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Chapter Text

Fire Spirit Cookie shoots another fireball at the strange cookie, only for it to be absorbed into the mirror as well. He grunted, gripping his staff and glaring at her.

“Mmm… yummy flame… I need more…” she giggled, and shivers went down Fire Spirit’s spine at the eeriness her red eyes held, darker than any flame he could conjure, and the way she gripped her mirror, loosely as if she weren’t worried at all, yet with such a tight death grip it’s a miracle she hasn’t cracked it from the pressure herself already.

Whenever his attacks were absorbed by the mirror, he felt… weaker. It’s not like he couldn’t restore the power he lost by calling upon the dragon magic of his staff, but having seen Frost Queen Cookie’s magic used by this… creature made him worried about what was happening to his magic, and whether or not the white slime cookie would be able to use it.

His current running plan was to shatter the mirror, so he began to charge up the strongest attack he count muster, the flames on his dough glowing whiter and hotter as he grew the flame inside him larger and larger, then he released it in one giant burst of heat and fire, sending it straight in her direction.

She gasped and ducked behind the mirror, fear evident on her features. Triumph surged through Fire Spirit, he finally defeated her!- but then the fire stopped, constricting inwards into one focused point, right where the strange cookie was holding up her mirror. Dread slowly set in as he watched his most powerful attack- something that had taken minutes to conjure in an intense battle and taken everything out of him- was absorbed without even a little bit of singed dough on the target.

“How in the smokes-?!” he said, gasping for breath. Seemingly surprised by her own ability, an unsettling smile slowly spread across the white slime cookie’s face, until she began giggling hysterically.

“That… delicious… I need MORE!!!” she roared, suddenly sending a blizzard of ice towards him, and being weakened from his last attack, he couldn’t dodge.

Ice shot through his jam, covering his doughy exterior and freezing him in place. He began to warm his body up more, melting the ice, but flinching at the water dripping onto him as a result, dimming his flame and dampening his crispy dough. The ice was thick, and Fire Spirit realized he was being dragged somewhere as he felt a hand grabbing the ice on his dough and his body sliding across the rough rocky floor of the cave.

After he finally had melted all the ice, Fire Spirit shot up into the air with a burst of flame, grabbing his staff and pointing it wildly around the room, trying to find where he was and who brought him here.

Before he could react, chains made of what appeared to be pure darkness shot up out of the ground and latched onto his wrists, clawing him out of the sky and dragging him down to an uncomfortable kneeling position. Fire Spirit gasped, staring up shocked but unafraid of the two cookies who stood in front of him.

One was the white slime cookie, the other was wearing similar clothes to her except red instead of white, with red braids tied into two buns and a pink wand. He scowled at them both.

“Who are you two? Who do you think you are to be doing something this heinous to me, Fire Spirit Cookie, Flame Incarnate?!” He demanded, and the red cookie sighed, pushing her fingers into her temple.

“Yes, we are quite aware of your status, thank you for the clarification,” she said sarcastically, earning an equally sarcastic chuckle from Fire Spirit. “I am Pomegranate Cookie, Servant of Darkness, and this is Agar Agar Cookie, your downfall.”

Fire Spirit scoffed. “My downfall? Really? You think I’m that easily defeated? I can leave this cave easily, I’m just entertaining you to get information. That’s all.”

Pomegranate Cookie laughed at him. “Oh really? Then do so. You’re not getting very much out of us, that’s for sure- there’s no reason for us to tell you anything except your fate.”

“Um, your title is literally servant, please stop acting like you’re better than me,” Fire Spirit deadpanned. Pomegranate gasped defensively.

“Such insolence! And yet you show no signs of being able to escape my shackles! Please, oh Flame Incarnate, show us this dreaded power you claim to possess!”

“Well since you asked nicely,” he shrugged. Quickly, he summoned two fireballs, one in each hand, and grew them large before bringing them to the shackles, and then-

The fire suddenly was yanked from his hand, flying across the cave and being sucked into Agar Agar Cookie’s mirror.

“Delicious…” she said dreamily, closing her eyes and not focusing at all at the encounter taking place.

Pomegranate smirked at him. “See? You’re not as strong as you seem.”

“Yeah sure, I’ll keep that in mind, Servant “chronically second place” of darkness! If you didn’t resort to those cowardly tricks, I’d be out of here in no time, and you’d be both begging for my mercy.”

Pomegranate Cookie tilted her head. “Hmm, and yet, we do. So, does that say more about us or about your lack of preparation?”

“What? Excuse me?” Fire Spirit challenged, pulling on the chains through his exhaustion. “I can’t possibly be prepared for every trap in existence, and neither can you! I have the ability to admit that, did you think that was some sort of gotcha???”

“So you admit you lose?” Pomegranate replied, eyes narrowed in calculation, a smug grin across her face.

Fire Spirit sighed, but he knew these traps. He’s played these games before!!!!! He wasn’t going to fall for their deceit, and he wouldn’t be baited by their tricks to anger him. “Yeah, sure, whatever makes you feel better,” he shrugged nonchalantly, eyeing the two to see their reactions.

Agar Agar Cookie lit up in excitement, and Pomegranate Cookie looked wary. Neither were reactions he was necessarily looking for, but it’s fine, as long as they aren’t bothering him so he has the opportunity to escape.

“Food! Food! Give me… food!” The white cookie chirped, running forward. Fire Spirit raised an eyebrow. For all her power, for the fact she seemed ok with all this evil… Agar Agar Cookie was clearly a child. He felt pitiful, and more anger towards Pomegranate than he already had felt welled up inside him, causing the flames across his body to flicker brighter, hotter.

“Give me food,” she said, holding out her mirror like she was showing him a drawing. He looked at the mirror and then back at her.

“No,” he deadpanned.

Agar Agar’s eyebrows creased at his response. “…No? But… you promised…”

“Ok, what’re we saying chat? I didn’t promise anything to you, I don’t even want to be here!” Exasperation was evident in Fire Spirit Cookie’s tone as he responded.

“If you don’t want to give… I’ll just take it… need… food…” at her words, flame and ice began to flicker underneath the reflective surface of the glass, showing him not only his own confused expression but also his own magic dancing beneath the stranger’s mirror. It was beyond unsettling, and he hoped he’d be able to shatter that thing soon.

Suddenly, Agar Agar thrust the mirror forward, her delicate fingers clutched around the crystalline rim of the glass, and ghostly white energy shot out of it, wrapping its tendrils around his form before he could react. Pain rippled through his body and he grunted, trying to wretch his dough from the grip of the magic as he felt his flames dim as his own magic was sucked out of his body.

Fire Spirit grunted in pain, his teeth clenched together as tightly as he could as the burning sense of nothingness set in, his senses overwhelming him as jabs of pain stabbed through his dough, the light in the room noticeably dimming as his fire was taken from him. He must have been there for at least a minute, as when Agar’s magic had worn off and he was finally able to crumple to the ground, totally exhausted, he felt as if every single drop he had in him was gone, only the fire keeping his very being together remaining. He immediately began working on regrowing those flames, nurturing them carefully, as he laid panting on the ground, clutching his staff which allowed him to do so.

“Mmm… delicious… I need… more..!” At her words, Fire Spirit felt a sense of overwhelming dread wash over him. But when he heard Pomegranate’s condescending voice in response, it didn’t go away knowing she was there.

“Now now Agar Agar Cookie, you must wait for your next meal. Have patience, we must discuss some things.” A frown spread across the cookie’s face, her grip looking like it would crack the glass from how tight it was. But after a moment, she hung her head, and followed Pomegranate cookie out of the room.

They just… left him. Alone.

Fire Spirit Cookie smirked. Well, if they were gonna be cocky and careless, he wasn’t above not taking advantage of that. He gripped his staff tighter, beginning to pull from as deep as he could into the eternal flames that gave him his power. His fire was gaining strength at a rapid pace, the light from the fire covering his dough reflecting off the crystals that grew from the floor, walls and ceiling of this cave, Agar Agar Cookie’s doing.

After he’d collected all the fire he’d ever need for this, he focused it into his fists, shooting them up with a burst of energy and snapping the magical chains. Who’s really the one who’s not as strong as they seem, he thought smugly, before zooming down the hallway, the crystal growths shimmering at his presence.

He stopped when he saw the two figures he was looking for, and pointed his staff at them, beginning to create a huge fireball to take them both out quickly.

Unfortunately, one tends to notice the temperature difference between a freezing underground cave and boiling hot fire, so the two turned and looked at him with surprise before he could fire the attack. With the element of surprise ruined, he sent the fireball anyways, even though it wouldn’t be strong enough to defeat either on its own.

Pomegranate shrieked and ducked out of the way, pulling out her wand. Agar Agar held her mirror calmly in front of her face, which absorbed the fireball as if it were nothing. She peeked her eyes out from behind it and smiled, before the mirror glowed blue with Frost Queen’s power once again.

Shards of ice began flying out of the mirror and still levitating in the air Fire Spirit Cookie excellently dodged them all, ricocheting himself off the walls to launch himself into dozens of attacks, some of which actually landed on her slimy white dough. But in the heat of the moment, he forgot about the other cookie in the room with them.

A blast of dark energy knocked him from the sky, and when he tried jumping to his feet the familiar black chains rose from the ground and shackled his wrists and now legs. He grunted and glared up at the two of them.

“Fight me instead of hiding behind your mirrors and your shackles, you cowards,” he scowled, clenching his fingers into a fist around his staff.

“I won’t fall for your attempts to anger me. You are a guardian reduced to nothing by two mortals, yet you wish to call us cowards?” Pomegranate Cookie responded.

“Hy…po… crite.” Agar Agar Cookie said, pointing her jelly like finger at him. He scowled, and Pomegranate placed her hand atop Agar’s head.

“Very good, Agar Agar Cookie,” she said, almost like a proud parent, “he is a hypocrite.”

”That’s not even what the word means-“

Agar Agar giggled at the praise loudly, interrupting him, squealing and jumping in the air, still white knuckling her mirror after all this time. She bounded forward, and the white tendrils began to shoot out of the mirror again.

Fire Spirit gasped, flinching as they grabbed him. The same agonizing pain ripped through his dough like lightning, the fire once again being stolen from him.

The same agonizing exhaustion was left as an aftertaste, making him crumple to the ground weakly as the chill of the room set in, now with no fire to chase it away.

“Keep him in our eyesight. We can’t afford more of these escape attempts.” Pomegranate Cookie commanded, and a flicker of hope found its way to Fire Spirit Cookie’s heart. They knew he was a threat, he just had to keep trying and he’d escape eventually. They could steal his fire, but they couldn’t steal his conviction. He just had to keep waiting.

Chapter Text

Well, he was really getting sick of waiting.

How long had it been? A week? And nothing was fucking happening.

He actually had no idea how long it’d been, it could have been like, a day, he couldn’t tell the time very well from the lack of sun to tell him inside a cave. All he knew was around every 2 or so hours, Agar Agar Cookie would come in and ‘eat’ his powers. That was the only way of telling time he had.

Of course, he could give the power over willingly. That hurt him less and was much quicker. It was just spite keeping him from doing that, he wanted to make the process as long and annoying as possible for everyone.

He still had his mind set on escaping, but it was much harder now. He’d foolishly chosen to wait before trying again, but the constant exhaustion that came with his powers being stolen was making regaining his powers more time consuming than ever. It took much longer than it should now to gather the amount of flame necessary to break out of all the restraints, even with his boundless power.

Not to mention that after his first attempt, there was almost always someone watching him. Well, only some of the guards watched him; the guy in the cloak slept the entire time, and some of them- mainly Agar Agar and some purple mushroom cookie- were just kids!

Right now, though, was Pomegranate Cookie’s turn to babysit. But she was the most fun to bother, so he was fine with it.

The silence between the both of them was thick, and he hoped she felt intimidated by it. She seemed to hate doing this, and if she feared him like she should this whole thing probably wouldn’t be happening and he could just leave.

“You can’t keep doing this forever,” Fire Spirit Cookie finally said, his amber eyes trained on the back of her head.

“Mhm, says who?” She replied without missing a beat.

“I almost escaped once. You won’t stop me forever. You know that, right?”

Finally, Pomegranate turned and looked at him. Her expression was blank, yet her dark red eyes shined with malice.

“The longer we keep you here, the less of a chance you have to escape. Surely you must have noticed that Agar Agar Cookie gets stronger the more power of yours she consumes, yes?”

Fire Spirit’s eyes widened. He, admittedly, had not noticed that.

Pomegranate Cookie turned back around and sighed. “See?”

Fire Spirit scrambled for a response. “Well, uh- I can still escape, easy-peasy. I don’t have to confront any of you people to get out of here.”

Pomegranate Cookie laughed in response. “Oh, but Fire Spirit Cookie, with all the power Agar Agar Cookie has collected, who knows who she could destroy with that power! Civilians, rulers, even other guardians perhaps- I hear you defeated the cookie known as Wind Archer in a friendly duel recently, am I mistaken?”

Fire Spirit Cookie’s stomach dropped.

He was fucked.

“So,” she continued, “I believe it would be in your best interests to stay here, to prevent her from destroying all of your precious valley and beyond. But, if you think you could defeat her, then go ahead, be my guest.”

He stayed silent.

Pomegranate’s words stuck with him, even after what he assumed to be days past and she’d long since left, the new person guarding him not seeming to care as much as she did. It was scary, how much that affected him- but also how much they knew about him in the first place.

Technically everything they knew was public knowledge. Him and Archie being a thing wasn’t, but everyone knew they were close and it didn’t take a genius to read between the lines. And all one really had to do was ask around the citizens of the Dragon’s Valley, and they’d know all they’d ever need to about his past.

That make it less unsettling the lengths they went to get him here. He could assume they had taken the same precautions to stop him from leaving too.

But that didn’t matter- because now, he couldn’t just leave. With the information he had now, his plan had to change; he had to defeat at least Agar Agar Cookie in a fight and destroy her mirror. Only then would he be able to protect the people he loved.

The cookie guarding him, the cloaked one this time, was snoring away, completely unaware of the fire and heat Fire Spirit Cookie was generating, turning the chains around his legs and wrists a bright white. They still wouldn’t budge, though, so he had to try something else.

He slammed the melting chain on the cave floor, flinching as the noise made the guard stir a bit. What didn’t stir, though, were the chains. They broke so easily the last time he did this, it didn’t make sense. What was different??

He knew it took longer, but he was using the same amount if not more power and energy to break the chains and they weren’t even budging. That meant one of two things.

Either one, Pomegranate Cookie had trained, strengthened her magic, something along those lines to make the chains harder to break,

Or two, his magic had somehow became weaker.

While it was technically possible the constant stream of his flame being stolen from him could have made him weaker, he chose to believe the former. I mean if

had managed to kidnap the objectively strongest cookie on Earthbread he’d probably strengthen his magic to keep them trapped for as long as he needed too-

But thinking about it wouldn’t help. No matter what happened (he couldn’t be weaker, he couldn’t be) the chains were harder to break and that was an issue. Hopefully, he could get information from the guard- the cloaked cookie, he seemed meek enough to be easily tricked or intimidated into giving up crucial information.

