Almond ran back to the Blackberry dorm, Roguefort trailing behind, unreadable expressions plastered on both their faces. They had half an hour of free time, and the others were at the dorm. Quickly, Almond opened the door to the Blackberry dorm with a bang, attracting the rest of the Cookies' attention.

"What happened, Almond?" Prophet Cookie asked.

"Did something go wrong?" Pilot Cookie added.

"I can't believe it..."

In a flash, he was on the ground, tears rolling down his cheeks.

"Almond!"

Prophet and Pilot Cookie rushed towards him, trying to comfort him, yet everyone was confused.

At the same time, Roguefort reached the Blackberry dorm, panting.

"Get him inside the dorm, let's not attract others."

The two Cookies dragged a devastated Almond Cookie into the room, Roguefort shutting the door quietly behind them.

"What happened, Roguefort? What in the world happened?"

Roguefort let out a deep sigh, trying to compose himself and not break down as well.

"It's a long story..."

~♤~

"Almond, Roguefort, please stay behind."

The two Cookies stopped dead in their tracks at the sound of the male instructor's voice.

"What is it, instructor?"

Almond and Roguefort both turned their heads, as the instructor sounded quite serious; did they get in trouble for anything?

"Do you know the stories of your families' rivalries?"

As if two question marks popped up over their heads, the two Cookies stared at the instructor in complete, utter confusion.

"Uh...no?" Roguefort answered.

The female instructor, walking up to the male instructor a tablet in her hands, asked, "Do they know?"

"They're clueless," he replied, "they're completely clueless as to what's happening in the outside world."

"Care to ask, but why are you telling us information that we shouldn't know...I think?" Almond suspiciously asked.

The female instructor lonly replied by letting out a deep sigh, causing the two Cookies to tense up.

"The conflict between your families recently made headlines."

"What do you mean? Are you making this up to fool us? We've never heard of this--"

"See for yourself. This is the news from today."

The female instructor held out her tablet. The two Cookies stared at the screen, silently processing the news.

"The Nuts and Cheeses are back at it again - famous detective Pecan Cookie was found dead in an alley this morning, with a note saying 'Revenge for my mother'."

"Wait, what?!" Almond shouted, "That can't be true!"

Both Cookies stared at the female instructor in utter shock. The instructor sadly nodded and continued the video.

"It is suspected that this is the doing of Mozzarella Cookie, the daughter of the Cheeses, and her mother, Gouda Cookie."

"Gouda is...my mother, which means...Mozza?" Roguefort muttered, "But why would she do such a thing?"

"Your sister killed my father?! That's impossible!" Almond shouted.

"The Nuts and Cheeses' rivalry won't be resolved anytime soon thanks to this. We can only hope that they will make peace in the future, and we send our condolences to the Nuts for their loss."

The video stopped, and the instructor switched off the tablet.

"We're very sorry for your loss, Almond. This is why we had to tell you the truth."

"This can't be happening."

Almond's eyes were brimming with tears, and his hands were trembling.

"I'm so sorry, Almond, I didn't know this would happen." 

Roguefort tried to calm Almond down, but his efforts were in vain, and Almond bolted out of the cafeteria.

"Almond!"

"Roguefort, catch up with him," the female instructor told him, "make sure he's fine, and you two are exempt from the next challenge if you wish."

"Okay!"

Roguefort then rushed out of the cafeteria, trying to catch up with the crying Cookie.

~♤~

"Unbelievable..."

Roguefort finished telling what happened in the cafeteria, and the Cookies were as shocked as he was. Almond stayed silent the entire time, transparent pearls still uncontrollably running down his cheeks.

"So, let me get this right, your two families are basically at war, and you two didn't know and now his father's dead thanks to your mother. What are we in, a storybook?"

"This isn't real, my father isn't dead." Almond tried to convince himself.

"Snap out of it, Almond."

Everyone turned to Salt Cookie, who was sitting on his bed.

"Your father's dead, and that won't change."

"Salt, you're not helping." Prophet retorted.

"Crying won't solve his problems either. He has to face it."

"How can you be so cold?"

"Hate to admit it, but he's right," Buttercream Choco agreed, slowly climbing the ladder from his bunk bed, "Almond, you have to face the truth."

