The poison was finally clearing out of her system; the battle was over, and she had been victorious. But alas, war was not without its casualties:

Dr. Bones Cookie had been quite apologetic, and very apparently frustrated about their own limitations the entire time, even if no one held it against them that they were essentially running an entire miniature hospital by themself. When Alchemist Cookie was finally discharged, she was essentially wheelchair-bound. She wasn't incapable of walking, but the pain and fatigue that it brought was too much to be reasonable, and she was far too at risk of stumbling, falling, getting hurt-

The amount of time it would take to recover her walking ability was uncertain. If she ever did, then the disuse of her legs would likely mean she'd need physical therapy to be able to use them again. But at this point, she was just happy to go home...

Even if she would still need some degree of taking care of. The doctor still recommended she spend most of the day resting at the very least. Her brother would have to take care of her, a̷g̷a̷i̷n̷s̷t̷ ̷a̷l̷l̷ ̷p̷r̷o̷t̷e̷s̷t̷s̷ ̷o̷f̷ ̷h̷e̷r̷s̷.̷ ̷S̷h̷e̷ ̷h̷a̷d̷ ̷b̷e̷e̷n̷ ̷t̷a̷k̷e̷n̷ ̷c̷a̷r̷e̷ ̷o̷f̷ ̷f̷o̷r̷ ̷l̷o̷n̷g̷ ̷e̷n̷o̷u̷g̷h̷.̷

S̷h̷e̷ ̷w̷a̷s̷ ̷c̷e̷r̷t̷a̷i̷n̷ ̷i̷t̷ ̷m̷a̷d̷e̷ ̷h̷i̷m̷ ̷n̷o̷ ̷b̷e̷t̷t̷e̷r̷ ̷t̷h̷a̷n̷ ̷w̷h̷a̷t̷ ̷h̷e̷ ̷h̷a̷d̷ ̷b̷e̷e̷n̷.̷

B̷u̷t̷ ̷h̷e̷ ̷s̷e̷e̷m̷e̷d̷.̷.̷.̷ ̷j̷u̷s̷t̷ ̷f̷i̷n̷e̷ ̷w̷i̷t̷h̷ ̷t̷h̷i̷s̷ ̷p̷r̷o̷s̷p̷e̷c̷t̷.̷.̷.̷?̷

"What if I never get better...? What if you're stuck taking care of me for the rest of my life?"

"C'mon, sis, aren't you the one who goes on about giving stuff in return...? Honestly, you shouldn't have been giving it in the first place, but... hey, at least now you get to sit back and relax, right?"

"..."

"...come on, give yourself a break for once. You deserve it, you know."

...

Recovery really was going to be a long process...

But she had her brother, and he was actually going to put in the effort to moderate himself. And she had never been more happy to be in those grape juice-smelling rooms of their home again.

(The smell had just barely begun to fade...)

And there at home at last, they were surprised by her brother's friends- Sparkling Cookie had been trusted to watch the house for all the times her brother was out to see her, and with how Vampire Cookie had so excitedly relayed the news to him that she was coming home that day, he had invited Herb Cookie and Mint Choco Cookie over to welcome them home.

...the latter two were clearly more there for her brother, and she supposed she couldn't blame them as beyond the belated 'thank you's for keeping her alive until the ambulance had arrived, she didn't really have anything to say to them either. They just didn't really know each other that well.

...

But the former, sitting to the side and patiently listening to the rest, chiming in here and there- she wheeled right up to him and plainly stated:

"I'm sorry."

"...for what?" He tilted his head slightly.

"..." she took a deep breath, in and out: "you were just trying to help me, and I was... really mad at you. You didn't deserve... that."

"...oh. Oh. I see... It's alright, Alchemist Cookie. I'm just happy to see you've recovered from your... sickness..."

He looked deeply uncomfortable with just that one last word.

"...you don't have to sugarcoat it, you know. I know you're the one who found out."

"..." his smile fell: "I won't pry, but... just know," he said with a gentle tone as he pushed some of her hair away from her face, "you can always come talk to me if you need someone to listen."

"..."

She smiled.

"...thanks, Sparkling Cookie."

