A/N: I AM SO SO SORRY EVERYBODY!!!!!! I may have abandoned Cookie Run for a certain.. other.... gambling-addition-fueled game BUT! I refuse to let Chicanery die, the show must go on even if it's been two.. three.. four? ...About six months? Maybe more? Oh geez. Please read the post on my profile's conversation board for the posting dates of the rest of the chapters!

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You woke up to someone shaking you.

It took a second to register, but once it did, you jumped, pushing yourself up into a sitting position quickly.

"Ngh.. it's already noon?" You murmured, looking up at Madeleine.

"Not quite. I figured I'd wake you up earlier to get yourself cleaned up."

You blinked at him. "...Do I really look that bad right now? I mean, I know I can't be looking too good considering everything that's happened, bu-"

Madeleine cut you off. "You'll have to... see for yourself. Come on." He walked over to the cell door, waiting for you. You followed, sticking close behind him as he led you to the bathroom, standing next to the door. You walked in, locking the door.

"Come out when you're done. And for the love of all the divine, don't do anything stupid. I'm already in enough hot water for giving you another shot, I'd be a dead man if you tried anything funny." His voice came through the door, and you hummed, looking at the mirror. Your jaw almost hit the floor.

Geez, you were a mess. Your hair was sticking in every direction, tangled and dirty due to a lack of hygiene supplies. Actually, the entirety of your body was dirty. It'd been a while since you'd cleaned yourself up; the last time was at Sparkling's place. The wound Madeleine left on your cheek the night of the train chase still had dried blood surrounding it, speckles and splotches of deep reddish-brown against your skin. Your eyes had seemingly brightened, or maybe your condition everywhere else was so bad you couldn't help but see the light within them now.

As soon as you had your fix of finding every problem, you looked around the room a little more. There was a shower at the end of the room, and some clothing on the edge of the counter. It looked similar to clothing you'd had at the ranch. Upon closer inspection, it was some clothing you'd had at the ranch. Madeleine must've gone there and grabbed it on the way out.

Right. It was time to get to work. If you wanted to get into presentable shape by noon, the time was now.

~~♠~~♠~~♠~~♠~~

You sat on a couch at the end of the room, arms crossed. Before you was Madeline, arguing with Raspberry Cookie.

Her and Espresso were the only ones he managed to re-recruit. Which isn't too bad, considering one other member was dead and the other outright refused. Chili Pepper wasn't directly told you'd be on the team, but she had some insight, and never wanted to talk to someone who "outcriminaled" her. Whatever that meant.

The new team seemed pretty strong. Raspberry, Espresso, Madeline, You, Herb, and a woman you'd never seen before. She was definitely not from here: the black clothing and crow on her shoulder would make her stand out amongst a crowd. She'd introduced herself as Black Raisin Cookie, a cautious spark in her eye.

Herb had filled you in on the situation when you first showed up in the room. You were devastated to find out that Latte had gone missing; guilt had filled your chest, but it was now mostly diminished. Pancake had also been sent to stay with Almond. As much as you didn't like him right now, you knew that was a good choice. Now, you sat there, a fed-up look on your face as you listened to the argument. Back and forth. Back and forth.

It seemed like they'd completely forgotten what they were arguing about. First Raspberry was furious about you being there, and now they were arguing about the route they should take to the tower. A long sigh from Espresso broke up the argument. He carried the same expression you did.

"I thought we'd already agreed upon the route. It's the same one as last time. Raspberry, why do you want to change it?" He muttered, putting his hands behind his back and tilting his chin up. She looked almost offended.

"They're going to reinforce the path with cake hounds on our old path, you.. you-! Argh! Fine. We'll take the old route. Just don't look at me when we need to detour due to the amount of enemies in our way." She shot a fiery glance at you. Obviously you hadn't been forgiven by everyone. You didn't expect to have been. It was a miracle you'd been invited to go on the second attempt. Madeleine exhaled, closing his eyes before rolling his shoulders.

