat in silence, with no more than the sound of the king trying to get his ground again. 

“I’ll see her one day again, I have to… I’m just impatient sometimes.” 

“I wish I could help you find her sooner.” 

“I appreciate it… but there’s no need for that.” He looked back towards the pile. “Are you finished sorting?” 

Licorice blinked. “I forgot we were doing that.” 

“So… no?” 

“Um, almost I think.” 

•❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•

Licorice had now moved the pile of books to the desk in his study, sorting each into the shelves he had set up previously. There was a rap at the door as Dark Choco entered. 

“Great mage?” he grinned. 

“Don’t make that a thing,” Licorice groaned. 

“What? Just respecting your title.”

“So I should call you ‘your majesty’ all the time then?” 

Dark Choco hummed. “You pose a fair point. Still sorting?” 

“Of course, do you know how barren these shelves were a few days ago?” 

“Hey, speaking of books, apparently the staff in the library have been hearing humming in the room as they’re working, especially if they're alone.” 

Licorice looked towards him confused. “Really? Spooky.” 

“Can’t be one of your dead siblings, could it?” 

He paused, book in mid-air as he thought. “Mmm, no I doubt it. I mean no one’s heard them, outside of me of course, before. Although if that is the case it’s probably Sweetroot looking at the more modern research.” 

“Just thought I’d bring it up,” the prince shrugged. He picked up a random book from the table. “‘Resurrection’? Didn’t Pomegranate lend this to you?” 

Licorice looked towards the book in question before turning back to the shelf. “I doubt she’ll miss it, that was a year before I left.” 

Dark Choco laughed. “She had her chance to get it back. Want help?”

Chapter Text

“I just wanted to warn you, you may get the same request,” Mulethi informed. The only time she would dare to leave the sea was when clocks wouldn’t tick, when time was paused and she had to discuss things with her fellow Guardians of the Guild. Flame Cake Dragon looked at her, her scarlet eyes full of concern. 

“And this… ‘Pure Vanilla Cookie’?” she asked, Mulethi nodded. “He was told you don’t move from your sea?” 

“Licorice almost certainly told him.” 

“Licorice is the current holder of your magic, your youngest?” Charred Sugar asked. It was hard to read her expression underneath her black veil and sleepy eyes. 

“Yes, he just fell in a couple months ago, he’s doing quite well,” she smiled. 

Flame Cake crossed her arms, her claws tapping against her red armor as she scowled, the skull-like mark on her face emphasizing the quiet anger. “If this Pure Vanilla is asking you he most likely will ask us as well once he finds out about us.” 

“I’m sure he already knows,” Charred Sugar corrected, a slight echo in her mighty voice. She folded her own black claws together and rested her chin on the back of her hands, her shoulder length white hair falling in front of what little you could see of her face, her three-pronged dark silver crown shone against the light and highlighted her golden halo. “His cause sounds noble but we’ve more important things to attend to. Not only do I have the Altar of Dreams to keep an eye on, I’m in the process of training Destiny Sugar to take it over while caring for little Caster Sugar. I can’t simply drop all of that to fight a cookie who’s yet to bother me.” She then looked towards the dragon. “Speaking of you’re probably still dealing with Charcoal Cake’s little… phase?” 

“Boy am I,” she grumbled. “And like you said I can’t just leave both her and the Sacred Flame, especially since I can’t trust her to look after it unlike you could with Destiny Sugar. She doesn’t understand why we have to keep it lit no matter how much I tell her.” Charred Sugar sighed and wrapped one of her white feathered wings around her briefly. 

“It sounds like Licorice would probably go with him if an invitation were to be sent, so I can’t rely on him to protect the Sea unfortunately. Not that I’d go either way, as Charred Sugar mentioned, I’ve no grudge against this woman. It isn’t worth the stress of being away from my sea until I may gain one,” Mulethi said.

“I would applaud him if he were to find my children and I,” Charred Sugar hummed. “Very few cookies are able to reach that plane, however if he’s powerful enough to do that he shouldn’t need my help.” 

“Finding my nest isn’t an easy task either,” Flame Cake Dragon huffed, a puff of smoke circling her white and red hair and her striped curled horns, her red scaled tail curled impatiently. “Especially since it often involves going through the guild grounds.” 

Charred Sugar looked between the two, before her sleepy eyes turned to that of great concern as she sat up and placed her hands on her lap. Her wings widened, the eyes on them opening for the first time that meeting showed the same expression. 

“You don’t think he’s stubborn enough to… Fight us as the Guardians? Very few have defeated us and the rules won’t allow him to take us away from our sources, but I’d still hate for him to go through all of that for nothing.” 

Her fellow guardians frowned. Mulethi added another concern to the list. “He seems to be allies with Dark Cacao, he’s quite powerful on his own but from the little I’ve interacted with him he’s a smart cookie and would bring back up of equal power. You know my relationship with the king in the Kingdom of Snow, surely he’d take any chance to fight me.” 

“So that makes things worse,” she sighed. “Almost certainly we’d be defeated. While the rules are on our side and he wouldn’t leave empty handed, he wouldn’t leave with what he wanted.” 

“I wouldn’t mind giving them something actually,” Flame Cake chimed in. “The cause is a good one, intentions good, and if they’re worthy of my help they’ll be granted it.” 

The lady of the abyss thought for a moment more. “He doesn’t seem like he has much of a backbone for arguments,” she said, looking back at the discussion the two had earlier. “Again, he’s a smart cookie from what I’ve seen, he’d take what he can get.” 

“What do you think he’d choose if he won?” Flame Cake entertained, her clawed feet now on the table. “Protection? Power? Or a look into the future?” 

Charred Sugar laughed. “Any would help his goal. You’ve met him,” she motioned to Mulethi. “What do you think he’d choose?” 

“It’s hard to say, he had the mark of a healer so I would like to lean towards protection, but power includes improved healing, and yet he seems to plan ahead so a glance into the future could work in his favor. Who knows?” 

“So he’s a complicated one,” the avatar said.

“Not a knight seeking glory, that’s for sure,” Flame Cake cackled. 

“Perhaps… I could convince him to go against us,” Mulethi muttered, the idea now seemed less upsetting once she toyed with it. “That way we could help like he wishes but stand our ground.” 

The other two looked towards each other, Flame Cake’s face forming a small grin before she elbowed Charred Sugar. “Well, draft that letter then, I wanna meet this healer.” 

Charred Sugar chuckled. “Fine, you’re lucky he has a good cause,” she teased, summoning a curled piece of parchment. 

•❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•

A new feeling rang through Licorice’s head. Any thoughts were soon gone, replaced with the voice of his mother, asking for Pure Vanilla to return to the Licorice Sea. What changed? Was she now willing to hear him out? Licorice shook his head. Maybe he’d entertain the message, if that was even what that was. Sweetroot’s book mentioned their mother being able to send them messages right? Maybe? Better safe than sorry he supposed. 

He made his way to the king’s chambers nervously, he stared at the door as he once again second guessed everything that led up to this moment. Were they busy? Probably, but maybe this was important enough to bug them. He took a deep breath and knocked. 

Dark Cacao opened the door with a raised eyebrow. “Licorice? What do you need?” 

“Well-” He started, accidentally locking eyes with Pure Vanilla who greeted him with a wave. “My mother was wanting to see Pure Vanilla again.” 

Both king’s looked at him, then at each other, surprised. Dark Cacao’s face grew grim at the thought of returning to that wall. “Why?” he asked. 

“I didn’t get a why, all I know is that she asked for him again, maybe she wanted to hear more about your mission.” 

Pure Vanilla smiled. “Well, maybe we can get her to reconsider, I don’t want to keep her waiting for longer than she has.” Dark Cacao replied with a groan. 

“I am not working with her.” 

“If we can convince her to join, you’re going to have to, I’m not going to waste an opportunity like that because Great King Dark Cacao Cookie decided to be childish.” he told him. “Lead us back would you, Licorice?” 

•❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•

“You wished to see me again?” Pure Vanilla called to the other side of the chocolate wall. The waves crashed against it again and Mulethi peeked over and, much more quickly this time, she told him to wait a moment before she appeared next to them. This time she was holding a scroll in her hand which further confused Licorice. 

“Hello again,” she smiled, quickly shooting another sour look at Dark Cacao who returned the favor. Pure Vanilla gave a small bow “I was discussing your offer with my fellow Guardians, and we reached a conclusion that should benefit both of us.” 

The Vanilla King tilted his head. “‘Fellow guardians? Pardon me but I wasn’t informed you worked with anyone.” 

“It’s my first time hearing of this,” Dark Cacao said. Licorice affirmed he hadn’t heard of them either. 

“I try not to bring them into my business here, you’ve heard of the Guild Grounds, yes?” 

Dark Cacao hummed. “I have, though I’ve never been myself.” 

“I hear they’re quite dangerous,” Pure Vanilla said. “Why bring them up?” 

Mulethi became more serious, she held up three fingers. “There are three of us, the Guardians of the Guild. Time pauses once you step on the Guild Grounds and accept our challenge, if you defeat the three of us each member of your team will be given a reward of their choice. This is what we offer you, defeat us and we’ll give you a boost in your mission.” She then handed Pure Vanilla the scroll. “This will be the only way I will aid you, either this or you will not get my help.” 

Pure Vanilla unraveled the scroll which split into two papers. One describing the challenge and the other the rules. The challenge was simple by what he read, withstand the Red Velvet Dragon’s strength, the Living Abyss’s magic, and the Avatar of Destiny’s mind games. The rules were not something he was expecting however. He could only come in a group of five at most, and the rewards were not open-ended. Either they’d get protection, power, or a look into the future, all of which he had little control over in terms of choice. He had 3 weeks to prepare. 

“And this is the only option?” Pure Vanilla asked. 

“We will not be stepping away from our sources to fight someone who hasn’t affected us. It’s your decision whether or not you truly want my help this desperately. 

“Hang on, can you not just… bless them?” Licorice asked. 

“I am not close enough with them or their mission to allow myself to do so, if they really want my help, they’ll have to earn it.” 

Pure Vanilla rolled up the scroll with a sigh. He held it a moment before nodding with determination. “3 weeks… I’ll do it.” 

“Really?” Dark Cacao asked. 

“As she said it’s either this or nothing, and we need any help we can get.” 

“Am I able to help?” Licorice asked. Mulethi looked towards him and shook her head. 

“You’re my son, you’ll watch with the rest of the guardians’ kids.” 

“It’s alright Licorice,” Pure Vanilla smiled. “I know just who to invite.” 

•❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•

“I cannot believe we agreed to this,” Golden Cheese sighed, now looking at the Guild Grounds in front of her. Torches of blue flames lit the snow covered stone ground beneath them, the sky was dark with bursts of cyan light throughout. In the distance was a forest, upon closer inspection there seemed to be three perches on the outskirts in front of it, almost like three thrones. 

“Ah come on!” Hollyberry grinned. “This should be fun!” 

“You fight Pitaya Dragon for fun,” White Lily pointed out. “That’s the strength taken care of but what about the magic or mind games?” 

“We’ll be fine, we’ve dealt with worse before.” 

Licorice looked across the grounds for his mother but there was no sign of her, nor of any of the other guardians she spoke of. 

“Where… are they?” Pure Vanilla asked no one in particular. He opened the scroll again and glanced over it worried. “They should be here, yes?” 

“Hello?” A voice called from behind them. The group looked back and then up to find a tall boy sat on an arch of stone. He had large white wings with a pair of closed eyes on them, his own eyes matched with long lashes which stuck out against his dark skin. He wore a navy suit with a yellow collar, white bell bottom pants accented with a waffle-like belt. A light blue cape fell over the ensemble clasped with a four pointed yellow star. His white hair was in a bun held together with a small black crown. 

“Who are you? Are you one of the guardians?” Dark Cacao demanded. 

“Not me, which one of you is Licorice Cookie?” he asked. 

Licorice nervously stepped towards him with his free hand raised. The cookie smiled. 

“Ah! You look just like one of your brothers, I should’ve known.” He hopped down from his perch and offered his hand to Licorice. “Come along, I’ll show you where we need to be.” 

Licorice looked towards his hand, then his face. “Who are you?” 

“I’m the Avatar, one of the guardian’s, son. I’ll further introduce myself once we get settled. Your mother is the Living Abyss and told you that you would be watching, yes?” 

“Yes… I guess… lead me then?” he said, finally placing his hand in the cookie’s own, and giving the rulers a nervous wave with a wish of good luck. The two walked away from the grounds then around, making their way to a set of steps where two other cookies sat at the top, a dragon and what looked like a toddler who was sat next to her. The dragon looked to the two with a glare, bright scarlet red eyes being the most prominent feature in a sea of black, that and the suddenly bright white roots with pink-red streaks that have grown out from the last time they dyed their hair black or the skull marking on her face that Licorice honestly couldn’t tell if it was genetics or makeup. 

“You’re the new Licorice Sea kid?” they asked. Licorice almost wanted to apologize for being in their presence from the tone of the question. 

“Yes.. Uh, Licorice Cookie,” he waved nervously. 

“Mhm, you look like Black Rope and Sweetroot.” 

“Well- we’re siblings so,” he laughed. They did not. 

“Licorice-,” the cookie who brought him said. “This is Charcoal Cake Dragon, she’s the Red Velvet Dragon’s daughter.”

“I don’t wanna be here,” she said, crossing her arms and looking towards the grounds. 

“She… never wants to be here,” he added awkwardly. “I’m Destiny Sugar Cookie, and that-.” He motioned to the toddler who smiled at the two and waved happily. “Is my little sister Caster Sugar.” 

Caster Sugar’s wings weren’t feathered but instead covered in fluff, they were almost as fluffy as her white hair. Her eyes, like her brother’s, were closed but still expressive, the eyes that were open on her wings helped with that. She had a small golden halo and wore a long blue dress with a lighter layer of blue that had short sleeves, and was clasped by the same yellow four-point star as Destiny Sugar. 

“It’s nice to meet you both,” Licorice smiled. 

“Sure,” Charcoal Dragon huffed. 

“We’ll be here for awhile,” Destiny Sugar informed him. “Best get comfortable, have a seat.” 

There was the sound of loud bells and a bright cyan light, the clouds overhead stopped moving as the guardians arrived. Each leaned over the wall of the grounds and all towered over it and the cookies below. Mulethi sat with the back of her hand under her chin and her arm crossed underneath. The cookie next to her had her hands folded with her head resting on them, analyzing the cookies in front of her. This must have been Destiny Sugar and Caster Sugar’s mother. The Avatar he called her? The final one was a dragon of bright scarlett, One of her arms was on the wall the other was leaned back on a small mountain next to her. Charcoal Cake’s mother, and it also meant the skull marking was genetic. Behind all of them was a large torch with a blue flame that lit their backs. 

“You are… Pure Vanilla Cookie, yes?” The Avatar asked. 

The cookie in question nodded. “Thank you for this opportunity,” he said. 

“Certainly, your predicament sounds dire.” 

“‘Predicament’ is putting it lightly,” Hollyberry told her. 

“You understand what she meant,” the dragon snapped. 

“So, we’re here to fight you?” Dark Cacao asked. 

Mulethi hummed. “I know you’re eager to do so,” she glared. “However, the only fight is the Dragon.” The Guardian in question waved with an intimidating grin. “You withstand the rest of us. Although you can also outlast the time.” 

“Pick the order in which you’ll go against us and then we’ll start,” The Avatar declared. 

Pure Vanilla looked over the scrolls once again before asking “Is there… a recommended order?” 

“No,” all three guardians answered simultaneously. 

The rulers whispered amongst themselves as everyone else waited for the answer. Licorice observed the scene carefully, there were many ways for this to go, in his eyes the mind games were the most dangerous to fight against last as you’d be exhausted and more susceptible to them, yet he couldn’t add any input. 

Destiny Sugar laughed as he looked at Licorice’s face, who perked up at the sound. 

