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The sun streamed into the room in waves of radiant heat — a kind of luxury Ash Salt Cookie had never been permitted before.
Back when she worked for Shadow Milk Cookie, the world was engulfed in darkness, his otherworldly, all-seeing veil obstructing the sky and sun completely. The world then was quiet, dark. Desolate. She'd grown used to it, over the years.
It couldn't be more different now.
Shadow Milk had been dealt with, and she herself had betrayed him to restore the main timeline — in which she had been miraculously allowed to remain, despite stemming from the other, now destroyed, branch of time.
It was all thanks to Pure Vanilla Cookie, really. She was allowed to stay at his palace, as though that wasn't a problem at all. Initially, she refused, claiming to be able to find a shelter of her own. However, the moment those kids that Pure Vanilla was so fond of found her sleeping on the sidewalk, she had been practically dragged back to the castle and defiantly offered a room.
She accepted the room, the food also — though that was more difficult to do. New clothes, she did not take. Not yet, at least.
Now, Ash Salt was gazing out the open window and watching the birds fly by, and the citizens of the Vanilla Kingdom walk around and chatter. It may not have been loud, but for her standards it was like a packed stadium full of cookies all shouting until their throats went sore. After all, Shadow Milk's timeline did not hold any cookies — at least not any that were capable of holding conversations. Ash Salt herself didn't talk much, even now that she had people to talk to. It felt strange, like her tongue wasn't meant for idle conversation.
Right then, her train of thoughts was derailed by a commotion somewhere in the square adjacent to the castle gate. There were shouts, cookies were being pushed aside as a tall cookie dressed in white and wearing a rugged cloak rushed towards a side alley. Other passers-by yelled after them, to no avail.
Curious, Ash Salt dissipated into a cloud of ashes and drifted out the window, following the strange cookie. She didn't have anything better to do, anyway.
She ended up in a dark, dead-end alleyway, where she hid in the shadow, for the time being, and observed. The cloaked cookie's hood fell down, revealing their purplish-white hair and dark complexion. Around them floated bubbles of some vibrant purple liquid — something that looked like it would be best to stay away from it.
By the wall of the alley stood a smaller cookie, a citizen of the Vanilla Kingdom, judging by the looks, clutching a bag to his side. He glared at the white-haired cookie, a dangerous glint in his eye.
‘Give me the bag,’ said the taller cookie, stretching out their hand, around which more bubbles of purple liquid formed. ‘I don't want to have to hurt you.’
‘Hey!’ Ash Salt stepped out of the shadow, her silver fork ready in her hand. ‘No one is hurting anyone, got it?’ She didn't want to see anyone resort to violence. Especially herself. She'd spent too long having to do so. ‘It's best you quit the mugging now.’
‘I'm not mugging him,’ said the cloaked cookie, turning their head around to face her. Only one of their eyes was visible, a vivid shade of magenta glimmering in their iris. The other was hidden under an eyepatch. ‘That's my bag. I bought the food fair and square.’
Ash Salt eyed the man with the bag suspiciously. The bag wasn't big, but the lumps and shapes in it did seem to be food.
‘It's not like this freak needs it,’ the man scowled.
Oh, you're that type of guy.
Ash Salt vanished in a cloud of ash, reappearing right behind the man's back, her hand at his throat.
‘Drop the bag,’ she said. The man seemed too stunned to speak, but he complied. ‘Now, you're going to leave and not bother this cookie again,’ she explained matter-of-factly. The man nodded frantically. As soon as she let go, he set off running. In a moment, he was nowhere to be seen.
‘Your food,’ she said, passing the bag to the cookie, who stared at her silently. They seemed caught between confusion and gratitude.
‘...Thank you.’ They took the bag hesitantly and glanced inside. Ash Salt caught sight of a few apples, a loaf of bread and a single bag of candy.
‘That's what all the trouble was about?’ She asked, and it came out sounding a bit rude, but she couldn't help herself. She wasn't trained in proper etiquette, was she, now.
‘My siblings need it. We don't have much money, so we have to make do.’
‘Wait, siblings?’ Ash Salt frowned. ‘How many?’
The cookie's expression got slightly defensive.
‘Two,’ they said.
‘And you're planning to feed all three of you with that? You'll starve to death,’ Ash Salt said, her monotone voice unchanging despite her genuine concern.
‘Yeah, well, I don't really have a choice, do I? I don't want to resort to stealing again.’
‘Come.’ Without explanation, Ash grabbed the cookie's arm and began leading them out of the alley, towards the castle.
‘What do you think you’re doing?!’ The cookie tried to pull away, but Ash Salt's strength seemed to have doubled all of a sudden.
‘I have… acquaintances at the palace. They will give you food, I'm sure.’
‘The… palace? No, no, I can't go there,’ the cookie said, struggling out of her grasp and finally succeeding.
‘Why not? If even I was welcome there, I am sure they would welcome a common cookie.’
‘I am no common cookie,’ they stopped her, and their voice was bitter when they did. ‘And the king knows this well.’
‘Who are you, then?’ Ash Salt raised an eyebrow.
‘My name is Venom Dough Cookie,’ they said, twirling their finger around to make a bubble of supposed venom spin. ‘I used to serve Dark Enchantress Cookie during the war. She… made me and my siblings.’
Dark Enchantress. That name was mentioned a lot around the palace, but all Ash Salt knew about her was that she was evil and turned into a witch at one point; the rest was incomprehensible to her. The whole war was something she felt strange hearing about, since she felt like the only cookie left out of the conversation. Everyone in this timeline knew everything about the war. Everyone but her.
