#authorvi

Nonetheless you’ll be the second person she checks up on right after Cloud Haetae Cookie, though preferably she checks up on you both at the same time. Once she knows that you’re alright — not that she cares at all — she’ll leave you be… for the most part.

While the time she spent in the Silver Tree was but a brief moment due to her being unconscious during it, it still affected her somewhat since she starts being clingy to you shortly after her return.

Well, as clingy as Mystic Flour Cookie can be which is just her following you around the Pagoda of Apathy from a distance.

Something about your presence bringing her comfort, even though she denies it.

Unsurprisingly, the first thing Shadow Milk Cookie does with his newfound freedom is to look for you. He missed you so in all his time being sealed away and he has no doubt in his mind that you missed him just as much.

If you didn’t… well he’d simply be so heartbroken that he’d die on the spot and you don’t want that, right?

The first thing he does when he sees you is throw himself at you; either send you both toppling to the ground or wrapping his arms tight around you and twirling you around. The second thing he does is pepper your face in kisses and the third thing, if he’s not interrupted by his minions showing up to reunite with him, is make himself comfortable in your arms and whine about all these mean cookies who prevented him from returning to you the first time around.

Then he’ll drag you back to his spire — if you weren’t there already — so he can continue bothering you in similar ways. He’ll also be extremely clingy to the point he’ll always be touching you in some way and stop you from leaving his sight, though there are rarely times when Shadow Milk Cookie isn’t clingy with you anyway.

At first, Silent Salt Cookie is unsure if he even should meet up with you considering the massacre he committed before sealing the beasts together with himself in the Silver Tree.

Just the act of seeing Elder Faerie Cookie was difficult enough. The only reason he was able to was because of his sense of responsibility and want for revenge. But you… what would he even say? What could he even do? Were you even around after who knows how many years of him being sealed? Would you understand why he did what he did? Would you forgive him for it?

Did you even want to see him again?

The concept of Salt of Solitarity turned Devil of Silence being afraid of something was laughable, yet here he is.

In the end, he can’t bring himself to face you so he returns to the Land of Silence.

What he doesn’t expect is for you to be waiting for him back in the catacombs, nor did he expect you to be surrounded and protected by the Kala Namak knights.

He wants to kneel before you first thing— to apologize for, well, everything; leaving you, killing all those innocent cookies, keeping quiet about far too many things… but he doesn’t get the chance to when you envelop him in yours arms.

Relief floods through him after as he swears to himself once more that he’ll turn this world into a better one for your sake.

<- Back to the masterlist?

He always has to be touching you in some way, not usually kissing but his hands will be somewhere on your body; on your shoulder, waist, holding your hand, the likes. So it’s not too big of a surprise when he starts cuddling you in every opportunity he gets.

Usually he likes to grab you by the wrist and drag you right onto his lap — be it while he’s sitting or lying somewhere or while he’s lazily floating about — but sometimes he’ll be the one coming up to you to cuddle. It happens during times when he wants comfort even though he’ll never admit it out loud.

He’ll nestle into your side; oddly quiet if you’re also silent or keeping up his facade if you dare to even ask him what’s wrong. Physical touch is one thing that comforts him greatly, so he’ll find many different ways to have his dough be pressed against yours as he cuddles you. His favourite positions being ones where he’s sprawled on top of you, mostly because you can’t escape from him easily this way.

MEURSAULT ends up kissing you so long as you don't pull away and lose the game, and unless you pout about losing and ask him to lose once for your sake he'll continue winning or earning kisses from you. He doesn't care much for how this game turns out, but he will prioritize your happiness no matter how small.

HONG LU bites onto his end with an innocent smile like he isn't planning anything. His nibbles are both slow and small to urge you into making a move, be it pulling away and losing or closing the distance between your lips and kissing him. Regardless of what you choose to do, it's a win for him.

HEATHCLIFF thinks it's stupid at first before becoming competetive about it. His bites are hesitant at first but it isn't long until he's impatiently nibbling closer to your end of the pocky stick. If you pull away, he'll gloat about it. If you kiss him, he'll ask for another round until you lose.

ISHMAEL gets flustered early on. She takes bites hesitantly, her embarassment growing the closer your faces get before she pulls away and she mutters about how stupid this is. She tells you to just let her know when you want a kiss next time before cupping your cheeks and pressing her lips against yours.

