The Waters of Sorrow [ Sequel Fic // Cookie Run: Kingdom AU ]

Recital II: Captains Ship

"Sometimes I wonder what it would be like of she'd survived."
Squid Ink looked up, worried. Their sibling was looking down at the ground, broom in hand. They'd paused momentarily, the pile of dust and dirt bunched under the object Peppermint held.
"...of.. of cour-.." Squid Ink frowned. "Of course you-.." They shook their head, frustrated. Peppermint smiled sadly, understanding.
"I know...but I miss her...and I know that's normal, but.." They trailed off, refusing to finish their sentence, until; "..Nevermind, really."
"Snow Sugar and Cot- Cot-.." A growl of frustration, which came out bubbly. "Cotton. Where are they..?"
"Home." Peppermint had since continued sweeping the deck. "They wanted to go up and visit. Snow Sugar sent a letter, said they got caught up with.. someone? Not sure."
"Who?" Squid Ink pulled at their jelly-like..hair? They didn't know if it would even be called that.
"They didn't specify." Peppermint said dryly. Squid Ink gave them a look of pity, glad Pepps wasn't paying attention. They hated pity as much as they hated secrets; and whatever Snow Sugar was hiding from them seemed to tick them off.
" 'm sure it's no big deal.."
"I suppose."
"Mango and..and.."
"Sorbet? I thought you knew where they'd be."
"Nuh-uh." Squid Ink shook their head. Peppermint frowned.
"Mango is probably with Herb. Dunno where Sorbet Shark Cookie is, though." Peppermint shrugged. They'd put the broom away, and were now staring off at the ocean. The ship itself was tied to the dock; they weren't in the middle of the ocean, obviously. You clean the ship before you leave, that's obvious.
"I'm bored. This is boring." Peppermint spat suddenly. "Why don't we do something, Squid?"
"Like what?" Squid Ink Cookie stared at their sibling. They weren't usually the one to suggest any of the crews adventures; that was Sorbet Shark and Mangos job, for the most part.
"Let's go find Pirate."

"Custard. Custard!" Pancake snapped his hand in front of his friend. The king blinked, turning towards the other. Pancake frowned.
"Yuck, now I know how Strawberry felt." Pancake made a vomiting noise, pointing into his mouth and sticking his tongue out.
"...what?" Custard laughed. Pancake glared, pointing past Custard, at White Pawn Cookie, who was talking with her twin sibling a bit away.
"That's what I mean." Custard looked in the direction he pointed, reddening immediately after- out of embarrassment, not because of those reasons. He turned back around as quickly as possible, glaring at his companion.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Custard hissed. Pancake smirked.
"I think you know exactly what that's supposed to mean."
"Uh-huh." Custard rolled his eyes.
"Pah-lease, how'd Wizard react if he found out you have a crush on his little sibling?"
Custard grinned at him, clearing his throat;
"I don't any romantic infatuation with White Pawn Cookie would effect her elder sibling in any way, shape, or form, but I suppose that it would, ah, piss him off, if it were the case."
Pancake blinked.
"You're doing this to annoy me, aren't you?!" Pancake groaned. " I hate when you talk like that, you sound so stupid!!" He let his head drop onto the table, landing with a thud.
"Yes, that's fairly the point, my friend." Custard smiled.
Pancake sat up and stuck his tongue out, as if he were a child again, which showed Custard he hadn't really changed.
"Do you ever feel like something's following you?"
Pancake looked alarmed. Custard scrunched his face together, looking down.
"I feel like I'm being followed, Pancake." Custard laughed. "Or, y'know, watched. The paranoia's setting in again."
Pancake gave him a look of compassion.
"It's probably fine, dude. Like you said, you're just being paranoid..not to sound, like, insensitive or anything."
"No, no- you're fine, you're probably right anyways." Custard didn't look up. "Cant shake the feeling though."
"You should like a character from a novel." Pancake laughed. "This would be serious foreshadowing or something."
Custard rolled his eyes. "Well, lucky me, I guess!" He said, gritting his teeth as he grinned. "We're not in a book, Rodent."
Custard looked smug as Pancake gasped. He gave him a look of offense, clapping his hand to his chest.
"Rodent?!" He huffed. "How dare you!!"
"Yes, how dare I." Custard snorted. He found himself watching his friends sibling again, though he couldn't really explain why.