That very night when they had come home together, once everyone else had left and it was just her and her brother again, as she was still getting used to her new mode of movement, Alchemist Cookie found she had trouble getting through the door to her own room. She would be able to just barely reach the doorknob, but the true problem lay in that her door opened outwards... and she wasn't that good at maneuvering herself, thus she didn't know if she could find a way to get around the door hitting her when it opened. She didn't know how to keep it open as she entered, either.

...she ended up having to ask Vampire Cookie for help, already. Just to get the door for her.

(...maybe asking for help wasn't so bad after all...)

She realized immediately upon entering the room how much tidier it was compared to how she had left it, after she had messed it up creating her concoction and neglected to clean up after herself. But now, even that poison of hers had been scrubbed from the cauldron, and under the moonlight through the now open curtains she could see: Neither jam nor venom spat smeared the floor...

Good riddance, she thought.

(She'd have to thank Sparkling Cookie for this, most likely...)

Stains were left behind- forever to remind of that incident, never able to be scrubbed clean. But perhaps some things were best left unforgotten.

Once she was close enough to her bed, she was able to use her limited walking ability to get herself into it. Crumbs, that hurt really bad.

...and her brother came to tuck her in, even though she tried to reject it.

"This is humiliating...!"

"There's nothing humiliating about a little TLC, sis."

"It just feels so... It's like you're treating me like a kid."

"...Alchemist Cookie, you are a kid."

"..."

She'd never really thought about it before, but...

She was a kid. Yet she'd never really gotten to be one. Always at work in her lab, always worrying about things she couldn't control... and always taking care of an adult who wouldn't care for himself. That had been her life for so long. That had been her 'normal.'

She didn't know how to live without asphyxia. She had always wanted to breathe, but now that she could, she didn't really know what to do with herself. Everything she could do had long since faded to obscurity in her mind. All those hobbies of hers had grown dusty, forgotten...

But... she could work on it now. She could go out and make friends and read books and look at the stars and do anything she wanted. She could finally enjoy alchemy again.

S̷h̷e̷ ̷h̷a̷d̷ ̷m̷a̷d̷e̷ ̷a̷ ̷m̷e̷n̷t̷a̷l̷ ̷n̷o̷t̷e̷ ̷e̷a̷r̷l̷i̷e̷r̷,̷ ̷h̷a̷d̷n̷'̷t̷ ̷s̷h̷e̷.̷.̷.̷?̷ ̷T̷o̷ ̷g̷e̷t̷ ̷t̷o̷ ̷w̷o̷r̷k̷ ̷o̷n̷ ̷s̷o̷m̷e̷t̷h̷i̷n̷g̷?̷

.̷.̷.̷s̷h̷e̷ ̷c̷o̷u̷l̷d̷ ̷t̷h̷r̷o̷w̷ ̷t̷h̷a̷t̷ ̷a̷s̷i̷d̷e̷ ̷f̷o̷r̷ ̷n̷o̷w̷.̷ ̷R̷i̷g̷h̷t̷ ̷n̷o̷w̷ ̷w̷a̷s̷n̷'̷t̷ ̷t̷h̷e̷ ̷t̷i̷m̷e̷ ̷f̷o̷r̷ ̷t̷h̷a̷t̷.̷

...she could spend quality time with her brother and he wouldn't be too drunk to remember, maybe. A lot of the plans she had come up with for them would probably need modification, given her current indefinite condition, but she wouldn't let anything stop her from having this, now that she had it.

She knew she could've had it more smoothly, but there was no going back. Things could've been worse, anyways. Better not worrying about things out of her control.

She had bettering things to think about now.

That very second day she was home, after getting changed out of that hospital gown she had left on (getting dressed was difficult, but it was something she could do by herself, lying on her bed...)- which she would have to wash and return later- she had her first real meal in a long time, and he was the one who cooked it. He insisted on learning this on his own, on learning to do things for himself.

For her.

(He was adamant on washing that hospital gown too)

It tasted... not too bad, really. She could appreciate the effort this time. She put on her best smile, and happily ate away. Even if it wasn't the best.

Maybe someday it could be great.

Just watching her eat seemed to overwhelm her brother with so much emotion, that before she could even take her last bite she found him crying over her shoulder with nothing but pure joy.

"W-welcome back, sis...!"

It had been so long since she had been in another Cookie's embrace and really embraced it for herself; something about it just brought her own emotions out. And the two of them spent a good minute or two crying in that awkward position, him standing next to her sitting at the table by that mediocre meal still cooked with love, just grateful that they were both alive and had each other and that they could finally communicate.