Without warning, Almond suddenly stood up and dashed to the bathroom, locking himself in.

"I think we should leave him be." Pilot Cookie simply said.

Reaching the ground, Buttercream Choco turned to Roguefort and asked, "You said that there was a note 'Revenge for my mother' at the scene?"

"Yeah...I don't know what revenge though...I'm still taken aback by the fact that my sister is a criminal. My mother as well... this is insane...why did this happen?" Roguefort mumbled, still utterly shocked by the realisation that he was born in a family of law-breakers.

"It was inevitable for you to know the truth, let's just hope that you won't be like them."

"Guys, I think I know what happened...I just wasn't sure if it was actually them," Buttercream Choco suddenly confessed out of nowhere.

"How do you know this better than me?" Roguefort questioned.

"The rich have their ways."

Prophet and Salt shared a glance with each other at that sentence.

"Anyways, it's storytime."

Reluctantly, the Cookies sat down on their beds, listening to Buttercream Choco's story.

"So, the rivalry between the Nuts and Cheeses have existed for a long time now..."

~♤~

"Why are you doing this?"

Two Cookies stood facing each other in a dark alleyway. On one side was a young detective, Pecan Cookie. The other side? An infamous thief, Gouda Cookie.

"You won't understand, Pecan. This is our destiny, and it has been sealed once we were born into our families."

"This rivalry can end, Gouda. We can walk out, announce it, and live in peace."

"You don't understand, do you? The Cheeses' reputation has been ruined from the very beginning. We're too far down to turn back now."

"Please. We can change. We don't have to be like our parents."

"You all are just manipulated, twisted by the law. I'm sick of you."

Gouda Cookie started dashing towards the detective, dropping the ancient book that she was holding. The two started the battle with no weapons, just their fists. The two were neck-to-neck until a flying kick sent the female Cookie into a wall.

"We don't have to fight, Gouda. We can live in peace."

Gouda Cookie struggled to stand up, but she shouted, her voice loud and clear.

"That book, it contains information. Proof that all you Nuts are twisted and evil."

"Never judge a book by its cover. I'm from the Nuts, doesn't mean I'm an evil per-"

"Yes you are," Gouda shouted, cutting the detective off, "everyone from the Nuts family will forever be evil. It's in your DNA, from the ancestor to you."

Despite the fact that she still struggled to stand up, Gouda Cookie decided to fight one last time. In a swift second, she threw a shuriken at the male Cookie, aiming for his eye. Smoke bomb in hand, she took off, her legs feeling like jelly, running as fast as she could.

Pecan, on the other hand, wasn't able to dodge the shuriken, and once it hit him, he fell to the ground, unconscious.

In the midst of the fight, both forgot about the ancient book.

~♤~

"How did you know all this, Buttercream Choco?"

"My mother once told me this before I was to go to school. She said this was knowledge about the real world, and that she bought the security cameras once to watch the fight."

"But, where's that book that mother-I mean Gouda Cookie was holding?"

"It's... at my house. The book's at my house, my mother collected it after she went there to pick it up."

"Unbelievable..."

"I think, Roguefort, you should check on Almond..."

"BLACKBERRY TEAM, PLEASE PROCEED TO THE HALL NOW FOR YOUR NEXT CHALLENGE!"

The instructor's voice boomed loudly from the speakers.

"Shoot, we're 10 minutes late!"

"Roguefort, I think you can stay behind, take care of Almond!"

The other Cookies quickly scurried out of the room, leaving Roguefort to deal with Almond alone.

~♤~

[Originally published Apr 2020]

This chapter was flashbacks mostly.

And there it is! The bombshell dropped, and Almond's devastated. Hoo hoo-

Roguefort seems to be calm...but he's probably shocked inside.

Anyways, what will happen next? Feel free to predict~

Drop a vote if you enjoyed this chapter and see you on the next one!

Next chapter:

"Almond...? You okay?"

~♤~

"You wouldn't want to undercook those Jelly Frogs, would you?"

~♤~

And that night, as sleep slowly overtook the two Cookies, Roguefort swore to himself that he would never kill anyone in his life, no matter what.