Bekkah was wandering down the colored path, through Peppermint Forest with a content smile on her face at the sight of snowflakes drifting through the air. She loved to come here when stressed or in bitter mood; the snow is one of her favorite things, and the Peppermint Forest is the only area to find snow at in CandyLand. Not to mention the man she has a crush on lives here. Mr Mint had stolen her heart the day the met. His smile, his laugh, his sense of humor, his positivity, his clumsiness, it's never not enough to bring a smile to her face. She couldn't help but swoon every time she thought of him, or was reminded of him in any other way.

Such a shame she doesn't have the courage to tell him..

She felt so nervous when the thought of confessing came to her mind, what would he think, even say, if she told him? He only knows the relationship they have is friendship, while Bekkah knows, in her own secret, it's more than that. For her, at least, as she wants it to be. If she told him, what if he gets.. uncomfortable, even distant? What if she ruins it all..? What if..

No.. no. He wouldn't do that.. she shook her head with tightly closed eyes to dismiss the thought. "Don't torture yourself over a crush, Bekkah.. he wouldn't think that way, up and leaving over it.." She comforted herself silently, her steps becoming slightly faster as she continued padding along. However, her ears soon flicked, hearing something in the distance. Lifting her head upright to look in the direction of the sound, her ears were quick to flatten when she recognized a voice. A voice in distress, to be more specific.

It's Mint.

It sounded like he was yelling for help, and as if the ground would collapse if she stood still, she darted uphill toward the voice, every ounce of her being ready to strike if anyone, or anything, is hurting him. And oh, did her heart drop and chest feel heavy with fury when she saw what she did in the close distance.

Mint is there, for a start, sitting on the ground in a position as if trying to protect himself.. but surrounding him is a group of Licorice Bites and..

Lord Licorice.

"You REALLY thought I'd let you troublesome treats get away with ruining my plans?! Pathetic!" He boomed, the bites laughing at their master's exclamation in agreement, Mint in turn closing his eyes and turning away in fear. "let this be a lesson to NEVER get in my way again, mint-man!" Lord Licorice raised his staff, smirking, about to strike him with it. Mint yelled and sheltered his head, slinking down to the snow completely. Bekkah felt her chest get even heavier in dread, and with a furious snarl, she ran down the hill as fast as she could.

"GET AWAY FROM HIM!!" She screamed, making Lord Licorice stop in his tracks and turn to look at her, yelping in surprise when she rammed into his side to knock him over. Mint perked up when he heard this, looking over at Bekkah as she bit, scratched, and pulled at Lord Licorice wherever she could get her fangs and claws into, eyes squinted with pure aggression shimmering in them, ears pinned flat and snarls and growls reverberating from her throat when not covered by Lord Licorice's yelps, oofs and ows of pain, and his angry commands for her to stop and get off of him this instant.

The bites instinctively started to jump onto the wolf to try and get her off of their master, and once she had enough of their grubby hands hitting at her, with an angry snarl, she jumped back off of Lord Licorice and began to bite and throw the bites around, kicking and jumping whenever they'd grab onto her fur to try and wrestle her to the snow.

Suddenly, Bekkah let out a high-pitched, cracked yelp of pain, feeling a burning, agonizingly painful sensation flood her side, and immediately after, a strong kick in her side sent her tossed a few feet away, into the snow. She lifted her head to look at what just happened, eyes widening and stomach feeling queasy when she saw a large, bloody laceration on her side, staining the snow pink. Looking back to the others before her, she saw the end of Lord Licorice's staff was also tainted with blood. He did this, slashed her side, then kicked her away.

"Well well well.." He taunted with a smirk, though it was rigid from his own pain from the bites and scratches she'd left on him. "If it isn't the mutt girl. Still as weak as you were the last time I saw you, aren't you?" Bekkah's eyes squinted again, and she let out a defensive growl. "You're one to talk. You couldn't even get me off it weren't for your little bitie-wities." The bites let out offended noises and stepped forward, as if intending to beat her once more for saying that.