“Hey you,” Fire Spirit called, and he jolted awake, grabbing his scythe and pointing it around wildly, searching for the source.

“Oh my embers, calm down. You’re gonna take out your own eye with that thing.” The cookie whipped around and pointed the scythe right at him, to which he resisted a flinch, trying to remain unbothered so he was still as intimidating and auraful as possible while chained to the floor.

“What do ya want?!” The cloaked cookie demanded.

“I mean, I was just wondering what your name is.”

His eyes narrowed. “And why do you want to know?”

Fire Spirit shrugged. “So I don’t have to keep calling you ‘Ugly Cloaked Cookie’ in my inner monologue.”

The ugly cloaked cookie gasped with offense. “My cloak is not ugly! Asshole!”

Fire Spirit blinked. “That… wasn’t what I was referring to.”

“Oh. Well in that case, I’m Licorice Cookie. Wait, does that mean you were calling me-”

Fire Spirit cut him off, grabbing his hand and shaking it aggressively. “Well it’s a pleasure to meet you, Licorice Cookie. What brings you to this humble abode here?”

Licorice yanked his hand away. “Umm… I’m guarding you. I thought that was pretty obvious.”

Fire Spirit rolled his eyes at the response. “Well, yeah, but why are you doing this? I didn’t have a reason to attack any of you guys so why are you coming after me? And Frost Queen Cookie! What did we do? What’s even your endgame??”

“You two were some of the threats towards Dark Enchantress Cookie’s glorious new plan, obviously!” He snapped, sitting down yet still seeming prideful at what he’d said.

“And who is Dark Enchantress Cookie..?” He pressed.

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Licorice Cookie sneered.

Fire Spirit sighed, assuming this would be the most he could get out of this interaction. It was still good info, he just needed-

“She’s only the most glorious and intelligent cookie on Earthbread!” Licorice suddenly began. Fire Spirit snapped his head up, realizing that this cookie was much more naive than he’d thought.

“She has a plan to reshape all of Earthbread into a perfect vision, one where the cookies who follow her are rewarded and those who refuse her truth are crumbled! And you would get in the way, which is why you’re here,” he finished, looking very proud for all the crucial information he’d just given to the enemy for nothing.

“…Right. That’s great. So, uhhh… Licorice Cookie. That’s, a, um… nice cloak you’ve got there!” He pivoted, trying to gain his trust.

Licorice blushed a bit. “Well, heh, thanks! I, uh, made it myself.”

“Yeah, it’s… great…” he said, teeth gritted from cringing at the other’s words. “So, what do you like to do?”

“Well, I like to carry out missions for the Enchantress!”

Fire Spirit sighed, leaning against the wall and using the gained slack in the chains to push his fingers into his temples. “Yeah, but like, outside of your literal job.”

Licorice Cookie tilted his head. “What would I even do? Everything I do is about Dark Enchantress Cookie, it’d be stupid to do something else,” He said.

“So, like, this is your whole life and personality basically?” He clarified.

“Yep!” Licorice Cookie chirped.

Fire Spirit groaned. “Yep, I’m not gonna talk to you then. Bye,” he sighed, before laying down and rolling over to face the wall, the cold metal of his scepter digging into his leg with nowhere else to go.

“Oh. Ok. Bye? Wait, neither of us are going anywhere…” the cookie trailer off, and Fire Spirit almost groaned again at himself for thinking this dumbass cookie would be helpful to him in any way. I mean, he knew some stuff now, but there was basically no benefit to this conversation, and now he feels a little bit stupider because of it.

Whatever, it doesn’t matter. Nothing matters, not until he can get out of these chains.

And if his internal clock is right, Agar Agar Cookie will be here any minute.

All he can do is wait for an opportunity. An opportunity to defeat Agar Agar.

Once he does all that, he can finally, finally go home, and he can finally see Wind Archer again.

…Witches above, he misses his husband.

Chapter Text

“Thank you all for gathering here today. Please, take a seat. We have much to discuss.”

The elementals all paused their conversations at Millennial Tree’s words, moving quietly over to their seats at the table and sitting down. Millennial Tree adjusted the stack of scrolls in his hands, taking one and rolling it out, dipping a shedded feather in ink and looking up.

“Is everyone here?” He asked. The elementals looked around the table, and all eyes eventually landed on one empty chair right next to Wind Archer Cookie. Goosebumps prickled up his dough, the nerves from everyone watching his husband’s vacant seat gripping him.

“For the 3rd month in a row, Fire Spirit Cookie is absent,” Millennial Tree sighed, “Wind Archer, would you mind traveling to the Dragon’s Valley to fill him in on what he’s missed?”

“I’d love to, but I haven’t seen him since a month ago.”

Everyone’s heads snapped to look at him, and he tried not to shrink in on himself, their judgmental stares burning into his skull.

“What do you mean, you haven’t seen him?” Millennial Tree Cookie asked.

“Yeah, you two are married, right? Don’t you guys, like, visit all the time?” Stormbringer Cookie added.

He swallowed. “Um… yes, we did… about a month ago, well, more like three weeks but still- um, we had agreed he’d come to the forest to meet for a bit, but I waited practically all night for his arrival and nothing. I assumed he must have forgotten, but after searching all of the Dragon’s Valley and the forest, I haven’t found him. I’m worried.”

Millennial Tree’s eyebrows creased. “Well, if you are worried, there may be cause for concern. And you’re sure he isn’t just traveling somewhere?”

Wind Archer shook his head. “He would be back by now, and he would have told me first.”

“Perhaps if you ask some of the residents of the Dragon’s Valley, you will find answers on Fire Spirit Cookie’s location,” Frost Queen Cookie chimed in.

“…I will try. I don’t believe there’s anywhere in the Valley I haven’t searched yet, but I will try.”

“Then it’s settled,” Millennial Tree’s Cookie said, “you will go ask the citizens of the Dragon’s Valley after this meeting for any signs of Fire Spirit Cookie’s whereabouts. May the winds and the forest guide your path.”

“Understood,” Wind Archer replied, gripping his scarf and pulling it over his lower face.

“Now, let us discuss the matter of the cookie you encountered, Frost Queen Cookie…” Millennial Tree began, the sound trailing out as jam rushed through Wind Archer’s ears, his nails digging into the log crafted table.

They were talking about something mildly important, he assumed, but he couldn’t get Fire Spirit Cookie out of his head. It didn’t help that the last time they talked-

”Come on, it isn’t that bad that I missed two meetings! You can just fill me in, right? And I’m sure it wasn’t anything important, they never talk about anything important there.”

“Well, you have! A cookie infiltrated Frost Queen Cookie’s castle and somehow absorbed her power. That’s something we need to be concerned about!”

Fire Spirit yawned. “Well, Frost Queen’s always been kinda weaker outta the 6 of us.”

Wind Archer groaned. “Fire Spirit! This is a serious cause for concern! If any cookie is strong enough to defeat the guardian of life itself, it’s a cookie we need to be looking for. Can you just be serious for one moment?!”

Fire Spirit in response floated around him in circles, stopping right in front of him. “Eh, it’s fine. All of us have the power of friendship on our sides! And we have the power of gay marriage.” He leaned forward and left a little peck of Wind Archer’s forehead, right below where his emerald was, causing jam to rush to his cheeks. He pulled his scarf over his face in embarrassment despite the two of them being the only ones there.

“My love, I’m serious! This is important. You can’t keep skipping meetings, you’re missing important information. What if I can’t fill you in on something important after one before something bad happens? You need to know-“

First spirit dramatically draped his arms over Wind Archer’s shoulders. “Ughhh, Windyyyy, it’s fiiiiiineeee! Just caaalm down, it’s not a big deal…”

“But it is a big deal, Fire Spirit!” He shouted, pushing the other off of him. “You’re risking your life when you ignore this and I’m sick of it! You can’t be this reckless all the time, you’re a guardian and you need to FUCKING ACT like it!”

Fire Spirit stared at him for a moment, bewildered. He turned around for a moment, his body trembling as he took deep breaths. A pang of guilt immediately shot through Wind Archer’s chest, and he reached a hand out. “Fire Spirit, I-“

“No no, you’re…” Fire Sporit turned around, with a death grip on his scepter causing his hand to shake and blinking back tears, “you’re right. I do need to be taking this more seriously. I’ll come to the next meeting. I’m sorry.”

After a moment of silence, he spoke again. “I… need to check on the residents of the valley. I’ll meet you here in a week, same time, yeah?” They made eye contact for a moment and Wind Archer’s heart shattered at the genuine hurt in his eyes.

Then Fire Spirit flew away, and he was left to pick up the pieces of his own mess.

“Wind Archer Cookie!” He blinked as he came back to reality to all of the guardians staring at him, and Stormbringer in front of him, snapping her fingers to get his attention.

“What? Oh- my apologies, I must have zoned out. What were we talking about?”

“Hellooo, Agar Agar Cookie?” Stormbringer answered.

“Oh. I haven’t seen her. Apologies.”

“That’s not even what we were talking about-“ Frost Queen said through gritted teeth.

“Perhaps you should go and search from Fire Spirit now. It’s clear you’re unable to focus on the meeting at hand whilst you’re worrying about him.” Sea Fairy spoke for the first time, a bit of an annoyed tone seeping into her words, which Wind Archer’s resisted rolling his eyes at the irony.

“Yes, I do believe that would be best,” replied Millennial Tree. Wind Archer was a little embarrassed at being kicked out of the meeting but was very glad to be able to search for his husband. He stood and nodded.

“If you think that would be best, I will be on my way then,” he said, picking up his bag and slinging it over his shoulder.

Millennial Tree nodded, and Wind Archer was already out the door.

-

Ugh, by the embers, this was really, really, really boring.

He hadn’t expected there to be much stimulation, to be fair, but he’s memorized the layout of this cave that he could recite it while asleep if he wanted to.

Technically he hadn’t slept since getting here. Elemental guardians like him didn’t need sleep, and he’d figured it would be better to keep his guard up.

But just because he didn’t need sleep didn’t mean he didn’t get tired. Not naturally, no, but as one may expect, having your essence drained from you over and over again and having to bring yourself back to relative health each time is really fucking exhausting.

At this point, he didn’t expect them to pull very much if he was asleep. He couldn’t do much now, they didn’t need to change much. He couldn’t probably sleep… and be fine.

But still, it was better safe than sorry. Plus, what if Agar Agar came for food and he wasn’t able to regenerate his flame fat enough? Would he die? He didn’t know.

He had, however, resorted to laying down, his scepter clutched to his chest, fighting to keep his eyes open. This time, the guard was the scary guy with the strange arm- it looked like cake, but not like any cake he’d ever seen in a cookie before. This cookie looked dangerous though, so he chose not to speak to him.

Not that he had nearly the social battery to do so. He wouldn’t even know what to say to try and get information.

He didn’t know how he didn’t sense it when he got here, but he’s in really deep shit. He didn’t see a way to get out, truthfully, and he didn’t see a way to beat Agar Agar. He had to wait for them to slip up, that was the only way he could possibly escape at this rate.

Footsteps. Agar Agar Cookie is here.

“Hungry..! Food time!” she chirped, and Pomegranate nodded.

“Go ahead, little one,” she said, and Fire Spirit braced himself for the pain.

You’d think he’d be used to it by now, but it got worse every time. It felt like his organs were being ripped from his body and being eaten in front of him, like the stitches that kept his dough together were being slowly pulled out and torn. The firelight always got dimmer when Agar was eating, but he couldn’t even see his own reflection in the crystals anymore from the dimness.

“That’s enough,” said Pomegranate suddenly, and Agar Cookie paused. This felt… shorter than usual.

“Wha… huh…? But… hungry…” Agar Agar trailed off, interestingly not fighting back much.

“Yes, well, you’ll just have to suck it up. He’s too weak to continue, we can come back later.”

“But-“

Fire Spirit let his eyes close as he heard a harsh slapping noise echo through the cave. Suddenly, his senses were overwhelmed with the shrill shouts of Pomegranate Cookie and the small sobs of Agar Agar.

This wasn’t the first time this had happened.

He peeked one eye open, and the red cookie guarding him had his head turned to the side too.

His eye slipped back shut. Everyone was turning a blind eye towards this cookie.

No matter what she did to him, Fire Spirit Cookie couldn’t find it in himself to be angry at her. He didn’t want to hurt her, to defeat her, to break her mirror.

But he had to. He had to escape. He needed to escape this cursed cave. Whatever the cost.

Then the exhaustion washed over him once again, and he let the wave take him for the first time in months.

Chapter Text

Slowly, Fire Spirit Cookie’s eyes fluttered open.

He was still in the cave- expected. Agar Agar herself was guarding him for now, her head rested on her legs with her arms draped around them, one hand still tightly gripping the rim of her mirror.

He felt stronger, his head clear for the first time since he’s got here. Still not as strong as he’d been before, but stronger.

Laying down wasn’t comfortable anymore, so Fire Spirit decided to stand and stretch his legs.

The moment he moved, Agar Agar flinched hard and whipped her head around, her hands shaking.

Fire Spirit paused, staring at her. Her position didn’t change, so he just continued with what he was doing, standing up and popping his joints and cracking his knuckles for the first time in who knows how long.

It had suddenly become really tense in the room, with Agar Agar’s posture still unrelaxed and tensed up, eyes wide and trained on him. Fire Spirit wanted to say something, but he wasn’t sure what, so he sat back down and began to fidget with the engravings on his scepter to keep himself occupied.

It was really boring in here so he’s just resorted to whatever he can to keep himself sane and his scepter was the only thing he had. The only thing they let him keep, presumably because they knew what happened if they took it away and the fact that it supplied his power. He didn’t know how the rumor for the former began but it was true so he was glad they believed it.

Honestly it would probably be much more convenient for them to take it away, trap him in a bead forever while they used the power of the dragon bead for their own evil schemes. But then they’d have to deal with a hangry immortal 11 year old with the powers of two of the strongest cookies on Earthbread which is why they kept him chained to the cave wall. He’ll take it, I guess.

Speaking of Agar Cookie, she’d just stood up.

Fire Spirit raised an eyebrow and didn’t move from his seated position. Truthfully, he was terrified of this cookie, after how long he’s been here the constant pain that came from her presence was beginning to terrify him. He didn’t let it show, he had to keep whatever aura he had left after all.

Then she lifted her mirror, and his own fire flicked underneath it.

Then the all too familiar claws gripped his soul, stabbing his ight at his power source, greedily taking and taking and taking.

The all too familiar exhaustion and pain fell over his body, making him collapse to the ground and curl in on himself, knuckles white from gripping his scepter like a lifeline.

Then the pain turned to horrible, excruciating agony.

A whimper forced its way past his lips as the feeling spread like a wildfire across his dough, the very seams of his existence seemingly unraveling and being torn and snapped and painfully yanked out one by one.

His muscles twitched and spasmed, his eyes screwed shut in a vain effort to try and make the agony less unbearable for himself. Jam rushed through his ears, drowning out the sounds of the cave and the flickering flames, which he didn’t notice getting so dim it was becoming a hard to see.