And it was their unspoken promise to put communication above all, because that could've saved them so much hardship in the first place.

And they were never going to let anything like this happen ever again.

Over the course of the month, healing had its bumps in the road. Alchemist Cookie and Vampire Cookie were trying their hardest to get better, to make things better- and they were getting better, of course. But both of them would sometimes fall back into old habits: Vampire Cookie would occasionally fail to keep himself in check, and Alchemist Cookie's issues were a chronic mess. He'd sometimes fall to temptation and drink enough to forget, and in turn she would cry her eyes out and sometimes fall to her darker urges, and he would cry his own eyes out the moment he saw what he caused.

But they were both aware, willing to communicate, and ready to work on it all; For themselves, for each other, for family. They'd try to keep an eye on each other, to keep an eye on themselves- Vampire Cookie especially. And the day he was able to go out to the bar and come home by himself, without needing another Cookie to cut him off- the two of them couldn't have been happier.

Beginning about a week and a half after she came home, her sessions with Chamomile Cookie were... cathartic, in a sense. She had been hesitant to spill to some Cookie that she didn't know, but the soothing, floral aroma of the cabin was enough to put her mind at ease, and she was assured that she could talk about anything on her mind. Knowing she wasn't forced to wrench things out against her will, she just started talking about her day.

...and eventually, she started loosening up, started spilling her feelings out over a cup of tea, and she found that a burden had been lifted. Chamomile Cookie would listen to her; that Cookie wasn't that conversational, but she was a Cookie who Alchemist Cookie could confide in.

She was able to engage more socially with other Cookies again. Pretty much the moment her acquaintances had found out she had 'been sick' (of course, certain details were never to be disclosed) and saw the lingering effects, they were all over her, so to speak. Always well-meaning, but sometimes they were a bit much.

...she'd never really thought of herself as having many real friends. Maybe really any. She just didn't keep in touch enough. She loved having friends, but they always came and went. But seeing so many Cookies going out of their way to talk to her again made her think, perhaps the problem was just that she hadn't been able to see them.

Gingerbrave was ever the friend to all, of course- the moment he'd seen her rolling around the Cookie Kingdom, he had so many questions about what happened to her and if she was healthy and, really, she didn't want to answer most of them. Fortunately, he wouldn't keeping pressing after she asked him to stop.

He tried to make an effort to include her in any big events- even if he didn't know too much about how wheelchairs worked or how to accommodate for them. But she did notice some construction work being done on the library for a while, and by the end of it a ramp had been installed.

She just had a hunch on who ordered that, even if it never directly came up between them. But she had it in her head to repay him someday, whenever she could figure out something suitable.

She was happy to go to the library again. She used to spend so much time there, immersing herself in stacks of books from opening to closing while the the smell of paper would stimulate her hunger for knowledge...

She decided to try actually checking out the books she'd read this time, to read at home for a change. Things had gotten much brighter around the house anyway; she actually had enough lighting to read, now. She wasn't sure if it was just from opening the curtains or what, but...

One day, she ran into Sparkling Cookie, returning those old textbooks she had memorized over. It... made her laugh once she realized what he'd been doing. Even if she had to thank him again.

(When had she last laughed, again...?)

Once, and only once, she even had Wizard Cookie of all Cookies just walk up to her out of the blue and hand her a 'get well soon' card, muttering something into his scarf that she couldn't quite make out.

...she couldn't exactly call it a half-hearted effort considering he left an entire hand-written message, but...

'𝔇𝔢𝔞𝔯 𝔄𝔩𝔠𝔥𝔢𝔪𝔦𝔰𝔱 ℭ𝔬𝔬𝔨𝔦𝔢,'

He had written that above the card's printed-on 'Get Well Soon!' message. The rest continued below:

'ℑ 𝔰𝔦𝔫𝔠𝔢𝔯𝔢𝔩𝔶 𝔥𝔬𝔭𝔢 𝔱𝔥𝔞𝔱 𝔶𝔬𝔲'𝔯𝔢 𝔦𝔫 𝔤𝔬𝔬𝔡 𝔥𝔢𝔞𝔩𝔱𝔥 𝔯𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔱 𝔫𝔬𝔴.