"You..you're.." Squid Ink huffed. "You're..nuts."
"Well, what do you guys think?" Peppermint turned their attention to the others, who'd shown up eventually. Mango looked lost in thought, and Sorbet Shark was tapping the ship floor out of boredom.
"Guys!" Peppermint seemed uncharacteristically frustrated. "Hello?!"
The two looked up.
"What? We can't make plans without the other two." Mango folded his arms, glaring. "You should know this."
"Well, we could inform them later-!" Peppermint groaned.
"We have to know what the other two think." Mango stated. He was trying to end the conversation; but Peppermint wasn't having it.
"We could decide, and then tell them later!" Peppermint rolled their eyes. Sorbet pinched the bridge of their nose, shaking their head.
"..no. We wait." Sorbet glared as well. "That's..that's that."
"I think...I.." Squid Ink began. "They're..they- they're right."
"Aw, c'mon-.."
"What's with you today, hm?" Mango chided. "You're so pushy."
Peppermint couldn't come up with an answer.
Or, at least a single one.
They were antsy; they couldn't handle staying here. The boat hadn't left in weeks. They were restless, bored. They needed to clear their mind. They had the sudden urge to go find Pirate Cookie, who, in a rather stereotypical fashion, had gone a bit mad, and disappeared looking for a treasure. They hadn't been seen in years.
"...I have my reasons." They spat. They rounded their way down the ramp that led down the ship, ignoring the protests of their friends.
It wasn't important anyways.
No, really.

Ok, maybe.

"I used to have a crush on you." Pancake stated dryly. Custard blinked, looking over.
"...what?" The confession made him feel awkward; he laughed as he spoke.
"Yeah." His friend snorted. "I don't anymore, j'st think it's funny."
"...alright?"
"I dunno why I told you that." Pancake frowned. "I mean, it's not important anymore."
"..ok."
"Sorry."
"Don't apologize, dumbass." Custard snorted. "It's not like you can control it."
"Do you like White Pawn?"
"..nah." Custard wasn't even sure if he was telling the truth. It felt like he was, and yet, at the same time, it didn't.
"One more question."
"Hm?"
"What do you think the witches are?"
Custard stayed silent. No one was quite sure what the witches truly were; they weren't cookies, though that was obvious. But what else could they be? They weren't dragons either; so they had to be some sort of creature no one in the cookie world was aware of.
But what?
"I...I don't know. I don't think there are any records of what they really are, either." Custard was growing physically uncomfortable in the grassy field, but he really didn't want to get up. Plus, the sun felt nice.
"Do you know what a human is, Custard?" Pancake whispered. It wasn't an obvious whisper; he was soft-spoken, quiet.
"..no?"
"They're sort of like cookies, but they aren't baked. They're like- meaty?"
"Ew."
"I know, it's weird."
"These aren't like, real, right?"
"No, duh. They're just stories. Kids stories to make up whatever the witches truly are."
"This is boring. You wanna go see Peppy and the crew?" Custard groaned. Pancake sat up immediately, nodding vigorously. "Alright then!"

"So this is..?"
"The- the names Dozer." He grinned sheepishly, holding his hand out. There was an awkward hand shake between the two, as Snow Sugar only smiled.
"My name is Peppermint Cookie." The other said softly, glancing up. "Ah, looks who's here."
Dozer turned, freezing as it clicked.
"Oh, hey you guys! Me and Pancake were wondering if-.."
Custard didn't finish his sentence. He stopped walking, only a couple steps away from the reanimated cookie.
"What..." Custard said quietly. Dozer looked up at how tall the younger cookie had grown; he hadn't seen him in years, and here he was, in the dough.
"...Dozer...?"
"...that's me!" He laughed nervously. Custard could only stare.
"..so you two do know each other, then.." Snow Sugar looked between both cookies. "How odd."