“What?” 

“You Licorice Sea children always have the same reaction,” he said. “You always strategize as if you were in the fight.” 

Licorice paused and looked towards him, analyzing him more. “I’m sorry, how old are you? You look my age but you talk about my siblings like you knew them.” 

“Ah, I did know them. I’m a little younger than Salted Licorice, so I’d say… 870, around there. It’s hard to tell how much time has passed in the Plane of Dreams. We age like regular cookies until we’re 20, then it slows greatly. Charcoal Cake is about 750, she was pretty young when she first met Red Vine.” 

The bells rang once again, this time thrice, as the Red Velvet Dragon and Avatar stepped back, and Mulethi centered herself in front of the cookies. She slowly pulled out a small glass bottle of black liquid, Licorice could sense even from the distance he was at it was Licorice Water. She uncorked it and dropped a small amount of the water onto the floor and seemingly in an instant the cookies were hoisted up onto tall platforms as the arena was flooded. All you could smell was the medicinal scent of licorice. 

Dark Cacao side-eyed the guardian. “Really?! You think this is funny?!” 

“I’ve no idea what you mean.” 

“Focus on the issue at hand!” Pure Vanilla demanded, stepping back as Licorice Water splashed towards him. The platforms were roomy, certainly, but there was only so far he could back up, and he had the smallest one. It was like the water was clawing at the platforms. Hearing a crumble, he shot around and saw the stone beneath White Lily break in half while she jumped back and then towards Dark Cacao who grabbed her and pulled her onto his rock. 

During the ordeal the Red Velvet Dragon stared at the cookies but seemed almost bored. Meanwhile, the Avatar looked at the cookies with calculation. You could barely see her eyes beneath her veil but they were clearly observing, taking in information with each move the cookies made.  

“This is stupid, everyone always makes the same decisions, they never fight Charred Sugar first,” Charcoal Cake groaned. 

“True,” Destiny Sugar said. “It’s best to get my mother over with first, but it’s odd, they always seem to forget about Mulethi… I wonder why they picked her first?” 

“You see the cookie in dark armor, long black hair?” Licorice asked, pointing to Dark Cacao. Destiny Sugar nodded. “He rules over the kingdom which houses my mother’s sea. The two don’t get along. I think he was itching to fight her.” 

“That’s dumb…” the dragon grumbled. 

“He’s a king?” Destiny Sugar asked. 

“Mhm, they’re all rulers, incredibly powerful too.” 

“The fight against your mother should be interesting.” He smiled towards Charcoal Cake who simply glared. He ignored this and added. “It’s strange we never had someone of a higher rank here. They’re usually quite low status. If these cookies can get anyone in their kingdoms, why are they looking towards our mothers?”

“It’s better to be safe than sorry with who they’re fighting…” Licorice muttered, thinking back to his own experience with Dark Enchantress, no longer making eye contact with the cookies around him. 

“Hm, I shouldn’t be as surprised as I am that you know who they’re fighting. You arrived with the cookies after all,” he said. “How much information do you have on them?” 

Licorice shrunk into himself, regret, guilt, it was all that washed over him as he pulled his knees to his chest. “Too much..” 

The cookies looked towards him, then each other, the most emotion that was seen so far on Charcoal Cake’s face appeared as concern. Licorice felt a small tug on his sleeve and looked to see Caster Sugar who had suddenly appeared next to him. 

“Oh, hi?” he laughed nervously. She wrapped her arms around his as she leaned on it. 

“You looked sad…” she said, her voice was light, barely audible. 

“I’ll be fine, I just have a few bridges to mend…” 

“You’ve been through a lot haven’t you?” Destiny Sugar asked. Receiving no response he added. “I hear most cookies on this plane have, I’m sure there’s someone with your same struggle, whatever that may be. Perhaps they can help.” 

By this point there were only a couple platforms left, and as the sea continued to claw at the stone they became smaller and smaller. It got to the point where Golden Cheese looked down and decided flying would be easier than trying to stay on the platform. Mulethi stared slightly surprised and then looked annoyed but impressed. A bell struck thrice again and Mulethi made the water drain, ending up as a small puddle that she transferred back to the bottle, re-corking it. 

“Impressive work, your strengths showed beautifully,” she smiled, specifically eying Golden Cheese who laughed awkwardly. “Who’s next?” 

Pure Vanilla looked between the remaining Guardians, his gaze lingering on the Avatar, the both of them now observing each other. 

“I think we should change our plans…” he muttered. 

“Hm? Why? We’ll be exhausted once we get to the actual fight,” Hollyberry said. 

“I know, but she-.” He pointed to the Avatar. “Has been watching us incredibly closely since we stepped on these grounds. She’s the one who challenges us with mind games, yes?” 

White Lily followed his gaze, analyzing her carefully. Her eyes widened slightly. “She’s been looking for weak points, I understand now,” she whispered. 

The Avatar’s head tilted, it was hard to tell if she was impressed, annoyed, or saw this coming. Her voice echoed through the grounds as she spoke. “So you wish to go against me?” 

Pure Vanilla looked back to his friends. Dark Cacao hummed. “The longer we take to fight her the more information she can use against us…” The others nodded. Pure Vanilla finally announced his decision. 

“Yes, we do!” 

“Very well.” 

The bells now rang twice as Mulethi and the Avatar swapped places. She raised her arm high before dropping it. Massive barriers fell from the sky, blocking the cookies from one another. Chaos emerged as the group tried to figure out what to do. 

“Hm, smart,” Destiny Sugar smiled. “Most people just assume she’ll be the easiest to out last.” 

“I’m shocked they noticed,” Charcoal Cake muttered. 

“I’m a little nervous about this one,” Licorice said. “The rulers are very strong, yes, but when they get overwhelmed they struggle to stand their ground. Hollyberry probably has the best chance at this, I think. I’ve yet to see her too overwhelmed, typically she just makes jokes out of everything.” 

“How much guilt do they carry?” 

“Huh?” 

Destiny Sugar looked Licorice in the eyes and repeated himself, as if asking the weather. “How much guilt do they carry?” 

“I-... don’t know that, I assume a bit at least but…” he shrugged. 

“Interesting… I do hope not too much, that’s my mother’s main target if she can figure it out.” 

Licorice looked back to the arena and a memory hit him “Oh… White Lily is in trouble…” 

“Hm? Is she? How terribly?” 

“Why do you sound so excited?” 

“I don’t mean to, I’m not super connected with cookie emotions, just curious is all.” 

A scream rang through the grounds causing the children watching to jump, followed by the sound of shattering glass. 

“Oh, that’s how terrible,” Destiny Sugar said calmly. He didn’t sound like he was enjoying it, but it didn’t phase him. 

“How are you so calm?” Licorice demanded. 

“When your mother puts you on nightmare duty for a decade, you grow numb to things like this.” 

“By the sea…” Licorice muttered. A phrase he had just started saying, not really knowing when it began. He probably picked it up from being around his siblings more. 

A burst of magic was tossed towards the Avatar, most likely on instinct. The eyes on her wings widened as her eyes opened for the first time. After a moment the magic was sent back quickly, the Avatar unphased. 

“As the Abyss said, you fight the dragon. Not me,” she said coldly. 

“Your entire family is scary,” Licorice said. 

“I assure you we aren’t usually,” Destiny Sugar laughed. 

The bells rang signaling that the time with the Avatar was up, the walls collapsed revealing five shaken heroes, it took them a minute to look up at each other. 

“How’d she… know about that..?” White Lily asked, she was noticeably singed and slightly battered. She quickly glanced up towards Licorice before shaking her head. 

“Hm, you can hold up to pressure well,” the Avatar hummed. “Good job.” 

She then swapped places with the Red Velvet Dragon as the bells rang only once this time. She leaned over the wall with anticipation, a large double-headed battle axe appeared in her hand and was slung over her shoulders, the sharp red and silver blade casting more of the blue light onto her face. 

“Last round,” she grinned. 

“Do we not get a break to catch our breath first?!” Pure Vanilla demanded, unusually snappy. It even startled Mulethi. 