When it was finally over, he could do nothing but lay there, not daring to move an inch, tears brimming at his eyes.

But his reprieve was short, because soon, it was back.

He curled further in on himself, weakness coursing through his veins to replace the energy that had been forcefully torn out. The pain was unbearable, every movement he made sent even more bolts of anguish through his dough.

He couldn’t take it anymore. Fire Spirit screamed, every drop of longing, terror, and agonized suffering heard in his raw and cracked voice in one guttural screech that echoed off the shimmering white crystals within the cave, now dull with no firelight to keep their sparkle, traveling past the entrance and into the rockey valley outside for whoever who listened to hear.

He couldn’t believe the tears that streamed down his dry and ashen cheeks. It was a child, for the Witches’ sake.

Suddenly, the pain stopped. But the relief was cut short as waves of pain began to roll through his body. One after the other, not subsiding in intensity, trying to adjust to the cramping of his joins and bones and the swelling sense of emptiness within him.

He cracked an eye open through it. His vision was blurry from tears and exhaustion but he saw what appeared to be Pomegranate and Agar Agar talking. He couldn’t make out anything besides their silhouettes, so he let his eye shut again.

The agony was becoming too much to bear and with the exhaustion pulling at his chest, Fire Spirit felt himself begin to slip into unconsciousness.

Chapter Text

Silently, Wind Archer approached the cave.

A scream. He’d heard a scream.

Some locals had told him the last person to talk to Fire Spirit Cookie was a mole who mined in the caves. Apparently, there was some strange monster appearances and he’d gone down with the miner to defeat them, and hadn’t came back out.

The miner said he had told him to leave, because the battle between him and the monsters was too dangerous for him to be there. He’d also said something about a cookie who was leading them, but Wind Archer paid it no mind, because his husband was in this cave.

The one that just had an ear splitting, agonized scream echo out of it.

Every instinct in his body wanted to run in, bow drawn, and destroy every single one of these captors- but he knew it was unwise to face a group of cookies and monsters who had managed to defeat one elemental guardian already.

So he crept down the side of the cave wall instead, and slowly made his way to the source of the sound.

As he was walking, he made sure to stick to the shadowed parts of the cave, hidden from the lantern light illuminating the cavern interior. Which worked, until he bumped into a small, doughy body.

Wind Archer gasped, reflexively reaching for an arrow. In front of him was a small mushroom cookie with dark skin and purple clothes, and a giant purple mushroom on his head.

The cookie blinked his purple eyes slowly at him, and then held up a comparatively small purple mushroom to him. “Shroomie?” He asked.

“You need to leave this cave, it is dangerous,” Wind Archer replied instead.

There was a moment of tense silence, and then the cookie dropped the mushroom. It exploded in purple spores on the ground, and Wind Archer covered his face with his scarf immediately, protecting him from the blast, but not from the young cookie climbing on his back, another mushroom in hand.

“Have a shroomie!” He chirped, before slamming it in his face, spores exploding everywhere in his eyes, lungs, and mouth. He coughed violently, eyes screwed shut, as Wind Archer tried to expel them from his body.

He opened his eyes and could barely see through the poisonous spores and his instinctual squint. He couldn’t shoot a bow like this.

Wind Archer turned around and fled. He had no choice, he couldn’t fight while under the effects of the spores. It was embarrassing to have to retreat this early into his journey, and from a child’s attack no less, but he could use the opportunity to regear and prepare.

Witches, he hoped he isn’t waiting too long to save his husband.

- -

Agar Agar Cookie felt more tears roll down her cheek from the pain. Both the physical pain of the hand mark on her cheek, and the emotional anguish of Pomegranate Cookie’s harsh words.

“I’m… s-sorry…” she tried to choke out, but all it was met with was more yelling.

Agar Agar hasn’t meant to overdo it. But Pomegranate kept putting limits on the amount of food she could take- a-and she’d just been so hungry, and-

She’d… kind of let herself get carried away.

Agar Agar hated when Pomegranate yelled. She felt worthless, weak. She’d made a small mistake, fixable at that, but the berating made it feel like she had destroyed their entire plan- maybe she had.

She ducked her head in shame more. She deserved this. She needed to be put in the right place. Even if it hurt.

Agar Agar glanced to the side, to where Fire Spirit lay.

She could tell his body was in overdrive, trying to save itself. His skin was ashy grey instead of the bright orange it had been, his hair drooping depressingly to the side. His dough was weak and she swore she could see tiny bits of ash float away at every breath he took.

But Fire Spirit was immortal, just like she was. So how..?

Ah, that was why Pomegranate Cookie was yelling. She’d taken too much food from him. Right.

She despised that her only way of eating was to hurt others. She didn’t want to hurt other cookies, but Pomegranate said that was the only way she could get food.

And she didn’t want to go back in the well, she was so lonely and so, so very hungry.

She’d taken worse. She could take Pomegranate yelling if it meant she could eat.

It was all someone like her deserved, after all.

- -

Finally, Fire Spirit woke again, but it was nowhere near as refreshing as last time.

His dough ached, the sensitive muscles and veins underneath pumping weakly to keep his flesh from falling apart. His hair, usually alight and burning brightly above him, had dimmed to an ashy brown and flopped to the side, sticking to his forehead, slick with grease. His scepter lay next to him, part of the staff under his leg, keeping him in the form of a cookie. His usually crispy and hard exterior was now dry and brittle, one movement threatening to cause the fragile dough to crumble away to ash.

His flame was weaker and dimmer than he’d ever seen it be, barely big enough to be felt. He felt his internal self try the over it up, slowly fan oxygen onto the small fire to get it to grow. It weakly flickered, and Fire Spirit Cookie felt his heart stop for a moment when it vanished from view, but slowly it began to grow higher, stronger than a small gust able to threaten to take it out.

When he felt it was strong enough, Fire Spirit slowly began to crack open his eyes.

Crusted tears and brittle dried frosting cracked and crumbled off as he forced his eyes to open. The room was dim, and he couldn’t make out much from his angle and from the now slightly brighter damp hair sticking to his forehead, but it looked like the cookie on guard was Licorice Cookie. Agar Agar and Pomegranate were nowhere to be seen.

Having no reason to keep them open, Fire Spirit let his eyes close once more, and he began to think.

He’d been to confident- so powerful feeling when he’d first awoken. He’d felt truly confident he could eventually take on Agar Agar and win.

He was foolish to think so. He’d fought her at full power and still lost. Now he was weaker and she was stronger. He couldn’t beat her.

Not to mention how quickly she reduced him to a sputtering and deathly husk, close to withering away at any moment.

He’d never, ever felt the level of exhaustion and fear he’d felt in that moment in his life, even when he was about to be killed in the volcano Pitaya Dragon found him in. That was terrifying.

He had to face it- he was probably not going to ever get out of this flame-forsaken cave. The thought made him want to gag up his non-existent stomach, but there was no point denying it. False hope would get him nowhere and maybe he wouldn’t have to go through that excruciating pain if he just accepted his fate here.

He would never see any of the Dragon’s Valley citizens again. Any of the guardians. Any of the elementals. Wind Archer. He would never see them again.

He didn’t know how to deal with that fact. But a small part of his, buried deep in the back of his subconscious, whispered to him.

That maybe, just maybe, this is what he deserved.

Chapter Text

Fire Spirit had lost all hope at this point.

It hadn’t been long until Agar Agar had began sapping from his power once again. He guessed the break was so he didn’t simply crumble away from the weakness.

Accepting his fate was a good decision. He knew that, because he’d started giving his fire willingly, and it didn’t hurt anymore.

Fire Spirit had began to create small balls of fire, letting the mirror absorb that instead. It being yanked from his body, his very core, still instilled a debilitating exhaustion in his dough, his very veins, which made him crumple to the ground each time, but at least it didn’t hurt. At least it didn’t feel like his very essence was being agonizingly ripped out of him. He could deal with a little sleepiness.

He was able to save on some fire with this strategy, actually. A former, naïve version of him might have seen this as a way to escape. But he was not that cookie anymore, instead he saw it as his privilege- now that he didn’t resist, he was able to feel somewhat whole again- well, as whole as he could be in this place, and hold on to more of his fire.

Plus, the guards were nicer now.

Some of them began to hold conversation with him. Licorice Cookie especially had warmed up to him, using him as a place to infodump and someone to talk at, even though most of the time he was too physically or mentally tired to respond, he appreciated the company.

Pomegranate Cookie would sometimes talk to him casually, as if they were friends. She’d vent about the insolence of the other cookies there, preach about Dark Enchantress Cookie’s glorious return, stuff like that. He didn’t necessarily care. It kind of annoyed him when she’d complain about one of the cookie’s he’d grown fond of, like Licorice Cookie.

A non-cookie- a cake werehound, maybe?- named Choco Werehound Brute had made a few remarks to him, but from what he knew, she seemed cool. He hoped he’d get to know her better, honestly, it didn’t seem like bad company.

And most surprisingly of all, Agar Agar cookie had began apologizing.

When she’d take his flame, even though he was doing so willfully now, she’d mumble out a small ”sorry,” too small for anyone to hear. But he heard.

He’d reassured her it was ok, but she continued to apologize. He didn’t know what changed but he didn’t mind the apologies. Agar Agar was clearly just a kid, not meant to be mingling with all this evil.

And he wasn’t exactly the best influence either.

Sea Fairy had told him before he was awful with kids, and though he’d been too stubborn to admit it, she was usually right, so he’d just accepted he shouldn’t be around kids. Knowing him, he’d probably just give them a giant sword then go fly off to do something else.

He wasn’t that good of a cookie either. He felt bad that Agar Agar was subjected to his presence.

In this cave, you really can’t do anything except for think. So he’d been thinking, reflecting, and his mind kept coming back to one time in particular. The last time he’d spoken with Wind Archer before his fight with Agar Agar and his capture.

…“You’re risking your life when you ignore this and I’m sick of it! You can’t be this reckless all the time, you’re a guardian and you need to FUCKING ACT like it!”

Fire Spirit had never, ever seen such pure rage and fury on Wind Archer’s face before. He’d hoped that if he ever did see something like that on him, it would be directed towards an enemy- towards something he could hate too.

But it was directed at him.

Tears burned at the back of his eyes and then began to spill over. Before Wind Archer’s could see his weakness at something so insignificant, he curled into a ball, still floating, and spun around until his back was to Wind Archer. It was an immature response, he knew it, he knew he was immature. But he couldn’t help it. He’d rather that then face judgement from his husband for something as small as being yelled at.

But he had never expected him to do that.

A voice shot through the quiet sounds of his sniffles and gasps. Wind Archer’s voice. “Fire Spirit, I-“

Fire Spirit interrupted him, quickly wiping away the tears and hoping his dough color hid the puffiness of his eyes. “No no, you’re…” Fire Spirit turned around, digging his nails into his scepter to ground himself, “you’re right. I do need to be taking this more seriously. I’ll come to the next meeting. I’m sorry.”

Wind Archer didn’t respond, just stared at him with an expression that was a mixture of pain, guilt, and horror. Fire Spirit broke his gaze away. He couldn’t bear to continue looking at him, lest that worry he’d traced warped into the hatred he always feared he’d see in Wind Archer’s eyes.

Unable to take the silence of the moment anymore, he spoke again. “I… need to check on the residents of the valley. I’ll meet you here in a week, same time, yeah?” As he got ready to fly away, he made the mistake of making eye contact with Wind Archer one last time, and the worry had changed to something so much worse than hatred could ever be- it had changed to hurt.

Unable to handle the tension anymore, Fire Spirit flew away like the coward he was, leaving his husband to pick up the pieces of his own mess.

Surely he must have missed the meeting and if anything, he’s definitely missed the meet up the week after he was going to go to.

He never was able to apologize. He never will be.

He had hurt his husband. He was a monster. What was wrong with him?

He was pathetic, a shitty excuse for a guardian and an elemental. Truly, what was Pitaya Dragon thinking? He should have been left to die in that volcano where he belonged.

He wasn’t trying to escape anymore, because not only had he realized it was impossible- that alone wouldn’t have been able to stop him anyways- but he had realized he had deserved this. The agony, the exhaustion, the weakness. The empty feeling of his flame not big enough to cover his body, his dough flaking off like embers.

He was cruel. He was oversensitive, he was selfish and immature, and he was nowhere fit to be a guardian. Hell, he should be dead. Part of him wished for that mercy, but he knew they’d never give it to him.

By staying here, he kept the other elementals safe from Agar Agar. Maybe a little bit of good would balance out the bad. As long as he knew they’d never give were alive, he could handle himself. He was nowhere near a good cookie, but if the elementals, if Wind Archer was safe, he might just be able to live with himself.

It was the least he could do.

- -

Wind Archer’s feet hit the rocky cave floor as he sprinted through the tunnels, bow in hand and ready to be notched at any moment. His scarf was pulled tightly over his nose and mouth, and his eyes were trained down one path which he knew was the correct one.

He’d retreated for only a day or so, but after restocking and preparing a little more, he was ready. He didn’t want to wait too long, his husband was in danger.

Unlike last time, it took him a few minutes until he was deep inside the cave for him to encounter any cookies.

Quietly, he peeked his head over a large walk, and saw two cookies conversing with each other. One was a giant werehound with a hammer, the other was a comparatively short red cookie with an arm made of cake.

Wind Archer narrowed his eyes. A different version of him would have assessed a way to distract them or simply waited until they moved to dart through unseen.

But he couldn’t afford to wait. Not after having done so for so long. He had to hurry, before it was too late.

So he simply steeled his nerves and sprinted straight through the pair and down the cave, his feet barely touching the rocky floor in his descent, ignoring the panicked and aggressive shouts of the two cookies.

He thinks he heard one try to chase after him, but he wasn’t paying attention to them. He knew the exact path to follow, the exact way to go. His wind was drawn to fire, no matter how weak it was.

Wind Archer took a left, then a right, the another left, then turned- and there he was.

Chapter Text

The first thing Fire Spirit heard was footsteps.

Those weren’t exactly uncommon to hear, and usually, they signified Agar Agar’s presence, so he’d learned to tense at them. But Agar Agar Cookie was the cookie sitting next to him.

These footsteps were rushed, frantic. They were quiet but still audible, and they sounded like they were skipping half of the steps on the stone staircase they ran down.

And they were headed straight for his direction.

Fire Spirit opened his eyes, and the last cookie he expected to see barged into the room.

“Wind Archer?” Fire Spirit gasped, and Wind Archer’s attention turned to him. He immediately regretted saying anything, because his husband’s face immediately dropped with horror.

The wind guardian ran over to him and knelt down. “Fire Spirit, oh my flame, what have they done?” He said, voice cracking, reaching up a hand and delicately placing it on his cheek.

But Fire Spirit felt nothing but alarm.

Resisting leaning into it, he pulled away from the hand on his cheek and said, “Windy, what are you doing here?! You need to leave, now.”

