Nuts and Cheeses - A Healthy Breakfast

Why did Almond die out of nowhere again?

He was meant to Crumble! The very, very first plan was for Almond to die in N&C.

And I mean permanently. No Parfaedia to save him from that one, just a death that would forever haunt the mind of the charming thief, diminishing the last ember of hope he had.

(I would probably get more crying comments from that ending, tbh.)

This ending was actually hinted as early as the Summer Cookie Camp arc. Remember Prophet's premonition?

Almond also says "we're not gonna die or anything" somewhere, basically jinxing his own death.

Well, due to Devsisters indirectly telling me not to kill off another of my characters (cough cough Pecan cough cough), I slightly altered that ending to make it become the ending that you see now in the book.

The "oh yeah, I died, but I got revived and have amnesia lol" ending, which would eventually become the "i can't leave parfaedia because it saved my life literally and i am forever devoted to the place" ending.

Personally, I prefer this ending since it explains why, (officially,) Almond is so devoted to Parfaedia even though the place is filled to the brim with so many magical emergencies that it overworks him "to the point that his dough no longer contains the rich scent of almonds".

Also why he "looks upon his city and vows to keep going at it until he can finally relax with a decent coffee".

It would definitely explain why Parfaedia claims Almond as its own, too, even though the story of N&C takes place  in the Main City. (That appears in multiple official in-game texts.)

Another fun (?) thing to include was that an alternate, alternate route (one of the 2 routes I was deciding on before CRK Almond) was for Roguefort to actually deal the finishing blow to Almond. 

This storyline would play out a lot differently than the actual N&C you see today. A lot more angst, a lot more pain, and a lot more misery and suffering.

It would be a very, very different story. Really, the entire plotline would change from the very early chapters, starting from around chapter 10, after the camp.

What would happen is that Roguefort, completely brainwashed by his parents after so many years and basically a sort of puppet, would be forced to fight Almond, the two dueling it out on a rooftop after Almond investigated a case involving the charming thief.

Roguefort would not come to his senses the entire fight (either unable to recognise the detective before him or literally controlled by his parents with mind games), Almond struggling to fight against the very friend who had pledged to change their destinies.

Then Mozzarella would come to assist, holding Almond back, and then Almond would Crumble in a similar way to the final version.

This ending would just end, abruptly, with Roguefort finally coming to his senses when Almond's badge falls from his coat. Regaining his memories and clutching his friend slowly crumbling away due to his own hand, Roguefort would swear to break free from his parents and his sister, creating an entirely new persona as a charming thief from the fallen mansion.

(This version of Roguefort would end up unintentionally making cases for Walnut to solve.)

Well, what else was scrapped from the original book? Read on...