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"Haaah!" Fire spirit descended, a cheshire smile stretching across his face at his victory "Hm? Why did you stop? That it? Got nothing else to show~?" The elemental mocked, waving his staff toward the other cookie's face.
"Ah..?" Agar Agar blinked owlishly at the broken mirror in her grasp "No...more?"
Fire Spirit let out a hyena cackle, his hair flaring even brighter in amusement "Serves you right! This power is way, WAY out of your league!" He straightened up and slammed the butt of his staff to the ground, sparks gathering at the contact point "Hmpf! Pretty boring, if you ask me! I knew you were no match for the fire." A partial lie, she did put up more of a fight than he thought, but at no point did he even consider he might lose "My turn now," He dragged his staff back, flames dancing around the orb "Imposter!"
The last burst of flame he sent her way was massive, roaring and cracking like a maddened dragon as it rushed right by her, heating up the mines as he intentionally missed. A false swipe meant to block the deeper tunnels and chase her off.
The slimy cookie was picking at the crumbled mirror in her grasp, too distracted to dodge. Fire Spirit didn't want to kill the kid, she was nowhere near dangerous enough to warrant that! Besides, without her mirror, he doubted she would be too much of a hassle to deal with if she pushed her luck instead of fleeing.
"My...mirror..!" Agar Agar looked down at the shattered pieces, voice dangerously close to a whimper.
"Awww, are you already done? Don't have any more fight in ya!?" He is already letting the kid off scot-free, gloating is the least he is owed! Wind Archer might have disagreed with, well, everything but since when does he take orders from him?
"...-ranata cookie...help..!"
"Oh! Are you calling for your mooommyy~? Hah! What's next? You gonna start crying? Hahaha, I mean your lower lip is- ahh..?" The venom in his voice dripped away as Agar Agar dropped the rest of the mirror on the ground "Trembling..?"
No, she wouldn't, right?
A sniffle.
"W-wait-!"
A tiny sob, barely audible over the blazing flames of his wings.
"Witches, please tell me you are not gonna..?"
Fire Spirit jumped back as Agar Agar fell to her knees and started wailing. His hands put up like he was being arrested as he stared at the other cookie in utter disbelief.
"That's what...ah- what you get for playing with the fire..?" The elemental let his form melt away, hands hovering near his chest like he didn't know what to do with them.
Agar Agar wept harder, shaking with each sob. Fire Spirit wasn't the one for empathy, but that couldn't feel too good with the shards digging into her knees.
"You- umm..." What was he even supposed to say!? Frost Queen was the one who dealt with children, not him! "You can leave. I'm not- I'm not gonna block you or anything. So, ahh- don't be scared?"
"My...mirror..!" Agar agar choked out, sputtering on her breath and making a spear of guilt lodge into Fire Spirit cookie's chest.
"C'mon kid, you are the one who came looking for a fight..!" The elemental couldn't even muster enough annoyance in his voice as the younger cookie continued to wail, tears streaming down her face and mixing with the strawberry jam pooling under her knees.
Well, Fire Spirit assumed it was the equivalent of strawberry jam. His opponent didn't bleed as a mortal cookie would.
"I mean, c'mon, it's just a mirror!" Fire Spirit tucked his hands behind him so as not to alarm the kid further as he approached, coming to crouch beside her as she sniffled "You can get another one, besides, why have a magic mirror if you can't actually fight? Won't a normal one be better?"
Agar Agar looked up at his with wide, teary eyes and Fire Spirit dared to think he got through to her.
Then her lower lip started to tremble again, her eyes watering.
Did he come off meaner than he meant? That was supposed to be soothing! I mean, getting out of a fight with the fire himself without any burns? Him making it clear she was free to go? What more could she want!? She was lucky that he didn't turn her into ash!
Of course, the elemental didn't get to say anything going through his mind as Agar Agar went back to sobbing harder than before. Doubling over herself, her jelly hair brushing the floor with the force of her weeping. Loud enough to echo in their sugar-hard battle cage and give Fire Spirit a headache.
"Okey, okey! I'll get you a new mirror, alright? Whatever mirror you want, just stop crying!"
"..no..! My...mirror..." Agar Agar managed to choke out between sobs, barely aware of Fire Spirit hesitantly grabbing her by the shoulders to straighten her up.
"I'll get you one that looks exactly like that, you won't even be able to tell the difference!"
"...so..." A sob "..hungry..!"
...hungry?
Right, she was babbling on about hunger and something being tasty!
Fire Spirit let go of her and frantically patted around his cape. He always had some food tucked somewhere in case he wanted a snack, now if he could just find it... aha! How did he forget he hid them under his shoulder pads? "What about I give you some food? Will you stop crying then?"
Agar Agar sniffled as her sobbing subdued "...food.?" A small smile danced on her lips as she instinctively grabbed for her mirror, grasping at the shattered remains "Ah..." Oh no, her smile had dropped again. Fire Spirit wasn't sure if he could handle any more sobbing "Can't eat....without...my mirror..."
"Sure you can!" The elemental insisted, pulling out a hearty rye and ripping off its package "There," He presented the good to her "Don't be shy, now. Not everyone gets to leech off of The Fire's emergency supply."
