Chocolate Custard Cookie au

Prisoner at an old home

    Upon arriving at the kingdom, as per usual the cookies were greeted with a crowd of applause and worried gestures. Some huffed that children shouldn't be heading out like this, others congratulated them on another victory, even if it wasn't perfect. 

  Strawberry wasn't one for crowds, nor extreme attention, so she quickly parted, searching for Custard.  

     She wandered towards the park, with her favorite swing set, which when she wasn't there Custard would use. She checked in the small toy house, the slides, even the parkour course! Perhaps he wasn't up to playing? She started to walk the usual routes Custard loved to walk, greeting his 'subjects' with extreme vigor. Starting in the toy store to look, she then moved to the cute cotton sheep stall and ending at sparkling's bar. She stepped inside the fancified saloon. 

   "Ah, why hello Strawberry! How may I help you?" Sparkling warmly greeted. Vampire gave a droopy wave before slamming his head back onto the counter. 

   "Uh, hello Sparkling." She nodded to him as a form of hello before continuing the Custard search. "Has uh, Custard stopped by yet today?" Sparkling thought for a moment and Vampire groaned.

   "who's Custard..?" Vampire said hazily. Strawberry sighed. "I don't believe he's stopped by today. Is he missing?"

  "Oh, no! Chili said he had returned to the kingdom so i'm looking for him!" Strawberry blurted out.

" Oh, I didn't see him return to the kingdom.... then again I do miss a lot of things! Perhaps check his house?" Sparkling suggested.

"That's where I was heading next.." Strawberry muttered, worry growing. 

"Oh hey, Strawberry..? Did you like, see, that uh..... Herb Cookie! That's his name.. walking towards here..?" Vampire slurred out.

"He was greeting the others last I checked, making sure they weren't harmed." Strawberry remembered his warm yet worried face.

"Hehe... thanks." Vampire muttered before ordering another drink, which Sparkling rolled his eyes at. 

"If you do find Custard, tell him that his drink is ready when he wants it." Sparkling called to her before she left.

Strawberry nodded and continued on her quest to find Custard. She arrived at his house that was on the outskirts of town. It was simple on the outside but inside was a blast of colors. Different drawings littered the walls, some she recognized as his 'kingly rule' and others she thought were other cookies. There were a few she didn't recognize but they all seemed similar to custard; Especially the one in a waffle cone hat, chocolate drizzled shirt, long cape and an odd staff with an eye... He had quite the imagination. She quietly searched the open room, couch, throne, compact kitchen,  shelves, tv annnd no Custard... She wasn't one to snoop around rooms but as the situation seemed to get more worrisome she figured it was time to turn her back on morals.. and even then she didn't find him, not even a note of absence... Her anxiety had officially spiked. 

Where was he?!

She practically rushed over to her group of friends, heaving she asked. "Have you all seen Custard?!" 

"No. I don't believe so, what has you so freaked out? He's probably with Pancake." Wizard nonchalantly stated.

"He's not, he's NOT, HE'S NOT!" Strawberry screeched. "I checked the park, the production buildings, the juice bar, his home, pancake, EVERYWHERE! He's not here."

"What do you mean he's not here? Chili said he'd be here...." GingerBrave pondered on other locations.

"Yeah, that's right. Chili, he is in the kingdom, isn't he?" Wizard narrowed his eyes at her, to which Chili internally gulped. 

________________________________________________________________________________

How had they not noticed he was gone yet? It's been 3 days! well, not 3 days but it feels like 3 days.  Cookies seemed to swarm around the table in front of his container. 

"What do we even do with a measly healer cookie?" Licorice groaned.

"We.... could give them.. Shroomies!" Poison mushroom cookie exclaimed to which the rest of the group sternly said no. 

"Well, he isn't worth much but having him here could leave the new kingdom more vulnerable. " Pomegranate muttered.

"They have other healers, just having one isn't going to make much of a dent!" Red Velvet rolled his eyes.

"You maybe right but that doesn't get us any further to figuring out what to do with the brat." She growled. 

"We could.... use him for ransom..?" Licorice threw out.

"And for what, Licorice, could this new kingdom have that Dark Enchantress would want? Gold, we have that. Land? we have plenty. Power, a surplus!" Pomegranate angrily said. Apparently Licorice had a streak for what Pomegranate deemed idiocracy. 

"ooh! ooh! I know what the kingdom has..! They have... Friends! lots and lots of friends!" Poison Mushroom exclaimed! "Perhaps we use new friends to make... more friends!" 

"....That may not be  a bad idea....." Pomegranate started to smirk and licorice scoffed, "You seriously aren't going with a poison mushroom idea?! What do we need 'new friends' for?" 

"Well maybe if you thought a bit about the idea it would make more sense to you. Who have we seen the yellow brat with?" She asked. 

"GingerBrave and his 'army.'"  red velvet groaned. 

"Exactly, which means this lil yellow cookie is on good terms with GingerBrave."

"So..?" Licorice asked.

 "SO, we trade. We take this one and trade for GingerBrave," She started. "then we trade GingerBrave for their kingdom."

"I think you're underestimating the cookies. They won't trade a whole kingdom for just one." Dark Choco cookie finally spoke.

"I never said that we were actually going to give this one away. I just said we'd make an offer. If all goes right, GingerBrave will come but of course will bring his friends, which are some of the most powerful cookies of the kingdom annnnd I assume you can all guess what we are going to do next..?" 

"We...... get more friends?!" Poison Mushrooms eyes went wide.

"....Yes, we get more... friends, whether they can help it or not." Pomegranate sighed, as Mushroom began to dance. "Since none of you are objecting, let's get to work. I shall write the ransom, Red velvet, prepare a messenger dog.  Licorice, prepare for their arrival, Dark Choco, you- Dark Choco?" The large cookie seemed to slip out of the room and Pomegranate grumbled. "Anyways. Poison Mushroom, entertain our.... guest." Shortly after the cookies got to work, some more willing than others.

"Would you like a shroomie?!" Poison Mushroom burst out, scaring Custard out of his trance. 

"Didn't your uh... friends tell you not to give out shroomies?" Custard questioned. 

"Oooo, but they don't really like shroomies, but I think you will!" They once again did a dance.

"are they edible..?" Custard questioned, reaching out to take it from them.

"Of course! At least thats what the mushrooms tell me!" They exclaimed.

"You can only hear them because you eat so many of those things and no, they are not edible to normal cookies because last time they burned a hole through my stomach!" Licorice exclaimed, suddenly entering the room. Mushroom went wide eyed and started to sniffle. "Wait, no,no! Don't cry!" They let out a long wail practically shaking the castle. "Shush, shush! I was just making sure you wouldn't hurt your new.... friend..." 

Poison Mushroom sniffled a little more, "t-thank you, Lico! Poison Mushroom will be more careful!" they suddenly ran off, leaving Licorice and Custard in the same room.

"...thank you for entertaining them. Enjoy your stay." Licorice then left as well, leaving a weary Custard alone with his thoughts making him wish his friends were with him more than ever.