“Nope! Most people are usually done by round two actually, ya know, unless you wanna call it quits?” 

The rulers looked at each other again for reassurance, both Pure Vanilla and Dark Cacao then looked towards Mulethi who offered none. Dark Cacao glared at her. 

“What, did you want us to fail?!” He screamed. 

“Hardly, but I don’t push groups to carry on in other circumstances. You do not get special treatment, invited or not,” she told him. 

The dragon's long, sharp claws were tapping at the stone walls, easily chipping it as she waited for the group’s answer. “Well?” she demanded. “Are you going to continue or is this the end?” 

After a few beats of silence, Hollyberry sighed and straightened her back. “You know what? I’ve fought dragons before, this should be nothing!” she laughed. 

White Lily looked at her, scared. “But you expect us to?!” 

“You’ve gone up against worse.” 

Pure Vanilla sighed. “Just… one more. We’ve got this.” 

“Fine, one more,” Dark Cacao huffed.

“Is that a yes?” The dragon’s grin grew wider as they watched the group gather themselves. 

“Do your worst, lizard!” Hollyberry threatened. 

The Red Velvet Dragon’s smile dropped. “Lizard?! You call this a lizard?!” Her cookie facade was removed, revealing a massive, true dragon form that was far more intimidating than Hollyberry was anticipating, but she quickly pulled herself together again. 

“Ah you can’t be any worse than Pitaya! Come on!” 

“Oh this woman is way over her head,” Charcoal Dragon muttered, setting her head in her hand. 

“She may be but she has fought and won against Pitaya Dragon on her own multiple times, I think she has the right,” Licorice chuckled. 

“This group is very impressive,” Destiny Sugar said. “It’s rare for cookies to make it to the third round at all, let alone with so much confidence. They’re probably the most deserving of a blessing I’ve seen in a while.” 

“You think so?” 

“I do.”

“We’ll see, my mom is hard to fight against. Having won against Pitaya Dragon or not, Mom can withstand a lot of hits,” Charcoal Cake explained. 

The swipes of the dragon’s claws were aimed specifically at the cookie who mocked her, who was still laughing with such confidence it was a wonder that the Avatar was able to get under her skin at all, as if she hadn’t. As the dragon grew more angry at her, smoke was building up around her snout, growing darker and darker before she roared, releasing a massive burst of fire that Hollyberry quickly shielded. 

The fight was mostly between Hollyberry and the dragon, while her friends would throw in swings or magic or healing if need be, it was clear they weren’t as eager or used to fighting such a creature. 

“She’s holding up better than I imagined,” Destiny Sugar said. “I wonder if Mother had even affected her…” 

“She’s incredibly strong, I saw her fight Pitaya first hand and she barely looked intimidated,” Licorice added. The thought of that competition again made him die a little inside. How did he put up with that? Why ? 

“She’s a huntress I’m assuming?” 

“I wouldn’t be surprised but I think that’s behind her, she’s probably focused on her kingdom and Earthbread now.” 

“Hey what are those gem things they all have?” Charcoal Cake asked abruptly. “Is it some sort of uniform?”

“‘Gem things’..? You mean their Soul Jams ?” 

“‘Soul Jams’,” Destiny Sugar echoed. “What do you mean?” 

Licorice looked at the two bewildered. “You don’t know what the Soul Jams are?” Both shook their heads. 

“Just as our mothers don’t leave their sources, we don’t either. We don’t know a lot about-” Destiny Sugar made a circle motion with his hand. “The cookie world.”

“They’re their power sources. They’re very sought after due to the holder growing stronger than they’d ever imagined. But it takes the right heart to control and keep from corrupting.” 

“And they’re scared enough of this cookie that they feel they need extra protection? Even with this power?” 

“Yeah she’s… terrifying, to say the least.” 

“Hm, it sounds like you know her wrath first hand.” 

Licorice let out a long, quiet exhale. “In a way…” 

“I’m sorry.” 

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll be fine eventually, hopefully.”  

Destiny Sugar quickly glanced at his mother before ushering Licorice to give him his hands. Licorice carefully removed Caster Sugar from his arm before doing as asked, confused. 

“I can’t show you, and technically I’m not supposed to do this, but…” he whispered. There was a light blue glow, markings covered the back of Licorice’s hand, it looked similar to a magic circle. For the first time, Destiny Sugar’s eyes opened revealing a white glow. He smiled gently as the two waited in silence for what felt like minutes. His eyes closed softly and he set his hands in his lap as he looked into Licorice’s eyes. 

“You will be fine, great even.” He paused before laughing quietly. “That activated your magic apparently.” 

“Huh?” Licorice held his hand to his eye and saw the cyan light hit it. Charcoal Cake snorted. 

“Rebelling finally Destiny?” 

“No!” He said defensively. “I just wanted to make him feel better.” 

“You still broke one of your mother’s rules.” 

“I’m sure she'll understand.” 

“Speaking of magic,” Charcoal added, she looked to Licorice and pointed with a finger gun. “What’s your power? Tell me you have one.” 

“I do but I don’t have great control over it.” 

“Show me,” she grinned. 

“He said he didn’t have great control,” Destiny Sugar scolded. 

“It’s fine, it’s not harmful in the slightest. Aside from the first couple of times when it kept hitting me with things and slamming me against the wall…” he muttered. 

He quickly looked around for something to throw into it before finding a small stone. Grabbing it, he made one hole on the side of the nearby rocks and tossed it in, the second hole appearing a couple inches from his feet, the stone coming out upwards as he caught it, a sharp sting briefly covering his palm as the sudden speed was interrupted. 

“It’s not super interesting but it’s been occasionally helpful, mostly getting things transported if I’m feeling lazy. I need to figure out how to slow down the speed of things going through it though…” 

“Eh, it’s something,” Charcoal Cake shrugged. 

The bells rang, bringing the cookies’ attention back to the grounds. The Red Velvet Dragon was back to her cookie form, holding herself up by the wall with a grin. Hollyberry was slightly battered but other than that, smiling with pride.

“Alright!” The dragon cheered. “You’ve got endurance.” 

Mulethi smiled and clapped quietly and the Avatar nodded. 

“So that is all,” The Avatar declared. “Tell me, each of you, what gift you’d like.” 

White Lily was the first to step forward. “I’d like protection, please.”

Mulethi looked at her happily. “Fantastic!” She told her. She made several bottled liquids and gems appear and circle around her. Eyes gently set on White Lily’s. “What kind are you looking for, explain.” 

“Oh. Well, I currently only have half a life. The cookie we are fighting was… split from me, there are multiple things I’m worried about but the main two are my weakness and the fact she could easily get under my skin.” 

Mulethi hummed and looked between what she had. She grabbed a piece of black obsidian and quietly carved a rune into it before stringing it into a necklace. “The stone should keep you grounded in the now. The rune should give you quick recovery. I cannot do too much for a cookie with only half a life but this should at least make the fight easier.” 

White Lily collected the necklace, rolling it in her hand for a moment before smiling. “This is more than enough. Thank you Madam Abyss.” 

“It’s not an issue,” she assured her. “Would anyone else like further protection?”

“I feel like that’s best for me,” Hollyberry grinned, returning her shield to her back. 

“Ah, I should’ve known such a protective cookie would want my blessing. Tell me what you need.” 

“Honestly I wasn’t expecting specifics, I’m not great with magic… Whatever can make sure my friends go as unharmed as possible.” 

“You’re quite the selfless one. I can see observation working well for you, quick wit… Ah, sodalite! That should be the most helpful. I cannot boost your entire team however, this should help you notice if they need help better.” She carved a rune and hooked the blue-grey stone onto a string and carefully placed it in the queen’s palm. 

“Anyone else?” she offered. The rest of the cookies shook their heads. “Very well, so I’m done.” 

“Could you help us with power?” Golden Cheese asked the Red Velvet Dragon. 

“Gladly!” She cheered. “Whoever’s asking for power, hand me your weapons.” 

“What?” 

“Well, in order to transfer the power to them I need to bake them in the Sacred Flame.” She gave the explanation as if it were obvious. 