RODION is more interested in the pocky sticks than she is in kissing you. She happily takes big bites, barely giving you the opportunity to even considering pulling away when she kisses you; both as an additional treat and an attempt to distract you while she steals some pocky sticks for herself.

Since DANTE doesn't have a mouth and can't properly participate in the game, the two of you come up with an alternative of sorts: they'll hold up the pocky stick while you nibble it all the way. Whoever gets flustered first loses and more often than not it will be them.

SINCLAIR wants to kiss you, he really does. The only reason he agreed to play was because of how bad he wants to kiss you and this game was the perfect excuse for him to do so. Unfortunately, just when your lips are about to touch it dawns on him that he's about to kiss you, causing him to chicken out and pull away.

OUTIS is both reluctant and disinterested in playing at first. She thinks that if you want pocky and a kiss then you should just say so and she'll give you both, but eventually agrees to play. The first few rounds she still thinks the game is stupid, but after a couple of kisses she can maybe be convinced to play again.

GREGOR stammers when you first offer, unwilling and unsure of how this would even turn out but eventually accepts it for you. His bites are small and hesitant, and while there are a few rounds here and there where he ends up kissing you, he'll pull away and lose more often than not.

Reuniting with Burning Spice Cookie kind of resembles a horror movie.

He adores you so and would do anything for you, but that doesn't stop him from scaring you to death by destroying whatever landscape or wall stands between you two.

This means that, unless you were standing outside waiting for him, he will wreck through the walls and structures of whatever building you were in and wrap his arms around you the moment he gets close enough; laughing and twirling you around.

To no one's surprise, Eternal Sugar Cookie rushes straight to her garden and throws herself in your arms the moment she has you in her sight.

Aside from the fact that she's happy that you stayed in her garden instead of straying off somewhere dangerous, you welcoming her back swiftly changed her mood from horrible to great. But of course you'd welcome her so readily, you loved her as much as she loved you!

Besides returning to you, there were some matters and cookie's that Eternal Sugar Cookie needed to tend to but for the next week or month or so those could wait. She missed your presence, she missed being so close to you and she missed being wrapped in your arms and having you wrapped up in hers.

That wasn't all though; there were a few more details that made your day worse than it needed to be. Not only did you have history class today, meaning that you'd have to deal with Professor Trein and his hawk-like eyes, but you'd also have to worry about the Housewarden beheading you since you used up your only rule-break pass yesterday; unintentionally, too.

You would've preferred to skip class today, but you already did that yesterday so now you had to attend history class lest you be collared like some kind of pet. You could pretend to be sick, but you vaguely remember there being a silly little rule about pretending to be sick and you weren't going to risk anything today. Plus, the nurse kind of kicked you out of the infirmary the moment you "woke up" and told you not to come back unless you broke something.

Or... maybe you should skip class? A lot of the classes you had, you shared them with the Housewarden because both of you were in the same year and the same dorm; an unfortunate truth that you noticed a while ago. So, in the case that you fell asleep during Professor Trein's lesson, not only would you be facing punishment from him, but one from the Housewarden, too.

Both options were bad, especially in the case that everything went wrong, but you decided on attending class. You were still a student, and you didn't come to this school for no reason.

With a sigh, you made your way to Professor Trein's class. With any luck, you wouldn't share a class with the Housewarden today or he would skip because he had an important matter to attend to, but since when has fortune been on your side?

Your life was nothing but a downhill of misery and pain. The moment you saw the Housewarden walk into the classroom, you knew you were done for. The only thing you could do was suck it up and pretend as if he didn't exist and focus all of your attention on your professor instead.

You were already struggling to stay awake when you were on your way to class, but it was worse now. Aside from not being able to stop yourself from yawning — something that was extremely hard to hide from Professor Trein — you also had to force your eyelids open every time you caught yourself dozing off. Even if you hid your yawns from Professor Trein perfectly well, he must've noticed your efforts in trying to stay awake.

Your grade was on the line here — though, that was assuming that it didn't take an immediate hit the moment Professor Trein caught you yawning — but you couldn't exactly bring yourself to care. All you cared about was placing your head on your notebook, closing your eyes and sleeping. Who cares if you got a nightmare as a result? You felt so, so tired.

But sleeping with a collar wouldn't be comfortable at all, and it'd likely prevent you from sleeping in the first place, so you had to keep your eyes open; just for a little bit longer.

To keep yourself awake for a couple of more minutes, you straightened up and took a quick look around the room; your body freezing up when your eyes landed on the Housewarden.

