Decided that cringe is subjective and I should go back to writing because it's something I enjoy. Copy and pasted from Ao3.
Tags:
Rating: General Audiences
Archive Warning: Major Character Death
Fandom: Cookie Run (Video Game)
Relationships: Pure Vanilla Cookie/White Lily Cookie | Saint Lily Cookie, Custard Cookie III & Pure Vanilla Cookie (Cookie Run), Chili Pepper & Custard Cookie III & GingerBrave | Brave Cookie & Strawberry & Wizard, Custard Cookie III & Pancake Cookie (Cookie Run), Custard Cookie III/Poison Mushroom Cookie (Cookie Run), Custard Cookie III & Strawberry Crepe Cookie (Cookie Run)
Characters: Custard Cookie III (Cookie Run), Clotted Cream Cookie (Cookie Run), Custard Cookie | Head of House Custard, GingerBrave | Brave Cookie, Strawberry Cookie (Cookie Run), Wizard Cookie (Cookie Run), Chili Pepper Cookie (Cookie Run), Pure Vanilla Cookie (Cookie Run), Shadow Milk Cookie (Cookie Run), White Lily Cookie | Saint Lily Cookie, Pancake Cookie (Cookie Run), Strawberry Crepe Cookie (Cookie Run), Poison Mushroom Cookie (Cookie Run)
Additional Tags: Self-Reflection, Diary/Journal, Minor Pure Vanilla Cookie/Shadow Milk Cookie (Cookie Run), Pure Vanilla Cookie is Custard Cookie III's Grandparent (Cookie Run), White Lily Cookie is Custard Cookie III's Grandparent (Cookie Run), Resentment, Custard Cookie III Needs a Hug (Cookie Run), Some Personal AU, Developing Friendships, Custard Cookie III Has a Strained Relationship With His Family, Found Family, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Revival, Canon Alternate Timelines, Insanity, Custard Cookie III Runs His Own Medical Practice, Chili Pepper Cookie is Custard Cookie III's Adoptive Mother, GingerBrave | Brave Cookie & Strawberry Cookie & Wizard Cookie Are Adoptive Siblings, Orphan Custard Cookie III, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Maybe This is Too Many Tags
________________________________________________________________
The Chronicles of a Prince
For his tenth birthday, Custard Cookie III, Prince of the Vanillians and the apparent future king of multiple kingdoms, a boy who was already running his own hospital, was gifted a journal. A nice one to be fair, with a hardback cover and lock with a little key. He'd thought the gift was ridiculous until he decided to try it.
For his tenth birthday, Custard Cookie III, Prince of the Vanillians and the apparent future king of multiple kingdoms, a boy who was already running his own hospital, was gifted a journal. A nice one to be fair, with a hardback cover and lock with a little key. "You need something to vent your anger to that you don't have to worry about hurting," Wizard Cookie had said. He'd thought the gift was ridiculous until he decided to try it. The night of receiving the gift, he sat down at his maplewood desk, picked up his quill, dipped it in black ink, and began to write.
“Today is January 21st, 2026, marking my tenth birthday. I was gifted this journal by Wizard Cookie, who told me to put my thoughts and feelings into words on paper because I'm, “too scared of hurting other’s feelings to actually talk to anyone”. Witches forbid I care about my friends and their struggles, but either way, I suppose it would be rude to just toss a gift he clearly worked hard to make aside. In honor of turning ten, I feel it’s only right to reflect on the life I've led to survive to this point, considering all I've seen.”
“I met my dearest friends when I was a boy. Back when I thought being king was my highest calling, and that being king would be everything I dreamed so wildly of. That’s how all six year olds think, isn’t it? It’s easier to be naive when the world is so full of new colors and your problems are so small. It’s much more fun to aspire to be king than it is to be one. Uncle Clotted Cream Cookie often told me that he and Granduncle Custard Cookie were the only ones who could teach me to be the future leader of the Vanilla Kingdom and Creme Republic because Pure Vanilla Cookie is much too busy and the rest of my family is missing. He was lying to me; he and I both knew my parents were nothing but crumbs, buried under the rubble of waffle walls. I smiled and played along because I thought he didn’t know. Ironic, isn’t it?”
