My Fair Lady (Dark Cacao Cookie x Fem!Reader)

Chapter 11

Breakfast was left untouched that morning as per usual.

"It was IMPOSSIBLE for him to make it out, our soldiers were everywhere!"

"Your highness, perhaps there was a place they escaped just out of sight of our men?" Marble cookie attempted to give answers to the restless king.

"My men are specially trained to keep every location in sight. Now where. Did. They. GO?!" his fists slammed into one of the cacao walls, causing a chain reaction of chandeliers swaying in the casual meeting room.

"I beg your pardon but for one second, sire, you must realize that it wasn't impossible! Maybe they accidentally left an area open?"

The king furiously sat down in a plush chair, a bar of sunrise illuminating his darkened face while he punched between his eyes. "You don't understand how strict I am to ensure that they have the entire kingdom on lockdown within minutes."

"I do not doubt that they are well trained, sure, but us cookies are prone to mistakes just as much as the next cookie," the advisor scooted a bench in front of his boss, attempting to calm him down. "Perhaps we can send out a search party to look for some clues?"

"It snowed the rest of the night. Their footprints are more than long gone," after a few seconds, he finally looked at his advisor in the eyes. "But there isn't much space between the kingdom before they're buffered by the mountains surrounding us. It won't be long if we send out some of my men." His hand reached over to a glass of wine that Marble cookie had prepared resting on top of a coffee table to his left, taking a short sip.

"Now you see where I'm coming from, we are more than two steps ahead in finding them!" Marble chuckled. "Your son will be back in no time. I'm... sure he's missing you."

The gaping his words did not go unnoticed. The king heaved a sigh, swirling the fine juice to amuse himself. "He's going to get himself killed if he keeps acting like this."

Marble chewed on his lip. "Dark Cacao is a smart boy, he will come back a new cookie once he realizes how outrageous this all was."

The king looked in the wine, seeing his stern expression looking back. His gaze hardened. "If he has to get hurt to snap out of it, then so be it."

------

By the time the sun had risen, Dark Cacao and (Y/N) had agreed to find a place to stay for the day. Their dark clothing was sure to be easy to spot contrasting against the blanket of pure sugar snow, so staying in a subterranean hideout was their first idea. Lucky for them, a cave just large enough for them both and a campfire was beneath a ledge that they almost fell over.

Tying their white horse up to a thick pine, (Y/N) wrapped herself snugly with the purple banner that had originally slung across the back of the horse's hind. The prince had carefully checked the cave first for signs of any animals living inside, only to find the dry bones of a cream hare. He kicked them aside to make room for a fire to warm them up.

The sticks heaped on the ground, Dark Cacao attempting to create a spark while (Y/N) leaned against the wall, curiously spectating. "Seems like you've spent some time out here."

The prince smirked, holding one bulkier and one thin stick in each hand. "I've been on a few patrols growing up. Had to spend the nights out here sometimes whenever the weather got too iffy." His hands began to work the long stick into the thicker one, smoke rising from the friction. Soon enough a flame had grown into a blaze when he tossed the sticks into the pile.

"I suppose you had to do the same, considering you travelled this far alone?" He trodded over to sit next to her, beginning to take off the heavy metal gear.

"Never as efficiently as you did just now," her eyes locked on the flickering warmth, "I made sure to stay in cabins and such. You'd be surprised how cordial cookies can be to..." (Y/N)'s voice faded to a whisper.

"To whom?"

"...to traveling cookies," she quickly finished.

Dark Cacao shifted, now only in a black loose tunic and matching pants that fit comfortably to his form. "I doubt we'd need to leave any further than the mountains, so cabins are probably not on our list." He leaned on his left arm before hissing, finally remembering the deep gash the branches had left in his arm.

"Oh my gosh! I need to get that fixed!" (Y/N) promptly examined his wound. It was an extremely deep cut, almost 2 inches into his dough and leaking loads of jam. She grew a bit nauseous seeing how awful the cut was, it had basically shredded his dough like a blunt weapon. Her hand traced around the warm dough, and he flinched away when her fingers got too close to the opening. "I'm fine, really..."

"No, absolutely not, it will grow infected if we don't treat it," (Y/N) unwrapped the makeshift shawl from her shoulders and motioned for him to give her his arm.

"(Y/N)-"

"Please, Dark Cacao, we can't escape this if you're injured like this." She could see the prince let down his guard, realizing the truth in her words, and he silently showed his arm to her. She tore a large strip from the delicate textile, and the purple fabric gently wrapped around the cut, soaking with a red hue within seconds of being applied.

"That should help the blood clot just a little bit," (Y/N) rose to her feet as he examined his new wrap. "But I need something to clean the wound."

"There's no running water anywhere," he groaned, trying to loosen the bandage a bit. (Y/N)'s hand gently stopped him from doing so.

"What do you mean? Surely you all have water somewhere," she looked at him with her (E/C) eyes.

"We don't. There's nowhere to grow any of our crops either. The ocean is too concentrated with salt to properly allow crops too flourish, not to mention the weather." He pointed outside to the bleakness of the environment. "We pray to the gods for our supplements and they provide to us without question," he shook his head.

(Y/N) then remembered the garden that Sopapilla cookie had told her all about. Just then, her mind clicked to what the people were fed to believe. Dark Cacao noticed the shift in her expression.

"Dark Cacao, did Milk Bread ever talk to you about how the gods provided the kingdom your crops?"

He silently filed through his memories, but shook his head once more when he didn't recall anything.

"Think further, absolutely anything! Surely she must have hinted at it somehow.." her last sentence was said quiet enough that only she could hear.

It felt like an eternity as his eyes drifted to the floor, digging deeper into his brain. Dark Cacao stirred for a moment, opening his mouth like he had finally got it, but silently shut it again when he looked back up at her as if she wasn't supposed to know. But the look in his eyes was all that (Y/N) needed to see that he knew at least a little.

"Did Milk Bread..?"

"Yes," (Y/N) reassured, but with a worried expression plastered on her face. "But when, I mean if we find it, I can rest assured knowing that you won't die from your wound. But we have to wait until sundown to look for it."

Very quickly the prince's expression changed. "Wait, what?"

(Y/N) looked at him equally as stunned. "I thought you knew..?"

"Knew what? No, I really don't know what you mean." He scanned her facial features closely, clearly confused.

"You- she never- what?"

He scooted back away from her, a little uneasy. "So she never told you... but Sopapilla told me..?"

He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "(Y/N), we should really get rest for tomorrow. Let's just uh, enjoy the fire while it's still burning."

(Y/N) searched his face, her mind wanting to ask more, but the words she wanted to say never came out of her mouth. All she could do was think. She never told him the secret?

Word count: 1423