A/N: enjoy this overly dramatic chapter <3 /p

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Late-day sun outlined everything in a dim gold, and Almond tightened his grip on the reins, a bitter, fed-up look on his face. Madeleine took a deep, shaky breath from where he was ahead.

"Calm down Almond. We'll get them at the next town."

"Tsk. Wishful thinking. Damn you, Madeleine. Damn you! I almost had that shot!"

Madeleine whipped around. "Even if they're wanted alive or dead, alive is preferred! Who were you trying to shoot, anyways?" He demanded. Almond scoffed.

"The other one. Not Y/N; even if she's dead to me, I couldn't bring myself to make it a truth. But the other... you made them see it coming!"

Madeleine shook his head. "How is that my fault? You're a terrible shot. That was going to miss Red Velvet from the second you fired anyways, if I warned them or not. If it didn't hit him, it would have struck the horse, and that would have been equally as traumatic for them, and more traumatic for me."

"Why for you? Are you a traitor?!"

"No! They stole that horse! It- it was supposed to be a gift, alright?" He muttered. Almond shook his head.

"I'm not a terrible shot. I fired at the wrong arch of the gallop; a few more seconds and you keeping your mouth shut would have made this situation a lot different."

"Oh, get over it. We'll get them. I'll make sure of it."

Almond was about to snap something back, but his pocket vibrated, and he pulled out his phone. One of his prized possessions; home phones were hard to find in this kingdom, let alone a phone you could take with you. He turned his horse off the path they were following back to the capital for regrouping.

"I need to take this. It's from the department."

Madeline nodded, and Almond answered, holding it up.

"Hello?" He murmured. The voice that came through was crackly, and hard to distinguish, but he could tell it was his apprentice; the one he was training to replace him in the future.

"Detective Almond Cookie, we need you here immediately."

"Didn't I tell you I was doing an important mission? What is it?"

There was a pause. "It's your ex-wife and son. They..."

Almond was starting to get impatient. "Spit it out, boy!"

A sigh came from the other side. "As of at least this morning, they're gone."

"...Elaborate."

"How can I?"

"Use proper terms. I didn't teach you for nothing."

"They've gone missing, detective."

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You pinched your nose bridge, squeezing your eyes shut and letting out an exasperated sigh. Red Velvet stood in front of you, arms crossed.

"Well? What are we going to do, Y/N?"

You gave him half a glare. "We? I never said you had to do anything. I'M going to look after him, that's what I'm going to do. He's my little brother, a-"

"Exactly. Your brother. Not your kid. He isn't your responsibi-"

"-BE. Quiet for a second. I've acted as his parent for as long as I've known, so you're wrong. He practically is my kid. And he's got nowhere else to go right now. I could hand him over to Almond, but he puts the law above deals or trades or whatever situation it would be. I'd be arrested on sight whether or not he gets Pancake, and that's a problem, now isn't it? Why does it affect you anyways?"

"He's using our resources and time!"

"If you're so concerned about resources, then get your own! If you feel like he's wasting time, go off alone! You're technically not a criminal as far as I'm aware; you don't have to be traveling with me. You could be completely free." You snapped. Red Velvet narrowed his eyes, a bit of shock flickering through them.

"I didn't mean it like that. I'm just concerned that he'll slow us down. If we're not fast enough to the border, you'll get caught. Madeleine and Almond probably don't have to camp as often as we do. So I'm saying, if you want to get out of here before they catch you, we can't have him traveling alongside us. It won't work."

"I'll make it work, Red Velvet. And if it doesn't, then that's tough luck. I'm not going to just abandon him in the woods for myse-"

"Please stop arguing..." a soft voice called from inside the "cave." You turned, and saw Pancake, a guilty look on his face. Chea was sitting protectively next to him; she had that protective instinct from the second you brought him in. He's being reminded of when Latte and Almond fought, you realized, guilt filling up your chest. You exhaled through your nose, and walked over to him.

"Sorry, kid." You said, looking over your shoulder at Red Velvet. He stared at you for a few moments, unreadable emotions in his gaze, before he turned around and walked down the ravine towards the pathway, out of sight. You slouched, and turned back to Pancake, who was watching him go sadly. You shook your head.

"Oh, don't mind him. He's going off to cool his nerves. Probably." You muttered the last part. Pancake looked at you with those big, round violet eyes.

"He's scary.." He mumbled, looking away and petting Chea's head. Your eyes widened a bit with concern, and you frowned. Not angrily, or sadly; just sympathetically.

"No... no, he's not. He's just..." You couldn't think of a word to describe him. "...he's not mad at you, if that's what you're wondering. I don't know what's got him riled up right now."

Pancake frowned. "I heard you talking to him. Are you going to leave me...? I-I don't want to leave you!" He wailed. You shushed him.

"Shshshhh. It's alright, Pancake. I'm not going to leave you."

He sniffled, and held up his pinky. "Pinky promise?

You laughed half-heartedly, mouth closed, and hooked your own pinky in his. "Pinky promise."