“Food…?” A voice from beside the two spoke. Agar had taken notice in Wind Archer, which was the thing he was afraid of.

His gaze darted over to her for a moment, before darting back to his husband, fear evident on his features.
“Please, Windy, for me. Run.”

Worry and hesitance were obvious in his eyes. “I’m not leaving without you,” he replied.

Suddenly, the room around them began to warm up. The pair looked towards the source to see Agar Agar summoning a giant fireball, aimed straight for the wind guardian besides him. His fire.

Wind Archer dodged, expertly moving his feet to avoid the fire’s trajectory. He drew back his bow and shot an arrow, and Agar Agar raised her mirror, and the arrow went right into it and vanished.

Wind Archer’s eyes widened and he clutched his chest. He looked back at him and his eyes flickered with recognition, and then, with horror.

Fire Spirit grabbed his ankle with more strength than he realized he had. “Fucking run!!!”

Wind Archer pointed his arrow at him, and he was hit with a wave of emotion; shock, betrayal, fear, relief. When the arrow flew forward, he couldn’t help his flinch, but the arrow whizzed past him.

To his surprise, the arrow shattered the chains keeping him bound to the cave walls. He lifted his hands in shock. The shackles were still there, but the chain was broken. He could leave. He could run.

“Please, Fire Spirit, come with me,” Wind Archer pleaded, voice breaking.

He couldn’t run.

Fire Spirit stood- and waited. He didn’t take a step forward, didn’t move, barely even breathed- his dough flaking away in the protective, suffocating wind that swirled around him. It had been so long since he’d felt a draft through his hair- it was damp and matted now.

The room began to heat up again the source from Agar Agar’s mirror, and Fire Spirit closed his eyes. Wind Archer’s voice called out, “I’ll come back for you, Fire!” and then the sound of footsteps, slowly fading in the distance.

Fire Spirit opened his eyes, and Wind Archer was gone.

Jam rushing through his ringing ears and he sunk to his knees. His eyes burning with tears. He’d pushed him away again. He had hurt his husband again.

It was the only way to keep him safe. He would do it again if he had to. So why did it hurt him so much? Why did it hurt both of them so much?

He was being punished, surely- for being an awful elemental and a horrible cookie. He was being subjected to this physical and emotional torment because he deserved to be, but it didn’t stop the ache in his heart knowing everything that happened was his own fault.

He hadn’t noticed that Agar Agar had left until she’d returned with Pomegranate Cookie, who raised an eyebrow at him when he met her gaze.

“Why?” She asked after their eye contact didn’t seem to communicate anything. “Why did you stay? You could have left.”

Fire Spirit gave a dry chuckle, looking at the ground. “I didn’t want Agar Agar hurting the other elementals.”

At the mention of her name, Agar Agar hid her face in shame.

“Is that so?” Said the priestess. “Perhaps if you continue to obey, I’ll let you keep the chains off- shackles too.”

Fire Spirit opened his eyes in shock and stared straight up into her eyes, his glare burning a hole in her head. “Fuck you, Pomegranate Cookie.”

“Excuse me?” She snapped.

“Fuck. You. Choke on your own fucking spit.”

Pomegranate groaned. “Such insolence will not be tolerated. Perhaps I can show you something to persuade your submission,” she replied.

Fire spirit raised an eyebrow when she began to wave her wand. It didn’t take long for the spell to take effect, as his eyelids started to feel heavy and his dough seemed to be weighed down by lead. He didn’t know what was about to happen, but fear coursed through his veins, something he never thought he’d feel towards a mortal.

“Sleep tight, little flame,” she said mockingly, and his consciousness slipped away.

Chapter Text

The first thing Wind Archer does is scan the room he’d bursted into for any sign of life. But his attention was quickly drawn to a figure when his name is called.

The room itself is dull; a simple dimly lit dungeon, metal chains bolted to the wall in a sporadic way, and clear white crystals growing out from the crevices and corners of the walls. It seemed to be mostly natural, spare the floor, smoothed out for conveniences sake.

There were two figures in the room- one, a young looking girl with long white hair and dough, the same color as the gems decorating the room. The other, the figure that called his name, Wind Archer barely even recognized for a moment.

It was… Fire Spirit.

But something was horribly, horribly wrong.

The normal grandeur he carried himself with was gone, replaced with weakness, panic, fear, and guilt. His dough, once a bright and fiery red, was naught but a dull maroon. His hair, once alive with passion, had faded from its once etherial crown of flames, instead falling to the side of his head, wilting and drooping over his face. He looked minutes away from crumbling into ash.

Wind Archer wasted no time in running over to the fire elemental, but emotions still overwhelmed him at just the sight of Fire Spirit’s lifeless eyes clearing up in a moment at the sight of him, but instead of recognition, or love, there was only fear, panic.

Tears welled up in Wind Archer’s eyes, and he reached a hand out, placing it delicately on the other’s cheek, as if gripping to hard would cause his dough to crack, to wither away into the wind that always swirled around his being, once making his flames stronger, now only serving to crumble away the weak flakes of dough and flour Fire Spirit was now made up of.

“Fire Spirit, oh my flame, what have they done?” he whispered.

Fire Spirit’s eyes flickered to the hand on his cheek, and then his body flinched away, despite clearly wanting to do the opposite. “Windy, what are you doing here?! You need to leave, now,” he hissed.

He opened his mouth to reply, hidden still by the green scarf still tied tightly over his bottom face as to not fall off, but was interrupted by a voice besides him. The other cookie had seemed to have finally noticed the encounter, and her red eyes stared into his skull, a strange sort of hunger and greed that send shivers down his spine in her glare. “Food…?”

“Please, Windy, for me. Run.” The words brought Wind Archer’s eyes back to his husband, and he was blindsided by the panic in Fire Spirit’s face turning to an absolutely terrified grimace. He’d never seen him like that before. The initial confusion and hurt from being rejected quickly morphed into concern.

“I’m not leaving without you,” Wind Archer replied hesitantly. What was Fire Spirit not saying?

The room was warming up. The white cookie had a mirror, and a faint red glow was coming from it. The pair turned to look, and Wind Archer’s realized there was fire flickering underneath the surface. But something was… wrong. They mimicked the fire wielded by Fire Spirit, but they lacked purpose. Granted, Fire Spirit could be a bit more reckless than Wind Archer preferred, and these flames didn’t seem restless or purposeless, but they lacked the want, the balance that made the fire the same beautiful essence he’d learned to love. These flames didn’t care about upholding a balance. They roared and flared with selfishness, hunger, and were tamed with sorrow rather than love. They were merely a tool, rather than one’s being, a mockery to who Fire Spirit was and to what being an elemental guardian meant.

It was disgusting.

The fire roared and released, shooting out in a violent stream towards Wind Archer. Pushing the fire away with the wind and stepping to the side, he dodged, the fire singing the air next to him. He wasted no time knocking an arrow and firing it in a matter of seconds, aiming straight for the mirror with the intention of shattering it.

But the arrow went right into it.

Wind Archer’s eyes widened slightly. He clutched his chest, in a feeble attempt to fill the gaping hole that had formed in his heart, as if the essence he’d imbued into the arrow had been ripped from his soul, leaving a giant cut that would never be filled. The wind around him slowed down just a small enough amount to be unnoticeable to anyone except for himself. He looked back at Fire Spirit and got a horrible, horrible feeling at what had happened to him.

Seemingly catching on to his realization, Fire Spirit gripped his ankle with more strength that he’d expected the other to have. “Fucking run!!!”

Wind Archer bit his lip, eyes meeting the chains that bound Fire Spirit to the cave wall. They didn’t appear to be metal- Fire Spirit could have easily melted them if they were, no matter how weak he was when they captured him- rather, they appeared to be forged with some sort of dark matter. Fortunately, banishing it was his specialty.

He drew back his bow and fired an arrow at the chains, dissolving and shattering them instantly. What he didn’t expect was for Fore Spirit to flinch, then look at his still shackled but no longer chained wrists like he was surprised he was alive. His heart broke.

“Please, Fire Spirit, come with me,” he pleaded, reaching a hand out to the fire elemental.

Fire Spirit stood- and for a moment, hope fluttered in Wind Archer’s chest- but he didn’t make any moves forward, just standing there, staring at him with distant eyes. They seemed to hold a lifetime of stories and pain, more than he ever should have gone through, but thus is the curse of an immortal, and Fire Spirit was not born one.

The room was heating up again. Those same wrong, uncanny flames were charging, flickering and gaining, preparing to attack. He needed to leave, lest he too is engulfed.

“I’ll come back for you, Fire!” he yelled out, voice cracking, before he shifted the wind and turned tail, fleeing the cave, small tear droplets flying away from his eyes in the gust. He ignored all the figures blocking him or attempting to engage, he needed fresh air.

Sunlight hit his face after around a minute of running, and he pulled the suffocatingly tight scarf down from his nose and mouth. He breathed, sighed, processing the events.

He wouldn’t blame Fire Spirit for being weakened, scared, untrusting, or pessimistic, but he had a clear chance to leave. He’d seen it in his eyes- he knew it too.

No matter how much they ruined Fire Spirit’s essence, they couldn’t take his confidence, his desire for freedom. And yet, he lacked it. Where had it gone? What exactly had they done, or rather, what had they told him?

Fire Spirit had been trapped in a cave for weeks now- likely with no sense of time, since he seemed malnourished and thus wasn’t getting regular meals- and with nowhere to go, nothing to do, and no one to speak to but manipulative and cruel people, surely they’d instilled something or lied to him which prevented him from being rational.

Surely, that’s the only explanation.

The gaping hole in his heart was still there. He brushed it off as being some sort of strange property the white cookie’s mirror had.

The white cookie…

What if it was Agar Agar?

Her last sighting hadn’t been too far from the Dragon’s Valley, and Frost Queen had described something similar to this feeling of emptiness.

His feet had already begun to move when he made the decision, sprinting through the rocky terrain of Fire Spirit’s domain, the wind hitting his back and swirling around his legs to optimize speed as much as possible.

He needed to speak with Frost Queen Cookie.

Chapter Text

Fire Spirit’s eyes jolted awake.

There were no chains around his wrists. No cave walls surroudnihim. But most prominently? His powers were back. No weakness, no exhaustion. He was back… to normal.

The elemental cookie looked around, and he remembered where he was. This was the forest him and Wind Archer had been married. He straightened his suit. He didn’t know why he was here, or why he was in the suit he was married in, but Wind Archer was probably around here somewhere. He needed to find him, he needed to apologize for what he’d done.

Would he even forgive him?

He had to try, at least.

“Wind Archer!” He called out, looking around, grass singing under his now brightly burning feet. “Wind Archer?” There he was! He was standing where the wedding had taken place, where they’d kissed surrounded by friends…

“Why are you still here, Fire Spirit?” Wind Archer said.

“What? I was looking for you, obviously,” he replied, chuckling, unable to stop the nervousness in his voice.

“Still? You still think I would ever marry you?” And his heart sunk.

“What? We already-“

“You’re delusional, you know that? I would never even think about marrying a monster like you,” the wind guardian suddenly snarled, that maddeningly familiar look of hatred plastered on his face once more. Something inside Fire Spirit broke.

“I’m sorry,” he said almost on instinct, “I don’t know what I did, but I’ll fix it, I promise.”

“Fix it?” A different voice. Millennial Tree Cookie. “You cannot fix it. It is too late for that.”

Fire Spirit blinked, and the lush forest was gone. He resided inside Millennial Tree’s hut, a large hollowed tree with wooden tables and chairs- where they were supposed to hold meetings. He wouldn’t know.

“What the hell? Millie, I don’t-“

“Do not call me that,” he suddenly snapped, causing a flinch out of Fire Spirit.

“I… sorry. Um, I don’t- what happened?”

“You have some nerve, you know?” Millennial Tree said, narrowing his eyes. “After everything, you still force me to say it out loud, to acknowledge the suffering I’ve endured because of you. Why?”

Fire Spirit’s eyes widened. “S-suffering? What- I, I didn’t mean to-“

Millennial Tree’s hand moved slowly to the window, where sunlight streamed into the room calmly. He pulled back the thin shades to reveal it wasn’t sunlight at all, but firelight. Fire which consumed and destroyed the forest outside, ripping and tearing through the greenery and reducing it to nothing but charcoal and ash. He couldn’t control it.

He choked, stepped back. “I didn’t- I didn’t mean to..!”

Millennial Tree dropped the blinds, but the image stayed in his mind, burned into his irises. “Your intentions are irrelevant. Your actions are inexcusable, Fire Spirit. The forest is gone. My forest. Wind Archer’s forest. And it’s all your fault.”

“You… you’re lying. This is a test. I—“ his voice broke— “I can control my powers just fine!”

“Now look what you’ve done,” sneered another voice, and he turned and he was in a black void. Fire Spirit turned again and blinked, and behind him stood the other guardians and elementals.

“You failed us,” said Sea Fairy.

“I expected nothing more,” said Moonlight.

“Because of you my attacker walks free,” said Frost Queen.

“You’re a failure, complete, pathetic, failure,” said Stormbringer.

“Monster,” said Sea Fairy- or was it Frost Queen? The immortals began to circle him, slowly enclosing in on him to put pressure. Their voices and insults blended together as Fire Spirit stopped paying attention to their voices and instead to his breathing.

“Traitor!”

“Monster!”

“Worthless!”

“Pathetic!”

Fire Spirit gasped as Stormbringer shoved her face right in his, disdain plastered clearly all over it. He took a step back and bumped into Moonlight, who sneered at him, Fire Spirit backed away from them both only to promptly run into Frost Queen, who shoved him forward into Sea Fairy. He was being overpowered, he couldn’t escape and he couldn’t win a fight against all 4 of them. Panic shot through his dough.

“Get- hic- get back-” he pleaded through gasps of air, his fire shaking unstable in his hand.

“You don’t deserve the reprieve,” said a voice. He couldn’t even identify who had said it.

“Get BACK!” He roared, releasing all the pent up stress in one outward ring of fire, pushing the four back with enough force to topple a building. He opened his eyes, which he didn’t remember closing, and instead of seeing four dazed immortals, he was back in the forest- now set ablaze by his own carelessness.

Fire Spirit’s breath hitched at the sight. “No… No… This can’t be happening,” he panted, clutching his hands into fists, the unclipped and brittle fingernails snapping and tearing as they dug into the flesh.

He began levitating, trying to draw back the fire, but it wasn’t working. His power was of destruction, not of preservation. He could not save, he could not protect. He can only burn.

“I can fix it! I can fix this,” Fire Spirit’s lied, to reassure himself mostly. He tried harder. Nothing was happening.

“Fire Spirit?”

The guardian froze and turned to the voice he’d recognize anywhere. The ring of fire and scorched grass had left a small patch of land able to be stood on, and on the edge, with flames licking at his light green dough and woolen tunic, dancing around the flowers and vines that decorated his bow, stood Wind Archer.

“Wind Archer,” he said, dropping to the charred ground. It wasn’t a question, it wasn’t looking for an answer. It was simply a statement, two words that made a name he cherished, two words that defined who he was and what he will be. Two words that threatened to be his end.