He was already staring at you; his steely blue eyes scrutinizing you and observing how you were doing so far. When your eyes met, he didn't say anything and continued to stare at you for a moment longer before turning his attention to the Professor.

His expression was stern and he didn't give a single hint as to what he could be thinking, though, you had a feeling that you didn't need to be a mind reader to know what would happen right after class. But, if by chance, his goal was to make that you woke up properly, then he succeeded. Just thinking about the way that he was coldly staring at you until you caught him was enough to keep you wide awake for the rest of the class.

You scribbled furiously on your notebook in hopes that you'd get the way he was looking at you out of your mind but to no avail. You barely got out of losing your head yesterday but it looks like you weren't going to be as lucky today, huh?

"That's all for today," Professor Trein suddenly announced; causing a wave of relief to wash over you as well as one of drowsiness. The relief you felt was gone in an instant when he looked at you and narrowed his eyes. "I hope that those of you who slept through the class won't struggle with the upcoming exam."

There goes your grade, even though you didn't sleep through the class...

As soon as Professor Trein left the classroom, you felt your eyelids become heavy. You wanted to attend the rest of your classes, really, you did, but at this point, it was going to be impossible. You wished that the thought of seeing nightmares was enough to keep you awake, and while it did do that at certain points, it never happened when you were deadly tired such as now. Sometimes you wished that your body didn't care for you and your brain gave you insomnia instead, but alas, you couldn't have a single good thing in your life.

Huh, wait a second... It's been a couple of minutes since the lesson ended and Professor Trein left, so how come you hadn't been beheaded yet? You looked over to the Housewarden's seat and saw that he wasn't there anymore. Actually, he wasn't in the classroom at all. It wasn't odd for him to leave for his next class early, but you figured that he'd behead you before he left. So for him to not do that was... odd, to say the least.

You stood up from your seat and left the empty classroom; you stayed there for longer than you intended to but it worked out in your favour since there would be no one to witness you skipping class and snitching to the Housewarden. Not that anyone needed to snitch to him for him to sniff you out and then behead you for slacking off.

You looked around the hallway and saw that it was relatively empty, too. Just how long did you stay in the classroom by yourself? Did you actually fall asleep as soon as Professor Trein left the classroom? It certainly was a possibility but...

You touched your cheeks and felt around, not feeling any tears on them whatsoever, and your eyes certainly didn't sting like they usually did after crying in your sleep; so you doubted that you fell asleep after Professor Trein's exit.

Now then, where could you hide away for the rest of your time? Not your dormitory, you'd lose your head the moment you stepped foot there, so you had to hide somewhere in the school like you did yesterday. The Housewarden found your previous spot, so you'd have to change where you hid this time around.

Why not hide under the stairs on the lowest floor of the school then? The students didn't like going there from what you could see for some odd reason — maybe it was because of how dirty it was, you didn't know — so you could use that place for a nap. You doubted that the Housewarden would check that place first the moment he noticed that you were skipping class, so you'd have plenty of time to... run for it? You weren't sure how effective it would be, but it certainly was a plan; and a plan you desperately needed with how hard it was becoming to keep your eyes closed at this point.

All you had to do now was to locate the stairs that went all the way down and oh! There it was, tempting you to descend them. You really shouldn't be doing this, but at this point, all you cared about was getting some sleep; even if it meant that you were going to get collared.

You woke up to the feeling of your throat closing up; shutting off a majority of your airway and making it infinitely harder for you to breathe.

You grasped at your neck and clawed at the imaginary hand that was squeezing it tightly. It didn't let up, but it likely wasn't there in the first place; its phantom presence most likely being a leftover gift from your detested nightmare that you saw before waking up.

Not this again...

The phantom presences weren't a common thing for you; only happening now and then when you had an especially bad nightmare, but that didn't change the fact that you hated dealing with them all the same. They used to be few and far between, but with your ailment worsening after each day, it was only natural that their odds of happening increased.

The only good thing about them was the fact that they didn't last long.

You gasped as soon as the phantom presence disappeared, your lungs trying to get as much air as possible while you pulled your hands away from your neck and looked down at them. Your fingertips were covered in blood, meaning that you made cuts on your neck with your nail. The injuries didn't hurt, much to your luck, but you doubted that you'd be as lucky as next time around considering your worsening situation.