You glanced behind you, realizing it was already getting dark. The snow, which had briefly stopped, was starting back up as well. You wanted to go after Red Velvet to make sure he was alright, but you knew he probably needed time alone. You felt Chea's head press against your hand, the cake wolf making a small noise, and glanced back, realizing Pancake had fallen half-asleep leaning on her. He was probably exhausted.

You picked him up, and he didn't complain or do anything about it. He just clung onto you.

You ducked into your tent, tucking him into the sleeping bag; you were grateful it was reasonably big, otherwise you were sure that you would freeze to near death, since you'd prefer if Pancake had somewhere warm to sleep over you. He was a priority right now.

Chea curled around him, looking up at you and wagging her tail. You smiled.

"If you want out then scratch at the entrance, okay? Not too hard, though."

You stepped out, zipping it closed, and, making sure your coat was on fully, walked towards the middle of the clearing and sat down against your bag. Your back was leaning against it, almost laid down, and you pulled your knees up, staring outside. You couldn't see down the direction of the ravine Red Velvet went; he'd come back when he wanted to.

But what if he didn't...? The snow was falling heavier now, and you felt the temperature dropping....

No. He'd come back.

There was a patter of claws on stone, and you watched Chiffon walk towards you, whimpering lowly. He obviously didn't like arguments much either. You smiled, and reached over, petting his head gently.

"Hey bud." You whispered, scratching the fur on his cheeks as he put his front paws up on your stomach and sniffed at your face. He jumped up on top of you, curling up into a ball with his tail wagging slightly, and you exhaled a bit with amusement.

Looking back up, you watched the snow fall down, collecting in small heaps on the ground. It reminded you of something, but you couldn't exactly put your finger on it..

And then it hit you.

It reminded you of the trip home. You looked down at your chest, and let the memory flood back.

Nothing but that tall black horse, Chea, Espresso, Madeleine, and Red Velvet trailing after, unseen. You missed it.

You missed your life. You wanted to be able to have another coffee with Espresso, fool around with Madeleine, play carelessly with Chea. But that wasn't what you missed the most.

You missed your family. You had Pancake here, but it wasn't the same. You missed Latte; you knew she was worried sick. And Almond.

You didn't want to miss him. Not after everything he'd said, the lengths he'd gone. But you missed him, and you knew he'd go further. That was what hurt.

He put the job before everything. The job. That godforsaken job. You balled up your fists, and Chiffon looked up at you, alarmed. If Almond had never gotten that job, then you'd be a happy family. The day he told you that him and Latte would be "separating for a bit" was the start of your downfall. Not that letter. Or was it..?

It wasn't his fault. How far back did fault go? It's a butterfly effect, that's what it is. Every decision you'd ever made led up to this. This. Sitting on the floor of a cave (Ravine? Divet? What did you want to call it?) with a cake hound on your stomach and tear....

Tears?

You were crying again. You didn't even notice. You didn't know if they were tears of frustration, anguish, grievance, sadness, or a mix. Most likely the latter. Chiffon perked, and jumped off your lap, trotting towards the entrance. There were a few footsteps in front of you.

"....Y/N?" Red Velvet called softly. You sighed a little in relief; he was okay. You just hummed a little. He walked over and sat down next to you. You looked up, but not at him; instead, you watched the snow keep on falling. A silence hung in the air for a bit.

"....I did a bit of scouting while I was out. There's a river up ahead - the river itself is frozen, and the bridge is broken, meaning that the only time we can cross is tomorrow. That sound good?" He murmured. You nodded, unsure of what you really wanted right now. You were unsure of everything.

You knew that you could just turn yourself in. Send Chea off with Red Velvet, take Fructose and Pancake, and show up in the capital to turn yourself over to the law. But it wouldn't be so simple. It never would be.

Your entire life would be affected. You practically couldn't live in the kingdom after your sentence ends, no matter what you tried; cookies with criminal records were never hired for any job. Especially for a crime of the extent that yours was. Not to mention the public humiliation it would give.

It was a better option to just run away. Never look back. That's what you swore to yourself. You'd never look back again.

You could hear Red Velvet speaking lowly, and it sounded far away, until he shook your shoulders and you jumped.

"Y/N. Okay. Good. You're... nevermind. You're going to freeze to death if you stay out here much longer, that coat isn't warm enough. We'll grab a new one at the final town."

You turned to him, surprised, and sighed. "Alright. I'll.. head off to bed now. If we're going to be crossing ice tomorrow I'll need sleep to focus."

Chiffon jumped off your stomach, and, just as you stood up and were about to walk over to your tent, you paused.

"...Red Velvet?"

"Hm?"

"You're alright with Pancake staying now, right?" There wasn't really a variety of answers to this, but it would determine the rest of the journey. You'd have to ask. He hummed.

"I thought about it, and I am. From what you'd told me those months ago, he'd seemed like a good kid. I'd be happy to have him around. I just... I don't know. I guess I was speaking about what I believed was best versus what actually is earlier." He responded. You slouched a little with relief.

"Thank you. I couldn't- I couldn't bear the thought of separating from him again. See you in the morning."

You ducked into the tent, and Chea looked up, giving you room to squeeze into the sleeping bag behind Pancake.