The guardian’s hand moved. Slowly, not taking his unreadable eyes off of him, he reached back for a glowing green arrow, slowly sliding the end onto the bow and holding it up, drawing back the bow.

A moment passed. Fire Spirit wanted to say something, but no words came to him. His eyes were glassy.

Wind Archer released the string.

As the arrow flew towards him, every instinct in his dough screamed at him to move, run, block the arrow with fire, raise his arms to protect himself, anything. But he didn’t. It was Wind Archers’s job to banish the darkness, and while he certainly wasn’t aligned with it at all, he knew darkness clung to his heart. After all, he was barely a guardian, because what could he protect? His magic destroyed and burned and hurt, he could be nothing more.

He closed his eyes and a sharp pain stabbed into his chest, but it quickly lessened before he had the chance to scream, fading into a dull ache that spread throughout his entire body. What was much more prominent was the knowledge he’d just been murdered, purged even, by the man he thought loved him. He’d known it was too good to be true.

Fire Spirit opened his eyes. Everything was black, and cold, so cold. A shiver ran up his spine.

He looked around and saw nothing but darkness. It was disorienting, made him dizzy enough to where he felt like he’d collapse but had no clue which direction he’d fall. Every direction looked the same, he couldn’t tell the difference between his eyes being closed or open. The room was getting less cold.

He decided to start walking in a random direction, only to find he couldn’t move. Fire Spirit began to panic. Why couldn’t he move? Why was the room getting warmer?

Warm wasn’t even the right word anymore. It was hot- no, boiling- no, scorching. The heat kept ticking up, and while he had never even noticed heat before, able to swim through lava and create temperatures high enough to melt stone, it seared into his very being like a brand now, and he choked and sobbed as he tried to move, get away, anything.

“Help… please,” he croaked, desperate, not expecting a response, but hoping there would be someone, anyone, to help him escape this anguish.

“Who daresss to enter my valley?” Roared a familiar voice. Relief washed over him. Pitaya Dragon Cookie was here!

“Pitaya,” he yelled, voice raw and broken, “help me! Please! I’m dying!”

They laughed at him. “Oh, and why ssshould I do that, little flame?”

“Please,” he said, “I’ll do anything.”

“Anything, hmm?” it responded. “Well, I sssuppossse there isss one thing you could do…”

Fire Spirit listened intently. The heat was unbearable. He didn’t know how much longer he could take it. He felt like he was being melted.

“Take over my dutiesss asss the guardian of fire, guardian of the Dragon’sss Valley. Then, perhapsss I’ll let you free.”

His brain was too overwhelmed with agony to register the fact that this already happened. “Anything, please!”

Pitaya Dragon laughed, a long, throaty sound that went on for much longer than Fire Spirit could bear the heat. “You truly believe you are worthy of becoming the legendary guardian of flamesss and fire? Pathetic!”

Fire Spirit flinched. “I just… I want to be freed, please.”

“Ssso, you admit it. You aren’t and never were a worthy elemental guardian. I picked you out of pity, nothing more. You jussst wanted to sssave your own assss.”

He didn’t respond to its statement, because he knew it was true. If he hadn’t been on the brink of death, he wouldn’t have chosen to become a guardian at all. He was nowhere near worthy, he felt bad that Pitaya was merciful enough in the first place to select him to be their successor.

”Rot in hell, wretch.”

The pain overwhelmed him for a moment, then everything faded into a dull static. Fire Spirit looked down and couldn’t see his dough, hands invisible when his mind told him he had lifted them in front of his face.

Was he finally dead?

There was no way this was it. An endless black void couldn’t be the eternity he was doomed to.

“Do you see now? Are you enlightened yet?” Said a voice. He couldn’t place the source. Maybe he was just hallucinating it, but he would entertain it anyways, because he really didn’t want to be alone here.

“Enlightened to what? The suffering I’ve faced? I was pretty aware of that, dimwit,” he scowled with a bit more aggression than someone who really didn’t want to be alone here, but he was having a bit of a rough day, in his own defense.

“Egotistical as ever, I see,” it replied.

Anger and defensiveness flared through his body. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“You know exactly what, Fire Spirit,” the voice snapped. “You believe this is about your suffering? You destroyed Millennial Tree’s sacred forest, forced Wind Archer to turn on you because of your mistakes, and almost convinced the worthy guardian of fire to give their power to someone not at all fit for it! You have caused so much more suffering than you’ve endured, and you deserve every drop that you have felt.”

Fire Spirit’s eyes refocused- he guesses he stopped paying attention to his same black surroundings while talking to the voice- and suddenly in front of him was Pomegranate Cookie. He doesn’t know how she managed to sneak up on him, honestly.

“And don’t try to deny it,” she said, expression unchanging, blank, and cold, “you know you deserve it too.”

There was a moment of silence. Fire Spirit took in the words, accepted them, and defaulted back to how he always was- arrogant.

“Yeah, and you know what we both also know? None of that shit was real. You were just showing me illusions to break my spirit. Well it’s not gonna work!”

It was the last thing he could say. Beneath the thin veil of confidence was the same scared, broken cookie, who’d always been there but could only ever rear his ugly bruised head when he had been beaten down to his very core, when he had no other choice but to admit his true fears.

“It could have been. It could be. You know yourself and what you may do,” was all Pomegranate said in response. Fire Spirit didn’t have- no, didn’t entertain her with a response.

And then she was gone. Figure swallowed by the black abyss, shrill voice nowhere to be heard.

“P-Pomegranate Cookie?” he asked, unable to keep the frankly embarrassing tremor from his voice.

And then his eyes were shooting open, unexpectedly pulled from the restless slumber.

“Are you convinced yet?” Asked Pomegranate who was saying this way too quickly for him to gather his bearings after that experience. His carefully crafted persona of confidence had been broken and discarded already, but it was shattered now, and he was scrambling to pick up the pieces before anyone saw his weakness, who he truly was.

He panted, trying to sit up, leaning heavily on one elbow before he fully collapsed onto the ground in failure. A grunt tore its way from his throat, raspy and hoarse from unuse.

After only a short amount of time being normal, he’d selfishly gotten used to the absence of pain, of constant exhaustion. It had hit him once again like a train, and sensations he’d previously tuned out were pressing against his senses excruciatingly. He’d never noticed how the trembling of his hands made his dough crack and crumble until his fingers looked disfigured, not until now. For the first time, he fully realized he wasn’t lying down to conserve energy, he fully lacked the ability to stand.

“Answer me!” shouted Pomegranate, impatient as ever. He decided to continue ignoring her for now. There was nothing she could do to him as any sort of punishment that would compare to what she’d already done. He was apathetic to what she did to him now; so overwhelmed by the anguish he’d go through more just to feel something again.

Maybe his silence was enough of a protest to annoy the priestess into leaving, or maybe it was enough of an answer, but her footsteps filled his ringing ears, slowly fading as they got further away. He was alone now, he didn’t see anyone next to him standing guard. This was the first time he’d ever been truly physically alone since his very first escape attempt, however long ago that was. If only he’d known how bad things would get.

And there in the suffocating comfort and eerie bliss of the dark cave with crystals that once sparkled with firelight but now sat dull and opaque, where the only sound was his own ragged breaths, Fire Spirit let a tear form in his eye. And then another, and another, and he was soon choking back sobs from the sheer weight of it all. Weeks of anguish, torture, pain, and grief flowed out of him in the small drops of water that stained and dampened his cracked and dry dough.

There in that cave, Fire Spirit cried.

Chapter Text

Wind Archer’s feet softly hit the snow littered ground outside of Frost Queen Cookie’s palace.

The wind swerved around him, protecting him from the chill, but the cold still nipped at the edges of his dough as he approached the palace and let himself in.

There wouldn’t be anyone around to open the door. Better to just let himself in.

Not bothering to hide them, Wind Archer’s footsteps echoed throughout the icy corridor. It was colder in here than it was outside. In the snow, he could at least protect himself from the cold winds, but here there was nothing but a constant chill, seeping through his dough and to his very bones.

Thoughts of warmth, of a flame or a torch in his hand there to fend off the cold, did nothing to cease the chill, the icy pang in his chest.

The hallways were winding, he was unsure which of the identical corridors he’d walked already. He didn’t understand it, why complicate your palace if you never intend to use the majority of the rooms? If you’ve never properly walked through the chilling halls?

But soon he found the room he was looking for. He rapped his knuckles across the icy surface, the sound reverberating across the castle. Soon, the door creaked open.

“Wind Archer Cookie,” greeted the ice queen. She stepped back to let him walk into the throne room. “What brings you here today?”

“Frost Queen Cookie,” he responded tersely, “I’m here to discuss the cookie known as Agar Agar Cookie with you. I believe I know her location.”

Her expression changed from slightly light and curious to hardened and serious. “Then, it seems we have much to discuss. If I may inquire, were you able to locate Fire Spirit Cookie? I understand how stressful it must have been to not know his location.”

The question threw off Wind Archer and a pang of guilt shot through his head. It must have been too obvious, because Frost Queen in her kindness decided to change the subject.

“You’re shivering. Here, let me get you something for the cold. You probably aren’t used to it, living in Millennial Tree Cookie’s Forest and all. Do they get snow there?”

Wind Archer closed his eyes. “I appreciate the offer, but it’s no problem, I assure you. Don’t trouble yourself on it.” She led him to a room next to the throne room, with a large meeting table. She sat at the head of it, he sat next to her, not bothering to be professional enough to sit on the other end. “And… yes, occasionally. During the colder winter months, there’s snow every year or so. Not constantly, like this place.”

She hummed. “Perhaps I should visit during the winter months, then,” she mused, “though it’s usually a bit hard to tell what season it is here. And, nonsense. Allow me to fetch you something, it will be much simpler to commune if we’re both comfortable.”

A few minutes later, Frost Queen returned with a thick green wool jacket. Wind Archer slipped it over his shivering figure, immediately feeling the warmth. “I appreciate the gesture, but I assure you it was not necessary.”

Her eyes glinted. “Has no one taught you it’s rude to refuse a gift from a royal? Just take it, you don’t need to be humble with me,” she scoffed. “Now, onto the matter of Agar Agar Cookie.”

“Yes,” he said, refocusing and straightening his posture. “While I was searching for Fire Spirit, I came across a cave in which I saw a cookie who matched your descriptions of her. She even had the mirror with her.”

Frost Queen nodded slowly, taking in the information.

“Frankly, what I witnessed was horrific. Agar Agar Cookie and her allies had captured Fire Spirit Cookie, and from what I discerned they were using him for his supply of power as a way to feed Agar Agar, who I believe feeds off of the elemental energy. When I arrived, she used Fire Spirit’s flames to attack me, and absorbed one of my arrows.

“Fire Spirit was already in very bad shape when I arrived, he looked to be on the verge of crumbling. I’m worried for his safety, as well as for the safety of cookiekind if a malicious cookie with the ability to absorb other cookies’ powers is unleashed. We must act.”

Frost Queen Cookie closed her eyes. After a moment of thought, she replied, “have you told Millennial Tree about this yet?”

Wind Archer shook his head.

“Hm.”

Frost Queen opened her eyes. “I will tell Sherbet Cookie to tell the other elementals and guardians about this. If a cookie can manage to pacify an elemental guardian, it is a cause of concern for all of us. I believe our course of action is to assemble a team of guardians to raid the cave, find Agar Agar, and destroy her mirror.”

Wind Archer nodded. “Yes, I agree. But if we were to fail, Earthbread would be left with no protectors. We are essential to keeping the balance, if something were to happen to all of us, an even bigger shift than has already happened with the disappearance of just Fire Spirit would occur. Evil would conquer Earthbread. Are we willing to risk that?”

Frost Queen considered his words. “Perhaps some of us should stay behind then. A team of 3, perhaps?”

“That would increase the likelihood we fail,” Wind Archer pointed out. “Agar Agar can counter the attacks of all elementals. That is where the problem lies. No mortal would be strong enough to fight her, but she has a way to defeat guardians.”

“Not every guardian,” Frost Queen said. “There is one guardian who is not elemental.”

“If you mean Moonlight Cookie, I doubt we would be able to get her to join. Not even Sherbet was able to reach her in her slumber.”

“Sea Fairy may be able to.”

Wind Archer looked at his hands on the icy table. He began to pick at one of his cuticles idly. “I would feel bad making her confront Moonlight like that. While I don’t know the full scope of what happened, it’s clear they don’t wish to speak.”

Frost Queen sighed. “I fear this situation goes beyond the comfort of Sea Fairy and Moonlight. Fire Spirit’s life is at risk, as is the very balance that holds together our fragile world and the life within it. If they must confront themselves to protect us all, so be it,” she replied with a twinge of exasperation.

Wind Archer ripped the bit of skin off his nail. A bead of blood welled up where he’d torn it. “I understand,” he said, not noticing the injury. “Tell Sherbet to visit Millennial Tree first. I’ll visit Sea Fairy personally.”

She nodded. “Say, why don’t you stay the night? You must be exhausted from travel, and I wish to catch up. It’s been some time, my friend.”

Wind Archer nodded at the offer in acknowledgment. “I truly appreciate the offer, but time is of the essence. I must rush back to speak with Millennial Tree and Sea Fairy. Perhaps some other time, though.”

Frost Queen Cookie hummed. “Yes, perhaps.”

As Wind Archer left the palace, the small bead of blood on his finger was blown into the snow by the biting winds. It landed on the crystalline floor, the small frozen crystals soaking in the red liquid, the color illuminating their complex structures and the brilliance of their design. Then a gust of wind hit the ground, and it was gone.

Chapter Text

And really, what was there to to do about it?

Fire Spirit had lost. He could barely move. His powers were barely active. Death loomed over his head like fish bait. Pomegranate Cookie had done exactly what she had intended to. And he’d done nothing substantial to stop her. In fact, if anything, his actions probably helped.

The best thing he could do at this point was to stay. The pain hadn’t become more bearable, but that was fine. Honestly, he probably deserved to feel that anguish anyways.

By staying where he was, he ensured Agar Agar wouldn’t be let loose on Earthbread to wreak havoc with his fire (though, wouldn’t it be used for the same purpose regardless?)

…Would she even do something of the sort? Agar Agar was a child, shaped by her experience and adoration of others. It’s part of the reason why he felt like his presence here was just a burden, it always was, something that stops their plans in its tracks even if just it being by his existence.

Regardless, the only mercy he could pray for now is death.

What is there left for him in this world? His powers are gone. Pitaya Dragon probably sees him as a weak fool. Millennial Tree and the other guardians probably do too, if they didn’t already. And Wind Archer? Wind Archer surely hates him after their last encounter. He hated himself for it. Why wouldn’t he?

His death would let the world move on. Let the world know a peace they haven’t since his immortalization. Perhaps that one small good intention would do something to balance out all the bad, the horrible atrocities he’s likely committed.

He didn’t wish for death because of the anguish that came with Agar’s routine. He wished for death because he deserved nothing less. Torture and execution was all someone like him deserved.