"Right. We should be going now, then. I got 5 horses this time, but that means two of us will have to ride the same h-"

"I'm bringing Fructose. I've seen what that horse can do now, and he's just as good as any royally trained stallion you can pull out of that stable." You cut him off, standing up. He seemed a bit surprised by your interruption, but simply nodded, waving off one of the servants at the door to go get Fructose prepared.

"Alright then. We'll be taking the same route, this should take.. only 2 days, as far as journey time goes. Once we're there, we'll scout it out three times, once per day, and then storm it and take it over on the fifth. Just like the original plan, except we get a day to prepare for battle. However, unlike the original plan, I've arranged for mercenaries from the neighboring Hollyberry Kingdom to come and help us out. It only took one failed attempt for me to realize that a few people would be severely outmatched, which is much better than what could have happened on the first try. Did everyone get that?"

The room nodded, and then you were heading down the stairs to go outside.

Deja vu struck you, and as you looked at the intricate decoration on the wall, you breathed in a deep sigh.

Redemption was coming your way.

~~♠~~♠~~♠~~♠~~

"You're doing great, bud. Just one more day. We're setting up camp soon." You whispered to the animal below you, flicking his reins to get him caught up. He'd travelled much farther than this before, but trying to keep up with horses who had longer legs probably proved difficult.

There had been no parade or crowd in the streets this time; your name probably wasn't even in the paper for the event. Your group just went out a back gate to set off. A bit disappointing, but yet again, the best choice. Looking up ahead, you saw Madeleine beckon you further, to the front of the group where he was. You sped Fructose up, slowing him to a controlled pace once you were next to Madeleine. You looked at him, tilting your head a bit.

"We're stopping for the night soon. We should be there just before noon tomorrow, be ready for that. I know the tower probably doesn't bring up too many good memories, but remember what we're doing this for. We're taking back what's ours." You smiled, nodding and dropping Fructose back so Madeleine could relay the information to everyone else.

With perfect timing, just as Madeleine finished talking to Espresso, the last person, the tower came into view. It loomed just above the treeline, a symbol of the Cookies of Darkness that demonstrated the power they still held. You swallowed a bit harshly; it seemed much more imposing then last time. Had it been built further upwards? Or was your memory just tricking you? Looking around, you realized the same uneasy sense you'd felt was rippling through the party, which reinforced that the former option was true.

The sun was starting to go down now. Shadows stretched back at you, and you raised your arm to block the sunset's dying yet harsh light from your eyes as you continued towards it. Once it settled below the mountains, your group pulled away off the road and into the trees, finding a space that was clear enough to set up a camp. Nestled in a grove of pine and oak trees, it was sheltered from any unforeseen weather conditions. While everyone else was setting up a fire or tying horses and chatting lightly, you staked your tent in the corner closest to the tower and next to an oak, tying Fructose to a low-hanging branch with enough slack on the lead for him to graze liberally. And then you started to climb.

~~♠~~♠~~♠~~♠~~

You didn't really know how long you were up there, surrounded by the foliage of the oak tree. All you knew is that you'd climbed a decent height up to where the branches were thick enough to sit on. A light breeze blew through, rustling the leaves around you with a gentle crinkling sound.

Even thought you came up to watch the stars, using time away from the fire to adapt your eyes to the night sky, you couldn't take your eyes off the tower. Despite every effort you made to scout constellations and calm your nerves, your eyes always wandered back to that godforsaken building that tore at the sky with its evil maroon claws. And you were determined to take it.

Though, maybe something else had drawn your eyes to it. Something that originated from your chest, deep within your heart. Something you didn't want to admit to yourself.

He wouldn't have.

The three words that popped into your mind. Surely he wouldn't have. You just needed to quell this irrational gut feeling, and everything would be o-

"Y/N?"

You looked down, eyes widening in surprise. They relaxed once you realized who had called. Madeleine was at the trunk of the tree, looking up through the leaves at you like a confused child. You climbed down slowly, dropping from the last branch right in front of him. He slouched his shoulders, the wear and tear of exhaustion showing obviously on his face. He nodded to your tent, a gesture of the time of night, and then sluggishly made his way to his own tent. Getting the memo, you gave Fructose a few pets, and then went into your tent, laying down.

