A/N: I'm off school for 11 days so I'll hopefully get a bunch of chapters done! Enjoy this chapter <3

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You closed your eyes, finally evening your breathing out fully. Opening them again, you stared into the fire; Red Velvet had decided to set up camp then and there since Fructose had run far enough from the river, and he was sitting next to you now, looking at you out of the corner of his eye. Chea and Chiffon had stayed out of the way the whole time; she must've felt like she couldn't do anything, and Chiffon just followed.

You sighed quietly, slouching. You'd promised. Pancake had been so scared. He thought he finally found safety. Someone to care for him again. And you'd given him up to protect yourself. You felt horrible. Horrible, selfish, guilty. All negative emotions you didn't want to go into. But how you felt didn't matter to you right now. Pancake was what mattered. What would happen to him? From the look in his eyes, Almond looked to be in no state to take care of a kid, and you weren't sure how Latte was doing. God, everything had fallen apart at your hands, hadn't it?

You took a deep, shaky breath, and Red Velvet put his hand on top of your hand, threading his fingers between yours.

"Try not to think about it too much." He whispered. You nodded, hanging your head and staring at the ground. But what else could you think about...?

You settled on the future.

What would you even do when you were out of the border? You'd never really put any thought into it. You could do so much. You could seek out another town and live there, or live alone somewhere in the unoccupied countryside. The latter sounded better. You'd had enough of towns and cities; both of the words left a sour taste in your mouth. You'd settle down in the country.

But what about Red Velvet?

He had nowhere to go. You knew exactly what you wanted, but what about him...?

"Red Velvet?" You murmured. He looked over at you.

"Hm?"

"What... what are you going to do when we're outside the border?"

"What do you mean by that?"

You sighed. "What are you going to do? Where are you going to go? I know exactly what I want to do, but I never asked you..." you shrunk into yourself a bit. A silence, only broken by the occasional crackle of fire, set a tension in the air. He didn't answer you for a bit.

"...I'm... I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do. I was..." his voice trailed off, and you knew he wanted to go on, but you didn't press. After a brief pause, you rubbed your eye with your other hand and hardened your expression into a solemn determination.

"I've been doing too much crying over the past few days. God, I just need to accept that this.. this is probably fate." You sighed, and Red Velvet tilted his head.

"Fate?"

"This was bound to happen sometime. The whole criminal thing. Ever since my dad divorced my mom I've had a.. mild distaste for following rules. I knew it would get me in trouble sooner or later. If I'm being honest, I'm glad I'm not alone. I'd go insane out here without someone. Thank you for sticking around, Red Velvet. Genuinely."

He smiled lightly, squeezing your hand. "You're welcome."

After a while, you hunched a little. You knew what you had wanted. Had. You'd previously wanted to leave Red Velvet behind at the border and part ways. Live your own life alone. And yet...

When you looked over at him, you knew it wouldn't be so easy.

~~♠~~♠~~♠~~♠~~

Almond winced as Pancake let out another sharp, loud wail. He was throwing an absolute fit. The trio had just gotten back to the capital; there was no more point in hunting them right now, especially with the new case. He'd probably have to have a local catch them. Almond cleared his throat, turning back to Espresso.

"You'll-" he was cut off by another screech, "-watch him, right? I have to see what happened at the ranch."

Espresso had an uncertain look in his eyes, but he nodded. "If I must, then I will watch him. I'll try to get his mind off of what happened. Although, I do think this has been traumatizing, considering he was used as a token and a-"

"Oh, cut that out. I know, I know. Don't tell me twice. Please." He turned around without a second word, guilt written in his expression, and walked out into the streets, heading for the train station. He pulled a ticket out of his pocket, and got on the train; it was heading to a town close to the ranch, and he'd be able to get there on foot within an hour or two. His phone buzzed in his pocket, and he grabbed it.

"Detective Almond Cookie speaking."

"Detective, you were wrong. This isn't a long work trip; she hasn't been spotted anywhere in Parfaedia. What do we do?"

Almond cursed under his breath. His worst fears had been confirmed. The train started up. "...we keep looking for clues. I'll be over by tomorrow, capiche?"

"Very well. See you shortly, Detective."

"Best of luck."

~~♠~~♠~~♠~~♠~~

Espresso frowned. "Pancake, please..."

"No! I don't WANNA! I wanna go back to Y/N! I don't want..." his voice trailed off, and he started sobbing, a troubled look in his eyes. Espresso bent down.

"Pancake... What's wrong?"

"...Where's mommy? Where is she, Espresso? Oh, please tell me! Almond won't tell me! I just want to see my mom again!" He wailed. Espresso flinched.

"O-oh... I don't..."

"What do you not have? What is it? Tell me!!"

Espresso sighed. "...we don't know where she is, kiddo."

Pancake's eyes got wide. "What... do you mean? What do you mean you don't know?! Wha-" he started bawling again, and Espresso took a shaky exhale. He couldn't do this alone; he was bad enough tolerating children normally, let alone an inconsolable one. He looked around.

"Wait here."

Espresso walked quickly into the kitchen, Pancake sobbing quietly in the background, and picked up the phone, dialing the number he had constantly memorized. The answer came almost instantly.

"Espresso?"

"Hey, Madeleine. I need some help over here. Almond just dropped off Pancake, and he's... inconsolable. I have work to do. Could you come help me watch him? At least for a little while."

There was a brief silence from the other end, and Espresso swallowed harshly. Had he made a mistake in asking..? What if Madeleine was busy?

"I'll be right over."

The mage let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you."

The noise of a call being hung up echoed from the other end.

~~♠~~♠~~♠~~♠~~

"Oh, come on. I'm sure you can make it." You said, turning to Red Velvet.