"Found you," the voice you were dreading to hear announced as you heard something slam against a wall.

Started, you looked up to see the Housewarden staring down at you with his steely blue eyes and a big frown on his face. One hand was on the stair, likely the cause of the slamming sound you heard while the other was on his hip. He was slightly bending down so that his face was fully in your view.

"H- Housewarden!" You tried to keep your voice calm and cool but it only came out shaky and fearful, likely caused by your recent nightmare and his sudden appearance right after you woke up. "I can explain...!"

"Explain?" he repeated with a scoff. "Didn't I tell you that I'd overlook your action only once? I thought you were a good student, but to keep skipping classes like that... tch."

Before you could protest and give him an excuse — that he would've ignored anyway — he glared at you, causing your whole body to freeze up. "You know what happens to slackers, yes?" he asked, the smile on his face mocking your entire existence.

Then, he silently placed his index finger under his chin and slowly dragged it across his neck. You squeezed your eyes shut.

"Off with your neck."

You awaited the feeling of overwhelming helplessness that would follow right after the Housewarden's collar appeared on your neck. You waited for the tenuous sense of suffocation and the oh-so-familiar taste of bitter bile that you'd feel the moment other people saw you with the dreaded collar around your neck.

But that feeling never came, urging you to open your eyes.

The Housewarden's face was the first thing that came into view. He looked... amused? Was he even capable of feeling that way?

Curiously, you placed your hands on your neck to see if the collar was there, but no, you couldn't find it no matter how much you touched your neck. Was this some kind of dream? No way the infamous Housewarden of Heartslabyul spared you of punishment, right...?

The Housewarden cleared his throat, bringing your attention to him. The small smile that was previously on his face was gone, but his amusement was still there, hidden as a tiny glint in his eyes.

"Honestly, did you really think that I'd punish someone who was obviously struggling with some kind of curse?" he asked curtly. "I expected better from you."

"You aren't going to behead me...?" The words slipped out of your mouth without you realizing it, and when you finally did, you covered your mouth and sent him an apologetic look. "Sorry, I—!"

"Did you think that I wouldn't hear how you were sobbing in your sleep just now?" he cut you off. "Or the way you were mumbling things during class while you were asleep?"

You didn't know what was worse, the Housewarden telling you about what happened during your sleep or the fact that there was a high chance of your classmates having heard you during Professor Trein's class. Oh, how you yearned to crawl into a hole and die right at this moment...

"Obviously, I won't behead you," he went on. "And I talked to Professor Trein about this, too, so you don't have to worry about your grades slipping... yet."

The way he said that reminded you so much of the Headmage, the only thing separating them in your eyes right now being the fact that the Housewarden hadn't gone on a rant about how benevolent and gracious he was for sparing you from a bad grade.

That said... "Yet?"

A couple of books dropped out of thin air, startling you once again. Each one thicker than the previous one as they made a tall pile; one that easily reached your height. The Housewarden placed his elbows on top of it and shifted his weight so that he was leaning on the books; looking down at you with a smug expression on his face.

"I've decided on tutoring you myself. Normally, I would've just given you a few assignments, but your current situation is an interesting one and one that needs special attention at that, is it not?"

"I can take care of it just fine myself."

"Falling asleep in class was you 'taking care' of it?"

Well... He got you there. But that didn't mean that you were just going to let him have his way when it came to something that you were suffering through, not him. "Still, why do you—"

"Not another word," he cut you off again, giving you a warning glare this time before sighing. "This won't be any different from the time I tutored you on potionology, so I don't get why you're so against it."

Maybe because this was a personal issue and potionology wasn't? Still, you think you can let down your guard just a little bit if he thought of this situation as no different than the time he previously tutored you. You didn't want him to trail behind you but you preferred that to him beheading you so you were going to listen for the time being. Besides, it wouldn't hurt to have him be your tutor again since he was a good teacher and you benefitted greatly from it last time.

"Alright then," you weakly agreed and got out from under the stairs as the Housewarden sent the books he placed down back. Where did they come from in the first place? Obviously, he used his magic to bring them here, but what you wanted to know was where the books were from. Probably the library, but you never know.

"Good, I want you to meet me every afternoon in the Heartslabyul garden," he informed you as he dusted off his school uniform.

"Afternoon?" you repeated. "Isn't that your—"

"Do you want me to behead you?"

Along with his words, his glare did a good job of shutting you up instantly. You shook your head and kept your mouth shut.

