#anyways epic fans didya catch those bits i did

[makothedorito]

A Single Dying Orchid

BAAU by @cuppajj

If only she wasn't such a coward.

the guilt was overwhelming as Vanilla Swirl Cookie laid in the flour-dusted dirt, a maelstrom of emotions overtaking her.

She was too late. He had struck yet another village, its denizens turned to flour, coating everything in a pale, grim, white, permeating the air and casting a foggy look obstructing everything in the distance from view. it was suffocating. Vanilla Swirl sat like that, for what seemed to be forever, taking in her failure. memories flashed behind her eyes, a village not unlike this one.

she remembered sharing tea and raisin buns around a campfire.

-she remembered sprouting little flowers to appease a crying child, even if they faded away moments later-

-and then she remembered the screams.

the dust.

the fear overtaking her as she ran, fight-or-flight taking over, too cowardly to turn back- or even look back for that matter- as the friends and memories she had known turned to mere flour in a matter of a few hours.

the guilt taking her to beast-yeast where she tried- futilely- to start anew, unaware that she would only lead more friends to their demise as silver clashed with thorns.

and Odollam Cookie. she paused, in the middle of getting up and dusting herself off from the flour.

her greatest friend. and her greatest shame. Vanilla Swirl winced from the guilt she bore when she ran, time and time again from the first sight of confrontation. she shamed herself for all the false promises she made, the cowardice, the weakness.

for much of her life she ran from her pain, her fear, and her responsibilities. and it has finally caught up to her and ravaged her, ravaged earthbread and destroyed all that she has known. turning back to the dry forest, Vanilla Swirl tried to focus on the next village, doubting that she'd make it in time to warn them about Saint Vanilla.

and through the forest she saw something. something out of the ordinary.

a single blue-white orchid.

It was like a slap to the face. Even if its petals were dusty with flour, the core was as vibrant as if it was newly bloomed.

"come to gloat your latest 'purificiation' to me, havent you?" she said with a whisper. the orchid ignored her, swaying in an invisible wind. Inside, Vanilla Swirl felt herself collapse, giving up.

she wanted to give up, didn't she? Take the easy way out, maybe do a kindness to earthbread. she lowered her palm around the orchid, as if planning to pluck and eat it. she had enough jam on her hands, didn't she?

Vanilla Swirl felt the softness of the petals as she started to pluck, but she hesitated.

is it really her hands the jam is on?

Or is it the tyrant, who refuses to allow for compromise or compensation, torturing her adversaries to make an example when she could've easily let them go and assimilate into her kingdom.

Is it really her hands who spreads the flour over earthbread with each so-called "purification" one by one as if her view was so twisted that she believed her mass-murders were a kindness?

or is she just taking uneccesary blame?

her glare snapped to the flower, hardening in realization that maybe, just maybe, she has been blaming herself for things out of her control. and that maybe she could finally throw that guilt away.

If kindness kills, then ruthlessness is mercy.

the wilted orchid crumpled to dust in her fist, saint's sight silenced and her location a secret, for now; as the remains of the dying forest around her started to decay, only to be replaced by new life, dangerous life, plants that kill. with a wave of her hand, the forest returned to its dry, stale state, turning her back behind the village with a near-unnoticeable new spring in her step, as if she sucked the life out the damnned orchid.

It's about time "Saint" Vanilla stopped prying into everyones secrets with those flowers of his, and leading lambs to the slaughter.

From then on, all sightings of Vanilla Swirl Cookie have dissappeared from both Earthbread and Beast-Yeast simultaneously, as if she faded away like a secret on the wind.

Only later have there been sightings of irregular abundances of dangerous plants on formerly dead land, of which not even saint orchids could thrive that peoplestarted to speculate.

And then came the rumours a new Beast was coming. A name, like the plant life she bent to her will and the poison they contain, silent and ruthless.

Blackthorn Cookie.

and she is hell-bent on eradicating all traces of this self-proclaimed saint no matter the cost. even if it means becoming one of them.

because when you've got nothing to lose, so what if you become the monster?