tremble | wildchip

xiii

the amount of visitors and important members decreased by the day, and many were beginning to bid one another goodbye.
it was almost time to depart back to their awaiting hometowns, and the last thing they knew, all belongings were gathered together and all different regions were ready for the next day's leave.
hollyberry cookie was busy socialising and thanking all the people who had taken care of them, laughing loudly and joking around as per usual. considering her rather vibrant figure, wildberry decided that he would be able to spot her from a good distance and go for a detour before he gets ready to leave, too. i mean, she would probably question where he went once and get what he could be doing in an instant, anyways.
he steps backwards slowly, before taking one last peep of hollyberry to be sure she won't disappear out of nowhere, he turns around and enters the main corridors of many chambers.
if he was being honest, it will hurt quite a bit to see the sight of all these well-structured pillars and paintings or whatever, under the morning sun.
it'll hurt to no longer see the usual busy stores, the usual commotion of the council.

it'll hurt to no longer see crunchy chip cookie.

wildberry's mind suddenly awakens, remembering that he had made a big promise with crunchy chip that they would spend the rest of their remaining time together before they had to leave.
he hastily looks down at the fountain not so far from him, fixing whatever looked out of place, before looking out to the area where they first met, and rushing there as fast as he could.
the corridors were near to empty, as everyone was all surrounded towards the front outside; making him feel slightly lucky.

dark cacao stood humbly by the place he had once set up his camp, now emptied and clear again. like hollyberry cookie, many now had the courage to come to him and ask him a question or two. he was mildly surprised by this sudden interaction, but he tried his best to respond.
behind him stood crunchy chip and his wolf, which sat patiently and quietly. crunchy chip looks around, specifically at dark cacao's direction, as he backs away and whispers at the wolf,
'stay where you are. i won't be long.'
he jogs backwards in a quicker pace, taking out a handful of deserving jellies if the wolf obeyed.
it simply tilts its head confusingly, but thankfully agrees to obey until then.
'i can't value to waste any more time..' he mutters to himself, feeling himself beginning to perspire under his multi-layered clothing.
pushing urgently through small groups and crowds, he leans on his tip-toes to see if there was a specific cookie around.
he couldn't have forgot, would he?
what if he was still just getting ready or something?
as he runs down to the familiar exit with the garden, he stops running to see a pink-haired cookie, waiting and preparing, standing in place where he had first encountered him.
crunchy chip inhaled his words back in, and comes up with an idea to make it less awkward.
silently running up behind him, he jolts his hands onto wildberry's broad shoulders.
'boo!' he shouts, laughing to himself as he does so.
wildberry turns behind him slowly.
'ahahaha, did i scare you?' he wipes away a tear, but continues to laugh uncontrollably.
'look at your face! you seemed frozen in fear!'
wildberry's face creeps into a faint grin. he wasn't at all startled, as he could see crunchy chip's mere shadow, but he didn't want to spoil his fun and pride.
'yes, aha. yes i was.' he replies back to him, laughing back for a second too.
crunchy chip's laughter is silenced, making wildberry quiet too and wonder what stopped him.
'are you alright?'
'uhmm.... yes. yes i am.' he tries to mimic wildberry's sentence, but then explodes in red fumes of fluster.
'w..whatever. let's make these last few hours worth it whilst it lasts.' he looks away, but grabs wildberry's unarmoured hand.
flustering even more of how crunchy chip's own hand was so much smaller to his 'partner', he walks steadily and looks forward. wildberry does not retort and allows his 'partner' to take the lead.