"Good," his smile returned immediately as if he didn't threaten you just now. This was the Housewarden that you were more familiar with. "You better be on time. You know what happens to rule breakers, correct?"

You nodded.

"Very well, I'll see you tomorrow then."

“It’s not like that,” you replied, hands fidgeting with each other as you tried to not move around so much lest his finger dug deeper into your skin. “I need to use different teams to get the most I can out of the mirror dungeon, so I just haven’t been using bleed teams much which includes you.”

Your words were half truth, half lie. You did need to use different teams so you’d have extra starlight to strengthen your units for the more difficult floors, but you were also avoiding using a bleed team to the best of your capabilities. Even though you were fine with it at first, his overbearing nature got too much too quickly.

He wouldn’t leave you alone, either. It wasn’t bad at first — having a bodyguard and someone so powerful was nice — but that changed when he would overtake your Hong Lu so often that he could barely interact with you. Not to mention how he’d keep the other sinners away from you, too.

“Is that so?” he hummed, his voice oddly cheerful. You nodded.

He moved his hand away from your neck and waist towards your shoulders, turning your around to face him after.

“In that case, I’m sure you won’t mind going through the mirror dungeon with me this one time, hm? Unless you were lying about what you said.”

…Shit.

“Well I— uh, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt this one time…”

He chuckled. “This one time?” He trailed his hand up your neck again, this time not stopping until he was squishing your cheeks together; claws stabbing lightly into your skin as a warning. “Are you merely tolerating my presence? Do you not want me around anymore?”

“That’s not—!”

“Don’t touch them.”

A third hand grabbed the back of your collar and pulled you back until you were hidden behind someone else. Her warning came low yet firm, the three words she spoke being enough to convey her threat; that she’d cut Hong Lu down without hesitation if he didn’t listen.

“Oh?” He took a step back and mockingly put his hands up. “I didn’t know that the two of you were close.”

You weren’t, not really.

“My relationship with them is none of your business,” Ryoshu hissed, “Now leave if you know what’s good for you.”

Hong Lu let out a laugh but surprisingly didn’t protest and did as she demanded him to. Your Hong Lu didn’t linger for long either, he muttered a small “sorry” with an apologetic smile before leaving.

Ryoshu turned to look at you only when he was out of sight. Her glare softened when her eyes landed on you and she let out a sigh. “Bring me with you.”

“Where to?”

“To the mirror dungeon,” she answered a bit impatiently. “If you’re bringing that man with you, then bring me too.”

“Oh, right, sure.” You could definitely use a bodyguard with you if the Ring Nursefather ever tried anything.

“Good.”

<- Back to the masterlists? Hong Lu | Ryoshu

W Corp Cleanup Agent Hong Lu takes you out on a date then and there. Depending on what the date is, he'll also spoil you.

Hook Office Fixer Hong Lu can and will give into his cuteness aggression and hurt you as a result. He'll do it so happily, too. Afterwards, if he's feeling nice, he'll patch you up and maybe give you a kiss.

Fanghunt Office Fixer Hong Lu, despite his dislike for bloodfiends, is no better than them. Act too cute in front of him and he'll be biting you all over. Though unlike bloodfiends, he'll be gentle with his bites so they only hurt a little bit.

Tingtang Gangleader Hong Lu is also very prone to violence when his cuteness aggression hits, though he prefers to deal with his aggression in other ways. Injuring you is all fun but he’d rather roughhouse and playfight with you than pin you down and injure you to his heart’s content. Though sometimes he’ll be happy just biting you.

K Corp Excision Staff Hong Lu can't do much besides watching you. No matter how much he wants to be beside your side, especially when you're being so cute. But he can't. He can't leave the glass prison he's trapped in unless he can get permission, which he never will.

Dieci Association Hong Lu teases you until he has his fill... which takes a while. He'd do other things that would deal with it much more efficiently and in a way that's more fun, but due to the nature of his power, he tends to forget even the simplest things and teasing you is instinctive to him.

Yurodivy Hong Lu is probably the course of his own cuteness aggression, as he'll share his lollipop with you because he thinks you'll look cute with it before he's overcome with just how cute you look. He'll deal with his cuteness aggression by spoiling you, only to feed into it.

Full Stop Office Rep Hong Lu enthusiastically drag you somewhere secluded or private. Depending on what you were doing before and how busy he is, you'll be spending a few minutes to a few hours alone with him and come out covered in lipstick marks and hickeys.