And it was this thought Fire Spirit dwelled on when he heard a small voice, barely above a whisper, call his name.

--

Nothing had really changed, had it?

Agar Agar knew she couldn’t die, at least, not of natural causes like hunger or illness, but she still felt it all. She still felt the insatiable hunger that clawed at her throat and screamed for more.

That’s why she’d hated that well, she thought. The hunger, the starvation, the weakness that came with being trapped in it. But what she hadn’t realized is the maddening similarity that she’d come to hate more.

With her stomach a little more full then it was before, Agar Agar had come to despise the sameness of it all more. The sameness of the crystals on the walls, the cracks in the rocks, the seconds ticking by until Pomegranate would come by with a judgmental glare, all the previous warmth and pride gone, replaced with annoyance, telling the girl just how much of a burden she truly was.

The shrill shouts and harsh slaps that came with it when she inevitably took a little more than she was allowed.

Agar Agar didn’t know what Pomegranate had done to Fire Spirit after the green cookie came by, but he was in even worse shape than he was before. Even then, he’d willingly give her the fire, meaning she couldn’t mess up on accident, sparing her from Pomegranate’s ruthlessness. It also meant she could whisper apologies into the new darkness of the cave, as she watched the fire behind his amber eyes flicker a little less, his body flinching away from the pain that surely covered his dough from head to toe by now.

No longer.

Agar Agar opened one eye, sparing a glance at the elemental. He was sleeping. He usually was.

He looked as he always did; his breath ragged and sharp, dough grey and pale, hair slick with sweat and completely extinguished. The dry flakes of dough that clung to him shifted and fell off with every small movement, like dandruff. Fire Spirit was supposed to be immortal. But much longer in here, and…

She had to do this, to save both of them. She didn’t know what happens after this, whether she stayed or left, and that was terrifying. But she had to do this. Even if her limbs felt like lead as she stood from the ground and stared at the weakened elemental.

Every step echoed throughout the caverns. With each one, Agar Agar tensed, waiting for Pomegranate to catch her in the act, and then the caves would be filled with screams and tears again. But no one came.

She reached Fire Spirit, and dropped to her knees, sitting in front of him. Lightly, she reached one trembling hand out to where he laid, flinching back as soon as she accidentally made contact. His dried dough stuck to her finger, flaking easily off of his body, and she felt herself almost vomit at the sight of it.

“Fire..?” Agar Agar whispered into the dark.

For a moment, there was silence. The girl began to wonder if he hadn’t heard her. Perhaps he was still asleep. Perhaps he was dead.

But then, the elemental cracked one eye open, crusted bits of ash flaking off of his eyelashes and cheek as his glossed over gaze met her pale figure, unfocused and hazy.

Her breath hitched.

“Fire,” she whispered again.

He didn’t respond.

“I… I wanna… t’ leave… with you,” Agar Agar choked out finally.

He blinked.

“I… I hate… Pommy… ‘nd this cave,” she admitted, tears welling up in her eyes. “Leave… with me. Please.”

Fire Spirit closed his eyes.

For a moment, panic swelled up in Agar Agar- did he not want to? Would he tell on her? Did he fall asleep? Was he…

But then his lips slowly parted, pulling apart slowly as to minimize the damage to his body. He was going to speak, so Agar Agar leaned in close as to make sure she heard.

“…Take-“ and the sentence was cut off short as a deep cough wretched itself from the elemental’s throat. Ash and jam flew out of his mouth as he convulsed and shrunk in on himself, more dough flaking away as he did. It was a horrific, pathetic sight. One she felt she would never be able to forget.

A reminder of what she’d done to him. The atrocities she was truly capable of.

Finally, his chest stopped heaving in pain, and he opened his eye to look at her, opening his mouth once more.

“Take… staff… bead… run…” he wheezed out, voice rough from unuse and from the exhaustion.

Slowly, Agar Agar reached out with trembling hands and grasped the staff, slowly pulling it out from Fire Spirit’s form.

When she did, she flinched as a bright flash revealed the reason why he’d been allowed the staff anyways. In his place was a small, faded red bead with a small orange flame kindling inside. It was the most fire she’s seen him have in weeks.

She picked up the bead. She slipped it in her pocket. There was something comedic about her literally just putting the guardian of fire itself in her kimono, but beggars can’t exactly be choosers, on either of their ends. The pile of ash left behind where Fire Spirit Cookie had laid was not lost on the girl, but she decided to leave it for a future time.

She clutched the staff close to her chest. She didn’t see or hear anyone nearby. This was her chance.

Slowly, Agar Agar crept towards the exit of the cave. Her footsteps were quiet and flat, echoing only slightly throughout. She didn’t hear anyone nearby or ahead, so she kept walking.

Truthfully, she’d been expecting more people to be around. A guard by the exit. Pomegranate Cookie lurking right around the corner. Something ready to stop her, or Fire Spirit, in case either escaped.

But there was nothing.

And then, sunlight hit her face.

--

“Sea Fairy Cookie.”

The guardian opened her eyes and turned to look at Wind Archer, sapphire eyes clouded with sorrow as always. She hummed, acknowledging his presence, and turned away.

“I have an ask of you. It is of great urgency.”

Sea Fairy didn’t make any movement, but he could tell she was paying attention.

He took a deep breath. He needed to be careful with his words, lest she refuses to hear him any longer for his request.

“I’ve located Fire Spirit,” he began carefully, “a group of evil cookies are holding him hostage, using the strange abilities of one cookie- Agar Agar Cookie- to drain his power. We have reason to believe it may draw from elemental magic, as she was able to drain the magic of me, Frost Queen, and Fire Spirit.”

Sea Fairy turned to him and said, “why are you asking me of this? My magic is elemental too. It was also greatly weakened throughout the years. I would not be able to defeat her if you are describing the truth.”

Win Archer hesitated before answering. “There is a guardian who does not possess elemental magic.”

Instantly, Sea Fairy’s eyes widened.

“You-“ she sputtered, taking a step back. “You want me to-“

“I wouldn’t ask something like this of you if I did not genuinely believe Fire Spirit’s life was in grave danger,” he replied. “I understand this is a big favor. I’m sorry to ask this of you, but I don’t know how much longer Fire Spirit has.”

Sea Fairy was quiet for a long time. He decided to not interrupt her thinking.

“…okay,” she whispered after a long moment, “I’ll do it. I’ll talk to her.”

Wind Archer smiled at her. “Thank you, Sea Fairy. I appreciate more than you could imagine.”

Sea Fairy was silent, but gave a small nod.

“I must go speak with Millennial Tree, but I truly will never be able to repay you for this. Thank you.”

“Of course,” Sea Fairy said, gaze still tilted towards the ground.

Wind Archer left, propelled by the strong salty winds of the sea, letting him glide over the water effortlessly. He couldn’t help a smile at the thought. He could see his husband again soon. There was a chance to save him, he just had to use it right.

--

And somewhere far across the sea and the sky, ways above the clouds, the moon heard the sea sing a song of sorrow and grief.

And she opened her eyes once more.

Chapter Text

“Wind Archer. I’ve been expecting you. Please, take a seat.”

And Wind Archer did, eyes trained on Millennial Tree Cookie, who sat across from him. “I presume Sherbet Cookie has informed you of my findings?”

Millennial Tree hummed an affirmation. His eyes were closed in thought, fingers rhythmically tapping across the wooden table of the room.

“I am going to attempt to communicate with Fire Spirit Cookie’s soul,” Millennial Tree said abruptly. “I will be able to communicate with him and understand his emotions. I will also be able to find his location.”

Wind Archer nodded. “I didn’t know you were able to do that.”

Millennial Tree nodded. “I am only able to do it to guardians or to cookies with a divine property to them, such as Stormbringer Cookie or Sherbet Cookie. If nothing interferes, I should be able to form a connection with Fire Spirit Cookie’s soul and speak to him. Do you have a message?”

Wind Archer paused. “Tell him that I love him,” he decided, “anything else we should speak about face to face.”

Millennial Tree Cookie closed his eyes and went quiet.

Minutes passed.

Wind Archer tapped his foot anxiously.

The world seemed to stand still. The elemental knew better than to interrupt its silence.

Then, Millennial Tree opened his eyes.

“This is troubling,” he said. Alarm bells sounded in Wind Archer’s head.

“If I may ask you to elaborate,” he said, trying to hold together his shaking voice, his trembling hands under the table.

“I cannot reach a connection with him. Perhaps it is a byproduct of the circumstances he is in, or he is separated from his staff at the moment.”

Wind Archer sucked in a breath. “And… it’s also possible he is dead.”

Millennial Tree looked at the wooden table. “I will not lie to you and say it is untrue that that is a possibility. However, know it is unlikely; I feel I would have felt something, a much more severe shift in the energy of Earthbread. With nothing to tame the fire, it would be even more destructive than it has been in recent. That has not happened yet.

“Wind Archer, my child. I sense these words bring no comfort to you. I assure you, your husband is alive. Regardless if it is of help, my words are the truth. We will work to make sure he is soon well once more. This threat is not being ignored, know that.”

Wind Archer Cookie nodded, eyes misty. “I- okay. Okay, alright.”

“I sympathize with your pain, Wind Archer. But we must stay focused. All that can be said has been said, we should prepare.”

Wind Archer nodded again, wiping the tears on his sleeve. Millennial Tree was right, he couldn’t be wasting time being sad. He had to work to save his husband or this would all be for nothing. So he shoved those emotions into the back of his brain, pushed them out of his mind, and forgot about it. He had to be serious now. He couldn’t waste time being depressed.

Fire Spirit was counting on him, and Wind Archer couldn’t fail him again.

--

Agar Agar ran and ran and ran, not even bothering to open her eyes to remember the way she’d came.

Her feet hit sharp jagged stones, cutting up the surface and leaving a thin trail of red across the desert. Then, small pebbles turned to a soft plane of grass, gentle against the bloody soles which ran across it. When Agar Agar opened her eyes, she was in a thick forest.

How far had she come? Was she not in the Dragon’s Valley earlier? Ow, ow ow ow ow her feet really hurt-

Her eye spotted a shallow cave, out of the way enough it wasn’t noticeable but not deep enough to remind either of them of that room, those tunnels. The damp grey stone was nothing like the dusty pale orange with crystals reflecting the smallest bit of light, their glittering sheen slowly being dimmed by the lack of light from…

Fire Spirit Cookie.

She clutched the staff in her trembling hands, steeling her nerves and walking over into the cave. Carefully, she laid the small warm bead down on the floor, hoping it wasn’t too cold. Then, she gently touched the staff to the bead.

In another flash of light, Fire Spirit was there, eyes wide and mouth slightly open.

He immediately began to cough, ashes and jam flying out of his mouth and onto the wet rock.

Agar Agar took a few steps forward. She didn’t know what to do.

Her eyes, however, trailed down to the other’s legs, or rather, what remained of them.

She had seen that pile of ash and charcoal that’d been left behind when she took the staff. She knew that Fire Spirit was virtually dying. What she didn’t know was what she’d see, or how to prepare for it. But she knew now.

Fire Spirit’s left leg had completely crumbled, turned to ashes left behind, leaving a distorted stump of flaky dough where it should connect to the torso. On top of that, the small fragile fingers on both of his hands were disfigured and basically useless, some fingers being bent the wrong way, some being shorter or missing joints, and many being missing all together.

She found herself taking a step back.

When the coughing fit subsided, Fire Spirit clumsily began grasping at the staff, trying to get a good hold. He seemed to realize he couldn’t and instead wrapped his arms and leg around it instead to keep it close to him, flickering his eyes open and looking down at the bottom half of his body.

“My-“ he gasped, eyes wide with terror as his gaze landed on the missing limb. She hated seeing him with that look in his eyes. She hated terrifying him.

She could see tears in his eyes, amber irises red and puffy. She took more steps forward, sitting down on her knees in front of him. Fire Spirit collapsed, head buried in Agar Agar’s chest, shaking as he quietly sobbed. She could feel a wet spot begin to form on her kimono.

Agar Agar looked down at him as he cried, counted the ashy brown strands of hair on his head. She didn’t know how to comfort him, she didn’t know how to help. You’d think she’d have figured it out by now, being hundreds of years old and all, but maybe spending most of that time in a well wasn’t the best experience.

“There… there,” she tried, noting how absolutely nothing changed about the other’s demeanor. Witches, she was bad at this.

She could feel a weak death grip on another part of her kimono, and saw that even with the deformities in his fingers Fire Spirit was clutching onto it, like a child clinging to their mother. Ironic how the roles had almost swapped.

Agar Agar decided the best course of action was to let him cry it out, then ask him what to do. Hopefully he’d have a better idea that she would. She was scared, cold, and starting to get hungry again. She hadn’t eaten in… who knows how long. She could only imagine he was in a worse state, but Fire Spirit was experienced. He’d surely know what to do, how to help, who to trust.

After a short amount of time the sobs subsided and Agar Agar felt his raspy breaths against her clothes. She figured he was probably asleep, passed out from exhaustion, so she carefully rolled him into a sitting position, back against the wall of the cave, head slouched to the side. His expression was almost peaceful, spare for his creased eyebrows, tense with pain. His breaths came in slow and strained, loud and echoing through the room.

Agar Agar stared at the ceiling. She watched the cave water drip down from the stalagmites and fall unceremoniously on her and Fire Spirit’s head, the mineral water smelling strongly of salt.

Witches, she was starving.

She wouldn’t eat, though. She’d been selfish enough already. No matter how much it gripped and consumed her, she knew how long she could go without it. And if it meant not hurting someone, she would hold back. She would have to.

The soft sound of rain began in her ears.

Agar Agar turned her head to see rain beginning to pour down from the clouds above.

She had never liked the rain. In the well there was nothing to protect her from it, and she just had to let it flood the abandoned hole, never reaching high enough for her to swim out. The substance she was made of reacted strangely with water, like her body was trying to fall apart at the seams and harden into something new. She hated the rain.

But here in this cave, protected from the water spare the cave kisses on her head and cheek, she decided it wasn’t too bad.

She let the sound lull her to sleep.

Chapter Text

In the end, it was decided that Moonlight Cookie, Stormbringer Cookie (who had stopped by earlier on request of Wind Archer), and Wind Archer Cookie himself would be the three to venture out into the Dragon’s Valley to search for Fire Spirit.

Wind Archer was partially hoping Sea Fairy would come along- it had been a long while since the two had spoken, and he wanted her to have a way to gain back her strength instead of wallowing in depression- but she hadn’t come along. She seemed to not even want to be in the same room as Moonlight, and while none knew the full story, Wind Archer would respect it.

Once the trio had been decided, they didn’t waste time waiting around, rather, Wind Archer didn’t let them. They embarked almost immediately, traveling as fast as they could across the continent until they had reached Fire Spirit’s domain.

And here they were, at the mouth of that damned cave.

Wind Archer was sure they saw the shake in his hands, crease in his eyebrows. He was terrified he was leading the group to their capture at the hands of Agar Agar. But it was a risk he had to take.

So they descended deeper.