𝔚𝔥𝔞𝔱 𝔥𝔞𝔭𝔭𝔢𝔫𝔢𝔡 𝔱𝔬 𝔶𝔬𝔲? 𝔇𝔦𝔡 𝔶𝔬𝔲 𝔤𝔢𝔱 𝔦𝔫𝔧𝔲𝔯𝔢𝔡 𝔬𝔯 𝔰𝔬𝔪𝔢𝔱𝔥𝔦𝔫𝔤? 𝔖𝔬𝔪𝔢 𝔨𝔦𝔫𝔡 𝔬𝔣 𝔞𝔩𝔠𝔥𝔢𝔪𝔦𝔠𝔞𝔩 𝔞𝔠𝔠𝔦𝔡𝔢𝔫𝔱? (⃦̳̿𝕻⃦̳̿.⃦̳̿𝕾⃦̳̿.⃦̳̿ 𝖎⃦̳̿𝖋⃦̳̿ 𝖙⃦̳̿𝖍⃦̳̿𝖆⃦̳̿𝖙⃦̳̿'⃦̳̿𝖘⃦̳̿ 𝖜⃦̳̿𝖍⃦̳̿𝖆⃦̳̿𝖙⃦̳̿ 𝖍⃦̳̿𝖆⃦̳̿𝖕⃦̳̿𝖕⃦̳̿𝖊⃦̳̿𝖓⃦̳̿𝖊⃦̳̿𝖉⃦̳̿,⃦̳̿ 𝖒⃦̳̿𝖆⃦̳̿𝖞⃦̳̿𝖇⃦̳̿𝖊⃦̳̿ 𝖙⃦̳̿𝖗⃦̳̿𝖞⃦̳̿ 𝕸⃦̳̿𝕬⃦̳̿𝕲⃦̳̿𝕴⃦̳̿𝕮⃦̳̿ 𝖓⃦̳̿𝖊⃦̳̿𝖝⃦̳̿𝖙⃦̳̿

𝔄𝔠𝔱𝔲𝔞𝔩𝔩𝔶 𝔴𝔥𝔞𝔱𝔢𝔳𝔢𝔯 𝔥𝔞𝔭𝔭𝔢𝔫𝔢𝔡, 𝔧𝔲𝔰𝔱 𝔤𝔢𝔱 𝔟𝔢𝔱𝔱𝔢𝔯, 𝔴𝔦𝔩𝔩 𝔶𝔬𝔲? ℑ𝔱'𝔰 𝔰𝔬 𝔅𝔒ℜℑ𝔑𝔊 𝔴𝔦𝔱𝔥𝔬𝔲𝔱 𝔶𝔬𝔲 𝔞𝔯𝔬𝔲𝔫𝔡! ℑ 𝔪𝔦𝔰𝔰 𝔡𝔢𝔟𝔞𝔱𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔴𝔦𝔱𝔥 𝔶𝔬𝔲, 𝔥𝔬𝔫𝔢𝔰𝔱𝔩𝔶. (𝔇𝔬𝔫'𝔱 𝔱𝔢𝔩𝔩 𝔞𝔫𝔶𝔬𝔫𝔢 ℑ 𝔰𝔞𝔦𝔡 𝔱𝔥𝔞𝔱 𝔬𝔯 𝔶𝔬𝔲'𝔯𝔢 𝔞𝔰 𝔤𝔬𝔬𝔡 𝔞𝔰 𝔠𝔯𝔲𝔪𝔟𝔩𝔢𝔡)

𝔖𝔦𝔫𝔠𝔢𝔯𝔢𝔩𝔶,

𝔚𝔦𝔷𝔞𝔯𝔡 ℭ𝔬𝔬𝔨𝔦𝔢'

...it was so funny to her, she had to stifle a laugh when she read it. This was his best attempt, just to say that he cared...?

...he cared...

Even her bitter rival cared.

...Cookies cared about her. Cookies looked at her when she came by, smiled at her, listened to her speak about alchemy on end...

(And maybe they'd always done that. But she'd never looked for it until now.)

And if no one else had time for her some days, she could always come home and cozy up to her brother on the couch at night, and he'd wrap an arm or his cape around her while she read herself to sleep or ramble to him and he'd try to keep up. And he was so pleasantly cool, just enough to warm her heart.

And whatever the future would be, however much she'd recover in the months proceeding, she knew: It was better.