"Don't." Lord Licorice snapped at the bites, using his staff to push the bites on his left side back, and the ones on his right stopped as well, on that command. "So now.." He chuckled darkly, and put the staff under her chin to lift it, Bekkah's eyes widening and body quivering as fear took over. "Why don't we just put you out of your misery?" He used a foot to pin her down, laughing as she let out a yelp and hiss of pain, before she began to squirm and whimper as he raised his staff once more, now intending to kill her, first.

When she knew she wasn't going anywhere, she closed her eyes, accepted her fate with a painful, fearful whine.

However, a shove in his side made him falter and fall down again with a grunt, and the bites also yelped as they were in turn kicked aside. She felt someone pick her up, and a breeze with the sound of footsteps as well as a bounce let her know, someone was running with her. Still, she was too scared to open her eyes. "AFTER THEM, YOU FOOLS!" Lord Licorice yelled in bitter anger, and the clamor of angry bites could be heard behind Bekkah and whoever was carrying her. She forced her eyes open, and immediately recognized this shirt.. red and white striped, and she could see a white scarf flagging in the breeze of the run.

She flicked her gaze up, weakly, seeing that the one carrying her was, indeed, Mint. He was focusing ahead of him of course, huffing as he'd turn to look behind him every so often. However, before she knew it, her eyes closed again, the world going dark and silent.

..................

When her eyes opened again, she wasn't outside anymore. It was hard for her to pick up on anything, her body tired, vision blurred and senses weakened. She recognized a familiar scent of peppermint, felt warmth flowing against her back, the comfortable softness of a blanket below and over her, and.. something wrapped among her torso where she'd been struck by Lord Licorice's staff.

When she moved to try and see where she is, she grunted, feeling a surge of pain wash over her, and she fell to the soft ground once more. "Don't move," A voice suddenly spoke up, "You don't want to injure yourself further.." Again, this voice is so familiar, and it was enough for her to wake up enough to look up at Mint, who was sitting by her with concern on his face, putting a hand to her side as if gesturing for her to not move.

"Mint.." Bekkah whispered, shuddering in pain. "W-what happened, where am I..?" Mint forced a small smile of reassurance, now gently shifting the blanket so he can pet her fur softly. "In my house. You passed out after I managed to grab you from Lord Licorice, so once I lost the bites I brought you here to patch you up." He frowned after he finished talking. "I.. honestly didn't know whether or not you'd make it. That monster got you good, it's a bad, deep slash. If I didn't get you out of there when I did, you could've died.."

Bekkah lifted her head slowly, peering down to see blood-tinted bandages wrapped all along her torso. So that's what she felt wrapped around her. She sighed deeply, raggedly, and lowered her head again to lay it on the blankets. "... Thank you.." She managed to sigh out, and closed her eyes from exhaustion. "You're welcome. And I should be the one to thank you for saving me back there in the first place. I had to return the favor some way.. guess this is a good way to return the favor, right" He asked with a small smile, and Bekkah forced a weak laugh and nod.

"Get some rest. You need it." Bekkah's eyes shot open again when she felt Mint place a gentle kiss on her forehead, and she turned to look at him with now slightly blushing cheeks. He laughed at this. "What? Can't I give a "get well soon" kiss?" He asked with a grin, and stood up after, walking out of the room and closing the door behind him.

Bekkah took a moment to think about what just happened, and after an unknown amount of time passed of processing, her cheeks lit up even more she blurted out, "What the heck just- why did- wha- did he- k-KISS ME?!" She shoved her face into the blankets to muffle the flustered, confused scream that came out after. Needless to say, she wasn't expecting that, and she sure as hell won't be falling asleep anytime soon after that.

--- The Next Day ---

"Wake up, Bekkah. It's almost noon." Bekkah's eyes fluttered open, feeling a hand gently nudging her shoulder and Mint's voice. She yawned, and blinked the sleep out of her eyes. "I'm.. up.. I'm up.." She mumbled, and a soft chuckle from Mint followed after. When she sat up to stretch, she let out another yawn, Mint speaking again soon after. "How are you feeling?"

