❣『Cookie Run Oneshots 』❣

ash x raven | collide

[art by @52rmon on instagram!!]

gift for Ember_Rose_Liora

Summary: Night Raven and Lord of Ash encounter each other once again. Despite them being cookies of pure darkness and evil, they continue to feel a very special bond between one another that they've felt for a long, long time.
Ship: Night Raven x Lord of Ash (AshRaven), Wind Archer x Fire Spirit (FireWind)
Type: Fluff

(basically a lord of ash AND night raven version of the last oneshot)

It had been a very, very long time.

Memories and flashes of old, warm times did not reside in either of them. Cold, shattered fragments of friendships and love were all that remained.

They had given up a long time ago to change back.

Dark Enchantress had managed to manipulate the archer into believing it was okay from the start. His father had not come after him, leading him to believe he was alone.

The other ruled the whole of Dragon's Valley. He felt powerful and found his new place as ruler of the valley comforting. Even in his very weak and cold form, he could rule over the land all he wanted.

Devoid of any interruptions, manipulation, and emotion, they face each other, less than a few feet away. There was no one around. No interruptions.

Here they were, in a location that reflected on both cold and warm memories, without much reason other than finding that both had a desire to visit the place.

A specific location under the forest, one of the many trees had a target with an arrow plunged through it.

"You still visit this place?"

"You still visit this place?"

"I come here to practice my archery," the purple cookie uttered, "Dark Enchantress grants me permission to."

"Permission to arch?"

He shrugged, "She controls me. I can't do something she doesn't want."

"My situation seems better than yours," he commented, "at least I get some freedom."

"You have to endure feeling weak almost every waking minute of your life."

"Have you not lost hope yet?"

"...No," he murmured, "I gave up a long time ago."

"Then you have no place to lecture me on my choice to endure pain," the ash cookie scolded, "I choose to do it because I lost hope a long time ago."

"You're choosing to stay in this form?" he questioned, preparing one of his vantablack arrows, "Even if I find my father ever, which I don't want to, you won't even consider being purified? Relieved of constant pain?"

"I've grown fond of this form. I am fine without purification."

"Then you're just power-hungry?"

"I wouldn't call it that. I've just gotten used to it."

"You're as stupid as you used to be."

"What, are we going back to being Wind Archer and Fire Spirit just because of our current location?"

"There's no doubt the memories are rubbing off on us."

"We're bad people," he dropped his staff onto the grass, "Evil, even. There's no point in those who are evil feeling emotion. Their destructive goals don't get across when they're emotionally compromised."

"We don't have any evil intentions," he suddenly said, "We're evil, but we have no real goals in mind. I just follow Dark Enchantress' orders."

"I just rule the valley," he whispered.

Their heads turned to each other. The spring breeze picked up and the sun peeked through the openings in the trees.

"My memories," the archer whispered, placing a hand to his chest, "they continue to linger. Many are gone, but the ones that remain control me."

"Didn't we hate each other, though?" the Lord of Ash questions, "How can we feel a connection while our hearts refused to contain an opening, even as Fire Spirit and Wind Archer?"

"Has it ever occurred to you that," he put his head down, "maybe we felt affection for each other long before the change in form?"

"Are you implying that Fire Spirit and Wind Archer fancied one another?"

"That is exactly what I'm implying," he scowled.

"But then that means," he began to float up from the grass, his cape falling behind him, "we..."

A painful silence barricaded the two of them.

If Night Raven's suspicions were correct that they carried on Wind and Fire's affection for one another, then that would explain the unsettling amount of discomfort that always seemed to gravitate between the two when they'd meet.

Was it true? Were there affections still there? Was that why the pain and despair seemed to wear off when the two were around each other?

Was that the missing puzzle piece? Was that why they felt so...empty?

They were evil. This wasn't right. They weren't supposed to feel any emotion.

But that wasn't the case, was it?

Always. There was always a way. If the affection seeping through was at least somewhat true then that means their old selves had managed to find a way through. They were not free, but their emotions were free.

Their emotions, feelings, and hearts were free.

They had been for a long time.

"We don't hate each other," the Lord of Ash blurted, "We don't hate each other because we hated each other originally. But the affections we felt for each other originally slipped through the cracks."

"It's a sign," the archer finished, "It's a sign that we have the freedom to feel. We have no goals, no bad intentions. We're evil, but we have the ability to feel emotion."

"They were always there," the caped cookie continued, "every time we meet, our emotions collide. We feel the same thing."

"Is that why we're so casual now?" the purple cookie asked, "Is that why we contain such calm around one another?"

"We shouldn't put so much thought into it," the caped cookie insisted, "it would do us no good."

"Then what do we do? Act like it's normal?"

"Precisely," he concluded, "That's the only way we can truly feel free,"

Night Raven shut up.

The bandana that usually wrapped around the archer's eyes sat loose at his neck, and the caped cookie lifted his bandana over his eyes with one hand.

He felt lips meet his left cheek for a split second before they quickly pulled away.

The archer gasped and yanked himself away from the gray cookie.

His face changed in hue as he lifted the bandana off his eyes, the expression on his face angrier than usual.

"You disgust me."

"Of course I do," he commented, "any version of you would."

"We're evil! We're not supposed to-"

"Nothing is holding us back."

The archer stood up and approached the caped cookie. His own lips also met his cheek.

"That's fair."