Reindeer Hong Lu merely wants you to be quiet and maybe away from him because he has a serious migraine and he doesn't want to lash out at you.

Lord of Hongyuan Hong Lu sends you away somewhere else because you're distracting him and he's busy.

Ring Nursefather Hong Lu is struck with inspiration the second he's overcome with cuteness aggression, so he's away creating a new artwork for the time being.

S Corp Ch'unokkun Hong Lu cooes and croons at you as he ties you up tight so you can't get away or move while he plays with you as he wishes to deal with his cuteness aggression. Whether you're free to go afterwards or not is a whole different question.

Roseate Desire Hong Lu wraps you up with his ribbons just tight enough that you can barely move, then you're stuck spending the next several hours with him. Or stuck with him until someone — most likely Dante — comes to untangle you from him.

Soda Hong Lu doesn't get cuteness aggression, but seeing you act so cute will make him join in on whatever you're doing.

Cavernous Wailing Hong Lu doesn't get cuteness aggression either. But if he did, he'd struggle to get a hold of his emotions and end up killing you.

Lasso Hong Lu quickly wraps you up with his lasso, ensuring you can't get away from him before he does whatever he wants with you— mostly squeezing you with hugs and biting.

Dimension Shredder Hong Lu gets filled with the urge to tear you to shreds. It's not a particularly strong urge but it puts him off all the same, so he tends to avoid you when you're beingtoo cute. Sometimes.

Effervescent Corrosion Hong Lu quickly gathers you in his arms and holds you close. Being his darling pearl, you don't get to act so cutely in front of him and get away without any consequences, no. He'll throughoughly spoil you however he can in the polluted beach the two of you are in, then maybe he'll let go.

Tears of the Tarnished Blood Hong Lu doesn't get cuteness agression so much as he gets lost in admiration. How can someone look so... cute? He'll happily spend hours just looking at you and taking in your cuteness.

<- Back to the masterlist?

...

...

...

"Why the long face, hm?" a voice snapped you out of your thoughts. Looking up, you found a pair of mismatched cyan and cerulean eyes staring right at you. A big grin formed on his face soon after, "There's my favourite puppet!"

You used to be someone once. The occasional memory that popped up in your mind would indicate as such. But all that remained of you was a husk with only the faint memories of its past to accompany it.

"Shadow Milk Cookie," you barely managed to utter through your haze.

His grin got even wider. "That's right, your favourite jester is here!" then he pouted, "Now why don't cha tell me why you're frowning?"

"Frowning?"

You lifted your hands up to your face, feeling it up. The patterns on your stitches were curled downwards to the point where one might interpret your expression as a neutral one, but did that constitute as a frown?

"Isn't this how my face normally looks like?"

"NO!"

His hands slam down on the table.

The next moment, he's smiling sweetly at you; cheek resting on his palm with a loving gaze directed towards you. "Oh dear, oh my, will I have to sew your mouth into a smile then? Because that—" his eye twitched, "—that frown looks quite ugly on you, my dear!"

"Does it?"

Why did he sound so annoyed over this?

"If that's what makes you happy, Shadow Milk Cookie," you replied obediently. You couldn't feel pain anyway so there was no harm in letting him alter your body however he pleased, you supposed.

But instead of his usual antics — which would've involved him pouncing on you and enthusiastically scribbling on your fabric with the nearest pen in this instance — you saw him falter. For a brief moment, he looked unsure, lost. You saw the vulnerability in his eyes, the anxiety, the fear.

The next moment, it was all gone as he promptly pounced on you. With a huge grin on his face and his weight settled on top of you comfortably, he reached over to a vortex above the two of you. You didn't need to be a genius to know what he was looking for.

"Now you better hold still for me, okay?" he said as he retrieved a needle and thread from the vortex. "One mistake on my end and I'll have to sew you up all over again from scratch. So don't. Move."

That didn't sound too bad— having to be sewn from scratch. Not that you were planning on moving, but if you ever did that then would only inconvenience him further, so there really was only one option here.

"Of course, Master."

"..."

.

.

.

Sometimes, when you closed your eyes, you'd recall memories from a long gone past. Memories of weaving your hands through strands of silk; ones that reflected the night sky and the stars that glimmered within.

Memories of a weight in your arms— a body, one that trembled inconsolably with a kind of pain that felt vaguely familiar, yet one that you couldn't even hope to comprehend all the same.