“I-... ok?” Golden Cheese stammered, cautiously placing her precious spear in the dragon’s claws. Dark Cacao hesitated for a moment more before removing his Soul Jam from his sword and handing it over, holding the Soul Jam close to his body. 

“Eh, you don’t want that gem to be baked too?” The dragon asked. 

“‘Gem?’” Dark Cacao repeated, he shook his head. “No, no I don’t, I specifically would rather not be in the hands of another being.” 

The dragon shrugged as she turned away from the cookies. “Your choice.” She moved to the blue flame and dropped the weapons in. A few seconds passed as she watched carefully, occasionally adjusting something, what that something was the rulers had no idea. With each second the rulers looked more panicked, questioning their decisions. After what felt like an eternity, the dragon carefully picked the weapons out of the fire, they were sharper, the edges of both now covered in a light blue glow as the light hit it. The sudden change from the hot flame from the cool night air caused smoke to fill the sky from the blades. 

“These are beauties, really took to the flame well,” the dragon complimented, carefully observing the craftsmanship of her work. “Good timing on the spear too, it was getting dull…” She then turned to her fellow guardians. “How long do I have to wait to give these back again?” 

“Give it another 10 minutes at least. That flame cools quicker than the typical ones but it still burns quite hot,” The Avatar explained, not looking over to her. I can give my blessing in the meantime, my friend.”

“Oh great she’s done with me…” The dragon whispered, annoyed. The Avatar ignored this statement and turned to Pure Vanilla. 

“Since you didn’t take up the other guardians’ offers, I assume you’d like mine.” 

“Yes, I’d like the chance to prepare for whatever I may see,” the king explained. 

“You’re an intelligent cookie,” she said, tilting her head. “I must warn you it may not be something you want to see. I can control it a little bit but I cannot read your mind.” 

“Anything is better than nothing,” Pure Vanilla assured her. 

“A good way to think about it.” The Avatar changed her height to match Pure Vanilla’s, although she was still towering over him. She motioned him to place his palms in hers and as soon as he did her large wings made a wall between them and the rest of the cookies. A small white light appeared between the two from what Licorice could see. A few minutes of complete silence commenced, aside from the quiet discussion between the other guardians about whether the vision will be good or bad. The rulers waited with bated breath to hear what he saw. The light faded and the Avatar’s wings folded as she let go of the king’s now shaky hands. His face was clear; he was terrified at whatever he saw. 

“She-…” He didn’t finish his sentence as he took a deep breath, changing his attitude towards the information. “That was probably the best thing I could’ve seen… Thank you…” 

The Avatar nodded. The other guardians looked between each other then back to Pure Vanilla. 

“Well that was the best anyone’s ever taken terrible information from her,” The Red Velvet Dragon muttered. 

“We ought to take our victories as they come,” Mulethi laughed. 

The dragon returned her attention to the weapons. “They should be good now, yes?” Mulethi tilted her head before carefully hovering her hand over the blades, then nodding. The dragon grinned. “Alright here you go! They may still be warm, I don’t know, I can’t tell.” 

Golden Cheese grabbed her spear, making a quiet “Oh!” as she held it. “That’s still  quite warm… It feels great other than that.” She held it against the moonlight, watching the shift from gold to blue then back to gold carefully as she adjusted its position. 

Dark Cacao received his just as quickly, fixing its position in his hand as he admired the work. He carefully placed the Soul Jam back in its guard. “Thank you.” 

“It’s not a big deal, I enjoy forging in that flame,” The dragon said. “It should react to your magic better, needing less to release more, and it should be much easier to use. Other than that, your guess is as good as mine, it gains some sort of ability but that’s dependent on the magic you use.” 

“Ah a mystery, how exciting,” Golden Cheese grinned.

 “Are we finished here?” The Avatar asked. “Everyone is satisfied?” 

“Yes, thank you again for this opportunity,” Pure Vanilla bowed. 

“Of course, I hope our gifts are of use to you.” 

Dark Cacao glanced around impatiently. “So where do we meet Licorice to go home?” 

“He’ll stay here for a little while longer,” Mulethi explained. “My fellow guardians wish to speak to him. I’ll bring him home myself.” 

“Of course…” he muttered. Mulethi looked at him and chuckled quietly, clearly trying to mask her anger. 

•❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•

Flame Cake Dragon stared closely at Licorice, her face inches away from his as she looked into his now constantly darting eyes. 

“He’s a nervous one isn’t he?” she scowled. 

“You are quite close to him,” Mulethi reminded her. 

The dragon ignored this. “Huh, those spiral things are still sorta visible in his eyes even without his magic being used…” 

Charred Sugar looked at his arms carefully, then his face. “He seems to carry the most magic of his siblings.” 

“You think so?” Licorice asked. He backed up slightly from Flame Cake finally and looked at the Avatar. “Even Sweetroot?” 

“You fell in a couple months ago, yes? Your siblings were clear of those black markings around this time, even Black Rope had less than what you have now and he had just fallen a week prior. You seem like you haven’t adapted much at all.” 

“Huh…” Licorice stared at his arm that had been covered in large black spots since he fell in. They were supposed to go away? Why didn’t Sweetroot bring this up? 

“The amount of magic I put into you I don’t fully pay attention to,” Mulethi admitted. “I add until I can think clearly again.” 

“So you put quite a lot in him…” Charred Sugar nodded. “I noticed you were more irritable between Sweetroot and him than usual.” 

“So he’s the strongest?” Charcoal Cake asked. 

“I wouldn’t say that-” Licorice stuttered. “My siblings and I all have our strengths-.” 

“More magic in your body doesn’t always mean stronger,” Mulethi added. “You have more potential but what you do with that potential is what determines your strength.” 

“From our conversations he seems to use that potential well,” Destiny Sugar said. He held himself high beside his mother, his hands clasped. “Albeit I haven’t seen it first hand.” 

“He’s very impressive just from what I can gather from appearance,” Charred Sugar said. “Those robes are quite nice, are you like your brothers? High ranking in the Kingdom of Snow?” 

“I- well-…” Licorice hesitated. “In a way I guess? I’m the Great Mage underneath the king.” 

Charred Sugar chuckled softly. “A humble cookie, aren’t you? You should be far more proud of yourself my friend.” 

He thought by now he’d be used to compliments and yet it still felt wrong. Misplaced. “I- thank you Avatar.” He bowed his head. 

“You can call me Charred Sugar young one.” The eyes on her wing seemed happy. “That’s Flame Cake Dragon.” She motioned to the dragon who smiled as she leaned against her battle axe. “I do hope we’ll hear more of you.” 

“It was a pleasure to meet you all,” Licorice smiled. Destiny Sugar smiled and nodded his head towards him. A wish of fortune, silent but clear.

Chapter Text

Sweetroot carefully analyzed the books that lined Licorice’s shelf, humming quietly as the mage worked through a list of glyphs and runes. 

“How did you like the guardians?” she suddenly asked. 

“They were nice I guess…” Licorice muttered, not looking up from his work. “The Avatar family kind of scares me.” 

“They’re accidentally unsettling,” she said matter-of-factly. 

“Out of curiosity, why didn’t you mention the markings were supposed to disappear?”

His sister paused before she looked back towards him with a sigh. “I suppose my mind isn’t what it used to be. I don’t think of or notice things as quickly anymore.” 

“Huh… You seemed as sharp as ever to me.” 

She smiled. “You never knew me while my heart beat Licorice.” She adjusted a book on the shelf carefully before she continued. “Death put me in this oddly dreamlike state, it feels like I’m half asleep all the time. It took me so long to get used to it.” 

Licorice tilted his head. “You all look alert all the time though.” 

“Old habits die hard. I was constantly alert to new information, Salted Licorice had to be constantly wary on his travels, Red Vine couldn’t afford to slack off, and well… Black Rope…” Sweetroot shook her head, unable to complete the sentence. “I’m sure it will be all the same for you unless you-know-who is defeated before your death.” 

“Yeah… yeah I had… forgotten about her.” 