It was only when Mint asked this that realization hit. She didn't have any pain in moving. "... I-I feel pretty good, actually.." She thought aloud in surprise, looking at her bandaged side, which was still tinted with blood. "We'll have to change your bandage soon, but.. think you'll be okay to follow me? I want to ask you something."

Bekkah's head tilted in confusion. He can't just ask here..? "Sure, I think I'll be good." She replied, moving to hop down from the bed, and letting Mint lead her out of the house and down a trail, soon reaching the colored path. When they reached a peppermint tree, he leaned down to pick her up, and lift her up. "Pull yourself up." Bekkah nodded to this, doing as he says by grabbing the tree so she can pull herself up, then turned around to help him up, laughing softly as he hard a hard time.

Once both of them were up, Bekkah sat down with her tail curling around her paws, and Mint sat so that his legs dangled off the edge. "Okay Mint, why'd you wanna bring me out here?" She asked, smiling with a raised brow. Mint in turn looked to the side with a small sigh. "Well.. I wanted to ask why you risked your own life to save me from Lord Licorice back there. I mean, if I didn't get him off of you when I did, you could have died!"

Bekkah felt her cheeks explode into blush, eyes widen, and ears pin. Ooooh boy.. she was hoping he wouldn't ask that. It should've been obvious that she just didn't want him to get hurt.. damn, now that she's blushing and reacted with surprise, he's gonna be suspicious if she just says "Didn't want him to hurt you" with THAT look on her face. With a deep inhale, she looked to the side, and spoke softly with a guilty look.

  "... W-would you be mad if I were to say "I've fallen for you"? And that I just couldn't stand to see him hurt you..? "

Mint's eyes widened, and he felt blush come to his own cheeks. She.. likes him? LIKE-likes him? He softened his expression, and forced a small smile. "No. Why would I be?" Bekkah looked back at him, ears still low, and her expression one of uncertainty. "I.. I just.. thought you wouldn't like me back. I was so scared to ever tell you." She explained, looking down again. "You.. your smile, your laugh, your goofiness and just-.. everything about you.." She felt a small smile come to her face unconsciously. ".. It never fails to make me smile."

Mint could've sworn he felt his own heart hit his chest as he listened to this, his cheeks feeling hot from the blush. He never thought she felt THIS way, but now, especially after her risking her life for him? Yeah, it really IS believable that she's love struck if she was willing to put him before herself! "Bekkah.." He said softly, and Bekkah closed her eyes, preparing for the worst.

"I feel the same way about you."

Her eyes shot open, and she turned to him with wide eyes, perked ears and blushing cheeks in disbelief. She wanted to ask "R-really??", but she was too surprised to speak, her face instead speaking for herself. "I was shy to confess too.. I didn't think you'd be interesting in a clumsy goofball like me.." He scratched the back of his head sheepishly, and Bekkah finally found her lost composure, giving a- sarcastically- offended "Hah!"

"You kidding, Mint?! Your goofy, clumsy, positive, kind self is my favorite thing about you!" She exclaimed with a smile, and Mint looked at her once more with a shy smile. "And your kind and sweet, yet protective and not-afraid-to-fight-someone-who-hurts-me attitude? That's my favorite thing about you." Bekkah laughed in agreement, that "Not afraid to fight" thing sure is true, he witnessed it himself.

After a moment of silence, Bekkah shuffled herself closer to Mint, placing her paws on his lap and resting her cheek on his shoulder with a content smile. "I love you, Mint." She whispered, Mint's eyes widening before he smiled as well, and used his other hand to rest it over one of her paws. "I love you too." When Bekkah lifted her head to look at him, they smiled at each other for a few seconds, before they leaned in, letting their lips meet in their first kiss. Looks like they both worries for nothing, but now, everything is good. Mint is Bekkah's and Bekkah is Mint's, just as they both wanted, though first unaware of their crushes on each other.