Tales Of A Lonely Moment [ Cookie Run: Kingdom ]

Recital VI: A Familys Past

"Hey, Crepe?" Pumpkin Pie fiddled with the large chest in the treasury. "How was the family reunion?"
Strawberry Crepe's head snapped up. It grinned nervously. As if it didn't go well..
"Awkward." They snorted. "Especially because Grandma was there.." Crepe shifted uncomfortably. They had been adopted by Red Velvet when they were 6- and White Lily had been brought back a couple years ago. Considering the damage she'd done as Dark Enchantress...life was tricky.
"Ah. Yeah.." Pumpkin Pie finally got the box open, sifting through papers. "How's Pm? And your uncles?"
"They're.." Strawberry Crepe hesitated. "They're doing good. Again, awkward, because of Licorice's affiliation with the cookies of darkness, as well as mine and dads."
"Understandable."

"..Pastry." White Lily smiled. There was nervousness in her voice, something that was apparent since she'd been reunited with her fellow Ancient Heroes. Pure Vanilla stood next to her, his hand on her shoulder.
"..White Lily, hello." Pastry forced a smile. It was rough speaking to her mother in law- it reminded her too much of how she and her husband had originally met, what planted the seeds for her past hatred for him. She attempted to shove these memories down, but her attempts were useless. They'd be there forever, whether she liked it or not.
Strawberry Crepe watched the scene from afar with Custard Cookie iii and Poison Mushroom Cookie. It had been nine years, and there would always be tension among the family. Strawberry Crepe wondered if their great aunt would show. Probably not. Personally, Crepe had never met it's fathers aunt- only heard stories of the woman who lived in the mountains. Although, Red Velvet had never met her either. Only heard stories from his parents and Clover.
"When do ya think your moms side of the family'll get here?" Custard said through a mouth full of food. He swallowed, restating his question;
"Or, y'know, just your auncle in general."
Madeleine was a tricky one to get to come. She disliked the former Cookies of Darkness for obvious reasons, but they'd changed. He was nervous around White Lily, respected Pure Vanilla, and also, Pastry was her sister. Red Velvet had been his best friend until she found out he was, for one, a Cookie of Darkness, two, Dark Enchantresses son, and three; the dragon that continuously attacked the guilds. So his relationship with everyone here was iffy.
"Where's Sorbet?" Poison Mushroom still had that odd tone to their voice; whispy, sort of enchantic, as if they were trying to get you to follow them into the depth of the woods and eat your livers. They dragged the last two letters of Sorbet Sharks name for a moment.
"With Squid." Sorbet and their partner lived in the ocean, near Herbs kingdom.
Right, Herbs kingdom. We'll get into that later.
"How are the others?" Custard was leaning against a tree, refusing to sit in the dirt with the others. The boy had grown quite a bit- he was the youngest, and was always the smallest, but was now fairly taller than Strawberry Crepe and Poison Mushroom- which was unfortunate, as the two were five years older than him.  "Hey, what are you three doing?"
Crepes head snapped up at the voice. Madeleine grinned at the three younger cookies, who's eyes lit up.
"Madeleine!" Custard exclaimed. The other laughed, embracing the boy. For some reason, Madeleine was much closer to Custard than any of them- though it may be because he was someone Custard idolized as a child, during their days in the..
Kingdom.
Crepe furrowed their brow at the thought of the kingdom. None of the family had been there in years- it wondered how everyone was doing. They knew Vampire and the others still lived there, as well as Pumpkin Pies parents, Blackberry and Adventurer. Madeleine lived in the kingdom, so they supposed they could ask him.
"Hey kid-"
"None of us are children."
"Shut up." Madeleine snickered. "You seen your mom?"
Crepe jabbed their thumb in the direction of Pastry, who was with Clover and Pure Vanilla. Madeleine huffed, making his way towards his sister.
"So how come Strawberry and Pumpkin Pie aren't here?" Poison Mushroom laughed slightly.
"Strawberry's running the kingdom, Pumpkins at her parents house."
"All the way in the kingdom, huh?" Custard snickered. "We should visit some time, huh?"
Strawberry Crepe ignored the coincidental thought of the kingdom, pushing themself up from the ground and glancing around. They made their way over to the food, grabbing whatever was there. They took a bite, taking in their surroundings.