Agar Agar stared at the offered treat for a solid second, making Fire Spirit shift uncomfortably before she looked back up at his face with confusion.
"Food." The elemental said again in case she didn't hear him the first time.
Agar Agar tilted her head.
"To...eat?" Fire Spirit blinked in confusion.
"But I can't eat.... without...my mirror..."
The elemental barely held back the urge to facepalm, irritation clear in his voice "Yes, you can. Do you need your mirror to move your mouth?"
"...my...mouth..?"
"You... you do know how to eat, right kid?"
The other cookie's face scrunched up "Yes....with my mirror..! I.. hold it up...and-"
"I'm gonna stop you right there," Fire Spirit slapped his hand over her mouth "Just do what I do."
The elemental held up the rye, mimicked taking a bite, chewing, and swallowing. Petting his stomach for good measure before handing it back to the other.
Agar Agar cookies eyes lit up, and Fire Spirit dared to relax as she mimicked his actions to the T.
...taking a bite out of the air and looking disappointed when she felt nothing change.
"...You are kidding, right?"
Her lower lip started to tremble again.
"Okay, okay! I can't believe I'm doing this but, I'll teach you how to eat, alright? Just, please, don't cry anymore."
Fire Spirit took back the pastry and, a little unbelieving that he was actually doing this, made a big show of taking a bite. Mockingly mentioning at his chin and how he was moving it to chew.
"See? It's not hard. Your turn."
Agar Agar grabbed the pastry and the elemental's shoulders finally dropped when she took a proper bite. Now that was out of the way, how did she never learn that she could eat if she felt hungry? Sure, she clearly didn't need it but it was certainly a painful feeling for her. What, was she stuck in a well for years before somebody fished her out and sent her after elementals because of her mirror instead of teaching her she could just eat food? What a ridiculous thought, who could even be that evil?
"Hrk-!"
Fire Spirit jolted out of his thoughts and quickly thumped her back until she spat out the unchewed food stuck in her throat, her eyes watering again.
"Nope, no one will be crying on my watch! Come here," The elemental tore off a chunk and fed it to Agar Agar himself, then, he balanced the pastry on his knee and grabbed her chin, pressing on her head with his other hand and guiding her to move her jaw. Forcing her to chew more than she needed with the pure frustration running through his veins.
"There, done! Don't cry again, do you have any idea just how much your voice echoes?"
Before he could even blink, Agar Agar had snatched the pastry back and started chowing down. Swaying happily as the painful clench of hunger in her gut melted away "So...tasty..!"
"Quicker than I thought! Welp...good riddance. You don't need that mirror anymore do you?"
The other cookie shook her head no, already halfway done with the loaf. Fire Spirit pulled out a bag of star jellies from his other shoulder pad and plopped it open on the ground. Popping one in his mouth as demostration.
Agar Agar took one.
Then another.
Then an entire handful.
Then Fire Spirit had to step in to make sure she didn't try to eat the whole thing, bag included. Chuckling at her antics "When we get outta here, we'll get you a proper meal! Ever had Hot Jelly Stew? Yeah, probably not. We'll get you some Hot Jelly Stew. And some Tart Jampie right after. Oh! You have to try Sweetberry Juice with that! They pair so well, also-"
"What is going on here?" Wind Archer spoke up, pure confusion written on his face and an arrow notched on his bow. Fire Spirit swiftly got up and placed himself between the kid and his so-called coworker in case he got trigger-happy.
"Wind Archer Cookie," He nodded a greeting "What brings you to this neck of the...volcanic wasteland, dear guest?"
The archer looked down at the cookie happily snacking away and back up at the elemental "What happened here?"
"A teeny tiny disagreement," He shrugged, mentioning to the cookie at his feet "But we made up, so, no harm done! Now if you'll excuse us-"
"..."
"Fine, fine! Gotta be pretty important to make the Keeper of the Forest fly all the way here to this lovely valley."
"I witnessed countless natures-"
"Fire...Spirit..." Agar Agar tugged at the elemental's cape "I'm still...hungry..."
"Right!" He grabbed the other by the elbow "Would looove to chat, Wind Archer, but can we circle back to it later? I'm entertaining guests right now and it would be pretty rude to let her go hungry." Fire Spirit tried to help the younger cookie stand but Agar Agar winched ".......Ouch..!"
Right! She has been kneeling on glass shards for the last 15 minutes. He probably should have moved her already but...
"Is she okay?" Wind Archer chimed in, lowering his weapon.
"Juuust peachy! Just some glass we gotta pick out." Fire Spirit hooked his hands under her armpits and hoisted her up "C'mere, help me get her patched up."
"But I had come to warn you. A great threat is looming-"
"Yes, looming. As in, we'll deal with it later while she is bleeding right now! You gonna help or not?"
Wind Archer gave him an irritated look, but didn't complain further as he joined the pair. He'd hate the admit it but the fire elemental was right, it could wait until they could help the poor cookie.
"Oh, by the way," Fire Spirit hummed "If you came to tell me about Frost Queen's powers being stolen or something, don't bother. She was the one doing all that but it's over now."
"...she what!?"