If You Give A Hero A Cookie

Alice clapped her hands together, and organized the papers she was carrying in front of her.

“Okay! Let’s do this quiz show style! I’ll pick a category, and whoever is able to answer best gets a cookie! I couldn’t make that many, so we’ll do it this way.”

Ren leaned back in his chair-

“Is there any reason why we couldn’t just have done this normally…?”

Alice punched her fist into her palm and looked at Ren meaningfully.

“Don’t you think it’ll be more fun this way?”

He quailed and instantly sat up straighter.

“Alright. What if I want to ask my own questions?”

“Then whoever answers it the best gets a cookie!”

Ren gave a resigned sigh.

“Alright. Alice- can you explain to me who you are, and what you want from me?”

“You can’t just target questions, Merrit needs a chance to answer, too!”

“I swear to-”

“Alright, fine. But why didn’t you just ask me this before we did the delivery together?”

“I thought you were a lunatic.”

“And what do you think now?”

“...”

Alice smiled at him expectantly.

“I think… you have a very unique… and… effervescent personality.”

“I don’t know what that second one means, but the first one is fine… Good answer! Now have a cookie.”

“I’m ok…”

Alice grabbed a cookie and began waving it in front of him insistently at high speed, and repeatedly poking his nose with it.

Merrit looked up from tinkering with his phone to give a small snort.

“Eat! You look like you’ve only been surviving off bread crusts.”

“Ok! Ok… I’ll eat it if you answer my question.”

“Oh, right. I was… selected to become the High Priest, when I was young.”

A sudden shadow passed over her face, and she was silent for a moment. She noticed the others looking at her, and quickly regained her cheerful expression.

“I had extraordinary talent, but the Goddess isn’t around to bless people anymore. I mentioned to you that we plan to resurrect the Goddess, right? They found a way to replicate Her abilities, so they were able to Bless me with magic. Now, I think there’s a plan to resurrect Her, or at least bring her back to her true strength.”

After some thinking, Ren spoke.

“That’s awfully vague. Is that all you know? And how did they manage to Bless you?”

She gave him a sheepish look.

“They put me to sleep, and apparently there were some experiments. It’s all very secretive, I don’t actually get filled in much on the details myself… So you can tell that I’ve been trying to get info where I can. Your memories were actually very useful, if not a little painful to look through.’

“Uh… Thanks… But where do I come into this?”

“Merrit told me that you were able to use your sword when you ended up in a church. It’s kind of the opposite here- if we want to bring Her back, we need things that might serve some sort of… related significance to Her. And you fit the bill perfectly!”

“I see… but why’d you sneak out, then? You seem like you’re pretty important.”

“I’ve been trapped inside this place my entire life… I guess I just… wanted some answers?”

Ren had already had his doubts, but with this he was sure. There was a lot that she wasn’t telling him. But there wouldn’t be any point pushing her now.

Uncannily as usual, she seemed to know what he was thinking.

“I know it’s a lot to take in, but I could be filling you in for hours. I guess the only thing that might be of interest is that the Sacred Garden your flower comes from is from there. Once the time comes… I won’t force you, but you can decide what to do.”

There was an uncomfortable silence, broken by Merrit, who was too busy setting up his phone to pay attention.

“Actually, can you explain how the Church still even exists? I haven’t seen any Church members around, or any churches still in operation. I admit I don’t look around much, but…”

Alice, glad that the mood had lightened again, responded cheerfully- “I think, from the history books I’ve read, that most of the Churches were destroyed after the war. So, we retreated to a secret location, and we’ve stayed there ever since, focused on the sole mission of resurrecting the Goddess and curing Necrosis. Does that check out?”

She took a cookie from the plate and began munching on it eagerly.

Once again, Ren felt that something didn’t check out. It all just felt… too convenient?

His thoughts were interrupted by a warm cookie being pressed against his nose.

“Eat! I answered your question. You too, Merrit! I think this question answer format won’t work out anyway, so let’s all just eat.”

Conveniently, she reached for another one.

Ren and Merrit both grabbed one- Merrit eagerly devoured it, while Ren was stuck in thought.

When was the last time he had had something like this? Too long to count… Mina would always bring these to everyone before they went to sortie-

“Hey! I know Merrit told me you’re always spacing out, but this is too much. It’s not poisoned!”

“Sorry.”

He was interrupted by a loud exclamation.

“It’s-It’s amazing! It’s perfectly chewy, but with that subtle crunchy texture once you bite into it. And the chocolate chips hit the perfect balance of sweetness and richness, perfectly complemented by the sprinkling of salt you did- it lends a subtle contrast to it that I never would have expected- are you some sort of culinary genius?! And don’t even get me started on the-”

Tuning him out, Ren took a bite, chewing thoughtfully. Rather than paroxysms of joy from the taste, he felt a warm, wistful, sense of nostalgia, of better times gone by. Did all the High Priests take the same cookie making class? With all that had happened lately, he had been getting sentimental-or maybe it was the cookie.

Regardless, as he looked at the scene around him, two people that he (probably) considered friends, just sitting, talking, laughing around a table… he realized how much he had missed this feeling. And as he continued to take bites, that feeling- whatever it was, began to grow… A small dim flame appeared, in the darkness of his heart.

He noticed Alice was watching him, a smug grin on her face.

“Well?”

He thought for a moment, and responded.

“...It’s pretty good.”