"I'm not sure... I've never jumped over something on a horse before. Onto definitely, but not over."

You frowned. "Want me to go first?"

He nodded nervously. You'd hit a point where cookies didn't take care of the trials anymore; as a result of that, there was a tree across the path and the pine-filled woods were too dense to go around. You took a deep breath. This wouldn't be too hard, but your nerves were still up.

You pulled back the reins, and Fructose backed up a little, clearly knowing what his task was. You gave them a light flick, and Fructose started forward at a slower gallop, almost a canter. He cleared it easily; you'd misjudged how difficult it would be. You looked back over your shoulder, smiling and nodding to Red Velvet. He had a shaky inhale, and Batik started off too.

The black horse did it perfectly; he must've had some jump training before you took him, and he landed neatly next to Fructose.

Red Velvet wasn't as lucky.

He fell forward, forgetting to brace himself for the impact after the jump, and you lunged forward, catching the back of his coat.

"Jesus- fucking- Christ-!" You barely helped him back up into the saddle, and he sat there stunned for a bit, before he raised an eyebrow and glanced at you.

"Am I that heavy? Or are you just weak?" He said playfully. You grinned.

"Oh, be quiet. I was only using one arm, wise ass. Come on. I want to be out of this area by nightfall. Pine forests are cold during the day, and frigid at night. There's almost no sunlight that breaks through." You heard Chea's paws hit the ground as she climbed over the log, and you clicked your tongue, giving Fructose a pat on the neck. He started off at a brisk walk, and Red Velvet chuckled, leading Batik up next to you. Chea fell in on the other side.

"So... what's the plan for this next town?" You asked.

"It's close enough to the border. I was thinking we grab some supplies - more food, an actual decent coat for you, maybe some tools or something - and then we make for that border like we're running straight out of hell. Which we basically are at this point, being hunted down by those we trusted and all."

You turned and stared at him. "We? You trusted Madeleine and Almond?"

Red Velvet shook his head. "No. Pomegranate isn't a huge fan of traitors. Or at least, whoever she considers traitors. We had some kid a while back - Strawberry Crepe, I think their name was? They cut contact with us for long enough where Pomegranate decided it was treason. She went over there and she got some sense into that kid. Showing them traumatizing memories of what happened to their family before the Wafflebot takeover. That was the first time Strawberry Crepe saw their past, and also the reason they hide in their workshop whenever Pomegranate comes by. She's a cookie you don't want pissed at you. And unfortunately, she's pissed at us right now. I'm sure she's on our tail."

You sat in shock. ".....So we're basically completely fucked over?"

"Not completely. I'm sure she'll leave us alone if we get to the border. Same for the other Cookies of Darkness. We'll be fine if we're careful."

You dipped your head, and looked to the sky; through the pines, you could see a hazy bit of yellow, a thin strip of deep tangerine at the horizon, and behind you, the last bits of indigo were fading into a pale sky blue. A few clouds decorated the skyline, intricate and delicate looking, like pieces of thin cotton hung down on strings. The sun was just appearing; it sent orange beams shooting through the trees, and occasionally into your eyes. It sparkled off the snow, which was still collected in the woods, but on the path, it had melted, replaced by a frost that traced over everything from the stones in the ground to the needles on the trees.

The dawn was subsiding into day.

~~♠~~♠~~♠~~♠~~

Almond stomped out his cigarette, rubbing his hands together for warmth before putting on his gloves.

"Alright. Let's go." He muttered under his breath. He walked into the home, careful not to disturb anything; this was an investigation, after all.

He looked in every corner, yet found nothing; nothing that could lead him anywhere closer to the truth.

He balled up his fists, and took out another cigarette. It wasn't healthy, but it was kept him calm in cases like this, and that's what mattered. But as he was lighting it, he noticed something.

The basement door was slightly ajar.

That was odd. Latte had always kept it locked, and none of the previous investigators were allowed to touch anything...

But he was.

He walked towards the door quickly, opening it. Right before he went down the stairs, a flash of offwhite caught his eye, and he spotted a note taped to the door. He pulled it off quickly, careful not to rip it, and closed the basement door, locking it as it should've been.

He put out his cigarette, and set the note on the table, struggling to read the quick cursive. The ink was smudged in a few places; this seemed out of character for Latte, with her neat personality. And then he realized that the smudges were on top of darker patches. She must've been crying as she wrote it. Finally, he was able to get the message down. He took a shaky breath, and read it out loud to himself.

"To whoever may be reading this. I hope you are who I think you are. You'd know I wouldn't keep the door ajar. As of the time I'm writing this, it's the day after I went to the police and had Pancake filed missing. He was kidnapped right in front of my eyes but a cookie who teleported away the second I attempted to defend my son. I can't take this anymore. Both of my kids are gone. One a criminal, and one... oh, please, if you're looking for me, stop. Stop searching. Please just, stop. I'm already away. I've left to make a new life in a new kingdom. Regards, Professor Latte Cookie. Parfaedia Institute."

He stared at the paper for a bit, taking raggedy breaths. No, she couldn't.. not her too...

He slammed his fist on the table. His entire family was shattered. Latte was gone, Pancake would never forgive him, and Y/N... Y/N. He looked up with a new fire in his eyes. His daughter had left his family in ruins, all for her own self-interest. Her fault. It was all her fault....

He reached towards his belt, and picked up his revolver. He checked the barrel, and realized he had miscounted how much he'd loaded it that night in Water's Wake; he must've been too tired to notice. He ran a hand down the side, looking at his reflection through hardened, determined eyes. It stared right back, and he put the gun back on his belt before walking out quickly, heading for the train station. He would finish this. Justice would be brought, after all. For Pancake. For Latte. This was her fault. Her fault. Her fault. Her fault...

One bullet left.