It was Sweetroot’s turn to be surprised. “Really? That’s impressive. It’s only been, what two, three months now?” 

“About two and a half…” he muttered, turning back to his work. “Besides, it’s not like she was never in the back of my mind, I mean she sort of… haunted me I guess during the Guild Grounds. She just isn't as prominent. Just a nightmare.” 

He then focused solely on his glyphs, ignoring the monster that was now in his head again. Sweetroot watched him carefully, seeing a little bit of her old self in her younger brother. She looked towards the sun out the window, it was about midway in the sky. He had been working from 8 to 2, hardly glancing up from what he was doing before she spoke to him. 

She walked up behind him, setting her hand on his shoulder and forcing his book closed. “You’ve been working for six hours straight, go get something to eat.” 

Her brother waved her off, trying to open his book again. “I’ll be fine.” 

Sweetroot side-eyed him. “I don’t want you dying at 40, now get up.”

Licorice groaned as she forced him up and towards the door, grabbing his crutch and handing it to him with a scowl. “Go on,” she told him. “You’ve been up here too long without a break.”  

“Hypocrite…” he grumbled. 

“Learn from the mistakes of the past,” she snapped back, continuing to guide Licorice down the stairs. 

•❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•

Caramel Arrow looked up at the large chocolate wall, her pendant rolling between her fingers with anxiety. The snow was light today, a stark contrast compared to when she first met the cookie behind this barrier. She took a deep breath and shouted “Lady Abyss?” 

The cookie in question leaned against the wall, peeking over with her head at a tilt. 

“Young Caramel Arrow? Is everything alright?” 

“I just… I keep hearing things around the castle, I wanted to see if maybe you would know anything about that?” 

Mulethi blinked, once calm position turned more stiff, she straightened her back and her eyes filled with concern. “I’ll be right down, maybe I can explain.” 

As she turned the corner Caramel Arrow looked more panicked, causing the guardian more concern. “I’m sure it’s nothing serious enough to warrant that face young one, please drop it at once.” 

The watcher took a moment to calm herself, taking slow, deep breaths. And although she was certainly less shaky, she still refused to look Mulethi Cookie in the eyes as she spoke. “There have been rumors flying around the castle, about humming in an empty library, quiet sobs in the king's corridors, sounds of training in the grounds while not a single soldier is out there… And on Crunchy Chip-, our head guard’s-, patrols he says he hears the snow crunching and ancient folk songs. He always checks but when he looks to where it should be, it just… stops. Can-, can Licorice’s siblings be heard by chance and we just didn’t notice until now?”

Mulethi gazed off into the distance, thinking or panicking, Caramel Arrow couldn’t tell which. Her hands folded and unfolded, and her lip grew tighter together. Finally, she spoke. “I’ve not heard of this before… My children should only be heard by the one living sibling. I would assume it was nonsense, anxieties, but coming from you…” She was slowly growing quieter until she was practically speaking to herself, perhaps that was what was happening all along. “And all of those seem like places they would be… I don’t know if I can help with that, they-… they shouldn’t be heard, why..?” 

“Lady Abyss, if you don’t have the answer it’s ok, please.” 

The guardian shook her head, snapping back to reality. “I’m sorry, I don’t think it’s anything we need to worry about after all a few small noises or an old folk song is nothing. Although, while you’re here, perhaps you could help me with something.” 

Caramel Arrow was thrown off by the request. “Me? Help you?”

“Yes, it’s nothing too taxing I promise.” She produced a small piece of parchment. “I have a friend who can see into the future, she sent me a description of a vision she had. Could you inform me if these descriptions sound familiar?”

“There’s someone in the Dark Cacao Kingdom that can see into the future?” 

“No, not that I know of.” Every time Caramel Arrow learned something new about the Lady Abyss, 20 more questions popped up. Mulethi’s hand was extended to hand her the parchment to read, the top and bottom folded over so she couldn’t see the names written on it. The handwriting was so fine and cursive it took her longer to read that it probably should have. The paper just felt important at first glance, let alone the words on it. 

“ My friend, I apologize for disturbing you so soon after our last interaction, however this cannot wait. 

I had a vision regarding the Kingdom of Snow, three cookies shall come in due time, one a mage in purple, another a priestess of red, and a general of the same. They shall cause chaos to both you and your youngest. That is all I was told unfortunately, I do wish I could help further considering the implications of this vision, perhaps if you are able to, ask Licorice or the king for further information although I’ve doubts they can help.

Good fortune to you.”

Caramel Arrow’s eyes squinted at a specific line. “‘Mage of purple’…?” Her eyes widened as realization dawned on her. “The other two I can’t confirm, but the ‘mage’ she talked about I can probably bet is Affogato, he worked closely to the king for awhile, especially during my exile.” She paused before quickly adding “He’s a bastard to say the least and I’m happy he’s gone.” 

“I see… I think I recognize the name. While everyone in this kingdom doesn’t like my sea, he made it especially clear, sneering every time he looked towards it.”

“The other two, maybe Licorice can help. They sound familiar but I can’t give you much information.” She handed the parchment back to Mulethi.

The guardian shook her head with a sigh, rolling the parchment up and pulling it close to her chest. “No, no I’m not adding to his stress. Thank you young Caramel Arrow. Is that all you may need from me?” 

“Yes, yes thank you Lady Abyss. I’ll keep a closer eye out for the cookies that fit this description.” 

“Good luck.” 

|××××××××××|××××××××××|

The train ride was incredibly bumpy that night, Licorice unable to focus on any conversation Red Vine was trying to start, his head forced into his hand while he tried to get back to any kind of solid ground he could find. 

“Licorice,” Red Vine asked, bowing his head to try and meet his younger brother’s eyes “I know I’ve asked this ten times tonight, but are you ok?”

“You have?” His eyes barely looked up from the table. 

“Mhm.” 

“I don’t know, the train feels weird tonight, I’m dizzy.” 

“Dizzy?” Salted Licorice asked, causing his brother to jump. He had his elbow on top of the backrest of Licorice’s seat, leaning against it with his other hand on his hip.

“How long have you been there?!” 

“A few minutes, what do you mean you’re dizzy?”

“It’s the best way I can describe it I don’t know!” 

“Huh… Is this.. A bad thing?” 

“How can I know?” 

“I’m sure Sweetroot has something about this somewhere, with the amount she wrote I  would be shocked otherwise,” Red Vine muttered. 

“It’s probably stress… I got scolded by her earlier today for working too much.” 

“By Sweetroot ?” Salted Licorice gasped. “She should’ve taken her own advice!” 

Red Vine chuckled softly. “She’s gotten better at helping people with that. It just took her dying from it herself.” 

Salted Licorice elbowed Licorice. “Look, clearly you need a break, I found something recently that might interest you. You follow me tomorrow, and I’ll show you.” He had that grin on his face that read it was going to be a trek but a worthy one. 

“... How far out are we going?” 

“A small distance, within the borders of the sea’s magic.” 

Licorice looked towards him dumbfounded. “You realize how little that narrows it down?” 

“Come on, it’ll be worth it.” 

“You do need a break from that study,” Red Vine added.

"Fine," Licorice sighed. "I'll meet you outside the castle tomorrow morning."

Chapter Text

Dark Choco walked around the castle grounds quietly. It was barely an excuse for morning, and while he was nearly positive at the very least Licorice was awake, he wished not to bug another cookie so early. Even if it was someone probably awake from the same night terrors he was having. 

As he crossed near the training grounds, something caught the corner of his eye. The glint of silver… armor, weapons? And something bright red. There was the sound of the targets being hit with a sword similar to one of his older ones. As he glanced back to check who in the world could’ve been training this early, the red disappeared, as if no one had been there in the first place. 

“Hello?” he called. There was the clank of armor but no response, the silence that followed was incredibly heavy. 

Maybe it was due to lack of sleep or his terrible vision, but he couldn’t shake the chill that rushed down his spine. Spirits roamed the castle, yes. But they couldn’t be seen. Licorice was the only one who could see them.

•❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•

The snow crunched beneath Licorice and his brother’s feet as they travelled deeper and deeper into the woods. The cartographer barely left prints as he stepped over logs and underneath branches. 

“Salt, how much further do we have to go?” Licorice panted. He had thought he’d be used to long distances since his escape but perhaps the fall into the sea reset that progress. 

He paused to quickly check his own work on his map, muttering in a long dead language. “We should almost be there.” He extended his elbow for Licorice to lock his own in who happily took the opportunity. 

Salted Licorice shoved branches away from his face, large chunks of snow falling from their evergreen beds at the sudden movement. As Salt stepped forward he beamed with pride. 

“We’re here!” 

Licorice looked forward and in front of him stood a large cave. He tilted his head. “You brought me all the way out here for… a cave.” 

Salt barely looked at his brother as he whacked him on the arm. “It’s what’s in the cave. Have you never gone exploring before?” 

“Haven’t you seen my entire life play out, you should know the answer!” 

He locked eyes with him for a brief moment before shaking his head. “Oh well, we can change that, now come on!” 

He dragged his brother in, pulling away any dirt and rubble that was in the way with no hesitation. Licorice’s crutch barely touched the ground as his brother made his way through. After a few minutes Salted Licorice slowed down and Licorice found a moment to catch his breath, leaning against a wall. 

“Alright, do you wanna open it or should I?” Salted Licorice grinned. 

“Do I want to what..?” Licorice asked between breaths. His brother cocked his head towards the wall and as Licorice stepped forward he noticed what he was referring to. A large stone door with no handle, intricately carved with runes, protection, happiness, healing, licorice. And depictions of… Mulethi Cookie. 

“That’s… Mother,” Licorice whispered. “Do we know what’s inside?” 

“Nope! I wanted to come here with you to see if we can figure it out together.” 

Licorice stared at him. “What if it’s been cursed?”

“Only one way to find out!” 

“... You and Sweetroot need to be more careful with things that can be potentially cursed.” 

“I lasted til I was 29,” Salted Licorice shrugged. 

“That’s not good!” 

“Are you going to open it or will I?” 

Licorice groaned and motioned for Salted Licorice to do the honors, who smiled and took a few moments to find some kind of latch. Finally he found somewhere to place his fingers to pull and backed up, letting the weight of the ancient door swing over him. 

Licorice carefully peered in. It was a hollowed out area, a room, maybe a temple judging by the large statue of Mulethi in the back center of the room. Her head was bowed, arms outstretched and palms up. It was beautifully carved. In front of it was a ring of stones, stacked, most likely it used to be a pond of some kind. The entire thing was covered in moss and vines, but hardly destroyed from the centuries it must have been there aside from a few cracks in her fingers and horns. Salted Licorice stepped into the room, turning around and looking up. 

“Whoa…” he whispered, taking off his hat and running his fingers through his hair and revealing the half of his face of Licorice Sea. “This is gorgeous…” 

Licorice followed him, and more was shown to him. Carvings in a dead language, benches lined the walls underneath worn yet intact tapestries. All depicted Mulethi Cookie blessing cookies, protecting them in some way. 

“You’re right… What was this some kind of… church?” 

“Oh we could never know for sure,” Salted Licorice was still smiling. “But it certainly could have been. We could ask Mother. Oh hang on!” 

He pulled out his map and a cartography pen. He laid the paper down on the floor, getting on his knees, and quickly started writing in more details, changing the symbol of the area. 

Licorice on the other hand pulled out his notebook and started transcribing the dead language from the wall into it. “I may have a new side project…” he muttered. 

“I told you you’d like it!” Salted Licorice teased. 

“It’s truly a wonder that you’re still discovering stuff, especially something as massive as a temple dedicated to our mother.” 

“You never stop discovering things. You think you’ve found everything and then you realize you hadn’t turned a certain way in a certain place and you wish you had sooner.” 

“This has to be writing, there are repeated characters…” Licorice mumbled, tracing the shapes with his pen in the air. He wouldn’t dare touch such old stone. 

“Nerd,” Salted Licorice laughed.

Licorice turned slightly, just enough to lock eyes with his brother and give him a look. “That wasn’t even a word when you were alive, or hell, the previous what, 800 years of your afterlife. And yet you still use it with me relentlessly.” 

“If the shoe fits.” 

“You’re literally a cartographer, you have no room to speak!” 

Salted Licorice continued to laugh as he rolled up his map. “Any idea as to what that could possibly say?” 

Licorice stared at him dumbfounded. “Yes, because I can speak a language that’s probably older than you . Of course I don’t! You try to read this!” 

Salted Licorice rolled his eyes, setting his hands on his hips. He was muttering that other dead language he was speaking in a little bit ago, his face slowly going from frustration to realization. Finally he spoke in english. “Actually some of these characters are similar to the common language here when I was alive. Probably an ancestor of it.” He traced the first letter in the air. Licorice quickly started jotting things down as his brother spoke. “That’s probably ‘E’. He then pointed to another. “There’s not a good equivalent to that one for English, it’s not something that was carried over I think… it makes like… like a ‘ shk’ sound. “Then that’s O, L, V, and M. Other than that, can’t really help.” 

“Oh you’ve been more than enough help already,” Licorice smiled. 

Salted Licorice chuckled, tilting his hat slightly. “Happy to be of service. I could probably help further when we get back.” 

“I think you’re the best shot at decoding this. Who knows, could be important, could be nonsense, we’ll at least know.” 

“If it’s in a temple it’s probably not nonsense.” 

“‘We don’t know for sure it’s a temple’,” Licorice mocked. Salted Licorice glared at him before sighing. 

“We can always ask Mother.” 

“Yeah but is that really rewarding?” 

“Eh, I suppose we aren’t in a rush to find out.” 

Licorice looked over his notes a few times to be sure he got everything down correctly before nodding. “We should probably get going soon.” 

“I know, just give me another couple minutes for this to sink in.” His brother smiled at him. “See, it was worth the trek.” 

•❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•

Salted Licorice over the next few weeks brought up older materials of his, profusely apologizing that the maps themselves were out-dated but the language he spoke was on them (not that Licorice was using the maps to get around but it was cool to see the old layouts of the kingdom he had grown to known). He had started stuffing this side project into a corner in his study. He slowly uncovered more letters and started to translate the words slowly but surely, and yet it still made little sense. What he got was “As this– with licorice, the great– will know we– her- and– do the same for her as she does to us. Pray for her – with your– as you– your-.” He was proud of what he had but it was far from complete. 

Still, it was a side project, only a side project. His focus was on the work for the king, who would come up occasionally to check on him. 

“I see you’ve been coming down more often,” Dark Cacao said. “That’s good, I was worried for a moment.” 

“Oh, yes your majesty,” Licorice stumbled. “I’ve gotten better at remembering to take breaks.” 

“Mhm.” He glanced behind the bookshelf and raised an eyebrow. “What’s that? In the corner over there.” 

“Hm?” Licorice followed Dark Cacao’s gaze, his eyes landing on the translation work he had been doing. “Ah, just a side project, I had found some text on an old wall and was trying to translate it.” 

“By… yourself?” Dark Cacao carefully unraveled one of the old maps. 

“Careful, that's very fragile. And I’ve had help.” 

“Where did you find these? These are incredibly old.” 

“It took a little digging,” Licorice smiled. Something he had gotten used to doing with tasks like this is rehearsing a vague cover story. 

“Hm…” 

“Are you able to help with it?” he joked. 

“Not in the slightest.” The king shook his head. “This is far beyond my comprehension. It seems like an oath of some sort.” 

“That was my idea.” 

“‘Licorice’...” he muttered. “So that’s been seen here for much longer than we first thought.” 

“So it seems. It’s really interesting. Progress has been slow but it’s been progress, helps that many of the words have been repeated.” 

“Right. And how’s your progress been on your actual assignment?” 

“Much better!” Licorice laughed. “Although that one is much easier, honestly with Sweetroot’s books it can feel like cheating sometimes.” And, well, with Sweetroot herself.