He was expecting guards. At least a stray cookie going about their day. But it was almost deserted- all signs of life were broken boards of wood, old tables and gear left half shattered and dysfunctional on the floor. It looked abandoned in a rush, like someone had to make a split second decision on if to take something or to leave it. He knew that pain.

Then, the room he’d found last time neared his view.

Moonlight walked down first, the two noticing his terror at just the sight of the corridor leading to it. Stormbringer cautiously followed, and finally, Wind Archer crept down as well.

Only to find it completely empty.

There was no cookie on watch, no Agar Agar, and most importantly- no Fire Spirit. All that he saw was, in the place he’d been last time, a shackle still locked and unbroken, and a small pile of ash.

Wind Archer felt his knees give out.

He vaguely registered the other cookies calling out to him. But the ash— right where Fire Spirit had stood only days ago— made his hope vanish in a second.

He was done pretending that he hadn’t been dissociating this entire trip. Ringing drowned out every other sound and Wind Archer felt himself begin to cry.

Tears hit the dusty sandstone.

--

Fire Spirit jolted awake.

This… wasn’t the cave.

It was a different cave. The stone walls were grey, not orange. There were no crystals adorning the walls.

To his side, a pressure was breathing steadily on him, head buried in his chest. He blinked and looked down at Agar Agar’s form, curled up peacefully next to him.

At the sight of her, everything came rushing back to him.

Panicked, he looked down, hoping it had been a dream, a hallucination, anything other than reality.

But his leg was gone. He couldn’t deny it anymore.

He lifted a hand— slowly, as to not cause damage— to cautiously try and examine the injury.

But something was wrong with his hand.

The fingers were disfigured, missing, bent in all the wrong ways, like a mutilated corpse. He stared in horror, not knowing what else to do.

Why couldn’t he have died in that cave? Why does he have to keep living?

How could he fight like this? Hold his staff? Walk?

He was disgusting. Ravaged by the horrors he’d been forced to endure and nothing could fix it anymore.

Besides him, he registered a tired grumble. Agar Agar yawned, rubbing her eyes and looking up at him. Then, she smiled.

“Awake!” She chirped in her raspy voice. Fire Spirit couldn’t find it in him to celebrate with her.

She held out something to him. “Found… foraged… eat,” she spoke, shoving what appeared to be blueberries into his fucked up hands.

He stared at the dark blue berries for a long time.

Agar Agar elbowed him. “Eat,” she ordered, clearer this time.

He slowly lifted his hands to his mouth, carefully trying to stop himself from crumbling even more as he moved. After a second, the base of his hands were at his mouth, and he tipped his palms and head back to let the berries roll in.

They tasted bitter, overripe. It didn’t matter, he would eat whatever at this point.

When Fire Spirit swallowed, his hunger rushed back full force, hitting him like a train. Without any of the previous gentleness of before and no regard for the integrity of what remained of his hands, he shoved the rest of the berries into his mouth, drool dribbling out of the corners of his cracked lips. Agar Agar Cookie smiled at the sight.

Fire Spirit wanted to say something, maybe thank her for the commodity, or beg her for more. But his throat was too raspy to speak, and he was scared he would cough up more jam and ash. So instead, he laid one hand down on her leg, inviting her to snuggle up with him, which she eagerly accepted the opportunity for.

Her body felt squishy, like slime, but not in a bad way. It stayed as one mass, despite the gelatin-like consistency. The strands of hair seemed to mold around his fingers like a liquid as he ran them through her hair. It was cold, but also warm, and the feeling of a cookie touching his dough after so long of being shackled and drained was like heaven.

He felt himself fall asleep in her embrace.

Chapter Text

Slowly, trembling, Wind Archer approached the corpse.

It was small. A small, unassuming, dull pile of ash.

His hand was shaking as he slowly reached out to touch it. If this truly was… what he thought it was, he would find something in this ash.

And dread pooled as his hand caught a small piece of metal.

His hand curled around it and he slowly lifted it out of the pile. More tears began to uncontrollably pour down his face as he clutched Fire Spirit’s wedding ring in his shaking hand.

He remembered custom ordering the ring. They had to enchant Fire Spirit’s, so his overwhelming heat didn’t melt it immediately. Fire Spirit’s ring had a tiny oval emerald, also enchanted to be heat proof, while his was a little red ruby. A reminder of each other, even when they were apart. Fire Spirit didn’t have that reminder anymore.

Grief clouded his thoughts. Anguish coursed through his body. And yet…

The pile was too small. The ring was too perfectly placed. Something was horribly wrong with this all.

This wasn’t it.

Wind Archer suddenly jolted up from his position of the floor, and looked at Moonlight and Stormbringer.

“Something is wrong here,” he declared, “it doesn’t add up. What they are trying to make us think with this. We keep the search up. Look for any traces of where they might have gone.”

He didn’t see how the two exchanged a glance of sorrow, pitying a lovers delusion. He didn’t see their silent agreement to play along, to let him grieve in his own way.

And so, they searched.

The trio split up, exploring different segments of the cave system. Wind Archer began to walk down one of his corridors.

He ran his hand across the walls, the dusty red rocks gently crumbling under his touch. A marker of his presence. A reminder that he was here, he had yet to be defeated. The wind still moved.

He let the walls guide his way.

The first room he entered was deserted. Jelly crumbs and a discarded pillowcase told the elemental that someone had in fact lived here, perhaps it was used as a living quarters, but whoever they were, they were long gone.

The second room he entered seemed like an actual room. A small room with various toys, stuffed animals, and entertainment for young children. It looked as if someone had been playing with them and left for a short moment, unaware they would never return. And yet, it was surprisingly neat. Perhaps they had known something after all.

On the wall, a poster of four cookies wearing similar red outfits, with microphones and instruments. Wind Archer thought he recognized some from his previous trips to this cave. He wondered how cookies with such passion, to the point they started a band within the Cookies of Darkness, could bear to do such evil. How cookies so willing to share their art with the world would be so quick as to extinguish the flaming passion of another.

The third room he entered looked demolished. Papers strewn about, ash and dust collecting at the bottom of the flipped desk. He walked inside this one, kneeling down to look at one of the papers.

The handwriting was neat, but the chocolate ink was smeared, and the letters were small, making it borderline illegible. He squinted, trying to make out what it read.

“All is according to plan… Dark Enchantress Cookie’s reign of darkness is upon us… Fire Spirit Cookie’s captivity will ensure our success.”

Captivity. It said captivity, not death, not execution, not destruction. That meant he had to be alive, somewhere. At least, at the time of writing this, he was. Wind Archer already knew they had originally planned to take him captive, as he’d seen. But this had to mean he wasn’t dead. They weren’t planning to kill him. Right? Maybe he was nitpicking. But he didn’t want to believe he was, so he continued looking through the papers.

“Agar Agar Cookie is substantially sustained by Fire Spirit Cookie’s life energy… prevent his death to keep her pacified.”

Wind Archer let his eyes glide over the words, then he read them again, and again. He was right. There was more to the story. Fire Spirit had to be alive, this was the proof. He flipped to the next paper.

“Fire Spirit Cookie and Agar Agar Cookie are missing… status unknown… likely rescued… base to be abandoned and any future plans held in this location to be halted or redirected until further notice.”

He never even finished half of the document. By the time he had read the words ‘missing’ he was on his feet, and beelining for the exit of the cave.

Fire Spirit Cookie was alive. This wasn’t a grief fueled denial anymore, this was real. This was evidence. His husband was alive and he was going to rescue him. Adrenaline flared in his dough, the wind around his being rapidly spinning with determination and excitement.

Agar Agar Cookie had kidnapped him. She’d left the Cookies of Darkness to torment his husband alone, without their watchful eye. He would stop her, once and for all.

Papers clutched in one hand, his bow in the other, he stepped outside the cave, and began to scan the terrain for any sign of Fire Spirit or Agar Agar Cookie.

Suddenly there was a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see Moonlight Cookie, eyes filled with… was that pity? “Ready to leave?”

Wind Archer looked at her, eyebrows creased with confusion. “To find Fire Spirit? Yes, I am. Look for any sign of him, or of Agar Agar. Surely they haven’t gone too far.”

Stormbringer and Moonlight exchanged a look- an almost knowing look. “Alright,” Moonlight murmured, warm gaze meeting his, “we’ll keep looking.”

Wind Archer took a step back. “You two don’t believe me, do you?”

Moonlight stuttered, stumbling over her words, seemingly caught off guard by his directness. “I- no, I don’t- I- I mean- yes, I do believe you, Wind Archer!” She insisted, no longer willing to look him in the eyes as she spoke. Her palms were sweaty, and she shifted her weight back and forth, right to left.

“It’s just… we want to let you grieve, Wind Archer,” Stormbringer said. “This is hard on all of us. We just want to give you space.”

Wind Archer glared at Stormbringer before his gaze darted back to Moonlight, and he shoved the papers against her chest with more force than was probably necessary.

“Read these for yourself,” he spat, “and when you believe me, you can help. Otherwise, you would be slowing me down.”

Moonlight ignored his defensive rudeness and quietly read through the papers. Stormbringer looked at him almost offended, surprised he’d say something so bluntly mean.

“If I am making a fool of myself, so be it,” Wind Archer muttered, turning around to continue his search, “but if he was truly alive and I let him die because I never bothered to look for him, to save him, then I would never forgive myself.”

With that, he began to walk away, searching for trails of ash or white slime. Footsteps behind him told him that the other two cookies had seen the papers as convincing enough arguments as well.

The terrain, to most cookies, would seem like an unnavigable rocky wasteland. But Wind Archer had been in this valley more times than most non-locals, so he knew where to look. And soon, he found what he was looking for.

A thin, dried crimson trail of blood, leading in one direction away from the cave.

“Over here!” He called, not bothering to look back and beginning to follow the trail. There was no more time to waste on them. He heard the other two behind him, wordless, hopefully noticing the blood as well. The trail lead across the desert, smearing across some specifically pointy stones and pebbles, until it reached a huge jungle forest.

The trail was harder to follow now, but still visible, standing out against the lush green wildlife. He slowed to a pace as to not miss any change in the trail’s trajectory, and Stormbringer ran up to be pacing next to him, yellow eyes trying to meet his gaze.

“We should make a plan for if we find where they are,” she said, “you said Agar Agar is powerful enough to defeat a guardian of nature, so we can’t go in guns blazing.”

Unexpectedly, white hot anger seared through his body at her words. If? They would find him. It wasn’t a matter of ifs, it was a matter of when. And naturally Wind Archer knew she was right, they needed a plan. But she had seemed oh so willing to let Fire Spirit die before, so what changed now? Could he even really trust her?

What would have happened if Stormbringer was searching the rooms he had? What if he had never found those papers, and Fire Spirit died alone and scared because Stormbringer decided it wasn’t important, that he was grief stricken and hysterical?

It was a matter of life and death, and Stormbringer and Moonlight hadn’t even had hope in him.

This was the thought process that led Wind Archer to reply with a dejected, “…Right.”

He heard Stormbringer sigh. It wasn’t judgmental, it wasn’t annoyed, it sounded almost remorseful. “You’re mad at me, aren’t you?”

Again, anger sizzled underneath Wind Archer’s dough. “…did you look at all? In the places I put you in to search, did you look? Or did you just wait outside for me?”

Stormbringer paused, seemingly considering her words. “I did look,” she replied, “not too thoroughly, though. But I did.”

Wind Archer would have looked her in the eyes if he wasn’t focused on following the blood trail. “If we were searching each other’s sections, and I had found nothing, and you had just decided that the papers on the floor weren’t worth looking in- we would not be here now. We would be planning Fire Spirit’s funeral, because you and Moonlight thought I was delusional. Because you were ready to accept his death. He could have actually died because of that. So yes, Stormbringer, I am mad at you. And I think that’s fair.”

Stormbringer Cookie looked away with embarrassment. She dropped back to where Moonlight Cookie was and began speaking with her. Wind Archer didn’t really care what about.

Suddenly, the trail stopped.

He kneeled down, moving aside the grass with his hand. It seemed like a giant pool of it had pooled and coagulated in one area, then dragged a sharp right and ended.

He squinted, and saw a cave not too far ahead. It seemed like the perfect place to hide, especially since they’d chosen a similar place already.

Footsteps silent, wind still, he crept to the edge of the stone wall. He motioned for Moonlight and Stormbringer to be quiet, and carefully peeked his head around.

--

Fire Spirit could tell that Agar Agar was starving. She was horrible at hiding it, and would constantly stare at him, as if trying to restrain herself.

He understood why she would have reservations. Neither of them had to eat. But without the energy, with the gnawing demand for food constantly reminding them of what they were missing, did they really not need to eat, or could they just survive without food?

To have one’s being tied to harming others was a pain he empathized with. Perhaps it’s why they were so drawn to each other, even if it was a mutually destructive relationship.

Agar Agar would drain him of his life energy, and in turn, he would force her to be in his own presence, his terrible being and influence on her. He was trying to be a better cookie, he really was, and so was she. But someone who was inherently destructive cannot ever be safe to be around. In a way, they neutralized each other. He stopped her from being forced to hurt more cookies, and she stopped him from inevitably using his powers to destroy.

It was a pattern he could live with. So, he quietly began to draw from his magic reserves, which had been working hard to sustain his crumbling body, prevent his death. He hadn’t been gaining any actual fire because his magic was solely focused on just keeping him alive. He didn’t care too much about that, so using it, he produced an ember, which grew to a bright flame.

Agar Agar took notice of the fire. It was the size of her head, flickering weakly and moving with the gentle breeze that drifted through the rocky stone wall. She looked at him, and while Fire Spirit wanted to nod, smile, affirm her it was okay in any way, he found he couldn’t get his body to move.

Before he could process that, Agar Agar figured the fire itself was a good enough invitation and gently brought her mirror to the fire. The flames licked the glass, and the familiar weakness coursed through him again. It was an almost comforting feeling now, like a sort of normalcy, a routine he’d learned and knew how to deal with. He didn’t know how to deal with being alive anymore, he didn’t know how to cope with being free after having believed it impossible. But he knew how to strip himself to his core instincts and run on them, letting himself feel nothing and trust no one except himself. He couldn’t fuck that up. He couldn’t hurt anyone that way.

Fire Spirit felt like he was sinking. Moving was like wading through thick, invisible chains, wrapping around every limb, every deformed finger. He thinks he can hear a voice, perhaps it was calling his name? But he can’t hear the words clearly, can’t identify the source. He strains himself, trying to figure out what was happening, but his limbs felt like lead, and his mind was a maze covered in a fog of confusion.

His eyes were trained on one crack in the stone wall, and he couldn’t get himself to look elsewhere, but he could see bursts of color, blue, green, yellow, red, purple.

One physical sensation cut through the haze, however. The feeling of his staff being ripped from his grasp.

Then, everything went dark.

--

From his position behind the stone wall, Wind Archer watched it happen.

Wind Archer watched his husband- oh, his beautiful husband, how he’d been destroyed, massacred, tortured beyond measure, for far too long- be forced to use his little remaining energy to feed that monster, to keep her sustained. How selfish.