Memories that were all to familiar yet alien at the same time.

Given their nature, they were likely implanted into your mind with one of his tricks. He did like messing with you more than anything.

You didn't mind though. While one might interpret the false memories as a mean-spirited action, especially as it was the work of a beast cookie, you didn't consider it as such. It was ultimately harmless, something done to mess with you but something that was unable to bring you harm, not physically.

It made you curious, in a way. Why the only thing you seemed to care about — besides doing Shadow Milk Cookie's bidding whenever it was required of you — was the physical preservation of your body. Instinct was a good answer and it was the only answer that you needed, and yet...

Well, the past didn't matter.

You stood up from the chair you were placed on. Shadow Milk Cookie told you to stay in place while he was away, but even as a puppet, you weren't fond of the idea of staying in place for hours and hours on end, waiting for your master to return all the while boredom slowly crept up on you.

The only problem with this was him returning to find you gone, but that was a problem for later. Besides, he knew full well that you wouldn't be hiding from him, not when you were well aware that he knew of every single thing that happened within his domain.

With nothing else to stop you, you left the lounge you were waiting in and headed towards the nearest set of stairs that led to the upper floors in ssearch of something to do.

Recently you had been stuck following after and tending to Shadow Milk Cookie. You didn’t mind it of course — what kind of servant would you be if you complained about having to serve your master? — but being unable to tend to the spire itself made you antsy.

There was a strange connection between you and this place so it only felt right for you to take care of it, and especially the areas that were overlooked by Shadow Milk Cookie’s other servants.

That seemed to be the right decision as one of the floors you ended up on was… off colour, for the lack of a better word; splashes of paint from red to blue to green and their various shades covered almost every inch of the room. For a moment you wondered if it would’ve been better if you stayed downstairs and waited for Shadow Milk Cookie to return as there was no way for you to clean up the floor in time.

So you opted for the next best thing; scouting out the area to see how bad the damage is before returning to clean it another day.

You reluctantly placed your foot onto the paint covered ground, walking in further only when you saw that the paint didn’t stick to you. You’ve never had to clean up paint before so you weren’t sure if it being dry was good news for you or not, but you supposed it was good news if you could walk around without being covered in it yourself.

Otherwise, there wasn’t much to see. The paint pretty much covered the entire floor and every room within it so you’d have to get the other servants to come help you clean. There were also canvases and painting supplies scattered throughout the entire floor, the former of which was mostly broken or torn apart until they were unrecognizeable. You picked one up to examine it but you couldn’t make out anything, so you continued on with your search.

The last room you entered was unlike the other ones you’ve been to.

Every inch of the room was covered in portraits, specifically that of two different Cookies. One you easily recognized as being Shadow Milk cookie but who… who was that other one?

You walked along the walls, carelessly dragging your hand along what inch of it weren’t covered with canvases as you tried to make sense of what all of this was, all through the small sting that started pulsating inside your head.

Each portrait appeared more distorted than the last. The static colours — violent splashes of blinding blues, pinks, purples and greens that caused your head to throb and pulsate — were dripping out beyond the boundaries of the portrait and down down the wall, flooding the ground you stood on little by little.

You stepped back, or at least tried to despite the paint sticking onto your fabric and seeping into your being. You clawed at it in an attempt to get it off you, but the only thing you managed was to get even more of the invasive paint on your cotton body.

Your head hurt. There shouldn't be anything inside your body, not when you were stripped off even the bare essentials when you were turned into a puppet, and yet your head hurt.

Why?

Why?

Why why why?

What were those portraits? Who were the cookies in them? Who were they? Who? Who who who?

Who was that?

Your knees trembled before giving away—

Why was it all so familiar?

—only for you to be caught in the cold embrace of another. Their — rather, his — arms wrapping around you like the vines of a grape clinging onto a fence for support. You looked up and sure enough, it was Shadow Milk Cookie that caught you and prevented your fall. His eyes were cold and his pupils small.

"You..." he muttered, his voice unusually monotone and barely loud enough for you to hear. His eyebrows furrowed, his frown deepened, his eye twitched. "You weren't there."

"I- I... I wasn't," you admitted through gritted teeth. Your head still hurt. "But—" you paused as you felt another sharp pain, attempting to gather your nerves before continuing, "—but there wasn't anything that was required specifically of me, was there, Shadow Milk Cookie?"