Madeleine and Pastry were speaking with Pure Vanilla  and Clover across the field. Licorice had found Poison Mushroom and Custard as Crepe had walked away, and was speaking with them. White Lily and Milk were sitting at a table, talking over food. They stared Lily up and down, frowning once more. Her face was partially red, as were her arms, which had patches as if she'd been burned. Her right eye was bright red, another trace left of her days as Dark Enchantress. She had a single horn on the left side of her head, and her hair was a black and white ombré of sorts. That's where the similarities between her two lives ended. She had scars on her face, though those had been there before the Ultimate Dough. She looked very similar to her past self- which the fore mentioned attributes. It pained Crepe to look at her, as it did everyone but their father, Licorice and Pure Vanilla. Don't get it wrong, it loved their grandmother. But she was an everlasting memory of what she had caused, the pain, the torment, the manipulation.
They looked around for their father; where was he?
"Hey, kid." Strawberry Crepe looked over. Red Velvet was smiling softly in the direction of his mother. "I know it's difficult, but it's been years."
"I know.." Strawberry Crepe whispered. "But.." they closed their eyes, remembering. They'd been left in the Vanilla Kingdom for years- a grudge they held against their father and White Lily, though it knew that hadn't been entirely Red Velvets fault. It seemed physically painful to go back when visiting their family, but they dealt with it. They had Strawberry now, and Pumpkin Pie, and everyone else. Speaking of which...
"Have you seen anyone from the kingdom lately? Wizard, Gingerbrave, any of them?" Strawberry Crepe asked. Red Velvet frowned, hesitating. He then muttered;
"..nah. I don't really want to back. I don't want to risk running into.." He trailed off. They knew who he was talking about.
Pomegranate.
"But no, I haven't been. I saw Werewolf and the others the other day though." Strawberry Crepe flicked their eyes up. Technically, Pancake had three family's- his biological family, who returned when he was eight because of the reset, Dark Choco and Whipped Cream, who'd adopted he and Strawberry when they were children, and his found family: Kumiho, Werewolf, Tiger Lily, Moon Rabbit, and the Cookiemals. The latter lived in the woods, which stretched for miles- they could end up from the small kingdom to the Dragon Valley in a couple hours if they so desired. Not that the Kingdom Starters had known that before, and- Gods of the sky, they were getting off track.
"OoOo? OoOo!"
Crepe looked up. Their sibling was snapping their fingers in front of them, their face scrunched up in frustration.
Roughly translated, what Sorbet had said was;
"Crepe! Hello, are you paying attention?"
But they hadn't been. They told them this, and Sorbet frowned even further.
"OOooOo." Sorbet grumbled.
"Gods, you would think by now you'd stop calling each other names." Red Velvet laughed.
"I'm the ass?! You showed up late!" Strawberry Crepe huffed. Sorbet only scowled, looking around the field. Their eyes lit up, and they made their way towards their mother.
"So how have you been, kid?"
The words always hit them like a blow to the face. They'd never be used to people actually caring what they did- even if it had been over fifteen years since they'd joined the kingdom.
Gods, had it been that long already?
"Fine." Strawberry Crepe didn't know how else to answer. They were happy with Strawberry and Pumpkin Pie. They had a good life in the kingdom. What else were they supposed to say? They were doing great? They were never doing great. Every fucking day they were reminded of the three years they spent up in the Vanilla Kingdom, the scars on their arm reminders of the loneliness they'd felt, how they'd shut everyone out even when joining the kingdom. God, they were so fucking stupid. Why they couldn't just listen to everyone trying to help, they had no idea. Whatever bullshit they'd pulled as a teenager was so fucking stupid.

They didn't mention the minor crisis they had to their wife. She continued to dig through the chest- she was looking for whatever, nothing in particular. Strawberry Crepe sighed, pushing themself off the floor.
"I'm gonna go.. find something to eat or whatever."
"Alright!" Pumpkin Pie smiled warmly. They were happy she was here, in any case.