Chapter Text
Within the Land of Silence, where only crumbs remain, he stood tall amidst the fallen. The aftermath of madness was evident in his surroundings; nothing but darkness, disease, and despair. The sword, once gleaming with honor and solidarity, was now merely a messed-up truth of his tale.
Nothing within him held the Light he once cherished, the Virtue he hoisted upon his shoulders as a duty—a commander who once saved numerous cookies from death, now he's the one who is left with jam on his hand. Though lit by the moon, there was a single flower in the middle of the Great Barren, blooming blindly in a battlefield. Its petals pure and untouched, the innocence of a saint.
The flower reminded him of her, once upon a time.
✧✧
"You have been kind to me, kinder than any cookie that had ever laid their eyes on me."
Silent Salt Cookie had met her while clearing out the battlefield, in search of any cookies trampled by debris. Thank goodness he was the one conducting the search; if any of his other knights saw this lady, they might mistake her for one of Milled Mystic Flour Cookie's disciples. With the pale complexion along with the blindfolded eyes, she looks like she is the cookie's sister.
"It is my honor to protect those who are in need. May I ask, which kingdom do you belong to?"
His question was met with hesitation, doubt, and then silence. She bows her head down, unable to answer.
"Sincerely, dear knight, I do not know which place I have been raised in, nor the faces of those who scorned me, nor the faces of those who had saved me—yours included. For I was created and meant to live as a beast. They claim my eyes have cursed my family terribly, something never seen before this. They say,
- 'Oh, Mellow Cream Cookie! You have halted the blessings of First Cream Cookie from flowing in our dough! You are the cruelest witch incarnate!'"
He waited, letting her deliver her monologue, when one of the Kala Namak knights decided to interfere, suspicious of this sympathetic cookie.
"Surely, your eyes aren't so bad that they claim you're a witch, are they?"
They lifted the pure cloth a bit, only to immediately pull their hand away, an expression of true horror on their face.
"Holy Virtues, your eyes—!"
"It is ill-mannered of you to simply look at her eyes without permission. Please, fix that attitude of yours."
"... Understood, Lord Commander."
"And as for you," he faced the blind cookie. Mellow Cream Cookie was her name?
"Where will you go after this whole... situation?"
She didn't know how to respond.
"Nowhere, I suppose. My family disowned me, and after the case, I stayed at a boarding house with the fortune I thankfully inherited. But now, with everything I own gone, I suppose my next destination was supposed to be death. But Fate has given me another chance..."
She "looks" at him for a while before slowly muttering, her voice a whisper to not embarrass herself too much.
"This is an odd request, I'm aware, but will you take me with you?"
He paused for a while, weighing the choices that he has. To leave her alone is a cruel act, a luxury he doesn't have, but to bring her with him...
"I can promise you safety, but I can't say that I will always be by your side. As a Commander of the Kala Namak knights, my duties are endless."
"...Then, I will follow you. No matter the dark and the unknown, I will still follow you."
And so, he let her follow—knowing that in the end, the path they walked would end in ruin. Even so, in that fleeting moment, he allowed himself the grace of mercy for the last time.