He could sense two people behind him, similarly peeking over the rock to watch the horrific scene. He wanted to make a plan, but risking being heard speaking could cost them Fire Spirit’s or their own lives.

Silently, he notched an arrow.

“In the name of the forest, release Fire Spirit Cookie immediately!” He shouted suddenly, jumping out from the shadows and pointing the arrow at Agar Agar’s head. She flinched, turning around with wide eyes, and in a flash of white and blue she sent up a giant wall of ice to block their way.

Wind empowering the arrow, it shot forward and hit the base of the wall, shattering it instantly. Agar Agar, revealed once more, grumbled in frustration. Fire began to ignite underneath the glass of her mirror.

Before anything could happen, a flash of yellow lit up the cave as Stormbringer zipped onto the ceiling with a bolt of lightning before barreling into Agar Agar. The mirror stayed in her hand and didn’t crack, and her grip on it tightened.

She wiggled out of Stormbringer’s grasp and shot a row of flames at her, which she rolled to avoid. Agar Agar then turned the mirror towards Wind Archer and Moonlight, who hid behind rocks to escape the fire.

Moonlight Cookie lifted into the sky, and suddenly brilliant yellow stars began raining from the sky and shooting themselves straight at Agar Agar in rushes of purple cosmic dust. She dodged one, but the other ripped the fabric of her kimono on her torso and another on her arm, and based on the pained yelp that she gave both times, he assumed she had been hit.

Her eyes darted to Fire Spirit. He had been unresponsive the entire fight, staring blankly at the ceiling. The unsteady rise and fall of his chest was the only sign that he wasn’t a corpse just yet. Then, her eyes fell on the staff.

Wind Archer knew what was about to happen. He sprinted forward, trying to grab the staff before she could, but it was no use. He was too far away, and by the time his fingers were close enough to grasp it, she had taken the staff and the subsequent orange bead left behind and sprinted off into the forest.

Wind swirled around his feet and he rushed forward, carried by the wind as he gave chase. Agar Agar was not a slow runner, but no one can outrun the elements. She didn’t seem to care, and kept running.

After a short minute of chase, Wind Archer reached out and grabbed the collar of her kimono, yanking her back. She yelped, the staff slipping from her grip. Wind Archer picked it up before Agar Agar could get her hands on it once more.

She backed up into a tree trunk, clutching her mirror in one hand and the bead in the other. She held up a shaking hand and tried to blast fire at him, but he cut through it with a quick arrow, dispersing the flames.

Wind Archer pointed another arrow at her head. “Hand him over. Now.”

She shook her head frantically, sobs wrecking her body. “Please! Don’t hurt him!”

‘Him’? She must have said ‘me’ and he was mishearing. Her raspy voice was had to decipher. She didn’t care about Fire Spirit’s safety, clearly.

“I will not ask again!” He shouted. Agar Agar’s sobs grew louder and more frantic.

An act. An act to gain sympathy was all it was. He wouldn’t be fooled.

Even yet, he let the arrow splinter the tree behind her. She flinched away from it.

Knocking a final arrow, Wind Archer stepped towards the girl, the tip inches away from her head. “This is your final chance. I will not hesitate again.”

A moment of silence passed. For a moment, Wind Archer prepared to let go. But then, her arm began moving out, shaking, trembling, Fire Spirit clutched in her hand. She held it out to him, open palm, eyes hidden in her kimono, filled with tears.

Cautiously, he lowered the arrow. He reached out, grabbed the bead from her hand, and…

…Nothing.

There was no trap, there was no hidden attack. Wind Archer held both the staff and the bead. And within it, a spark still kindled.

Fire Spirit was safe.

A shaky exhale escaped his lungs. He took a few steps back, curling his fingers around it, never wanting to let go.

He turned to the side and saw Stormbringer and Moonlight running up besides him.

“You…” Stormbringer said tentatively. She looked like she wanted to say something, but was too nervous to say it.

“I got him,” he whispered, loud enough for her to hear.

“I… let me make it up to you, Wind Archer,” she said, reaching for the staff. “Lightning can travel faster than the wind. I can be back at Millennial Tree’s Forest in seconds, it could take hours for you. Let me take him back so we can begin his recovery as fast as possible. You can decide what to do with-“ she motioned to Agar Agar Cookie- “her.”

Wind Archer looked down at the bead. He saw his own reflection in the glassy surface, illuminated by the dim firelight.

Stormbringer was right. But could he trust her? Would she let him die like she tried to before?

“Please, Wind Archer,” she pleaded.

“…Fine,” he mumbled, and gently handed over the staff and- with hesitation- the bead.

“…Thank you for trusting me,” she said genuinely, and took off into the sky with a bolt of lightning, which shot across the sky as he watched her travel away.

Moonlight stepped forward, and locked eyes with Wind Archer. “For the record, I must apologize as well. I am just as at fault as Stormbringer Cookie is.”

Wind Archer looked away. He wasn’t really mad anymore, but he didn’t have the energy for conflict right now after the emotions he’d faced today.

“Thank you,” he responded, hoping the tone was genuine.

His eyes landed on Agar Agar.

“And you,” he snarled, drawing back another arrow. She cowered in response.

“…your judgement is not for me to decide.”

She opened a teary eye in confusion. Witches, he hated her pathetic sob story act.

“Drop the mirror, you are coming with us.”

She hesitated, and then lifted it up, where Moonlight walked over and picked it up.

“I’ll fly back,” she said, glancing at the starry night sky that had begun to fall. “Safer if she doesn’t get a chance to grab it back.”

He nodded, and she took off into the night sky.

Now alone, Wind Archer lowered his arrow and stalked towards the girl.

“For all you have done, your crimes against Earthbread and the guardians of nature, you will be punished. But that punishment is not mine to decide. The one to decide your fate will be Fire Spirit, the one you hurt the most.”

Agar Agar didn’t say a word. She just silently stood, leaning against the bark for support, and looked at him tearfully.

“Now come with me, and do not think I will hear if you try to run away. The wind hears all.”

Chapter Text

Being transformed into his bead form was… weird.

Usually he could move around with some effort and sometimes speak, but he’s been so weak that the few times it had happened he had just blacked out completely.

He remembered Agar Agar’s face of hunger. He remembered giving in. He remembered the colors and lights dancing in front of his eyes, and not being able to move. Then he remembered darkness.

And light cut through that darkness as the surface of the sphere touched his staff.

Fire Spirit felt his soul be yanked back into a decaying body, and then those berries he’d eaten prior felt like acid in his throat. He coughed, a mixture of jam and stomach acid spilling all over the oak tree floors. Ash came after once his stomach was empty, leaving the elemental heaving and coughing, head hung over the edge of the bed he’d realized he’s been laid in.

He felt a hand rubbing his back as he hacked up the ash, a small circle between his shoulder blades that was both soothing and disorienting. Regardless, he didn’t hate the touch, so he let it stay. He couldn’t help but wonder who it was, so when he had finished coughing up his stomach, he ignored the deep ache in his ribs and lungs screaming at him to lay back down, and instead twisted his head back to see who was with him.

Grey hair with yellow highlights greeted him, bright amber eyes filled with concern, or perhaps pity. Her staff was leaning against the wall a few feet away. The shiny grey wisps of hair brushed against his dough as she kneeled down a bit to face him at a better level.

“Fire Spirit?” Stormbringer asked, voice both hopeful and worried, “are you awake?”

Fire Spirit opened his mouth to respond, but nothing could escape his mouth, voice strained and weak and missing. Instead, he nodded, slowly turning away.

He heard a shaky exhale behind him. “Thank the heavens…” Stormbringer murmured, standing up straighter.

His own hair had fallen onto his face, and he blinked it out of his eyes. The unkempt brown strands clung to his dough uncomfortably, blocking his gaze and overstimulating him even more.

Faintly, he heard a gasp of surprise from behind him. He was going to ignore it in favor of going to sleep, but then he heard Stormbringer’s voice tentatively say, “your leg, Fire Spirit, it—“

“Don’t,” he wheezed, forcing the word out, which in turn sent him into another coughing fit. Stormbringer was quiet behind him as he hacked up his lungs. He turned around again, eyes locking again with hers. “Don’t say that.”

His grainy voice must have touched something in her, because she neglected to speak further; simply picking up her staff and walking out of the room. It made no difference to him.

Fire Spirit didn’t want to think about his leg right now. Or his fingers. How he’d never properly walk again, hold his staff again, hold anything again. How he’d have to see Wind Archer’s reaction to his broken, bloody body and his response to his betrayal. He would have to face the storm of his own creation.

His gaze shifted to the nearby window. A golden purple sunset streamed through the glass, landing at the foot of his bed, filtered through the trees, which rustled in the wind. Fire Spirit watched the shadows, watched as a bird flew across the light reflection in the room, landing on the edge of a branch before a cloud blocked the orange light.

Distantly, he wondered if Agar Agar was okay.

What had began as a heated hatred for her had dwindled into a halfhearted distaste as he’d been… what word even was there for what had happened? He couldn’t think of one. But the fire of anger against the girl had long since been extinguished. He didn’t have the energy to hate anymore.

Fire Spirit had been sympathetic towards her for a time. Pomegranate Cookie did not treat her well, he wasn’t an idiot. He hadn’t done anything about it, but what could he have done?…

When they had finally escaped, Fire Spirit learned more of Agar Agar’s kindheartedness. If he had known of this at the beginning of this entire thing, before even going to fight her in the first place, he would have done it all differently. But hindsight helped no cookie.

They were the same, really. Two volatile, dangerous entities of power who could do nothing but hurt. Two broken spirits under a mask of ego and confidence. Two sides of the same coin.

Exhaustion finally enveloped him, and he drifted off to sleep.

--

Finally, back in the forest.

It has been hours of walking, arrow always at the ready. Agar Agar had only tried straying once, and it was to complain about being tired.

She probably hadn’t stopped when Fire Spirit had cried out in anguish as she robbed him of his very essence, so he forced her to keep walking.

Millennial Tree’s home was not far. A huge tree with a naturally hollowed out inside, the tree and its branches curving to create a lovely home where meetings were held, but also where Millennial Tree and Wind Archer lived. It’s where he expected Fire Spirit to be, along with Stormbringer and Moonlight, and probably the other elementals as well. He couldn’t think of where else they would be, after all.

Soon, that tree began to come into view.

It was a truly magnificent sight, but Wind Archer had seen it enough times the splendor and amazement had since worn off. Fallen leaves danced around him as he stepped into the grotto, making his way to the door.

Agar Agar had stopped walking.

He turned around, pulling his bowstring back slightly. He saw the girl staring up in awe at the tree. He sighed, waiting for her to be done.

She looked down at him, and he saw that her eyes were filled with what appeared to be fear. “Are you gonna kill me?” Agar Agar asked, loud enough to hear. Her voice was raw, raspy.

“As I said, that is not my decision to make,” he responded, “now come on.”

Wind Archer opened the door, holding it open with his back to keep both hands on his bow. Agar Agar entered before him, and he walked in, letting the wooden hinges creak closed.

The hallways were empty, as usual, but the usual serenity that came with this building was absent. Instead, tension floated in the air, thick and fragile, like a pin dropping could cause a flood of tragedy.

Then, Stormbringer turned the corner and walked over to the two.

“Wind Archer!” she exclaimed, eyes lighting up. “Welcome back, I’ll bring you to where Fire Spirit is.” Her eyes moved down to Agar Agar, hiding behind his leg. “You took her prisoner?”

Wind Archer nodded. “I decided to let Fire Spirit decide her punishment. It seemed only fair.”

Stormbringer bit her lip. “It wouldn’t be a good idea to bring her around Fire Spirit, right? She doesn’t have her mirror from what I can see, but still.”

Wind Archer looked down at Agar Agar. “I was going to ask Millennial Tree Cookie for a location to hold her, then go check in on him.”

Stormbringer flashed a grin. “Or, what about I take her and bring you to his room, and then I can go talk to Millie for you? If that’s convenient,” she suggested.

Wind Archer smiled back. “That would be a great help. Thank you.”

The trio walked down a few corridors, Wind Archer mentally marking each one they passed. Soon, they reached an unassuming wooden door, one of the many guest rooms. Stormbringer knocked and opened the door before waiting for a response.

“Take care,” she murmured, turning her attention to Agar Agar, and letting Wind Archer close the door to be alone with his husband.

Tentatively, he approached the bedside.

Fire Spirit looked just as bad, if not worse, than the last time they’d spoken.

His tangled hair had fallen over his face, inches away from his closed eyes. The bright red he was so used to was just a dull brown, like a dead tree. Carefully, Wind Archer reached out a finger and brushed the icing strands out of his husband’s face, tucking them behind his ear. With a clearer view, Wind Archer could finally see the face he’d missed so much.

He looked like he was already dead.

Wind Archer stared at him for a long time. Committing the peaceful expression, crumbling dough, cracked lips, relaxed eyebrows, sharp cheekbones and crooked nose, all to memory. He didn’t want to make the same mistake he had before. He never wanted to forget that face.

Hand trembling, Wind Archer reached out and brushed his palm across Fire Spirit’s cheek. He could feel ashy residue stick to his hand as he did, but he didn’t care.

So long it had been, since he had been able to simply hold the one he loved. Such a privilege he had taken for granted, the privilege to love.

Wind Archer could feel himself about to cry. He wouldn’t allow himself to, though, not yet. He pulled his hand back and moved it to Fire Spirit’s own hand, resting with its wrist on top of his staff, which was laid under him, the top with the dragon’s bead sticking out to the side awkwardly.

The feeling under his hand wasn’t one of a hand. He looked down to see if he’d accidentally held the sheets or something.

Instead he felt himself about to vomit as he saw a mangled mess of broken dough and ash where his fingers should have been.

His hands were shaking. Wind Archer pulled it away as to not risk accidentally breaking off more of Fire Spirit’s dough.

The wedding ring. In the pile of ashes. That…

That pile was too big for it to be only the remains of his fingers.

His eyes trailed off as he stood, a tight knot of fear in his stomach as he braced himself to see what he’d refused to comprehend prior.

Fire Spirit’s left leg was gone. Crumbled. A pile of ashes somewhere in a cave.

Wind Archer choked, covering his mouth with his hand. This was horrible.

Nothing would ever be the same after this, would it?

They could never go on evening walks again. Never hold each other’s hands properly. Never have another lighthearted conversation without hearing pain in each other’s words.

All because of her.

For now, though, Wind Archer couldn’t find it in him to be fueled with rage towards Agar Agar. Instead, he just felt grief, like a weight on his chest that would never go away. The crushing knowledge that Fire Spirit has been irreparably changed, body destroyed by that monster.

He gripped the side of the bed, catching his balance. He hobbled over to a chair in the corner of the small room, disoriented from what he’d seen.

He rested his cheek on his knee, his other leg dangling off the rocking chair. His eyes were trained of Fire Spirit’s figure, waiting for some kind of movement.

He didn’t know how long he would be waiting in this chair, but no matter how long it was, he would wait.

He could do nothing else for him now.