Your head really hurt.

"OF COURSE THERE WAS—! Well, nothing that my other minions can't do," he grumbled, his fingers lightly digging into the fabric of your waist, "but I told you to stay put. To. Stay. PUT."

His fingers dug in further into your waist. You're sure if you were an ordinary cookie, small crumbs would be falling down those areas.

"Master—"

A shaky breath.

"Do NOT CALL ME THAT!"

Ragged pants.

"You never called me that before— I told you to NEVER call me that, so why are you calling me that now?!"

You looked down.

"...could you please quiet down?"

It was as if a switch had been flipped.

The pressure on your waist immediately lessened, the glare piercing into your soul was replaced by a much softer gaze, and the booming voice that filled your mind with disorienting ringing quieted down. A soft sound followed; the muttering of a name that sounded oh so familiar.

"—Cookie..."

You felt him move his hand up to your face before hesitating, then he moved that hand to the back of your head and gently pushed your face into his shoulder. His dough was so, so cold, but you found yourself leaning into his embrace anyway.

This was the only thing you had left.

"I'm sorry..."

For a moment, you caught sight of specks of pale yellow in his right eye. The next, it was completely gone as his usual smile forced its way onto his lips.

"Awww, is my favourite puppet feeling sad?" he cooed, lightly pinching your cheek. "Well, never fret, because your favourite jester is here to make you feel better!"

"...your only jester."

He moved one arm to your back and another to your knees before picking you up with ease. You could feel his body tremble ever so slightly as he held you against his chest.

"And I'll make sure you'll never feel sad again."

.

.

.

.

.

.

"...they... really don't..."

You perked up at the muttering from a familiar voice. He was here after all. "Fount?"

He flinched, turning back to glare at you before relaxing up as he saw that it was you and not another Cookie. He smiled— forced himself to look like he wasn't upset just a moment ago, rather. It didn't work. "O- Oh, you! Warn me next time!"

His voice cracked near the end. You could still see the tears in his eyes that he desperately tried to hold back.

There was no need to ask him if he was okay because he obviously wasn't. Would he even answer if you asked him what happened?

You sat down next to him, looking straight ahead instead of at him in fear that it'd only serve to make him even more distant than he currently was. He was closed off enough as is. "You know I'm here for you, right?"

...No answer.

That's not good.

"Fount..." you uttered his name again, this time turning to look at him only to find him looking away from you. That wasn't good either. "Fount..." you helplessly repeated. No response, again. That meant you were only left with one another option.

You scooted closer to him. He ignored you still. You took that as permission and cautiously wrapped your arms around him. He tensed a little and kept still.

"We'll always be friends, you know," you began, rest your head on his shoulder before continuing, "I don't really know what you're going through right now and I don't understand it either, but... No matter what happens, no matter what you do, I'll always be your friend. It's fine if you don't tell me what's wrong, just know that I'll always be there for you."

This time, you felt him relax in your arms. Then slowly, ever so slowly, he turned to face you.

His expression wasn't that of condescension for when he heard another cookie say something stupid, or in your case, for whenever you got too affectionate.

It wasn't that of anger for when a cookie seeking knowledge from him got on his nerves or held stubbornly to their wrong beliefs.

It wasn't even that of relief, no.

He looked lost.

Like he was stuck in an abyss so deep and far away from others that isolation was inevitable.

Like there was no way out from his inevitable fate.

Like he couldn't be saved.

A look so innocent, yet so terrifying at the same time.

"You... you would?"

His voice snapped you back to your senses. With a smile, you nodded. This wasn't the time for you to be scared, not when he desperately needed someone to reassure him, to help him out as much as they could.

Even if it was just a sisyphean task.

So instead, you opened your arms wide for him. This time, for a proper hug and not just a one-sided one. "Of course I would!"

Relief flooded into his expression. He was still nervous, that much was obvious to you, but at the very least he looked like he felt a little bit better now.

And that's all that mattered to you.

He didn't make you wait long— practically diving into your arms as he buried his face into the crook of your neck. His body trembled, he muttered in a voice far too quiet for you to make out. You held him close, rubbing his back and playing with his hair to comfort him.

You might not be able to save him, but as long as you could do this much for him...

...

...

"...N- No!"

"You— You can't go! You said you'd stay! You promised! YOU PROMISED!!"

"..."

"...I swear I'll find a way for you to stay by my side. I can't... lose you..."