Chapter Text
The sky painted itself in orange as the ship sailed calmly over the peaceful waves; it had been six hours since the departure from Beast Yeast- Pavlova was basically passed out on the deck as Raspberry knelt next to him, absent mindedly patting his back as she stared into the distance: “H-how long… ‘till we get there…?” he sputtered out, slowly bringing a hand to his stomach to clutch it: “Should be just a few hours. It will probably be early morning,” she hesitated a second, her hand stopping mid motion: “Will you… manage until then? We can always, uh, drop you off earlier, like on an island of some sorts…”
“No! No, no. It’s fine. I’m fine.” he weakly waved his hand in dismissal, as the circles resumed being drawn on his back with a sigh.
In her cabin, Hollyberry was scribbling away on a pile of papers as an all too familiar gorgeous lady picked up a small stack to reveal her face to her Ancient counterpart: “Eternal Sugar?”
“It’s late, you shouldn’t be working at this hour.” she yanked the quill from Hollyberry’s fingers, somehow flinging it perfectly inside the ink bottle. The darker woman whistled: “Woah, nice shot!” she praised as Eternal Sugar blushed contendedly, holding her cheeks with her palms: “You think so?” she giggled as Hollyberry walked towards her.
Her hand was gently moved from her face into another hand, intertwining itself with it: “Would you like to sleep beside me?” Hollyberry asked, smile tired.
The Beast widened her eyes in shock, before hugging her: “Maybe another time, dear.” she shook her head into the crook of her neck.
Hollyberry genuinely gasped in surprise upon hearing this: “Really? Why not tonight? Have I perhaps done something to upset you?”
“Oh no, my sweet! You could never. I just… really think you need the rest.” she relaxed her feet as they got out of the strained position they had to be in for her to reach the other. Hollyberry squeezed the hand she hadn’t let go of. She parted her lips as if to say something, then seemingly changed her mind and let go of her hand: “Please let me know if you change your mind. Now, goodnight. We both need the rest.” she walked her to the door, hand on her back to gently nudge her toward it.
Eternal Sugar pressed a kiss on her cheek and started heading towards her own cabin.
As soon as the Beast left the room and the door had been locked, Hollyberry let herself go to the floor with a long and pained sigh. She brought her knees to her face and hugged them tightly, finding comfort in the darkness and warmth.
She knew Eternal Sugar Cookie didn’t mean any harm. She couldn’t have. There was no way such a terrified, frightened cookie could ever try and intentionally bring harm to others. All she wanted was everyone’s happiness, and even though her ways of gaining it were twisted to say the least, she still had somewhat succeeded in her intent, in her own way.
Obviously, none of what had happened back during her first expedition to Beast Yeast was justified by her childlike innocence and naivety, and even though she would never admit it to a soul, Hollyberry still held a grudge against her counterpart for all the pain she had caused to her knights, her friends, even her family.
And even though she was well aware it was all her fault and no one else’s, when she closed her eyes the image of the other Cookie was never malicious. All she saw was the agonizing expression she had made the moment Hollyberry had bit into the golden fruit, her desperate pleads, her attempt to take her own and Hollyberry’s life. And even though, she still wanted to hold her, and reassure her.
Tell her everything is going to alright. That she is never going to leave her again. It was as if there were two versions of Eternal Sugar Cookie in her mind; one was the Beast she had been taught and told and told again to despise and fear, whose wrath she had gotten to experience first hand, and the other was the terrified, beautiful, but oh so cruel Cookie she wanted to hold and never let go of.
She finally got up with a grunt, and she slid under her rough sheets. The empty space in front of her felt way too presently absent.
*
“That’s none of my business” she stubbornly stated as Raspberry was holding onto a barely conscious Pavlova, one arm being held over her shoulders and her own hand supporting his torso. The way taller man staggered pathetically onto her, almost making them both fall: “Can’t you- agh! Can’t you use your Beast magic or something to help him? I really cannot handle him any longer! It’s almost morning for Witches’ sake, and land is still a few hours away!” she complained, voice becoming more and more strained as the huge mass of uselessly winged cookie leaned more and more onto her. Seriously, how could such a skinny looking guy weight so unbereably much?
Eternal Sugar sighed and pulled out a small, purple berry from her tunic: “Not a word about this to him when he wakes up, understood?” Raspberry nodded tiredly, just wanting this babysitting job to be over.
She pushed it in between his lips, making him forcibly gulp it down with the little consciousness that remained inside him: “He’s probably just dehydrated, or hungry. Give him about ten minutes and he’ll be fine.” she tiredly explained, yawning.
Raspberry looked up to Eternal Sugar: “Thank y- huh?” there was nobody in front of her, almost making her think she had imagined the whole encounter due to exhaustion, before spotting a pale pink tunic quickly disappear behind a corner.
The corners of her lips tugged slightly as she gently accompanied Pavlova to the ground