Once we were in sight of the marketplace, Vanilla sped up because he saw the others there.

When Hollyberry, Dark Cacao, and Golden Cheese saw me, Hollyberry fainted, Golden Cheese's eyebrows left her forehead, and Dark Cacao just said, "Excuse me, but what the fuck."

Vanilla rushed over to pick up Hollyberry and laid her on the chair. Golden Cheese noticed that Lemon hadn't reacted and turned to her. "Did you know about this?" she demanded.

"Yes." she said after a few seconds. "I gotta go get some first aid for Hollyberry since Vanilla left his staff at home." she said, looking at me.

She rushed off, and Golden Cheese put a hand to her forehead. "That girl..."

Then Dark Cacao spoke up. "I do believe no one's spoken about the technical repercussions of this. White Lily's kingdom was abolished long ago, and some cookies believe she doesn't exist at all. I can see cookies staring our way incredulously right now."

Vanilla rolled his eyes. "Can you be cheerful for five minutes? You're always such a Debbie Downer! And don't worry, no one's looking at you." he said to me.

At this point, Hollyberry sat up, rubbing her head. "Ow, whaaaaaaaaaah!" Her word trailed off as she noticed me. "Vanilla, I didn't know you could do necromancy!"

Something occurred to me as Vanilla was defending himself. "Hey..." I interjected. "Why is no one coming up and asking for autographs or something? There are plenty of cookies here, and you guys are kings and queens!"

Golden Cheese laughed. "Oh, I'll tell you why!"

Flashback (Told in Cheese's POV)

I was sitting at a table with the other Ancients, making idle conversation. We finished up and disposed  of our trash, and headed toward the exit. Then a cookie ran up to us, dressed in an off-white, overly formal outfit for their age.

They ran up to Dark Cacao and said, "Can I have a souvenir?"

Dark Cacao blinked at them. "What?"

"Y'know, give me something to show that I met a king!" the child said mildly condescendingly.

"Why should I? You're just a child!" he said, brows furrowing. Not a good sign.

"Because I'm Clotted Cream Cookie of House Custard, and I say so!"

Dark Cacao's voice lowered dangerously. "I will not be giving you a single crumb. Now get out, and if I ever see you again..." He left the threat hanging, and it worked. The cookie ran off, and we still haven't seen them since.

"Damn." I said, looking over at Dark Cacao. He rolled his eyes.

"That little goblin got what he deserved."

Then Lemon came running back. "Sorry it took so long, the first aid stand was out so I had to run to a hospital and... Oh, Holly's awake."

Hollyberry smiled at her. "Thanks for the effort anyways, Lemo."

I leaned over and whispered to Vanilla. "I thought Lemon murdered anyone who called her a pet name?" I asked, confused.

"Well, this has honestly been going on for a while, so I think they like each other. Preeeety obvious, to be honest, but Lemon keeps running away when I confront her about it. Same with Holly." he whispered back.

Sometimes I wished I had someone that I could do things like that with. Call each other pet names, brush each other's hair out of their faces (like Hollyberry was doing to Lemon right now, causing both of them to blush), cuddle with, etc.

Vanilla checked his watch and cleared his throat. "Sorry to interrupt the blush-fest going on over there, but it's almost time to go. We didn't eat anything today, so we can just go our separate ways."

He took my hand, and we started heading back to his house as the others dispersed. As we left, I could hear Lemon commenting to Golden Cheese, "Those two are so into each other it's gonna make me blush." which made Golden Cheese laugh.