But you couldn't sleep yet; your mind was plagued. Infected with thoughts you hadn't considered until you'd felt the familiar feeling of the tent. You'd never realized how much space Chea had taken up until you had it all to yourself. It felt too big now, and you turned on your side, squeezing your eyes shut.

What had happened to her? You had to assume she'd made it to the border with Red Velvet. She was loyal to a fault, even if you and your orders were always first priority. And if he'd been captured, Madeleine surely would have told you and handed Chea over, as she'd be valuable as a tool to "fight fire with fire" with on the second siege.

You breathed in a few deep breaths. They were fine. Waiting for you just outside the border, hoping you'd go get them once your freedom was earned. Yes. You'd get them once your freedom was earned.

And you'd earn it by putting a sword through Dark Enchantress' chest, no matter the cost.

~~♠~~♠~~♠~~♠~~

Whoever woke you up certainly wasn't very nice about it. They opened up your tent, shook you awake, and left before you could see who it was. Coming to your senses, you looked around for Chea, but found no trace of your fluffy companion. It took a minute for your memory of the situation to set in. Your spirits already down, you climbed out, stretching.

The pale light of dawn was already making its way through the trees. Madeleine looked over at you, and you nodded at him, packing up your tent and attaching it to the back of Fructose's saddle, just as you had done not too long ago while on the run. Untying him and pulling yourself up onto his back, you realized you'd finished before everyone else, somehow. And so you sat, waiting.

Madeleine had given you some stuff back that he'd originally confiscated. He'd returned your sword, but not the crossbow. The only thing he'd never gotten the chance to take, though, was the pin. The pin of the Vanilla Kingdom you'd had since the very beginning. Before the first trip had even started, that pin was with you. A constant reminder of home, it stayed in your pocket. Sentiment has such a way of taking over the mind.

Everyone had finished by the time you'd put the pin away. And then the journey started again.

It became gradually harder and harder to avoid the small patrolling troops of cake hounds and wolves that wandered the forest. The number of them thickened as you approached the tower. However, at a certain point, the patrols seemed to... stop. Like whoever was operating the tower only needed to guard a certain stretch of land, almost like a fence. It was smooth sailing from there.

The original site was still there, in a pristine, almost untouched condition. You wasted no time in setting up, and listening in on Madeleine's further instructions.

"We need to do all of our scouting at night. It's safer that way. Once again, small groups of two people. Espresso and Herb will go tonight. Black Raisin and Raspberry will go tomorrow night. The final scout will be me and Y/N. Does that work for everyone?"

A collective murmur of agreement went through the group, and he stood up, cracking his knuckles.

"Alright. While we have time to kill until nightfall, I recommend we get ourselves comfortable. Get some food, set up the camp, all of that."

~~♠~~♠~~♠~~♠~~

Pomegranate frowned, leaning on the windowsill. The room at the top of the tower, no matter how much of a "suite" it was called, was absolutely abysmal. She had no idea why Dark Enchantress insisted that she, along with Licorice and Dark Choco, stay here for the week. Maybe it was to keep an eye on Red Velvet, now that the dirty turncoat had run back with his tail between his legs.

The sun was just setting. Normally, she'd stay up late, but sleep passed the time faster. She just wanted to be out already. Heavy footsteps from boots sounded outside the door; it had to be Red Velvet, as Dark Choco had already gone to his room. The door down the hall closed, and silence filled the level once again. No bother staying awake now. She closed the curtains, and then went off to sleep, leaving the tower in a state of undisturbed silence.

~~♠~~♠~~♠~~♠~~

You waved Herb and Espresso off as the sun tucked itself in behind the trees, biting back the sentence you wanted to say to him. 'Don't knock down anything this time!' It would be in good humor, but he would take it to heart and be too careful.

Walking back over to your tent, you looked over your shoulder at the tower, the menacing structure that filled your mind with terrible thoughts.

And the unease flooded back.