The Prince of the Republic

Chapter Eleven

"NO!"

Royal Milk Tea Cookie shot up from where he was laying with a scream, eyes teary and voice hoarse. A giant wave of pain struck his body full force, and the scream of fear quickly shifted into a scream of excruciating pain.

"The painkillers must be wearing off," A voice quickly noted from beside Royal Milk Tea Cookie's bed. "Nurse! Please refill the IV!"

IV? Nurse? Royal Milk Tea Cookie furrowed his eyebrows as he tried to remember what had happened to leave him feeling so awful in his body.

"Hey, sweetheart!" The Cookie that had called in the nurse was now speaking directly toward the blue-eyed Cookie. He did his best to maintain eye contact, but the way the Cookie was looking at him made him feel almost as though he was a child again. It was patronizing, to say the least. "Are you feeling alright? You shot up with quite a shout!"

Royal Milk Tea Cookie thought back to the dream... no, a nightmare. What was it about? A wedding? And some monster crashing it? "Yeah," Royal Milk Tea Cookie shrugged, flinching at the movement and regretting his reaction. "Yes. I'm okay. Where am I?"

The nurse, refilling the jam IV, shared a concerned look with the doctor Royal Milk Tea Cookie was speaking to. The doctor cleared her throat before speaking. "You're in the hospital wing of the Hollyberry Kingdom. Do you remember why you're here?"

The Hollyberry Kingdom? Royal Milk Tea Cookie scoffed. Why was he so far from home? "Um, no?"

A sharp inhale of breath was heard from behind Royal Milk Tea Cookie and the doctor quickly shooed the nurse away. She looked back to her patient and took his hands in hers. "You're here with several of your friends from the Crème Republic. You were in a very bad accident yesterday and your friends are all very worried."

"Accident?" The Oyster heir repeated, confused.

"Yes, sweetheart. You're covered in bandages in the hospital wing right now. Do you remember what happened to you?"

Royal Milk Tea Cookie shook his head slowly, trying his best to think back to the previous day. There was a nice bedroom, and there were lots of people in the courtyard on the way to his room... someone else was there. Maybe it was the librarian he spoke to in the museum wing?

The doctor sighed through her nostrils and patted Royal Milk Tea Cookie's crisp hands as she flattened her white pants and prepared to leave the room, adjusting a few medical instruments surrounding the prince's hospital bed. "There's a lot to catch you up on, but I don't want you to feel overwhelmed right now," She approached the door but didn't yet turn the golden handle. Royal Milk Tea Cookie felt like that gold color looked familiar for some reason. "Would you feel comfortable having a visitor? Or do you want to wait for a bit? I know you just woke up."

This was confusing. Royal Milk Tea Cookie didn't feel overwhelmed and had no idea what had happened to put him where he was. People were with him? An accident? A visitor? Everything made his brain feel muddy and unable to focus. Even so, maybe seeing someone he was traveling with would help him realize what was happening. He slowly nodded as he answered. "Yeah," He said, tentatively. "Yeah, I'm alright with a visitor."

The doctor nodded in response. She smiled a knowing smile, as if there was something Royal Milk Tea Cookie was forgetting. He ignored it. "Alright. Give me just a moment and then I'll send him in."

The door opened and then shut behind the doctor, and Royal Milk Tea Cookie could see her silhouette in the windows of the hospital room as another Cookie approached her. There were murmurs, likely of the doctor telling whoever this "him" was that Royal Milk Tea Cookie was completely stupid and couldn't remember anything from the previous day. Or however long it had been since he'd been away from home. Seriously, why was he even in the Hollyberry Kingdom? The blue-eyed Cookie rolled his eyes and went to roll onto his side before shouting at the pain he had just imbued onto himself through his poor choice of actions.