‘Whatever you did, I'm sure Pure Vanilla will be able to forgive you. He's a pretty forgiving guy in general. Trust me, I should know.’ She started walking towards the castle again, then stopped when she looked back and noticed Venom Dough had not moved an inch. ‘Listen, I tried to kill him on several occasions under the orders of his insane “other half”. And he lets me stay in his house. Trust me, you'll be fine.’
That seemed to convince them, as they reluctantly followed her all the way to the gate.
As they walked, Venom Dough spoke up.
‘You took orders from Shadow Milk Cookie?’
Ash Salt froze for a moment, then picked up the pace.
‘I did. I had no choice. No alternative.’ Her dusty crimson eyes darted to her glove, on top of which still lingered a hole where Shadow Milk's eye — one he used to communicate with her — used to be.
‘I can relate to that,’ said Venom Dough with an eyeroll. ‘Being baked as a modified soldier for an…’ they hesitated, ‘unreasonable woman doesn't leave you with many options.’
‘Can't you just say she was insane?’ Ash Salt scoffed. ‘“Unreasonable” is too light a word, from what I've heard.’
‘We used to get punished for saying even that much,’ they said, their throat tight. ‘You'd think after a while you'd get used to the pain, but…’
‘You never do.’ Ash Salt nodded. ‘So you scramble to do all they want to avoid it.’
Their eyes widened; they clearly hadn’t expected her to understand them that well.
‘Shadow Milk may not have made me,’ she said, not looking at them, ‘but he might as well have. As soon as I was created, he took me in.’ She pushed open the gate, and they began making their way through the airy and bright hallways to the kitchen. ‘Makes you feel like you owe him something, doesn’t it? Like you’re obligated to…’
‘Obey,’ Venom Dough finished.
Now it was her turn to be surprised. Venom Dough smiled faintly and shrugged.
‘I guess we understand each other better than I thought.’
Ash Salt was about to respond, but she noticed the door to the kitchen was right in front of her. She opened it, pointing a hand for Venom Dough to walk inside first.
The kitchen staff were nowhere to be seen. Maybe it was for the better. But the kitchen was not completely empty; a small cookie with a candy cane in hand stood by one of the fridges, and was trying to use said candy cane to take a bowl of food from the top shelf. Ash Salt recalled his name being Gingerbrave. Next to him stood his friends — Wizard Cookie and Strawberry Cookie, from what she could remember — looking on skeptically.
‘Let me help,’ said Venom Dough, sending out a bubble of venom that wrapped around the bowl and dropped it into Gingerbrave’s hands.
The kids only now seemed to realise there was someone in the room, and turned around, spooked.
‘Oh, Ash Salt Cookie! You brought a friend!’ Gingerbrave smiled warmly, waving at her. A peculiar cookie indeed.
‘A friend? Gingerbrave, that’s one of those experimental cookies from Dark Enchantress’s lair!’ Wizard Cookie pointed his staff at Venom Dough frantically. Ash Salt, however, stepped in between the two, reaching back for her fork.
‘Their name is Venom Dough Cookie, and they’re here to get food for their siblings. Let us through.’
‘Yeah, Wizard Cookie! Dark Enchantress is gone anyway, I don’t think they mean any harm,’ Gingerbrave exclaimed, stepping aside to give Venom Dough access to the fridge. Strawberry Cookie more scrambled away rather than stepped, but she tried to do it politely. Wizard Cookie was still eyeing them suspiciously as they picked out whatever seemed fit for their siblings.
‘Thank you,’ they said once a few small packages were in their hands. ‘And I apologise for my previous… transgressions.’
‘It’s no biggie,’ Gingerbrave said with a bright smile, and Venom Dough’s eyebrows shot up.
‘But… I almost killed you once,’ they said hesitantly. Ash Salt sighed and stepped in, saying:
‘As did I. But those cookies seem to be as kind-hearted as they are naive.’ She wasn’t good at giving compliments, and many said they often came out “backhanded”. Still, Gingerbrave’s face seemed to beam with pride at her words.
‘Thanks, Ash Salt Cookie! Oh, by the way!’ He grabbed her by the wrist as she was turning around to leave along with Venom Dough. ‘Are you coming to the party next week?’
‘Party?’ She frowned. ‘I had not been informed of any party.’
‘Pure Vanilla is organising a ball, to celebrate the saving of our timeline,’ Strawberry Cookie muttered, clutching her lollipop anxiously.
‘Yeah! And… maybe you could bring a friend with you?’ Gingerbrave winked at her knowingly, and his eyes darted between her and Venom Dough.
‘Oh?’ She looked at Venom Dough inquisitively. The cookie in question blushed and turned their head away. ‘I suppose having company would be nice,’ Ash Salt mused, and Venom Dough blushed harder — a perplexingly adorable thing.
‘In that case… could I bring my siblings along?’ Their eyes were almost pleading. ‘Of course, we’ve never been to such an event, so they won’t know how to behave, but I think-’
‘Of course they can come!’ Gingerbrave jumped up, excited, much to Wizard Cookie’s disgruntlement. ‘I’ll go tell Pure Vanilla!’
And with that, he was gone.
‘Well, I guess I better get going,’ Venom Dough said. ‘Pom Pom and Mold Dough must be worried sick about where I’ve been.’
Ash Salt nodded, and led them out of the kitchen and to the front gate without another word. Before they walked out and away, though, they turned towards her one last time.
‘You’re kinder than you give yourself credit for,’ they said, and this time Ash was the one blushing.
‘You can’t know that,’ she said, hiding her face in her scarf. Venom Dough only smiled.
‘Well… see you at the party, I suppose.’
‘Yeah. See you.’
Ash Salt watched them walk away, waving discreetly. There was a strange feeling growing in her chest. A foreign one, one she’d never felt before. I was like a ray of sun breaking through the clouds, caressing her face with a gentle beam of warmth. She knew, deep down, that things were going to change for her.
For once, she wasn't entirely against it.