“I often find myself angry over what Shadow Milk Cookie has done to my Great-Grandfather, my Great-Grandmother, and my friends. In my bitterness, I used to wonder how one could come to be so utterly insane; for a long time, I couldn’t fathom why someone who had knowledge of everything in existence would choose to rewrite the truth for, what seemed to me, to be entirely for his own twisted amusement. I had been ranting about it to Strawberry Cookie before she gave me the answer I'd been searching for.”
“I remember it quite clearly for such a fleeting moment. Strawberry cookie was sitting beside me on the stained wooden patio of Chili Pepper Cookie’s home, the summer sun golden as a wedding ring and hot enough to bake our dough like the oven had. We were holding horchata that Chili had made us, the condensation cooling our hands enough to make the heat tolerable, when she spoke up. Her voice was soft as a newborn fawn’s fur, slightly muffled by the fabric of the hoodie over her mouth.”
“Lies are pretty, but the truth often isn't.” She began, looking back at me with those warm brown eyes that somehow always made me feel seen. “I’m sure Shadow Milk Cookie loved sharing his knowledge, but not everyone wants to hear the truth, especially not always from the same cookie. The cookies around him probably thought he was a know-it-all. Considering how old he is and how long he must’ve had to have been rejected or forced to tell lies to keep his cookies happy, it’s no wonder he went crazy.”
“For a moment after processing what she’d said to me, I felt a little stupid for not thinking of that on my own. In my own embarrassment, I'd defended myself, said that that wasn’t worth going crazy for. She huffed in response. “Sure, being told you’re a nerd or forced to lie to keep the peace isn’t an offense worth going insane over, but anything can drive you crazy if you do it long enough. Just think of how many times he had to do those things over his lifetime. He’s probably multiple centuries old.” Strawberry cookie explained gently, before taking a sip of her drink. She must’ve known I wouldn't understand right then and there. After all, no child as young as I was could imagine living longer than they already had. Despite that, it stuck with me over the years, allowing me to see that jester with an ounce of the pity my Great-Grandfather has for him. Not all of it, but a little bit. At least it gave me the understanding of how one ends up in such a state of disarray.”
“It is a shame how far Pure Vanilla cookie will go for a cookie so far gone. It baffled me, and no matter how much empathy I held for my Great-Grandfather and Shadow Milk cookie, I couldn’t seem to understand how one could be so blind; well, Pure Vanilla cookie is sight impaired, but to me, he was a paragon of sensibility and wisdom. And besides, so is Gingerbrave, but he knew Shadow Milk cookie was beyond saving from the moment they left the Spires. How could one so wise, so old, have so much childish faith in a cookie so clearly unwilling to change? I believe that was when I started to lose my admiration for my Great-Grandfather.”
His quill paused for a moment, dipping into the ink for the eighth time before he closed off the page. Did he really write three whole pages in one sitting?
“…Perhaps I've written too much for one night. I hate that Wizard Cookie was right about this diary being a good idea. How childish…writing in a diary like a schoolgirl. Strangely enough, this is calming for me. Goodnight.”
Hey, author here! It's been a very long time since I posted a fanfic. This timeline takes place 4 years after the defeat of dark enchantress, where Gingerbrave, Strawberry Cookie, and Wizard Cookie would have been eleven, Custard Cookie III would've been 6, and Chili Pepper Cookie would've been 16. After the events of the Dark Enchantress War and the scare of his friends nearly crumbling, he loses his dream of being a king and becomes solely focused on being a medic because he never wants to see his friends hurt and being helpless to stop it like he was ever again. This eventually leads to him running a hospital out of his own home at eight (Yes, it's unrealistic, but this hospital is mainly to treat injuries he's learned how to treat on the field alongside using his now very powerful healing magic). Due to his training of his healing powers, he's able to revive White Lily Cookie at around the same time.