Chapter Text

Sweetroot muttered a quiet song as she looked across the vast library of the Dark Cacao castle, the magic section in particular, or what was left of it after Licorice took his share of books he needed. A spine of black caught her vision amongst the usual red and browns. She took it from its home and flipped to the cover. An older book, before they had put titles on the spines and certainly out of date due to that. “Bitter Magic” was scrawled across the front in silver. Her singing morphed to hums as thought of why this would be here, she certainly never wrote much on it, nothing that would blow her cover as not-cookie at least. 

As she opened the book she was back to quietly singing the old folk tale Red Vine used to sing to her when she was just a child. The book had far more information than the king would have needed, although considering it wasn’t in his personal stash it probably wasn’t for him but rather a servant or previous great mage at one point. A violet bookmark was placed towards the end. 

“Hello?” the keeper's voice called. Sweetroot had started growing used to the call for the past couple of months, but she had rounded the corner faster than the last times, startling the mage and causing her to drop the book, which in turn surprised the keeper. “Ok…” she spoke to herself. “That’s new..” She hesitantly put the book back on the shelf. 

She paused, looking at the shelf before saying “I know you’re here spirit, you’re just here to read right?” 

And Sweetroot had thought she was good at keeping herself unknown. Instinctively she responded “Correct” which both seemed to surprise and satisfy the keeper. 

“Ok, that’s good to know, well if you’re going to be here all the time, what’s your name?” 

She answered but the keeper looked confused after a couple of seconds and asked “Would you like me not to know?”. Sweetroot sighed and looked around to see if maybe by some miracle Licorice left one of her books in here. As she traveled to the “S” section of the books she finally spotted one of her older volumes, and tossed it on the table nearby. 

“Oh! You’re there now, ok..” the keeper said uneasily. She glanced at the cover, quickly noticing the ironic title “ Spirits: Their Magic and Communication ” and then looked to the author. “‘Sweetroot Cookie’? The Great Mage?” 

She quietly sneered at the addition of her title but confirmed, now able to be heard for another moment. 

“Huh, that’s kind of an honor,” she chuckled. “So being heard is inconsistent, isn’t it? We’ll have to come up with a system for that.” Sweetroot opened the book to the communication page and tapped at the second paragraph that detailed how someone without strong magic could communicate with them. 

“My, you really did think of everything…” the keeper muttered as she read. “A tap system, hm? One for yes, two for no… That could work well. Did you just become a spirit?” 

Sweetroot quickly tapped the table twice. The keeper hummed. “So you’ve only recently decided to come here?”

Again, two quick taps. 

“So you’ve been here awhile, we’ve only just been able to notice you?” 

Sweetroot smiled as she tapped only once this time. The keeper took a second to process this before asking. “Are you the only spirit in the castle?” 

She hesitated but responded. Tap tap.  

|××××××××××|××××××××××|

The caboose of the train was quiet as Licorice wrote, Mulethi Cookie watching carefully on the other side of the railing. 

“Young one, what are you doing?” she asked. 

“Just a project I’m working on for the king…” he muttered. 

“Sleep is not a time for work.” She took the notebook from Licorice’s hands and closed it before he could react. “You can finish this in the morning.” 

“Mother-.”

“You can finish this in the morning ,” she repeated. “You’ll end up like your sister at this rate…” 

With a sigh, Licorice crossed his arms on the railing. A question popped into his mind. “Is there more I can know about you?” he asked suddenly. 

Mulethi paused for a moment before saying “There’s always more you can learn about someone.” 

“Alright, tell me more about yourself then.” 

“Pardon?” 

“I’d like to learn more about you, tell me about yourself.” 

Mulehti was silent, thinking. “...Hmm, what would you like to know?” 

Licorice racked his brain, what didn’t he want to know was the better question. Mulethi was incredibly sweet certainly but still a very mysterious cookie. Maybe it was best he started with something simple. 

“Do you have any family, outside of my siblings and I?” 

Mulethi Cookie hummed. “Well, technically I have a sister.” 

“‘Technically’?” 

“We aren’t related by blood, but we still view each other as siblings.” 

Licorice nodded, now incredibly interested about this new aunt he had. “Ohh! Who is she?” 

“First Licorice Cookie, she’s far more powerful than I am, being able to control the weather with ease. She’s one of the sweetest cookies you’ll meet, we’re very similar.” 

“She’s more powerful than you ?”

Mulethi laughed. “Is that really so hard to believe?” 

“Yes?!” 

This idea that Licorice had was apparently incredibly bizarre to his mother, as she couldn’t compose herself at the answer. Her laughter was contagious as Licorice asked “Why is that funny to you?” 

“Licorice, I’m far from the most powerful cookie on Earthbread!” 

“Well-!” He could barely finish his sentence. “I don’t know, I’ve seen what you can do, it’s a lot!” 

“Yes, but I’m limited to licorice water.” 

“You created life from that water!” Licorice motioned to himself. “Five times!” 

Mulethi smiled as she weighed the magic she knew from First Licorice and her own in her head. “I suppose we’re about equal,” she finally said. “Although she’s much more versatile.” 

Her laughter quieted down to soft, gentle chuckles, she stared through the caboose’s door, lost in thought, memories maybe. 

“I do hope you get to meet her. You’d learn a lot.” 

“You think so?” 

Mulethi smiled, running her fingers through her son’s hair. “I know so.” 

•❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•

Dark Choco slightly shifted back and forth from the balls of his feet to his heels, debating whether this question was even worth asking as he waited outside his father’s room. Finally he sighed and pushed open the door. 

His father sat in the middle of the room, carefully sipping tea at his tea table, incense burned near his tea pot, filling the room with the cool scent of eucalyptus. 

“Father,” Dark Choco said, bowing his head. Dark Cacao gave a small hum of acknowledgement and motioned Dark Choco to join him. He walked over hesitantly to the opposite side of him, letting himself fall to his knees as Dark Cacao poured him a cup. 

The two sat silently for a moment. A smile Dark Choco had rarely been able to see crept across his father’s face, one that was sentimental. 

“I’ve missed this,” he finally said. 

“You… have?” Dark Choco hadn’t fully comprehended that anything associated with him could’ve been looked at with nostalgia. 

“Of course, a quiet hour of tea with my son was always a nice break from my busy schedule, certainly less of a headache than politics.” 

“I see,” Dark Choco nodded, a soft chuckle slipping through. He remembered quite well that the tea breaks with his father were initially a way to teach him manners and etiquette, but Dark Choco had grown to expect it so even if he didn’t need to be corrected on his posture or noise level, Dark Cacao let the ritual continue, simply because Dark Choco enjoyed it. And apparently he did as well. For a moment, the curse that had weighed on Dark Choco’s conscience was only a nightmare he had just woken from.

Dark Cacao’s smile remained as he set his cup down and folded his hands. “But I know you well, you didn’t come to me for tea. What’s wrong?” 

He hummed. “So you do… I know how much you despise the rumors that linger around this castle…” 

That was when his smile dropped. “Oh by the great dragons…” he grumbled, causing his son to laugh. “Which do you want to discuss?” 

“The one in which the palace is haunted?”

“Hm, at least that one has some merit, and unfortunately I find myself inclined to believe it on occasion.”

“Oh?” 

“I’ve felt the brush of people who weren’t there before, an object moved in a place I wouldn’t put it; usually my books or weapons-.” He sighed. “Certainly this castle hasn’t had the prettiest history, especially after the Mad King had ruled over it.” 

“‘Mad King’?” 

“Indeed, I believe I’ve taught you about him before? He was the ruler who fell into the Licorice Sea. There were talks of him being a troubled soul before but that sea broke him. The writing we have of him is mostly in this state; talking to himself, distrust of the staff, night terrors…” 

“Were you worried Licorice would end up like him?” 

“A little. Although the Great Mage’s state helped ease that worry a little. But the rumor started after he and the queen’s deaths.” 

Dark Choco sipped his tea. The question continued to mull in his mind further, whether this would even be worth it, but his father stopped that. 

“Why were you wondering about that rumor anyway?” 

“I’ve been… witnessing more proof of it.”